by Ann Aguirre
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The weapons in ENCLAVE are primitive in the sense that they're made by hand and don't have any firing mechanisms. The Builders from the enclave make all the weapons that the Hunters use out in the tunnels when fighting the Freaks. Most Hunters favor knives because they're light and quick. It's pretty cool that they're specially made for each Hunter individually, taking into consideration his size, strength and quickness. There is no mass production of weapons. Everything is hand-tailored, which makes the blades very special.
In the book, Deuce's friend Thimble, who is a Builder, makes her a set of custom knives for her naming day. I don't describe them in detail, other than to say they're perfectly balanced, but Deuce's knives look like the above image. She's lightning fast with them. Knives, however, have the disadvantage of requiring close proximity for them to be effective. Hunters prefer them because the tunnels don't really provide the swinging room for pole arms, and it's generally too dark for missile weapons to make sense, too much risk of friendly fire.
But she also has a club, which was a gift from her friend Stone. He's a Breeder, but he got Thimble to help him with the complicated parts of its construction. I describe the club thus in the book:
He hadn’t bothered to wrap his gift; it was simply too big.
The club wasn’t Builder quality work, but Stone had a fair hand
with carving, and he’d taken a solid scrap of wood for the core. I
suspected Thimble must’ve helped him with the banded metal
along the top and bottom, but the fanciful - gures cut into the
wood came from him, no mistake. I didn’t recognize all of the
animals, but it was lovely and solid, and I would feel safer with it
on my back. He’d rubbed the carvings with some kind of dye, so
they stood out from the grain. The decorations would actually
make it harder for me to keep the weapon clean, but Stone was a
Breeder, and he couldn’t be expected to think of things like that.
There are different weapons in OUTPOST, but discussing them would be spoilery. *g* Thanks for having me!
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Blades post created for Women Wielding Blades event by Ann Aguirre author of Enclave
© 2011. All rights reserved.
by Ann Aguirre
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