Wielder's Awakening

by T. B. Christensen

  Traven wasn’t sure if he believed Blaize about the pattern being hard for him to learn but followed him back to the camp feeling a little less discouraged than he had before. They traveled through the rolling hills for the next three days following the winding road. Each day Traven worked hard on his exercises and began to slowly improve. They emerged from the hills at the end of the third day and made camp on the open grasslands once again. Traven continued working strenuously on his exercises and by midday of the second day out of the hills, he had mastered all of his new patterns. Blaize said that he would teach him some new patterns after they got past Four Bridges. Traven figured that would give him a couple more days to practice his patterns, but just after sunset, Four Bridges appeared on the horizon.

  12

  By the time they actually got close enough for Traven to see what the city looked like, it was already night. The light from the rising moon, however, allowed him to take in the surroundings. The city sat perched between the massive Adrinavelle River and the almost as impressive Lithel River. The Lithel emptied into the Adrinavelle just west of the city, almost doubling the size of the already mighty river. From here until the Adrinavelle emptied into the sea near Calyn, there was no easy way to cross the imposing river. The swift currents and jutting rocks that broke the river’s surface every so often made travel by boat next to impossible. The river being a mile wide in many places cut the northern part of Kalia off from the southern part. There were only two points where one could cross from the north to the south or from the south to the north and that was at Calyn and at Four Bridges.

  Traven immediately saw how the city had gotten its name. Before him were two great, stone bridges crossing the Adrinavelle next to each other. Blaize said one was for traffic entering the city and one was for traffic leaving the city. The bridges were supported by thick, sturdy columns of stone that rose from the ground beneath the river. On the other side of the city, Traven could just make out two bridges spanning the Lithel.

  “Some still call this city Two Bridges, and I’ve seen it called that on many older maps,” Blaize mentioned. “But ever since the two newer bridges were built next to the older ones, most people started calling it Four Bridges.”

  The city only had one side protected by a tall wall to keep invaders from entering the city from the east. The city was protected by the natural barriers of the two rivers on all other sides. The city covered more ground than Kavar had, but he could only make out a few buildings that were more than two stories. Where Kavar had seemed almost cramped within its walls, Four Bridges looked open and spread out. As they approached the bridge, Traven was surprised to find no one on guard and asked Blaize about it.

  “Four Bridges lies in the heart of Kalia and is a very open city. They let people come and go as they wish. During the day they have patrols stationed throughout the city to keep crime and disorder down, but at night no one is on watch except a few guards at the north and south ends of the east wall.” Blaize paused and gave Traven an adventurous grin. “When you walk the streets of Four Bridges at night, it’s at your own risk.”

  Traven just shook his head as they continued across the bridge with the Adrinavelle rushing beneath them. The only sounds in the night were the horses’ hooves clinking against the stone bridge and the rushing of the river. At the end of the bridge there was a small square. All around the square roads branched off into different sections of the city. Traven followed as Blaize turned down the road to the right of the square that paralleled the Adrinavelle as it made its way past the city. After riding for several minutes in silence, Blaize stopped and turned to him.

  “Stay alert Traven,” Blaize said quietly. “I wasn’t joking earlier when I said that the streets aren’t very safe at night, especially the streets we’re going to be traversing. I don’t know how much money you have, but I have a very small amount so we’re going to be staying at an inexpensive tavern. The accommodations aren’t all that wonderful, but believe me, after sleeping on the ground for so long, any bed at all seems great. Besides, the ale’s always cheaper, and there’s more excitement in the taverns. I hope no cutpurses are stupid enough to attack us, but just in case, be ready.”

  Traven followed as Blaize led the way down a narrow street that went away from the river and into the city. He didn’t think anyone would be stupid enough to attack Blaize but kept alert as they made their way down the street between darkened buildings. Shadows from the buildings bathed the street in darkness, making it difficult to see much more than the lighter opening at the end of the street. Blaize took a right at the avenue and then directly took a left down another dark, narrow street. When they were about halfway down the street, two shadows suddenly separated themselves from the wall of a building about twenty feet ahead of them and moved to block the way. Traven’s heart quickened as fear enveloped him.

  “We’re here to collect your fee for trespassing in our territory,” the gruff looking man on the right growled. “Unfortunate for you fellas that the fee is everything you have with you including your lives.”

  Blaize pulled up nonchalantly as the men began to advance slowly towards them and leaned over to Traven.

  “I’ll take care of these two weasels,” the warrior said quietly. “I can’t believe they’re stupid enough to attack us while we’re on horses and they’re on foot. Maybe I’ll just run them over.”

  As Blaize turned back to the advancing men, Traven heard a sound behind him and turned to see what it was. Two more men were now advancing up the street from behind with their blades bared. Traven then heard another sound from above. Blaize shook his head.

  “I guess these guys really . . .”

  Blaize’s words were cut off as someone slammed into him, knocking him from his horse. Traven had no time to think about what was happening as another man crashed into him, knocking him from Pennon’s back. Traven instinctively went into a diving roll as he hit the ground, ending up in a crouch with his sword already flying from its sheath. The man who had knocked him down was just beginning to pick himself up off of the ground as Traven lunged, slashing at him. The cutpurse dropped back lifelessly to the ground as Traven spun to face the attackers who had been sneaking up from behind. They were now approaching more cautiously than they had been, but he could see the whites of their teeth as they approached with murderous grins occupying their dirty mugs. Traven stood with his sword ready but had no idea what to do against two attackers. His stomach curdled with fearful anticipation.

  Blaize suddenly materialized by Traven’s side just as the two attackers were closing in on him. The grins left their faces as they suddenly found themselves faced by another armed man, this one even taller than the first and with a sword in either hand. After a second, they decided that they didn’t like the odds and began to run away down the street. Traven watched in amazement as the cutpurses abruptly crashed into the ground after only several strides with metal embedded in their backs. He turned a confused look in Blaize’s direction and found him with his hands outstretched and open in the direction of the two unmoving cutpurses. His swords were safely sheathed on his back, and he had a grin on his face.

  “They thought they could attack me and get away with it did they. Ha!”

  Traven walked nervously alongside Blaize as he went over to the two men and bent down. He straightened back up after a moment with two silver crescent shaped blades in his hands that he deftly slipped back behind his belt. Traven wondered what they were and asked Blaize.

  “These babies are my war crescents. They have several uses, and you just saw one of them.”

  “Where did those other two guys come from?” Traven asked with a shaky voice, looking back at the two men lying lifeless near their horses.

  “They must have been waiting up on the roof. These thieves were better organized than I had thought. Oh well,” Blaize said as he shrugged.

  “Thanks for being so quick with the others,” Traven said with a gulp. “If you had been any longer, I would be
dead.”

  “I don’t know about that,” Blaize replied. “You finished that first guy off pretty quick, didn’t you?”

  “Yeah, I guess I did,” Traven said uncomfortably. He tried to compose himself as he stared at the dead body while tears threatened to wet his eyes. He couldn’t get the sick feeling out of his stomach. “It happened so fast I didn’t even have a chance to think about what was going on.”

  “That’s why we practice, so we can fight with our instincts and not have to stop and think about what to do.”

  Blaize gave him a reassuring smile and bent back down. Traven watched silently as Blaize cut off a piece of cloth from one of the cutpurse’s right sleeve. He then used it to clean the blood from his swords and war crescents. Traven numbly followed Blaize’s example and reached down to cut a piece of cloth from the cutpurse’s cloak.

  “What are you doing?” Blaize almost shouted as he caught Traven’s arm. Traven stepped back startled.

  “I was just going to clean my blade,” he mumbled.

  “You have to cut the cloth from the right sleeve of your opponent,” Blaize stated. “And nowhere else.” Traven bent back down over the other thief and cut off a piece of cloth from the man’s right sleeve. “That’s better.”

  “Why the right sleeve?” Traven asked as he wiped his blade clean.

  “I don’t know,” Blaize replied. “That’s just how I have always done it. I guess that cutting cloth from your opponent’s sword arm shows your superiority over him and that he will not raise his arm against you again.” Blaize then smiled and began to search through the clothes of the two dead men.

  “What are you doing now?” Traven asked quietly.

  “After something like this happens, you always search the cutpurses for any valuables before you leave. It’s not stealing or anything. Everything on them is probably not really theirs. Besides, you deserve something for helping to cut down on the crime in a city, don’t you?”

  “I guess so,” Traven answered slowly.

  “Give me a hand,” Blaize said as he continued to rummage through the soiled clothing of the two thieves. “I want to get out of here and into a nice, rowdy tavern as quick as possible.”

  Traven went over to the two men who had been on the roof and began to search them, being careful not to get any blood on his hands. The first man had nothing on him but a few coppers which Traven transferred to his own money pouch. The second man, however, had a fat little purse full of silver coins. By the time he had finished with the two men, Blaize had already finished up with the four others and was climbing up onto Flame.

  “Let’s get out of here,” he spat. “The patrols will clean this mess up in the morning.”

  Traven jumped onto Pennon and followed Blaize out from the narrow side street and into a much wider avenue. Taverns lined the sides of the avenue with inviting pools of light and laughter flooding out from their open doors. Blaize picked the second one on their left. After leaving their mounts in the small adjoining stable and leaving a small tip to make sure the stable boys took extra good care of them, they walked through the front door into the noisy tavern with their saddlebags draped over their shoulders. Traven was assaulted by the sound of raucous laughter and the sour smell of ale as he passed into the common room of the tavern. The small room was packed with drunken men singing and laughing. Blaize found a small table in the back corner that was unoccupied and sat down at it with Traven. As soon as they were seated, a pretty barmaid slopped a mug of ale down in front of each of them.

  “Is there anything else you fellows might be a wanting?” she asked with a grin on her face.

  “I think we’re fine for now,” Blaize said, giving her a wink.

  She giggled and hurried off. Traven looked into the mug that had been set before him and sniffed. It definitely didn’t smell that good, but he was a man now, and men drank ale. He tipped his head back and took a swallow of the ale. It wasn’t as bad as it smelled, but it really wasn’t all that good either. He put the mug back down after taking another swallow of the ale.

  “All right Traven. Empty your pockets on the table and we’ll see how much the cutpurses gave us.” Traven tossed the bag full of silver tallies onto the table and fished out the few coppers he had found on the other man. “Is that all from the two you searched?” Blaize asked suspiciously. Traven nodded his head. “They must have been the ones who were going to get what we had on us. As for what I found, I’d say that we weren’t their first hit of the night, though we were definitely their last,” Blaize said, laughing while he drained half the ale from his mug and began to display what he had found on the cutpurses.

  Traven took another swallow and stared in amazement as the treasures began to pile up on the table. First Blaize tossed five small bags full of coins onto the table. They were followed by two rings, one gold and one silver. The gold one had a small ruby in it while the sliver ring was no more than a band with several swirls etched into it. Lastly he tossed a small dagger onto the table with a jewel encrusted hilt and sheath.

  “All right, I guess this is everything,” Blaize said as he downed the rest of his ale. “Now time to divide it up. Since I did most of the work, I think I’ll keep everything I found and you can keep what you found.”

  Traven sat in silence for a few moments looking at the coppers and the bag of silver before Blaize burst out laughing.

  “I’m just kidding Traven! Don’t look so sad. We’ll divide it up equally. Three of the bags I found are actually full of gold tallies and the other two are full of silver. I’m going to let you keep the dagger since I already have plenty, so I’ll keep two of the bags of gold and a bag of silver. I am also partial to the gold ring, so I’ll take that too. The rest is all yours.”

  Traven smiled as he slipped the silver ring onto one of his fingers and tied the three small bags filled with coins to his belt. He took the gaudy dagger and was going to slip it behind his belt, but was stopped by Blaize.

  “Don’t display that for everyone to see. Slip it in your boot.”

  When Traven looked at Blaize confused, he showed Traven what he meant by pulling a dagger from his own boot and then showing him how to put it back in. Traven slipped the small dagger carefully inside his boot the same way Blaize had. He hadn’t had any idea that Blaize had a dagger in his boot. He wondered how many weapons the large warrior really did have on him.

  Traven took a few more swallows from his mug, finishing off the rest of the ale. He was feeling pretty good. He had just become wealthier and was drinking like a man in a man’s tavern. The barmaid came back by the table and exchanged the empty mugs for two full ones with a big smile on her face and a wink for Blaize. Blaize said something about her beautiful smile and keeping the ale coming and then flipped her a silver tally. She snatched it out of the air and hurried off with another grin for him. Blaize clicked his mug against Traven’s, and they both took a long swallow. This ale was tasting better and better. He was feeling great. He talked a little with Blaize as they finished off their second mug of ale and were brought a third.

  Suddenly the room grew quieter, and then the men began to hoot and holler louder than before. Traven looked up from his mug and saw what all of the excitement was about. One of the barmaids had climbed up on a table in the middle of the room. The men in the tavern quieted down again as she began to sing. She was attractive, but Traven did not think that she had that good of a voice. He wondered why everyone was paying so much attention to her. In fact, her voice was not only not good, it was awful. He turned back to Blaize and found him staring at her also.

  “Why’s everybody so impressed?” Traven slurred as he took another long swill from his mug. “She sounds aw’ful.”

  “She’s not up there for her singing,” Blaize said with a grin on his face.

  Traven shrugged and went to take another drink but found that his mug was empty. He turned it upside down and shook it to make sure, but nothing came out. The barmaid was suddenly at his side, exchanging
his empty mug for another full one. He smiled and emptied half of the mug in one swallow and thanked her. The barmaid just laughed as she walked away from his table. The men began clapping as the woman paused and then began singing another song. He didn’t bother to clap but instead took another drink. That was the worst performance he had ever heard. These men must not have ever heard someone who could really sing if they were clapping for her. Oh well, he thought, whatever makes them happy.

  Traven slowly looked up from his mug. When his eyes finally made it to the woman on the table, he gasped as he realized what he had missed before. The attractive barmaid was not dressed decently at all. Her skirt was short enough to show her ankles and bare calves, and the top of her blouse plunged lower than was decent. Traven quickly looked back at his mug of ale, blushing. He had never seen something so indecent in all of his life. He couldn’t believe that he had not noticed immediately when she had started singing. He took a long draw from his mug, finishing the ale in it. If any of the girls so much as walked around in public barefoot back home after they had reached womanhood, they were chastised harshly by the folks in the town. He couldn’t believe the indecency of what he was seeing. However, the woman was quite attractive. What am I thinking? Traven thought ashamedly. He looked back down at his mug again hurriedly. He found it somehow once again full. He took a very long drink from it, trying to clear his head.

  Traven glanced back up at the barmaid. He quickly looked back into his mug, but his gaze was almost immediately drawn back to the woman. She really was quite beautiful. If all of the other men were enjoying watching her, why couldn’t he enjoy it? He was a man after all was he not? He finished off the rest of the ale in his mug and began to clap with the other men in the tavern. She was beautiful! To the disappointment of Traven, the woman finally stopped singing and danced on out of the room, smiling as the cheers of the men in the tavern followed her. Traven decided he wanted to talk to the beautiful barmaid and stood up to follow her. He tried to walk in the direction she had gone, but the room seemed to be spinning around and around and around. He tried to take another step, but instead of going forward, he crashed into the table next to him, spilling ale all over the man sitting there.