Lawrence Watt-Evans: The Misenchanted Sword

“Hello,” he said, “I’m Valder; I own this inn. What can I do for you?”

The old man looked up at him, and Valder thought he saw a flicker of recognition in the ancient eyes. Then the old man looked away again and shook his head, as if telling himself he was imagining things. “Wine,” he said. “White wine.”

Valder fetched him wine, and after placing the cup before the old man he sat down across the table from him. “Pardon me, but I believe we’ve met before, a long time ago.”

The old man peered at him. “That soldier? In the marsh?”

Valder grinned. “It is you!”

“I’ll be damned,” the old man said. “So you made it after all!”

“I never expected to see you again!”

“Didn’t expect to see you, either—especially not after two hundred years.” The wizard gulped his wine.

“Two hundred and twenty-one, to be exact.”

“You keep count?”

“Well, it was a pretty important event in my life, getting my sword enchanted that way.”

“Suppose it was.” He gulped more wine. “Suppose I should apologize about that.”

“Apologize about what?”

“About getting the spell wrong. Not really my fault, though; the sun was down when I got to that part, and everything was all sooty.”

“Got to what part?”

“The Spell of True Ownership. I did it wrong. Conditions like that, who can tell a gold ring from a brass one?”

Valder stared for a long, long moment before he started to laugh.

Lawrence Watt-Evans is the author of more than two dozen novels, and more than a hundred short stories. Further information can be found on his webpage at www.watt-evans.com.