The Thoughtful Knife

The Thoughtful Knife is an ancient Alka Alon enchanted weapon: a delta-winged flying blade controlled by the mental command of its operator. Despite the name, the Knife has no independent intelligence; it responds to its master's thought with the speed and deadly efficacy of pure intent. According to legend a Thoughtful Knife could slaughter whole regiments of guardsmen in seconds, with no rest required from the operator beyond the concentration to direct it.

Origin

The Thoughtful Knife dates to the Imperial-Alka Alon era, before the Inundation. The instance Sevendor came to possess was lent to Minalan by Lady Varen of the Avalanti kindred during the dragon crisis preceding the Dragonfall at Castle Cambrian, with the explicit understanding that it would be returned afterward.

Operation

Operating the Knife is described by Minalan as akin to riding a speeding stallion while standing up in the saddle and balancing a feather on your nose. The operator must maintain focused mental command throughout each engagement; the Knife loses control if the operator's attention falters. Practiced operators (notably Lady Dara) can direct it through complex spatial paths and against multiple targets in sequence.

Dara took to the Knife within moments of being given it — the same beastmaster Talent that let her ride her hawk Frightful's mind made her a natural Knife operator. She mastered it in the time it took Minalan to laboriously work out the basics.

The Dragonfall use

At the Dragonfall the Knife delivered the killing strike from inside the dragon's mouth, in coordinated tandem with Sir Cei's lance from outside. The Knife sliced forward toward the brainstem with the speed of pure thought; Cei's snowstone-loaded lance penetrated from the throat at the same moment; the dragon's neck was torn half-asunder and the beast died.

Earlier in the same engagement the Knife was used against the gurvani left flank to devastating effect; the blade sliced through goblin armour and flesh effortlessly, but the dragon's hide proved tough enough that the Knife alone could not penetrate it — hence the need for the joint Cei-Dara strike.

Subsequent use

The Knife was returned to Lady Varen after the Cambrian campaign. Its loan during the dragon crisis was the first time an Alka Alon weapon of that calibre had been entrusted to a humani operator in the modern era; the precedent contributed to the founding of the joint Beryen Council and the broader Tera Alon collaboration.