RULES FOR A MAGIC SWORD

RULES FOR A MAGIC SWORD, by Mary Soon Lee, art by Simon Walpole

Maintain a proper appearance:
no rust, no cracks, no notches.

No unauthorized engravings,
no costume jewelry, no dye jobs.

When wielded by the rightful,
slay enemies without question.

(Drinking the blood and soul
of the enemy is permitted.)

All law-abiding members
of the realm are rightful.

But some, such as royalty,
are more rightful than others.

Do not overthink matters.
Do not study moral philosophy.

Neither mercy nor sarcasm
are acceptable in a sword.

 

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Mary Soon Lee is a Grand Master of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association, and winner of the AnLab Readers’ Award, Dwarf Stars Award, Elgin Award, Rhysling Award, and Utopia Award. An illustrated edition of her epic fantasy The Sign of the Dragon was published in 2025. She hides behind a cryptically named website (marysoonlee.com) and BlueSky account (@marysoonlee.bsky.social).

 

Simon Walpole has been drawing for as long as he can remember and is fortunate to spend his freetime working as an illustrator. He primarily use pencils, pens and markers and use a bit of digital for tweaking. As well as doing interior illustrations for various publishing formats he has also drawn a lot of maps for novels. his work can be found at his website HandDrawnHeroes.