The Shards of Mercy
Long ago, the youngest son of a king decided that he would devote himself to
the healing arts. His country had long been plagued by wars with a neighboring
state, and healers were much in demand. This young prince, seeing his homeland
ravaged by war, and observing the hideous wounds he was called upon to mend,
came to believe that war was an evil act, and devoted himself entirely to the
preservation of life.
In this, he was alone among his family. One by one his elder brothers rode off into battle, and one by one, they were slain. Finally, his aging father was killed in a sneak attack, leaving the throne empty, with no heir but the youngest son.
At first the prince refused the throne, preferring instead to remain within the peacefully neutral walls of the Healer's Guild. It soon became apparent, however that his kingdom would be plunged into an even more bloody civil war to choose a successor. Reluctantly, he allowed himself to be crowned.
He nearly abdicated again when he discovered that his troops fully expected him to lead them into battle personally, as their supreme general. The very thought of being personally responsible for the actions of his armies repulsed him, however, his clever advisors pointed out that as general he would be in an excellent position to minimize the bloodshed. Another ruler might wage war for money, or power, or the simple joy of killing. He would go to battle only in dire necessity.
In time the king relented and took on the duties of his office. In order to lead his armies, he required training in arms. This he undertook with the diligence of a man determined to do a job so well that it never required doing again. Indeed he excelled in the use of weapons until the weapons master was hard put to find him worthy opponents to spar against. Finally the king began practicing with the weapons master himself, until one day, he dealt such a blow with the practice sword that the wood shattered and staked the weapons master through the heart. Immediately, the king rushed to heal him, but he was too late. The weapons master perished, blood frothing from his mouth, but with a look of stark admiration on his face.
The king howled in anguish, and flung the useless hilt away from him, and charged to the castle's forge. Raving to his concerned assistants that he would wield no weapon that could not undo the damage that it might cause, he seized tools of metalworking. Hefting an anvil on his shoulder, he stalked off to a tower. There, he ordered all occupants out, and locked himself in. He remained there for three long years. His ranting and the wound of metal on metal often rang out in the night. In his absence, his advisors did their best to hold the kingdom together, and hold its enemies at bay. Rebellion spread like wildfire, and the borders were slowly and inexorably pushed inward. When all seemed most hopeless, the king emerged from his tower, and he bore with him a sword. The steel had been magnificently wrought. The guard was unsurpassed in workmanship, and the blade was more keen and fine than dawn's first light. Raising the sword, he called for a horse, and rode off to battle.
It was perhaps the most unusual battle in history. While the king was unbeatable,
and his supreme command of tactics won him the day, not a single man died. When
any man fell, the king would stride up to him, and lay his sword lightly upon
him, whereupon his wounds would vanish. True to his healer's oath, the king
did not discriminate, healing the fallen enemy as well as his own men. So many
of the opposing troops joined his cause in gratitude that the battle soon became
a rout, and that shrank to a mere murmur, until only the two kings remained
to face one another. One king was backed by twice the army he had come with,
and the other stood alone.
They fought briefly, and the healer king quickly disarmed his opponent, and
closed in, his magical sword poised towards his opponent's throat. That opponent
braced himself for death. The healer-king had in fact detected a scratch upon
the cheek of his opponent, and touching his sword to the man's flesh, he healed
it. At this unexpected kindness, the opposing king fell to his knees and swore
his eternal loyalty to the man who had conquered him, not by defeating his army,
but by restoring it. Thus did the Healer-king double his lands and end war upon
and within his borders. He ruled wisely and well for the remainder of his years.
King Darian of Tanelon insured that the name of his sword would endure, for
he had named it "Mercy". When at last he died, he left Mercy to his
only son with grave precautions against using the sword to destroy. His son,
however, was young, vain, and greedy for power.
The young king manipulated a border dispute with a neighboring nation until it burst into war. He led his armies forth, ready to conquer and increase his lands. As he deployed his forces, one of his generals dared to argue with him, reminding him of his father's policies of peace, and careful diplomacy.
The young king grew wroth at this, and the argument became so heated that he drew forth the sword Mercy, and struck the general such a blow as should have cleft his head from his shoulders. To the general's astonishment, and the king's dismay, the head remained in place, and Mercy shattered into three pieces. The young king had the general arrested for the destruction of the magical sword, and rode into battle with a lesser blade. He and his entire army were slain. Of all his forces, only the general survived, and since he was discovered as a prisoner, he was shown mercy by the enemy and allowed to leave the country with the shards of Mercy as a reminder of their defeat.
For countless generations, as the kingdom was overrun, divided, and conquered countless times, the shards of Mercy were scattered. One shard alone was recovered by the general in his old age. Since then, his descendants have guarded that single shard, and quested in search of the other two.
Magical things have a tendency to converge themselves against all probability, as fate is greater than chance.. The conquerors hid one piece in a secret place, and devised terrible traps to guard it. Their hiding place was discovered by trolls who slew and ate the guards set upon it, but never found the treasure that they died to keep.
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AFTERNOTE: The shards of Mercy were found and reforged by the shade of King
Darian in the Hero's Graveyard in 994 H.E.