TRAVELLER (Book 1 in the Brass Pendant Trilogy)

by Amanda May Bell

  My tutor was nowhere to be seen as I ran quickly upstairs to change out of my school uniform. I was supposed to be having my weapons training class this afternoon and we usually left the house at set four, but that gave me a whole quarter of a clock turn to beat Morgan in a fight.

  “That should be plenty of time,” I said to myself cheerfully as I dressed quickly in finely woven pants and a soft shirt and jacket. My weapons tutor was a past Aldiris Champion who was based in this time segment so I wore Aldirite clothes to her class. I pulled on my soft leather boots before I ran downstairs. There was still no sign of my tutor and our driver wasn’t waiting on the street yet either so I walked quickly along the path and opened the gate next door.

  Morgan opened his front door before I reached it and he’d changed into clothing from home as well.

  “Come on. Let’s get this over with,” he said, and he watched me with undisguised amusement now as I brushed past him and waited for him to close the door behind me.

  I followed him silently through the house and there was no sign of Jonah either as Morgan opened the door to the back garden and held it open for me to go through.

  The garden behind Morgan’s house was small, but the square patch of grass in the middle of the area was big enough. The grass was surrounded on three sides by a border of pavers and then sandstone blocks held back a narrow, raised garden of manicured greenery that grew to a level above both our heads. I took off my jacket and hung it over the back of the wrought iron chair which stood just outside the door to the house and Morgan removed his jacket too before dropping it over the top of mine.

  “Are you ready?” asked Morgan, and he was still looking at me with amusement as we walked out into the middle of the grass. I frowned. All of a sudden, I’d had enough of his attitude, and I no longer found it amusing. I put my hands on my hips and glared at him.

  “Didn’t your combat tutors teach you never to underestimate your opponent? Size and stature have nothing to do with……….”

  Morgan began his attack before I could finish. He’d hoped to catch me by surprise, I guessed, but I’d been taught hand to hand combat by past and present Tournament Champions, and I was ready the instant he moved. I countered his attack easily and now it was me who watched him with amusement as he was forced to try a different approach.

  When Aldirites fought without weapons, we used techniques borrowed and refined from nearly every time segment and almost every race and culture. Everything from ancient energy blows to pressure point holds, and jabs that caused nerve ending paralysis were taught to Aldirite youngsters from both the Community and the Royal House. As we grew older, we were taught balance, flexibility, and speed as well, and we perfected complicated defensive moves that enabled us to evade strangleholds of all kinds. We were then taught jumps and kicks, and how to use our surroundings to turn and twist our bodies out of harm’s way and into positions of dominance against our unfortunate opponents. Aldirite guards were the best weapons free fighters in the world and they could beat anyone in any time segment in a hand to hand fight.

  I countered another of Morgan’s blows with no effort at all and he shifted into yet another mode of attack.

  He was still holding back though, and I could tell. He was using only half strength, simple moves against me, but when I twisted easily out of another one of his holds and he narrowly missed being kicked in the throat, he finally began to fight me as he would any other combat practice partner. Maybe, he’d thought I hadn’t been taught to fight properly in my sheltered world of ‘Palace finery and private tutoring’, or maybe, he’d thought a Princess wouldn’t be allowed to be injured so I would never have learnt the value of good defence. If he’d thought either of these things though, he’d have been wrong. All Aldirites were taught how to fight, and Princesses were no exception. In fact, I’d started combat training long before the usual age and, being heir to the throne, I’d been taught combat secrets known only to a select few.

  For this reason, our fight wasn’t fair and I knew it, and it wasn’t long before Morgan knew it too. I’d perfected moves he’d never been shown, and for which, unless they were stopped at the outset, there was no possible defence. When I blocked another of his blows and was able to cause him some pain, which he deserved I might add, he backed away from me and decided to try to cheat his way to victory instead.

  He put his hands up in a gesture of defeat, but when I looked into his eyes, I could tell he wasn’t anywhere close to being done.

  He pretended to relax, but when he stepped towards me with his hand held out, I surprised him before he could surprise me and I used a very unfair move on him that left him almost unconscious on his stomach on the ground…..but he’d asked for that as well.

  I had one knee on his back with my arm around his throat and I leant forward in order to speak quietly into his ear.

  “See, I told you, I can take care myself,” I said smugly, before I realised I was much too close to him. I let go of him quickly and stood up hastily, but he remained on the ground and didn’t move at all.

  I put my hands on my hips.

  “Get up Morgan. I didn’t use enough pressure to black you out,” I said scornfully, but he lay completely still. I tapped him with my foot, but he still didn’t move.

  “Come on Morgan. I was just proving my point,” I said, but he still didn’t move, and when I looked at him closely, he was completely relaxed and didn’t appear to be breathing at all. I knelt down beside him.

  “Get up. There’s a delivery of pizza for you at the front door,” I said, but he didn’t even flinch, and he definitely wasn’t breathing. His chest wasn’t moving at all. I swore under my breath as I reached out to turn him over…..but that was when he made his move….and this time, he did manage to take me by surprise.

  To make matters worse, he used the last half of the same unfair move I’d used on him and he copied it perfectly so it was me who ended up on my stomach with the wind knocked out of me and my vision blurred.

  “See, I told you, you’re too trusting,” he said, into my ear, and I swore under my breath again while he laughed softly. He was much too close to me again now too.

  “Get off me. You don’t play fair,” I said crossly.

  “Get off me. You don’t play fair,” he teased, and he copied my tone exactly as I gritted my teeth. “You don’t play fair either,” he said seriously, as he let go of me and sat beside me on the grass. I rolled over and put my hands over my eyes while my vision returned to normal.

  “If it’s any consolation, your pizza delivery line was nearly my undoing,” he said, as I sat up slowly. I took my hands off my eyes and glared at him, but he grinned back at me. “And, I believe you now. You can take care of yourself,” he said apologetically. I tried not to smile. “Will I get the feeling back in my hand any time in the near future?” he asked me as he frowned slightly at his right hand; and now, I did smile.

  “It’ll take about half a clock turn to return to normal,” I said cheerfully.

  “Thanks,” he muttered, and he shook his head before he looked at me sideways. “Can you show me how you did that?” he asked me, and I shrugged and looked away.

  “I guess if we’re to be partners in the finals, it would help us both if I taught you what I know,” I said carefully, and when I glanced at him, he looked pleased and he wanted to start learning straight away.

  It was one thing to be fighting him at pace with my mind on winning, but it was quite another to be moving slowly and explaining the moves as I went. To do this, I had to get very close to him and, for some of the holds, I had to place his hands around my waist. It wasn’t long before I was getting flustered and, soon, I was finding it difficult to keep my mind on what it was I was supposed to be saying.

  “Then, you concentrate pressure here and I’ll……I’ll lose the feeling in my…hand,” I said, as I looked up at him. I stepped away from him quickly then, because I could tell he was about to numb my hand for the next half clock turn, an
d I was in danger of letting him, simply because I liked being so close to him.

  He grinned at my quick escape and we circled each other warily.

  “Show me that last move you did,” he demanded, and I put my hands on my hips.

  “I think you already know how to perform that move,” I said dryly.

  “I can’t remember what you did first to get me on my knees from an upright stance,” he said, as he waited expectantly.

  “Alright,” I said grudgingly, and I showed him how to begin the move.

  “So, to have any chance at all of defending yourself you have to stop this move before it gets to this point,” he said, as I turned him towards me. He was right and he’d worked that out straight away which was impressive. I nodded because I didn’t trust myself to speak. I was too close to him again. “Show me again,” he said, and I went back to the beginning of the move. “Stop there,” he said, and I paused. “So, if I did this, at exactly that point you couldn’t complete the rest of that move could you?” he asked me, before he twisted my arm and knocked my feet from under me.

  “Of course not,” I said crossly, and he grinned, but he kept me pinned to the grass.

  “And then if I did this, I’d have the upper hand wouldn’t I?” he asked me, and he’d pinned me down by both arms now as he laughed.

  “It’s not like I’d fight you in slow motion and give you time to do any of this, but technically yes, you’d have the upper hand for a second, but then I could do this,” I said, and I was laughing now too as I rolled my hips and knocked him to the ground with my legs before I was able to free one of my arms.

  We were still laughing and lying on the grass together when Jonah interrupted us. I hadn’t even heard him come out into the garden.

  “Morgan, what is it you do out here?” he gasped dramatically, and he spoke in the old language as was always his preference. “Your Highness, I humbly apologise for my student’s poor display of manners,” he continued, but Morgan didn’t move.

  “Princess Livia asked me to give her a lesson in trust and she’s Royalty so I couldn’t refuse,” said Morgan, as he grinned up at a horrified Jonah who was still trying to apologise to me.

  “And I learnt my lesson well. From now on, I’ll always use enough pressure to black out my opponent,” I said, and I laughed at the expression on Morgan’s face.

  “Please; your tutor is beside herself your Highness,” begged Jonah, with more of his usual dramatic gestures, and we sat up slowly and smothered our laughter with difficulty. My tutor appeared suddenly behind Jonah and she looked relieved when she saw me, but not at all surprised to find me sitting on the grass with Morgan in the middle of his back garden.

  “I’d better go,” I said to Morgan reluctantly, and he stood up straight away and offered me his hand as he helped me up from the grass. He took his jacket off mine and handed me my jacket too as I brushed grass from my shirt and pants. Jonah fussed around me and I glanced from Morgan who was still grinning, to Mirren who watched me with her arms folded. She glanced at Morgan too before she ushered me through the house and out to the car. It waited for us on the street now, with the engine running.

  Mirren opened the car door for me and it wasn’t long before we pulled out into the heavy afternoon traffic. Our driver was an Aldirite guard and he drove impatiently with much swearing in the old language under his breath. Driving me to weapons training was not his idea of suitable duty for a guard such as himself and he started to mutter under his breath about the traffic, the suffocating engine fumes, and the Synthetic Era insanity that would allow this kind of torture to become an acceptable way of life.

  We were about half way to my class when I became aware of my tutor’s scrutiny. I glanced at her and she was looking at me with the same expression she’d had on her face in the back garden of Morgan’s house. It was the same look she’d given me yesterday too when Morgan had walked me to my front door, and it was the same look I’d been treated to when I’d missed half my tutoring session last week. It was the look that saw right through me and I shifted uncomfortably in my seat and glanced at her again just as our driver allowed himself another, louder outburst about the afternoon traffic. Mirren leant towards me suddenly.

  “It’ll put us both under scrutiny if you’re late for your official lessons,” she said very quietly, and she looked at me meaningfully. I was taken aback for a moment by her unexpected gesture of something close to friendship. She was looking at me as if we had formed an instant and lasting bond, and it seemed she’d decided we had finally found some common ground. I didn’t want to think too much about what that common ground might be, but I nodded carefully and muttered a very quiet apology and a promise that it wouldn’t happen again. She nodded too and we sat in the back of the car in surprisingly companionable silence as we headed through the traffic towards the rented industrial shed where my weapons training class was held………..

  CHAPTER 10:

  The next morning, Mirren waited for me at the bottom of the stairs. She was dressed in her running gear and her pendant was tucked beneath her clothes, as was mine. I slowed as I reached the bottom step. Mirren folded her arms and she looked like she was trying not to smile. She didn’t open the front door straight away and I looked at her suspiciously.

  “I spoke with Jonah last night. I suggested he schedule his student to run with us seeing as you and Morgan have only just been made partners and, as such, you should be taking every opportunity to work together before your finals begin this weekend,” she said, and she was still trying not to smile. “Jonah thought it was a good idea,” she added, and when I looked at her sideways, I was trying not to smile now too. I followed her silently out the front door and we jogged across the street to where Jonah and Morgan were waiting for us at the entrance to the park.

  “Good rise, your Highness,” said Jonah, bowing dramatically despite the fact we were out on the street. I nodded to Jonah reluctantly and Morgan grinned as I fell into step beside him.

  “Whose idea was it to schedule running first thing in the morning?” Morgan asked me, as we ran behind Jonah and Mirren in the cold morning air.

  “Not mine; I hate running at any time of the day,” I said with feeling, and Morgan glanced at me.

  “I hate riding,” he confessed. “I always end up with a stubborn, bad tempered horse and, by the end of the ride, it hates me,” he said, and I glanced at him and grinned. “And don’t tell me you always get the horse you deserve because I’ve heard that before,” he added, when I continued to grin. “Why do you hate running?” he asked me, and my grin turned into a grimace.

  “I’m not very good at it. Endurance wasn’t something I was born with,” I said dismally.

  “Haven’t you been taught the secret trick to running?” Morgan asked me in surprise, and I glanced at him but he didn’t look like he was joking.

  “Which is what?” I asked him suspiciously.

  “You know how you numbed my hand yesterday; well, I’m sure you know another trick to numb the whole body, and if you do that to yourself before you start to run, you won’t feel a thing,” he said, with a straight face.

  “Very funny,” I muttered, as I tried unsuccessfully not to smile, and he grinned and slowed his pace. I frowned a little and slowed down beside him as Mirren and Jonah ran steadily away from us.

  “How long do you think it will take them to notice we’re not right behind them?” asked Morgan, as he continued to jog slowly. Vaguely, I was aware of my heavy footed minder slowing down behind us too, but I doubted he’d complain about our new pace.

  “Mirren won’t notice at all. She doesn’t see anything when she’s running. She’s always thinking about something else,” I said.

  “And we both know what that is,” said Morgan, and he grinned again as he increased his pace now so we didn’t fall any further behind our tutors.

  “Jonah will notice soon and he’ll fall over himself as he tries to race to your aid. He’ll say, so sorry your Highness, m
y humblest apologies; my student has infected you with his laziness and his dreadful lack of discipline,” said Morgan, in a perfect copy of Jonah’s dramatic, high pitched speech. I laughed and Morgan increased his pace again. As we began to catch up to our tutors, we left my heavy footed minder behind.

  “Do you want to go to that school today?” Morgan asked me quietly. We were half way between my minder and our tutors. I glanced at him and he raised his eyebrows.

  “Where are we going instead?” I asked him, just as quietly, and he grinned.

  “We’re going to the early Nomadic Era so pack a set of light, home clothes in your school bag,” he said, and I frowned.

  “We’re travelling? But, how will we……..”

  “Don’t worry; I know of a rising marker here that’s only used for emergencies so there’s no guard, and there’s no marker guard where we’re going either,” he said quietly, and I looked at him carefully, but I already knew I was going with him.

  “Alright,” I said quickly, as we approached our tutors. I shook my head. What was I doing? I was planning to travel out of my time segment today without my tutor. If we were caught, we’d be sent home and have our pendants removed for who knows how long. I shook my head. “I am too trusting,” I muttered to myself.

  “Don’t worry; my plan will work. Our tutor’s won’t even know we’re gone and the guards who’ll lose sight of us on the way to school won’t want to admit to their own incompetence, so they won’t say a thing,” Morgan said quietly, just before we reached our original running position. I glanced at Morgan again, but he didn’t look at me. He was busy looking innocently at Jonah; who’d just glanced back to look at us suspiciously. It took a while for my heavy footed minder to catch us again and it took me by surprise when, just as he caught up to us, I realised our third lap around the park was almost done. I’d hardly noticed I was running this morning and I almost felt like I could run the same distance all over again……… well, almost. I slowed down behind Mirren and Jonah as we approached the entrance of the park and we all jogged slowly across the street.