Blood & Steel

An ancient prophecy haunts the midrealms: a daughter of darkness will wield a blade in one hand and rule death with the other, and when her blade is drawn, the Veil—the towering wall of mist shielding the realm from monsters—will fall.

An ancient prophecy haunts the midrealms: a daughter of darkness will wield a blade in one hand and rule death with the other, and when her blade is drawn, the Veil—the towering wall of mist shielding the realm from monsters—will fall. Twenty years ago, a six-year-old girl holding a scythe of sacred steel triggered shadows that killed seven warriors at Thezmarr. In response, the Guild Master stripped every woman of her weapons and banned them from bearing arms. The warrior women left the fortress in fury, all except one: Audra, the librarian, who stayed to guard what she could no longer fight for.

A Warsword catches an alchemist with sacred steel

Thea is twenty-four, an orphan alchemist at the fortress of Thezmarr, and she carries a secret that should have killed her long ago: a Naarvian steel dagger, sacred to Warswords, gifted to her by a dying warrior named Malik. In a realm where women have been banned from bearing arms for twenty years—since a child's blade triggered a devastating prophecy—Thea trains alone in the Bloodwoods, dreaming of becoming a warrior before her fate stone's promise catches up with her at twenty-seven. When an arrow grazes her cheek one night and she drops her dagger in panic, she returns to find it missing. Wilder Hawthorne, the youngest and most infamous Warsword, stands among the trees, twirling her blade between tattooed fingers. He confiscates it and marches her straight to the Guild Master for judgment.

A librarian's thrown dagger becomes the strongest argument

The council room is hostile. The Guild Master, Vernich the Bloodletter, and Hawthorne all want Thea expelled—a woman with Naarvian steel is an insult to everything the guild protects. Then Audra, the stern-faced librarian who was once a warrior herself, strides in uninvited. She argues that Thezmarr's dwindling ranks and darkening threats demand fresh thinking. When the men scoff, Audra throws a dagger straight at Thea. Thea catches it midair by the jewelled hilt without flinching. The room goes silent. Audra cites a forgotten constitutional clause: in times of dire need, all capable may take up arms. She proposes Thea petition the midrealm rulers at an upcoming royal feast in Harenth. Even Hawthorne, who defends Audra's right to carry her ceremonial blades, cannot deny those reflexes. Reluctantly, the Guild Master agrees.