[CookingwiththeCobra]

The Battle of the Three Swords

[Renegade Jade | Riot Jade]

“Come on, what’s taking so long,” Riot shifted his body weight to the left making his foot sink deeper into the loose dirt on the edge of the freshly dug hole.

“You are not the one down here digging a hole,” Renegade looked up and wiped away sweat from his forehead.

“Rene, I can’t help dig. I am manning the flashlight,” he grinned.

“Will you get down here and help,” Renegade shoved the shovel into the dirt. He looked down in confusion when it hit something metal, “I think there is something down here?”

“Oh come on we are here to bury some cash not uncover buried treasure,” Riot bent down and started to slide down into the hole. Once down there they both bent down and started to pull out the metal object, “what the hell…” They pulled it out and threw it out of the whole. They both climbed out of the hole and Riot shined the flashlight at it.

“It’s an old sword, what’s it doing buried in the ground?” Renegade asked as he picked it up.

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“Who cares just through it into the bed of the truck and we can think about it later. First we need to get all the money into the ground,” Riot headed to the back of the pickup and pulled out a huge duffle bag and threw it into the hole.

“Okay,” Rene grabbed the sword and placed it into the bed before picking up the shovel and started to but the dirt back into the hole.

By the time the hole was refilled the rays of the morning sun were peeking over the horizon. They got into the truck and started to drive back into town. Renegade and Riot Jade were brothers who lived in town. They had lived there their whole lives and all the townsfolk knew the funny brothers. Except something they didn’t know was that several years ago both of them decided to start robbing banks in nearby cities. They would bury the money in different spots until the heat was off of them then go and unbury it.

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“Alright so we need to have a cover story if we want to go and start asking around about that old piece of junk,” Rene turned the wheel and pulled into a parking spot outside the towns pawn shop.

“We could say that our sprinkler wasn’t working so we had to go and dig it up and we ran across it,” Riot suggested.

“That’s a good idea except that we didn’t dig up our sprinklers so if they drive by our place they’ll see that we lied,” he shot his brother down.

“Okay how about I drop you off here with the sword and I drive back home and dig up the sprinklers,” Riot was already opening up the door.

Renegade sighed, “I guess except for the fact that nothing is wrong with our sprinklers.”

“No, no it will be fine. Just see what Joe has to say about the old thing. It will most likely be nothing anyways,” they were now both out of the truck.

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Renegade watched as his brother drove off to go dig up their yard over ‘most likely nothing’. He sighed and carefully carried the old sword into the pawn shop, “hey Joe!”

A heavy set man in his early forties came walking out of the back room, “hey boy, what can I do for you today Rene?”

“Well yesterday me and my brother were digging up our sprinkler system when we ran into this buried in the ground,” he set the dirty blade onto the counter.

“Oh wow, that looks pretty old,” he ran his hands over the hilt. Joe scratched his forehead, “give me one minute, I think I might have something on this.” He walked into the back room again and emerged a minute later carrying a book.

[CookingwiththeCobra]

He flipped it open and scanned the index before turning the book to a page near the back. It was titled, The Battle of the Three Swords. The man put a chubby finger on the paged and scanned over it. “Yeah here it is, listen, it’s been over 213 years but the third sword has yet to be discovered. And looked at this drawing, it looks an awful lot like the old thing you’ve got here,” Joe looked up from the page.

Renegade frowned, “what’s The Battle of the Three Swords?”

Joe scoffed, “what do I look like a history major? I don’t know, I just own a pawn shop. What I can tell you is that this is most likely worth a lot and it might be worth looking into in a town nearby.”

“Yeah okay, give me the directions and I’ll look into it, thanks again Joe,” he picked up the sword and headed back outside to call his brother off of digging up the front yard.

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Riot looked out the side window and sighed, “how far away is this town?”

“Not much farther according to Joe’s directions,” Rene turned the wheel pulling into the small beaten up town.

“Are you sure he gave you the right directions,” his brother frowned as he looked at the surroundings. The town was a mixture of trailer trash and a ghost town.

“Yeah this is it. He said we could talk to a guy that owns the general store,” he pulled up in front the store and parked. They both got up and walked into the empty store headed to the front counter. There was a man sitting in a chair with his feet propped up on the counter and a magazine in front of his face.

[CookingwiththeCobra]

Riot cleared his throat, “excuse me I was told that you could help us out.”

The man behind the counter snorted and then spat into the garbage can that was underneath the counter. He set the magazine down and put his feet on the ground. When he spoke he had a thick southern accent, “I don’t help nobody unless there’s money involved.”

Riot gave a look to his brother before continuing on, “Joe sent us. We found a sword buried in our yard and he said you could tell us more about it.”

The man squinted his eyes suspiciously, “let me see it.”

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Renegade nodded and walked off to go retrieve the sword. On his way out there he thought about not getting it at all and driving home. This man didn’t look reliable and he already mentioned that he liked money. He didn’t want the guy to run off with his sword if he thought it worth something. However it was two against one and the man might actually know something so he brought back inside the empty store even though it was open.

He laid it down getting dirt and little pieces of rust on the counter, “here it is. Joe said it might have something to do with the Battle of the Three Swords.”

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The guy snorted, “that war happened over two hundred years ago and it’s still screwin’ this damn town up, that is if you could still call this place a town.”

“What happened?” Riot asked.
“Come on and you can read for yourself. It ruined this place but ironically it’s the only keeping it afloat,” he moved from around the counter started to head outside. Rene grabbed the sword and him and his brother followed the man.

The walked into the center of the town where a statue stood. There was a podium that rose five feet into the air and onto were three swords crossed. On the podium there was a plaque that read:
“At the end of the day, all blood runs red.”
-The Battle of the Three Swords

[CookingwiththeCobra]

They continued on until they reached a building that looked older than time and when they went inside it didn’t look much different. It smelt musty and stale and a thick layer of dust hung in the air. The man called out, “Mandy you in here?”

“Yeah Kurt, I’m in the back I be out in a sec,” the lady yelled back barely being heard due to the amount of junk that had been stuffed into the small building. A minute later a middle aged woman came scooting out from around the towering stacks of stuff. She put on a friendly smile when she saw the man wasn’t alone, “Kurt you didn’t tell me you had guests.”

[CookingwiththeCobra]

“Nah, I don’t have guest, you do though. These kids are askin’ about the battle,” he finished his sentence with a cough and then he continued to spit what he coughed up into the garbage can.

Mandy’s glowed in delight when she heard what he said, she turned to the brothers, “is it true?”

Renegade nodded, “yeah me and my brother found this in our yard.” He held the sword up and set it down on a stack flattened boxes that bridged over two filing cabinets.

She looked over the sword and then gasped when she looked at the hilt, “do you know what this is?”

“We were hoping you could tell us,” Riot chuckled at the ladies enthusiasm.

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“Oh okay, okay I’ll tell you the story of the Battle of the Three Swords,” she patted her skirt out and moved some boxes off a few stools giving room for them to sit down.

“Alright, I gotta go, see you around Mandy,” Kurt waved as he walked out of the crowded room.

They all took seats and Mandy cleared her throat, “okay so a hundred and ninety-eight years ago three men came to this area. Together they brought life, success, and modernism the area. Years went by and their country started to thrive. It was around this time that they had decided to discuss how they should rule their land.”

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She cleared her throat and continued on, “the first man was hardened in the face and always wore a scowl. His features were sharp and angled giving him a menacing aura. He believed that they came from an area with a higher blood status than the people that they governed. Therefore he thought that there should be a very distinct hierarchy where they belonged on top and everyone beneath them.”

“What does this have to do with our sword?” Riot was becoming impatient and sitting in the dusty room wasn’t helping.

“Be patient,” Rene snapped at him and then motioned for her to carry on.

[CookingwiththeCobra]

She nodded, “the second man was weak and brittle. His hand shook and he was very pale due to him spending the majority of his time indoors reading. Being extremely intelligent he believed that there should be no government at all.”

“Like a hippy,” Riot interrupted again.

“Rio stop, please Mandy carry on,” Rene glared at his brother.
“He read about governments that stood taller than their people and he believed that led to angry citizens and a cold life. He thought that everyone should be free to do as they please and that everything will work itself out,” she paused waiting for them to speak.

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When there was no interruptions she began to speak again, “the third man was strong and a great leader. It wasn’t because he was smart or fierce but because he could listen. His main goal was greatness and he thought the way to that was through understanding and listening to his people. He believed people needed laws, not to restrict them but to guide them. Guidelines to help direct them in the right direction. He also wanted them to be equal and that everyone needed to follow these rules including themselves.”

Rene was the one to stop her from talking this time, “did they go with the third man’s belief?”