Chapter Eleven
The wooden object was heavy in Austin’s hands, but she managed to lift it, just as Aiden’s own came down. The swords were made in the same way and of the same wood, but Aiden swung his around with a grace that only comes with years of experience.
They had been practicing since dawn, and Austin hurt from head to two. She could bear the hits she received at the end of his makeshift weapon; those were necessary. The thing that she just couldn’t stand was that he hadn’t let her have any coffee.
“Was I as bad as her when I came here?” a boy her age asked. His mentor just chuckled and shook his head.
Austin tried to block out the crowd that had assembled around her and Aiden’s practice session. Some of them were mentors and their Fledglings, some were random citizens of Anathaem, and some were Aiden’s fans. The fans, mostly girls, snickered softly whenever she was hit or fell.
“About that necklace,” Austin tried bringing the subject up again. She had explained the situation when she first saw Aiden this morning, but he had ignored her.
“It’s impossible,” he brushed her off again and brought up his sword. He held it with grace that only comes with years of practice and use, “For starters, those necklaces are mostly illegal.”
“Only mostly?” she raised an eyebrow. Not impressed, Aiden smacked her upper arm with his sword, just as he had done for the past five hits. Austin tilted so that side was no longer in his reach.
“And besides, only one necklace can be made for a mind,” Aiden swung low, and Austin almost managed to block him. As it was, she only moved his sword’s path from one leg to the other, “Dustin has yours.”
“Dustin?” Austin tightened her hold on her sword and swung. Her attack was blocked, of course, and that infuriated her even more. Dustin. It just had to be Dustin. Whenever something went wrong, he was the cause of it.
“We’re close to finding him,” Aiden assured her, taking a step to the left.
“We?” Austin smiled. Was she hearing a job offer? She would love to bring Dustin down a notch or twenty.
“My team and I. Not you,” Aiden hooked his sword around hers lunged. Austin felt the wooden handle slide out of her grasp when the rough edge found her throat.
“I want to help,” she shook her hair out of her ponytail. It was true. She could care less about the sword fights that she would never win, but she could be useful in bringing Dustin to justice.
Aiden tossed his own sword to the ground and gestured to their left. A wooden building stood out among the sea of tents, and Aiden said, “That’s the mess hall. You must be hungry.”
“Maybe a little bit,” she shrugged. She was more tired than hungry, but lunch couldn’t hurt, “What are they serving?”
“I hear the hunters have been having a lot of luck recently, so there must be a lot of everything. Sure, we have farms outside Anathaem, but the hunters are the ones that bring back the meat,” Aiden said as they weaved through lines of tents, “And the food here is free for the military, which includes you.”
“Nice,” she nodded, but that brought up a new issue. She hadn’t seen Kai pay for their drinks last night, but she was sure that some form of money changed hands. Affelil might have it’s own currency; even if it didn’t, she didn’t have many American dollars to her name, “Aiden, how am I going to earn money here?”
“Kai will pay you for your help,” Aiden answered. Austin was surprised that he already knew about her job as the storyteller’s assistant. The two must have talked when she was already asleep. He checked his watch, “It’s not a Wednesday, but I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if you helped around today. Something unexpected came up last night, and I have to deal with it.”
“Unexpected?” Austin probed.
“Just a minor security breach, nothing big,” he assured her, “So while I’m off, you’re free to do whatever you like. If you didn’t want to help Kai today, you could visit Demitri, or even explore the city.”
“Maybe I’ll do a little bit of both,” she shrugged, smiling. She hadn’t seen her Uncle since they had gotten into Anathaem, so of course she wanted to see him.
Aiden opened the door for her as they entered the mess hall and Austin took a deep breath. The food looked fantastic, and she realized that she was hungrier than she had thought. He handed her a plate and they joined in the line of people waiting for food.
“Deer, wild boar, I think that’s hawk, and the fruits and vegetables are over there,” Aiden pointed at each section as he named the foods they held. He went to work and cut apart a slice of the deer meat, and Austin followed, staring at the meat distrustfully.
That being as far as she was willing to go in terms of trying new things, she shoveled some salad and grapes onto her plate, and sat down across from Aiden in the dining area of the hall.
“Hi Aiden,” one of the girls that had been watching the practice session greeted him, setting down her plate next to his. Austin looked down at her hands, but couldn’t help but watch the girl out of the corner of her eye.
She was pretty, with short brown hair and a cute, freckled face. Austin quickly stole a direct glance at the girl, and saw that her eyes were a light green. She was dressed in a dark green shirt, and a heavy necklace hung from her neck. Austin swallowed and looked down, trying not to stare.
“Sage?” Aiden asked in surprise, with such warmth that even Austin was jealous, “I would have thought that you’d be out of here by now.”
“I have my guardian license. I just wanted to stick around for a bit,” the girl, Sage, leaned towards him with a smile, “Can you blame me?”
“I guess I can’t,” Aiden chuckled and gestured to Austin, “This is my Fledgling. She’s going to explore Anathaem today.”
“Oh,” Sage’s voice flattened as she stuck out a hand. Austin shook it, “I’m Sage Burnswell, Guardian class.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that I’m qualified to look after a Fledgling, like Aiden. Of course, Aiden is qualified to do nearly everything,” Sage rolled her eyes, “He is the prime example of an overachiever.”
“Says the girl who graduated top of her classes here. Sage went to one of Affelil’s best schools,” Aiden said, a grin on his face. Distracted, Austin took a bite of deer. It tasted different, but it wasn’t bad.
Sage and Aiden seemed close, even closer than he and his brother were. She wondered how long they had actually known each other. It had to be a long time, at least. They must want to catch up.
Austin shoveled her food from her plate to her mouth and downed it all in a few minutes. Neither of the two noticed her haste until she stood up, “I’m going to head off now.”
“You finished quickly,” Aiden noticed, but dug into his pockets, “Hold out your hand.”
She did as he asked and he placed a few silver coins into her palm, curling her fingers around the money. She pulled away.
“I’m sure that someone will give you a tour of the city,” Sage assured her, smiling, “Do you need directions to wherever you’re going?”
“I’m going to where Kai works,” she coughed, feeling embarrassed. Sage, however nice she was acting now, had laughed every time she fell in the practice session, so Austin wasn’t necessarily up for small talk.
“The storyteller?” Sage asked, looking at Aiden, “Is that really what’s best for her?”
“He was one of the three I hired to watch after Austin, and the only water dragon to come back alive,” Aiden said, as if to challenge her. Austin frowned at him.
Sage didn’t argue, “Alright then. Austin, you’re going to want to take the main road out. You’ll pass three…three? Yeah, three fountains, and then you’re going to want to take a right. Then you’ll see it. Just look for the books.”
“Got it,” Austin nodded. Main road, three fountains, and books, “I can do it.”
She tucked the coins into the back pocket of her jeans and waved
as she ran out of the tent. A few people her age, or who looked her age, watched her as she passed them, but most paid her no mind. It was a beautiful day with an unpolluted sky, and as she made her way out of the training grounds, she saw a few people practicing, all with varying weapons. Except for guns. They never used guns.
“I-“ Austin’s mouth opened, but she couldn’t complete her sentence. Somehow, she had gone in the completely wrong way; instead of reaching the buildings, she found herself at the edge of the city walls. She rested her hand on the smooth stone before turning around, ready to go back.
“Do you need help?” Austin turned around to see a boy who couldn’t have been more than seven, “I’m only in second grade, but I can make the wall disappear, if you need me too.”
“You’re so little,” Austin said, surprised. She was under the impression that kids were only brought into the city when they were old enough to be trained, “Are you even allowed to be here?”
“You’re new, aren’t you?” the boy stared at her suspiciously, as if that somehow made her inferior in his eyes, “I was born here. Why would I have to leave?”
That was a good point, such a good point that Austin was embarrassed for not having realized it. She changed the subject, “No, I don’t need to get out of Anathaem. I just got a little lost.”
“Where are you going to?” the boy held out his hand and Austin shook it. The formal gesture barely surprised her anymore.
“Kai’s shop,” she answered. Everyone so far had known what she was talking about, so she thought the little boy would, too. He didn’t.
“Who is Kai?” he asked, adjusting his hat. Austin caught herself from commenting on just how adorable he looked in his oversized baseball cap. She wondered if he had ever even been to a baseball game.
“Just some storyteller,” she shrugged, and the boy’s brown eyes lit up in recognition.
“Tall, blonde, and grumpy?” he asked, excited. When Austin nodded, he took her by the hand and dragged her in the direction of the crowded buildings, “Dad said that he worked with a storyteller like that. I used to visit his shop all the time.”
“Who’s your dad?” Austin asked. It was unlikely, but maybe she had met the guy, or had at least seen him.
“You wouldn’t know him. He’s been working a lot, ever since I was born,” the ground transformed from grass to cobblestone under their feet, “His name is Demitri.”
“Uncle Demitri?” Austin asked, staring at the boy. There was no way. Sure, they looked alike, but this kid was way too scrawny to be Uncle Demitri’s kid.
“He doesn’t have any nieces. It’s only him, mom, and me,” he slowed down and let go of Austin’s hand. If they ran through the midday crowd, they would likely bump into someone.
“No, I just, I would just call my guardian that. Even though technically my guardian was Aiden. Or maybe it was Kai,” Austin shrugged. The technicalities of the situation confused her, so she just thought of each of them as a guardian.
“Dad used to work with Aiden, too,” he looked at her, “Maybe I’ll introduce you two.”
“Maybe,” she smiled and looked around. People streamed in and out of buildings that looked like stores, so she guessed that they were in the business part of the city. She could see one of the fountains Sage had told her to look for. Children and a few teenagers crowded around it and a few were tossing bronze coins in. The water was sparkling and marble dragons made the centerpiece stand out.
She liked this. She liked being here. No one paid her any attention when she was without an important guide. Her spot in the crowd could easily be replaced by someone else, but there was still a spot for her.
And she liked that.
“We turn here,” the boy said and disappeared into the crowd. Austin whipped her head around, searching for him. When she couldn’t spot his baseball cap, she followed her gut and turned, trying to find him.
Fledgling Page 12