by Cory Huff
“Then teach me to defend myself!” She jumped in front of him, blocking the way. He stopped abruptly and scowled. “Young lady, truly, I appreciate what you’re asking. More than you know, I would have you be able to defend yourself. But I am not the one to teach you. At least, not here. Not in this place. You must leave.”
“Where will we go?” Asked Liam. “What will happen to my tannery?”
“Your tannery will sit empty for a time and people will wonder where you went. Then they will go on with their lives, not forgetting you, but not making a big fuss. That’s the way of people.” Kaufman smiled a small, sad smile at Liam. “But you will go far to the North, to the Hartland forest. There you will find people like you, who will train you to protect yourself. They will keep you safe from the Sidhe.”
Sophronia looked thunderstruck. Liam looked queasy. This was starting to feel like a story. Sophronia had just been talking about looking for her own story to live. She currently looked like she might be regretting that desire.
“The Sidhe?” Said Liam. “You mean, like in the stories? Little pixies and sprites?” Liam immediately remembered that Sophronia had already told him that she had seen sprites. “Are they the ones that made Atania disappear?”
“The Sidhe are far more than sprites and pixies. They are fell creatures you cannot imagine with terrible power. They hate humanity. They will kill you and suck the marrow from your bones while dancing a jig. I don’t have time to teach you about the Sidhe,” said Kaufman. “You need to get out now. The Winter Queen is probably looking this direction now. She has agents everywhere, and the Cumhneantach do her bidding. Mindee is probably tracking you as you speak.”
CHAPTER NINE
Aidan's Second Miracle
Aidan deflected the sword blow with just a slight flick of his shortsword, turning it just enough to miss his head while he came underneath Niall’s guard, punching him in the face twice. Niall, taller than Aidan by a good six inches, with a mop of brown hair and the gangly limbs of someone who hadn’t figured out their own height yet, stumbled back and Aidan pressed his advantage. He quick stepped forward, staying inside so Niall couldn’t re-establish sword reach, using his left hand to keep that sword arm out wide and prevent it from darting back in at him. Aidan kept pushing and pumping his legs forward, driving Niall back. Before Niall could get his footing, Aidan abruptly stopped, dropped low while kicking across with his right leg, sweeping Niall’s feet out from under him and knocking the wind out of him when he hit the ground. Aidan held his sword to Niall’s neck and smiled as he said, “Yield, and you won’t die.”
Niall looked up at him with frustration in his eyes.
They both dissolved into laughter.
“That was amazing!” Said Niall. “How did you even think to trip me in that way? There was nothing that I could do. I’d be a dead man if these were real swords. Even as it is, I’m going to have a sore jaw. You hit pretty hard for such a little guy!” Niall was genuine in his praise. Aidan’s sparring partner today, he was one of Thomas’ close friends in class. They both wondered what had happened to Thomas, who hadn’t shown up for class today.
Strom walked over. “We’ve been over this Niall. When someone has you backed up and off balance, you don’t keep running backwards. You get out of the situation. You could have leaped sideways or even rolled backwards. Dangerous moves in combat, but the only way you were going to get out of that was something risky. The better option is not let your opponent get you in that situation in the first place.”
Niall and Aidan stood up at attention immediately. Niall quickly nodded, “yes, sir.”
“Do it again. I’ll show you. Aidan, come at me and get in close like you did with Niall. I’ll let you in for demonstration’s sake, and then we can work on preventing the situation.” Aidan inwardly groaned. Strom seemed to find a lot of satisfaction in bruising him. “Like this?” He stood inside Strom’s reach, chest to chest.
“Is that how you were when you knocked Niall down?”
Aidan nodded.
“Then push me and keep me off balance like you just did. Go!”
Aidan exploded as hard as he could against Strom, who had purposefully set his feet wrong. He knew his only chance was to catch Strom, 50 pounds of muscle heavier than than Aidan, off guard. It started off well. Strom was surprised by Aidan’s ferocity. He started back pedaling, just like Niall. Aidan knew that he was going to bail, so he guessed left and pounced that direction, bringing his practice sword down hard where thought Strom’s head would be, just as Strom dove to the left.
Aidan’s practice sword came down and struck Strom in the forearm and the momentum carried through to hit him in the face. Strom’s head bounced off the ground from the force of the blow. The blunted sword made a sound like knocking on a melon at the market. Aidan, even more surprised than Strom, pulled the blow and immediately sprang backwards, throwing away his practice weapon and breaking into a string of exclamations and apologies.
“Oh, no! StromImSoSorryAreYouOkWhatHaveIDone?”
Strom was groaning on the ground, clutching his forearm and head. There was blood seeping through his hand from his head.
Niall swore a most un-Knightly swear and ran forward. Several others who had seen it happen gathered around the circle.
Aidan continued, looking around, “SomeoneGetHelpQuickIThinkIKilledHim!”
The silence from the other Squires was deafening. A priest broke through the group with a stack of bandages. He kneeled down and started pulling Strom’s hand away from his head. He examined Strom for a moment and there was some low murmuring. Then some chuckling.
“Aidan,” Strom’s strong voice waivered a little bit. “Good shot. Niall, let that be a lesson to you. Never tell your opponent you’re going to dodge.” Strom stood up, a weak half-grin on his face. His face was covered in blood. He had a nasty gash in his forehead. “Congratulations Aidan, you’ve had your first blood in battle. I’m going to go get cleaned up.”
Aidan felt terrible. “Strom, I’m so sorry! Ay didn’t mean to hurt you…”
Strom cut him off, forcefully, “Stop it Aidan. You did exactly what we’re training you to do. You did mean to hurt me. You were trying to win. Keep that instinct. It will save you in a real fight. If that sword had an edge, I’d be dead right now. But you’d be alive, and that’s what matters. You need to learn to be ok with that, or you’re going to wash out of the Knights.”
Aidan didn't know what to say. He nodded.
“Soldiers kill people Aidan. We don’t talk about this often, but we are in fact training you to kill. We want you to do it in the right way: quickly, devastatingly, and only when absolutely necessary. Accidents will happen in training. We all take these risks. Now, I have to go before this priest here drags me away by my weakened arm.” He left with the priest guiding him.
Practice was over. Many of the Squires clapped Aidan on the shoulder as they dispersed. A few of them had kind words for him.
“Bad luck, lad, that’s all.”
“Great shot mate! Well done!”
“Boy wonder! You see it now. This is dangerous work.”
Niall stayed until everyone left. “I know you’re upset,” he said, “but Strom will be fine. He’ll have a few stitches and in a few days he’ll probably find a reason to beat you silly. That said, that was incredible. You bested one of our teachers! You did something that the rest of us would love to do!”
Liam shook his head. “I feel terrible. I know I need to get over this, but I really do feel bad. Perhaps I should go see Strom and apologize to him again?”
“I think if you do that he’d just bang your head into an infirmary tent pole. He was pretty clear Aidan - you have to accept that this is part of the life. We break bones and get stitches here so that we don’t die out there.”
“Out where?” Asked Aidan.
“What do you mean?” Asked Niall.
“I mean, where is out there? Who are we preparing to fight?”
&nbs
p; “The enemies of the Creator, of course.” Niall looked at him like he was daft.
“Who are they?”
“Haven’t you been paying attention in religion class? The enemies of the Creator are anyone who tries to hurt his people!”
“Who is trying to hurt us?” Aidan was genuinely confused. Was there someone they were preparing to fight or not? “As far as I know, Atania has never been attacked by anyone. The walls keep us safe. There’s the barbarian tribes out there, but they’ve never tried to attack us. What are we training for? Why am I trying so hard to learn how to hurt people? I just want to help people!” Aidan stormed off, frustrated and confused, leaving Niall watching with a confused look of his own.
Aidan walked slowly to morning religion class. He was feeling very heavy and confused. He had spent the night helping his father get the house in order, helping his brother with his homework, and he had also helped track down a loose goat for a neighbor with his father.
He had fallen asleep on his knees in prayer, waking only after slumping over and the tingling of the blood returning to his legs caused his legs to feel like they were being pricked by thousands of little needles. His contemplation and seeking of the Creator overcome by his physical and mental exhaustion from the constant load of courses and combat practice. It was wonderful to see the change that had come over his family since joining the Knights, but especially since that night with his father and … whatever it was that had happened to heal him. He seemed to be a changed man. He hadn’t touched the bottle since, and had gone about cleaning their home and making repairs and helping neighbors. Every night he had prayed fervently
His prayers hadn’t helped much last night though. He wasn’t sure why he felt so frustrated and confused.
Angus, and 3 of his buddies, stepped out of an alley. Angus looked angry. His friends looked amused and determined. Aidan had seen this look before. Neighborhood bullies about to offer a beat down. “Aidan, you really did a number on Strom yesterday. I think the new guy needs to learn some manners.” His friends smiled.
Aidan took a deep breath. These were his fellow Squires. They were protecting their own. He got it. He had friends on the block that he would have protected too. But he didn’t like that life, and he was enjoying this new life. He hoped he could talk them down. “It was an accident Angus. Even Strom said so.”
“Yeah, I don’t care how it went down. I don’t know you, and since you came along you keep getting all kinds of attention, acting like you’re so great. Let’s see how you handle a real fight. No instructors to make us take it easy on you.”
Aidan shook his head, “I don’t want to fight you Angus. We’re brothers. Squires. I’m new, but surely there’s a scripture that says you shouldn't hurt your brother.”
Angus laughed, “I don’t care what the scriptures say. I don’t like you.” Angus sprang straight at Aidan, who backpedaled, on balance. The other three immediately moved to surround Aidan. These guys fought together a lot. They were tight. Aidan was in trouble if they decided to do anything besides prevent Aidan from leaving.
“Come on Angus. Don’t do this. I don’t want to fight you.”
Angus closed, fists raised in a close combat stance. Angus was dangerous. He wasn’t as big as Strom, but he was bigger than Aidan, with longer reach. He was one of the best fighters in the class. Maybe the best. He took several jab steps, then came in with a big right hook. It was a common combination and Aidan dodged, weaved, and ducked under the hook - and took a kick to the face for his trouble. The other three oohed and Aidan’s training helped him to get his balance back under him and throw a few counter punches. They were wild, but they kept Angus from closing. Angus laughed.
“This is too easy Aidan. You’re awful. Come on! Fight!”
He came on again and Aidan was prepared. Aidan knew that he was quicker than Angus. Aidan was quicker than maybe all the Squires. Aidan zipped around behind one of the other three who tried to follow him around, but Aidan just shoved him forward into Angus. He wasn’t expecting it and it worked. They got tangled and Aidan looped all the way around landing a heavy punch to Angus’s ribs. They both tried to reach for Aidan and Aidan kicked Angus’s buddy in the gut, doubling him over, and grabbed Angus’s wrist, twisting his body so that they stood next to each other, side by side. Aidan let go with his right hand, holding Angus’s wrist with his left, and punched Angus in the face, cross body without a lot of power, but he connected, and tried to initiate a hip throw.
Angus smiled as he accepted the blow, turned, got his feet under him and started driving Aidan back. Aidan knew where this was going and he tried to dive aside, but Angus had too strong a grip on his collar. Angus shook him, “Where you going Aidan? Where you going wonder boy?” Suddenly a fist slammed into Aidan’s face. Angus was holding on with one hand, driving with his legs and punching. Aidan panicked and took two more punishing hits before he ripped Angus’s fingers off of his collar. He tried to use the hold he had on Angus’s fingers to initiate a wrist lock.
“You’re going to grapple with me? You must be dumber than I thought.” He grabbed Aidan’s collar and started driving again, but Aidan had already let go of the hold, grabbed the back of Angus's shirt, stepped back with his left leg and pivoted his hips, hard, pushing Angus’s front with his right hand and sending Angus sprawling, his Squire uniform ripped.
There was a moment of silence and then Angus stood back up, drawing his knife from his belt. “You’re going to bleed for that newbie.”
Aidan looked quickly at the other three. They weren’t smiling any more. This was escalating way too quickly. Aidan had to put a stop to it right now. Forget brotherhood and forget technique. Angus charged forward stabbing high and low with his knife, in a fighter’s deadly advance, not the wild swipes of the untrained scrappers that Aidan was used to fighting on the street.
Aidan threw himself backwards into a somersault and rolled smoothly up, throwing a handful of dirt at Angus’s face as he did. As a small guy on the street, Aidan knew more than his share of dirty tricks. Angus immediately screamed out, “Cheap! Argh!” And now the swings were wild. Angus could barely see, he was blinking rapidly. Aidan timed a swing and stepped to the side, trying to grab the knife arm. Angus sensed it coming and shifted his momentum into Aidan, awkwardly, and they both went down.
Angus fell on top of Aidan and stopped moving. His face was right in front of Aidan’s face, and he looked shocked. Aidan felt wetness and he pushed Angus off, rolled to the side and looked back. Angus’s knife was embedded to the hilt in his stomach. The awkward movement had allowed Aidan to keep the knife pointed away from himself. It had been instinctual, and Aidan was horrified.
“Oh, Creator, what did you do?” One of Angus’s friends whispered.
“He’s been stabbed,” said another one, sucking in wind and yelling again, “HELP! My friend’s been stabbed! Murder!”
The third friend looked around and ran.
A small crowd had gathered when the fight started and now everyone was yelling.
Aidan looked back at Angus. He had rolled onto his back. He was losing blood rapidly from his belly wound. He looked scared. His eyes were wide. His mouth was opening and closing like a fish and he was sweating. His hands shook as he put them around the knife. Aidan stopped him. “Angus, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean for this to happen. Oh, Creator! Help me!” He looked up at the heavens. The church would never forgive him if he killed one of their Squires. Everything that was good that happened to him in the last few weeks was directly from the church and from his direct prayers. He prayed fervently for more help, “Please help me.”
A familiar peace came over Aidan. He laid his hands on the gory wound, “Angus, in the name of the Great Creator, I bless you to be healed of this wound, and I bless you to breathe. The Creator blesses you that through you, the world will know of His glory. Go forth, live, and know He who healed you.”
Aidan spoke the words and knew that it was done. He opened his eyes and th
e bloody knife was in his hands, which were also now stained with blood from the wound. The wound was closed, pink scar tissue formed. The wound looked like it had been closed for a week. He dropped the knife next to Angus, who looked at him in a mix of bewilderment, disbelief, and awe.
Aidan heard murmurs. He looked around and the crowd had grown. There were perhaps three dozen people. He heard one of them say, low and barely audible, “Bless the Creator, he healed him!”
Word of Aidan’s miracle spread quickly. The Church of the Great Creator always claimed that signs followed the faithful. In the three days that followed, Aidan’s family found out of course. His father, Kerry, was moved to tears, and believed that his son was blessed by the Creator. His father began attending church and entered training to became a Deacon, a lay minister. The three dozen people who saw what Aidan did told all of their families, and many of their friends. Those family and friends told others, as is the way of amazing news.
The Three Dozen Witnesses, as they eventually came to be called, would go on to sign documents for the church, testifying of what they saw. They would believe what they had seen until the end of their days.
Others believed in varying degrees. Ardent church supporters saw it as a faith-confirming miracle. Others thought it was a nice story. Still others were skeptical.
Strom found out immediately, of course. He nearly killed Angus himself, but Garrick intercepted him and threatened to drum him out of the Knighthood if he laid hands on Angus. Angus made himself scarce and didn’t appear at the Squires’ combat practice for nearly a month. He was in the front row at prayers every day though.