Tang

A/N: The tang is the part of blade that is covered by the hilt and sometimes even the pommel. If you thought I was referring to the nasty orange drink, you watch too many commercials. ^_~

Five years before, Saxsin walked silently between the trees of a grove near his home. His wife was having a child and the midwife had practically thrown him out the door. He couldn't stand the waiting and knew that the woods always brought him comfort.

Suddenly he heard a cry and was about to run back to the house when he realized the cry had come from in front of him. He walked cautiously towards the sound and found a man sprawled on the ground beneath a tree. Saxsin raced to the man but it was obvious that the stranger was dying.

"The...sword-" The man coughed blood onto his callused hands. "-is cursed. Don't-" Saxsin stared as the stranger fell back, hand on the sword next to him.

Slowly, Saxsin pried the man's fingers off of the bone hilt. The pommel was a gold-like, but definitely too hard. The guard was made out of the same odd gold in the design of a dragon's skeleton. A fuller ran down the blade on both flats and the edge looked extremely sharp.

It was the most amazing sword that Saxsin had ever seen, and he had made some nice swords in his time. He took the scabbard from the dead man's waist and tied it to his own. His hands grabbed the stranger's black jacket and put it on. Never before had he felt so powerful.

Cries came from the direction of his house and, sheathing the sword, he raced home. He got there just as the midwife was wrapping the baby in a blanket. A girl, Saxsin smiled.

Suddenly the sword was in front of him. He could only watch in horror as the blade sliced through the midwife and decapitated his baby. Saxsin's wife screamed and he turned on her, struggling to let go of the hilt. It didn't seem like bone anymore, but a metal that sucked his hands into it. The screaming stopped and his wife's blood was sucked into the sword instead of dripping off.

"Saxsin," his friend Hugo breathed as he stared at the bodies through the doorway. "Saxsin, what did you do?"

Saxsin closed his eyes tight, but he heard his friend crumple to the floor. Tears ran down his cheek as he burst into the sunlight and raced to the forest.