by Aaron Oster
It ran at him and Morgan frantically used his heavy handed skill, taking up a fighting stance and preparing for a slugfest.
The wolf raked at him with its front claws and he wasn’t fast enough to dodge it. Morgan winced as the claws tore through his armored clothes and scored deeply into the skin on his right side. He yelled, slamming a fist into the side of the wolf’s head pivoting his hips for extra power.
The wolf’s head was rocked to the side, but the sound of breaking bone that he’d been expecting didn’t come. He cursed, shaking his hand in pain as the wolf turned back toward him, snarling in rage.
He took a step back as it swiped at him again and managed to avoid being hit this time. Seven icicle spears slammed into the beast’s head as it took a step towards him, each one aimed at the same spot. Morgan turned and ran to Sarah, as the wolf staggered back under the barrage of attacks.
He stopped next to her, panting and clutching at his side, which was now bleeding heavily.
“Are you alright?” she asked, eyeing his side with concern.
“I’ll live,” he said in answer, keeping his eyes on the wolf, who was shaking its head and staggering slightly as if dizzy.
“No luck on getting through its skin then?” she asked, also watching the wolf who was now steadying itself.
“No, but I think I’ve got an idea after what you just did. If we hit it in the head hard enough, we may be able to crack its skull. The problem is that I’ll need to be close enough to hit it; which means that it’ll be able to do the same to me.”
He winced again as his side throbbed with renewed pain and he began to feel a bit lightheaded.
“If you can pin it down for a minute, I may be able to get through. Can you do it?”
“Only if you can keep it in one spot for at least ten seconds. I’ll need the time to condense water in so many places at once. I’ll also need to freeze its mouth shut so it can’t bite you while you’re attacking.”
Morgan nodded, as the wolf righted itself and glared over at the two of them. Then it raised its head once more and howled.
Morgan felt his skin crawl as the wolf’s fur stood on end and ice crackled over the surface. When it finally stopped howling, its fur stood out from its body in a mass of icy bristles, that looked sharp enough to cut steel.
This fight had just gotten a whole lot more dangerous.
“You better do your part,” he yelled, as he ran towards the ice-bristle wolf. It now appeared to be even larger than before, due to its fur standing on end. He used fly, feeling his feet leave the ground as he slowly picked up speed.
The problem with using fly in a fight, was that it took him a few seconds to build up speed. He didn’t have the same reflexes in the air as he did on the ground, either, and it was therefore much harder to dodge attacks, if he stopped moving for even a second.
“Over here you overgrown mutt!” he yelled, launching a kick at the wolf’s head. Instead of dodging as he’d been expecting, the wolf lowered it’s head and Morgan cried out in pain as his shin collided with the icy spines on its back.
He quickly pulled back from the wolf, feeling hot blood running down his leg as the icy spikes tore free.
He chanced a glance at the leg and was relived to see that it wasn’t bleeding too badly, which meant that an artery hadn’t been hit.
He was sure that he had the extra protection of his shin guards to thank for that.
He flew forward once more as the wolf raised its head, and screamed, launching another kick at it. As he’d expected, the wolf lowered its head once more, but this time he pulled his strike, stopping a few inches from the bristly fur and backing off.
He was sure that Sarah had had enough time by now, so where was her attack?
The wolf raised its head, baring it’s teeth and growling at him.
He wasn’t sure why the wolf was so angry; so far, they hadn’t even managed to scratch it, while he’d had his side laid open and managed to impale his leg on its fur.
He flew forward, intent on keeping the beast in place when it finally happened. The wolf froze as four massive blocks of ice formed around its legs. It snarled, opening its mouth to howl, when a fifth block of ice froze its jaws shut.
Thank you, Sarah!
Morgan stopped in front of the wolf and landed, testing his leg to see if it would still hold his weight.
Now it was all up to him.
He used heavy handed and slammed his fist into the side of the wolf’s head. It tried to lower it again, but he brought his knee up and caught it under the chin. It’s head whipped up under the force of the attack and Morgan began throwing a flurry of blows, aiming each for the same spot between its eyes.
He winced in pain.
He felt as though he were punching solid stone, not a living animal.
But he didn’t stop. A loud crack signaled that the wolf was beginning to break free of its icy restraints and Morgan redoubled his efforts, hitting the wolf as hard and as fast as he could.
Blow after blow landed on the same spot, leaving bloody smears on the fur from where his knuckles had split. He was heaving for air, as he attacked over and over again, but still the bone would not give. There was another crack and Morgan flinched as one of the back paws came loose.
“Morgan, hurry up and kill it already!” Sarah yelled from behind him.
“I’m trying, but the stupid beast just won’t die!” he yelled back.
There was another crack and Morgan screamed in pain as the wolf’s teeth sank deep into his left arm. He didn’t stop attacking however, slamming his fist between its eyes over and over again; even as he felt his arm being savaged by the wolf.
There was a crack and he yelled in pain once again; as the bone is his arm gave way.
“I will not lose!” he roared, moving closer to the wolf, despite the additional pain it caused.
He pulled his good arm high into the air, then brought the point of his elbow down between its eyes, dropping his entire body as did so. There was a loud snap as his elbow impacted with the wolf’s skull and his arm went limp, the bone broken from the impact; but his arm wasn’t the only thing that broke.
With a loud whine of pain, the wolf released his savaged arm and staggered back from him, lowering its head and shaking it back and forth. Morgan straightened shakily, his vision going fuzzy with blood loss and shock.
The wolf wasn’t dead yet. He had a job to finish.
With a howl of rage, Morgan staggered towards the injured wolf.
He couldn’t hit the beast, as both his arms were broken, but one of his legs was still whole and uninjured.
The wolf had lowered its head to the ground and was pawing at the spot where its skull had fractured when Morgan reached it. With a yell, he swung his good leg up in an arc, ignoring the lance of pain from his other leg; then brought it crashing down onto the wolf’s skull.
The ax-kick landed with all the force of his heavy handed skill and the momentum of his leg at the end of its trajectory.
There was one last loud crack, and the wolf finally went still.
Morgan stared at the dead beast for a few seconds, blinking rapidly to try and clear his vision. Then he spun around, staggering a bit as the room swam around him.
“Told you I could do it!” he yelled with a mad grin.
Then he fell forward, hitting the ground in a dead faint.
32
Morgan was laying in his bed, rolling the ice-bristle wolf’s core between his fingers when there was a knock at his door.
He sighed and sat up, placing the core down on his dresser and walking to open it.
Sarah stood there, hand raised and ready to knock again.
“What?”
“Don’t ‘what’ me,” she said, placing her hands on her hips. “What are your plans for the day?”
Morgan shrugged. “Probably sleep.”
“We have the entire day off and you’re going to spend it sleeping?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.
&n
bsp; Morgan had come to the previous day, after he’d killed the ice-bristle wolf, to find Eric crouched over him. The man had done an excellent job of healing him and aside from a line of silvery scars on his arm, his body was good as new.
Morgan had felt exhausted when the healing was finished and Eric had told him that it would take at least a day for his body to replenish all the blood he’d lost.
Gold; after clapping him on the shoulder and congratulating him, had proceed to give him and Sarah the next day off to do as they pleased, despite his earlier insistence that he wouldn’t.
“Well, yeah,” he said, yawning widely. “I’m supposed to take the day and rest.”
“I’m not going to have you moping around all day,” Sarah declared. “Now go put your boots on; we’re going out.”
Morgan considered closing the door in her face, but decided that his best option would be to just go along with it.
There were a few things he needed to take care of anyway, and she wouldn’t leave him alone until he joined her. His new winter clothes had been completely destroyed, as well as his shin guards and one of his armored uniforms.
“Fine, what did you have in mind?” he asked, closing the door behind him and going to pull on his boots.
“Well, I thought we could go explore the academy,” Sarah began, a wide smile now on her face. “We can go eat at a restaurant, explore the shopping district, maybe even watch a play! I heard that CAMS even has a massive area for swimming!”
Morgan just nodded as she spoke.
None of that really sounded that exciting to him. If he had a day to himself, he would rather spend it sleeping and training, maybe go look at some of the cool weapons in the shopping district, or go watch the older students fight in the arena.
“Did you listen to a word I just said?”
Morgan was snapped out of his wandering thoughts and saw Sarah once again glaring at him.
Her mood changed way too often. Why couldn’t she just be calm all the time?
“Yes, you want to eat somewhere that will cost us money, when we have free food in the dining rooms. You want to wander around the shopping district for a few hours and then go splash around in some water for a bit. Oh, and see a play - whatever that is.”
Sarah glared at him for a few seconds, before sighing in resignation.
“I’ll pay.”
Those were the magic words.
“I’m in!” Morgan said with a smile. “Where to first?”
∞
Arnold did his best to keep the annoyance off his face as he spoke to the guards at the border of the Central Kingdom.
What should have been a two week trip on horseback, had taken them over a month. They’d had such a run of bad luck on this trip that he was almost ready to believe that some higher power did not want him here.
Now they were being held up at the border because he didn’t have the requisite paperwork to be allowed into the kingdom.
“As I said before,” Arnold said, keeping his tone neutral. “We are on a very important assignment from Lord Simon of City Four. This has been a very long trip and if you could just let us pass, we’d be very grateful.” He patted the coin purse at his belt and gave the man a meaningful look.
“And like I said before, sir, you will need the proper permit from your Lord with his signet stamp of approval, along with a letter proclaiming you to be an official envoy,” the guard answered, in the same official tone he’d been using thus far.
Arnold inwardly seethed at the man for not being a crooked, thieving and manipulative bastard.
It was just his luck to run into the only straight official in the world and this hiccup further emphasized just how badly this mission had been going.
Breaking into the kingdom was not an option, as he would be killed if caught. This was not the North Kingdom where he could get out of anything by just having Lord Simon send a message. There was also the academy to consider; he might be strong, but he wasn’t stupid enough to believe that he couldn’t be killed.
“Very well,” Arnold said, still keeping his expression neutral despite the overwhelming urge to reach over and throttle the man. “Would you perhaps have a way for me to contact my Lord so we can get this straightened out?”
The man nodded over to a booth set up by the side of the gate where a long line of people stood waiting their turn.
“You can talk to the mage over there. It’ll cost you a pretty penny, but if you really do work for a Lord, you can have all the papers you need within a week.”
Another whole week?!
Arnold wanted to howl in frustration, but instead he nodded to the man and walked over to the back of the line.
Weasel joined him then, slinking up to him and giving him a questioning look.
“We don’t have the right paperwork to get in, so now we have to pay someone a ridiculous amount of money to get them here quickly.”
“Ah, bureaucracy. What would we do without it?” Weasel said, sneering over at the gate guards who were letting people pass without issue.
“We’re already running behind schedule as it is. Lord Simon will not be happy about this, especially since it’s taking so long.”
“I wouldn’t want to be you right now,” Weasel said with a nasty smile. “Bet ol’ Simy is fuming away in that fancy manor of his, waiting for news.”
“I’d keep my comments to myself. That is, unless you want ‘ol’ Simy’ to pull your intestines out through your asshole.”
Weasel did shut his mouth then.
Arnold wasn’t one to make idle threats, and in the mood he was currently in, he might just do it himself.
∞
It was nearly dark out by the time Morgan and Sarah began heading back towards their block.
The two of them had gone to eat at a fancy restaurant, then to the shopping district, where Morgan had ordered a bunch of new clothes from his favorite shopkeeper.
He’d been dismayed to hear that James didn’t have any more of the canvas uniforms in his size, nor did he have any more winter attire. So he’d had to place an order for it with the shopkeeper, who had taken down his house number and promised to have it delivered as soon as he had it back in stock.
He’d been forced to buy a woolen substitute for the outfit that had been destroyed, just in case he needed a third pair of combat clothes. He’d made sure to order four more sets of the canvas uniform. He liked them so much that he was almost unwilling to wear anything else.
He was able to get a new pair of shin guards, this one made of leather as well, but reinforced throughout with a metal weave.
After that, he’d been forced to sit and wait as Sarah went shopping for a swimsuit. She’d made him sit down outside the shop and refused to let him enter, though he wasn’t sure why.
When she’d finally come out nearly an hour later, she immediately dragged him halfway across the campus to the swimming area.
When he got his first look at the place, he was glad that Sarah had brought him along. It was magnificent! A huge lake filled with clear and sparkling blue water, was set in the middle of an ocean of sand.
Sarah had dug around in her bags for a second before handing him a pair of pants that were cut off at the knees. Then she’d pointed to a low wooden building and told him to change into them.
When he’d asked why, she’d shaken her head and told him he was free to swim in his combat uniform if he wanted. Then she’d gone off to change herself.
After he’d changed, he just stood around waiting for her to show up. He saw tons of other people walking around the sandy area. The men were wearing similar cut off pants and nothing else, while the women’s seemed to vary. Some had a suit covering them from their chests to their waists, while others had two pieces of fabric instead.
There were others still who were wearing so little that he had to wonder if they actually wanted to run around without anything on.
After all, those clothes didn’t do a very good job of covering them. Ma
ybe they were all poor and less fabric meant spending less money?
He’d nodded to himself, happy that he’d figured it out without having to ask someone else.
Sarah had come out then, wearing the one piece suit he’d seen some of the women wearing and this just affirmed his earlier suspicion.
Sarah was rich, after all, so she could afford a suit with more fabric.
She’d asked him how she looked for some reason and her face had turned red again. He just shrugged and said she looked fine. This had annoyed her and she spent the next hour in a bad mood.
Maybe he should have said more about the expensive bathing suit she’d bought?
She did calm down eventually and they’d spent the rest of the day splashing around in the water. Despite his earlier misgivings, he’d had a good time and decided that they would have to come back again.
“Did you enjoy yourself today?” Sarah asked, wrapping her arms around one of his and leaning into him.
“Yes, I actually did,” he said, smiling at her.
Why was she grabbing his arm like that? Maybe she was tired and needed someone to lean on? Swimming had made him tired and very hungry.
He shrugged to himself, once more resigned to not knowing anything about the way girls worked.
“I bet you’re glad I dragged you out, then,” she said, pulling his arm tighter to herself.
“Yes, especially since you paid for everything,” he answered, pulling the map from his pocket and checking where they were right now.
“If we cut through those buildings there, we’ll save twenty minutes,” he said, folding up the map and putting it back into his pocket.
“Aww, but don’t you want to take the long way back?” Sarah asked, pouting at him.
“Why would I want to do that?” Morgan asked, genuinely confused.
“Never mind,” she said with a sigh, as they turned into the block of darkened buildings.
They walked on in silence for the next few minutes. As the noise from the main road began to fade, it soon became apparent that this area was not a place where people hung out at night. Sarah clung a bit tighter to Morgan the longer they walked, her head swiveling from side to side at every little noise.