by Emery Blake
He let that hang in the air for a few moments. I felt a weight settle into my stomach and I became very interested in my feet. Finian was right, of course. The voidnik and the djinn hadn’t come for me simply because I was a veilwalker. The voidnik had been there to kill me. Only after he had been dispatched and I had gone to the Inter-realm had the djinn come to take me to Asa'kah. He was targeting me for some reason.
“It feels like I’m the only one who doesn’t know this big, important thing about me is me.”
I didn’t want to sound sulky, not in front of Finian, but I was frustrated. If I was supposed to get faster or stronger or learn how to use a weapon, I could do that. I was doing that. But I felt like I was being asked to fly without wings.
“I wish I could make it easier for you, but I can’t. You have to find the way on your own.”
“Can’t you at least tell me the destination? You all are so vague. How will I even know if I am going in the right direction?”
Finian sighed. “I don’t know for certain, myself. I don’t know what your true potential is. I only know that it must be something that you have yet to realize.”
He stood up and looked out across the field. Our conversation was at an end. I was no closer to unlocking whatever they all saw in me. I was only more frustrated and confused.
Chapter Fifteen
Baev stalked the training ground. A light wind ruffled the feathers on her jacket, but her gaze was as unmoving as stone. Even though I wasn’t looking directly at her, I could feel her eyes on me, like two fingers digging into the small of my back. Combat training was my least favorite part of the day. Though I was keeping up, or even excelling in the classroom, I could not translate theory to practice. And Baev wasn’t making it any easier on me.
“Keep your spear up, human. Can’t you make this even a little challenging for me?” Chiraena spat at me. I raised my training weapon and pointed it right at her midsection, where the human form blended into the equine. She snorted and charged at me, her own spear cocked in one arm like a lance. I knocked the point aside and tried to bring my own spear back up, but I was too slow. It got tangled in her legs and, in an instant, she had slammed into me, throwing me backward into the dirt. I caught my breath in ragged gasps and coughed as the dust got into my lungs. A dull point dug into the top of my back, just under my neck.
“You are dead, little human.” Chiraena said through a laugh.
I pulled myself up and watched her trot away. Her chestnut coat was set off by a bright blond tail. Her human torso was shapely and tanned. Her arms and chest were strong but still feminine. Leather armor molded itself to her body, accentuating her curves. I never thought I would be jealous of a woman that was half a horse, but I couldn’t deny that she was beautiful. She also hated me.
By the time I’d gotten all the way to my feet, Baev was standing next to me. The rest of the class was split off into pairs, fighting with simple weapons or no weapons at all. Baev looked expectantly at me. She was fond of these little after-action humiliations. She said it was important for me to understand what I had done wrong, that fighting was just as much about sound decision-making as it was physical prowess. But the explanations always seemed to come back to a simple fact; I was too slow and too weak.
I glanced across the training ground at Conor. Even though he was also a human, he had none of my failings. I watched as he danced around one of the elf twins. I couldn’t tell if it was Amerea or Galather. Brother and sister looked so much alike that at a distance they were indistinguishable. But whoever it was could not land a blow on Conor. Baev still stood there, silent, waiting for me to begin.
“I was too slow. Again.”
“Pouting won’t save your life, Skylar.”
“I don’t understand, if I dodge out of the way, she could just adjust her spear and run me through. If I deflect the spear, she runs me over.”
“And those are your only options?”
I was not in the mood for this. Baev said that she wanted me to come up with the solution on my own, but I was tired, hurt, and embarrassed. It had been weeks since my talk with Finian, but I was no closer to unlocking any power or whatever. All that had happened was that I had continually gotten knocked in the dirt and gone to sleep bruised and bloodied.
“No, I could go back to Earth, get a gun, and just shoot her. Honestly, I don’t know why we have to learn any of this when I could shoot her from across the whole field.”
Immediately I could see that I’d made a mistake. Baev’s eyes narrowed and hardened. Chiraena wasn’t the only one with a prejudice against humans. Even though it had been centuries since the purges on Earth, many creatures had extremely long lifespans and their cultures had long memories.
“Oh yes, you humans are very proud of your technologies. I remember when that spear in your hand was the pinnacle of human warfare. Of course, humans were far more able back then. You have diminished as a race as you leaned more heavily on your machines. They have limitations, and you need to be able to cope with situations where they will not work.”
Baev stepped back and folded her arms across her feathered chest.
“A gun is an effective killing implement, to be sure. But even if you were being asked to hunt and kill every creature you come across, you would still need far more if you wanted to survive. Additionally, there are two significant drawbacks. First, bullets cannot be enchanted. Something to do with the chemical reaction, it interacts badly with any kind of magic. And that leads to the second, a creature or enemy that uses magic can cause the volatile powders to explode unexpectedly. Is that something you want strapped to your hip?”
I stood silent. I knew better than to push my luck. Hopefully, she would let it slide and allow me to go back to getting my butt kicked by the centaur. When I saw her mouth curve into a grim smile, I knew I would not be so lucky.
“Perhaps a demonstration will help you to understand. Wait here.” She disappeared. I was alone in the middle of the field. Some of my other classmates had noticed Baev speaking to me and her abrupt disappearance. Quiet conversations had replaced the clack of wooden fighting sticks and the grunts when those sticks landed on target. Tevita asked me a question with her eyes, but before I could give any kind of answer, Baev was back at my side. She had a pistol in her hands.
“Take it.”
She held it out for me. It was a semi-automatic handgun, the kind you see police officers wear. Nine-millimeter or something. In truth, I didn’t know much about guns. I had shot at cans with a .22 caliber rifle with my grandfather, but that was it. Still, I took hold of the stock and checked the safety. It was off. I laid my index finger along the barrel to make sure I didn’t pull the trigger by accident and let my arm fall to my side.
“Everyone behind Skylar!” Her voice was deafening at this proximity. “Now, Skylar. We aren’t going to see if you could stop Chiraena with your gun. As I’ve said, a bullet can certainly kill. And we will leave aside the fact that Realm Guards are required to exhaust every option in order to capture instead of kill. Let us presume you are in a life-threatening situation and deadly force is appropriate. Show us all how your gun will help you with him!”
The last word was delivered in a scream like needles of ice driven into my brain. When I could open my eyes again, I saw the figure of a man twenty paces in front of me. No, it wasn’t a man. The glowing eyes, tendrils of smoke rising from his hands. It was a djinn. She had brought a djinn into the training grounds. I gripped hard on the stock of the pistol to stop my hand from shaking, clenching the other into a tight fist.
The djinn took a few casual steps toward me. The sound of blood rushing drowned out all other noises. My heart felt like it was going to crack my ribcage. I tried to steady myself with a few deep breaths, but it wasn’t working. I wanted to run, but my legs felt like rubber. I was afraid that if I tried to move, I would collapse into a quivering pile on the ground.
The djinn had closed to within ten paces. I slipped my finger into the t
rigger guard and raised the weapon to point at the center of the djinn’s chest. He did not stop his slow approach. I looked over at Baev. I had never shot at a living thing before, and even if it was a djinn, I was sure I wasn’t in real danger. She nodded at me.
“Shoot. Kill him.”
I hesitated. I couldn’t pull the trigger.
“What are you waiting for? You could use a spear at this range.”
I didn’t answer. My eyes were fixated on his. The glowing eyes were mesmerizing. They were deep, like staring into the flames of a campfire. Then, like the pop when a burning log splits open, he leapt snarling forward. My finger squeezed the trigger, the recoil jamming my shoulder back.
The djinn stopped for a moment to finger the smoky hole where the bullet had passed through. Then he looked back at me and smiled as the hole closed up and was solid again.
“That’s enough.” Baev’s voice cracked out. She snapped her finger and the djinn dissolved into smoke and disappeared.
I let the gun fall to the ground as I lowered my arm. My fingers were numb. My heart was still pounding, and I felt light-headed. Of course the bullet had done nothing, it was made of lead, not iron. If I had been thinking straight, I wouldn’t have even tried. But with the fear from seeing a djinn again and Baev yelling at me, I couldn’t keep my head straight.
“Djinn are just one kind of creature that may force you to adopt an alternative approach.” Baev was speaking past me, at the rest of the trainees. “Not every weapon, not every tactic will work on every creature. You need to identify your target and understand their vulnerabilities before you engage. Mistakes or poor judgment can mean your life.” She directed this last bit to me.
A bell tolled the hour. Training was over for the day. I stood rooted in the center of the field. I watched as the others walked off. A blow from behind staggered me forward. Catching myself, I spun around to see Chiraena trotting off. The breeze carried away her laughter. Baev picked the pistol off the ground and placed her hand on my shoulder. She looked odd, as if trying to offer comfort or reassurance was against her nature.
“I need you to understand something, Skylar. You probably think I am hard on you, that I am singling you out because I don’t like you. I have no ill will towards you. There are some here who have trouble accepting humans. It is reasonable, of course. You know what kind of stories are told about your kind, and you know that they actually pale in comparison to what you are truly capable of.”
I started to protest, but she silenced me with a wave of her hand.
“It’s unfair, I know, but it is the truth. I am not hard on you because you are a human. If you go out into the field as you are, you will be killed. All TRIP agents risk death, that is a given. But for you it is not a risk, it is a certainty. Your mistakes, your poor judgment, it helps to drive home lessons to the other trainees. The ones who will actually end up as agents.”
My stomach fell down to my feet. Was she really telling me that I was never going to become a full TRIP agent? What was I even doing here then? Why was I being subjected to this training if I was just going to be an object lesson in failure. I didn’t need that humiliation.
“Finian seems to think there is something more to you,” she continued, answering my unspoken question. “Myself, I don’t see it. But I suppose I wouldn’t. He is as keen an elf as I have ever known, and I don’t question his judgment. But I can tell you this. You will not go into the field until I say you are ready. I won’t let you jeopardize your own life or the lives of other agents.”
Chapter Sixteen
The prospect of walking back to my room, of Tevita’s concerned reassurance, Chiraena’s contempt, Aiken’s clumsy supportive quasi-courtship, was not appealing. I stalked away from the training ground and headed to the lakeshore.
Lost in thought, I wound my way through the crowds near the portal complex and up along a path that followed the river as it dropped out of the hills above the city. The stone path gave way to a narrow dirt track as the hills grew higher and the river narrower and more rapid. The sounds of the city faded away and all I could hear was the rushing of water and the rustle of wind through the trees. I felt more at home than I had in months.
The hills reminded me of my family’s summer vacations on the Kennebec river. Tall trees came right up to the lip of a little gulley where clear water roiled over broad, smooth rocks. The trees here were unfamiliar, but they gave shade just the same as the pines I remember from my childhood.
I stopped and lay down on a large, flat-topped rock that jutted out over the river. Bathed in sunlight, it radiated warmth into my body, soothing my bruises and sore muscles. I soon fell into a daze. The exertion of the past few days, the steady sound of the river, and the heat from sun and stone combined to put me quickly on the edge of sleep.
A sharp cry snapped me out of my reverie.
I sat up and swept my gaze up and down the river, looking for whatever made the sound. A hundred paces upstream, at the point where the river came around a little bend I saw the source. It was a child. A boy maybe six or seven years old was struggling to stay afloat.
What was a little child doing in this part of the river? I clenched my jaw. I was a good swimmer, but the water was cold and flowing very fast. It was going to be difficult to grab him and swim us both to safety. I didn’t hesitate, though. I had to try.
I looked at the upstream bank, it was about ten feet straight down to a mass of uneven rocks. If I jumped down there, I risked injuring myself which would make it impossible to rescue the boy. The downstream bank was easier. But just a short distance past the rock, the river foamed over a set of boulders that would smash us to pieces if we didn’t get out in time. I had to get to the boy sooner. I dropped onto my backside and scooted off the upstream side of the rock. The fall was much longer than it looked. I landed hard on my right foot, but the rock slid away. My left foot caught in a crevice between two larger stones and I felt a pop. And then pain.
I gritted my teeth and blinked away tears as I tried to spot the boy. He was almost level to me. I unwedged my left foot and took a step forward before collapsing again. I couldn’t put any weight on it. My knee exploded in pain as it slammed into a heavy river stone.
I saw fear in the boy’s eyes as the current pulled him past me. The mist from the whitewater below caught rainbows in the late afternoon sunlight. I felt my throat tighten. I couldn’t get to him. Impotently, I reached my hand out, as if I could still reach the child.
Then I felt a warm tingling, like an electric charge dancing across my skin. Something jerked, like a rope around my waist, but anchored in the center of my stomach. The boy had stopped moving. Water piled up around him as if he were a boulder himself. I grabbed a hold of the invisible rope and pulled.
Sure enough, the boy came closer. I pulled harder. Setting my right foot against the rocks, I strained with my back, my leg, my arms. The child came ashore a dozen paces from me and I fell backwards, exhausted.
My chest was still heaving when he came dancing up to me, gracefully hopping from rock to rock, still dripping wet.
“That was great! Can we do it again?”
I stared open-mouthed as the boy grinned at me. Fat drops of water fell from his coal black hair onto his bare shoulders. Without another word, he leapt back into the rushing water.
“He’s ok, don’t worry.” A voice called out from the bank above. I shifted around, my ankle pounding with pain, and saw Aiken standing on top of the rock where I’d just been sunning myself. Before I could respond, he’d hopped down onto the bank, landing softly among the unstable stones. That annoyed me as much as anything. I looked back at the river and saw a black coated foal swimming deftly against the current.
“That little shit.”
“Don’t be too hard on the kid.”
“Don’t be?…I broke my ankle jumping off that damn rock to save him. I thought he was going to drown or get smashed against the rocks or something. And he’s a kelpie? He better stay in th
at river because if he comes on shore again I am going to kill him.”
“I asked him to do it.”
“What are you talking about?” I tried to make my voice as menacing as possible, but a whimper of pain from my ankle and my knee undermined the effect.
“Did you see what you just did, Skylar?” Aiken squatted down next to me. He reached his hand out towards my shoulder but recoiled when he saw my expression. “You did save him, even if he didn’t need saving. And you did it with magic! I knew it.”
The self-satisfied look on his face somehow made me even angrier.
“So, what, you were testing me? Well, thanks. I have a broken ankle, a busted knee, I got scared half to death that I was going to have to watch a child drown because I couldn’t save him, and, to top it all off, I have no idea what I did or how. Thanks, but I don’t need any more help from you.”
Aiken’s face fell. I would have felt bad for being too harsh, but I was in too much pain. My ankle had begun to swell up. He straightened up, his face a mask.
“I’m sorry that you were injured. But I wanted to help you. I know how hard the training has been for you and I know that you are capable of so much more than you can imagine. I thought…nevermind. At least let me take you home.”
I wanted to refuse, but I couldn’t even stand on my left foot and I wasn’t about to hop my way back. I nodded my assent.
“Ok, put your arms around my neck,” he said, kneeling down and turning his back to me. “Legs on either side of my back. Now, hold on, and try not to pull my hair.”
“Wait, wha..?”
One second I was sitting on the bank of a river with my legs and arms around a man’s back, the next I was lying with my face planted in the mane of an inky black horse. I sat up, squeezing my legs together and grabbed at the long black hair on its neck to balance myself. Aiken, it was still Aiken, looked back and me and neighed loudly. I released my grip on his mane and he snorted approvingly.