The Keys to Ascension

by Dilland Doe

  I don’t know how! Finio gazed into the blue pot at the little chinchilla curled inside. He glanced up at the fight. Kwitty’s powers, on! He stared at Kericles, waiting for power to surge through himself and then into his cousin, but nothing happened.

  Kericles held one hammer angled in front of him, the other over his shoulder, ready to swing. His brother still held the poleaxe over his shoulder. Striding toward Arcadius, Kericles swung his hammer toward his brother’s head.

  Arcadius leapt back and heaved his huge weapon downward. The momentum from Kericles’s strike carried him forward, he started adjusting to dodge the blunt metal screaming toward him, but it came too fast. A massive thud exploded from Kericles’s shoulder. He slammed into the ground.

  Stepping to the side, Arcadius recocked his weapon over his shoulder, then swung toward his brother’s back.

  “Kwitty. How do I use your power!?”

  “I don’t know. No one has ever done it before. My power’s open to you, but I don’t know how you actually access it.”

  Kericles rolled to the side as the massive poleaxe exploded a hole of dirt. The younger brother leapt to his feet and instantly charged, swinging his hammers like mad.

  “What!? I have no idea either!” Finio mentally willed speed into his cousin, but again, nothing happened.

  Arcadius backpedaled, using both ends of his poleaxe to deflect the hammers. A hammer flew toward his left. He caught the blow with the stave, but didn’t quickly angle his weapon to the right to block the next attack as he had been doing. He stepped to the left and pushed the left side of his weapon forward in a turn, while his brother advanced. Kericles’s swinging hammer hit air as the turning stave knocked the other hammer aside and came around Kericles, dinking his helmet from behind.

  Kericles staggered forward. From the rear, his brother jabbed with the butt of his weapon, hitting Kericles’s back. He staggered even harder, just barley finding his footing. Still facing his brother’s back, Arcadius followed up with a downward swing toward the head.

  Finio yelled, “C’mon! Haven’t you seen wizards practice at the market? Maybe with high beings they may buy?”

  Kericles leapt to the side, spinning in the air as the poleaxe swung down in his stead. He landed in a few steps, facing his brother. They both stared each other down while standing in fighting poses.

  “Well,” Kwitty said, “yeah. They sometimes just close their eyes. Other times they make a lot of different noises, and then when one noise seems to work, they keep making it and use the high being’s power.”

  Jerking his head back, Finio said, “There are infinite noises I could make. I don’t know which one works!”

  Arcadius swung his weapon down at an angle. Kericles jumped backward, then stepped into the weapon’s stead, toward his brother. But the poleaxe didn’t carry through into the ground, the attack had been pulled. The weapon halted next to Kericles’s waist, then the axe lifted behind his neck. The younger brother had both arms up ready to strike the older, but Arcadius leapt backwards while yanking the axe toward him. It caught Kericles’s neck and yanked him to the ground. His head bounced before smashing downwards again.

  “No!” Finio put the pot down, and stepped toward the fight.

  Arcadius kneeled in front of his brother, whose hands lay on his hammers, but were not gripping them. Arcadius placed his weapon on the ground, grabbed both hammers, and tossed them behind him. He then unlatched Kericles’s helmet, stood with it in his hand, and hurled it into the stands.

  As the younger brother moaned, Arcadius strode to his weapon rack, then lifted a huge two-handed sword. “Get up, Kericles. This fight isn’t over yet.”

  Finio took another step forward, yelling, “Hey!” But he stopped approaching, afraid that sword could be swung toward him.

  He yelled back toward the pot. “Kwitty, c’mon! We paid one-hundred drachs for you!”

  “Dumb. The shopkeeper was offering me for twenty.”

  “Why didn’t you say anything!?”

  “Hey, we weren’t partners yet.”

  Kericles pushed himself up with two hands as his brother approached him. Kericles staggered toward his hammers and picked them up. He breathed deeply while his brother swung underhanded from below, toward his face!

  Kericles jerked his head backward, the sword buzzed by his nose. He jabbed forward with both hammers. Arcadius stepped to the side with his sword above his head, then then brought the blade downward. Kericles ducked forward. As the sword whizzed above and behind his little brother, Arcadius kicked him in the butt, forcing Kericles to stumble.

  Arcadius followed right behind him and swung the blade toward his opponent’s head. Kericles turned around screaming, the blade being only an inch from his face by the time he saw it.

  Finio screamed from the depths of his belly in a voice that came out like a deep growl as his emotions slammed through his face. “Nooooo!”

  It felt like a concentrated light flashed within him, zoomed through the air, and into Kericles, who ducked the attack with inhuman speed then leapt backwards, flashing into a fighting pose before coming at his brother.

  Kericles’s hammers blurred through the air like they were swung by a demon. Somehow Arcadius deflected the blows as he backpedaled. Kericles kept coming from the left and the right, throwing jabs, hooks, and upper cuts with his hammers. Arcadius blocked and sometimes sidestepped away from the strikes, but had no time to counter.

  The Divinity, Arcadius is good.

  Finio concentrated to maintain the invisible light that sped up his ally. He didn’t know how he made the connection, but once it was made, he found it easy to maintain.

  Suddenly, Arcadius let go of his sword with his left hand. He blocked a hammer coming toward his right while jabbing his gauntleted hand toward his brother’s face. Kericles’s unblocked hammer sung toward Arcadius’s head as the older brother angled up his left shoulder while punching.

  The punch connected, jerking Kericles’s head back as blood flew. The hammer dinked into Arcadius’s shoulder. Kericles went down. Arcadius stood above him. He threw his sword to the side, then reached up and took off his helmet.

  “Ha! This is the first time you ever hurt me. My shoulder is bruised on the inside.”

  Finio ran toward his fallen friend. “The fight was supposed to be over when his helmet came off. What’s wrong with you?”

  Arcadius grinned. “Nice to see you again too, cousin.”

  Kericles breathed in loud gurgles through his own blood, which covered the bottom half of his face.

  Looking down at his younger brother, Arcadius said, “He thinks he’s ready for the torn lands? Sure, some adventurers will let you leave the territory based on arena rules, but others will go for your throat. Kericles, you and your wizard aren’t ready.” He looked at Finio, recognizing him with a nod. “At least you came into the fight eventually. I need to get myself a wizard.” He swiveled his finger in the air toward his squires. They scurried to pick up the weapons and place them on the rack as Arcadius strode out of the arena.

  Finio knelt next to his cousin. “Oh, man. Are you okay?”

  Laughing, Kericles said, “Yeah. That was awesome. I landed a blow on him. I landed a blow on Arcadius. I’m not sure anyone has done that before other than father, and that was when Arcadius was a child!”

  “I’m sorry, I still don’t know how to use the power.”

  Kericles sat up. “You figured something out. I hope you learn a lot more. Next week the Cornth nobles are coming on an official visit. They have an awesome mage, and we gotta beat them.”

  Finio lurched toward him. “I can’t compete with a trained wizard in a week!”

  Putting his armored hand on Finio’s shoulder, Kericles said, “Don’t worry, if we lose, it will just be in front of a crowd containing both kings and will bring shame upon your new house.”

  Ch. 12

  The spear thrust toward Finio’s throat. He dodged left. Air blew against his neck. Finio jab
bed his own spear, but Kericles already moved past it, his open palm covering Finio’s view. The hand froze, its sweaty smell wafting into Finio’s nostrils.

  “You’re dead,” Kericles said, “or at least severely dazed.”

  He snapped his hand and spear back, posing in a battle position. “You’ve gotten a lot better in a week. Your sport has really conditioned your reflexes. Imagine how good you’d be if you didn’t spend a third of your time with your fluffy squirrel, and the other third hanging around the markets.”

  Still holding a spear, Finio crossed his arms. “Hey, hanging around the markets made me practically fluent in Tonguelin. I just had to immerse myself to apply all my class-learned knowledge. I’m basically a local yokel!”

  “Well, you still have an accent. And wizarding progress, my great wizarding cousin?” Kericles showed goofy smile.

  “Uuuuuuh.”

  “Prince Kericles!” A man saluted from atop a hill overlooking the field they practiced in.

  Kericles saluted.

  The man snapped his arm to his side. “The Cornthians have arrived and want to know if you’ll be ready for arena battle this afternoon, or if you need a day to rest.”

  Kericles threw his head back, laughing. “I’m ready to wipe the floor with Cornthians after running a full marathon!”

  #

  No seat was empty in the oval-shaped Actian arena. The crowd sat comfortably on their benches in the temperate weather under blue skies. Finio sat in the front row with the three Actian princes and the queen. The older brothers always seemed busy, and the queen was a bit reclusive, so he had hardly seen anyone but Kericles in his stay on Actus. Next to them, sat the princes of Cornth.

  The crowd cheered as both kings, in full estra armor, raised their poleaxes to the sky.

  I’m glad Hyzantrian nobles don’t fight each other. My dad and Hibberro would be dead!

  The kings circled each other in their massive armors as sunlight glinted off the gold crowns affixed atop their helms. They held their weapons in front of them, aiming the butts at each other’s faces while holding the poleaxes three quarters of the way up to the head.

  It would be cool if noble houses had to play sedeux matches against each other. House Arrassio would be the greatest of all! Images of his dad, then his brothers passed through Finio’s mind. He smirked as he saw chubby Lizeto. His mood dropped. I hope they’re alive.

  Both kings jabbed and wiggled the ends of their poleaxes at each other’s faces. Neither reacted much.

  The strikes became more forceful and the kings dodged and parried. The Cornth sovereign lunged with a hard jab. Sannacles dodged to the right of it, then stepped toward his opponent, jabbing hard toward the center of his chest. The Cornthian twisted his body. Sannacles’s weapon buzzed the side of the armor.

  With the Cornthian king’s arms and weapon held out to the side from the twisting dodge, Sannacles used his poleaxe like a lever, putting his arms, back, and legs into the maneuver, and sweeping the rival’s legs out from under him. Then, in one fluid motion, Sannacles swung around, bringing the blunt end of the weapon flying toward his opponent.

  The king of Cornth rolled away from the smash, which blasted into the ground. He leapt to his feet, but his weapon remained where he lay. He stood with his arms in front of him, ready to evade.

  King Sannacles laughed. He tossed his own weapon to the ground, then charged the other king. “Ahhhhhhh!” He slammed into him, tackling him to the ground.

  Sannacles rained gauntleted fists on his opponent’s helm. The Cornth king frantically blocked with his hands, but too many of the fists got through, producing loud CLACKs that rang through the arena. The opponent’s movements slowed. Sannacles continued punching with his left, but with his right he dug and worked on the difficult helm latches and straps. With dexterity that only years of practices could produce, he removed them, then lifted the helm-crown of the opponent king with two hands, roaring in victory. He leapt off the man, then continued yelling to the crowd while rotating to face different parts of it.

  The king of Corinth sat up, slowly shaking his head. Then, he sneered and stood. “Ahhh!” A splattering of blod spit out his mouth. “You win again you beast of a man! Ahhhhhh!”

  Sannacles took off his helm. The two kings stared at each other and opened their mouths as far as they could go. “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” As they yelled, the blood that colored the foreign king’s teeth leaked out his mouth and dripped off his chin. “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

  They shook hands and laughed as they approached their servants, who efficiently removed the lords’ armors.

  Finio glanced at the prince him and Kericles would soon fight. He looked fit and had killer eyes, but didn’t have the muscles of Kericles.

  Next, the oldest princes fought, then the middle ones. Finio tried to watch and pay attention to their techniques, but his eyes glazed over. He couldn’t help but think of home, and what his dad would do in this situation.

  The kings seemed to only watch the fights out of the corner of their eyes while drinking and laughing.

  After exhaling air while finishing a laugh, the king of Cornth said to King Itus Sannacles. “Itus, you are the epitome of a great Citian. I just can’t understand why you tarnish the culture you exemplify by dallying with the Hyzantrians.” He glanced at the queen.

  Itus’s face went cold. He leaned toward the other man. “What?”

  The Cornthian leaned back and put his hands out, palms up. “I mean the trade negotiations. You undercut us all. That empire wants nothing but power, and it will take it if we don’t stay united. We’ve got to maximize our joint power and take on these misguided cultures. Like we did with the ice men. You remember that? I was with you; they’ll never mess with us again.”

  The kings locked eyes. Sannacles smirked. “My blades are still stained with blood.” They clinked mugs and took a swig.

  Looking at Sannacles, the other king said, “So you’ll consider ending your cooperative relationship with the enemy?”

  That smirk went straight. “When I married my wife, I entered a cooperative relationship with her people.”

  The Corinth leader’s eyes went big. “So it is because of her.”

  Sannacles shook his head. “The Hyzantrians are not our enemy. They gave me the most beautiful bride imaginable. I give them my support, not my obedience. Not my slavery. Support. We’re just talking about trade here. Antagonizing the giant empire to our east won’t make for good relations.”

  The other king spoke in heavy breaths. “Man…trade is power. That’s how they’ll start breaking us apart. That’s how they’ll divide and conquer. They’ve seduced you to treachery.”

  Sannacles’s hand snapped to the hilt of his dagger. The kings stared at one another. Those around them froze.

  The crowd cheered. The Corinth leader glanced at the arena. “Well, look. Your second son won as well. You’ve won three in a row. Let me show you that you don’t know everything. My youngest son with his wizard has never lost.”

  Sannacles relaxed, then glanced around. “Where’s your wizard?”

  #

  Kericles swung his two hammers through the air, warming up his arms. The Cornth warrior, also in full estra armor, practiced with a shield and a flanged mace. Finio made the guttural noise that gave him Kwitty’s power. In a week since he first accessed it, he hadn’t improved one bit. All he could do was increase Kericles’s speed a little.

  Finio still hadn’t seen the opponent wizard. He glanced around but saw no one that looked like a wizard.

  Screams and commotion spread through the crowd as they looked up and pointed. A man in a grey robe floated above the arena. He set down behind the opponent warrior, then smiled through his greyish-brown beard that matched his long wavy hair flowing behind him.

  That guy is in his forties…he must be a master by now.

  Kericles stepped toward Finio. “He’s not Cornthian. They pay for their magic.”

  Finio
whispered, “Mercenary.”

  The warriors lifted their weapons in the air, then approached each other.

  Finio extended Kwitty’s power through himself and into Kericles while keeping an eye on the other wizard. The man stood calm while watching the battle. He’s not even concentrating.

  Kericles attacked, wildly swinging both hammers with magic-enhanced speed. The opponent was even quicker. He deflected blows with his shield and parried them with his mace, but Kericles kept striking. Then, Kericles gave the rival an opening, who bashed his shield into Kericles’s face, knocking his head back. The Cornthian’s mace flashed from the side toward Kericles’s head for the finishing blow. Somehow Kericles ducked forward.

  The opponent rammed his shield toward Kericles’s bowed head. The Actian twirled around it and jumped to the side of his opponent. They stared at each other.

  That shield bash wasn’t just fast, it was strong… I can’t compete with this guy. He glanced at the elder wizard, who stood leaned to one side with a hand on his hip, like he was a semi-interested audience member.

  The Cornthian leapt. Finio gasped as the guy soared over Kericles’s head. The opponent twisted in the air and landed behind Kericles, who spun around just in time to deflect a blow from the mace.

  The Cornthian assaulted. Swinging his mace with speeds Kericles could hardly keep up with. Each parry slammed a hammer away. He just barely got his arms back into position to block more swings.

  Then, the Cornthian accelerated his body into a massive shield bash. It slammed Kericles’s right hammer into himself. The shield, and the momentum of the warrior, sent Kericles flying across the arena before landing hard on the ground.

  What!? How could he be so strong?

  Kericles leapt to his feet and charged the rival wizard. The mage released a quick breath of air from his mouth before shooting up in the air, a hammer swinging into his stead.