The Celestial Globe: The Kronos Chronicles: Book II Read Free

invisible sword isn’t easy to hide. But if you’re going to forge one, you obviously have some interest in secrecy, so why not do what you can to maximize that?
    “Now, what did I want to tell you? Ah, yes, the left hand. Since the blade is on the short side, your ability to thrust it at your opponent is limited. Your
reach
is limited. So that means that you need to compensate by learning how to use your left hand, too. With that hand you can hold a dagger, and use it to block blows and swipe at your opponent. What happens if your dagger is knocked away? There’s room enough for your left hand as well as your right on this hilt. That will give your blows more force. Do you feel the swirls of steel arcing over the hilt? That’s to protect your fingers, in case someone tries to make you drop the sword by hacking at them. Remember that a master of fencing should be able to wield a sword just as well with the left hand as with the right. If you let your left arm stick out uselessly like a tree branch, it will get lopped off like one.”
    Petra stared. She had often wondered what would happen if her father ever caught her with the sword he had made and hidden away. Usually, she imagined a lot of yelling. Not this.
    Mikal Kronos noticed her surprise. “I thought carefully about how to craft a sword that would work best for you.”
    “You really made it for
me
?”
    He nodded. “You’re a tall girl, Petra, and quick. But slender. The sword had to be light enough for you to wield easily. That”—he tapped the invisible sword and it rang like a bell—“is made with crucible steel. It has a hard spine yet also enough spring to absorb shocks. It won’t break. This blade is double-edged, which gives you the freedom to cut from many directions as well as thrustat your opponent with the sword’s point. This sword is meant to do damage, Petra, and I mean for you to do damage against anyone who tries to hurt you.
Anyone.
”
    These words were so unlike Petra’s gentle father, who always shook a log free of beetles before placing it on a fire. “How do you know so much about swords?”
    “Now, really, Petra,” said Astrophil. “Where do you think I found books on fencing? Where else but Master Kronos’s library?”
    “But, Father, you never told me you know how to fence.”
    “I don’t. I only know the principles. You have to know the basics of fencing in order to forge a sword.” He hesitated, and then said exactly what Petra hoped he wouldn’t: “If you were able to go to the Academy, you would be taught how to use a sword properly.”
    Petra gritted her teeth. This argument wasn’t old, but it felt that way. “Well, I can’t go to the Academy. And I don’t want to. You never even asked me if I wanted to.” The Academy was a school for magic that admitted only children of high society, not lowly villagers like her. Petra’s father had hoped, however, that an exception would be made in her case, and that is why he had agreed to build the prince’s clock.
    “Petra, you should have the opportunities I didn’t. You’ve been gifted with a magical ability. If you learned how to use it, you could be better than I am—”
    “No, I couldn’t!” she burst out. “I can’t do anything!”
    That is not true,
Astrophil spoke silently in her mind.
    “Talking with Astro the way you do doesn’t count, Father. I don’t have your talent. I can’t make metal move just by thinking about it. You
know
that. We’ve been practicing for
weeks
.”
    “You are still young. It may take some time.”
    “I’m not
that
young. I’m thirteen. Tomik made his first Marvel when he was my age.” Petra pressed her point, even though she hoped to be proven wrong. “In Prague, I thought that maybe . . .that maybe I was more talented than I am. Astrophil and I could talk without opening our mouths. When I picked up a knife, I thought I could
feel
it inside my mind. But that was my imagination.”
    “You broke the clock’s