—
“Oh my God, Owen.”
“Now that’s what I like to hear,” Owen said, grinning as he hefted his sword over his shoulder.
“No.” Gavin pointed at him. “Put that down, get your regular sword.”
Owen looked at him innocently. “This is my regular sword. One of them, anyway.”
It was a two-handed broadsword that was as tall as he was. Franz had given it to him as thanks for saving his dog.
“No. That was a joke sword. Franz didn’t really mean for you to fight with it. If we go in there and try to fight orcs with it, you’re going to get killed.” Gavin had his arms crossed, standing firmly.
“Gavin,” Owen said patiently, lifting the sword a little in one hand. “Swords are all meant to be fought with, it’s just a matter of knowing how to use them. I’ve been practicing.”
“I am not having you die on me because you wanted to prove your manliness, Owen. No.”
“I’ve never died yet and I don’t plan to start.” Owen grinned. “And I don’t need to prove anything. There are a lot of orcs. This is the most efficient tool for the job.”
Owen mostly wanted to demonstrate that no sword was too big for him to handle, no matter what Franz thought.
Gavin sighed. “You are so obnoxious. Fine. But at least wear your armour.”
“Nah.”
“Owen.”
Owen smiled again, set the sword down and took off his shirt. “Know your enemy, right? Figured I’d go full orc for this one. They fight in their smallclothes, don’t they?”
“Because those are their only clothes,” Gavin said, tapping his foot as he watched Owen undress.
Owen shrugged, shucked off the rest of his clothes and hefted the sword again. “Do we have any war paint?”
“I’m alerting the others now that they’ll need to be ready for you to be hurt.” Gavin turned away, prepared to stalk off.
“I’ll be fine!”
“Uh-huh.”
“Gavin,” Owen called. “Don’t you want to hear what I call it?”
Gavin stopped, looked over his shoulder at Owen, at the huge weapon. He sighed. “What?”
A toothy grin. “Little Sword.”
Gavin looked at him for a second. Owen looked back. Gavin turned away. “You’re sleeping outside tonight.”
“Wait, what? Gavin! It’s funny, come on!” Owen followed after him, fully prepared to mow down orcs and fully prepared to convince Gavin of how great this all was, one way or the other.
—
How Best to Use a Sword 