Novel; about 165.000 words, 1994.
Book 1 : Kabir
The world described in the novel is unprecedented among the works of
the world fantasy. Its history and geography is very like the Earth in
Middle Ages, but with an essential difference: here all arms such as swords,
spears etc. have a mind of their own. Arms of the same type form something
like human families or clans. The living swords etc. call themselves
"Brilliants", and they consider the human beings to be but their "Carriers",
like dogs or horses, and don't even suppose that they are intelligent too.
And the people in their turn have not the slightest idea about the way
things are. Nevertheless, this society is rather stable: the skill of
fencing being raised to the level of high art any duels never result in the
blood-spilling or Carriers's death. Thanks to easily understandable reasons
the wars have also been forgotten long ago. In one word, this world is a
kind of "feudal utopia".
But we learn that something is going wrong there. Mysterious and bloody
murders began to happen in a number of towns. Not only people are killed,
but also the intelligent arms happen to be destroyed. Such things have not
happened here for almost eight centuries!
The main heroes of the novel are the upright sword Dan Ghien called the
Unicorn and its Carrier - a young nobleman Chan Unkor.
The scimitar Sheshez ruling over the Emirate (from the Brilliants'
point of view) invites the Unicorn to investigate those crimes. The same
task is given by the man-Emir Daud to Chan Unkor.
As the result Chan himself gets into trouble: during a fencing
competition his right hand was cut away. Being under the psychic influence
(unaware of it) exercized by his sword, the young man feels that he cannot
live without fencing and tries the last remedy: following the advice given
to him by the Emir's jester Druddle he orders a smith to forge an iron hand
for him, although he understood very clearly that this was a nonsense.
But as the result of secret ancient rites the iron hand acquires life
of its own! It becomes the intermediary between the man and his sword, a
link between the two intelligent races. The heroes understand that in order
to oppose the murderers they have now to change their minds; soon they
manage to overcome the interdiction to kill inherent to both of them while
saving the life of the jester Druddle in a city street at night. The same
night the man and his sword together with the jester's blunt dagger Dziuttee
which is more widely known as the Kabir Executioner leave the capital
following the footsteps of the murderers towards the native country of
Chan's ancestors, Maylan (closely reminding the ancient China). Their
butlers (the man Kos Antanya and the Estoc sword Zarrahid) decide to
accompany their masters during the dangerous journey in spite of the orders
given to them to stay at home.
But the heroes had still to learn that some other companions were going
after them. Should they had known that in advance...
Book 2 : Maylan
The road to Maylan was abundant with adventures; the heroes got better
acquainted with one another, now they not only cooperate but from time to
time create a new entity, "man-sword". They meet a smart old woman called
Mother Tsi who is searching for some ancient secrets, they learn the details
of Kabirean history and inform their companions about the symbiosis they
live in, and at last arrive safely to Maylan. Here the heroes enter into
possession of their family inheritance and at the same time they find out
that the princess of Maylan who had become a widow being still very young is
aspiring to marry Chan. Their investigation is likely to be interrupted, but
suddenly a number of strange events happens around the heroes, all of them
evidently having the goal to destroy the wedding. In the whirl of these
around-wedding events the heroes manage to find the trace of the murderers
(both men and the Brilliants) leading to an ancient Batinite sect whose
members use the mortal duels in their rituals.
The Batinites (men and their swords called "the Tarnished" consider
that the original destination of both human beings and arms was to kill, and
they are obliged not to forget it.
But it is found out that the sectarians didn't take part in the crimes
committed in Kabir! The real murderers are at last found (and among them the
man and the sword who had cut away Chan's hand). The night murderers turned
out to be the citizens of Kabir who had been taken prisoners by the nomad
tribe in a distant land of Shulma and ran away in order to rescue their
native land. The point is that the savage nomads are going to attack Kabir,
and the murderers decided to sacrifice themselves: to rouse the inhabitants
of Kabir, to remind them of the old warrior skills and in such a way to save
the land from perishing. In a secret underground temple many people and
their arms meet to fulfill the ritual duel-sacrifice: the Batinites, the
runaway Kabireans, a revenger pursuing his foes (who earlier had been shown
as an episodic character), Chan Unkor with his Unicorn, the Kabir
Executioner and other personnages...
When the duel was in its full swing, a woman messenger arrived from a
village situated near the border: it has been attacked by the nomads. The
invasion began! The ritual was interrupted; the heroes ride as soon as
possible to meet the fate awaiting them in the ravaged village...
Book 3 : Shulma
The inhabitants of the village have been all slaughtered; their
Brilliants are also dead and thrown down into a well. The advanced
detachment of the Shulmus attack the company of the heroes, the battle
begins; in the last moment the Kabireans are supported by their friends
(both men and their Brilliants) who had followed them secretly. During the
battle the Kabireans managed to overcome the interdiction to kill and defeat
the Shulmus utterly; those who were lucky to stay alive were taken as
prisoners. The nomads are overwhelmed by the fighting skills of their
enemies, moreover, due to a casual coincidence of words they suppose Chan
Unkor to be the incarnation of the Yellow God Mo, the highest war deity of
Shulma. During the duel between Chan Unkor and the chief of Shulmus scouts
Chan's right hand, made of iron, is uncovered by chance, and this put an end
to all doubts of the Shulmus.
The Kabireans go to Shulma; Kush-Tengry, a clairvoyant shaman abiding
in the steppe goes to meet them because he forebodes great changes. Having
arrived to a holy place where it is forbidden to fight, the Kabireans and
the shaman soon found common language. It comes out that some time ago a
High Gurkhan (chief governor) had appeared in Shulma and united all tribes
in order to lead them to Kabir. This Gurkhan is evidently a native Kabirean.
And Cinqueda, a short sword (his Brilliant) in its turn united the
intelligent arms of the Shulmus that stayed until then in a savage state. In
the holy place a variety of events happen until the Shulmus hords surround
it.
There follows a duel between Gurkhan and Chan Unkor. A stone thrown
unexpectedly from a sling stunned the Kabirean, but the Unicorn and the iron
hand save his life; while Chan is unconscious, the Unicorn, controls the
iron hand holding it and continues to fight. When Chan comes to his senses
he joins the battle, tears off the armour of the defeated Gurkhan - and
finds out that the leader of the Shulmus is a woman!
The ashamed nomads try to kill their former leader, but the Kabireans
prevent them from doing this. The body-guards of the impostor Gurkhan take
Chan's side believing him to be the god.
Epilogue: Ambassadors from Shulma (the shaman Kush-Tengry and a friend
of Chan Unkor's) come to the Kabirean Emirate. They meet the old Emir and
the jester Druddle who had survived only by pure chance. There's no peace in
the Emirate. The extremist part of the Batinites raised their heads. The
peace treaty with Shulma seems to promise a happy end - but already a smith
and an alchemist demonstrate in the presence of Emir the first sample of an
arquebuse and the action of a powder bomb, proposing to use the new arms for
the overcoming of the inner and external enemies.
A new epoch stnds on the threshold. This world would never again be the
same it had been before...
This tale is told in turns by the sword Unicorn and its Carrier Chan
Unkor. The action unfolds on the background of the crucial changing of the
whole world's destinies. The numerous battle episodes are followed by
philosophical discourses and dialogues, together with the psychological
portraits of the heroes; original ideas are formulated, both ethic and
fantastic. The adventures of the main heroes sometimes are tragical, but
here and there humour and soft irony are woven into them. Besides this the
novel contains several poetic fragments.
The novel is written on the merge of "fantasy" and "alternative
history". It combines dynamic plot with deep philosophical and psychological
problems, in particular with moral aspects of fighting arts.
The novel "THE WAY OF THE SWORD" was highly appreciated by the readers;
it became an extremely popular book. This novel was published five times in
Russia, the number of copies amount to seventy thousands.
The novel "The Way of the Sword" got "The Great Zilant" prize at
"ZilantCon" SF & Fantasy Festival in Kazan (Russia) in 1999.
-- Here's a man standing at the crossway
between life and death. How should he behave
himself?
-- Obviate your duality and let only your
sword stand against the sky.
From the talks of Kusunoki
Masasighe with his teacher
Part 1. The sword of the man.
Chapter 1.
We met the Kharzian near the corner tower Al-Koutuna in a dirty
narrow lane of Jaffar-lo quarter -- there the streets are numerous and
tangled like the threads of a worn sword-knot. Its Carrier stood in our
way, with his crooked legs wide apart and his head bowed to the shoulder.
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