The Exercise Of Vital Powers

by Ian Gregoire

  On the undamaged ground within her barrier sphere were four glowing, red glyphs. Another suddenly appeared, making five—they were emerging clockwise in a circle around her. Kayden didn’t recognise the glyphs, so didn’t know what they symbolised, but she was disturbed that they were appearing inside the perimeter of her barrier sphere. It meant the Rogue had somehow breached her defences. She knew that once the circle was complete she was in big trouble. In desperation, she held both hands out in front of her; with any luck Zarantar Najist could be neutralised in the same way as Zarantar Jist.

  “Drat!” she complained in frustration. Whatever the Rogue was doing was too strong for her to repel.

  The final glyph of the circle manifested and the glow of all twelve glyphs intensified. Kayden was instantly overwhelmed by the crushing sense of imminent death; she knew she was about to die. Without conscious thought, she reacted decisively, pulling the hood of her cloak over her head, invoking Naymutandushay. The air around her briefly appeared to ripple as she became intangible.

  Suddenly, out of nowhere, multiple lightning bolts erupted inside the barrier sphere, cascading violently within the confines of Kayden’s translucent bubble, ripping apart the air all around their target. Though the onslaught of lightning strikes passed harmlessly through her non-corporeal form, Kayden was forced to cover her ears and shut her eyes against the deafening rumbles of thunder and blinding flashes of light.

  Eventually, she sensed the cessation of the attack, allowing her to open her eyes and pull her hands from her ears. Her heart was pounding ferociously in her chest, as though it was trying to punch its way out. She had cheated death, yet again, only this time she was genuinely rattled by what happened. The Rogue had initiated a deadly attack against her, replicating one of nature’s most destructive phenomena. And if that wasn’t disturbing enough, the attack was unleashed inside her barrier sphere where she should have been safe from harm. Kayden lost all focus, causing the barrier sphere to quickly dissipate, leaving her defenceless.

  Involuntarily, she started to back-pedal as the Rogue began drifting across the shallow crater towards the circular island of undamaged ground she was standing on. In her moment of panic, Kayden stumbled, falling backwards into the crater. She didn’t waste any time trying to get back on to her feet, frantically scrambling backwards to keep as much distance between herself and her unrelenting assailant. She made it out of the crater back on to the untouched grass of the forest clearing, though she had little hope of escape. The Rogue, floating just above the ground, was drifting closer and closer, bearing down on her like a shadowy apparition. It was an imposing spectacle.

  Kayden’s alarm spiked when she sensed Zarantar. The attack that would end her life this time was imminent, and she was powerless to prevent it. She stopped scrambling backward and held her hands up at the black figure looming over her.

  “Wait!” The anguished plea came out like a yelp. “Wait! Don’t kill me, don’t kill me,” she pleaded, in apparent desperation. “You win, you win!”

  Kayden could no longer sense the impending Zarantar strike—she had earned herself a reprieve…for now. Watching the feet of her adversary alight on the ground just before her, she slowly, cautiously stood up. For the first time she noticed that she and her black clad foe were the same height. But that didn’t detract from the disquieting realisation that even standing just a couple of yards from the Rogue, she still could not see the face of whomever was beneath the hood.

  She held up both her hands in a gesture of compliant surrender.

  “All right. I was a fool to oppose you,” she conceded. “I should have just turned back when you told me to.”

  Slowly, she started to back away from the Rogue.

  “It you let me live, I will go back the way I came.”

  The Rogue remained rooted to the spot, making no attempt to follow her or prevent her from leaving.

  “But before I go,” Kayden continued, “I just need to know one thing.”

  A fraught silence followed as Kayden waited for the Rogue to ask what it was she needed to know. The question did not come. Presumably, her taciturn tormentor was waiting for her to finish what she had to say.

  “I need to know why you’re forcing me to go back? What difference does it make to you if I continue to the end of the path?”

  “I have a vested interest in preserving your destiny,” replied the Rogue.

  The admission would have intrigued Kayden had she not been so preoccupied. As it was, she had no interest in whatever was said between herself and her adversary; she was just stalling for time. If she couldn’t overpower the Rogue, she would just have to outsmart her opponent instead.

  “I’m curious,” she responded. “In what way would my destiny be altered if I were to continue to the end of the path?”

  “If I allow you to complete the journey you have been tasked with,” the androgynous voice replied, “Andro Radulini will live.”

  Kayden halted dead in her tracks, her heart skipping a beat. How could the Rogue possibly know the name of her stepfather?

  “What are you talking about?” she demanded to know.

  “If you turn back now, you shall fulfil your destiny. You will kill Andro Radulini, and avenge your mother’s unjust death. But if you proceed onwards and reach the end of the path, your mother’s death will never be avenged.”

  If any words had the power to spur Kayden into abandoning her attempt to complete the task Master Ari had given her, the Rogue had just uttered them. Whether or not it was merely a deliberate ploy to unbalance her, Kayden realised she couldn’t let it cloud her judgement. She needed a clear head if she was going to survive this ordeal. Closing her eyes, she tried to block out all thoughts of being denied revenge on her stepfather.

  Moments later Kayden opened her eyes again; her mind was made up. Without a word she turned on her heels then stomped purposefully away from the Rogue, heading straight back towards the dirt path that had led her into the clearing. If she had to make a choice between avenging her mother’s death or proving herself to Master Ari, there was no choice to be made. However, there was no reason why she couldn’t accomplish both.

  Kayden slowed to a stop at the edge of the clearing just as she was about to re-enter the trees. For a protracted moment she remained stock-still, staring down the length of the dirt path. Finally, she slowly turned her body sideways on to the Rogue, turning her head the rest of the way to stare at her adversary.

  “You could be lying to me,” she called out casually. “For all I know, going back could be what deprives me of my revenge.”

  “I have no reason to deceive you.”

  Without taking her eyes off the Rogue, Kayden slowly ambled forward, walking counter-clockwise along the edge of the clearing.

  “You would say that whether you were lying to me or not,” she said, accusingly. “Why should I trust anything you tell me?”

  “Because we both desire the same thing: the death of Andro Radulini.”

  “Why do you care if my stepfather lives or dies?” Kayden continued to slowly circle the Rogue, along the edge of the clearing.

  “I care for the same reason you do.”

  The androgynous voice was starting to irritate Kayden. There was something intrinsically unnatural about it.

  “But more importantly than that, you cannot become the person you are destined to be until you have killed Andro Radulini.”

  “And who am I destined to become?” asked Kayden, humouring her foe.

  “The greatest Sanatsai this world has ever seen.”

  Under normal circumstances such a pronouncement would have gone to her head. But this occasion was not a good time to be distracted so she had little difficulty keeping her ego in check. The answers she was receiving to her questions were of no consequence; she only wanted to keep the Rogue talking for long enough for her to do what needed to be done, without giving away her true intentions. She continued the irrelevant verbal exchange back and forth for a whi
le longer, all the while continuing to circle the black clad figure.

  When Kayden finally came to a halt, she was standing on the opposite side of the clearing—her ploy proved to be so much easier than she anticipated. She turned her body to face the Rogue head on, rather than sideways on, putting the dirt path she needed to follow at her back, just a yard or two behind her. As she glared at her adversary, Kayden just couldn’t help herself. She smirked smugly then promptly turned on her heels, making a dash for the path, sprinting as fast as her legs would carry her.

  She re-entered the forest only to discover that the burst of Zarantar she felt behind her was bringing the trees around her to life. Several branches became stretching, flexible limbs—reaching for, and lashing out at her. First, she was tripped when a branch took her legs out from under her, causing her to tumble to the ground in a heap. Before she could regain her footing, another branch wrapped around her legs and threw her high up into the air where she was seized by half a dozen leafy branches. She invoked Yuksaydan to shatter the branches, but as she fell towards the ground, she was caught by several more wooden limbs. She repeated her countermeasure with the same result: she broke free of the living branches only to be grabbed by several more before she could hit the ground. For a third time Kayden invoked Yuksaydan to break free of the hold on her and was rewarded when she landed on the forest floor without being seized again.

  Setting off at a sprint once more, she hoped to flee out of range of the Rogue’s Zarantar, but her effort was in vain. The trees lashed out at her more violently and she endured three painful blows to the body before a fourth blow to the side of the head stunned her. Unwittingly, Kayden slowed down then dropped to one knee. She was granted no time to recover her equilibrium as several branches reached out for her at once. One grabbed her around the neck, a second coiled around her waist, two more wrapped themselves around her wrists, while a further two seized her round the ankles. She was immediately hoisted off the ground, several feet into the air and vigorously shaken like a ragdoll, disorienting her further.

  The assault ended quickly but Kayden had lost all sense of up and down, left and right, backward and forward when the branches released their hold by tossing her through the air. She was caught in mid-air by yet another wooden limb that promptly tossed her through the air a second time, into the waiting clutches of another branch brought to life. She was being thrown all the way back towards the clearing she was trying to escape.

  The final branch that caught hold of Kayden stretched unfeasibly into the clearing then slammed the hapless apprentice face down onto the ground at the feet of the Rogue. Kayden just laid there, unmoving and hurt. Her eyes were shut tight in an effort to keep the pain of her aching body at bay. In spite of the burning anger she was feeling she was ready to give up the ghost. She had little fight left in her. Reluctantly, she opened her eyes and was greeted by the sight of the Rogue’s booted feet under her nose. As she prepared to force herself up from her prone position she sensed the Zarantar that would spare her the trouble. She was lifted up off the ground and suspended helplessly in the air before her black clad nemesis. Face to face with the Rogue, Kayden was beyond caring that she still couldn’t see the face beneath the hood.

  “You were warned that you cannot escape me.”

  “Oh, just kill me, you son of a bitch.” The bitterness in Kayden’s snarled response was palpable. “But know this, you will never be able to revel in my death. What glory can there be in stacking the deck in your favour?” she taunted. “You picked on a mere apprentice, safe in the knowledge I couldn’t possibly match you in a battle of Zarantar. If you weren’t such a coward you would have confronted me on a level playing field. You would have given me the option of dying by the sword.”

  The Rogue’s invocation of Yuksaydan started to tighten the invisible grip around Kayden’s neck, squeezing her throat, choking the life out of her.

  “Struck a nerve, did I?” spluttered Kayden, taunting her assailant. “Then face me on an equal footing. No Zarantar. Just your blade against mine.”

  Kayden was certain she was about to pass out when the Rogue abruptly released the hold on her, letting her to fall to her knees, coughing and gasping for breath. Looking up, she saw her black clad adversary slowly back-pedalling away from her. She was caught off guard. The Rogue halted half a dozen yards from her and unsheathed the sword hung behind its right shoulder.

  The possibility that her opponent would accept the challenge of a duel hadn’t occurred to her—she simply wanted to have the last word before she died.

  “As you wish,” said the Rogue, adopting a two handed stance.

  Kayden slowly stood upright then drew her own blade. She mirrored the two handed stance of the Rogue and stared fixedly at her opponent while she composed herself. She had never fought to the death before, but in that moment she knew—in her heart of hearts—there was no other way for the encounter to come to an end.

  It was kill or be killed.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  To The Death

  Kenit slowed his sprint through the trees to a steady walk when he realised the sounds of fighting he was rushing towards had ceased a good few minutes earlier. He had left his horse tethered in the same spot he and Fay dismounted their rides when they first arrived in Sharadi Forest, then dashed off, ostensibly to render assistance to Fay in her mission to assassinate the Saharbashi they encountered while rescuing Tylo.

  Now that the fighting had seemingly reached a conclusion, Kenit wasn’t sure if he should interpret the silence as Fay not actually requiring his help or, more worryingly, she was beyond help and he was heading straight into danger.

  As he approached the site of the initial encounter with the Conclave and the allied Saharbashi, Kenit could hear a number of angry voices hurling profane insults. He reached the edge of the clearing to see the ancient temple complex was now strewn with scores of dead bodies. He couldn’t say for certain how many of the renegade Sanatsai had been killed as few of the bodies were still in one piece, but the bloody scene was obviously Fay’s handiwork.

  He cast his eyes to the right and caught sight of Fay. His breath caught in his throat as he saw her limp body being held upright by a pair of Conclave men—one on either arm—holding her securely before the dagger-wielding Saharbashi. A further five renegade Sanatsai were loitering nearby, spewing obscenities at their captive. From his vantage point Kenit was unable to discern whether Fay was dead or alive—she certainty wasn’t moving or struggling to break free of her captors. But he reluctantly concluded that even if she was still alive she wouldn’t be for much longer, and there was nothing he could do to change that outcome.

  The Saharbashi grabbed hold of Fay by her face with one hand, while he waved the dagger in his other hand under her nose. Kenit felt sick, absolutely certain he was about to witness Fay having her throat slit, or the blade of the dagger plunged into her chest. But neither happened. Instead, the Saharbashi pointed at the nearby stone altar, prompting the two men holding Fay to drag her towards the dais upon which the altar was erected.

  So, there was going to be a blood letting that night, after all.

  Kenit felt guilty that having come this far, he had now decided against intervening as Fay was dragged to the stone altar, though he tried to convince himself it was the correct course of action, under the circumstances. He was outnumbered, and had no confidence in his ability to overcome the remaining seven renegades, plus the Saharbashi, all by himself. That’s what would be required in order to save his colleague. He looked on forlornly while Fay was laid upon the altar in preparation for the blood letting. That was his cue to leave—he had no desire to watch what was about to happen next.

  Before he could depart, Kenit was startled by the sounds of movement approaching his position from behind. He spun round sharply, ready to invoke Turmiraydan and let loose a concussion orb at the interloper. But much to his surprise, and relief, it was young Tylo darting towards him.

  “What are
you doing here?” Kenit hissed in annoyance. “You should be on your way back to Relona.”

  “I couldn’t leave without knowing you and your friend were all right.” Tylo caught sight of the gruesome scene among the ruins before spotting Fay laid out on the altar.

  “Oh no! She’s been captured. What are you waiting for?”

  “There’s nothing I can do for her now,” Kenit lamented. “But I can get you out of here so her death isn’t in vain.”

  “Wait! We can’t just leave,” retorted Tylo, incredulously. “We have to do something.”

  Reacted swiftly when the boy attempted to dash into the clearing, Kenit grabbed hold of Tylo then brought him to the ground, pinning him down.

  “What do you think you’re playing at?” He was livid. The impetuous kid had come perilously close to bringing them unwanted attention. “If you go out there you’ll die right alongside my colleague.”

  “I don’t care!” Tylo struggled futilely beneath Kenit. “I’m not just going to run away and let the woman who saved my life be killed.”

  “And what exactly are you going to do about it?” hissed Kenit derisively. “You haven’t been trained to wield your Zarantar yet.”

  “It doesn’t matter. If you’re not going to do anything, then it’s up to me. Now let me go or I’ll scream.”

  Kenit clamped a hand down over the boy’s mouth just in case he tried to make good on the threat. For several seconds Tylo increased his futile struggle to break free before he gave up. An attack of conscience hit Kenit at the sight of two tears trickling down the boys face. Was he so afraid to do the right thing he would upset a young kid?

  He pulled his hand away from Tylo’s mouth and stopped pinning him to the ground.

  “I’m sorry,” he said.

  He stood upright and allowed Tylo to get back to his feet.

  “I don’t understand how you can do this,” complained Tylo. “I may not know your friend, but from what little I’ve seen, if your places were reversed right now, and it was you on that altar about to be slaughtered like an animal, I can’t imagine she would hesitate for a moment to risk her life to save yours.”