The Noble Fool

by Heath Pfaff

  "Kyeia, are you alright?" I asked, taking her shoulders in my hands and pushing her away from me. She was smiling, and it wasn't a slight smile either. There was such warmth and pleasure in her mysterious purple eyes, and in her brilliant upturned mouth, that I hardly knew what to think.

  "I'm brilliant!" She said excitedly. "I heard about your tests today and I came to tell you how proud I am of you." She seemed sincere, but I felt a sudden surge of doubt.

  "Kyeia, I failed all of the tests. In fact, Malice told me I did worse than any one she'd ever trained before." I didn't want to tell her the truth, but I couldn't stand to sit there and lie to her, not when the subject was so important to her.

  Kyeia laughed, somewhere between a giggle and a full bout of laughter. "Malice will never compliment you, Lowin, but you impressed her enough that she made a special report to Ethaniel before he left today. You excelled far beyond average in both the reflexes and dexterity challenges, and while you were very weak in the other two tests, you showed determination above and beyond what is expected for one of your background."

  I shook my head in confusion, not sure what to make of what Kyeia was telling me. "That can't be right. On the reflexes test I was nearly brained by the practice dummy and I didn't score a single countable hit on the dexterity challenge."

  Kyeia just smiled and stood up, straightening her dress, and wiping her damp eyes. "Only one other person has scored higher on their first reflex test, Lowin, and that was Malice herself. She had combat training before she joined the Knights, and still only beat you by one connection. As for your dexterity test, no one who hasn't risen to full knighthood has ever made multiple hits in one attack on the practice dummy. Not a single person, Lowin. You were amazing!"

  I wasn't sure what to say, or how to feel about suddenly knowing that I had not failed entirely. I felt a mix of pride and accomplishment, but at the same time I knew that I still had a very long way to go. I had achieved only a small victory and, for all that I had done well on two tests, I had done exceedingly poorly on the other two. I did not feel that it was time to celebrate yet. At the same time, I was happy that Kyeia was pleased. I had been worried about disappointing her almost as much as I'd been worried about having to go outside and face Malice again, which was still a task I didn't relish.

  I found myself at a loss for words. Compliments were not a common occurrence for me, and I was unsure how to take Kyeia's outpouring of enthusiasm. "I still have a long way to go. I'm clumsy, and tire quickly." I admitted, deciding the truth was the best route.

  "You'll get better, Lowin." She replied.

  "Would you like some water?" I offered, lifting the jug that had been provided with my meal and noting that it was not very full. Still, I felt awkward not having anything to offer my company. I certainly hadn't left any food. In fact, I still felt a pang of hunger, though it was nothing debilitating.

  "No, but thank you." She walked over and sat down on the bed next to me. "When we first went looking for you, I wasn't entirely sure what sort of person you'd be." Her voice was soft, and pleasant, and I found myself falling into its alien rhythm. "The moment I saw you though, I just knew that you were good." She laughed, and it was like a soft warm rain on a summer day, refreshing and light. "That sounds stupid, but I don't know how else to say it. I still had my doubts, at first, but when you jumped from the carriage to attack the Shao Geok that was coming for us, I was certain that you were possessed of an incredible strength." She turned her head, looking closely at me, and I found myself lost in the depths of her eyes. There was a warmth between us, a connection on multiple levels that I could sense, but didn't know how to fully appreciate. Before I knew what was coming, she leaned towards me and placed her lips against mine. There was a blast of fire through my body, spreading from my lips, and I felt myself leaning into the kiss, wanting never to part my lips from hers. From so close, I could smell the essence of some sweet flower, subtle but unmistakable. I opened my eyes, only just realizing that I had closed them, and saw that hers were still closed. There was a beautiful pink cast to her pale skin and I felt, in that moment, that no woman would ever look as beautiful. She pulled away then and I felt my heart go with her. Her eyes came open, and she turned her face partially away, her cheeks shifting from pink to red.

  "I'm not supposed to do that." She said, a bit breathlessly. "I shouldn't even come here as often as I do."

  I reached out to her, put my arm about her shoulders, and drew her close to me, brushing her bright red cheek with my lips. "I don't understand anything about the rules, or how things work here, but if you didn't come back to see me, I would have no reason to bother waking up from day to day." I didn't know the truth in those words until I spoke them. It is strange the way your mind can occasionally work out complex problems without ever letting on to the rest of you exactly what has happened.

  She looked at me again, her mouth so close that I could feel her breath as she spoke. "Then I suppose I shall have to keep coming, but Lowin..."

  I waited for a moment, and then said, "Yes?"

  "Don't let them know that I... that I care for you so much. It's forbidden." Her words sent a chill down my back, but I wasn't sure why. I wanted to ask. At that moment, I should have asked. Instead, I simply promised that I would never tell another soul, so long as she would continue to come and see me when she had the chance. I think I would have made any promise imaginable in order to continue feeling the warmth that had enveloped my entire being. I'd often heard it said, but had never really understood what was meant, that love will take you when you least expect it and consume you as quick as any flame.

  Things were quiet for a moment, before a thought occurred to me. I spoke my mind. "Will this cause a problem between Tempest and you? ...because of the binding?"

  A confused expression crossed Kyeia's face, and a moment later she smiled, and then laughed. "There is no binding between Tempest and I. I am, as you've heard, a 'Bound One,' but it is not Tempest to whom I'm bound. I'm bound to you, Lowin." I was surprised to hear this, but at the same time I knew the words were true as soon as I heard them. I could feel a certain connection to Kyeia that existed beyond mere affection. "It's the crystals..." she continued. "When you hold them they create an imprint of your personality, an image of who you are, and what sort of person you are. They also search for certain traits in your body that make you an acceptable candidate for becoming one of the Knights of Ethan. When the crystal turns blue, as yours did, it is sent to my people and the chosen one - me in this case - takes the crystal and reads it. Once I finished reading your crystal, it was like I'd known you all my life. I could see clips of your life, bits and pieces that came together to form a whole picture, up to the point that you held the crystal. Also, reading the crystal ties my life to yours . . . it forms a bridge between the two of us. I can sometimes feel what you're feeling, and sense your state of well-being. The same is probably true for you, to some extent."

  If you've ever been in a position where you thought you were alone, only to find out that someone had actually been watching you for a long time, you might understand how I felt at that moment. I had led a decent life, but there were things I'd done that I didn't necessarily want someone else to know about. I found myself remembering how I'd been thinking of Kyeia's shapely form when she first walked into the room, and this caused me to blush fiercely, as I was, of course, thinking of it again.

  She smiled. "It's not like I know everything you're thinking, Lowin, just a general idea of what you're feeling. You don't need to be embarrassed. I've liked what I've seen. You and I are strange, and not just because of this," She laid her head against my shoulder. "Breaking the taboo between us is just one aspect of what makes us different. We stand out from the others because you are male and I am female. In the past this has only happened on three occasions. Generally the one selected by the crystals, and the one chosen by my people to be bound, were of the same gender. It was not an intentional thing, but that is how it always work
ed out." She looked away then, her eyes becoming distant for a moment. "I can't tell you why the taboo exists. I want to, but it would be a betrayal of the pact, and so long as a king stands in the realm of humans, my people cannot break the pact." Such sorrow gripped at my heart for a moment that I felt as though someone had hit me in the chest. I tightened my hold around her shoulders. As my arms tightened the sorrow seemed to lift and I knew that was because of the bond, created by the crystal, between us. Looking back at my time spent with her, I realized that this was probably the reason I'd always felt the sense of sadness about her. I wasn't simply noticing that she was sad, I was feeling her sadness.

  She changed the subject and I let her do so, eager for her happiness to return. "Tempest was my bodyguard on my mission to find you. When we returned here and reported the betrayal, he was immediately sent to Gray Post to dispatch the news."

  I nodded. I had, in fact, been wondering where Tempest had gone since we arrived at Fell Rock. "Is Gray Post another fort of the Black Eyed..." I stopped myself, though belatedly, remembering that there was a proper name for the order I was going to join, whether or not I wished to. "...of the Knights of Ethan?"

  Kyeia nodded. "It was the first of the two, actually, and is currently home to the other half of the Knights. At the moment, though, it doesn't actually hold half of our number, and neither does Fell Rock. A third of the Knights have been sent out into the field, to defend against the enemy."

  Fell Rock had seemed quiet to me since I arrived, but I had thought that was merely because of the amount of time I spent alone in my room. It would make sense, though, that if a good portion of the Knights were away the staff would be low at the Post. I shrugged it away, not particularly interested in any of it at that moment. Kyeia was standing up from the bed, detaching herself from my grip and I, after checking my impulse to not let her go, loosened my arm.

  "I have to go now." She said quietly. "There will be questions if I am gone too long from my quarters, and if I am to be allowed to return here, I'd best get back."

  "My door is always open for you," I said, sad to see her ago, but understanding the situation, if not the fundamental reasons for the situation. I was also aware that I was expected back out on the practice field before long, and I couldn't imagine how bad things would be for me if I was late.

  Kyeia leaned down to me and kissed me on the cheek. "I'll see you again soon." She vanished out my door and the room became a much emptier place without her. There were so many questions I still wanted answers to. I wanted to know about the "enemy" that threatened us, and about the nature of the deep sorrow that plagued the lovely purple-eyed girl. The questions, though, would have to wait.

  Four months of vigorous training with Malice left me a changed man. It is difficult to describe the extent one can improve under the tutelage of a brutal task-master, but I was a living testament to such a drastic restructuring. Malice forced me to push my limits on a daily basis, never showing any satisfaction in my advances, even if I managed to drastically improve myself. It became my personal goal to exceed her expectations. Whether I succeeded at that goal I did not know, but I at least was satisfied with my improvements. I was stronger, faster, and had more stamina than I'd ever had in my life.

  My mornings were filled with strength, stamina, and balance exercises. The hours from sunrise until noon, every day, were a difficult struggle to improve my body that often times left me gasping for breath on the ground with the ever bleak Malice, her head shaking in disappointment, standing over me. After lunch, which I generally ate alone in my room, I would return to the training field and prepare for a long afternoon of intensive combat training.

  "Your left elbow is too low, keep it up." Malice warned, her voice, as usual, full of ire. I did as she said, raising the elbow and noticing the way that my balance seemed to level out after I brought it up just a scant inch. Hand to hand combat was all about form. The patterns were drilled into my body every day, and as I grew more accustomed to them, I could sense the raw logic behind the motions. I had been improving, though I didn't know all the forms and I still had trouble with a few of the more advanced moves I'd been shown. My balance was far from satisfactory to Malice, and that hindered my quick adoption of the more difficult hand-to-hand moves.

  "Silent," I heard Malice's voice after I'd been frozen in my position long enough for her satisfaction. "I want you to spar with Lowin. Keep going until he scores a hit or is no longer conscious." I came out of the position I'd been holding and turned to face Silent. I'd grown to loathe the sparring sessions I sometimes had with Silent and Malice. They always served to put into perspective just how far I was from the completion of my training. Silent was far gentler than Malice but even he was several times stronger than myself, his form perfect, and speed, blistering. My fights with Malice were an education in pain and brutality. I knew that she pulled her punches but I never walked away from her without some significant cuts and bruises. If I had a weakness in my form, she exploited it with unerring precision. I saw the benefit; though I was loathe to admit it. The various injuries she gave me served as staunch reminders of the places I'd been weak in form or execution.

  Silent and I squared off, coming to just beyond arms reach and circling cautiously. He let me make the first move, as was his way, and I struck at him with a fury, knowing that I needn't pull my punches where my black-eyed superiors were concerned. He turned every blow I attempted to land away with little apparent effort, his hands moving always a fraction of a second faster than my own. After he'd accepted a few of my attempts through his defenses, he turned the table and went on the offensive. His hands were fast and I was hard pressed to keep them from landing blows. What was worse, I knew that he was holding himself back. He could go faster, but for my sake he withheld the full fury of his speed. Of course, if he hadn't, he might have killed me. I held off his attacks for what seemed forever, my arms burning with the effort of knocking his punches aside. When he finally slowed and fell back into defense, it was all I could do to push an attack. I forced myself to go forward with a vengeance, giving everything I had to landing even one blow. I had never successfully hit either Malice of Silent during our sparring. They were simply too fast, but this wasn't the first time I'd been put in a situation where I must either do so or keep trying until I collapsed.

  Malice had, a few weeks before, made such a stipulation in a match against her. She had proceeded to pound me into the ground until I had finally blacked out entirely and only awoke later the next day in my bed. I didn't know if Silent would take the fight that far, but I had no intention of finding out. I forced myself to focus my blows and concentrate on my form, pushing my body as hard as I could without breaking something. Each strike I sent towards my opponent's body was weighted with all the velocity and precision I could muster. I was breathing heavily, and sweat was pouring from my brow, clouding my vision, but I kept the punches flying. My stamina training had shown me my limits and I could feel the point of no return coming. I willed myself to move faster, strike harder, and that invisible point of exhaustion loomed ever nearer. Silent's arms deflected some of my hits, the twists of his body making others miss entirely but I sensed that he was finally straining to keep pace with me. That was all the encouragement I needed. I gathered myself and prepared for one last volley. It burst from me like a blast of lightening. One fist was turned aside, one was dodged, the next one came within a fraction of an inch of Silent's shifting cloak, but suddenly my opponent was faster. He seemed to blur as he moved, and his defensive position became an attacking one. I blocked one fist, another, turned aside from a kick, barely missed a foot sweep, and tumbled face first into a surprisingly powerful right hook. I left the ground, spinning through the air and landed with a thud nearly a body-span from where I'd been before.

  I got back to my feet, my head spinning from the blow, but I knew that I had it in me to fight on. Silent, however, had his back to me. I put my guard down. Malice, who had crept up behind me at some point,
cuffed me hard in the shoulder and I nearly toppled to the ground once more.

  "You underestimated your opponent and put too much energy out, too quickly. With your level of stamina, that is akin to stabbing yourself in the foot." Her voice was abrasive, but there may have been something close to satisfaction in it. I had learned over the four months I'd spent training that sometimes Malice was less angry than she normally was, and that was as close as she ever approached to offering a kind word. "You're done for the evening, but after you've gotten cleaned up and fed yourself, report to my chambers."

  I nodded my head in assent, and turned to depart, my heart racing from more than the vigor of my exercise. Last time Malice had called me to her chamber some weeks before, it had been to berate me for failing to improve in my balance test from one week to the next. She had forced me to take off my shirt and stand on one foot, on an overturned bucket, while holding books on my outstretched arms for the entire night while she watched me. Any time my arms had dipped she had used her vicious claws to carve a line on my chest. She had not cut deeply enough to scar me, but the fear had been there. The next day I had been unable to lift my arms high enough to replace my shirt. I didn't know what she had in mind for that night but I dreaded whatever it might be. I wearily thought her lack of anger was simply a place holder until she could take her full frustrations out on me later.

  I took a resigned breath and made my way back to my room, hoping that I might find Kyeia - or Kye as I now generally called her - waiting there for me. It wasn't to be though. When I reached my room it was as empty as it ever had been. Kye wasn't able to come see me often, and it had been worse since a procession of her own people had arrived a few weeks before. I had only seen her once since then, and she had not been herself. I worried very about her. My feeling of unease was growing as the months passed, though I knew not why. I wondered if things would be different between us once I became a Knight. I hoped that the taboo would be lifted, so that we might fully explore the feelings that had grown between us.