Page 33 of A Tribute of Fire

A gift? That wasn’t at all like him.

Demaratus reached to his side and pulled out his xiphos. He laid the sword across his left forearm and offered it to me.

I hesitated, sure that I was misunderstanding.

“It’s all right. I want you to have it.”

Swords of this type were very expensive and were usually passed on from father to son. I reached for the handle and held it up. It wasdouble-edged with a leaf-shaped blade, forged with Chalcidian steel. Wider at the tip, cinched in the middle, tapering in at the bottom just above the cross guard.

The weight at the top made it perfect for hacking, slashing, and thrusting.

It was an elegant weapon and fit perfectly into my hand.

The xiphos was the most meaningful and thoughtful gift he ever could have given me.

“I thought you sold this years ago for drinking money,” I said, trying to swallow down the lump in my throat.

“I did. But then I persuaded the man who had bought it to return it to me.”

“By the goddess, Demaratus! Is he still alive?”

“Yes,” he said defensively. As if the buyer’s death weren’t a very real possibility. “It’s much better than the toy you’ve been carrying around with you.”

The sword was only twelve inches long—not much longer than my dagger. “My dagger isn’t a toy. It stabs people just fine.”

“This will stab people better.”

I tested the weight, slashing through the air in front of me. “Why is the Daemonian xiphos so much shorter than other swords?”

He shrugged one shoulder. “Battles were becoming too easy. We had to do something to keep the fighting interesting.”

I let the sword drop to my side in my surprise. “Was that a jest?” I asked, shocked.

He raised both of his eyebrows but didn’t respond.

I’d finally gotten Demaratus to joke with me and all it had taken was me facing death.

He cleared his throat and said, “Hundreds of years ago, when the Sasanians invaded our lands, they sent envoys that demanded a tribute of earth and water. They were symbolic tokens of complete submission. Do you know how the Daemonians answered their request? They threw the envoy down a deep well.”

“They did?”

“Yes. The envoy was told that he was free to gather as much water and earth as he wanted at the bottom.” Demaratus crossed his arms. “The Ilionians want the same from you. You and your sister are the tribute of earth and water. They want your total surrender, to give up everything and everyone you hold dear. Do not give it to them! Instead, shove a tribute of fire and steel down their throats!”

I had to look away from him, down at the ground. My throat was thick, my eyes burning. “I will.” It took me several seconds before I got my emotions back under control and could face him again. “I promise.”

He nodded in satisfaction and we stood there in silence for a few beats before I said, “You’ve been very verbose today.”

Demaratus reached for his wineskin. “I needed to start drinking early.”

And while he didn’t say that I was the reason, I knew that I was.

“Remember to not panic,” he reminded me. “Panic always leads to death.”

“I know. I won’t.” Then I confessed the thing that I had been carrying around inside me, because he was the only one who would truly understand. “I’m afraid.”

“The code says that there is no honor in a man who rushes to war because he doesn’t care if he dies. There is valor in battle for those who desire to live. Courage can only exist in the same space that fear does.”

I’d heard this before. “Why do you still hold to the code of a nation who rejected you?”

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