The Last Empath of Doctsland

by Leah Putz

  Laughing, I nodded, slowly getting a sense of their camaraderie as a group, and appreciative of their efforts to include me in that. The rest of the meal was spent in idle chatter, all of us doing our best to enjoy the delicious food and trying not to think too much on the road ahead. While it was surely fraught with perils and there would need to be much planning and discussion before we landed, this was not the time. We celebrated the Doctsland custom of a great feast party the evening before a journey, to bless it. Given the circumstances, the party wasn’t very feasible, but the feast was present, and we were determined to make the most of it. As Jion said, it was likely we wouldn’t have another for a long while.

  After the meal, and a few more drinks, my barricade was beginning to get weak. The drunken happiness but underlying unease of my companions (with the exception of the prince, who appeared to be drinking only water), and of those members of the crew in close proximity began to seep into the edges of my mind. Yawning, I took that as a sign to retire and stood. “I’m going to head to bed. Thank you for the meal,” I announced. The others stood and bowed to bid me off.

  “Goodnight. When you awake tomorrow, meet me on deck. We’ve got some training to do,” Jion said, sitting back down and pouring himself another glass of wine.

  I nodded before leaving the cabin and making my way back to my bunk. I had barely managed to disrobe before I fell into bed and drifted off to sleep, wondering briefly what kind of training Jion was referring to.

  Chapter Five

  Lisalya

  The next morning was disorienting, to say the least. As I opened my eyes, I expected for a moment to see the familiar ceiling of my bedroom at home. When I saw the mattress of the top bunk above me instead I blearily rubbed my eyes, confused, before everything came swirling back in a rush. The last thing I remembered from the previous evening was Jion requesting me on deck for some sort of training. With a groan and a stretch, I stood from my bed, careful not to knock my head on the top bunk. The movement of the boat, last nights’ drinks, and the relative proximity to everyone else on the ship already had me feeling slightly woozy. The last thing I needed was a knock to the head. After pulling on my trousers and an off-white blouse and vest, I braced myself and prepared to face the day. Before exiting the room, I did my best to put up mental blockades. I’ll need to use this time on the ship to learn how to better put up blocks, as well as learn how to search people out if that’s what my purpose on this mission will be, I thought, exiting the room.

  It was easier to navigate the ship and make my way to the deck. I was growing accustomed to the twists and turns of the narrow ship hallways. It also helped that the closer I got the louder the voices and noises from the crew were, both physically and mentally. When I finally crested the stairs, I held my hand up to shield my eyes. It had to be close to noon, the sun was high and bright. There were numerous crew members around, all busy with their own tasks, and I glanced about me, wondering if Jion was awake yet or if I had beat him. It was as good a time as any to practice, so I closed my eyes and quested out, searching for the unique voice that made up his mind. Scrunching up my face, I tried to focus on opening a crack in my walls to allow Jion to slip through but no one else. I grinned when I sensed him, just a flicker through my blocks, but coming from the left. I closed up the crack and opened my eyes just as he began to approach.

  “Ahh, there she is!” His voice broke out amongst the crowd. I turned towards the sound to see him walking towards me from the direction of the prince’s cabin. “You certainly enjoy your sleep, don’t you?” he said, keeping a good-natured tone.

  I rubbed my eyes, finally adjusting to the brightness of the daylight. “What time is it?”

  “After noon, I’d say. Siofra and I have been up for hours, helping the crew and waiting for you to arrive. I wanted to go wake you, but Siofra wouldn’t let me. She said sometimes being around people makes your head hurt? Anyway, she thought you might need the time to rest,” he answered, gesturing to Siofra, who was assisting one of the crew members with a sail.

  “I’m sorry for my delay. Siofra is right, sometimes it is painful for me to be around people. This morning, though, I think I just overslept. Where is the prince?” I asked, unaccustomed to seeing Jion without Prince V by his side.

  He nodded towards the cabin. “The prince does not take well to sea journeys. He is resting in his cabin.”

  I wondered briefly if that were true, or if he was just hiding in his cabin instead of helping the crew, or assisting with training. That seems more likely, if any of the rumors about his spoiled nature are true, I thought. What esteem I had gained of the prince during last night’s dinner was starting to slip away.

  Jion reached a veiny arm towards a sword that had to be longer than my torso and thrust it towards me. My eyes grew wide, and I stared at him in shock. “What do you want me to do with that?” I asked, bewildered.

  A smirk spread across his handsome face. “Your training.”

  “I’ve never wielded a sword before,” I said, staring at the weapon skeptically.

  “Neither had I,” Siofra said, stepping up beside Jion, her own sword firm in her grasp. Her hair was pinned back, and she looked ready for battle somehow. Even without her armor, she was an intimidating force. “Until my mother handed one to me and taught me to use it effectively.” She nodded her head towards the sword that Jion held out to me. “Take it, and we will begin.”

  Gingerly I reached out with both hands and took the sword from him, lurching forward with the weight in my hands. His smirk grew into a grin. “First we’ll work on how to hold it. One handed. Are you stronger with your right or left?”

  “My right. But even so, I don’t understand how I can hold this with one hand. It weighs as much as I do!” I exclaimed, letting go with my left hand and trying, and failing, to lift the sword off the ground.

  Jion laughed heartily, eyes scrunching up with his wide grin. “It doesn’t weigh as much as you do, that much I can assure you. But you are right, it is heavy. Learning to wield it properly with one hand will take time, and practice, but you will grow strength. Soon it won’t be any trouble to get it off the ground.”

  “Whose sword is this anyway?” I asked, lifting it with both hands once more to examine the detailed handle.

  “It was my mother’s.” My head snapped up at the unexpected sound of the prince’s voice. I saw him, his normally olive-toned skin appearing pale and his face worn, (perhaps Jion was right about his sea sickness) making his way slowly towards us.

  “The queen? The one who just passed?” I asked, eyes widening with wonder at the sword in my hand once more.

  Prince Viktor shook his head. “No, that was my step-mother. My birth mother died when I was small, and my father remarried a widowed princess from Bushand. That is the queen who recently died. This sword belonged to my real mother, and has been sitting unused since her death, locked away in my father’s bedchambers. I took it into my own keeping after his death.” He hesitated, eyes locked onto the weapon in my hands.

  Jion spoke up during the prince’s pause. “There weren’t many weapons we could sneak away from the barracks without being noticed. We took as much as we could and brought as many of our own as we could manage. I imagine we'll need them if all goes well and we’re able to gather people to our cause. I know the smallfolk in Doctsland don’t have access to weapons, nor do they need to, being a safe country. Perhaps the people of Bushand will be in a similar situation.”

  “Clearly it was the right choice, bringing it along. It’s already coming in handy,” the prince said, a small smile on his lips before he suddenly blanched, his face turning green. Despite my barricades, I felt a wave of nausea rush over me as well.

  “Perhaps. You should go back to the cabin. We can handle teaching Lisalya how to fight.” Siofra said gently. The prince nodded before turning and doing just that.

  “He looks... unwell,” I said, watching as he ducked back into his cabin hurriedly. The more distanc
e he put between us the more his illness receded from my mind. I breathed a sigh of relief when he shut the door.

  “Yeah, he’s a mess on a ship. We learned that on the journey to Loch,” Jion said. “Now enough distractions. Time for you to learn to fight like a Doctsland soldier!”

  “First you need to pick the sword up off the ground,” Siofra said, looking at where the end of the sword kissed the deck with raised eyebrows.

  Groaning with the effort, but also with a bit of a dramatic flair that I won’t deny, I heaved the weapon upright. “Pointy end towards the sky?” I joked.

  Jion laughed and nodded. “Pointy end toward the sky. See, you’re a natural. You already know which end is up.”

  From her place by my side, Siofra reached towards the hilt. “Now let’s adjust your hands. There is a proper way to hold a sword, it will help balance the weight and make it easier for you to handle. We’ll start with two hands. You said your right hand is dominant, yes?” she asked. I nodded and she continued. “Okay, so with your right hand, grasp the hilt up here, closer to the blade. Then place your left beneath it, here.” As she spoke, she guided my hands to the proper position on the leather-wrapped hilt. “This part here,” Siofra continued, pointing towards the golden top of the handle, which held an ornate design of twisting vines and leaves, “will protect your hands from the blade.” Once my hands were in place she let go and stepped back. “Now hold it up and move it around a bit.”

  I followed her instructions and found that the new placement of my hands made it a lot easier to lift the blade, though it’s weight still made it difficult considering my arms weren’t used to exhibiting this kind of strength. “That feels a bit better, right?” Jion asked.

  “Yes,” I replied, feeling a bit powerful with the blade firmly in my grasp.

  “Alright, your hands are in the right spots. Let’s work on your stance,” Jion said.

  “Stance?” I asked. “Won’t I be moving all over if I’m in a fight?”

  “Yes, but you’ve got to have a foundation before you get to that. Otherwise you’ll be flailing around with no purpose.”

  I nodded, trying to mirror his position. Feet hip width apart, knees bent slightly. “Like this?”

  “Good,” Jion said. “Keep a bend in your knees, it will help with your balance. It’ll also keep them from locking, which can make you pass out. Try to stay light on your feet to increase your speed.” As he spoke, he began to circle me slowly. “Keep me in your line of sight. Don’t let me get behind you, or in any blind spots.”

  I turned, rotating my feet to keep him in my vision. Jion smiled. “That’s great, Lis. Good job. You’ve pretty much nailed the standing position. So now comes the hard part. Footwork.”

  Siofra stepped in. “The quick footwork in the heat of battle will come naturally with time and practice. Everyone develops their own style. As we practice you’ll begin to develop yours. Until then, try to move in a way that feels most natural. Like Jion said, stay light on your feet. Don’t dig your heels in and stand in one spot, try to keep moving.”

  “Siofra and I will duel for a minute. Pay special attention to how and where we move our feet.”

  I watched in amazement as they began to move. They were so quick it was hard to focus, but I took Jion’s instruction to heart and tried to follow their feet with my eyes as best I could. It proved difficult, the distraction of the blades clanging together made it hard not glance up at their swords, but I was determined not to tear my eyes off their quick moving feet. I watched as they danced back and forth, moving lightly and swiftly across the deck of the ship, and somehow maintaining enough control as they moved to not strike each other accidentally. My eyes widened, and I wondered how this would ever come naturally to me the way Siofra had described it.

  “Do you want to try?” Siofra asked, and I blinked up at them, terrified.

  “Don’t worry, we won’t go so quickly on your first try. We’ll help you build up to that,” Jion said.

  Nodding slowly, I lifted the sword in my grasp. “Alright, I’ll try.” True to his word, Jion approached slowly. He explained what he intended to do before he did it, ensuring I knew where and when to lift the blade to parry his blows.

  We continued until it felt like I was going to pass out. The fatigue coursing through my veins grew heavy, a weight that seemed to be pulling my arms downwards whenever I tried to lift them to block. As I weakened physically, so did the barricade in my mind begin to break. By the time we stopped, it had nearly crumbled completely, and I felt the emotions of everyone nearby churning in my head. I tried to push them back to focus on the task at hand, but when I failed to raise the sword high enough and Jion nicked my arm with his, he declared it was time to be done for the day. “We’ll pick up again tomorrow. I reckon if we do a bit each day, you’ll be a skilled enough fighter by the time we reach Bushand.”

  “Okay,” I said, breathing heavily and examining the small cut on my right arm.

  “I think Vik has some bandages in the cabin.” He gestured in that direction. “You can get that cleaned and wrapped up. We’ll meet here tomorrow after you wake, just like today.”

  With a soft smile of thanks, I nodded before making my way towards the cabin. I took the blade with me, thinking I should return his mother’s sword back to the prince, at least for the day. I knocked lightly at first, feeling nervous about entering the prince’s space, especially while he was sick.

  “You may enter,” I heard him call from within.

  Pushing the door open, I was met by darkness and again nausea poured over me. The prince had pulled all the curtains shut, and the only light source was a sole candle on the table. Though I couldn’t see him, I could make out his form beneath the covers on a cot in the corner. “I brought your mother’s sword. Thank you for allowing me to train with it.” When he didn’t reply, I asked, “Are you alright?”

  With a groan, he pushed himself upright. His hair, which had always been tied back up to this point, flowed freely over his shoulders. “I’m fine, just dizzy. Can you place the sword in that cabinet please?” He gestured with his hand to a cabinet along the wall near the door.

  “Yes,” I said, gently resting the weapon in the cabinet and shutting the door. “Um, Jion mentioned you may have a bandage in here. Is that correct?”

  He cocked his head, curious. “Why do you need a bandage?”

  Lifting my elbow, I showed him my wound. “I may have sustained a slight injury at the end of that training Jion and Sifora gave me.”

  The prince smiled, and I was surprised to find that it dazzled me a little. “A cut during your very first sparing lesson? That’s basically a rite of passage.” He peeled his covers off and crawled out of bed and over to the cabinet. “Here,” he said, pulling out a long bandage. “I’ll help you wrap that up.”

  “Thanks,” I replied.

  “So, how exactly did you get this?” he asked, gently wiping the wound with a cloth before applying the bandage.

  “My arms were getting tired. I wasn’t able to raise the sword up quickly enough, so I couldn’t block Jion’s blow. Thankfully it only nicked my arm.”

  “Jion usually has pretty good control of his blade. It could have been much worse if it had been someone else. The sword does get pretty heavy after a while. How long was the training? An hour?”

  I shrugged. “Around there, maybe two.” I glanced back down at the sword resting in the cabinet. “I don’t even remember a queen before your step-mother. I was too young.”

  A pang of sadness struck through the nausea, and I glanced at him to see it written on his face as well. His eyes were downcast, focusing on the bandage he was applying, but a frown had settled on his lips, “I hardly remember her either. She died when I was very young, killed in a skirmish with Bushand. We’ve never had a great relationship with them, something my father tried to remedy when he took their princess to wife. But we’re seeing how that turned out,” he said with a humorless chuckle, bitterness thick in hi
s voice and heart. “That sword is one of my only keepsakes from my mother.”

  “The soldiers in Loch always named their blades before they went off the Capital City to join the military. Does this sword have a name?”

  The prince nodded. “Mother named it after my grandmother, Gaisgea. They were both warriors- each had served in the royal guard. That’s how my parents met.”

  I glanced up at him in confusion, though he seemed to be focused on wrapping my wound, “Your father married a soldier? Not a princess?”

  A small smile broke the furrow in his brow slightly. “I’m surprised you don’t know. Though Loch is a long way from Capital City, and nearly thirty years have passed. But yes, he married a soldier rather than a princess. It was quite a scandal, or so I’ve heard. And my parents, particularly my father, always worried that my legitimacy as an heir would be questioned because my mother was a commoner. I never thought that would happen, but now I see that they were right to be concerned. There,” he said, his somber tone lifting. “You’re all set. Try to take it a little easier while that’s healing.”

  I bowed. “I’ll take it as easy as Jion allows me too. He said we’re to do lessons every morning until we arrive.”

  “Really?” he said, eyebrows raised. “And how long did they say this journey would be? Two weeks? You’ll be the best fighter of us all with practice every day!”

  I laughed incredulously. “I doubt that. I need all the practice I can get right now, I just hope I don’t have to put it to use for a while. I’m not sure I’m ready for that.”

  “Yeah, me neither. But we’ve got time to prepare ourselves.”

  I felt the ship rock beneath my feet, and saw the prince’s face pale. “I will let you get back to sleep. Thank you again, Prince Viktor.”

  “Please,” he said, “Just call me Viktor. Or even Vik, as Jion and Siofra do. There’s no need for formalities out here.”