by Aaron Thomas
He reached for the armor to prepare himself for battle when Jace spoke up, Don’t. You won’t need it, it will only slow you down. I have seen Chit in training. He is slow but powerful. If you have armor on you will be the same. Leave it off and you will be untouchable. Kilen removed his hand from the armor, and both girls were looking at him.
“I think I will be better off without it. If Chit has earth imbuements it won’t matter if I have armor on or not.” He smiled at them and they seemed saddened by his remarks. “Don’t worry, I’m not giving up. I am just preparing the best way I know how. He tapped his hand on the end of the cart in the awkward silence that followed. “Well perhaps I should head out to the training field and warm up.” Twilix nodded and they said farewell to Izabel.
Leroy ran up and handed Kilen a water skin and some dried meats. “Glad I caught you. I put some of my tea in the skin, drink it now and it should help with the fatigue. Here is some of that meat I made for emergencies. There are a couple more I will put in your travel bags. I think I have everything we need now for a few days without resupply.”
Kilen faced Leroy, “I don’t have a lot of time to explain right now Leroy, but thanks for everything. I no longer need you in my service. I have been named a weapon bearer. You can return to your father and Keepers. Izabel will fill you in on what has happened.” He clapped Leroy on the shoulder, “Good luck to you and thank you for everything.” Leroy watched as Kilen and Twilix walked away, he was dumbfounded by Kilen’s words.
“Wait…so what am I supposed to do?” he shouted at their backs. Izabel placed one dirty fingernail on his shoulder.
Near the middle of the training grounds Twilix started talking, “One last lesson I can provide you may be your best asset in fighting Brandon. Earth’s weakness is that it is too strong.” Kilen was confused by her statement, “In nature we see rocks broken apart by water. We see land carried away by water. Earth is not as strong as we think it is. I mean, you were defeated by wind and yet it seems to be the weakest of the elements.” Kilen still didn’t understand what she was saying to him. “If you find a tiny crack in the earth fill it with water and freeze it and you will see how weak earth truly is.” She kissed him on the cheek just as she had before the trial, but this one seemed to linger a tiny bit longer. She hurried away without saying another word. He was standing in the middle of the training area with no one around. He did the only thing that he could think to do. He drew his sword, laid it on the ground in front of him, and prayed.
He really didn’t know still who he was supposed to be praying to but he did anyway. He imagined it was to the Brights, the protectors of their world. The ones who would come in a time of despair and rid the world of evil. He prayed for strength, speed, and cunning. He prayed for his blade to be swift and true. He prayed most of all that Chit would not die and be stuck in his head forever.
He stood while sheathing his sword, and Alexander landed in front of him. “Were you talking to the voices in your head?”
Kilen laughed, “Not yet.”
“Very well, but I think that you had an astute observation. Though you had it backwards.”
“Which observation was that?”
“To kill the champion my boy. Doing that would end his torment from losing, and name you a weapon bearer in truth without question.”
Kilen thought about his statement and how to answer it, “Perhaps, but I don’t think the voices in my head wish to hear me regretting it for the rest of my life.” Alexander nodded and patted Kilen on the back.
“Just don’t make me regret the choice in naming you as my wielder. Now let me give you a little hint into defeating earth elementals. I know that Twilix has probably already taught you but I thought I would go over it again just in case you missed it.” Kilen nodded, willing to accept anything that might help. “Do you know how the elements wear away the mountains? NO, well I have learned that when water freezes it grows slightly, no not grow…gets larger, no that’s not right either. Ah yes it takes up more space and can even break rock. Keep this in mind when fighting an earth elemental, even the smallest crack can undo the entire creature.”
Kilen nodded again, “ I think I understand.”
“Good. Let us see what you really can do. You have beaten the fierce Mary, and nearly killed the both of us with that little act of yours during our training. I think that you will be fine taking on the wizard. But that brute with the sword, I would avoid his strike if I were you.”
“Thank you, I will do my best.” Alexander floated off with a smile on his face and landed near the castle wall where Kilen saw the king had just exited followed by Chit and Lorusk. “You guys had better start giving me advice in there.”
If its Chit you are worried about, the wizard was correct. Avoid his strike directly. Earth magic doubles your strength with each imbuement, and he was larger than you by not a small amount after Gortus’s training. Deflect his strokes and dodge them, but do not try and block them directly. Weaken him by giving small damage and let him bleed out. It’s my advice to pay more attention to what the wizard does. Jace was a knot of anticipation in his head.
Max answered with his advice, Use what you have been taught in defense. Gortus has taught you well. Now use your speed and avoid even the smallest scratch.
They talked as Kilen made his way across the training field. A small white bird landed on the ground in front of him. He knew that it was Joahna, but no one else did. “Be ready Joahna, but don’t interfere until after Brandon starts his magic. I will take Chit and you take whatever Brandon brings. Please do not kill Chit, I don’t want to listen to him, and I really don’t want to see him die just because of the king’s desire to see me dead.” The bird let out a trill that sounded as if Joahna understood.
The earth shook beneath his feet and Joahna took flight again. Kilen looked around and Brandon was standing with legs apart and a determined look on his face. Every recruit with black hats instantly stopped what they were doing to watch. Lorusk pointed in Kilen’s direction and Chit started stomping his way to Kilen. When he was closer than one hundred paces he drew his sword and the deadly contest began.
Kilen answered Chits sword by drawing his own. The voices in his head spoke but he had no mind to listen to him. He was focused and imagined a stronger, taller version of Gortus walking towards him. They stopped twenty paces from each other and Chit spoke, “I didn’t really like the idea of killing you at first, but it’s grown on me. I will be a hero that killed the traitor even when a king could not.” He held his donkey headed sword out as if testing its weight. “The king made the deal sweeter by making me his champion and letting me lead the battle against the Fire Realm. I should be given some imbuements of my own after that. Maybe even make me a weapon bearer.”
“I am sorry you had to get involved with this. I am even sorry that I had to get involved in this. I will try not to kill you Chit.”
“Ha. Thinking I’m stupid again, eh? You’re trying to soften me up so I don’t fight you proper. Let’s get on with it, I have an army to lead!” Chit took a small leap, closing the distance while bringing his sword down from above. Kilen batted the sword away and Chit followed where it was deflected. He landed with his face in the dirt. Kilen was surprised that he didn’t get crushed by the blade.
Max provided the answer to what had happened, If you are in the air you have nothing to anchor your strength with. Keep your feet planted and strike from underneath. Chit was already on his feet and heading towards Kilen with a quickened pace. Kilen started backing up as Chit swung his sword wildly. He could feel the wind off of the blade as it whipped by again and again. Kilen’s training had been mostly defensive training and it aided him here. The attacks were full of force, but lacked the grace of Gortus’ blade. They were wild, reckless, and easily avoided. The next swing Kilen anticipated but had become too confident dodging Chit’s blade. The next swing was from the side, leaving Chit’s body totally exposed. Kilen saw the opportunity to attack too late. Ins
tead, he blocked the attack by holding the blade straight up in front of him. The impact of the two blades sent his father’s sword into his own body. A large cut lay in the skin across his chest and over his shoulder. The Impact also threw Kilen back. Chit had learned to anchor his feet.
Joahna went into action in his tiny bird form, fluttering and scratching at Chit’s face, trying to give time for Kilen to recover. Kilen pulled the sword out of the top layer of flesh and his collar bone where it had stuck. Joahna flew back to land on Kilen’s shoulder. He healed him just enough to stop the bleeding from Kilen’s chest. Kilen whispered his thanks through his pain and the ground groaned in response. A lumbering rock giant started to rise from the earth. Brandon had seen Joahna intervene, and it was time to let the magic battle begin. Which meant Kilen was fighting Chit alone.
Brandon was standing near the edge of the grounds with feet apart and robe flapping in the wind. His face seemed to be carved of the same stone rising from the ground. Joahna answered his magic call, growing in size and changing from a small bird to a liquid giant hawk. Chit watched as both formed their elementals on the battlegrounds. The short amount of time gave Kilen enough time to recover enough to stand. He examined the wound, it was now mostly a cut on the skin. Chit smiled at seeing the still wet blood on Kilen and once again closed the distance.
Kilen grew a tiny bit angry and started to fight back, dodging where he could. He landed a scratch to Chit’s upper arm, and another to his left thigh. Max had said to weaken him, and that’s all Kilen could do. He hadn’t been taught to attack. He tried his best, and Chit seemed to respond. His sword strokes became more controlled, and Kilen had to control his defense as well. He started to deflect Chit’s blade instead of just dodging it.
Kilen was so concentrated in the fight he had forgotten about Joahna and Brandon. The two behemoths were fighting. Joahna tried scratching loose boulders from the rock mass. Brandon batted away the giant eagle, treating it as a nuisance. Joahna was not making much progress against the three story tall rock beast and decided to do what he could to keep the elemental away from Kilen. Joahna hoped it would be long enough for him to finish the fight with Chit. He began gathering water and freezing the massive stones. Brandon crushed the ice between the rocks and moved his lumbering elemental towards Kilen.
Kilen was still backing away from Chit as he continued his violent attack. Kilen felt the ground start to shake and heard the earth ripping apart behind him. A large crack formed into the ground and lowered the ground Kilen now stood. On the other side of the crack, a wall of dirt shot into the air. Brandon was trying to force Kilen into Chit’s hands. He tried to undo what Brandon had done by forcing the crack closed, but was unable to budge the earth. Kilen leapt from his sloped ground up to the edge of the earth wall. Before he could land, the land returned to its normal shape causing Kilen to fall twenty feet. Kilen slammed on his stomach knocking the wind out of his lungs. He would have probably broken bones if they were not reinforced by the magic of earth.
A loud grating sound started to fill his ears that were still ringing from the fall. He turned his head and saw a great rock hand and arm scraping along the ground, coming at him with incredible force. Just before it collided something grabbed Kilen around the waist and lifted him into the air. The arm followed, but was too lumbered and heavy to catch him. Kilen looked up to see Joahna still in the great bird form. Joahna spoke, “I cannot help you. We don’t have that many earth weapon bearers that can summon elementals in my realm. I have no idea how to fight him.”
“Just keep trying, I will do my best.” It was all they had time to discuss before Joahna was struck with a rock sending Kilen tumbling towards the ground. Joahna put his bird form back together in enough time to claw at Kilen’s foot, ripping the leather boot but keeping him from hitting the ground. Joahna healed him as he tossed him into the air, flipping Kilen end over end to land on his feet. Unfortunately, he hadn’t healed Kilen fully and he collapsed with pain as he struck the ground, “A little help if you can, Max.”
Instantly Kilen started to feel relief from the pain in his foot. He stood and once again felt the earth shift, elevating the ground on which he stood. He went tumbling down the short hill and rolled towards Chit. Jace spoke in his head, Stay focused. If you watch the way the magic moves in the earth you will be able to see the rocks change direction before they start moving! Kilen opened himself to the earth magic and could see Brandon’s hold on the rocks. It distracted him from seeing Chit moving towards him at a determined pace. Back on his feet, Kilen felt the earth magic behind him just in time to see the rock hand hit the ground and start pushing him towards Chit. He jumped over it into the air and the arm lifted off the ground. He saw it start moving and he used it to leap farther away from Chit.
Chit started swinging his sword in the air in front of him. He had spent less than half the fight actually fighting. Kilen was trying to gain some time. He felt the earth magic shift in the ground, starting to create another crack. Kilen stepped to the other side before the earth shifted. It sent him even farther across the training field. He now had a large distance between Brandon and Chit. Joahna still tried to attack the beast and even tried to attack Brandon. Kilen saw Brandon bring a dome of rock above him to shield him from Joahna’s attack. He looked like a rock egg protruding from the ground. They needed to find a way to break the rock apart and take Brandon out of the situation. Kilen looked at the nearest stone and tried to remember the advice Twilix and Alexander had given him. He used his earth magic and found a small crack in the rock’s surface. He filled the crack with water from the air and froze the water. Bits of rock exploded into the air because he had froze the earth too quickly. He now had his weapon and if he could get the information to Joahna, they would be able to devastate their adversaries.
Kilen started racing across the ground and pillars of rock burst from the ground. He avoided it thanks to the earth magic. Kilen saw Joahna circling the area high above him so he decided to show him his new weapon. He found a crack in the rock pillar and as quickly as he could forced water into the crack. When he froze the water in the crack, fragments of rock pelted him and the surrounding ground. He took cuts from the flying fragments. It ripped his shirt and pants, but over all of the noise he heard Joahna screech in understanding. Soon rocks started exploding everywhere. Even chit ducked behind a rock to shelter himself. Moments later the egg-like barrier Brandon had hidden inside broke like a dropped egg. He forced the fragments away from himself so he came out uninjured. Kilen checked the cuts and could barely rise from the damage he had taken. When he was able, he found Chit not walking towards him but away.
Kilen followed slowly, watching the earth magic and the water around him. He watched Chit as he walked up to the wizard backing him. He sheathed his large sword in the sheath on his back. When he was in speaking distance to the wizard he reared back and punched Brandon in the face. The frail wizard’s feet left the ground and went limp from the impact. Chit flexed his hand and drew his sword and turned back to Kilen.
Kilen wasn’t sure if Chit was tired of not participating, or if he thought Brandon was causing all of the debris on the field. Neither of which mattered, they still had to finish the fight. Kilen saw a stand of junky training swords on the side of the field that had tipped over. He picked one up and sheathed his father’s sword. He hoped Chit would understand, so he held the weapon above his head.
When the pair was only a few paces apart, Kilen removed the chain of rings from his neck and put it in his pocket. Chit nodded and pointed his large blade at Kilen’s blade chainger. Kilen removed the chain and let it hang from the sheath. Chit turned his neck and Kilen heard the joints pop in response. Chit shed his wrist of the imbued bracer, and of the rings on his fingers. Kilen had chosen right, Chit wouldn’t be able to back down from a challenge. Especially when the challenge was from a weaker man.
The fight resumed, but the weakened pair fought slowly and ungracefully. They had bled too much from the
wounds their bodies had taken. Kilen knew the fight wouldn’t last much longer. He fought on, dodging and deflecting, and found that he was on more of an equal foot than with the magic. The difference in strength was as much as before. Kilen began blocking with the blade instead of deflecting and found more time to attack. He made a small cut to Chit’s shoulder, then to his stomach. Chit was now on the defensive. Kilen struggled to figure out how to attack. Jace flashed images into his mind, which he tried his best to imitate. Before long, Chit was starting to stumble and finally went to his knees. He held his sword up in front of him, swinging it slowly. Kilen stood back and watched as Chit swung at nothing. The next swing brought Chit to his stomach. His breathing was labored. Chit was dying.
Kilen heard a booming voice from near the castle. It was the king’s. “Finish him,” he said. A large amount of commotion on the sidelines and several people ran out on the training field. Kilen made no move to finish Chit off but waited as his breathing slowed. He knelt down beside Chit, hoping that he wouldn’t have another death to weigh on his conscious. He looked up to see Lord Fulstom arguing with the king. Brandon had regained his consciousness and was joining in the argument. Soon there was an opening from the crowd and Twilix ran out onto the field. She met Kilen’s eyes as she neared Chit. She knelt down and Kilen saw Chit’s body go rigid and start to shake. The wounds on his body closed and Kilen helped to give him the energy he would need to survive her healing by holding onto one of the rings in his pocket. Chit started to stir and Kilen felt a wave of cold healing flow through his body. Twilix smiled and took Kilen’s hand, pulling him away from Chit.
She walked him to stand in front of the king and pulled Kilen’s hand towards the ground. He took the hint and knelt. The king took a moment before speaking, “I find you worthy of your father’s name and the title of weapon bearer. Rise and join the ranks of my army.”