by Aaron Thomas
It will be as you say. Kilen, I am sorry for what I did. I only wanted her to see that you were ready to…Kilen cut him off as he spoke.
“I don’t want to hear your excuses. I still have a desire to be angry with you. You do not decide what the best path for me is. I will decide what choices I make, without you influencing my emotions.” Joahna felt small in the back of his mind, so he said nothing else as he made his way to the sword arenas. Max had stayed neutral in the matters but Kilen wondered how neutral he really was. He laughed, and thought “if they were even real.”
Gortus was kneeling in the same spot he had every day. They prayed and resumed the training. Kilen stood in the center of the ring attempting to defend himself from the onslaught of attacks from Gortus. Each unblocked strike met unhealed bruises, sending dull pains throughout Kilen’s limbs. Kilen would block a couple of attacks here or there, but it was always met with another attack that Kilen hadn’t anticipated. The attacks seemed random at times, but just when he thought he saw a pattern, it would change and end up with him waking to cold water being ladled onto his face. Recruits were gathering around other arenas to learn from spoken words given by their instructors. All of which would look over their shoulders to watch Kilen get pummeled by the wooden sword Gortus swung. A tall lanky boy a couple of years older than Kilen shouted to him after one such set of attacks. “I told you not to cross that arena. Look where it got you!” Gortus turned on him, leaving Kilen in the ring of stones and blood stained dirt. He went straight to the instructor in charge of the ring who bowed deeply to him as he entered the ring.
“I wish to borrow one of your students,” he said pointing a wood sword at the lanky boy. He turned a shade whiter as the other recruits stepped away from him. It was if they thought they would attract the attention of the savage Kapal by standing next to him.
“Of course you can use him, Lord Gortus.” On his word Gortus grabbed the man by the back of his shirt and pulled him to the bloodied arena. The instructor and recruits all followed and lined the outside of the arena.
Gortus stood in front of him inches from his face, “You want to laugh at my student? You want to tell him where he should be or what he should do? Perhaps you know the sword better than him. Well, I want to find out.” Gortus circled around the man, as he spoke directly into his ear. The man looked at Kilen from just inside the arena. “You will attack him. Don’t worry, he will not move from the spot his is in. It should be easy with someone as skilled in the blade as yourself.” His pointed teeth smiled wickedly, “You had better show your skill or I will personally train you in this arena from now on.” Kilen didn’t think the man could get any whiter than he already was. He was sure that his own image wasn’t helping matters any. Kilen felt blood drying on the side of his head from one of Gortus’ successful attacks. Gortus stood close to the battle so Kilen could not use his magic strength. The man attacked furiously, but the swings were wide and slower than Gortus’s own. Kilen deflected them with only a small amount of effort. The man tried to use his strength attacking from overhead and met his sword with Kilen’s three times in a row, trying to beat Kilen’s down. Kilen was surprised that he was holding up so well against the taller larger man. The man was now red in the face instead of white. He was becoming desperate. Kilen knew that he would receive worse punishment if he let the man attack him successfully. The fight went on for close to an hour, until the man’s attacks were weak and sloppy. Kilen had stood in the same spot and had not received a single blow to his body for the entire fight.
Gortus stood before the wavering man still holding his sword, “Tell everyone that if they even look at my arena again, they will suffer my training as this boy does. You are lucky that I have him to train today and the next.” The man began backing up and tripped over one of the rocks lining the blood ring. He very quickly put the rock back in its place and scrambled as quickly as he could to his old sword arena. Their instructor ushered them away from the arena. Kilen heard the man warning the others not to even look in their direction.
Once again Gortus stood in front of Kilen, ready to resume training, “Congratulations. You are faster at learning the sword than that recruit. Keep up the effort and you will see the skill gap increase in size. Defense is what I teach you at the moment, and you have learned it fairly quickly for a human. Only Kapal learn it faster, but our lives depend on it.”
“I haven’t learned it well at all. I cannot defend from your attacks more than three strokes at a time.”
Gortus smiled a tiny smile, “I am a master swordsmen. Do not compare me to every man on the battlefield. Defend against me three strokes and stand toe to toe with a soldier. Survive an attack from a veteran and impress a king. You are young and over the next few weeks we will make you a blademaster. Now bring up your stick.” Kilen did as commanded. Gortus had struck a chord in Kilen’s heart. He had defended with little effort against a peer in training. He was truly getting better, besides the lack of his own confidence. Kilen raised his sword and took an aggressive stance just as Sergeant Wells had shown him. Warm feelings of confidence ran down his body, inspiring him to prove himself. The earth magic’s determination to be a great swordsman now burned in his veins like a white hot fire and Kilen let it run free. Then he realized that the feelings couldn’t be from the magic because Gortus was near. They were his own. Gortus attacked and Kilen defended. Soon there was sweat dripping down Kilen’s brow, washing the blood from his face but staining his linen shirt collar. Gortus lowered his sword and looked at the sun in the sky, shielding his eyes with his hand.
“You had better run along to the kitchen. Leroy should have been here by now. Perhaps he is waiting for you to come to him today.”
Kilen nodded and put his wood practice sword back in the rack Gortus refilled each day. He started to the kitchen then stopped remembering the manners his mother taught him, “Thank you.” Gortus seemed not to notice or if he did he didn’t respond. Kilen continued on towards the kitchen. Each step seemed to be a little more difficult for him to keep moving. He had let his desire take root deeply and now the magic was adding to it. He wanted to return to Gortus and train the sword till he dropped of exhaustion. Kilen set his jaw and moved on, practicing the attacks in his mind.
I will help, Max said. He started putting images of men attacking him into the forefront of his mind. Kilen assumed it was from Max’s past. The pull of the magic lessened as he fought an imaginary sword battle in his mind. When Kilen arrived at the kitchen’s back door he saw no sign of Leroy. Master Harvel was working the oven that Kilen had first built. Kilen wandered over and waited for the skinny man to stop chucking wood on the fire.
“Have you see Leroy, Master Harvel?” He jumped a bit, not noticing Kilen’s approach to the oven.
“Yes, yes he is serving his food to the king, as requested. Apparently the King has a new champion in training and has requested Leroy serve him as well. I tell you the boy’s discovery of long lost Kapal recipes will soon be more popular than betting on your match today.”
“Oh, well I guess I will have to find something else to eat then.”
“Well, excuse my manners. He left you this pot of stew to eat. He said it would help with your fight today and he told me to tell you if you want there are some tarts back in the room if you’re still hungry.” Kilen wondered about the message of the tarts, he hadn’t eaten them to cool his mouth in days.
“Tell me Master Harvel did you bet for me or against?” The skinny man ran a hand through what was left of his greasy hair.
“I’d rather not say…bad luck and all. I mean, I wouldn’t want you to lose just to make me a coin or two, and I couldn’t live with myself if you died trying to win me a coin.”
Kilen smiled and patted the cook on the shoulder, “Yeah, I suppose you couldn’t live with yourself, could you?” Kilen lifted the lid on the stew pot and started dishing up a bowl as Master Harvel watched out of the corner of his eye. He ate his meal and thought he must be getting use
to the Kapal flavors as this dish lacked in the bite it usually had. He had a bowl and thought he had better not fight Mary on a full stomach. Kilen left the kitchen to return to his room to prepare for the fight. When he walked in Ted stood from his chair in the entryway.
“Kilen sir, Leroy was here a small time ago. He said that dinner is in the basket in your room. He said I should lay out some water so I did.”
Kilen turned for his room and wondered why Leroy would make two meals and not tell him. He went into his room and on the writing desk was a sack with a note pinned to it containing tarts and dried meat strips of meat. Kilen pulled the note and read it.
Harvel has been acting strange since I mentioned the bets being placed. I think he may try and change my recipe if he gets a chance. I think he’s betting that you will lose. Inside the bag are some meat slices I have been preparing for you, for when you get assigned somewhere in the realm. It is good for traveling and in a tight spot. It is a bit potent though so I packed a few tarts for you to cool things off. Good luck today. I will be there waiting to collect our winnings.
Kilen ripped a piece of the meat off in his teeth and started chewing. It was like salted leather in taste, but felt like he had swallowed a branding iron. His instincts immediately went to drinking from the pitcher of water, but when he finally came back to himself he realized it wasn’t working. Dumping the bag onto the desk he snatched up a tart and started to eat. He repeated the same experience without the water with the next bite, and then started to put the meat between two pieces of tart. The taste was indescribable, but he could fight vomiting better than he could the spice. He managed to get three slices down before he was too full of tart and water to eat anymore. Hoping it was enough, he called Ted down to help him put on his armor. With quick practiced hands Ted put on the armor and tightened the straps. “Thanks, Ted. I hope you bet that crown like I told you to.”
“I did sir. Good luck. May the Brights aid you.”
“I may need them.”
“Sir, I saw the last match. I think she will be a bit smarter this time around, but she already tried to fight you with an elemental. So what more can she use?” Kilen hadn’t thought of that before. He had beaten her without much knowledge of magic either. Feeling very confident now, they left his room. Ted walked beside him out to the training grounds. Kilen felt a little overwhelmed by the mass of people that had gathered at its edges. He looked around and noticed that most of them wore long robes much like Brent and Brandon’s. Most of them were green in color, spotted with a couple yellow, and blue. As he walked through a small group that had lined the middle of the grounds he noticed some of the workers from the kitchen piling logs on the far side. The stack was about as tall as Kilen and Mary stood beside it. She smiled when she saw him and started to make her way to meet Kilen. From the side came many familiar faces, Brent, Jace, and Gortus. They all met in the center of the large open grounds. Mary wore a mischievous smile.
“Kilen, I’m glad you made it. You’re sister says hello.”
“Hello, Mary. Thank you for checking in on her now and then.”
Mary giggled a little, “Kilen, I’ve started training Kyra. Well, at least teaching her to control her anger as well as I can. Hopefully by the time you are finished with your training you will be able to visit her.” He was glad to know that Kyra had someone to help her like he did. Even more importantly, she wasn’t alone.
“Thank you very much.”
“Don’t thank me yet, we still have to fight. If you still feel like thanking me afterwards I will accept.” He nodded and she walked back towards her pile of wood. When she did, Kilen saw Brent step away from their small group and head towards a very upset Twilix coming through the line of watchers. The dirt swirled around her feet as she stomped up to the small group and walked past Brent on her way. He struggled to keep up and talk to her as he did.
“There is no reason for you to be here, Twilix. I told you that I could handle it.”
“NO REASON! He is my student I will determine if I should be at his training or not. I have not prepared him to fight her with a pyre, and yet she builds one anyway. The bad part is, you let her!” She arrived at the small group and looked Gortus up and down before he met Kilen’s eye and walked away. “All of you leave. I have to prepare my student.” Everyone left except for Brent, who stood his ground behind her. She fixed a glare on him and he soon slipped away also. “I told you I would be here and here I am. Now, you see that mound of wood they are still assembling.” He nodded his head. “I imagine she will soon light that on fire. When she does she will step into it, absorbing the fire’s heat, just like I asked you to make it rain so I would have the strength to help you summon an elemental. She will pull energy and heat from the flames to fight you with, so you must be very careful. As long as that fire burns she will become more powerful. The down side is, the hotter she burns the wood around her the faster it will consume itself. If the fire goes out she will be reduced to her normal wizard self, which is still a difficult challenge. Kilen I fear that you will lose this fight.” Kilen thought back to what Ted had said about what more could Mary do, he felt like he had cursed himself when he agreed.
“I am sorry to ask, Twilix, but I am not sure I can win unless I can summon an elemental. So regrettably, I am asking if I have permission.”
“Don’t start asking for my permission now, you have already burned that bridge. If you can use it I’d say you had better. I don’t see how you would stand a chance otherwise. Just be careful not to hit her with a shield this time, huh?” Kilen smiled at the remembrance of hitting Mary with his shield. He was afraid that it would take something just as bold in this fight. Twilix made her way toward the now mob-sized group of onlookers. He noticed that Captain Lorusk was the one in the crowd that she stood next to. Then he focused back to Mary who waved from the other side of the training grounds.
Knowing he was out of earshot he whispered, “Ok Joahna, remember our agreement. You are to fight the elemental only. I will take Mary by myself, if I can manage.” He saw the size of the wood pile and altered his agreement, “You might have to help protect me if you can.”
Agreed, was all Joahna said. Kilen started to focus on the water in the air and gathered it from as far away as he could. Rain started to sprinkle then pour over the training grounds, darkening the earth as it did. He held out his hand in a cup and gathered a palm full of water. Forming a small liquid man in his hand, he was ready to unleash Joahna.
Mary saw that he was ready to begin the fight and pointed to the wood, which caught aflame. She walked up to the pile of wood and sat leisurely at its peak, as if it wasn’t on fire. Soon the flames leapt unnaturally from log to log until she was swallowed by the fire itself. Soon a giant arch of fire landed on the grounds between Kilen and the pyre. It took on the naked form of a woman with two outstretched wings of flame. The elemental again brought out a long molten whip dripping flames as it cracked over the earth. In elemental form, Mary stood still while waiting for Kilen to come to her.
Kilen whispered, “We can do this.” He was trying to instill confidence in himself as well as Joahna. He focused his mind as Twilix had taught him and heard the familiar concussion with Joahna leaping out of his mind. He looked down to see the tiny elemental melt into a puddle then form itself into the shape of a boar with two sets of long tusks. Max shot the image of a desert boar chasing him on to a pile of rocks as a kid. Then the boar spoke in the guttural voice of Joahna.
“Throw me!” Kilen did, and as the tiny boar commanded, it flew through the air and grew in size to stand the same height as Mary’s winged demonic creature. Seeing Joahna taking such a strong creature as an elemental, Kilen drew his sword and formed a shield of ice. Mary and Joahna charged at each other and ice was met with molten flame in a wall of smoke and steam. Tusks ripped through flame to be reduced to puddles on the ground. Mary filled the holes left by the tusks, healing her elemental. The tusks reformed of the head of the boar. Kilen knew th
at most weapon bearers and wizards couldn’t use their physical body when assuming an elemental without lots of practice. Kilen had never fully entered into an elemental, but he needed to pretend that he was using both the elemental and his body. He walked slowly across the training field now littered with small flames. He was headed where he could do the most damage, Mary’s pyre.
Joahna moved from side to side to keep himself in between Mary and Kilen. The flames on the pyre burned brighter and taller as Mary struck out with her molten whip. It coiled around Joahna’s midsection and caught him in its grasp. Joahna was steaming and the flame whip held taut, pulling Mary’s elemental as he tried to free himself. If a flame could smile, Kilen was sure that Mary would have made her demon smile-one fit for the attack she was about to give Joahna. She yanked on the whip, pulling it tighter. The coils constricted and sawed Joahna’s midsection in half, creating a cloud of steam. Then she turned on Kilen, walking slowly and confidently in after him. Kilen braced himself for an attack as Max spoke.
Joahna is still out there. He didn’t return. Kilen started to panic, but just as he did he saw the water gathering itself in the air with the water vision. A desert hawk made of ice formed from the cloud and dropped from the sky. GO! You have to get to Mary, or we will never win this fight! Kilen, standing still and acting as a spectator in the fight started walking again, persistently getting closer to Mary. The molten whip cracked and swirled around his head as he did his best to deflect it with his shield. Kilen heard a crash saw Joahna with icy feet sizzling and melting as he pinned Mary’s elemental to the ground. In one fast movement Joahna clasped his beak around the flame demon’s head and pulled it free from its body. Then he swallowed it whole. The hawk steamed and melted and reformed with such grace that Kilen was in awe of Joahna’s skill. He knew that Joahna couldn’t last forever though. He turned and ran, ignoring the battle behind him. Kilen ventured a look at the groups of people watching in the distance and saw Twilix standing with arms crossed and a look of confusion on her face. He knew he shouldn’t have looked, but the damage was done. He continued to walk as the heat and smoke from the littered fires on the training field assailed his body. He worked magic to protect his eyes and his body to protect them from the heat. Then he heard silence behind him. Mary’s elemental was gone. Joahna was still a giant desert hawk standing on the field behind him. Kilen slowly closed the gap between him and the pyre which Mary had set ablaze.