Death Flag

by Richard Haygood

  “More snow?” he asked. He knew that taking shots at her customs was probably a bad idea, but he just couldn’t help himself. He was feeling so much better now that the stabbing pain in his side was gone that he couldn’t help but be in a good mood.

  “You’re as much of a smartass as they said, you know that?” Her words were accusatory, but her tone wasn’t harsh at all. It sounded more like an amusing observation than an incriminatory remark.

  “What is it a sign of?” Madison asked. “What things does this mean are coming?” He very much doubted that her beliefs would line up with his own, but he figured that he might as well ask anyway. It was brownie points for seeming interested even if she didn’t provide any valuable information. He had already heard enough of ‘the way’ to know that he didn’t think very much of it. He had been told that everything in this world had a meaning that was specific to him. He had never considered the snow or the setting, but it suddenly occurred to him that he should have. It certainly would have been an entirely different feeling if the setting was in the middle of the desert or the pit of a volcano or a humid jungle.

  “Hmm . . . Unfortunately, our people believe that days such as this are a sign of troubles ahead. The quiet and serenity are a time for reflection so that you may fortify your heart and prepare your mind for the struggle that is to come.”

  “Oh,” Madison remarked flatly. “I guess that, after that extravagant description you gave of the testing room, it means you think that my soul is filled with turmoil and strife then?”

  She glanced over at him, and a dark expression crossed her face. “I don’t know yet. But I am certain that there are many hardships yet to come for you. I have seen you, Madison. The path you walk is one of blood and darkness.

  “But . . . there is much to this”—she raised both of her arms and slowly waved her hands in the air to indicate everything around her—“that is more than simply death. Water is an ancient symbol of wisdom for my people. It is the continuous flow of knowledge and experience from one generation to another, the ever-present continuation of learning. When water flows, it takes the form of whatever it is poured into. Knowledge, in the same way, can be made to fit whatever it is poured into. The knowledge of how to design and build a functional bridge can be used to either erect a bridge or destroy one that already exists. It can be used to close a gap across a vast divide or create one.”

  “But this isn’t water. This is snow,” Shayna said pointedly, kicking the accumulation at her feet and sending a shower of snow flying up into the air.

  Alyanna paused for a moment and looked between Madison and Shayna. Seeing that they were both paying close attention, she continued. “Snow is simply water that has taken another form. It’s knowledge with a different purpose. If water were to flow unrestrained, it would drown anyone standing in its way. It would crush them beneath its weight and suffocate them. But it is also the basis of all life. Knowledge is the same: it can be used as either a weapon or a tool, and it can overwhelm someone trying to learn too much too quickly.

  “Snow falls and accumulates slowly.” She bent down and scooped up a handful of snow in the palm of her hands and then held it up to them. “Knowledge, like snow, must build up and accumulate slowly and over time. When passed down from one generation to another, the elders often use metaphors and stories to make the knowledge relatable and easier to learn.” To prove her point, she pressed the snow together in her hands to form a ball. Then, using her finger, she poked in two holes and drew a line, forming eyes and a mouth, to create a simple smiling face. “The teacher must control how quickly the knowledge is passed to the student, and he must present it in a manner that is relatable.”

  “So, you’re saying that Madison is supposed to be a teacher?” Shayna asked disbelievingly, propping her hands on her hips. “There’s no way.”

  Alyanna took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, her warm breath fogging up in front of her face in a cloud of smoke. She shook her head softly. “No, I don’t think that is it either. Not exactly. I don’t think anyone can decide what this means except for Madison. But I would venture a guess that it isn’t too far off. Look over there”—she pointed across the woven sparring mat to the other items—“and tell me what those also mean. You have a bookshelf, a game of chess, and a globe. These are all symbols of knowledge, but in slightly different ways. Their meaning is subtle to us, but to him, it may be significant. He will have to decide what they mean for himself.”

  “This is . . .” Shayna squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head furiously. “This isn’t right. It can’t be!” she cried indignantly. “This is nothing like what I went through. This isn’t even a test! This is just a picnic compared to what everyone else goes through! This is practically a joke!”

  “What you go through and what I go through will always be different,” Madison’s doppelganger spoke in a loud, clear voice. “We may experience the same things in life, but each event will always hold a different meaning for each individual. Five people all see one man murdered: to one he was a son, to one he was a brother, to one he was a father, to one a was a lover, and to one he was a friend. The loss of one man carries great and vastly different meaning for each. This world is the same. What you need to conquer in order to progress is different than that which he must conquer. That is why your trial is different. It does not mean that one is harder than another.”

  Shayna stared open-mouthed as if she had just been struck. It was an unusual sight to see since she was normally so quick to rebound with insults and wit. She looked between Madison and his doppelganger before finally closing her mouth.

  “You’re right,” Madison said flippantly, breaking the silence. “I really do come across as an asshole.”

  Alyanna smiled faintly at the joke, but Shayna looked like she was getting ready to attack him again.

  “Be that as it may, there a few things we need to clear up as well,” he said, suddenly much more serious, all eyes turned to him. “Whatever the meaning is behind this world of mine, it will have to wait until later. As Shayna so kindly pointed out before we entered, we’re losing time—and that’s something I can’t seem to hold onto lately.

  “Alyanna,” he said turning to her first. “There are a few things I need for you to clear up for me. You told me that your father knew of K’yer Utane before you ever traveled here. You said that he knew it existed because of two encounters he had with Burke. Is that correct?”

  “Yes,” she answered uncertainly, clearly unsure of where he was going with this.

  “You also explained that magic requires two things: intent and ability, and that it will work after that, right?” he continued.

  “Yes,” she answered again.

  “But it’s impossible for magic to create that which does not exist or that which cannot exist. You cannot create life where there was no life previously. You cannot bring something back to life which was already dead, and you cannot create new life where it never existed. You cannot turn a board into a tree, and you cannot create a tree from dirt—but you can grow a tree from an acorn.”

  A slightly smug expression crossed her face before disappearing just as quickly. “I’m apparently a better teacher than I thought—or maybe I just presumed you had less of an understanding of the basics of magic than you actually did.”

  “No,” Madison agreed with her. “I knew nothing of the principles of magic before we spoke, but it was something that you said that bothered me. You claimed that because your father knew K’yer Utane existed because he met with Guardian Burke, who hadn’t aged in all those years, and that you were able to find it because you were able to search for it with magic and intent. I don’t believe that. I don’t believe that your father simply knew that this place existed because of someone who called himself Burke.

  “First off, no memory is perfect. There’re all types of biases that cloud memory. Secondly, it could have simply been someone using that name. It could have been someone who knew the story and explo
ited your father. It could have been someone who looked similar but was completely different. There is no way that thinking something is real translates to knowing it is real. Otherwise, we could simply lie to every student who is capable of learning magic and tell them that you can create something from nothing. If your story was correct, they would be able to defy the basic laws of magic simply because they believed it to be true. Simply believing that you can fly doesn’t mean that you can change the laws of physics and of gravity and do it.”

  They were both silent for a moment as they calculated what Madison was trying to get to. Neither of them was slow, but there were so many possible ramifications that it took a moment to process them all. He knew that, once they had, they would have to reach the same conclusion he had. A look of alarm and confusion slowly crossed Alyanna’s face, and he knew that she was getting there.

  “Magic didn’t simply create this institution and all of us because your father believed we were here, Alyanna. He knew we were her to begin with. That means that someone had to tell him. He had to have concrete evidence—not just a hopeful wish and a name.”

  “But . . . But that means . . .” She started growing pale as the second ramification hit her. “My brother . . . Darrius . . . he . . .”

  “You stabbed me with a knife and left me for dead, Alyanna, and I was back in fighting shape before the morning passed. You saw firsthand what I was capable of after having several inches of cold metal left inside me that you put there. You know it wasn’t faked. That wasn’t even the worst I’ve suffered since I’ve been here.” Madison turned and pointed to the flaming pit he had just exited. “You saw what the medicine and magic in the infirmary did to heal me. I had a sword come close to cutting me in half, and yet now I’m standing before you healthy and whole. No one ever said I was going to die: they said that they expected for it take a month before I was healed.”

  “No . . . I-It can’t be . . .” She collapsed onto her knees and pressed her hands to her mouth. Tears were already forming around the edges of her frozen eyes, and as much as it hurt him to watch her crumble like this, he knew that she had to hear it.

  Madison slowly walked over to her and then crouched down until he was able to reach out and rest his hands on her shoulders. He spoke softly and slowly, but he didn’t do anything to cushion the blow or lessen the effects of his words. “Your brother didn’t have to die, Alyanna. He was injured when he arrived in this valley, but he was still alive. Someone could have saved him. Someone should have.”

  She wrapped her hands around her knees and buried her face in her knees. Her body was wracked by sobs as she cried silently. No matter what her beliefs were, or what ‘the way’ said about how she should act, he was still her brother. Nothing was ever going to change the way she felt about him or the loss she felt now that he was gone. Madison had just delivered the news that someone could have saved his life and that he should still be walking amongst the living today. The next logical question, however, was the important one. It was the one he hadn’t spoken yet, and it was the one that she needed to hear.

  “What I want to know is why no one saved him,” Madison finished quietly.

  She rocked back and forth for a moment, obviously taking her time to gather her composure before trying to speak again. When she looked up, her eyes were rimmed with red, and her cheeks were stained from the tears that she had cried and that had frozen as they fell, leaving trails behind to mark their passing.

  Madison gazed directly into her ice-blue eyes, and he instantly felt that familiar tug of kinship once again. Being this close to her was like playing with electricity to him. He wanted to reach out and to hold her and to comfort her for her loss just as he had before. The fact that she had stabbed him and left him for dead was a concept he couldn’t get around, but the effects of the magic she had used on him were like a drug dulling the pain of the memory. Part of him also suspected that she had been used, and that made him even more nervous than the prospect of her stabbing him again. He already had plots and scenarios forming in his mind, but they were little more than unfounded suspicions without the evidence to back him up.

  “Someone should have saved Darrius,” he repeated. “I know that you attacked me thinking that you were doing the right thing. However weak the link was, it was the best you had to go on. You were taught to seek vengeance and retribution for your loved ones, and while I don’t necessarily like the results, I understand that it was something you believed you had to do. I’m not saying that I can forgive you for what you did, but I am telling you this: If you hold those beliefs to be sacred, then the day will come when you will have your vengeance.”

  “That’s why you didn’t kill anyone,” Shayna added. She had chosen to remain quiet for a while, likely sensing that this was something that had to be worked out between Madison and Alyanna, but she chose this point to reenter the conversation. “They said that you were raging mad when you attacked the students in the hallway and demanded to know where she was. They said you broke into Ryder’s personal training area, stole a weapon, and were trying to kill Lord Fox and his retinue. But I saw them all together shortly after you fought with Ryder, and no one was even seriously hurt. It would be normal and completely believable if you were completely inept with the sword, but everyone saw you fight Ryder, Madison. Everyone saw him chase you from their private apartment and into the quad. You’re not an idiot, and you know how to fight. You held your own against a Guardian—one of the greatest swordsman that has ever taught at K’yer Utane. No matter how talented those two bodyguards are, they’re not even comparable to Ryder. And for them to walk away without any serious injuries? That’s what’s been bugging me. You purposefully didn’t hurt them.”

  Madison nodded once. He was actually impressed that Shayna was perceptive enough to pick up on something that was such a small detail. He had only been trying to make it into the public eye for his own safety when he ran from Ryder, but having witnesses was definitely an advantage. He had needed every insurance policy he could get in order to stay alive.

  Alyanna gasped, and it was a small sound. “You protected me,” she said as if she had just remembered something vitally important and didn’t yet understand what it meant. “When the door exploded and Ryder burst into the apartment. You protected me. You wrapped yourself around me just as you are now . . .”

  “Ah . . .” Madison scratched his head uncomfortably. “Yes, well, as touching as this is, we need to get out of here before we lose too much time. What’s important now is what we do going forward. I don’t know how I’m going to do it, but I promise that I’ll figure out why they let your brother die, Alyanna.”

  “Why . . .?” she asked softly, gazing at him with wide eyes. “I tried to kill you. I left you to die. How can you promise me such a thing so easily?”

  “Because the same person who let your brother die is the same one who used you to try and kill me. Someone wanted me dead. They can see everything that is going on in this entire fortress with their magic eye—but no one bothered to come help when I was bleeding out. You weren’t a student then, and it wasn’t an official duel. Even if it was, you left me, meaning that the fight was over. Someone should have saved my life.”

  He glanced over at Shayna, and she confirmed what he was saying with a nod of her head. “I don’t know what happened exactly, but it sounds like you’re right. We don’t just leave the students to die. The people here are the most valuable resource we have. We can’t just replace them overnight. If a duel is finished and someone is gravely injured, they’re rushed to the healers right away. Even when accidents happen during training, they’re given treatment on the spot if necessary.”

  “That means someone wanted me dead,” Madison concluded, more certain now than he had been before. “I don’t think it’s some elaborate scheme, but someone definitely took advantage of the circumstances and let you attack me. That’s why I can’t hate you no matter what you did to me. You were just doing what you thought was right,
and someone took advantage of that. They took advantage of your love for your brother and used it for their own reasons. That’s what I can’t forgive.”

  “Sounds to me like you have it figured out,” his doppelganger said from across the clearing. “Sounds like you figured out something else as well.”

  He knew exactly what his clone was getting at. He just hadn’t had time to test it with everything that was going on. He also didn’t want to spell it out in front of either of the two girls, so he wasn’t going to draw attention to it by talking about it while they were present. It didn’t matter how Madison felt about either of the two girls, and he could promise to give them the world if he wanted to. Neither of those things changed the fact that he wasn’t willing to lay all of his cards out on the table in front of them yet—especially when he didn’t know what he was holding.

  Madison nodded. “Yeah. We can play around more when I have time to come back.” He reached out and took Alyanna’s hand, slowly rising to his feet and pulling her up with him. “We need to go now,” he added firmly. “The less time we spend here the better until I learn how to control it.”

  “You’re going to learn to control time?” Shayna asked as they made their way toward the exit.

  “That’s right,” Madison said. “Everyone freaks out around here whenever you mention time. I watched a young girl break down into tears because I brought it up casually in conversation without knowing better. Everyone has a story, and it affects everyone differently, but it’s a problem for me at the moment. I might not have the magic, but I have the intent. So, the way I figure it, all I have to do is find the magic, and I can make it work to my advantage instead of against me.

  “By the way, this goes without saying, but I expect you two to both keep quiet about this. Things are already problematic enough. I’m trusting you both not to get yourselves involved with something that might end up getting you killed as well. If you think of something, find a way to let me know. But otherwise, just stay out of it and keep quiet.”