The Weapons Master’s Choice

by Terry Brooks

Published in 2013

In this Sword of Shannara era short story, we are entreated to a story of one of my favorite Shannara characters, Garet Jax. This is a prequel to his story we read about in the upcoming The Wishsong of Shannara and this is a story that takes place after we are chronologically introduced to him in Aftermath. In Aftermath, Garet Jax is a young boy learning to fight with the infamous Stee Jans and in this story we see an older Garet Jax and he has gained more experienced with his fighting skills.

We find Jax camping in the Wolfkstaag Mountains trying to find some peace and quiet on his way to Varfleet when a stranger approaches and joins him by the fire. The stranger is a woman named Lyriana who has been seeking the Weapons Master and asked for him by name when she joined his camp. She comes seeking for help on behalf of her city, Tajarin, as a Warlock named Kronswiff who has been decimating her people. Tajarin is far east and north on the shores of the Tiderace (to be explored and explained more in detail in a later series). She begs for his help saying he is the only one that can help her and promises to pay him all of their gold and silver that she has. Jax is wary of the stranger and her request for help.

During the night they are attacked by mercenaries of the Het, during which a crossbow bolt is shot at Lyriana and it seemed to be a death strike, but she comes out unscathed while Jax is injured during the fighting. Lyriana uses a treatment that heals Jax immediately to his wonderment. Jax decides to go with her to help her and her people.

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It’s a seven to eight day hike to her city and along the way they talk and Garet Jax tries to get more information out of Lyriana. She talks about the Warlock and how he drains the souls out of people like a dracul does. As they continue on their journey, Garet Jax realizes he is attracted to her but Lyriana warns him not to touch her and asks him just to sit with her and to be with her.

They arrive to Tajarin and Jax is surprised at what he sees as the city looks charred as if by a fire and looks to be a dead city. They sneak into the city under cover of night and Lyriana leads him to a complex that they infiltrate and search for the chamber where the Warlock, Kronswiff, resides. Lyriana makes Jax promise her that he won’t let Kronswiff take her alive, to which he promises. They arrive at the chamber and see Kronswiff laying on a couch on a platform in the middle of the chamber. There are over twenty Het mercenaries there as well. There are also bodies in the room that the Warlock has fed on and are now just human husks. Jax and Lyriana watch as another woman is brought in to the room and they get to see firsthand how Kronswiff drains the soul out of the woman. Jax decides to intervene before more lose their lives. Jax asks Lyriana to release him of his promise, which she does.

Garet Jax makes his way to get as close as he can without being seen and when another person is brought in for the Warlock and everyone’s attention is on that, Jax attacks and is able to throw a knife into the chest of Kronswiff. But it isn’t enough as he is a powerful Warlock and Jax figures that he will need to cut off his head to kill him. The Het attack and Jax is able to avoid being killed and as Kronswiff attempts to leave, Jax follows him. It is then that he sees Lyriana using magic to help him avoid being killed by the Het and he is able to catch up to Kronswiff. Kronswiff attempts to suck the life out of Jax, but as he closes in he uses his short sword to cut off Kronswiff’s head, killing him. The remaining Het see that their employer is dead and they immediately flee the city.

Afterwards, he asks Lyriana about her magic and why she didn’t tell him about it. She apologizes and tells him that she didn’t think that it would be strong enough to matter against Kronswiff. This is how earlier when they first met the crossbow bolt didn’t injure her as she was able to use her magic to stop it. They go and find the rest of the people of the her city and free them, Jax sees that they all have some wounds and that pieces of their face and bodies were missing. Jax asks Lyriana what is wrong with these people, and she tells him that they are lepers. She tells him that lepers from all over the Four Lands have come to this city to live and support each other in their tribulations. Kronswiff and the Het came to their city and took advantage of the people and the Warlock selfishly used them for his own needs.

Lyriana takes Jax to her room and gives him a bag full of gold coins for his payment. Jax says that he doesn’t want payment, that he wants to be with her. Lyriana again tells him that a relationship between them won’t work and she reveals that she is a leper too. Lyriana has been able to slow down her leprosy with the use of her magic, but lately it has been getting worse. She encourages him to take the coins and go, which Jax does; but before leaving he gives Lyriana a kiss despite the risk of contracting leprosy. Jax heads back to the Wolfkstagg and then on to Varfleet eventually moving past the feelings he had for Lyriana as he heads on to the next adventure.

While I enjoyed reading more about Garet Jax and his adventures, I didn’t really enjoy the plot of the story and the other characters are very bland. I like the idea of someone seeking out the Weapons Master for his skills and that he is willing to help out. I felt the story resolved itself too quickly, and that for a short story that it was well…too short. There wasn’t enough time to get invested in Lyriana and the plight of her people and the evilness of the villain, Kronswiff. The story lacks the usual Terry Brooks character development that always sucks me in.

I think with the last short story, Aftermath, it involved a character we already knew and loved, Stee Jans, and then a young Garet Jax which Brooks could focus his attention on and develop in the training situation and also we knew he would show up later in the Saga. With this story, Jax was the main character but Lyriana was a character that has no long term story and unfortunately is very one dimensional.

Overall I give the story a 2 out of 5, as a result that it was good to revisit Garet Jax but not much else was intriguing.

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