Sharps

After almost four decades of grinding conflict, two neighbouring realms have agreed to a fragile pause in fighting. Negotiators are now sitting down together, and the rivalry that drove the war is being staged in a different arena. Each nation sends a squad of swordsmen to a fencing contest that carries the weight of the peace process.

The stakes could hardly be higher. A single bad touch on the blade could collapse the talks and plunge both sides back into war. The story asks whether people who have spent a generation learning to hate each other can really be trusted to keep the peace.