Perfidious

by P. T. McKenzie

  I ran to the small door in the ground, opened the door, and reached down to grab one of my blades. I pulled the small handle, letting the blade swing into its natural position along the length of my forearm. I turned around in time to catch Kalvin’s blade a few inches from my face. I reached behind me to grab my second blade and pushed Kalvin back with my legs.

  There was barely time to stand. The sword's point came down near my chest. I turned my left blade, facing it away from my body. I leveraged to push Kalvin’s blade away from me to my left and down. Kalvin’s body weight followed the sword as it struck into the ground.

  I felt a sting in my arm as I backed away. It looked like the blade nicked me a little, but it would heal in the next couple of hours. I still needed to get used to my weapons.

  I watched as Kalvin’s narrow pupils returned to the human round, signaling the end of the fight. Normally, we would continue until someone tapped out, but as he turned his attention to Greyson and Noah, I realized he was just using the exercise as an example.

  Kalvin spoke with the same conviction his father had when he told us, “From here to the edge of the forest, excluding the village, will be the area in which we will train. Your training begins the moment you enter this area, which includes sneak attacks if you couldn’t tell. During training, you will stay within the limits. Is this clear?”

  Noah nodded. “As long as you teach me to fight like that, I’ll listen to almost anything.” Noah turned to Greyson, some concern showing in his facial expression. “You ready for this, Greyson?”

  Greyson’s eyes were hazed over as he met my eyes, his mind obviously somewhere else. He smiled at Noah. “Yeah.”

  I told Kalvin I wanted him to work with Noah’s instincts, sharpening them to pick up on monster movements. Kalvin agreed and told me to work with Greyson on getting his stamina up for using his abilities.

  Greyson walked up to me as Kalvin pulled Noah aside.

  “How about we start with you shifting your shoulder blades into wings?” I placed my hands on my hips and hoped I looked like I knew what I was talking about.

  He reached for my hand. “I think I’ll start with healing.”

  I realized there was a trail of blood dripping down my arm. The cut was bleeding more than I thought.

  Greyson put his hand over the cut. I watched as he concentrated, a green glow coming from underneath his hand. My skin warmed. Greyson’s eyes were intent on not looking anywhere other than my arm.

  “I’m sorry about yesterday. I didn’t mean it like that…I was just upset,” Greyson said. His eyes flashed to mine and back to my arm.

  He removed his hand. The cut was gone, only a bloody handprint remaining.

  “It’s okay. I understand. And thanks.” I motioned to my arm as I reached down into the cellar for a towel to wipe the blood off.

  “No problem.”

  But I knew it was. I could tell he was tired just from using a small amount of his healing ability.

  We worked on defensive hand-to-hand combat along with the sprints I’d promised them. I didn’t want him overexerting himself from using his powers again.

  A couple hours passed, and darkness began to consume the forest. We had to call it quits for the night. Greyson and Noah could barely see, and their arms hung limp at their sides. Kalvin wanted to walk us home again, but I told him he didn’t have to. He needed rest.

  After Kalvin finally left, I dropped Greyson and Noah off and headed for home. I walked in through the front door and found Mom washing dishes in the kitchen.

  Her head remained down.

  “Did I miss dinner?” I asked apologetically.

  “Yes. You did. I didn’t know you would be out so late. Again.” She rubbed her eyebrows as she spoke, but she didn’t move her gaze from the dishes.

  “Sorry, I was hanging out with Kalvin and some new friends. It was actually a lot of fun.”

  Mom shifted. She cocked her head towards me. “Your father keeps telling me that you're not being safe. That we need to ground you from Perfidious to see if you learn a lesson. You’re never home, and I don’t know where you’ve been.” She finally turned and I could see the concern in her eyes. “On the other hand, I don’t want to see you separated from your friends. What do you think I should decide?

  “Mom…” I didn’t know how to respond. Mom didn’t understand what was going on in my life. I took a deep breath. “I’m sorry I haven’t been home. I was in Coalfell. I promise, Mom. I haven’t been anywhere dangerous. I’ve just been hanging out with Kalvin, Greyson, and Noah.”

  “That’s all?”

  “Yes, Mom. I promise.”

  Her shoulders relaxed, and she seemed to be satisfied with my response. Her eyes softened. “I’m choosing to trust you, but I want to know where you are from now on. And if I find out that you’ve lied to me about the smallest thing, you will lose my trust.”

  I nodded.

  She pointed to the fridge. “Anyway, I set aside a plate for you. It might still be warm.”

  I grabbed the plate and sat with my mom while I ate. We talked a bit, and I realized just how much I’d been gone. I felt bad, but I promised her I would try to make it back for dinner from then on. After I ate, I changed and crawled into bed. It had been a long day and the next wouldn’t be any easier.

  17

  The next school day couldn’t have passed by fast enough. I saw Noah and Greyson a few times and could tell Greyson looked more tired than usual. However, I was surprised that neither of them seemed sore.

  After school got out, Greyson, Noah, and I dropped our stuff off at our houses and entered the forest to meet Kalvin.

  “So, how sore are you guys today?” I asked.

  Noah snickered, and Greyson tried to hold back a grin.

  “What did you do?” I asked, arching my eyebrow.

  “Nothing really,” Greyson answered me, no longer hiding his smile. “Noah could barely move this morning, and I only felt a little sore. Figured my body healed itself faster. So, I attempted to heal Noah’s muscles and my own. It was different from a cut, and it used less energy, but it still worked on him. I found out I can’t heal myself.”

  I realized that could have been the reason he looked tired, but I let it pass. “As long as you’re careful. You know how healing can drain you.”

  He nodded sincerely, and that was good enough for me.

  “Oh, I keep forgetting. Remember when I made you use the wings to save us from falling?”

  Greyson nodded.

  “Well, I wasn’t entirely sure that it would work. But I’m glad it did.”

  He didn’t even pretend to be surprised. “Honestly, I was surprised you even suggested it. What made you think I could do it?”

  “Your legs.” I realized it was a bad explanation the moment I said it. “When we were running away from the shapeshifter, I was running at full speed with my elf abilities. You stayed with me, which made me think you’ve been subconsciously changing the muscles in your legs to resemble an elf’s for a while. I mean we’ve been in the same class forever. You could have easily seen how fast I could run and wanted to run faster than you were. The desire could have caused you to alter the muscles in your legs so you could do that.”

  Greyson seemed interested.

  “Now that I know the truth about you being an elf, I can see how much you hold back in gym,” Greyson nudged me playfully. “So, if I’ve been able to run as fast as you all this time, then why haven’t I? I mean, I do a lot of running at football practice, and Coach likes to push us to our limits.”

  I thought about this for a second, but I didn’t have a definite answer. “I’m not sure. If I had to take a guess, I’d say that it was more a mental block. You didn’t know about anything outside of being a human. You believed humans could only run so fast, so you didn’t exceed that limit. Maybe?”

  Noah was jerked away from us.

  I turned to see Kalvin putting him into a choke hold. Noah positioned his chin down and
pulled on Kalvin’s arm. Kalvin simply smiled as Noah leaned down, threatening to pull Kalvin over his shoulder. He shifted position, letting go of the choke hold, and used Noah’s momentum against him, putting his arm under Noah’s waist and flipping him over. Noah landed in the grass.

  Thud.

  I cringed at Noah’s defeat. He did really well and learned a lot in a day, but he had a long way to go before he could win against Kalvin. I didn’t think I’d even win against Kalvin if we were fighting for real.

  Kalvin clapped and offered his hand to Noah. “Good try. Ya did it exactly right. Next time, ya’ll need to adjust to the change of position.” He looked at me. “So, what’re we doin’ today, Elisia?”

  When did I become the head trainer? I rolled my eyes. I guess it didn’t matter. I had a plan anyway.

  “Kalvin, I want you to help Greyson with his shifting. We already know he can change his shoulder blades to wings and the muscles in his legs to resemble an elf’s. Can you teach him to change his eyes to enhance his eyesight like yours? Or even his skin to dragon skin?”

  Kalvin nodded. “Sure, that sounds like a good idea. I’ll take him to the blacksmith shop. There was a lot of traffic coming in and out while I was working earlier. Who knows how many abilities he can pick up by shaking hands.”

  Greyson frowned. “I don’t think I can just touch someone to gain their abilities. I have to be able to understand how it feels like and how it works.”

  “That we can figure out later. It’d still be good to make contact with others so ya have the possibility to pick up some skills.” Kalvin met my eyes. “What about Noah?”

  I bit my lip. I hadn’t actually thought about Noah’s training. Kalvin picked up on this.

  “How about ya take him to Antheia’s bookstore? She’ll have some books that can teach him about the different abilities he’ll need to work around.”

  “Isn’t Antheia’s far?” I asked, not remembering where it was exactly.

  “It’s only two miles, if that. North past the Mourning Willow, remember?” Kalvin directed.

  I nodded. “Oh yeah. Come on, Noah. It shouldn't take us more than 40 minutes to get there.”

  Noah followed me to Antheia’s. Awkward silence hung between us. I had no idea what to say to him. Every time I’d talked to him in the last couple of days, we seemed to fight, and I really didn’t want to fight with him. We were both friends with Greyson, but it seemed like we would never be friends with each other at the rate we were going.

  He stayed with me as he watched his surroundings, never looking my way. His eyes widened at something ahead of us.

  The Mourning Willow stood tall against the evening sun and seemed to shimmer from the light hitting all the trinkets inside.

  “What’s this?” Noah asked, ducking under the willow branches.

  “It's for all the half-breeds who were killed by monsters. Their families will never know justice, so this is here for them to know that they aren’t alone.” I lowered my head and stepped over a couple roots.

  “Aren’t there laws to prevent any of this? What about the Coalfell Elders? They’re half-breeds. Shouldn’t they have laws against that?” His voice fell flat as he spoke.

  “The Coalfell Elders only help manage Coalfell. The rulers of Perfidious are called the Council. They could care less about half-breeds. To them, we’re just impure parasites. All they care about are the purebloods. If one of them was killed, there’d be a full investigation. But us? Nope. Just one less parasite roaming the land.”

  My nails dug into the palms of my hands. I hated the Council. If the King’s bloodline was still in power, Perfidious wouldn’t be that way.

  “Is it really that dangerous for all of you here? Why don’t you just leave?”

  “Not everyone can. Greyson and I are lucky. We can pass for humans. But for others like Kalvin…they have a hard time not drawing attention to themselves,” I said as we left the willow.

  “Is that why you learned to fight?”

  I nodded. “For the most part. I started training because my father wanted me to learn the basics. He said it would be good for me to know how to defend myself, but he got too busy with his job. That’s why I started training with Aaron. After I met Kalvin and his father, I convinced him to train me.” I paused, shaking my head. I was getting away from his question. “We train because it's fun. Kalvin and I both love it, but it's mostly for survival.”

  “So, does Kalvin go to school, or is there even school in Perfidious?”

  Normally, all of Noah’s questions bothered me, but for the first time, he seemed genuinely curious and not judgmental.

  “No, Kalvin has a job with a blacksmith in Coalfell. Most half-breeds are homeschooled. There’s someone in town that will hold classes on different topics, but other than that, books and experience are the best option.”

  “I’m guessing that’s why we’re headed to a bookstore, right?”

  I nodded.

  Noah didn’t say anything for a long time. His head hung low and his lips thinned as though a debate were batting around his head.

  It wasn’t a long walk from the Mourning Willow to Antheia’s bookstore. Antheia, a griffin, stood behind the counter. Light brown feathers covered her body, and as soon as she saw me, she waved with her paw. I waved back and turned to Noah, who was trying not to stare.

  “Is that a human with you?” Antheia asked, her snout sniffing the air.

  “Yes, but don’t worry, we’ll be quick.” I nudged Noah to walk to the back of the store where the larger shelves were.

  “Okay,” she called behind us. “As long as he doesn’t cause problems.”

  I rolled my eyes as I whispered to him. “She’s just worried your scent will attract monsters.”

  “Is she a griffin? I thought they were supposed to be bigger,” Noah asked. His eyes still hadn’t left Antheia.

  “She’s only 30 something. Griffin’s don’t normally become full grown until 50 or 60 years,” I said, beginning to scan the shelves.

  Noah’s brow furrowed.

  “Time moves differently for monsters and half-breeds. Purebloods can live well over a few hundred years. What humans consider to be a long life are basically the baby years for most monsters,” I explained.

  While I looked for specific books that had helped me with my own training, Noah pulled out a monster book. I saw him shift with uncertainty with every page he flipped, finally slamming the book shut and putting it back on the shelf. He noticed me looking.

  “Um, Elisia, are all the monsters in folklore and mythology real?”

  “It’s hard to tell. There used to be thousands before the monsters got into a war with the humans. Many monsters became extinct before the kings signed the treaty.” I returned my attention to the bookshelf, looking down at the covers.

  A book with a silver lining around its copper cover caught my eye. I pulled it from the shelf and opened to a random page. It contained knowledge of pureblood abilities and abilities that would be passed down to half-breeds. The author interviewed someone from each species, but I’m sure some monsters wouldn’t have told him everything. Still, it would be very helpful in training.

  I handed the book to Noah. His eyes danced around the room but stopped at nothing in particular.

  I sighed and stopped what I was doing. “What’s on your mind?”

  Noah looked up with wide eyes. “I think the Elders in Coalfell are lazy.” He spoke quickly. “I mean, they listened to Greyson for around fifteen minutes before you showed up. Then they hand over the responsibility to you, so they don’t have to deal with it. On top of that, they tell you to train me, a human, because they know I won’t leave him. But how would I be able to deal with these things, like dragons and ogres? Half-breeds can barely survive in this world, right?”

  Noah’s face was pale as he held the book tightly. He seemed intrigued at first about dragons and elves being real. Yet, it wasn’t all unicorns and rainbows. The world we were in was really dan
gerous, and he finally appeared to be understanding. If he was going to be scared, he could end up hurting Greyson. I needed to say something to give him confidence.

  “So? How does being human cripple you? Hundreds of years ago, humans were slaying monsters like the dragons. They nearly brought us to extinction.” His wide eyes held mine as I spoke. “Plus, Aaron excelled as a member of the Guard while it existed.”

  Noah tilted his head to the side and pursed his lips. “What was the Guard? No one has really explained.”

  “The Guard was what King Lawrence called his army. They were supposedly disbanded when he was killed since they were only loyal to the king’s bloodline, but they secretly still had a couple camps that trained new members. Just in case the heir returned and needed an army, you know. The Council eventually found out and wiped out the camps.”

  “So then how does Aaron fit into this?” Noah looked at his hands as if he was seeing them for the first time.

  “Aaron was at one of the camps but left after his training was completed because of Tamara being pregnant with Kalvin.”

  “Why would they train a human?”

  I arched my eyebrow at him.

  “I mean, it's not like humans are strong here,” he continued. “Humans seem to be pretty low on the food chain. So why would they train them?”

  “Well.” I tried to remember the stories Aaron told me. “Most humans wouldn’t have been let in. The Guard really only consisted of half-breeds and purebloods, but Aaron showed persistence, determination, and loyalty. Those were some of the traits that every member of the Guard valued. So, they gave him a spot in the camp and started training him.”

  It wasn’t easy talking about Kalvin’s dad. I missed him a lot. Aaron told lots of stories before he was killed. Never of battles, but of family and overcoming hardship.

  Noah nodded even though I didn’t ask a question. He raised his head, and I realized his demeanor had changed. His shoulders straightened, and his eyes weren’t shaking. Instead, he was standing tall and strong. It made me glad to know what I told him had helped.