by Tony Roberts
Seltonas then brought his fingers into a claw shape and bared his teeth. A faint red light enveloped Faer. She looked wildly at herself. All her skin was tingling. It wasn’t unpleasant but she didn’t like it. She looked at the two men before her. She tried to speak but couldn’t move. She was locked rigid to the spot. Now something else was happening. A feeling of something rising up from her bones, her core. It was like a darkness enveloping her, suffocating her. She tried to cry out but couldn’t.
The elf concentrated on his spell but spoke to the Blademaster. “Look at her eyes.”
Territus saw Faer’s eyes change before him. The pupils narrowed and became cat-like. He stepped away even more. Her face was changing. It became cunning, cruel, her eyes hardened.
She snarled, sweeping aside Seltonas’ spell with contemptuous ease. “Foul weakling,” she hissed, “you’ll pay for this!”
Her hands raised and became suffused in a crackling light. She sent it at Seltonas who swatted it aside. Two stands behind him collapsed into pieces. Territus looked around in alarm. Seltonas smiled and shot out his left arm, knocking Faer back, but she kept her balance, springing back with a litheness that took the Blademaster by surprise. She was moving like a cat, her fingernails sweeping for Seltonas.
The elf knocked her hands up and jabbed into her stomach with his wooden sword. She growled and spun round, sweeping her arm in an attempt to rip his face off. Seltonas was ready and ducked, bringing his arms up under her and throwing her back into the centre of the room.
Faer screamed in rage and crouched, raising both hands and touching both together. Flames burst from her and struck Seltonas on the chest. He swept his arms across his chest and the flames were doused.
Territus’ heart jumped as he saw her turn in his direction, and the smile she gave him send a shiver through him, but it wasn’t one entirely of fear. There was something… sexually stimulating about it too. She raised a hand and pointed at him. The fingertip glowed and he sensed something pass around him, but nothing happened. Her expression changed to outrage and she screamed. Gathering her legs beneath her she leaped for him, hands splayed.
Seltonas sent a cross strike at her, his wooden sword striking her clean across the ribs. She crashed to the ground and sprang at him in one fluid movement, nails pointed, intent on ripping his throat out. Seltonas held her two feet from him, straining, his right hand sending a field of energy that engulfed her. “I shall make you mine,” Faer hissed in him in elfish. “You shall serve me.”
Seltonas’ mouth tightened and forced her to her knees. “She’s weakening,” he observed. Standing over her he forced the energy field into her body and Faer sank to her hands and knees, her head touching the floor. “Now she should be beginning to return to her old self.”
“Faerowyn, can you hear me?” the Blademaster asked, coming forward. “Faerowyn?”
She looked up, her face covered in sweat. Her eyes were still slits but wider, not so narrow. She panted. “Yes,” she gasped.
“Remember,” Seltonas said sternly, holding the field, watching her intently. “Push the darkness down, Initiate. Push!”
Faer panted harder and concentrated. The dark within her was there still, but she forced it down, deeper. “It- it’s gone,” she finally announced.
“Look at me, Initiate,” the elf commanded.
Faer looked up. Seltonas relaxed and lowered his arm. Faer slumped into a foetal ball on the floor. The elf nodded to Territus. “It is safe, she is herself again.” He turned about to see to the two broken stands.
Territus crouched by the sweat-soaked girl. “Are you alright?” he asked gently.
She looked up, her eyes normal. “Yes, Master.”
“What do you remember?”
“Most of it – I remember trying to kill Master Seltonas. I couldn’t help myself; it was something that took me over. I tried to fight it but I couldn’t stop it.”
Seltonas turned. “You spoke the Dark Elf dialect. Do you recall that?”
Faer nodded. “I’ve never spoken it before but I know the dialect. Odd, isn’t it? How did I bring that magic to my hands?”
Seltonas gave up with the stands. They were smashed beyond repair. “You have elements of a dark elf’s natural powers. Weaker than normal, but I expected that. Were you a full-blood then you would have defeated me. Within ourselves we carry supernatural abilities, calling upon natural elements, like fire, or kinetic energy, or sometimes use a person’s own emotions against them. You tried to bend the Blademaster to your will, for example.”
“Yes, I remember. I-I tried to make you obey me and attack Master Seltonas.”
Territus took off the pendant and passed it to Faer who slipped it on. She got to her feet, with the Blademaster’s assistance. He stepped back and eyed the girl. “We need to decide how to deal with your inner powers.”
Seltonas waved a hand in the air. “I can show her how to. Now I know the full range of her abilities and strength, I can deal with her easily.”
“Will her elf powers resurface?”
“No, unless I draw them forth again. They are buried deep inside her. I could show her how to use her abilities, like her flame spell. That was the most powerful one she had.”
“Would that be wise, given her lack of discipline? Faer, how do you feel now?”
She wiped the sweat off her face. “Weak. A little sick. Very ashamed.”
Seltonas eyed her severely. “Initiate, I want to you return to your quarters, wash, clean, compose yourself. Then, in one hour precisely, report here again.”
Faer bowed to the two and made her way to the door, her mind whirling. As she left, the elf sighed and looked at Territus. “Blademaster, you sorely test my loyalty to this school.”
“If I did not trust your abilities, loyalty and good character, I would not have asked you to take her on. But she must be shaped, moulded, guided away from her dark heritage.”
“I understand what you say. It is just that I despise her and all her kind.”
Territus touched Seltonas on the shoulder. “I have every confidence in you. Do what you can for her.”
“Very well. One thing though; do not be so familiar with her. She may take advantage if you allow that. I sensed it during our exchange. She definitely has sexual desires towards you and you are showing a weakness towards her. Suppress them.”
“That is insane, Seltonas!”
The elf shook his head. “I know my elves. She is bursting with desire and it’ll spill out onto someone soon. I fear for whoever it is. She may be only half elf, but the ability to bind a male to her is definitely there. Whoever gets her attention will become her slave; I have no doubt about that. She is a Queen. We must be sure not to allow her to gather a following.”
“What do you mean, a Queen?”
Seltonas rubbed his face. “Recent history in the Kingdom of Keria. The royal house was deposed seventeen of your years ago, a mere moment in time for us. Civil war erupted. The House of Owyn was defeated and scattered, but the victors only won through treachery and now have turned on their former allies. House turned against House. Now the dark elves are calling for the House of Owyn to return and claim the throne. There is only one known member of that line left.”
“Faerowyn.”
“Indeed. If she gained enough followers and invaded Keria, she would be declared Queen. Queen of the dark elves. What a terrible proposition.”
Territus shook his head. It seemed incongruous, the girl that had been here just a short time ago, Queen of the most powerful race in the world.
“Lucky for the rest of the world up to now the kings and queens of Keria have been inward looking, more intent on keeping all rivals down. But if she got on the throne she knows of the outside world; how divided it is, how weak it is. She could feasibly send out her Lancers and Legions to conquer the world, and we would sink into a dark age that we could never ever emerge from.”
“Seltonas, you’re being fanciful, using your dislike of her
race to think of the worst. She isn’t like that!”
“And you’re still protecting her! She hasn’t touched you yet you are falling under her spell. Clear your head. Do not let her touch you. It would only take a moment for you to become hers for life. Now, let me do my job and show her how to be a warrior. Bah!”
The Blademaster faced his elf Swordmaster. “Enough of this, Seltonas. I believe your prejudices are clouding your judgement in this. With your guidance, we may yet produce one of the best blade warriors this school has ever produced. Examine her attributes, find the full range of her powers, build her skills up. You may yet have cause to thank her for something. I feel she is destined for some greatness, but not necessarily as Queen.”
“We shall see, Blademaster. I just hope I am not contributing to the fall of society.”
Territus left. He had duties to perform and exchanging opinions with his chief teacher wasn’t helping to do them.
Faer, meanwhile, reached the cool haven of her room and threw her clothes onto her bed, grimacing at their smell. What had caused that? She reeked. There was a small water pail and she used it to wash with. It must have been put there during breakfast. A cloth and some small bag of something else was next to it. She opened the bag and sniffed. A strong smell of sweet fragrance assailed her senses. Oh, nice. She rubbed some on her fingers, and the wetness dissolved them and coated her skin.
Fascinated, she applied some to her skin and rubbed. It soaked in and left her quite fragrant. She giggled. Lovely! She would have to ask what this was. Thinking, she turned and took her shirt and leggings and dunked them in the water, then rubbed the fragrant salts on them too, hanging them out near the window to dry. The water she poured down the hole in the privy.
Her room smelled beautifully and she lay on her bed, smiling. That’s better! Her badge. Hmm. How to sew? Her mother had shown her on plenty of occasions, but where could she get hold of a needle and thread? There must be a place that had them here. Nobody was telling her anything, and it was so exasperating.
She got up and left the room. An initiate was taking a pair of boots to one of the rooms on the floor above, so she followed him and waited until he re-emerged, a look of relief on his face. “Hello,” she said brightly, “can you help me please?”
The boy, one about her age, looked surprised. “Ah, yes, what is it?”
“Could you tell me where I can get needle and thread? For my badge, you see.”
“Oh, you’re the new girl. Sure, follow me. I’ve got to go there, or near there.”
“On errands? Running round after people?”
“Mmm. I expect you’ll be doing that soon enough. They treat us like slaves sometimes. You’re Faerowyn, aren’t you? Elf blood.”
“Yes, I suppose I’m the best known member of this school already.” She sighed. No hiding here in Kaltinar. “I’m being taught by Seltonas.”
“Oh, bad luck! He’s really charmless, isn’t he?”
“Seems that way. Actually I think he’s a little arrogant. Knows lots of things though.”
The boy, who introduced himself as Dayton, nodded. He told Faer of the library where books of all sorts could be found, and on her off days if she was so inclined, could go and read there. There were books about everything, geography, history, society, physics, magic, botany, food, everything. She thanked him.
“Look, here’s the launderette. All clothes washed here, dried here, and you can get everything about clothes and repairs here. Ask the ladies in there. Gotta go, will be late for my lesson. Bye!”
She waved Dayton goodbye and found where to get needle and thread. What she liked was that everything was free here. She supposed the fee she had handed over paid for that. It had been a substantial amount and she guessed her food, lodgings, tuition fees, access to all facilities and so on came out of that.
Returning to her room she picked up her black school shirt that had been left on the bed and began sewing the badge to the correct spot. Dark Blade. She liked the sound of it. Humming an old sea song, she secured the badge and put the shirt on. It fitted reasonably well. She ran her hands over her sides, then breasts and finally stomach. She seemed in a reasonably fit state. Her legs were firming up, probably as a result of her recent countryside journey.
Her leggings were still damp, so she selected her spare pair, and slipped them on. Now ready for Seltonas’ lesson, she made her way to the hall. There, she found the elf speaking to four grown men, all of whom were attired in black and yellow, denoting them to have passed their tuition.
“Ah, here she is, on time too. Commendable.” He waved a hand at the four who returned her look blandly. “May I introduce our newest pupil, one who is now to be known as Dark Blade?”
Faer stiffened at the mocking tone in his voice.
Seltonas threw her a wooden sword. “And these gentlemen are specialists. They are to test your other attribute we have not yet discussed, that of your dark vision.” He nodded to the four who donned face masks, covering their features entirely. They then took up positions all round her, at equal points. “Do not think that your natural ability is going to help you here, Initiate. In fact I shall be pleased to see you humbled. It may teach you respect.”
Faer glowered at him. He really was a pompous arrogant individual.
Seltonas cast her a brief smile. “I can hear you thinking. You don’t like me. Good. Keep it that way.” He walked over to the windows and drew close the shutters, then flung black curtains across them, plunging the room into inky darkness. Even the door was covered by a curtain. “Now we shall see if your natural ability triumphs over learning.”
Faer’s eyes adjusted and he saw the orange warmth of the four around her. Seltonas cast a deeper red, something that briefly fascinated her. Was that through being an elf and his temperature was higher, or because he had a magic shield around him? She detected it. Did that mean she could feel magic? She glanced just off to one side of him. Yes, there it was, a thin reddish line about six inches from his body. So that’s how far it projected. Useful.
“Begin.”
Faer noted the four had adopted an alert stance. She slowly turned, gripping her sword in both hands. Should she move behind one and whack him around the head or what? She took one step and froze. The four all moved towards her. Did they hear that step? She stopped. They slowed. Another step and they changed direction, heading straight for her. Gods! They could hear her…
They weren’t too far away so she crouched down and waited. The four slowed again, moving slightly from side to side. Why did they move like that? They were still assuming a posture of facing an opponent her height, so they had not yet realised she was half that height now.
She spun and scuttled past one who swung round and swiped the air. The sword would have struck her on the upper arm if she had been upright. The others came closer. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Seltonas regarding the tableau, his arms folded. He also could see in the dark like all elves. He wasn’t helping anyone, merely being content to watch and take mental notes.
She rolled and a stick smashed into the ground just where she had been. Now they had realised her position and were adopting a new stance, looking down. How? How could they do that if they couldn’t see? She got up and swung wildly. Her sword knocked one aside but she got a blow to her back from a colleague and she grunted in pain.
Ow! That hurt!
She swung round and let her blow go with all she had, but the figure ducked. It was as if he had seen it coming. Impossible! Another painful blow to the ribs and a third, and she was down on all fours, retching. That last one had really hurt.
“Break,” Seltonas said calmly. The four backed off and stopped.
Faer looked up, bringing her breathing and guts under control. She was outclassed. Again. “How?”
“Work it out. Use your brains. Your race is supposed to be highly intelligent. Demonstrate that to me, or is your human side too much of a handicap?”
Faer groaned and stood up, pickin
g up her sword. Another bout like that and the hall would be seeing her breakfast. She nodded and held her sword upright, protecting her face.
Seltonas grunted. “Begin.”
The four waited. She waited. The wait went on. Then she moved her sword. Immediately they closed in. That had made no sound. Air movement? That was it. Air movement! They could detect the movement of objects through the air? She dangled her sword away from her body and waved it. Two moved in swiftly and struck hard, knocking the sword from her hand. Instantly she swung her leg and kicked the nearest straight between the legs. He groaned and doubled over.
The one behind her swung. She rolled and grabbed the hurt individual. Swinging him round, the blow intended for her, took him on the head. She released the stunned man and grabbed the second man’s sword, tugging on it hard. The man held on so she jumped and wrapped herself round him.
He whirled, trying to fight her off. She tugged his mask off and hurled it at the third. He swung his sword and missed. The mask struck him on the shoulder. The fourth however had got behind her and smashed her on the back. Faer screamed and fell, landing heavily at the second’s feet. The three closed in and raised their swords.
“Stop.”
Seltonas moved to the nearest window and peeled back the curtain and then the shutters. He calmly turned and took in the tableau. One of his protégés was coddling his manhood, down on his knees, head bent. As second had no mask and was red-faced. He seemed to have received a scratch on the jaw. The other two were standing calmly. “Remove masks.”
They did so and regarded her, except the one moaning in pain, with interest.
“Remarkable,” Seltonas said. “I’ve never seen that before, one of you bested, another nearly so. Could be beginner’s luck, I suppose,” he conceded, looking at the sobbing Faer.
“Master, what about her?”
“She’ll recover. A little suffering is good for the soul, or so we’re told. Take your colleague out and work on your teamwork. You allowed a beginner to put one of you out of action and another would have been if she had been any good. I’m going to train her to be good, and I’ll set her on you when I’ve done with her. You had best be better or I think she’ll wipe the floor with you. Dismissed.”