"Of course, Sir Hum--" Bruce started to say, but Humphrey held up a hand to stop him, mid word.

"Careful, lad," the knight cautioned. "You must be content to call me 'Sir,' only, from now on. As far as any we meet be concerned, I am a merchant of South Port, and no knight. Understand?"

"Aye, Sir..." he said, but caught himself before adding Humphrey's name. "Aye, sir," he repeated, and smiled.

"Good lad. Now, if you will put up what remains of our provisions, both of you should get some sleep. I will stand a short watch," he told them, brushing crumbs from his tunic front.

"Very well, uncle," Isabelle said, and began helping Bruce to clean up what was left of their break fast meal.

Humphrey took a walk around the perimeter of their enclosure, to check that the area surrounding them was still safe, and made sure the horses were well tended, before removing his sword from its scabbard and sitting down at the same oak he had used as a backstop earlier. He had not the time, before now, to clean his weapon with care after dispatching the two guards last night, so took up the oil rag and set about to polish the blade, removing all evidence of the bloody encounter.

He looked up a short time later, to see Bruce and Isabelle lying close to each other in the shade, not far from where the horses grazed, both of them seemingly already asleep. When his attention turned back to his sword, he held the weapon out and watched a rainbow of sunlight dance along the gleaming blade. Humphrey knew well the story behind this weapon; his father had told the tale often enough when he had been but a lad. After it had been forged, the dwarves had named the sword, saesi bora, which in the dwarfish tongue meant, 'Born of the Stars.' Humphrey's great grandfather had chosen to shorten that name just a bit, and called it, Star Born. And so the sword had been known for more than fifty years.

The tale of its making said that one night, many and many a year ago, a group of dwarves who had been collecting firewood were returning home, when a flaming rock came out of the sky and crashed to earth not far from them. After the burning hunk of iron had cooled, the dwarves took it to one of their master weapons makers, and offered the star stone to him as material for forging a marvelous sword. Knowing this was a special gift from the stars, the smith kept the metal, waiting until an opportunity arose to forge a weapon equal to this gift.

When the goblin and orc war broke out, this smith--along with every other dwarf smith up and down the realm--were busy making and repairing more common weapons for their army. Nearly five years later, with the war finally over, the dwarf king sought a reward for one of their human warrior allies; he who had helped to return his throne and kingdom to him. Hearing this, our smith pulled forth his rock from the stars and forged with it a mighty sword. It took extreme heat and much sweat to form this star piece into an earthly sword, but when completed, the blade was nigh onto unbreakable and held a keen edge longer than any other weapon then known. The dwarves named the sword, saesi bora, and it was given gratefully by the king to Humphrey's great grandfather.