by Aaron Thomas
“I agree. I will give it my total focus,” he finally said in return. Jace shook Kilen’s hand and smiled in approval of his decision. Kilen knew that in Jace’s mind it was the only one he could make and continue the training as a scout. He needed to be the best and Gortus was the best. Leroy dropped a plate of chicken with spiced rice and vegetables in front of him. Gortus reached over, took a drumstick and began eating it.
“Remember, every moment that you are not getting lessons, starting tomorrow morning. I’ll wait for you in the sword arenas.” The short muscular man in black armor strode off eating the drumstick, with others tripping over themselves to get out of the way.
“Follow every rule and do not give up…ever. The lessons will get easier as you go along, but only if you push yourself to your limit every day.” Jace let the words sink in as Kilen slowly ate his plate of spicy chicken and rice, a bite of bread after every bite of meat. “I will keep an eye on you, and if you are too tired to continue I will do my best to get you into some other training to rest.”
“Thank you, but I don’t think that it would be wise to pull me out. I think I will have enough other classes to keep me busy. I’m sure I will have to use every minute I can with Gortus to become the swordsmen you want me to become.
We will help you, both men in his head said confidently.
“Kilen I like your attitude. I can only hope that you continue to think this way by noon tomorrow.” With that, Jace chuckled and left the tent laughing, leaving Kilen to finish his meal in peace. Kilen pulled out his book and started reading over recipes and medicine formulas given to him by Leroy. Kilen could always get lost in a book, even his own. Before he knew it the afternoon had passed and it was only a couple hours away from his dinner with Twilix. He closed his book and jogged to meet the swordsmith and collect Chit’s sword. When he arrived, the shop was quiet except for the smooth sound of a polishing stone against metal. The smith smiled and polished over a couple more spots before he held up the large sword and handed it to Kilen.
“I think it’s one of my finest pieces of manure to date.” He chuckled as Kilen looked it over. The blade was long, smooth, and polished. The cross guard was made of two animal heads facing in two directions constructed of fine polished silver. The leather handle was traced with a line of highly polished steel and topped off with a steel ball at the end. Kilen started to look closer at the animal heads and they resembled horse heads but the necks were too fat and the teeth too squared. “I made them Jackass’, so that everyone who meets him will know his makeup. Stubborn, selfish, and tough all rolled into one. If he is as smart as you say he is, I bet he will think they are stallions.”
“Thank you, it will do nicely. I don’t think I could have picked a better animal to represent him. Thank you again.” Kilen handled the sword smoothly as not to scratch it and placed it in a burlap cloth to protect it. He tied it with some string and carried it back to the castle to get ready for his dinner with Twilix. He smelled of the fight with Mary and still needed to clean the dirt from his fingernails. As he made his way he was fortunate to see Chit falling out of a bar. Kilen decided that this was as good a time as any to give him the sword. Kilen kept his hand on his hilt as he always did and handed the sword still in the burlap to Chit, who was drunk crawling, on all fours in the street. Chit with, bloodshot eyes, looked up and finally recognized Kilen standing over him. He stood, slowly regaining his balance and snatched the sword from Kilen, letting the weight throw him off balance. It probably looked light in Kilen’s magically strengthened hands. When he regained his balance he unwrapped it. He was impressed by the blade.
“Good thing for you, I like it,” Chit pushed Kilen out of the way. Kilen let him, moving to the side freely. “Stay out of my way in the training and pray you don’t become my sparring partner.” Kilen smiled, knowing that he wouldn’t encounter Chit. The next time Chit wanted to spar, he would be ready to face him. Kilen walked his normal path to the training ground’s wall to jump over. He could hear Chit walking nearby streets dragging his new blade along the ground to steady himself. Kilen was sure that his behavior would be seen as less than reputable to his trainers.
Kilen pushed thoughts of Chit from his mind and leapt over the wall. He made his way to the barracks and washed himself in the wash stand. He put on some clean clothes and strapped back on his sword and armor. He noticed that his broken shield had made its way back to the room and still had broken straps. He knew that he would have to get it fixed another time. This time he asked the same guard for instructions and received another answer than before, still not the correct instructions. Kilen wandered the corridors until he found a servant and then asked for them to take him to the gardens. He arrived and the doors to the gardens hung open. There was a slight smell of flowers in the air. Not knowing what training Twilix had in store for this evening, he kept his hand on the sword and pushed the water vision as far as he could. Soon he walked up to a table where Twilix sat alone across from an empty chair. The table was void of any items where she sat reading a book.
Kilen rounded the plants and brought her and the table into his normal view. He felt very underdressed, Twilix sat reading with her hair braided into a long braid. It hung over her shoulder and down in front of her. She twirled the end around her finger as she read. She wore a shimmering yellow dress made of a very thin material. It clung to every curve of her body. Suddenly he viewed the girl as a woman, and as she really was. Her body had not come of age to develop the features of a full woman, but looking at her in the late evening sunlight Kilen knew he could see the woman inside the child’s body. Max and Joahna both whistled inside his mind. He stood beside the table, unsure what he was supposed to do.
“Have a seat Kilen,” She continued to read as he sat across from her trying to see her as her true self. “I hope you don’t mind, I thought you could use a break from meals with soldiers and have a night of civility before your training starts.”
“Thank you for the invitation, Wizard Twilix,” She cut him off before he could finish his sentence.
“Twilix tonight, Kilen. I will have no rank or barriers at this table tonight. You will treat me as any other girl from your village.”
“I don’t know if I know how to do that,” Twilix looked up from her book already turning red. Kilen immediately knew that she thought he had meant because she looked so young. “I mean I have never eaten dinner with a girl in such a setting and I feel a bit underdressed. Uhm, it might make me feel better if you tell me how old you really are.” Twilix sat looking at Kilen. She visibly relaxed and the anger on her face was replaced by curiosity.
“Kilen, I know you are from a small town but some consider it rude to ask a wizard their age. It is a secret that wizards use to keep their enemies guessing at their wisdom, experience, or skills.” She paused, “I didn’t ask you here to teach you about wizard rules or abilities. I apologize. I will tell you my true age. I am nineteen years old. Only one year older than yourself, if I have heard correctly.” Kilen paused and tried to trick his mind into seeing a girl of the correct age sitting across from him. He then became more nervous, knowing that a girl that should have been courted and married sat across from him and had invited him to dinner. He found himself gazing at the book she had stopped reading and left on the table.
“Well, at least it makes sense now how you can read that book. I found it very scary when I tried to read it at thirteen. I think it was the only book in my village that I didn’t finish.” Her eyes brightened and she picked up the book opening the pages.
“I don’t think I have ever met a man who has enjoyed reading. Of course, I’m reading it for research purposes.”
“Research? I thought it was a book to scare its readers, or to be told to children in order to scare them into behaving when they were little. A book to give you nightmares and fear of losing loved ones.”
“Oh I have no doubt that it was used for such purposes, but it’s actually a mostly true story. Some of its page
s are false because the writer had no way of knowing what truly happened. The story is about a soul wizard and their power over others.”
SOUL WIZARD!!, Joahna’s voice exploded in his mind. She’s talking about soul wizards and we didn’t even have to try. Kilen, focus. You need to learn all that you can from her. If you can gain information, we might be able to end this sooner than we thought. Careful now boy. Joahna was once again a determined and focused knot in the back of his brain.
“Soul Wizards? I have never heard of them. It sounds made up, like the dark army or the pirates of Nebas.”
“Oh no, soul wizards are very real. Actually soul wizards created the dark army. So in fact, they are both real.”
“Am I going to meet a soul wizard or train against one? I ask because this is the first I’ve heard of them. I have no idea how to fight them or what they can use against me. I didn’t even finish that book.”
Max was a nervous and anxious spot in his mind the two were not helping by letting their emotions be shown to Kilen. His emotions began to reflect those of the men in him. Very good question, Keep at it.
“I can teach you what I know of them. I’m not sure how helpful it will be though.” She shrugged and sighed, giving in to teaching Kilen on their night of civility. “A soul wizard is somewhat of a leech. They use their power to tear the soul from the body and consume it to revitalize their own age and grow younger. When that happens, the victim’s body becomes a hollow husk of a person and obeys their wizard’s commands. This action happens only by choice and very painful experience. The dark army was created by a soul wizard that would convince people their only way to live was to serve the wizard, and then allow them to rip their soul from their body. The army grew and brought more and more victims until the Brights saved us. Which is where the Brights got their name. They arrived and out shone the dark army. I’m sure you’ve heard of them.”
“Yeah that’s just as scary as I remember it. Are there any soul wizards that I will be training with, or how will I know what to do If I encounter one?”
“They are very rare Kilen. I would assume that tearing someone’s soul from their body would have to be a very conscious effort, unlike most of the other types of wizards. I doubt most people go around trying to rip someone’s soul from others to see if they are a soul wizard, which could be why people only think of them as legends.” She tapped her fingers on her chin deep in thought, “There might even be some among us that will never know because they are too kind hearted to try and tear someone’s soul away.” Twilix sat staring at the table top deep in thought.
Ask now, it might be your only chance. Joahna urged.
“Is there a way to put someone’s soul back inside their body after it has been ripped away?”
Twilix woke from her deep thought and took a second to contemplate the answer. “I don’t know, Kilen. Remember, I am on a quest to find out more about them myself. If I’m going to live to be one hundred or more I might encounter one someday. Until then I will prepare for that meeting.” Joahna and Max were both disappointed at the answer but Kilen stayed focused on the problem.
“Are there other types of wizards, like the soul wizards that I haven’t been told about?”
Twilix smiled. She seemed to be happy talking about things that weren’t so dark. “Yes, actually. There are the Brights which some believe to be gods and some think are their own type of wizard. Then there are Spirit wizards, which I have only heard little about.”
Kilen smiled at the fresh information and the others perked up inside him again. “What is a spirit wizard?”
“Well what I have heard is said to be a crazy man’s ramblings. There was a king in the Wind Realm that found a man who said he could talk to people who were dead. When the queen died he had the spirit wizard stand outside her bedroom and when she spoke her last words she whispered regrets to her husband the king. After she had passed and had long been buried, the spirit wizard who was outside the dying queen’s chamber could recite the things she had said. He could recall moments of her life with such vivid detail that the King was convinced that her spirit existed inside of the man. The kingdom thought the man was crazy. They thought the King was lonely and would believe anything to be with his wife. The King was convinced that the man could talk to his dead wife and so the man convinced the King to kill himself so that the king and his wife could be together inside of him. The king called a crowd in the grand hall and killed himself, declaring that he would live on with his wife forever. The man was killed with others that betrayed the King in helping him commit suicide. Each person took their turn to lose their head on the axe man’s block. After each person was killed, the man began calling out to people in the crowd from the last victims life and recounting the smallest detail. When the last man had his head severed, the wizard began recalling that he had just been killed by his own brother, the axe man. He spoke to him about their childhood and details that had been forgotten. The axe man put down his axe and refused to kill his brother a second time. The crowd became riled and another man stepped forward to kill the wizard, but he too had been affected by one victims. Each in turn stepped forward to learn that the man could remember the smallest detail about each person present. It continued until the man was unable to speak. He was then placed in the dungeon to die with the spirits that he had in his head.”
He began to wonder if she would think he was just as crazy as the man in the story if he told her about the men in his head. He thought to himself that today was not the day to tell her. He would have to seek out more knowledge from someone else before telling her. A servant came through the garden carrying two plates of food and laid them on the table. “I heard you were on a strict training diet when I sent for this to be brought up, so I had an extra plate made for myself.”
Kilen smiled a bit, “It’s a bit spicy if you’re not use to it. The tarts help with the heat, though.” It was too late. Twilix had taken a substantial bite and began coughing and sputtering behind her napkin. She tried to maintain her decorum as much as possible. Kilen stood and handed her a tart and hid a smile as she tried to drink the heat away. He now knew why Leroy had been laughing at his first taste. Finally she accepted the tart.
Kara had attempted several times to hold back the flames. She wanted to release it when one of those men opened the hole at the bottom of her door to put in lunch. The meal would never come when she was awake and flaming. She lay quiet on her metal bed. They’d put herbs in her food to make her sleep. She awoke cramped every time she woke from them. The bed made her angry. She shut her eyes and tried to think of something calming, but when she did she saw her brother letting the King cart her away. A small flame trickled up the side of her foot. They would know she was burning. They would know she was awake. They would smell the smoke through the cracks in the door, and they would come to spray ice and water on her that made her freeze in the dungeon cell. She tried to calm herself by breathing evenly and she heard the key in the lock. They only opened the door to put her back in bed after they had shot that icy water through the cell’s window. This might be her chance. Her first chance at revenge, if she could only hold back the flames a little longer.
The door creaked open to admit a woman with shoulder-length black hair. The woman wore a little to nothing all black leather outfit. Kara knew they had sent a torturer to her room, someone that would make her feel pain until they got whatever they wanted. She would not let them torture her. Kara jumped up to her feet and the woman didn’t move as the flames came to life around her. Kara lashed out, throwing flames off her body. The woman held up a hand and the flames were averted to the ceiling and disappeared into finger sized holes all over it. Kara hadn’t noticed those holes before. She pushed the flames harder. The torrent of white hot flames licked the walls and bed that was hanging from chains out of the wall. The metal turned a yellow glow, but the woman was untouched. Kara didn’t want the wet or the cold so she pushed harder, but the woman stood in the doorway, holding her han
d, palm forward, defiantly mocking Kara’s effort. The flames shot through the holes in the ceiling and finally Kara started to panic. Sweat started to form on her forehead as she fought the only way she knew how. She thought no, I know of another way to fight. She stepped forward, swinging her hand at the defiant woman. The defiant woman moved to easily swipe it to the side and her hand landed a slap to the side of Kara’s face. Her head rung as she fell to the stone floor, still warm from the flames. Kara backed into the far corner and scrambled to her feet. The woman still stood in the doorway, hand at her side, standing not smiling or fighting in any way. Kara still knew why she was there and would not give in without landing a blow. Kara held up a shaking hand, focusing the flame and heat, pushing as hard as she could. A flicker of flame and spark sputtered in the air and smoke rose slowly from her hand. She pushed hard but only the smoke came.
The woman started to walk around the room, “Please sit down, Kara. Thank you for the warm welcome.” Kara was now scared, the woman was thanking her. She had put everything she had into attacking the woman but was unable to affect her at all. The flames didn’t even touch her skin. She was glad she hadn’t attempted with the men in the hallway. She sat as she was told, not having any way of fighting back against her torturer. “Kara, your brother convinced me I was supposed to help you learn to control your anger. He told me I was supposed to check on you and keep you safe.”
Kara started to feel the anger rise in her neck but the heat didn’t come as it would normally. “Why would my brother do that? He put me in this cell.”