Kam and I both opened our mouths to ask another question, but Cory stopped us with an impatient look. “Look, I am not your orientation person; that would be Nyka. She will answer any questions you have and give you a tour around the castle. Once you’re ready, we will meet her at the Arena. Leave the books here. They can still observe from a distance, and you won’t have to lug them around.”
3
Garrett Meets his Future Girlfriend
KAMARON
We walked back down the stairs right behind Cory. The boy and girl that we met yesterday were nowhere in sight. As we walked out the front door, it occurred to me that I still didn’t know their names. I asked Cory about it as we walked.
Even facing away from me, I could tell he was still annoyed with the boy. He responded, “My sister’s name is Vienna. The guy with the black hair is named Hector. And before you ask, yes, he does have the same spirit that was in Hector during the Trojan War.”
I wasn’t even thinking of that, but I filed the information away in my mind. From the way Cory talked about him, I knew I shouldn’t venture any further on the subject. I chose the safer route, “Tell me about your sister. How did you guys get spirits?”
He turned long enough to give me a curious look, and luckily for me, the indignation was gone. He took a few steps before he spoke, “My sister is 14 and I am 9. We both got our spirits 5 years ago, from an old hollowed out book we found in some overgrown bushes at our foster house. I don’t remember very much of what happened, but my sister remembers everything. She didn’t think anything of it after she opened the book and there was nothing in it. She just took it into the house and we went back to playing outside. It took us a little longer than you guys to discover the wishes. Once we did, we weren’t really sure what to do with it. That’s about the time that Lamia found us.” He paused, lost in thought.
“Lamia? Is that your mom?” I prompted.
He snapped out of his stupor and shook his head vigorously. “Oh no! That would be terrible! She is a horrible half snake, half human, full demon that hunts children and devours them! Anyway, my sister doesn’t talk about this part at all. It was really difficult on her when our foster parents died. She remembers it a lot better than I do. From what she has told me, she ran away from Lamia. She picked me up and ran away from the house. Our foster parents tried to intervene, but they couldn’t really do anything. Lamia killed both of them without a second thought and would have killed us too if soldiers from Argos hadn’t shown up. They drove her off, but weren’t able to kill her. And that’s pretty much how we got here.”
By now, we were walking down the cobblestone street towards the Arena. A few people waved good morning, but most people just gave us furtive glances. Cory greeted a few people, then went back to his story. “A couple years after that, Vienna became sort of a leader around here. We don’t really have an election process; the leader is pretty much chosen by who will follow them. She was pretty young, but so is everyone else around here. Even at that age, she had uncanny leadership ability that everyone noticed as soon as she got here. Almost nobody in Argos questions her decisions. Well, except for Hector…”
So maybe that’s why Cory doesn’t like him! I thought to myself. I shared a look with Garrett, and without speaking, we unanimously decided to drop the subject. I don’t know about him, but I was still full of questions.
First and foremost, I wanted to know how the wishes worked. Before I woke Garrett up, I tried wishing for a few things and nothing happened. I even wished for my bow and quiver again, but they never appeared.
We walked in silence after that until we came upon the Arena. Glancing inside, I saw that there was only one person in there. She was covered head to toe in armor, but her long, braided, brown hair still slipped out of the helmet. She seemed to be practicing with a short spear, fighting an imaginary foe. I am pretty sure she was winning.
“Nyka!” called Cory as we walked through the huge archway entrance. “I have a few newbies for you. This is Garrett and Kamaron Kipler. Vienna says she wants you to do their orientation.”
The girl stopped practicing and gave us a quick look over, almost as if to confirm that we weren’t a threat. She relaxed her stance after a second and walked over to meet us. As she walked over, her armor and spear faded away until they were completely gone, leaving her with a tank top, shorts, and a pair of sneakers!
My mouth fell open, and I had to consciously close it as she walked up to us. I looked over at Garrett and could tell by his facial expression that he was not nearly as interested in the girl’s armor as he was in the girl herself. I smiled inwardly, momentarily envisioning the teasing I was going to give him later. I mean, sure, in the last day we got introduced to a whole new world of terror and danger, but that doesn’t make me any less his brother now, does it?
I refocused on the girl as she opened her mouth to speak, trying my hardest to keep the grin off my face. She was looking at us when she spoke, but directed the question at Cory instead. “Both of them have—?”
“Yep,” replied Cory before she could finish her sentence.
“And they are sibli—?”
“Yep.”
“And Vienna wants me to—?”
“Yep.”
She sighed, “She knows how much I hate doing these. But I mean, if she really wants me to do it, I will.”
Cory gave her a knowing look and said, “She does. You and I both know that you’re one of the only people that Vienna trusts with this. Besides, even though you hate it, you are really good at it. These two shouldn’t be too difficult; they already killed a Bakshazani by themselves. And they aren’t half stupid either. They questioned my ears off on the way over here.”
Though I was waiting for the conversation to finish to ask about the armor, the compliment took me off guard. Considering how grumpy Cory was only moments before, it surprised me that he wasn’t annoyed by all of our questions. He even sounded a little bit impressed!
Garrett, who probably missed the entire conversation, was finally able to pick his jaw up off of the floor to form a question. “Your name is Nyka?”
I winced slightly. I suppose he didn’t mean it to sound so incredulous, but the girl’s eyebrows furrowed. “Yes,” she said in a defensive tone, “My full name is Nykhyla, but I have found that people have difficulty pronouncing it, so it’s Nyka for short. Is that okay with you?” She finished the sentence in a sweet voice that told the real story: her spear might be coming back out real soon if Garrett didn’t choose his words wisely.
Garrett, red as a tomato, weakly replied, “No, no! Wait, I mean yes! That’s totally cool! Awesome name…”
Yikes. Not a very good first date for my bro. I better intervene before he gets a spear between the eyes. “What in the world happened with your armor and the spear? How did they disappear?”
She focused on me, but not before giving Garrett another warning look. “That’s a little trick that the spirit lets you do. You can summon your armor and weapons at will, but it takes a little practice. That’s one of the things I will teach you to do.”
Garrett jumped in with his own question, “So, like the wishes then? We wish for it and it appears?”
Nyka shook her head. “Nope. The wishes are only temporary. They last about an hour or two after the spirit inhabits you. I think it’s sort of the way the spirit connects to you. Unlike wishing for it, you literally have to summon it. It works best when you actually need them to defend yourself. Also, the summoning doesn’t attract the Dark Legion’s attention. Wishes do. That’s how the Bakshazani got to you so fast. The more you wish, the quicker they find you.”
This time I beat my brother to it. “Hold up. Dark Legion?”
“That’s what we call the monsters and demons that are constantly hunting us. They aren’t really an army, but they have a common goal. It’s just easier to call them something, rather than say ‘monsters’ all the time. Plus, it sounds more real and less like a childish nightmare.” She gav
e me a little smirk.
Cory, who had been watching silently this entire time, slowly started to back away. “It looks like you got this Nyka! I will see you all at lunch!” He turned and walked out of the Arena.
Garrett and I waved at him, then turned back to Nyka. After a few moments of awkward silence, Garrett said, “Soooo… Where do we start?”
“That’s a good question. You guys have a lot of good questions, but I really don’t want to do a Q/A right now. How about we start with armor and weapons, since that’s my area of expertise, and we will go from there.”
Her spear appeared in her left hand, but she didn’t retrieve her armor. Garrett and I glanced at each other, empty-handed. “Well, what are you waiting for?” she said. “Talk to your spirits and ask them for weapons. You will probably want armor too.”
Instinctively, I closed my eyes and thought: Hi spirit guy! Ummm, could I get some weapons and armor maybe? I sat there for a few moments feeling like an idiot when a voice made me jump! Say please. I opened my eyes, did a quick look around to make sure it wasn’t a prank, and said aloud, “Please?”
I didn’t feel any different, but when I looked down, I was clad in black leather armor. It was really light and it seemed to fit me perfectly! A moment later, two long daggers appeared on my belt and a bow appeared over my shoulder with a quiver on my back. I pulled out the daggers from my belt to look at them. They were long for daggers, not quite swords but pretty close. They had a forward curve that came into a deadly point. They looked sort of like boomerangs.
They are called Sicas, said the voice in my head. I did a few practice jabs with them and sheathed them again. With feigned innocence, the voice said, You’re welcome! That’s gonna take a little getting used to. I thought to myself, before I realized that he could probably hear me. Hear? Sense? Never mind. Thanks for the equipment. I looked over at Garrett just in time to see his armor appear.
He was wearing heavy scale armor with great helm to top it off. Other than an eye slit, he was covered from head to toe with impenetrable metal. On his left arm was a large kite-shaped shield, with an engraving of a snarling lion on the front. The shield, along with all of his armor, had a red tinge to it. His shoulder pads were made to look like snarling lion heads as well. He pulled a long sword from the scabbard on his hip and looked it up and down. He sheathed it again and reached for something on the other side of his belt. He pulled out the gold knife that he had taken from the Bakshazani. He held it out to Nyka, who had been quietly observing, and asked, “Why do I have this? It doesn’t seem to fit the rest of the outfit.”
She smiled and said, “Spoils of war. You killed the Bakshazani, so you get the knife.”
He shook his head, “No, Kam killed it. Doesn’t that make it his?” He held the dagger like he didn’t want anything to do with it.
“Look at his armor and weapons,” Nyka said patiently. “It actually fits you better than him. Every spirit is different and chooses people according to compatibility. Garrett, you are bigger than Kam is, which means you can deal with the heavier armor. You are sort of like a knight. That armor will protect you well, and your weapons are designed for straight-up combat.”
She turned to me, “Kam, you are the opposite. You are more like a skirmisher, which means your goal is to keep moving. Your armor is really light, which allows you to move more easily. Be careful though, because that armor will only grant you a small amount of protection. Garrett can take heavier hits than you can, but you are better equipped to avoid them.”
She paused and walked around behind us to get a full assessment of our armor. As she walked, she said, “And it doesn’t really matter that Kam is the one who killed the Bakshazani, since you two are a bonded pair. Both of your spirits were trapped together for a reason. You will share spoils, adventures, and responsibilities. That’s part of the reason siblings are so rare around here; being related almost guarantees that you are a bonded pair. In fact, the only other siblings here are Vienna and Cory, who are a bonded pair.”
She’s right. Said the voice in my head. You two are special. There is a reason Vienna became the leader here so quickly. Bonded pairs are extra powerful, especially together. You have to be careful though; bonded pairs have created some of the bloodiest civil wars. When their goals conflict, disaster and chaos follow. I was beginning to get used to the voice in my head. I looked at Garrett, assuming he had just gotten the same information. I couldn’t see his reaction through the helmet, but I knew he was thinking the same thing I was. We have always gotten along really well compared to most siblings, but when we did fight it could get pretty ugly.
Nyka interrupted our mental conversation, saying, “You guys are a really good combo. The fact that both of you have different weapons and different talents means that you will work really well in combat together. That being said, both of you probably need some serious practice. Part of the reason Vienna wants me to do the orientation is because I am the battle expert. That, and I believe in a more direct form of teaching.” Immediately, her full armor appeared and she charged us with a gleeful grin.
4
The Argonauts
KAMARON
Garrett was caught completely off guard by her charge. He barely managed to get his shield up in time to block a vicious jab from her spear. She jumped away before he could even pull his sword out. “Good reaction time. That is the something that can only be learned, not taught,” Nyka said as she retreated.
I was just standing there watching until she turned towards me menacingly. Before I could even think “uh oh,” my bow was in my hand with an arrow nocked. I had the arrow leveled on an unprotected spot between her helmet and her breastplate. I had a split second of hesitation. Are we practicing or is she really trying to kill us? I meant the question to be rhetorical, but the response was instant. Trust me, if she had wanted to kill you, she would have already. Fire away! It’s not like you are going to hit her. Thanks for the vote of confidence, I replied.
I released the arrow and it flew straight towards her neck. She seemed to be surprised by how fast the arrow came out. Just as I thought I had made a horrible mistake, a small, round shield appeared on her right arm, which she raised to defend herself. The arrow bounced off and went spiraling away. She hardly even broke stride and charged towards me with her spear ready to skewer me.
Before she could get in spear range, I flipped the bow back over my shoulder and drew my sica daggers in one fluid motion. I sidestepped her first strike, but she brought her spear around and launched a series of quick strikes. Her spear seemed to come from all directions in quick jabs and swipes and somehow I was able to parry them away. Jab! Parry! Slash! Block! The confrontation felt like it lasted for an eternity, but in reality, was probably only a few seconds.
Garrett interrupted with a slash of his own that surprised both of us. His sword made a wide arc, which Nyka carefully avoided. Before we could take advantage of this 2 versus 1 fight, she bounded away. Garrett immediately pursued with me right on his tail, sheathing the knives and pulling out my bow. I quickly overtook Garrett and fired a few arrows as I ran, but Nyka dodged them easily.
Hey! We aren’t doing half bad! I thought to myself. She is toying with you! Don’t become arrogant. Arrogance in battle is a death sentence. Annoying as he was, he was probably right. It was a very large arena and she was a lot more physically fit than we were, so we had to be careful not to tire ourselves out. I slowed, and Garrett followed my lead.
Even with our guards up, she still surprised us. She stopped suddenly and made a sharp right turn, and before either of us could change direction, she pulled a miniature one-handed crossbow from somewhere. Where did that come from?!
She raised the crossbow and fired four bolts with inhuman speed! The first struck my ankle in a glancing blow that didn’t penetrate my armor. It wouldn’t have done anything normally, but I was already off balance trying to keep up with her, so the extra force was just enough to knock me off my feet.
; Garrett smacked away the second and third with his shield, but it still had the intended effect of getting his shield away from his body. The final bolt flew over his shield and struck him in the helmet, right above his eye slit. It didn’t actually do anything other than to knock him back a little bit, but the point came across quite clearly that she could kill him if she wanted to.
I sat up and was about to jump into action again, but before I could do anything, she was on us again. Her spear stopped about an inch from my nose before I could even stand up. Her crossbow, which somehow already had another bolt ready to fire, was aimed right at the opening in Garrett’s helmet. Both of us froze, knowing that we had lost. She waited a full five seconds before she finally lowered her weapons.
Her helmet disappeared, and we could see her dazzling smile. “Well done!” she said. “You forced me to use my crossbow and my shield! You learn a lot quicker than I would have imagined. This is the first time I have gotten to fight both members of a bonded pair at the same time and it was definitely a challenge! That being said, you are definitely going to need more practice.”
She offered me a hand up from the floor. “First lesson: Just because an enemy appears to be defeated, it doesn’t mean they are. Also, almost all Argonaut warriors have at least two weapons, one for range, one for close quarter combat.”
“What about me?” Garrett said. “I don’t have any ranged weapons!” Just as he finished, a small axe appeared on his back. I heard a huff, and the spirit said, HE forgot to say please. I laughed aloud. Nyka gave me a curious look.
“Sorry,” I said, gesturing awkwardly towards my head, “He made a joke.” She laughed, and I am not sure whether she was laughing at Garrett or me. Probably both.
We kept practicing and it seemed like every time we were about to win, she would pull something out of her sleeve. Just when I thought I had her, I would end up with the spear at my throat. She didn’t hold back on beating us up either. By the end, I had multiple bruises and a few cuts that, according to her, “weren’t intentional.” Garrett took the worst of it, which I think made up for his tongue-tied comments earlier. By the end, she was grinning at him like nothing had happened. “Lunch time!”
The Wish Box Page 3