“Silence,” Paul said firmly. “This challenge is about to start. Recite the rules and stakes for all to hear.” Once they had, Paul raised his hands. “I am the adjudicator for this duel. You will listen to me, and the bout ends when I call it.”
“Yes, sir,” Gregory said.
“Yes, sir,” Fureno echoed.
Bowing when Paul directed them, the two took ready stances as the magus backed off and told them to start.
Fureno rushed forward. Gregory barely shifted, accepting a glancing hit as he grabbed Fureno and twisted. Fureno slammed into the ground right before Gregory kicked hard at him. Fureno rolled away and got up to his feet, avoiding the kick.
“I hit you first,” Fureno snickered. “So much for the vaunted champion.”
Gregory didn’t speak— he just adjusted his position and waited.
After a moment of them circling, Fureno rushed forward again. Gregory smiled when a glimpse of the future came to him. As Fureno feinted with the same attack, Gregory feinted as if he were going to block it. Fureno’s lips twisted into a grin as he shifted and went to plow into Gregory, but that grin fell away when he met Gregory’s knee.
A crunch and scream, accompanied with a fountain of blood, told of his shattered nose. Gregory didn’t stop— following Fureno as he backpedaled, his swift kicks and punches hit the dazed novice over and over again. Unable to properly defend himself, Fureno stumbled and fell. Gregory followed him down, rolling and wrapping his arms around Fureno’s neck.
Paul waited until Gregory stood back up before he stepped forward. Checking the downed novice, he nodded. “Winner is Gregory Pettit. Novice Fureno is barred from the next novice tournament, as stated.”
Jason stalked forward. “It’s my turn.”
“Indeed, it is,” Paul said. “One of you, remove Fureno from the area,” he told the cluster of Eternal Flame novices. “Now, state the rules of your challenge and the stakes.”
The rest of the class had shown up by the time Paul made them bow. Moving back, he commanded them to fight. Jason didn’t hesitate at all, coming forward in a flurry of kicks and punches.
Gregory found himself retreating, unable to blunt the attack. He blocked most of them, but enough were making it through his defenses to bruise him. The heavy assault pushed him back into a group of novices, who picked and pulled at his kimono, slowing his ability to block and allowing more hits to land.
“Stop! Break!” Paul shouted.
Jason didn’t stop, however. As Gregory started to lower his hands, Jason’s fist drove forward, just missing Gregory’s neck and hitting his collarbone. The moment the punch landed, Jason was quickly backing up, his hands held up as if he were complying with Paul’s order.
Paul glanced at Jason for a moment before turning back to Gregory, who had managed to step away from the novices who had been hindering him. “If I see any of you interfere again, I will make sure you learn a very hard lesson. Pettit, do you wish to continue?”
“Yes, sir,” Gregory panted, spitting a wad of blood to the side. He had bitten his tongue, and it was still bleeding slowly.
“Very well. Fight!” Paul commanded.
Jason rushed forward again, but Gregory didn’t back up. Instead, he ducked as Jason came in and shot forward the last foot, his shoulder catching the other novice in the gut. Lurching forward, Gregory’s hands clamped onto Jason’s thighs, lifting him from the ground. Elbows dug into his back, but Gregory committed to the attack, slamming Jason to the ground under him.
Jason wheezed as his breath was almost driven out of him. His attacks slowed and lost some of their strength, allowing Gregory to grab Jason’s legs and spin him into a submission hold. Jason let out a grunt of pain when he felt his ankle bend the wrong way.
“Tap!” Gregory shouted. “Tap or I’ll keep going!”
Jason screamed, refusing to tap. He tried to brute force his way free, but without his aether to help him, he wasn’t in a position to get the leverage he needed. Gregory grimaced as he applied more pressure, making Jason’s knee and ankle flex badly.
Paul came closer, watching intently and waiting to stop the match. Because he did, he caught the brief flash of blue just before Jason flung Gregory off him. “Stop! The match is over!” Paul shouted.
Gregory grunted as he rolled to his feet, his left arm a throbbing mass of pain. Jason surged to his feet, taking a single step toward Gregory before Paul grabbed him and forced him to the ground.
“I said the match is over, Novice!” Paul growled into Jason’s ear. “Now stop it, or I will make sure you learn the hard way!”
Jason was panting hard, but he let go of his aether. “I’ve stopped.”
“Good,” Paul said, letting him go and standing back up.
“Why did you stop the fight?” Nick demanded. “Jason reversed the hold.”
“Argon used aether,” Paul said bluntly.
Nick stared at him for a long moment before bowing his head the barest fraction. “I apologize, Magus.”
“Winner is Pettit,” Paul announced. He turned to Jason, who was having trouble staying on his feet with his damaged knee and ankle. “You may go see a healer, Argon, but when you get back, you’ll complete the loss as required.”
Jason’s lips curled back. “I will do it now, Magus, unless you order me otherwise.”
“I don’t want his lips to touch my foot,” Yukiko said. “I might catch something. I ask that the loss requirement be seen as done without the act.”
“Pettit?” Paul asked.
“If that’s what she wants,” Gregory said, his left arm still throbbing.
“Agreed,” Jason spat.
“Very well. The challenge is over and all conditions have been met,” Paul announced. “Argon, go see the healer, then go back to your clan for the rest of the class. You need time to reflect on your loss.”
Jason’s teeth ground together, but he bowed and left the arena.
“The rest of you, class starts soon,” Paul said bluntly. “Get ready to stretch and run.”
“Sir,” Gregory asked, “may I see a healer for my arm?”
Paul frowned, motioning Gregory to him. Taking Gregory’s left arm in his hand, he pushed the kimono sleeve up and nodded. “That muscle needs to be seen to. It must have torn when he forced you off. Give him a minute, then you may go.”
“Thank you, sir,” Gregory said through pain-gritted teeth.
“Come back for weapons training,” Paul added.
“Yes, sir.”
Yukiko touched Gregory’s shoulder as he started to walk away. “Take your bag. Your snack is still inside. I’ll see you here for training afterward?”
“Yes. Thank you, Yuki.”
“You did well, dear one,” Yukiko whispered as she gave his shoulder a squeeze. “Go get healed. I’ll see you after class.”
Chapter Eleven
Walking slowly, Gregory chewed on his jerky. Will this really stop once we have a clan? I doubt it will if we join Aether’s Guard... they’re seen as all but dead. Elder Lightshield seemed to believe that the clan still has sway, though, so I can hope...
Entering the infirmary, he found the same partial-fox eurtik he’d seen before. “Excuse me, miss, I was sent by Magus Erichson.”
Mindie looked up from the scroll she’d been reading. “Oh, another one of you?”
“Impromptu duel,” Gregory admitted. “It’s the muscle in my arm.”
Coming around the desk she’d been sitting behind, she pushed open the door beside her desk. “This way, please.”
“Thank you,” Gregory said as he followed her. “You were the one who helped save Yuki’s eye, right?”
Mindie frowned for a second before she smiled. “Oh, the novice from the tournament? Yes, I assisted the healers.”
“Thank you. She’s back to being able to see normally again.”
“Oh, good. How about you?”
“Besides my current trouble, I’ve been fine.”
“Your clas
s seems to be more violent than previous ones,” Mindie said as she took him to a room. “Have a seat on the table, please.”
Gregory did as she said and popped another piece of jerky into his mouth. Mindie washed her hands in a basin while he got situated. When she was done, she pushed the sleeve of his kimono up and gently prodded the muscle of his biceps.
“Oh, yes, this is torn. I can heal it, though, so don’t worry. It wasn’t as bad as the other one. His ankle and knee both had damage.”
“He wouldn’t submit,” Gregory mumbled.
“The Eternal Flame rarely does,” Mindie said. “You might feel a chill or some heat. Just bear with it.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Mindie sighed. “I’m just a junior healer. Miss is fine for me.”
“Okay, miss. Junior healer? Does th—” Gregory started to ask before he snapped his jaw shut, cutting off the sentence.
Alternating waves of heat and cold rippled over his biceps, and had uncomfortable pressure following each one. Gritting his teeth, Gregory stared straight ahead, trying to ignore the sensations.
Mindie stared fixedly at his arm, a small smile on her lips as she worked. After a couple of minutes, she released him. “There you go. Good as new.”
The sensations had cut off just before she spoke, and Gregory sighed in relief. “Thank you. That was different than any other healing I remember having done to me.”
“Because you were unconscious for the other times,” Mindie said. “You took a lot of damage during the tournament.”
“Yeah, I did.”
“You did finish in first place, though, so maybe it was worth it.”
“There were some pluses to it.”
“Even though it nearly cost your life, and the life of the young lady whose eye was nearly lost?”
“Yukiko Warlin. She’s my betrothed,” Gregory said. “And it wasn’t worth that. But considering how upset it made the Eternal Flame…”
Mindie giggled before abruptly stifling it and looking mortified. “I didn’t—”
“It’s fine. They aren’t any friends of ours. In fact, that’s why the other novice and I were injured. They don’t take losing well.”
“I’m not supposed to disparage any clan,” Mindie said softly. “I could get into trouble if—”
“I never heard a thing,” Gregory gently cut her off. “Does that mean the healers are neutral, like the archive?”
“We’re supposed to be,” Mindie said, but her tone said that it wasn’t so cut and dry.
“But some of the others don’t hold to that as tightly as they should?”
“I… never said that.”
“No, it was just me idly talking to myself,” Gregory smiled. “Thank you for your help, Mindie. I’d been trying to ask earlier; what does ‘junior’ healer mean?”
“I’m technically an initiate,” Mindie said. “I never had a clan. I refused to join them. Because of that, I declined to participate in the tournaments and, instead of troop training, I was sent here to heal. I’ll likely be here for my adept year, and then posted somewhere else as a healer.”
“Huh...” Gregory said, at a loss. “I never knew that not joining a clan could work like that.”
“Only for healers. We’re needed in many places. Since there’s normally only a couple of us a year at best, they bend the rules for us.”
“Ah. Means I really do need to join a clan after all, then.”
“Which has to be hard with you not knowing your magic,” Mindie said.
“It’s been a mixed blessing,” Gregory replied. “I haven’t been hounded like Yuki. Her shadow magic makes her sought after by the clans.”
“Shadows are rare,” Mindie nodded. “Oh, what am I doing? You need to get back to class.”
“I should,” Gregory agreed. “Thank you again, Mindie. I hope you have a good day.”
“I hope yours is quieter, and less painful.”
“Me, too.”
~*~*~
Gregory made it back to class in time for sparring. Yukiko was happy to have him back so she wouldn’t have to face someone else. The two of them went back and forth, mostly working on their forms rather than real sparring. The adept watching them gave them tips instead of chiding them for not going all out.
When sparring ended, everyone dispersed to their weapons classes. Gregory walked onto the sands of the arena with a su yari in his hand. The class started with them having to flow from kata to kata— it only took five tries before the novices could do it without error.
“Good,” Klim said. “Now that we’ve managed that, we can move on. I need one of you to help me demonstrate.” She looked directly at Gregory. “Pettit, come up here.”
Gregory knew it would probably be him that got chosen, so he didn’t hesitate when she called on him. Moving to the front of the class, he turned to face the other novices.
“Do you all know why I chose him?” Klim asked.
“Because he is the only one who hasn’t made a mistake during the katas.”
“Correct. Why is that?”
“Because he’s had training before.”
“He has, indeed,” Klim said. “Armsmaster Gin, formerly with the Han Merchant Exchange, has been teaching Pettit, which is why he’ll make an admirable puppet for me to teach you all. Everyone, pay attention. This will show you why those katas are important.” She turned to Gregory and nodded. “First stance.”
Gregory did everything he was directed to do, not once flinching when she stopped her attacks just short of him. If he hadn’t been trained by Gin, he would have panicked the first time she did it.
When class came to an end, Klim had an appreciative look in her eyes. “That’s it. Tomorrow, you’ll be working on the correct attacks and defenses for each. Class dismissed.”
Gregory exhaled, happy to be relieved from being the training dummy. His relief was short-lived when Klim turned back to face him. “Is something wrong, Adept?”
“No, I just wanted to thank you. You will make this much easier. I would also request you to spar with me in earnest at least once with each weapon.”
Gregory frowned. “Adept, I’m not sure I would be a challenge to you.”
“It’s fine to refuse, but I think you’re holding back.”
Gregory exhaled. “Should we find out? Su yari right now?”
Klim’s lips twitched. “Excellent.”
The adept who’d been teaching on the other side of the arena came their way. “Hey, Klim, you done?”
“Come adjudicate this match,” Klim said.
“What?”
“We’re sparring, but I want a pair of eyes to watch us,” Klim said. “It’s just weapons.”
“Okay. Novice, you agreed to this?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Okay, bow to each other,” the adept said. Once they had, he stepped back. “Fight.”
The fight didn’t last long— Klim was by far more skilled with the su yari than Gregory, though both adepts were impressed that he lasted as long as he did. Klim held a hand out to him and Gregory let her help him back to his feet.
“A novice shouldn’t last even a tenth as long as that, Pettit,” Klim told him. “I look forward to the other weapons.”
“Hopefully, I’ll improve by then,” Gregory said, touching the bruise he felt on his shoulder.
“Did I break something?”
“Bruised. It’ll heal,” Gregory said.
“Very well. Thank you.”
“Greg?” Yukiko called from one of the tunnels.
“Sorry, Yuki. Adept Klim asked me to spar with her.”
Yukiko’s eyes turned to Klim, obviously sizing up the adept. “Are you ready now?”
“Yeah, she just finished trouncing me,” Gregory said, heading toward her. “Let’s get going.”
“Thank you again, Pettit. I’m sorry for delaying him, Warlin. Don’t be harsh on him. I did request his assistance.”
Yukiko met Klim’s eyes. “I would
never be harsh with him, Adept. I only ask that I be informed ahead of time before you spar with him so that I may watch and learn.”
Klim smiled. “Agreed. I will inform him the day before, next time.”
“Thank you,” Yukiko said, bowing her head. “If you will excuse us, Adept?”
“By all means. I’m hungry, too,” Klim laughed.
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