Hope

by Sam Rook

  "Are you sure, Sir? I’m familiar with unarmed combat. I trained for quite a while back on Earth."

  "Just try to hit me and quit showing off!"

  Moving lightning fast, Hal punched Jakara in the face, then his leg swept Jakara’s legs out from under him. The Assessor landed hard on his back, staring up at the sky as he tried to recover from having the wind knocked out of him. Hal offered Assessor Jakara his hand, which the Assessor grudgingly accepted.

  "I’m sorry, Assessor Jakara. I should have warned you I had a black belt in Karate, but I didn’t know how to translate that into terms you’d understand."

  Kathryn suppressed her chuckle.

  Jakara narrowed his eyes, mumbling to himself about appearances being deceiving. Jakara and Hal worked together for the rest of the session and taught each other the various self-defense moves of both worlds. After a few days of self-defense practice Kathryn could barely walk, let alone look forward to the training flight the next day. Hal solved her problem for her when they met in the common room that night.

  "I think Jakara likes me. He taught me a spell to relax and relieve muscle aches and pains. I tried it on Nidira and she hugged me afterwards." He said with a mischievous smile.

  As she shook her head, he grabbed her arm.

  "Ma’eken Fo’euth!"

  A few minutes later, she also hugged him to show her gratitude. Hal received many hugs that night from the former sore knights of the group. She’d never felt so relaxed in her life and slept soundly that night, even escaping her usual nightly Sight. Morning light fell onto her bed and she struggled to make her body function enough to get ready. Her mind felt foggy and her feet scuffed along the stone floor.

  Kathryn opened her door to an empty common room and realized that she had overslept. Hal must have gone down early to practice as he mentioned he would last night. She had become so used to his wake up calls that she had a problem waking on time by herself. As she closed the door behind her, struggling to place her helmet upon her head, the familiar white haze overran her vision and she had to lean against the wall to keep from falling.

  She was in a group of knights as they flew toward a clump of trees. She knew Hal was flying next to her although it could have been any first-cycle in armor. They were on the end of the last line of knights in a group of ten rows. Hal was to her left, on the end, and some stranger was to her right with a white smudge on his left armored shoulder.

  She concentrated on beating her aching wings in unison with those around her. Although she had drilled constantly by herself to control the speed of her flight, flying within formation was entirely different. Suddenly, they were in the midst of an aerial battle. Daemons rose from the trees, attacking wherever and whenever they could. The group of knights was only unseasoned recruits and the brutality of the Daemons caused chaos in their ranks.

  Kathryn saw two groups of knights flying toward them. Her group only had to hold off until the reinforcements arrived. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a Daemon heading straight for Hal and her. She cried a warning to Hal and joined his side to fend off the Daemon.

  The Daemon had an eight-foot barbed spear and knew how to use it. They could only defend themselves as it hovered in the air and relentlessly swung and thrust its spear. They were tiring quickly, but holding their own, until the Daemon used its tail and clubbed her aside. Through the pain in her shoulder, she struggled to recover and fly back toward Hal.

  Hal’s cry pierced the chaos of noise as the spear impaled him. Kathryn’s heart ached at his loss and she cast a fire spell so intense that it killed not only the group of Daemons, but also some of the knights beyond who were coming to their rescue. Horrified, she drifted down to the ground to kneel upon the burnt remains of her enemies and her comrades. She looked to her right to see Assessor Jakara’s dead eyes accusing her of murder. To her left, Hal’s body struggled to find breath as the spear through his chest robbed him of air. His hands clenched in the dirt around him, then went still. Kathryn wailed and wrapped her wings around herself in an attempt to shield herself from despair.

  Gasping in fear and confusion, Kathryn hurried to the courtyard to join the other knights for their first flight in formation. When she found out she stood second from the end between Hal and Lesair, a knight with a white smudge upon his shoulder, she didn’t know what to do. She alone knew they were going into a full-fledged battle, one that would cost the lives of half of the group. Hal’s eyes filled with concern.

  "Kate, what’s wrong?"

  "We can’t do this. We’re going to be attacked by Daemons and..." She hesitated with how she was going to explain his death. Assessor Jakara stepped in before she could continue.

  "Am I hearing you right, Lady Kathryn? Are you afraid to go on your first test flight?" While Assessor Jakara had warmed up to Hal, he still despised her for some reason she couldn’t comprehend. "Are you afraid the Daemons will get you?" he continued, not caring that the others were staring at their exchange. "Don’t worry, coward, you can say here and we’ll let you know how it goes."

  Her fear gave her a short fuse. "I’m no coward, you arrogant ass. I had a Sight which—" Agony ripped through her body as the bone in her wing snapped. She had flown backwards against the wall and had fallen to the ground faster than she had thought possible.

  The other knights stared in disbelief as Assessor Jakara walked over and stood above her. "You, you little bitch, are not worthy enough to wear those wings. I’ll speak with Hook upon his return about having your cowardly and insubordinate ass thrown out of the Knighthood." He turned toward the others. "Form up and take flight or else you’ll suffer her fate." Hal reluctantly joined them, too fearful of facing Jakara’s magic to disobey.

  Kathryn struggled to rise, fighting dizziness as she used the wall for support. She had to get help. Hal was going to die if she didn't get help. Feeling disoriented, she tried to figure out what to do without success.

  "You can't just stand there! In battle, they're not just going to wait for you to flank them. You have to distract them with the forward assault." Sir Lanclor's bellow carried over the wall separating the courtyards.

  Ignoring the pain, Kathryn ran toward his voice, turning the corner to see him in front of a group of about sixty knights, discussing the strategy needed to defeat the group of 100 knights on the opposite side of the courtyard. She pushed her way to the front of the group.

  "Now, you need to account for their magic users or else—" Sir Lanclor crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes. "Is there something I can do for you, First-cycle? Maybe listen to your view of strategy for this situation?" He must not have recognized her in her armor.

  "Sir Lanclor, Assessor Jakara took the rest of my group out on a test flight. I tried to warn him about the Daemon ambush, but he wouldn’t let me finish. He didn’t understand that I had a Sight." Tears streaked her face beneath her helmet from either frustration or pain, she didn’t know.

  "Everyone, take flight and follow me, swords ready!" Sir Lanclor drew his sword and leapt into the air.

  Within minutes, settling dust was all that remained of the knights in the courtyard. Kathryn, now alone, struggled through the pain to remain upright. She knew she couldn’t stand it much longer before she passed out, so she moved toward the wall of the closest building and lowered herself to her knees. Leaning against the wall with her broken right wing facing away from it, she bent her torso forward and put most of her weight upon her left arm. Pain shot from her broken wing with each sob that shook her body.

  Chapter 16

  A swarm of Daemons rose from the trees and headed for the First-cycles. There hadn't been Daemons this close to the castle before. With three squads at his back, Lanclor flew into the battle with confidence, hitting the Daemons before their rear rows could react. This inspired the First-cycles to remember their training.

  Swords flashed and cries of terror ripped from the new knights, but some carefully placed spells from the experienced knights prevented their ca
reers from ending early. They crushed the Daemons between them. There were a few injuries among the First-cycles, but no casualties. If Lady Kathryn hadn’t come to get them...

  "Thank the Goddess! I’ve never been happier to see you Sir Lanclor!" Jakara hovered before him, saluting with his fist to his chest.

  Jakara should have heeded Lady Kathryn’s warning.

  "Let’s help the wounded back to the East Courtyard, Jakara." Lanclor didn’t return his salute and Jakara didn’t seem to notice. Lanclor's three squads positioned themselves around the First-cycles and they escorted them back to the castle.

  They returned to the courtyard and he saw Lady Kathryn upon her knees against one of the weapon houses. Her right wing was at an odd angle. Before he could approach, Hal ran forward and knelt beside her. Hal put his hand on her shoulder and she jerked away as if his presence startled her. She seemed to realize whom he was and nodded to one of his questions.

  Lanclor walked over to Hal, his curiosity getting the best of him. "Hal, what happened?"

  Hal tossed his helmet upon the ground, and then rose to his feet with an angry look on his face. Hal was normally good-natured, so seeing him with so much anger in his eyes surprised him.

  "That son of a bitch! He used a spell to fling her against a wall when she got angry with him for not listening to her warning. He made her hit so hard, her wing snapped. I’m going to break his goddamn neck!" His fists clenched, he headed in the direction of the first-cycle squad.

  Before Lanclor could process his words, Hal had approached Jakara with his wings outspread, all of his body language screaming his aggression. Jakara just watched him come, thinking he would get some type of congratulations from his recently acquired student. What he got instead was an uppercut to the head that dented his helmet, lifted him off the ground and sent him flying backwards upon his back.

  Everyone stared in disbelief. Hal turned on his heel and headed back toward Lady Kathryn and Lanclor. Without a word, he knelt beside her and lifted her into his arms. She gave an almost imperceptible cry of pain as her wing, flopping out before him, stirred with his movement. Lanclor grabbed her wing and steadied it while they walked toward the infirmary.

  They left the courtyard behind, all of the knights staring after them while Jakara remained unconscious on the ground. Master Healer Vetera opened the door to the infirmary on his way to see to the injured knights from the battle.

  "Master Vetera, I need you here. The wounds outside are relatively minor and can be handled by your apprentices."

  "Yes, Sir Lanclor. What have we here?"

  "I’ll let Hal explain it to both of us." Lanclor focused on Hal, awaiting an explanation and they took her inside.

  "Before we took flight, Kate tried to warn us about a Daemon attack. Assessor Jakara called her a coward. She got angry, called him an arrogant ass, and then mentioned having a Sight. Assessor Jakara became unreasonably angry and used some spell to fling her through the air into a wall. He threatened the rest of us with the same fate if we didn’t obey him. I don’t have Lady Kathryn’s gift with magic, so I’m no match for Assessor Jakara. I didn’t realize he had broken her wing or I would never have left her." Lanclor could hear the guilt in Hal's voice.

  "I can understand why you knocked him out. I would have done the same." Lanclor said. There wasn’t anything left to say. All of the instructors knew of Lady Kathryn’s gift, but Jakara had let his personal feelings get in the way of rational thinking. Lanclor would deal with Jakara personally with Lady Kathryn as a witness. An instructor shouldn't treat any knight with such blatant hostility, no matter her gender and origins.

  "If you two are finished, can Master Vetera see to my wing? I don’t know how much longer I can stand this without passing out." Lady Kathryn’s voice cracked with strain and some annoyance. They had forgotten about her, even though she was the topic of their conversation. Embarrassed, Hal and he followed Master Vetera’s instructions to bring her into the far room to treat her broken wing.

  In his early cycles in the Knighthood, Lanclor had been showing off with his friends when he had fallen off the rampart. Not yet used to his wings, he wasn’t able to right himself before hitting the ground. The agony of two broken wings had him bawling like a young babe. Their wings may not have been a part of their body originally, but there was no doubt in his mind that they were now another appendage. He watched Master Vetera repair Lady Kathryn’s wing while Hal showed his support by holding her hand.

  These Earthlings may be what the Knighthood needs.

  Lanclor heard that Jakara had refused to let the healers touch his purple, swollen eyes and nose. They showed through his eye slits and made it difficult to take him seriously.

  "They should both be thrown out of the Knighthood, Lord Alextor! They’re both insubordinate and that bastard actually hit me!" He stood from his chair, his hands supporting his weight upon the table as he leaned toward Alextor, trying to express his anger physically in case they couldn’t hear it in his words.

  "Jakara, is it true you did not even let Lady Kathryn finish her warning before you threw her against a wall?" Lord Alextor asked the question in a neutral tone with no hint of the anger he had expressed after hearing about the incident from Lanclor the night before.

  Jakara sat down, glaring to his left toward the table where Lady Kathryn and Hal sat helmet less in silence. Hal’s face was bright red. Lanclor could tell he was barely controlling his anger. Lady Kathryn, however, had an almost serene expression upon her face. That surprised him more than anything as he expected her to be as angry as Hal.

  "I’ll not deny it. I was greatly upset about her insults." Jakara gave no other excuse.

  The other instructors who were available had gathered in the chairs toward the back of the room. They began to whisper among themselves, unable to believe that Jakara had actually done what he was accused. Lanclor said nothing at all, not even glancing around at the other instructors to see their reactions. He sat straight in his chair, radiating anger with his wings upraised, his fists clenched and his arms crossed.

  Cycles ago, Lathus, a man who Lanclor had thought he could trust, had raped and beaten Lanclor's young sister, Sera. Lathus had hidden her in a closet for days before a servant found her. Beyond help by that time, she had died a couple of hours later, but not before telling Lanclor what had happened. Grieving and unable to control his anger, Lanclor had hunted down Lathus and beaten him senseless. The Council later executed Lathus for murder. Lanclor pictured throwing Jakara against the wall repeatedly, turning his wings to bloody pulp.

  "Since you’ve admitted your guilt, by law it’s up to Lady Kathryn to propose a suitable punishment. I’ll warn you, Lady Kathryn, that I won’t allow a punishment that’s more severe than the offense," Alextor said in a diplomatic tone.

  Lady Kathryn rose from her seat and walked around the table to stand directly before Alextor, her back toward Jakara. "I want him to see, Lord Alextor."

  "See? I’m not sure what you mean. Please explain."

  "I want him to see the Sight I had that day before the incident. See what made me act the way I did." She said all of this in a calm voice with a strange look upon her face.

  "That’s a reasonable sentence, if you think that will be a suitable punishment. Jakara, will you accept this punishment?"

  Jakara seemed just as surprised. "I agree. It will be interesting to see what pathetic excuse she has."

  Lady Kathryn turned toward Jakara, holding her hands before her, standing a few feet from his table. Without uttering a word, images appeared upon the table, similar to Garrent’s history lessons. They all saw the knights flying toward the clump of trees with the Daemons flying up from below. They saw the Daemons kill about thirty First-cycles, Kathryn’s defensive fire and then her view of the dead upon the ground, including Jakara.

  Hal’s face turned white as he saw himself impaled upon a Daemon’s spear. Lanclor saw Jakara turn away while his wings lowered. There was so much guilt and regre
t in his eyes, Lanclor thought he looked at a different man. Lanclor hadn’t known him well before the death of his daughter, but had heard he was an excellent instructor friendly toward everyone, men and women alike. After that fateful day, his anger and resentment had negatively affected his teaching and he became an Assessor. As Jakara placed his head in his hands, Lady Kathryn turned, saluted Alextor and strode from the room.

  "Jakara, I find the punishment adequate and enlightening. You’re free to leave." Alextor nodded toward both Hal and Jakara and rose from his chair. Shocked silence filled the air as he exited the room.

  Lanclor couldn’t believe that Lady Kathryn had taken mercy upon the man who had thrown her against a wall and almost caused the death of one of her friends. He also couldn’t believe that she had performed that spell without uttering the incantation. She was a complex woman. How far her complexity could take her in the Knighthood he could only imagine.

  Chapter 17

  Kathryn remembered her last birthday—alone, pulled into another world, chased by Daemons, then thrown into the infirmary. Definitely not a good day. No cake, no presents, no family. Just stuck on an alien world with the man who had knocked upon her door on Christmas Eve, delivered his message and left, leaving behind a grief that had spread through her life like a disease. She had been on Av’lor for a year now and couldn’t believe how different it was from her existence on Earth.

  With work and trying to get her mother’s house under control, she didn’t have the time to grieve. After the funeral, she didn’t have the drive to do much of anything. Her pantsuits, once displaying her pride in her job, degraded to jeans and collared shirts. She wasn’t sure if her sword and armor were a step below that or not. Loneliness still gnawed at her.

  Her mother's death had ended the one serious relationship she had back home, but that had happened before she came to Av’lor. Greg couldn't understand her needing some space. She had always been an independent person and her shyness never allowed her to make many friends. Her chosen detachment those last months made it impossible for others to offer their sympathy, letting Kathryn avoid seeing the pity in their eyes. On Av’lor, her shyness had diminished as she worked with the other knights during drill.