by R. J. Batla
“Do you eat like this often?” I asked.
“Only on special occasions,” she said.
“How did you feel at the Awakening?” she asked. “I heard you almost died and almost caused a power outage at the same time?”
I shrugged. “Yeah, that’s about right. It hurt like hell.”
“Ha! Mine did too.”
“Why did you need to get your powers Awakened? I thought all Reka were born with water powers?”
She slowly chewed her squid and looked at me as she swallowed, her voice taking on a slightly harsher tone. “Not always. It’s rare, but every so often a Reka child is born with no powers at all, bringing shame to their family.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to –”
With a wave of her hand, she smiled. “Don’t worry. You’re not the first nor the last to ask.” Grinning slyly, she added, “Now I have more powers than the average Reka. I’d say it worked out in my favor, wouldn’t you?”
I smiled back, popping the last of the calamari in my mouth as Aurora straightened and rang the bell again.
The waiter came and this time it was meat, thank God. A small portion of steak and mashed potatoes. This time, Aurora grabbed my hand and put it on her leg. I almost spit up my water when she did, which she found quite comical. Damn, this girl was quick. Her leg was smooth, and I could feel her muscles rippling beneath her skin. Luckily the meat was already cut into bite size pieces, so I could enjoy the feeling before the next bell.
Speaking of which, I needed to delay that bell a little bit. “So what made you invite me here? I’m very glad to be here, mind you, but I’m curious. I’m just a commoner from Portland and you’re…well, you’re a princess.”
She rubbed my leg. “You don’t give yourself enough credit. You’re strong, you’re powerful.” Her eyes fluttered. “You’re dangerous. You’re a Morsenube user and we let you live. I let you live. You’re interesting. And let’s not forget the Ignis Oculus. Can you…can you show me?”
It was my turn to flash a grin. I switched on the power and was rewarded with a giggle from Aurora. “Amazing! The jolt, the inspiration, its…invigorating!”
I smiled and shut it off. “Now you know how I feel when I see you.” She smiled back. Wanting this to continue, I asked, “What’s it like being royalty?”
Sighing, she said, “It’s mostly boring. They don’t let me do anything, especially since I didn’t have any powers until the Awakening. My parents were quite angry that I came to train with the Rangers.” She looked at me. “It’s too bad the rookie platoons don’t train together very much, or I’d see you a lot more often.”
“Yeah, that might be too distracting.” I had to get the conversation off where my mind was going, so I pressed on: “Was that your parents at the train station when we stopped in Aguadulce?”
Giggling, she said, “Why, yes it was. I had almost forgotten about when the train stopped for me. I saw you in the train window, you know.”
And you kissed me later in the hallway. “I remember. You looked good even then.”
She rewarded me with a kiss on the cheek, moved my hand, and rang the bell. This time it was a cheese tray, which we picked at – because by this time she was kissing me on the lips after every bite. The little bit of cheese was gone too fast, and I wasn’t quite ready to have the butler back. As she reached for the bell, I asked, “So even though you had your powers Awakened, you could have gone back to the Reka, right?”
She froze, her eyes narrowing slightly. “Yes?”
“I was just curious. I figured with you being a princess, you could have overridden the rule that the Rangers receive all recruits with Quantum powers.”
She put her hands in her lap and sighed. “You’re right, Jayton Baird. It was what I argued with my parents about at the train station. The possibility of it anyway. Even when it actually happened, everyone was hesitant. But I knew where I wanted to go.”
“Why?”
She looked at me. “Because I’ve been babied all my life. Always be careful around the princess; she doesn’t have any powers, you know. Don’t let the princess play with those kids; she doesn’t have powers, you know. I got tired of it. I needed to prove myself, to show that I can do something worthwhile, especially since I now have even more powers than a normal Reka.”
“Let’s see if they’ll baby you now, princess.”
I squeezed her hand and she smiled. “Let’s get to something a little more interesting,” she said, and rang the bell again. “It’s time for my favorite part of the meal –” her hand raced up my leg before pulling back, “– dessert.”
Oh, well this dinner just escalated a notch. I gulped. What did she have planned? What is going to happen? I really wasn’t ready for this…
Ready or not, the butler brought in ice cream with chocolate fudge and a whipped cream topping. When the butler exited this time, Aurora waved her hand and I thought I heard a door lock. I guess this was the last bit. As soon as it shut, Aurora stood up and straddled my lap, facing me. She turned around and grabbed our bowls, handing mine to me.
“Take a bite,” she said, and I did as she bent down and kissed me. The ice cream cooled my mouth, but her lips and tongue were warm, giving me an interesting sensation in quite a few areas. We alternated between who was eating and who was kissing until we finished both bowls, setting them on the table.
Standing up, she pulled me up with her, wrapped her arms around my neck, and kissed me again. We were the same height, so there was no bending involved, and I moved my hands over the smooth skin of her bare back. I don’t know why, but every now and then, while I was totally engrossed in this girl, I kept seeing Leona’s face in my head. Stopping suddenly, she said, “You’re an amazing kisser. I would never be allowed to do this back home.”
Raising an eyebrow, I asked, “Why not?”
She bit her lip. “Well, you’re a…um…commoner, so my family would not allow it. Here, I can do what I want, when I want. Another perk of being a Ranger.” And she kissed me again. I wasn’t sure what to think of that.
We made out for maybe five minutes, and hands may or may not have been roaming, before she pulled away, and grabbed me by the hand, leading me toward the door. “Thank you for an amazing time, Portlandian. I hope to see you soon,” she said, kissing me.
“Goodbye,” I said, as she sexily closed the door. Didn’t know that was possible.
Chapter 15
Riding high on the way back to the room, I decided I needed some fresh air. Plus, certain parts of me needed to calm down or else I was going to embarrass myself, so I went down to the ground floor and walked around the outside wall to the north tower. The whole date had taken little more than an hour and a half, so I still had plenty of time to get back to bed for our early start the next day. Lord knew Royn wasn’t going to go easy on us simply because I had a date with a princess.
As I passed an upscale looking restaurant with moving stone lions guarding the front door, someone started walking beside me. After a few seconds, he said, “Hey, are you Jayton Baird?”
“Depends on who’s asking.” I didn’t really like the vibe this guy was putting out.
“Oh, I’m not asking, but my boss is very interested in working with you,” said a gruff voice. I caught a glimpse of the figure beside me in the darkness, totally covered by a robe and cowl, black as far as I could tell. He smelled funny, like he’d been rolling in manure. And animal guts. In a swamp.
“Who’s your boss?” I asked, trying to move away from the stranger, but he maintained the same distance. I kept to the lighted sections of the city – I didn’t trust this guy.
The…man…shook his head, “The most powerful man in the world! You know his name.” Malstrak? “He wanted me to deliver a message. He can teach you how to control the Morsenube. And how to use it without the, uh…side effects. He said you would know what that meant.”
I did. I shivered, remembering how the Morsenube made me feel, the wrongness. �
��Um…well, I’m in Ranger training, so I’ll be fine, I think.”
“The Rangers know nothing of its power! You would be strong – a god – second only to my lord!” He grabbed my arm, then quickly released it, backing away quickly. “I’m sorry, but there are others who are more…knowledgeable about how to use it. Better suited to teach a powerful Senturian like yourself.”
“And your boss is the one?” When he nodded, I said, “Well, you can tell him thanks, but no thanks – I already have a teacher.”
The man shrugged. “Suit yourself. You’ll see it our way sooner or later. If you change your mind, you can find me at the Stuck Hog.” And then he disappeared so fast, I didn’t know which direction he went.
“You should be more careful about who you hang around with,” a deep voice said to my left. I turned and saw a cloaked man, draped in shadow. What’s with all the creepy dudes in cloaks? Was there a sale I didn’t know about? “And you should never travel alone.” The man drew a long dagger, dark as night with little light streaks running along the length of the slightly curved blade, and rushed at me.
“Shield,” I yelped, the energy appearing on front of me just in time for him to slam into it, throwing me back into a cabbage cart.
“Property damage,” the cloaked man said, throwing back his hood. The executioner. Should have known. “That’s cause for an investigation.” He rushed me again. This time I threw the shield up faster. He sliced it with his blade and it disappeared.
What the hell?
He smiled, twirling his twin daggers. “The Dark Blades of the Executioners can absorb powers, boy.” Slicing several times at me, I was forced to keep dodging.
Somewhere in my stomach, something stirred. This wasn’t fair. I was minding my own business. He shouldn’t be attacking me. This was crap…
“Yes,” he said, “let it flow. It’s not fair; you should be mad.”
I was mad. The Morsenube flared to life inside me, raw hatred eating away at my emotions, straining to be set free. And I wanted to. So bad. But that would mean the death of me.
Concentrating on the spot between my eyes, the Ignis Oculus flared up. “No. I won’t succumb to the temptation. You’re in the wrong, Executioner. Stop.”
He was a blur of motion, rushing in to attack, but froze, his blade inches from my throat, breathing hard. He remained motionless for a few seconds before quickly pulling back, stowing his formidable blades, and pulling his hood over his head. Whatever he was, the executioner must have been an honorable man for the Fire Eyes to have such a drastic effect on him.
“You win this round, Ranger. But I felt the Morsenube inside you. You won’t always be in control. You will fail. And I’ll be there to end it.” With a swish of his cloak, he disappeared back into the shadows.
A little shaken, I continued on my way. Royn was right. There was something off with the executioner. I couldn’t shake the feeling that his agenda was different than the one assigned at my trial. Question was: was he acting on his own, or was he being given orders?
“Back already?” Gilmer asked as I closed the door to our common room.
I looked around. “You the only one up?”
“Yup, it’s ten o’clock. I had to wait on you to see how the date went.”
I glanced toward the girl’s open archway, put a finger to my mouth, then pointed to our side.
Gilmer followed me in and couldn’t contain himself. “So what happened?”
I told him the whole story, including the attack by the executioner, but held back the part about meeting the stranger. I wasn’t sure on that yet – why did the stranger seek me out? Who was his boss? And, if he could teach me, would it be something I could use? Without a danger to others? Would that be the smart play?
“Bah, don’t worry about that stupid executioner. Concentrate on the girl, man! That’s cool! Kissing royalty. How do you feel, man? Are your lips tingling?”
“Meh. Good.”
Gilmer fell on the floor. “‘Meh. Good.’? Are you nuts?”
“Well, she doesn’t like to talk much. It seems like she just, ya know, wants to make out, which I like: she’s awesome, and she’s smoking hot, but, I don’t know, man. It’s just…does she like me just because I have all these powers? She called me a commoner and I know she didn’t mean it negatively, but that didn’t change the fact that it was at least partly a concern to her.”
“Whatever, dude,” Gilmer said, jumping on his bunk. “If it was me, I wouldn’t care if she talked at all. Think, you could be a king one day, and be with one of the hottest girls in the world – all the time.”
“Yeah, that’s cool. But, man, there’s still just something –”
We both turned – I thought I heard a cough from the other room, but Gilmer kept right on going. “Suit yourself. Careful if you decide to break it off.”
“We’re not even dating.”
“Not according to Leona. When you were gone, she got real quiet. Then when we were talking about where you were, and she said the Reka take their relationships very seriously, and can be, let’s just say, temperamental,” Gilmer said with a wink as he crawled into bed.
Jerking my head up, I said, “Leona said that? What else did she say?”
“Oh something about something or other. One of her stupid relatives, blah blah something – I don’t know. I wasn’t paying that close of attention. Night, Jay.”
“Night, Gilmer.”
What had I gotten myself into?
Chapter 16
The alarm blared too early, and we were at it again. Royn must have decided he was going too light on us before. Muscles I didn’t even know I had hurt. We were finishing up a thousand pushups – I kid you not – when we heard a scream from one of the rookie Rangers training next to us.
Immediately, everyone rushed to her side as she continued to scream and thrash on the ground. Someone reached in to help her and Royn barked, “Don’t touch her! You’ll screw up the process.”
“What process, sir?”
He looked stone-faced, like he was watching the past flash before his eyes. “She’s getting a Quantum power.”
Whispers and talk erupted from the crowd as we backed away, watching the girl flail violently. After ten minutes, she finally stilled. Only then did Royn wave over the healers who had shown up with a stretcher.
As they carted her off, Katy asked, “Will she be all right?”
Royn stared after her, his mind clearly not in Harlingon. “She’ll have the best care we can provide. She’s lucky she wasn’t in the field or the wilderness. That would make it considerably harder on him.”
“Him?”
He shook his head. “Her.” Then he focused on us. “What are you doing standing around? Three hundred squats – go!”
***
The next eight days, we followed the same training pattern. We advanced quickly, each of us in our own way. Energy came easiest to Katy and me – I could already put a shield up and could to use it in combat. I could shoot energy blasts, redirect things, and coat a sword. Katy used her energy manipulation to increase her speed even more and to add power to punches and kicks. Leona was doing well too – picking up a little of everything and getting very good at combining powers for attacks – like a water bomb filled with fire. Still not sure how she pulled that one off. Gilmer mastered fire quickly, and Anton was showing us all up in the earth department. He was getting hard to knock down during our sparring matches, even with my extra strength.
I was by far the best when it came to hand-to-hand fighting, weapons, and the classroom material. It just clicked for me; I couldn’t explain it. It frustrated Gilmer though. He was used to being better than me at everything.
We also started working as a team. Two on two, three on two, two on one. It took a few rounds before we figured out how to communicate during a fight, but once we did, we were able to work together fairly well. Royn seemed pleased with all of our progress.
Aurora was another story. At least once a
day, she would find me, ask me to meet her in some obscure location – a dark corner, supply closet, restroom – where we would make out. Aggressively. For about ten minutes anyway, then she would pull away and walk off with a sly grin. Every time. I kinda figured if you were dating someone, you might talk or hang out – but what did I know? Gilmer pointed out that I was obviously enjoying the, um…attention I was getting, so I should stop whining about something any number of guys would have killed for: the affections of a princess. A really hot princess. I just wasn’t sure it was what I was looking for – no matter how hot she was.
I tried to talk to her more, to try to, you know, have more of a relationship, maybe go to dinner again. She just said, “Portlandian, I only have so much free time – I’m not going to waste it talking. I’d rather be kissing you.”
Another time she “summoned” me and I didn’t go; I had already committed to meet with Royn. When she tracked me down, she flipped out, yelling and screaming at me. Then seconds later started kissing me again. It was very confusing.
Katy and Leona clearly didn’t approve. The couple of times they were with me when I was “summoned,” they rolled their eyes and had disgusted looks on their faces. Leona still stayed up with me and talked at night – she was so easy to talk to, and we were on the same team so we had some common ground. She was down to earth. Plus, she was gorgeous.
But as long I was with Aurora, I couldn’t pursue Leona.
At six pm two days before our day off, Royn said, “All right, that’s enough. Tomorrow is going to be different.”
“What’s up, Coach?”
Royn rubbed his nose. “Gilmer, if you call me coach again, I’ll let Anton bury you to your neck and see how long it takes you to talk someone into getting you out. You’ll have a substitute coach…ugh, trainer, tomorrow, as I will be at a council meeting. Keep this information to yourself. Dismissed. See you after your day off.”
Chapter 17
“It never fails to amaze me,” Ames Talco said, gazing at the Wall as they emerged in a flash of blue light and a loud bang. “The size and scale of the Wall, Royn. The skill and power needed to build it is incredible.” He craned his neck to see to the top battlements of the smooth white stone that towered two hundred feet into the air from the surrounding prairie. Looking both left and right, he couldn’t see the end of it.