Ethan Wright and the Curse of Silence

by Kimbro West

  “Hi there, can I help you with something?” said the young woman behind the registration desk.

  “Yeah,” answered Ethan. “How many people have entered?”

  “Almost three hundred — biggest year yet I think. First one to get to three points is the winner — when quarter finals begin, it’s the first to get to five, but who knows when that’ll start — should run right into the night I’d say,” answered the young woman.

  Just then a voice announced two more names. “Would John Fisher and Auren Faryndon report for a match.”

  “Thanks!” shouted Ethan as he turned and headed toward one of the empty rings, still holding onto Loki. He paused and peered around the audience to locate the evident commotion of the sword match that was about to begin. He spotted a larger boy wearing a leather vest and a padded helmet. As Ethan approached, he realized it was Auren, who seemed to be in a panic like he was looking for something.

  “What are you doing here? I thought your father wouldn’t let you enter the competition,” interrogated Ethan.

  “Yeah well, what he doesn’t know won’t hurt anyone — I can’t find my sword anywhere!” Auren seemed to be panic-stricken. He looked to his left and back to his right, then checked his pack, looked around the ground, and finally at Ethan.

  “It’s tied to your waist,” replied Ethan.

  “Oh, you could’ve said something,” snapped Auren, now pulling the sword out of his belt and stalking into the would-be ring.

  “Well you could have told your best friend that you were going to enter,” spouted Ethan.

  “Couldn’t — didn’t know ‘til last night,” answered Auren. But he saw that this didn’t seem to satisfy Ethan. “Aw man, I had to enter — explain it to you after this fight — cheer for me, will ya?”

  Ethan nodded.

  Auren made his way to the middle of the ring, where his opponent was waiting for him. As soon as he got to the line the fight began and Auren was met with a barrage of attacks. He was able to clumsily block two of the attacks but was hit in the chest by a third. Crack!

  A judge immediately chimed in. “Fatal blow, two points!”

  “Fatal! C’mon, it was barely a scratch,” protested Auren.

  But his plea went unanswered and the judge chimed in again. “Begin!”

  Auren was met with a similar barrage of attacks, but this time he was ready and counter-attacked, striking the boy’s sword to the ground and then thrusting him in the chest.

  “One point awarded!”

  “So that one wasn’t fatal then?” yelled Auren in protest again. He looked over at Ethan. “Can you believe this guy?”

  The judge continued the match; this time Auren took the offensive and lunged at the boy. Auren was easily blocked, but then stepped past his opponent and slapped his sword on top of the boy’s head, hitting his padded helmet.

  “Fatal blow, two points!”

  “Now that’s more like it, judge! You and me buddy!”

  “Your winner, Auren Faryndon.”

  Auren was so excited he almost jumped out of his shoes. He scrambled over to Ethan to give his impersonation of the match.

  “Yeah yeah, I was here the whole time, remember?” said Ethan.

  “Well yeah, but did you see how I finished him with that spin move?” said Auren exitedly.

  “You didn’t spin,” replied Ethan.

  “I did so,” argued Auren.

  “I didn’t once see you spin,” bickered Ethan.

  “Probly cuz I’m lightning fast,” answered Auren with a smile.

  Auren started taking off his padded helmet. “So anyway, like I was saying — had to enter the competition.”

  “Why on earth would you have to enter?” challenged Ethan. “That doesn’t make any sense at all!”

  “It does so!” Auren started to look annoyed. “Look … last night I was on my way home when I ran into Marcus Grenwise and a bunch of his idiot friends — what they were doing in Strahlung, I have no idea. He started talkin’ foul about you and your brother Isaac — said if he met either one of you in the contest today, that he would finish the job he started a few years back. Well, I knew you wouldn’t enter, so I did. Thought someone should give that idiot a wallopin’!”

  Ethan smiled. “Thanks.”

  “No problem really — well besides the fact that there are so many people here and the chances of me being matched up are …” Auren was cut off by the announcer.

  “Would Availia Tanbe and Marcus Grenwise report for a match.”

  “Looks like Marcus is up for a match right now,” said Ethan.

  Sure enough, Marcus and his followers shoved their way through the crowds of people. As he passed, he sneered at Ethan and Auren and stepped up to the line. His followers budged in front of Ethan and Auren, blocking their view. They reluctantly walked to the other side to cheer for Marcus’ opponent. Ethan overheard some of the audience talking behind them. Marcus’ opponent was an eleven-year-old girl. Neither of the boys had paid any attention to the name until they saw Margret Tanbe’s little sister step into the ring. Ethan instantly thought of himself and Auren setting loose the forty-two toads in their house, and suddenly felt embarrassed by playing such a prank.

  “It’s Availia,” exclaimed Auren.

  “Yeah, Margret’s little sister,” replied Ethan.

  Availia stretched out a bit, and with a strong voice let out a yell as she lunged forward with her bamboo sword. She had always been a bit smaller than the rest of the girls her age, but compared to Marcus, she was tiny.

  “Don’t think she’ll fare well,” stated Auren.

  “I’m not too sure either,” replied Ethan.

  “To the line,” declared the judge.

  “Oh, a stupid little girl eh?” snarled Marcus. “Don’t you have some dollies to play with?” he taunted.

  “Begin,” yelled the judge.

  Marcus immediately lunged forward and with all his might brought his sword down toward Availia’s face. She lost her balance and was barely able to move out of the way, but avoided the blow. Marcus, however, was not impressed. He started to toy with her. He lunged forward a bit with his sword, missing on purpose to try and get a rise from the crowd. As soon as he took his eyes off her, Availia stepped forward, tapped his sword down with hers, and smacked the side of his face with her sword while giving out a yell. Crack!

  “Two points! Fatal blow.”

  Marcus bent over holding his ear, but quickly recovered and stood tall again. He seemed enraged and spat on the ground.

  “Stupid girl, you should’ve stayed home with your dollies,” he sneered, trying to get a reaction out of Availia, who remained silent.

  Availia was studying Marcus’ every move. Ethan guessed she was looking for a weakness, or simply hoping to get through the match without getting pummeled. And because Marcus was the returning champion, Ethan knew Availia had to perform her sword techniques perfectly in order to stand a chance.

  “To the line … begin!”

  Availia waited for Marcus to make the first move, and he did. He used his reach and lunged forward, hitting Availia square in the chest. Crack!

  “Fatal blow, two points!” As the judge yelled, Ethan noticed a couple standing beside the ring, watching intently. One looked like a much taller version of Availia, whom Ethan recognized as her mother. The parents looked very concerned for their daughter. After Availia absorbed the strike to the chest, her mother covered her face to avoid watching the display of brutality, whereupon she was comforted by her husband.

  Availia regained her position and stepped forward to the line. She looked determined to beat Marcus and steadied her hands on the sword handle. The match was now drawing a fairly large crowd. Marcus, noticing the people gathering around the ring, stopped his barrage of insults in favor of concentrating on winning the match. He took a new stance and held the sword behind his back. He held it with his right hand so the blade ran up the middle of his back, but was hidden from Availia’s
view. Availia did not know what to make of the new stance and appeared to be ready to attack this time.

  “To the line … begin!”

  Availia immediately hopped forward and drove her sword straight toward Marcus’ undefended face. It was too late. Marcus stepped to the side, spun around, whipped his sword around and engraved Availia’s back, making a loud thumping sound.

  Availia let out a gasp of air as she was hit, and fell to her knees. Marcus walked by her and paused. “Stupid little girl,” he spat.

  “Fatal blow, two points — winner, Marcus Grenwise,” bellowed the judge.

  Auren began to move toward Marcus to give him a piece of his mind, but Ethan grabbed his arm and held him in place as Availia’s parents went into the ring to help up their now-crying daughter.

  “What a jerk! Can you believe that guy? I mean really,” Auren started yelling, which was drawing attention to himself.

  “Yeah, he is a piece of work alright. I see why you entered,” said Ethan.

  “Yeah, but I may have to wait all day to get a chance to fight him — hope I can last that long, there are some pretty big thirteen-year-olds here. Almost like they keep getting’ bigger every year,” replied Auren as a much larger boy walked by wearing a leather vest and cap.

  “Oy — you there!” yelled Auren. The boy turned around and stared Auren in the face. “Are you in this competition? You can’t be thirteen.”

  “Only twelve,” replied the enormous boy as he turned and began to walk away.

  “You see what I mean?” asked Auren, now looking at Ethan again. “I mean, what are they feeding these kids?”

  “Don’t know — probably best to focus on one match at a time though,” replied Ethan.

  “Good idea, hey — you should be my coach!” exclaimed Auren.

  “Yeah, I can do that,” replied Ethan, smiling. “You’d best be ready for them to call you up again — looks like they are trying to get these matches completed as fast as possible. The registration lady said there were too many kids and it would run into the night. Then again, it’ll probably be much later before you get paired up with Marcus.”

  Auren started to answer Ethan but was cut off by the announcer. “Would Auren Faryndon and Marcus Grenwise report for a match.”

  A sick feeling came over Auren, and his face turned pale. He looked as if his stomach had just balled up and was going to come out of his mouth.

  “Or maybe you’ll get to fight him right away,” said Ethan.

  Chapter 4

  A Sore End

  Knots were swirling and churning in the stomach of Auren Faryndon. His lips felt dry, his face was pale, and sweat rolled off his forehead. Auren picked up his helmet; the twitter of his nervous hands clumsily pulled it down atop his head.

  “Strong as a bear, heart of a lion … strong as a bear, heart of a lion,” whispered Auren to himself.

  “Oh, you’ll be alright, Auren, you’re much bigger than him — think of how he treated Availia.”

  The color started returning to Auren’s face. “You’re right. I just need to relax so I can beat last year’s returning champion, that’s all then. Oh, why did I sign up for this again?”

  But just then, Ethan heard a commotion over at the registration desk. It was Marcus.

  “What do you mean I have to fight? I just got out of a match!” yelled Marcus to the besieged young lady. “This is so stupid — you wouldn’t know how to run a …” but Marcus stopped himself as he noticed Ethan and Auren staring at him. “Fine, I don’t need a rest anyway … to beat a big idiot like him!” He grabbed his sword and headed for the ring with his followers right behind him.

  Ethan looked back at Auren and gave him a pat on the back. “Well, let’s get on with it then … be precise — choose your spot and attack,” encouraged Ethan as he gave Auren a thumbs up.

  “Yeah … sure,” answered Auren as he nervously stepped into the ring.

  Ethan handed Auren his sword, and Strahlung’s strongest champion strutted his way to the center of the ring.

  “To the line.”

  Marcus stepped up to the line followed by Auren. “Not sure what all the gossip is about — you look like a big dumb oaf to me,” taunted Marcus.

  “I wonder, Marcus, did your rich parents pay those kids to follow you around all day?” replied Auren sharply.

  The face of Marcus Grenwise turned three shades of red as anger filled his eyes. “I’ll teach you, Auren….”

  “Begin!” yelled the judge.

  Both boys lunged forward. Auren brought his sword above his head and swung wildly as if to cut Marcus in half. Marcus stepped to the side, making Auren hit nothing but air. Auren’s sword hit the ground, leaving him bent over. Marcus flicked his sword up and hit Auren full in the nose with a loud CRACK! Blood trickled out from Auren’s nose and he held it shut with one hand, while trying to swing his sword with the other.

  “Hold! Unnecessary contact, no points will be awarded.”

  Auren wiped his bloody nose on the sleeve of his shirt, leaving a large stain on the already dingy material. He regained his composure and stepped back to the line.

  “How did that feel, you dumb oaf — not so strong now are you?” taunted Marcus.

  “Ignore him, Auren!” yelled Ethan. “Be patient and wait for an opening!”

  Auren nodded and got into position as Marcus continued to mock him. “Yeah, Auren, ignore him, you’re too big and stupid to use your brain when you fight.”

  “Begin!”

  This time Auren did not attack, letting Marcus jump forward. He wound up and swung for Auren’s head, but Auren ducked, avoiding the swing. Marcus was now turned around, exposing his back. Auren took this opportunity to take a very hard swing, hitting Marcus square on the backside. The bully dropped his sword and reached around to hold his bottom, giving out a loud yelp.

  “Unnecessary contact! No points!” yelled the judge.

  The crowd was now laughing hysterically as last year’s champion rubbed his stinging backside. Embarrassed, Marcus quickly snatched his sword from the ground and approached the line.

  “I just wanted to show you what I thought of you,” said Auren, chuckling. “What’s the matter? Nothing to say?”

  As Auren egged him on, Marcus went from embarrassed to angry. Auren got back in a ready stance and waited for the judge’s signal.

  “To the line, begin!”

  The boys charged, swinging wildly, landing multiple strikes upon each other. The judge was not at all impressed and yelled for the boys to stop, but they did not. Crack! Marcus swung and landed a blow to Auren’s shoulder; he ignored the sting and swung wildly back, hitting Marcus in the chest with a loud thump!

  “That’s enough!” yelled the judge.

  Auren raised his sword again and swung hard at Marcus. He blocked the attack and the force broke Auren’s sword in half. Crack!

  “Unnecessary, unnecessary, unnecessary!” yelled the judge.

  The boys backed off from each other. Both red-faced and gasping for breath, they turned to face the judge.

  “YOU TWO — WHAT KIND OF CONTEST DO YOU …” The judge was livid. His face was turning red and he seemed to be at a loss for words.

  Auren looked over at Ethan with his chest still heaving in and out from being winded. He shrugged his shoulders and looked back at the judge who was now arguing with another official. The unknown official leaned in and whispered something in the judge’s ear that appeared to be well received. He nodded and faced the boys to address them.

  “Auren Faryndon is to be disqualified and Marcus Grenwise will move on to the next round,” announced the judge.

  “What?” Auren lost his cool and started yelling. “What is this all about?” He started to approach the judge as Marcus and his followers started cheering.

  Ethan began to run into the ring. Annoyed, Loki jumped off his shoulder and leaped on top of a small barrel sitting near the ring. Ethan ran to Auren and grabbed him by the leather vest. “Let it go
— you accomplished what you set out to do, let’s just go,” said Ethan as he got between Auren and the judge.

  Auren realized what he was doing and tossed what was left of the broken sword on the ground. He turned and walked away, followed by Ethan.

  “What a crock,” protested Auren.

  “Yeah, but you sure showed him — I mean, giving him a public spanking like that was genius!” exclaimed Ethan, smiling as he picked up Loki and started moving through the crowd.

  “It was, wasn’t it?” gloated Auren. “Hey, did you see that spin move I did?”

  Ethan had still not seen this mysterious spin move. “Do we have to do this again? There was absolutely no spin move!”

  Ethan, Auren and Loki left the large stone walls of Whitehaven behind and headed back to Strahlung. Ethan didn’t care who won the contest. Even if Auren didn’t get the best of last year’s champion, Marcus seemed to do a good job of making a fool of himself. This brought great satisfaction to Ethan as he walked down the path that led to Auren’s house.

  “So what are you up to tonight?” asked Auren as they walked.

  “Ah, I have to head home and talk to Odin, then it’s off to serve my punishment for …” but Ethan was cut off by Auren’s gloating.

  “Ha! Told ya — knew you would get into trouble for the alchemist bit!”

  Ethan took the gloating in stride. “Yeah, I don’t mind it so much, just gotta go help Wegnel collect herbs or something.”

  “Wait, you gotta go back?” crowed Auren. “This just keeps getting better and better.”

  “Yeah yeah,” muttered Ethan. “Well then, see you tomorrow,” he added as they reached Auren’s house.

  “Right, have fun with loony, I mean … Wegnel the Alchemist,” winked Auren as he turned and headed for home.

  Chapter 5

  Dendrobates Azureus

  As Ethan skipped up the wooden staircase, he thought of what he would like to say to Odin. He knew he wanted to apologize for spouting off like he had. He thought about how much he looked up to Odin, considering him to be like family. As he walked into the study, he found Odin curled up with a blanket in front of the fireplace in his favorite chair, sleeping.