Gale slid the case from the long blade and held it in his palm, letting the firelight flicker on it.

He balanced it and tested the feel of its handle against his palm, then tried the edge of it with his thumb-nail, and found it honed like a razor.
"A child could kill with it," said Alluna.

"Both edges of the blade are so thin that a finger's weight will bury it.

One should hold the wrist firmly till it pierces through the coat, that is all--after that the flesh takes it easily, like butter." The glancing, glinting light flashing from the deadly thing seemed to fascinate the man, for he held it a long while silently.

Then he spoke.
"For fifteen years I've been a haunted man, with a soul like a dark and dismal garret peopled with bats and varmints that flap and flutter all the time.