The Battlebone

by Guy Antibes

  He guessed he hadn’t seen the human side of the place, and now that he had, it made him feel better about coming here. On his way back over one of two bridges separating the residential area from the academy, Jack met Miru, his mentor.

  “Can we talk for a moment?” Miru said.

  They both leaned over the railing and watched the river flow underneath their feet.

  “You obviously found where everyone lives. It is not to be frequented by students,” Miru said.

  “I won’t return. It helped me to see families here. It makes Deep Mist more personal to me.”

  Miru smirked. “It must be a cultural thing. It would have the opposite effect on most Masukaian students. They yearn for the discipline and the uniqueness they seek.”

  “I’m reminded often enough about my uniqueness, and that includes today,” Jack said. “You have family here?”

  Miru made a more genuine smile. “I do. As you said, it makes Deep Mist a better place to be. Don’t go over anymore.”

  “I won’t,” Jack said, watching the man walk across the bridge.

  He strolled through the other buildings, consulting his map, but most of what remained were the stables and workshops that supported the village. He knew he was in the right place, but Jack had to admit, he doubted if he would ever really fit into the wizard-warrior thing.

  He expected Miru had married after his wizard-warrior days, and that was great for him. Perhaps the wizard-warriors of Masukai didn’t want to focus on the long term but on the next foray. The dinner gong sounded from the administration building. Jack looked for Grigar and found him standing in front of the dining hall.

  “Shall we go in and enlighten each other?” the older wizard said.

  “We shall,” Jack said. “I have a few rays of enlightenment.”

  “Probably more than I can share.”

  They walked through the feed line, and Jack was surprised when they were able to take a small bottle of wine.

  “I guess no alcohol before the end of the day,” Grigar said. “I think that is a good idea. Fewer accidents and more alert students.”

  Jack poured wine into one of the little cups and iced the wine before he sipped it. He made a face. “It doesn’t taste better cold,” Jack said.

  “Then I’ll drink mine at room temperature,” Grigar said. “Wizardry, wizardry, and more wizardry,” he said. “I’m in a special class after they tested me. I really don’t have any desire to mix with the young, brash men and women they recruit into the Deep Mist faction.

  “Is it a faction rather than just a place?” Jack asked.

  “I don’t know about you, but they made it clear that graduates are the elite among the Pearl Mist.”

  Jack nodded. “I had an uncomfortable discussion with Miru, my mentor.”

  “They aren’t mentors, Jack. They head their respective departments.”

  “Oh,” Jack said. He hadn’t picked that up. That meant Miru deserved more respect than he had given the Masukaian.

  “You are turning red,” Grigar said after he sipped his wine.

  “I might have acted a bit differently.”

  Grigar laughed. “They asked as many questions about you as they asked about me. I told them mostly the truth, nothing that I hadn’t heard you talk about to other Masukaians.”

  “Good. I’m getting some special attention on the wizardry side and in the strategy side. They teach warriors how to work as spies, and thieves, and assassins. I suppose wizard-warriors get the same training with magic thrown in. It appears I have had more practical experience than the rest. My biggest challenge will be in the warrior part. I am getting remedial help in hand-to-hand combat, and I haven’t had the weapons class yet. That is right after breakfast,” Jack said.

  “Wizards learn magic, but also tactics to be advisors to the rest of the Pearl Mist. Okiku is one of their most distinguished graduates.”

  Jack began to eat while Grigar gave him a detailed description of his day, then described his activities while Grigar ate.

  “I’m afraid your hill is steeper than mine,” Grigar said.

  “I’m not afraid, but I agree,” Jack said. “I’ll tell Fasher that we made it here, but I won’t give him a description of Deep Mist, not yet. The stroll on the other side of the river might have been too impulsive an act.” Jack pulled a few treats out of his pocket. “You can share in my dishonor. I bought these in a shop over there.”

  Grigar snatched the treats. “Something for an old man to console himself with in the loneliness that is Deep Mist.”

  “Are you lonely?”

  Grigar laughed. “Not at all, but it is a good act to fall back on if I want a bit of sympathy. There are some tactical advantages to being an old man, after all.”

  ~

  The others warmed up while Jack waited for the weapons instructor to gather a set of weapons for him. The man returned.

  “These should work for now. We start with swords. I assume you’ve had some training.”

  Jack nodded. “A bit in the Masukaian style. I’m not particularly fast, but I just started using the meditation technique before I left Yomomai.”

  The weapon master looked relieved. He looked at those warming up. “There are some who have only learned unarmed combat. You will fit in fine. We are still going through meditation.”

  Jack looked at the collection of weapons. The sword was well worn, but it looked well made. The same thing applied to the short sword. There was a knife and a bag of various implements. Jack peeked in. He noticed darts and throwing stars.

  “We also teach the staff and bamboo striker, but that is after everyone has a certain level of competence. It all takes a while.”

  Jack bowed to the man and unsheathed the sword. It had wonderful balance, as good as anything he had used in his Masukaian training, so far.

  “This is better than it seems,” Jack said.

  The weapon master grinned. “I am glad you told me that. All your weapons are excellent and made to look worn and older.”

  Jack examined the edge. The edge was perfect, but there were plenty of scratches on the sides. Looked at closely, he could tell the weapon was new. He didn’t doubt the weapon master's words, but it all seemed strange. Tanner had taught him that good used weapons were better than lousy new ones, but this was taken to the extreme.

  The weapon master gathered everyone for a session of meditation. Jack joined in and quickly found himself standing in Eldora’s woods with his new sword going through forms.

  “I enjoy seeing you practice,” a familiar voice said from behind Jack.

  “Eldora. Is this a visitation?” Jack asked, turning around and bowing to the goddess.

  “I see you’ve learned a few manners since the last time we met. I’m here for a friendly visit. Not many humans have been here, and you are the first to come here without an invitation. Would you like to do your meditation work with me?”

  “Sure,” Jack said.

  Eldora was quicker with her sword forms than Jack could ever think of being, but she showed him a few tricks that he hadn’t seen before.

  Jack had had enough. “I thought I was in a place in my mind. I didn’t mean to intrude.”

  Eldora smiled. “Don’t bother. If you ever need me, just call my name, and I will appear.” She touched the outline of Jack’s jaw. “You are a special human to me,” she said, “but I can see you must get back to your work.”

  She disappeared, and Jack looked around to see where she went, but she had teleported to some other place in her own little world, he guessed. But then he laughed. He must have fallen asleep. This was obviously a dream. He opened his eyes. Others were still meditating.

  Most of them twitched their muscles, an echo of their movements. Jack wondered if he did that. He got to his feet and noticed the eyes of the weapon master upon him.

  “Did you meditate?” the man asked.

  “I did, but maybe a little too well,” Jack said. “I think I dreamed, but I got a goo
d workout.” Jack felt like he had a good physical workout. “Do I move when I do the mental exercises?”

  “Not this time anyway. I’ve only seen you do this once. Care to show me what you’ve got?”

  Jack smiled. “I’m not the best,” he said, “but not the worst.”

  “The worst won’t be a wizard-warrior.”

  “No practice swords?”

  “Not for Deep Mist. You learn quickly to respect the blade when it is naked,” the weapon master said.

  Jack had learned with a naked blade, to put it like the weapon master had. He assumed a Masukaian address and stood there.

  “Well?” The man said. “You attacked me.”

  Jack shrugged and resumed his address and held the sword in a two-handed grip above his head and slashed down at the weapon master. The man backed up two steps with his sword held horizontally while Jack thrust and caught the man’s own downward slash with the blunt side of his sword.

  The weapon master began to speed up, so Jack fell back into the rhythm of his meditation and reacted to his opponent’s actions the way he had originally intended. They sparred for a few more moments, and his instructor backed away, giving Jack a bow.

  Jack looked at the rest of the class. Some were gawking at the student and his teacher.

  “He is a little rough, but he has figured out how to increase his speed. A few of you can do what he has, but all of you will master the technique before you progress. Do some sparring, while I get the boy up to speed.”

  Jack wondered when he wouldn’t be called a boy, now that he was twenty, but he guessed that he must look younger. The weapon master took Jack back out of the training hall.

  “I’ve never seen a candidate get faster after meditating. Generally, students will come out of a trance fast, but they lose speed. How did you do it?”

  “I recall the forms that I practiced. I’m always in the same place when I meditate. Maybe that is why.”

  “What kind of place?”

  “I met a woman there, originally. It wasn’t a romantic encounter, but she gave me an errand to do. I never forgot the beauty of the place, so that is my meditation spot.”

  “Excellent,” the weapon master said. “When we start out meditating tomorrow, I want you to pick out the candidate who is moving the most and help them get deeper. The more a student moves, the slower they are moving when meditating.”

  Jack could understand that. “How rough was I?”

  The weapon master smiled. “You would last a few moments fighting a wizard-warrior. Most of the candidates wouldn’t survive that long, but I haven’t had a student not make the kind of improvement they need while at Deep Mist. It is time to return.”

  The session ended, and Jack went back to his room to wash up before the next class. He removed his bracers, thinking about his dream encounter with Eldora and looked down at the kiss mark on his wrist. The lower lip was now blue. He scrubbed and scrubbed, but it remained blue.

  Jack sat down on his bed when he returned from the washroom staring at the thing and groaned. If he had dreamed, Eldora really did visit him. He wasn’t really uncomfortable after his last two visitations, but he had invaded her world, and she let him. Unbelievable!

  Chapter Nineteen

  ~

  J ack improved along with the rest. With two months of intense practice, he was sparring at a much higher level. There were plenty of candidates ahead of him, but even so, he had exceeded his own expectations.

  Eldora hadn’t visited him again, so Jack had become more comfortable when he meditated. The weapon master reduced the sword drills so the group could start on other weapons.

  Few candidates had much experience with thrown weapons, but Jack seemed to be more than competent since he had played darts at the Raker Falls pubs. Although his experience was limited in Masukai, as far as he could tell, the citizens didn’t play darts.

  He experimented moving darts and throwing stars with his magic, and the weapon master caught him.

  “Getting ahead of things?” The man said. “You’ll have a full class on what you are doing, but I’m not so sure you need to be taught how to steer objects.”

  “I learned to guide wizard bolts, so this isn’t much different. I’m not as good with arrows. It might be the speed of flight,” Jack said, “but I don’t know since it might be my technique.”

  “Keep it up, Sakoru Sinda,” the weapon master said.

  Jack had more work in learning how to become competent with weapons, but he was also learning more about spells. The Masukai didn’t classify spells into Five Manipulations. The magic was the same in that there was a projection of will and then a trigger word, but there was more emphasis on the mental aspects of magic rather than the physical, which was where Corandian magic started.

  Jack found that his magic worked better with Corandian trigger words, and Grigar, who now attended his afternoon magic classes, discovered that Lajian words created more potent spells. The older wizard was learning how to pronounce trigger words in his home tongue under his breath.

  Jack made much more progress than the other classmates, but he suspected Grigar, by far the oldest member of the group, was holding back. When the class ended one day, Jack asked him about that.

  “You are purposely keeping your power down,” Jack said.

  “I am, and you should too. I’m glad you brought it up first. It is always better to have people underestimate you. That is a lesson you have to learn over and over. Sometimes you do it well, and other times you are nearly showing off.”

  “Me?” Jack scratched his head. “Obviously I haven’t tried well enough, but I’ll watch it from here on.”

  “When you are among strangers, and they don’t get any stranger than Masukaians, keep your powers to a minimum. If you surprise them when we seek the Battlebone, then you do, but that is when we will need to work hard to seize the object of power.”

  Jack scowled. “Whenever we finish this training. We’ve already been in Masukai for nearly a year.”

  Grigar laughed. “Has it been that bad? I’m learning new things every day, and so are you.”

  “Don’t you already know the magic and the spells?”

  “I’m sure you’ve noticed the Masukaians employ a different magical philosophy than we do in the northern countries. I thought the world revolved around the Five Manipulations, but it doesn’t. Just soak it all in. Soaking in doesn’t mean showing off.”

  “I can’t change my personality, though,” Jack said.

  “Modifying it will work just as well.” Grigar put his hand on Jack’s shoulder. The little man had to reach up to do it. “Do your best. If you try to become a Masukaian in all ways, you will fail, as would I.”

  “You don’t have to worry about that,” Jack said.

  “I don’t think I do,” Grigar said with a smile.

  ~

  After ten months of Deep Mist training, Grigar and Jack were summoned to the square in front of the administration building. Miru and Seki, their mentors, stood together talking about something. Their conversation abruptly ended when they arrived.

  “I have tests for both of you,” Miru said. “Most candidates arrive at Deep Mist less prepared than either of you. They will not be ready for their tests for another two months, and then they will start their second-level training. Not all of them survive the tests.”

  “What kind of test is it?” Grigar asked.

  “You are sent on a mission to one of the steppe villages. The missions vary depending on the student. It is usually a two or three day trip. Grigar will go first in an hour, and then Jack will leave on a different test two hours later. Prepare yourselves. Return here when your time arrives.

  Jack and Grigar walked to their dormitory building.

  “I will make a healing rod and an energy rod for you,” Jack said. “You can slip those easily into whatever you take. Make sure you wear your anti-coercion charm.”

  “That is just good preparation,” Grigar said. “I
can work on you when you get back, but I am sure your test will be more dangerous than mine since you have trained to be a wizard-warrior.”

  “I hadn’t thought of it that way, but I would be prepared for anything,” Jack said. He ran ahead to charge up simple wooden rods that he had brought along. That would have to be done before he put his own things together.

  Jack ran down to Grigar’s room to deliver the rods, but the older wizard had already left. Something wasn’t right about the room, Jack thought. Grigar was neater than the room showed. Jack looked closely at the floor and saw a few fresh nicks here and there in the wood. Grigar had been abducted.

  He was tempted to find out where Grigar had been taken. He rushed to where they were to meet their mentor. Miru sat on the steps leading up to the administration building.

  “Someone has taken Grigar,” Jack said. “I’d like your permission to find out where he is.”

  “You found that he was taken before he was even supposed to meet me. That is a promising start. Your mission is to find him and bring him back safely,” Zeki said.

  “What can I take with me?”

  Jack didn’t like Miru’s smile. “Whatever you have. All I will tell you is that Grigar is already out of Deep Mist.

  Jack nodded. “I am on foot?”

  Miru smiled. “Still up to your test?”

  “I don’t care if I pass the test or not,” Jack said, “I will need a few things from the dormitory.”

  “The later you leave, the longer it will take to retrieve him.”

  Jack nodded and ran to his room to fetch his bracers and his Masukaian weapons. He put on the boots he wore to Deep Mist and retrieved his rods from Grigar’s room. Jack looked around the older wizard’s room a bit more and found that Grigar had been allowed to take a few things that appeared to be missing, so the abduction was staged.

  There didn’t seem to be any rules, and that was fine with Jack. He had tools at his disposal that others might not have. Alone, he could teleport wherever he wanted without a problem, and once he located Grigar, the two of them could teleport to Deep Mist much quicker than any pursuit.