by Simon Archer
We had suspended all council meetings until I was properly introduced to court, so that was at least something off my plate. Nevertheless, my days were filled, and I found I had little time to myself. Luckily, I got to see Alona and Bailey-Sue at the Zoo, and Rebekah for some magic training, and the clan joined me when I painted… but I missed Diana.
The training sessions for the tournament had replaced our one-on-one sessions, and I rarely saw her otherwise. The evenings that I normally would have shared with her or Rebekah were interrupted, too, because of my chess dates with Atlus. I thought she would have reached out by letter or sought me out in the Marked Woods. Rebekah did a couple of times, times I cherished.
Instead, the entire week passed without any sort of contact from Diana.
I wondered if this was the Insomier version of ghosting and decided that I would take the initiative after the tournament was over. After all, I could argue with King Atlus that I deserved the night off after my impending victory.
It was no surprise to anyone that I continued to excel at combat training. Alexie still gave me a run for my money, but the other inductees had nothing on me. I could knock them down within ninety seconds, and that was if I was feeling merciful.
Most of the time, I helped train them alongside Alexie. I corrected their moves, made suggestions, and led stretches. Between Maria, Eamon, Razia, and Kadir, it was going to be a worthwhile tournament.
The worst part was going to be Emerald. She never won a match. Oftentimes, it only took one blow to knock her down and out. She took too long to get up and was too slow to make contact with any of her opponents. Every spar was uncomfortable for everyone involved: Em, whoever was fighting her, and whoever watched.
Whether she liked it or not, we all went easy on Em. Despite the fact that we always knocked her down, we did it as gently but convincingly as we could. There was no need to use excessive force when a stiff wind would do.
I knew Maria felt the same as I did about wanting to say something to Madame Lilysmyth or even Atlus himself. I saw him every night. I could have easily mentioned it to him. But Maria’s words rang in my head, heading me off like a brick wall, every time I resolved to say something to the king about his cousin.
“It is her choice, Martin. You have no right to make it for her.”
If I respected Em at all, I had to let her fight her own fight. Or rather, lose her own fight.
The morning before the tournament, our last training as a group was met with an unwelcome surprise as Alexie explained the run of events.
“It will be a single-elimination tournament,” Alexie said.
We were sitting in a line on the short grass of the training ground, having just finished our last sets of sparring. Alexie paced in front of us, with her hands clasped behind her, as she had on that first day two weeks ago.
“There will be thirty-two competitors,” she continued, but I interjected before she could go on.
“Hang on,” I said, holding up a hand but not waiting for her to call on me. “Thirty-two? I thought we would only be competing against each other.”
“You would like that, wouldn’t you, Martin?” Alexie taunted with a smirk. “But no. That would be a rather boring tournament for the court to watch. In addition to the six of you, there will be twenty-six other competitors. You will not know who they are until the day of.”
No one seemed surprised by this except me. I glanced about my fellow inductees, annoyed. None of them thought to mention this beforehand? Maybe they thought I knew, but Maria and Em at least knew I was woefully ignorant of the entire process. It would have been nice for them to drop a hint or two.
“You must rank in at least the top ten to be accepted into the next phase of the introduction,” Alexie informed us.
I liked my odds, but my initial shock was for Em. There was no way she was going to have any chance of making the top ten, not with her track record. I tried to glance over to her and catch her eye, but the young girl’s gaze remained firmly on Alexie, who continued to move back and forth in front of us.
“I suggest you all eat a light breakfast and get lots of rest,” Alexie advised. “It will be a long morning for you all.”
Without ceremony, we were excused. I remained sitting on the grass for a while longer than the rest of my group. I couldn’t get the new information out of my head, my heart aching for Em and her inevitable chances of failure.
Seeing me still sitting on the ground, Em approached in her chair with a weary smile on her face.
“Don’t tell me you are nervous, Martin,” she teased, lifting her hand to knock my shoulder lightly. “It should be great fun, and you have nothing to worry about.”
“Please let me say something,” I pleaded with Em, my voice softer and deeper than her own light and airy tone. “You and I both know this is ludicrous.”
A gaunt expression haunted Em’s face. “I will not ask for special privilege, Martin, I cannot.”
“You can’t tell me that it’s going to be less embarrassing to opt-out than it will be to get your ass handed to you and not even put up a fight,” I argued.
But Em didn’t seem to hear me. Her stubbornness and pride wouldn’t let up.
“I need to at least try to compete,” she continued. She looked out onto the grounds as she said this. Her eyes fixed on the painted circle of grass that marked the arena for tomorrow’s spectacle. “If I do not, a forfeit means an automatic denial onto the rest of the introduction process.”
“Is that the reason you haven’t been introduced to court yet?” I asked, looking at her even though she didn’t look at me. “You’re almost the same age as me. According to tradition, you should have done it years ago.”
“I was always too sick,” Em admitted. “It was not until recently that I could even leave my room or this damned chair.” Em hit it with the palm of her hand. The smack rang out across the courtyard.
“It’s practically impossible, Em,” I warned her. I kept my voice soft, like telling a child that her pet fish had died. This was so much more difficult because this was not practically impossible but truly unobtainable.
“You don’t think I know that?” Emerald shouted at me. She finally faced me with an anger that I hadn’t ever seen from her. It burned behind teary eyes and flushed her cheeks with a wicked red. “You don’t think I dwell on the unfairness of it all, day and night? That I don’t wake up with nightmares about the humiliation or the pain I am bound to experience tomorrow.”
The young woman then straightened herself and wiped her runny nose with the back of her hand. She reseated herself as if adjusting her posture on a throne.
“I simply want a chance,” Em said, once again gazing out onto the training grounds. “I will do what is necessary to be properly introduced to court. You are wasting your breath, Martin, trying to convince me otherwise.”
The noblewoman wheeled off. She spun her back to me and didn’t look back. I watched her go with a sense of dread and shame I couldn’t quite shake.
I closed my eyes and debated further with myself. Again, Maria’s warning about choice rang out, now in harmony with Em’s plea for a chance. Despite whatever chance she thought she was being given, it was an unfair one. Anger burned in my stomach at the cruelty of the act and frustration at the people who put the whole thing in place.
I knew I had to get off the ground and do something to distract myself before defying my friend’s wishes and doing something drastic and regrettable. Still, I couldn’t shake the headache that this whole dilemma caused.
“Ffamran?” I paged on the chance that the dragon was otherwise unoccupied.
“Hello, Martin,” Ffamran replied, a sleepy but satisfied tone underlying his words. “It is wonderful to hear from you so early in the day.”
“Did I wake you?” I asked. “I didn’t mean to.”
“Oh no,” Ffamran assured me. “I was enjoying a lounge in the sun is all. It is mighty comfortable over here. Would you like to join me?”
“Wonderful,” Ffamran said. “As long as I can stay in the sun when I listen, I am all ears.”
I made my way to the gardens and found Ffamran outstretched in nearly the dead center by the largest fountain. He looked ridiculous and severely out of place as he laid languidly along his back, exposing his underbelly to the morning sun. His violet scales glinted almost blue in the natural light, and his hair fanned about his face on the ground like a headdress. The dragon’s eyes were closed, and he had the widest, closed-mouth smile I’d ever seen, a sign of true bliss.
As I watched my merkin literally soak up the morning, I decided against unleashing all my woes about the tournament, Em, and the kingdom as a whole. He was so peaceful, lying as he was, and I didn’t have it in me to interrupt him just then. So I spun on my heel and started back for the walled court when Ffamran called out to me, with his eyes still closed.
“I cleared a spot for you, Martin.” Ffamran rolled onto his side and patted a patch of slim glass right next to his stomach. “It was time for me to turn, anyway.”
I shuffled forward and crouched beneath my massive dragon. I fell back against his scales, dipped in an intense warmth from the sun, and pulled my knees up to my chest. I pressed my eye sockets into my kneecaps and sighed heavily.
“Martin,” Ffamran pried in my mind, “what is troubling you?”
“Why does this kingdom matter?” I asked, digging deep into the roots of my concerns.
“What do you mean?” Ffamran asked, intrigued but not pressing.
“Why am I working so hard to save them?” I was grateful for our mental link, so I didn’t have to say these doubts aloud. It made them less scary and easier to talk about when I didn’t have to vocalize them. “I don’t even like most of this court and their stupid way of doing things.”
“It is not only the court we are trying to save,” Ffamran reminded me.
“I know that,” I whined, “but they are a huge part of it. They run the damn kingdom, but they’re just so ridiculous.”
“How so?”
I lifted my head up, removing my eyes from my knees, and looked out onto the castle wall. It contained the very court I was complaining about, and my anger surged at the sight of it.
“The court of Insomier is so stuck in their ways that they won’t make allowances for those different from themselves,” I ranted, throwing my hands up in the air. “Diana and Alona are both bright, strong, and capable young women who would have excelled at the introduction, but they were denied a shot because of their birthright. Emerald, who is of their noble lineage, was given a shot but sequestered because of her limited physical abilities.”
“I understand your frustration, Martin, I do,” Ffamran sympathized, “but you cannot give up on everyone. You cannot let the acts of a few outweigh the many.”
“Sure,” I said. “Logically, that all makes sense. I just hate that I have to play right into all of it. The entire concept is archaic.”
“Which concept?” Ffamran asked, sincerely.
“Really, all of it is,” I said with exasperation. “Specifically, I meant the ‘introduction to court’ thing. I want to not compete out of protest for all those who never get the chance for the so-called honor of being introduced to court. It’s right up there with beauty pageants and college sports in terms of outdated ideals and overall corruption.”
“I do not know what those things are, but I believe you,” Ffamran said as he curled his tail around me like a hug. “While it is admirable that you want to forfeit your space in the tournament for those less fortunate, you have to think about bonding with the council and getting their approval.”
“But why?” I popped up to my feet with frustration. “Why do I have to play nice with them? Why do I have to do what they say? Especially when it is wrong. It makes me so frustrated that I have to jump through their hoops, for what? So they can permit me to save their asses?”
I opened and closed my hands like I was trying to shake something sticky off them. I jumped up and down and spun in a circle. Nervous energy made my skin feel tight and prickly,
“Martin…” Ffamran began, his voice tempered and even.
“Don’t,” I said sharply as I pointed at him. “I know what I have to do. I know that I have to compete, but I don’t have to like it. I don’t have to agree with any of it.”
“No.” Ffamran drew out the word, almost like a warning. “You do not have to agree. I suggest you take some of that hyper energy and channel it into the fight tomorrow. You play the game, adhere to their traditions, and then extend the court some grace.”
That made me stop and check myself. I stilled and held my arms tight at my side. I took a deep breath, letting my chest rise and fall. After another breath, a warm swirl started at the center of my chest and spiraled out. It vibrated against my ribs, and a calm clouded my mind.
“You need to realize that this court is scared,” Ffamran explained, gentle and kind. “Sometimes, when we are afraid, we fall back on tradition and habit just to have something solid to hold on to. This introduction ceremony is one of those things. Let the court get through this, and then maybe you can convince them to make some changes.”
Ffamran’s words heated that warm coil as it stirred. I could almost feel the bond between me and Ninji tug and tighten, as he mentioned grace and understanding in the face of fear.
The dragon tapped my chest with his snout. I teetered back a little but smiled all the same. He lifted his chin in a small nod and returned my smile with a bright one, full of cheek and teeth.
“You are going to be great tomorrow,” Ffamran encouraged. “I admire your passion and your sense of justice, and I believe there is room for change here. So, let’s tackle one change and then the next and then the next, yes?”
Ffamran bent his head so the top of his head touched my forehead. I grabbed the sides of his face and closed my eyes.
“I am here for you,” Ffamran reminded me. “I am always here for you, and we will get through this together. Don’t you forget that.”
“Will you come to watch tomorrow?” I asked weakly.
Ffamran released a chuckle that rumbled in the back of his throat. “If it comforts you, I will do my best, but I do not know how my size will go over in the arena. We’ll figure something out.”
As I rested my head against that of my merkin, the warmth flowed through me. I let it settle my anger and taper it for the time being. It settled for now and allowed me to refocus and relish in the gratitude I felt for this dragon who centered me and grounded me.
“Want to go for a ride to take your mind off it?” Ffamran offered.
I peeled away from him and opened my eyes. The widest smile spread across my face as I thought about the wind in my hair and the sun on my arms.
“Absolutely!” I agreed with glee.
Almost like a habit, I ran my fingertips along the scales that ran down Ffamran’s neck, then leapt on his back. Using his leg as a stool, I wrapped my legs on either side of him.
Without warning, Ffamran rose on his legs and bolted into the sky. We left the worries and concerns about tomorrow on the ground below. That was a problem for future Martin, and frankly, I was glad to let him deal with it.
24
Diana
The sun hung high in the sky, and a smattering of clouds floated by. There was a chilling wind, but it was not strong enough to knock anyone off their feet. It was a pleasant day without too much heat or cold to affect the competitors. Their limbs would not freeze, and their brows would not sweat unnecessarily.
It was an ideal day for a fight.
Servants had cleaned and prepped the arena the day before, making sure everything was perfect for the tournament today. The structure curved into a u-shape so that the circular fighting stage could be seen from multiple angles. The seats rose a couple of levels and contained benches
for all the spectators to watch. At the center, and higher than the rest, King Atlus sat upon a cushioned throne with no one on either side of him.
Completing the arena, a white canvas tent had been erected from across the stands. It was where the inductees and other competitors waited. Several of my fellow guards were in there, plucked from our reserves to compete today.
In the past, I had competed as an extra in this tournament several times. It was the closest I had ever come to being introduced to court. The last two times I competed, I bested all the contestants. Rebekah eventually took me out of the line up then, claiming that my talents could be used elsewhere. I knew it was not favorable to have one of the extra competitors win. The nobles always rooted for one of their inductees and were sorely disappointed when they lost. I was becoming too much of a threat, making it too difficult for the minimally trained inductees.
We could not have that now, could we?
I couldn’t help but think, as I gazed upon the tent with its open flaps whipping in the wind, that Martin was in there. I hadn’t seen him in several days, and my heart tugged at the thought of him. I would have loved to see his strong, determined expression. He would bite the inside of his cheek, nervous and anxious to begin.
I considered popping in there and wishing him luck. I wanted him to hold me tight against his chest as I whispered encouragements to him. I wanted to promise him that when he won, we would celebrate in his chambers later that evening.
Instead, I sat next to Rebekah and waited for the tournament to begin.
When the dragons had diagnosed me with the corruption, I resolved to distance myself from Martin. It was foolish and almost cowardly. I knew this. However, I could not have him discovering my illness. He would drop everything to try to help me. We could not have him doing that, not before he was ready.
So I did my best to avoid him. It tore at my heart to do so, and I thought about him nightly. The small consolation that I had was that he had not sought me out during that time either. Perhaps he was too busy training in chess and combat to meet with me… or perhaps Martin did not miss me as much as I missed him.
