Dancing the Warrior
Page 7
She’d thought, briefly, that maybe she’d been revived just to be a spirit of vengeance against Leksen. But he was in custody, and she was still standing; Sen doubted she’d drop dead again once the Grandmaster decided how to punish him.
Maybe it was just to be a Hunter. A second chance at what she’d almost thrown away, in her blind, overzealous stupidity. Death seemed to have blown all the cobwebs and madness out of her brain, leaving her aware of just how far down the path of insanity she’d traveled since coming to Silverfire, and how close it had brought her to real failure. That didn’t seem like the kind of thing the Warrior would reward someone for.
Unless all of that pain did count as a blood-offering. If so, Sen hoped she never had to make a similar one again.
“I thought I was seeing a mirage,” Kerestel said, shaking his head, staring at the shadowed ground beneath his feet. “You couldn’t possibly be real.”
Sen hesitated, the long habit of isolation staying her hand. Then she kicked herself mentally. A second chance, remember? However it you earned it, don’t waste it.
She reached out and pinched Kerestel’s arm.
“Hey!” The horse almost pulled free at his exclamation, and Talon glanced back to see if everything was all right. Sen waved a reassurance. Kerestel demanded, “What was that for?”
“To prove I’m real.”
He stared again, but at least this time he was looking at her like she was a person, and not—well, a miracle. The sooner he forgot about that, the better.
“I’m told I have to rest,” she said to him. Kerestel snorted, with jerk of his chin toward Leksen that seemed to question that necessity. Their fight certainly hadn’t counted as rest. Sen knew the witch was right, though—and as it seemed Talon didn’t really hate her, maybe she could afford to take that advice. “When I’m back on my feet . . . I don’t suppose you’d be my sparring partner again?”
The question seemed to interrupt some dawning thought of his, as if a puzzle he’d been worrying at for ages had fallen into something like its proper shape. Eyebrows rising, Kerestel asked, “Don’t you ever take a break?”
“Not really, no.”
He shook his head—but in disbelief, not refusal. Whatever the others think of me, Sen thought, he, at least, is a friend.
For the rest . . . the witch’s healing, and her red hair, and the rumors that might yet slip out about Leksen, all would make her life harder. She was prepared to accept that, though. It couldn’t be as hard as what she’d gone through already.
Not when she knew the Warrior found her worthy.
Kerestel doesn’t understand. It isn’t a burden; it’s my purpose. Dancing the Warrior, in whatever form I can. From now until the day my soul goes into the Void, I live to serve her.
Author’s Note
This is one of those stories that refused leave my head. It started life as an independent idea, born from my experience studying kung fu when my athletic background consisted of thirteen years of ballet. Before long, though, it attached itself to my (at the time) unfinished doppelganger novel, as a piece of backstory for Mirage. This gave rise to Temple Dancers and a host of other details that worked their way into the novel, as the two ideas grew in tandem.
Unfortunately, while the novel went splendidly, the backstory refused to fit itself into a nice, obliging short story shape. I made seven attempts to write it that way, only one of which, the fifth, got completed — and that one sucked. (Among other problems, I hadn’t actually figured out how to write short stories yet. I had, however, written what turned out to be a saleable novel.) Fast forward two years, and I decide to let go of this “short story” fixation: I’ll start where the story wants to start, include everything the story wants to include, end where the story wants to end, and see how long it ends up being.
The answer turned out to be “novella.” But those are a nightmare to sell, and at the time, I had no credits to my name, so the story got shelved, without me even revising it. The idea stayed with me, though, as I shopped Warrior around . . . and sold it . . . and saw it published . . . until one day it occurred to me that it might be neat to celebrate the five-year anniversary of my first novel by doing something with that old novella.
Nine years having passed in the interim, I had to do a ground-up rewrite of the thing. With a workable draft finally in hand, I was fortunate enough to sell the novella to Beneath Ceaseless Skies. It appeared (in two parts) in issues #66 and #67.
I owe acknowledgments to two different sources for this story. The first is Jackie Chan’s autobiography, I Am Jackie Chan, which begins with his childhood training for the Beijing Opera. Certain details of Silverfire, like the lack of food for the youngest students, were inspired by that book; but in truth I couldn’t make myself make Silverfire half as brutal as Chan’s real-life experience. The other source is my own martial arts training: kung fu originally, as I mentioned above, but more particularly Shorin-ryu karate, which is what I was studying by the time I wrote the final draft. Many of Talon’s pointers are taken from the principles of that style, and so I must thank the sensei whose words I’m parroting. Fortunately, they’re all much nicer than he is.
About the Author
Marie Brennan is a former anthropologist and folklorist who shamelessly pillages her academic fields for material. She most recently misapplied her professors’ hard work to the Hugo Award-nominated Victorian adventure series The Memoirs of Lady Trent; the first book of that series, A Natural History of Dragons, was a finalist for the World Fantasy Award and won the Prix Imaginales for Best Translated Novel. She is also the author of the Doppelganger duology of Warrior and Witch, the urban fantasies Lies and Prophecy and Chains and Memory, the Onyx Court historical fantasy series, the Varekai novellas, the collaborative novel Born to the Blade, and more than fifty short stories. For more information, visit www.swantower.com.
Other Books By Marie Brennan
MEMOIRS OF LADY TRENT
All the world, from Scirland to the farthest reaches of Eriga, know Isabella, Lady Trent, to be the world’s preeminent dragon naturalist. She is the remarkable woman who brought the study of dragons out of the misty shadows of myth and misunderstanding into the clear light of modern science. But before she became the illustrious figure we know today, there was a bookish young woman whose passion for learning, natural history, and, yes, dragons defied the stifling conventions of her day.
Here at last, in her own words, is the true story of a pioneering spirit who risked her reputation, her prospects, and her fragile flesh and bone to satisfy her scientific curiosity; of how she sought true love and happiness despite her lamentable eccentricities; and how she made the series of historic discoveries that would change the world forever.
Buy the books!
A Natural History of Dragons
The Tropic of Serpents
Voyage of the Basilisk
In the Labyrinth of Drakes
Within the Sanctuary of Wings
“From the Editorial Page of the Falchester Weekly Review"
* * *
BORN TO THE BLADE
For centuries the Warders’ Circle on the neutral islands of Twaa-Fei has given the countries of the sky a way to avoid war, settling their disputes through formal, magical duels. But the Circle’s ability to maintain peace is fading: the Mertikan Empire is preparing for conquest and the trade nation of Quloo is sinking, stripped of the aerstone that keeps both ships and island a-sky. When upstart Kris Denn tries to win their island a seat in the Warder’s Circle and colonial subject Oda no Michiko discovers that her conquered nation’s past is not what she’s been told, they upset the balance of power. The storm they bring will bind all the peoples of the sky together…or tear them apart.
Buy the book!
Born to the Blade, Season One
* * *
VAREKAI
The sound of the horn pierces the apeiron, shattering the stillness of that realm. Its clarion call creates ripples, substance, something mo
re. It is a summons, a command. There is will. There is need.
And so, in reply, there is a woman.
Buy the books!
Cold-Forged Flame
Lightning in the Blood
* * *
WILDERS
There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and prophecy.
Kim never had to wonder what to major in at college. Her talent for divination made her future clear in more ways than one. But there are limits to what even a gifted seer can predict, and no card reading or prophetic dream can prepare Kim for what’s to come during her junior year at Welton.
Something has taken an interest in her friend Julian — an unseen force neither of them can identify. What starts as a dark omen quickly turns dangerous, as Julian finds himself under attack. To defend him, Kim will need more than her strengths; she will have to call on a form of magic she has never been able to master. If she can’t learn fast enough, she may lose her friend forever.
Kim knows she isn’t ready for this. But if she wants to save Julian — and herself — she’ll have to prove her own prophecies wrong.
Buy the books!
“Welcome to Welton”
Lies and Prophecy
Chains and Memory
* * *
ONYX COURT
A second city lies beneath the streets of London: a place of darkness and mystery, intrigue and faerie enchantment.
The Onyx Hall is London’s shadow, a subterranean realm that protects its inhabitants from the powers of iron and Christian faith. The mortals above live their brief lives; kings and queens come and go; the fae of London are eternal.
Buy the books!
Midnight Never Come
Deeds of Men
In Ashes Lie
A Star Shall Fall
With Fate Conspire
In London's Shadow: An Onyx Court Omnibus
* * *
DOPPELGANGER
Two women. One soul.
Mirage wasn't supposed to exist. Born from the ritual that gives the witches of Starfall their power, she should have been destroyed. Instead she survived, and grew up to become one of the most lethal Hunters the land has ever seen.
Miryo wasn't supposed to fail. But when her initiation at Starfall goes awry, she realizes her double is still alive. Now she must hunt down Mirage and put an end to something that should never have begun.
But how can a witch kill the perfect warrior, when her own magic is trying to kill her?
Buy the books!
Warrior*
Witch*
Dancing the Warrior* (novella)
Doppelganger Omnibus*
*available as a JABberwocky ebook
* * *
COLLECTIONS
Three themed collections of Marie Brennan's short fiction: Ars Historica for historical fiction and fantasy, Maps to Nowhere for stories set in other worlds, and Monstrous Beauty for horror-tinged fairy tale retellings.
Buy the books!
Ars Historica
Maps to Nowhere
Monstrous Beauty
* * *
NONFICTION
Worldbuilding is one of the great pleasures of writing science fiction and fantasy — and also one of its greatest challenges. New Worlds, Year One: A Writer's Guide to the Art of Worldbuilding invites you to consider the endless variety of real-world cultures — from climate to counterfeiting, from sumptuary laws to slang – and the equally endless possibilities speculative fiction has to offer.
Drawing on Marie Brennan's experience with fencing, stage combat choreography, Okinawan martial arts, and above all fiction, Writing Fight Scenes lays out the components that turn the strikes into a compelling story.
Dice Tales looks at tabletop and live-action RPGs from a narrative perspective, exploring the ways the framework of a game can generate and support your tale.
Buy the books!
New Worlds, Year One: A Writer's Guide to the Art of Worldbuilding
Writing Fight Scenes
Dice Tales
* * *
SHORT STORIES
Two Tor.com original short stories. In one, a madwoman poses a puzzle; in the other, a weaver seeks a better fate.
Buy “Mad Maudlin”
Buy “Daughter of Necessity”
THANK YOU FOR READING
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