Walking on a Swordblade

Walking on a Swordblade
Basic Information
Type	Book
Author(s)	Szuszalan
Date	1352 DR
Volume(s)	1

Walking on a Swordblade was a book written by Szuszalan, an adventurer known as "the Warrior Maid", in the Year of the Dragon, 1352 DR.

“

It was a thrill, my first handful of gold. More coin than most men ever see in a lifetime of toil! Beautiful, gleaming gold, worked in delicate designs of lost Myth Drannor! Heavy and soft in my fingers as I turned them over and over... it was a joy, that night! And I had won all this with the strength of my own wits and swordarm!

The next gold gave me a brief pleasure—I'd done it again! Soon, though, the gold, the silver, even the gems failed to excite. I began to understand the hunger of older warriors after magic. At least it carried its own dangers, its own living, waiting thrill.

For me, adventure grew stale. When I look back now, 'tis not the great triumphs I recall, not the evil dragon dying under my blade, or the lich crumbling to dust as we fought—'tis the laughter of friends around a campfire, and the feel of my first gold in my fingers. Not because they were gold, but because they were MINE.

”

— Szuszalan, Walking on a Swordblade

Contents

The book was a biography of Szuszalan's adventuring life as a member of the Circle of Steel and as founder of The Company of the Fiery Fane, and was written looking back on her life from her old age and retirement to Goldenfields. Elminster and Ed of the Greenwood used the above passage as an example of the importance of adventures and also of the short-lived nature of pleasure and triumph.

Availability

The original of the book was kept in Candlekeep by the early 1370s DR.