“My stoma—,” cried Falcon looking down at his stomach in shock. “My…” Falcon’s mouth filled with blood and he started shaking. “Mmm. Mm. My stomach.”
Rocious knelt next to him and watched him panic. He placed his hand on Falcon’s chest and looked him in the eye. “Calm down, the magic in your body is already healing it. I want you to try and stop the wound from healing,” said Rocious.
Falcon’s mouth continued to fill with blood, “You, help.”
The wound in his stomach started to close just like Rocious said. He was still scared but starting to regain control as the initial shock wore off. He tried to move the magic away from his wound but he was just too scared to do it. He coughed out the blood in his mouth and felt the rest of his wound healing. Rocious helped him sit up.
“See, as long as you do not die immediately you can heal the wound.” said Rocious.
“Then why should I stop it?” asked Falcon looking down at his hands resting in a pool of blood. His hands were still shaking, and his clothes were covered in blood.
“If you don’t stop it there are two problems, first and most important is because you will be deformed. Bones that are misaligned or muscles that are not in the right place. The other problem is healing uses a large amount of magic. You can’t change that, but you can make it more efficient,” answered Rocious.
By the time Rocious finished speaking Falcon’s hands had stopped shaking and his breathing evened out. But he was still sweating from the blood loss.
“What if I don’t heal correctly?” asked Falcon.
Rocious showed his teeth in a wolfish grin, “You have me.”
Falcon swallowed and stood, his legs shaking slightly.
“You can fix me?” he asked.
Rocious placed his hand on Falcon’s shoulder gently and plunged the dagger in his stomach again. “In a way,” he answered.
Looking directly in Falcon’s scared eyes, “I know you’re scared. But you need to stop healing.”
When he finally had a day with no training, Falcon met Thomas early in the morning. They were planning to meet Lucian and spend the day playing ball outside the city with a group of Lucian’s friends.
“Where are we going?” asked Falcon.
“I told you: to get Lucian,” answered Thomas.
“Are you sure he’s here?” asked Falcon. He had been following Thomas for twenty minutes through an old rundown section of the city and was completely lost. In the year he had lived in Dominion he had never seen areas of the city like this. He learned to stick to the main streets where it was clean, organized, and relatively safe, but Thomas had no such restrictions. He knew every nuance of the city and led Falcon down the dirty side-streets revealing a whole world hidden beneath the surface.
“Yeah, he works here,” answered Thomas.
“It doesn’t seem safe,” said Falcon.
“Trust me, it’s fine, but you might want to take your cloak off,” said Thomas.
“Alright,” said Falcon pushing away his anxiety and trusting in his friend. He removed his cloak and tucked it under his arm while following Thomas through the winding alleyways. Eventually they came to an intersection with a much wider street and Thomas stopped to peek around the corner. Falcon leaned over to look around the corner, but Thomas put an arm out stopping him.
“Just a second,” said Thomas continuing to watch down the street. “Alright, come on.”
Falcon followed him around the corner onto a wide street almost like the rest of the city’s main streets. This one was more run down and there were no shops anywhere, at the far end he saw the shape of the stone wall separating the second ring from the third. It looked like a mansion was built into the wall with several balconies and a staircase leading up to double doors. On the balconies there were several armed men and a pair of guards at the double doors.
“Heyo, Lucian around?” shouted Thomas to one of the men by the doors.
“Na, ain’t see him dis morn’n. Dat anoth’a dem Reed folk?” asked the guard through a mouth of broken and missing teeth.
“Na, just a friend. What about Marcus?” asked Thomas.
“Try Tati’s new place on Callen,” said a man from the balcony.
“Oh, hey Marius. Callen next to the old furrier’s place?” asked Thomas.
“Yeah,” answered Marius.
“Thanks, I’ll check there,” said Thomas waving hello and farewell.
Falcon followed Thomas down one of the side streets. After winding through a few alleys they reached another major street and Tatiana’s new place. A couple of armed men were standing in front of it. Thomas waved to them and went straight for the door.
“Marius said his brother was here?” asked Thomas.
“Aye, he’s in the back,” said the man.
Thomas went inside with Falcon a step behind. The place was obviously another brothel but still being renovated. Similar to Tatiana’s other brothels, the walls were being knocked down to make a large lounge area with a bar on the first floor. Also like the other places, behind the bar was Tatiana’s office. Thomas stopped outside the door and waited. Falcon peeked inside to see Lucian writing in a notebook while presumably Marcus and Tatiana spoke with a group of rough-looking men.
A few minutes later the group of men left and Falcon took a seat with Thomas inside the office.
Tatiana put her hand out toward Lucian, “Let me see.”
Lucian glanced up at Marcus. Marcus nodded and Lucian handed her the notebook to examine. Marcus took a seat next to Thomas and looked over at Falcon.
“Who’s your friend?” asked Marcus.
Tatiana spoke almost immediately cutting off Thomas, “Falcon Reed, he’s Lockland’s student.”
Marcus turned to Tatiana squinting, “How’d you know Lucian?”
“I introduced them last year,” said Tatiana continuing to scan the notebook.
Marcus tapped Thomas’s shoulder, “Kid don’t have a tongue?” Thomas shrugged.
Tatiana closed the notebook and looked up. “Everything checks out, you three can go.” Marcus raised his hand slightly palm down. Lucian and Thomas stayed sitting, but Falcon got up and walked to the door. Noticing that his friends were not following he turned back. “See ya tonight,” said Marcus dropping his hand.
Lucian and Thomas hopped up and followed Falcon outside. The moment they reached one of the main streets Falcon asked, “Who was that guy?”
“Marcus, I work for him and his brother,” said Lucian.
Falcon stopped walking, “You mean you work for a gang.”.
Lucian stopped walking and faced Falcon, “You don’t know anything about them, you’ve lived here, what? A year?”
Falcon stepped forward, “I know enough to see Marcus is trouble.”
Lucian stepped closer staring down at Falcon, “And what? Master Lockland isn’t trouble?”
“He helps the people of this city, he’s risked his life countless—”
Lucian shoved Falcon, “He didn’t help last time our landlord beat the shit out of my mom. He didn’t give us food after half the block burned down. Marcus did. Fuck you if he runs a gang, he looks out for us,” said Lucian.
Thomas stepped between them, they both looked down deflated.
“I didn’t know about all that, but is it safe to be working for him?” said Falcon.
“Chill Lucian, he’s only concerned,” said Thomas.
Falcon turned to Thomas, “Do you work for him too?”
“I just know them,” said Thomas putting his hands up.
Lucian shoved Thomas aside and confronted Falcon again, “So what if he does? Are you gonna bitch at him too? Go back to your castle.”
In the blink of an eye Thomas smacked Falcon and Lucian in the stomach, then caught them around the neck, “Chill the fuck out. We’re friends.” Thomas let them go. Falcon put his hand up to show he was calm.
Lucian took a breath, trying to calm down, “Sure, Marcus can be dangerous but he looks out fo
r me and my mom. I read and do sums for him, that’s all it takes to have food and a safe place to sleep.”
Thomas prodded Falcon and Lucian to start walking, “I’m sorry I got mad. I know it’s not easy for you guys. How is that everyone knows you, Thomas?” asked Falcon.
Lucian bumped Thomas into Falcon, “I’m sorry I got mad too. Thomas here’s a legend, tell him the story,” said Lucian.
Thomas let out a breath, “A few weeks after my dad died, one of Marcus’s guys took a liking to my mom. She wasn’t interested, he smacked her around a little so I stopped him.”
“Stopped him? He tied him up and delivered him to Marcus like a present. How old were you? Seven?” asked Lucian.
“Six,” corrected Thomas.
“Marcus thought it was hilarious. Word spread and most of the gangs try to recruit him now,” said Lucian.
Falcon laughed, “How’d you tie him up?”
Thomas told the rest of his story and the three of them laughed together as they walked down the street. Instead of going to play ball like the original plan, they went to their spot on the wall between segments of the city. Falcon told them about Rocious and what it was like living with Dominick’s family. In some ways they agreed it was worse than living on the street. As usual, the time he spent with Thomas and Lucian passed quickly, and before they knew it they had to go home. Thomas left to return to his neighborhood while Lucian escorted Falcon back to the inner ring.
Lucian shoved Falcon, “Come on, I know a shortcut.”
“Alright,” said Falcon jogging to catch up as Lucian darted through a line of shrubbery, “What is this place?”
“It’s a garden grown by the academy, sorta off limits for the gangs. Full of people during the day, but check this out.” Lucian said grabbing a stone off the ground and throwing it at a tree. The base of the tree started glowing a dim yellow, and then the light shot through the tree illuminating a network of veins inside the tree. When the light reached the leaves they flashed bright as if sending out a warning then went out.
Falcon let out a low whistle, “Killer.” He picked up a few stones to light up trees on the walk.
Lucian spun and paced backwards, “There’s a pond over there with these blue flowers but you’ve gotta see it in winter,” said Lucian pointing.
Falcon’s eyes lit up, “They sink underwater and glow,” he said.
Lucian paused, “You’ve seen them?” he asked.
“Yeah, we have them in Reed,” said Falcon with a smile.
Lucian tapped his shoulder, “I guess you have a piece of home, here in Dominion.”
Falcon threw another absentminded stone, “Doesn’t feel like home here.”
“Ha, I’ve lived in Dominion my whole life and it still doesn’t feel like home. I hate it here,” said Lucian.
Falcon shrugged and walked in silence for a while. “Not for Thomas though, you can see it. He loves this city,” said Falcon.
“You know he’s not lying about his dad,” said Lucian.
Falcon wrinkled his forehead, “Really? The legionnaires never mentioned anyone. I figured Decimus would know him, being ranked first in the ninth legion.”
“Just ask him about—”
Lucian stopped mid sentence and watched the trees ahead.
Falcon looked over at Lucian and asked “Just ask him about what?”
Lucian raised his hand, “Quiet.”
Falcon heard a footstep behind them and jerked his head around.
“Look who it is,” said Hal with those hate filled eyes that looked so smiliar to his own.
Ruark walked from behind a tree to the right, “The king’s little charity case.”
Falcon shifted his weight onto his back foot, “What do you want?” he asked.
“He doesn’t sound too happy to see you Hal,” said Fenir stepping out from behind Ruark.
Falcon glanced behind; there was a clear path out of the garden. Then his eyes twitched to Lucian, his friend was not prepared to run nor was he nearly as fast as Falcon.
Lucian squared off in front of Hal, “You sure you want to do this?” he asked Hal.
Hal faced Lucian and smiled, “Sure?” he asked dropping his smile. Hal’s blue eyes flared, “Yeah, we’re sure.”
Falcon’s hands tightened into fists, his eyes widened and he turned toward Ruark and Fenir. Out of his peripheral vision he saw Hal move for him. Falcon pushed backwards into Lucian, “RUN!” he shouted raising his hands palms out. Hal spun swinging at Falcon, he swatted down the punches on instinct. Lucian stumbled but ran into the garden. Falcon hopped back and ran after his friend with Hal, Ruark and Fenir close behind.
“Fucker. You’re only making it worse,” shouted Ruark.
Falcon kept his mouth shut and focused on the ground in front. He heard their footsteps fade behind him, but he was quickly catching Lucian. Falcon caught up to Lucian and saw him struggling. he was never going to get away. He looked over to Falcon, he was already panting and his face was a little red but then Lucian smiled.
“I hope you can swim,” said Lucian between breaths.
Falcon looked straight ahead and saw the gentle glow from the water lilies on the garden’s pond. He never learned to swim, but he was about to do it anyway. Lucian never slowed. He sprinted straight into a dive and glided across the pond with ease. Falcon was nowhere near as graceful, but he jumped into the pond at full speed and started thrashing his way after Lucian.
“Shit, I can’t swim,” said Ruark turning to run around pond.
Fenir followed Ruark but Hal jumped right on top of Falcon and they both sank into a mess of clawing limbs and muddy water. Falcon pushed Hal off him and tried to swim away. Hal caught his shirt and pulled him underwater. He struggled but Hal was bigger and held him underwater. Falcon felt his neck tighten and he took an involuntary breath of water. The next thing he knew someone pulled him onto the bank of the pond.
Falcon leaned to the side to puke out mud and water but Fenir kicked him in the face. Falcon rolled to the other side only to get a second kick in the face. As Fenir beat him unconscious he saw Lucian pull Hal out of the water only to have Ruark slam his face into the dirt. A moment later he blacked out.
Falcon woke up and spit blood and dirt out of his mouth. Coughing, he opened his eyes and looked for Lucian. He was unconscious in the dirt a few feet away. Falcon rubbed his face then looked at his hand, it was covered in more blood and dirt. He tried to remember his lessons but he failed. The magic already started healing him so he crawled over to Lucian to wake him up.
“Come on buddy. Wake up,” said Falcon.
Falcon touched his chest, he was breathing. Then Falcon sat up and pulled Lucian’s head into his lap. He focused, trying to heal him but again he failed. Blood and tears fell on Lucian’s face and ran down his cheek, “Please, wake up.”
He closed his eyes, trying to stop the tears but could not hold it back. His chest heaved, his nose ran and his eyes blurred. “No one else, please.” He hugged Lucian’s limp body closer. “Please, not him.” sobs shook him again, “Please. Please.” Falcon pulled him closer. “I need him. Please. I need him.”
Lucian’s body lay limp, his chest slowed. Falcon felt the last of his life drift away.
Chapter 13
Two More
Dink, Dink, Clang! — Dink, Dink, Clang! — Dink, Dink, Clang! Falcon easily fell into the rhythm of the forge. In the ten years since he first started engraving runes for Master Colville he had learned to love and to hate the forge. He loved the simple song they made working the metals and the mesmerizing effect of flowing lava. But he hated the endless routine of engraving the same runes over and over, and the near constant pain and fatigue in his muscles after weeks of working.
Love or hate, over the years the forge became the only place Falcon felt truly at peace. The nights he spent in the castle were a pain he endured to keep to his studies and training. The nights he spent on the road had a nice freedom but it was a temporary freedom; there
was always a destination that took it away. Here at the forge he could forget about all the bustle and clutter of his life and focus on a simple task: creation.
“You finished yet?” asked Colville.
“Yes sir, it’s over here,” answered Falcon.
Falcon walked over to another workstation where he had some of his finished pieces hanging. All of them had highly detailed runes, probably because of his critical and repetitive lessons with Rocious. To avoid reproach Falcon had become annoyingly organized.
He stopped at the workstation took a sword off the rack, and handed it to Colville for inspection.
“What have you done with the bond?” asked Colville.
“I used what you taught me,” teased Falcon, challenging Colville to figure it out in the same way he challenged Falcon.
“Looks like you flipped part of the rune,” pondered Colville out loud.
“I combined it,” corrected Falcon.
“Ah, you combined an open bond with a closed bond. It won’t work,” said Colville definitively. He handed the sword back to Falcon.
“It works on your armor,” said Falcon.
“That secret was lost a long time ago, but if you want to waste your time, fine by me,” said Colville.
Falcon knew Colville was probably right, but there was something that drove him to search for the missing rune. The book of runes Rocious gave him over ten years ago had one rune per page adding up to twenty-two runes but there were two blank pages at the end of the book. Twenty-two runes in a twenty-four-page book; it picked at his brain constantly.
As he learned more about the runes he was able to classify them into one of four categories. The first category was called brand, and those runes gave an object purpose or purposes. The four runes classified as brand were: absorb, contain, dispel and restrict. Colville argued with him wholeheartedly that they did not give purpose. He said they gave function – purpose was only for living beings.
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