by Heath Pfaff
"Worthless." Was all she said.
I retrieved my weapon and tried again to the same result. Malice was growing more and more agitated, but I had no intention of giving her what she wanted. I knew, now, that I could make a single hit if I wanted to. It would be easy. I wouldn't be satisfied with that, though. I wanted a double hit. I tried again, and failed again. I kept failing until the tenth time. I stood addressing the dummy for what I knew was my final run. I had been close on the ninth. In fact, I had rung the first target, though Malice had informed me that it didn't matter if I rang it if I lost my weapon in the process, which I had done. I would not do so on my tenth run, I told myself. I waited.
The opening came and I sprang into action. The first note rang out, and I forced my muscles to move beyond their limits to make the second hit. It rang and I began to withdraw my sword. Just as I was almost out of the dummy's range one of its chain arms struck my weapon. It did not knock the weapon from my hand, but it knocked the point to the ground, and I knew the hit of the chain meant that all my work would be for naught.
"How long have you been trying to hit both targets, Lowin?" Malice asked, and I couldn't read her voice. She sounded angry, but then again she always sounded angry.
"Since my third attempt." I replied, feeling the color come to my cheeks. It was bad enough that I had failed, but worse that I had been called out on it.
"Well you scored no countable hits. Had you simply gone for single hits, you might not be the worst trainee I've ever tested in dexterity. As you stand now, your score is lower than any other person to have taken this test." Malice turned her back. "Put up the practice equipment and return to your room. I'll expect you back here an hour after noon meal. You're going to need extensive amounts of training before you're even passably skilled and we had better start as soon as we can." She walked away and I was left alone, tired, my arm numb from the multiple hits to my practice weapon by the chain arms of the practice dummy. I wanted to feel some satisfaction at making the two strikes on the practice dummy, but I couldn't. In the end, despite all my effort, I had failed pretty spectacularly. I wondered if they would tell Kyeia how badly I'd done. She believed in me, I didn't want her to feel ashamed. I trudged back to my room, broken and beaten. Silent was at the door to the building I was staying in. As I walked past him he put a hand on my shoulder, I looked at him, and there was a smile on his face. He tilted his head and grabbed my arm, leading me inside. I followed him, not really in any mood to argue. He led me to the end of the hall and pushed open the final door on the right side of the wall. Inside was a large room, with a couple large baths located around the edges. He showed me to one of the vessels and started twisting some levers on the edge of the basin that were connected to metal pipes that came in from outside. After a moment of adjusting the knobs, warm water began to run out of a spigot into the tub. I smiled at Silent.
"Thank you. I certainly could use a bath." I said.
He shrugged, gave a half grin, and walked out of the room.
The warm water went a long way towards easing the pains that I'd acquired in the early morning. I soaked for the better part of an hour, until Silent came back to bring me a fresh set of clothes. He left them by the bath and took my dirty clothes outside, where I briefly heard the voice of Merrywin before the door shut again. I pulled myself from the cooling water with some reluctance and released the plug in the bottom of the basin. There were towels hung on racks along the wall and I used one of these to dry myself off before putting on my change of clothes. The outfit was identical to the one I'd just removed. Dressed and in some semblance of order, I left the lavatory and made my way back to my room. The hall was conspicuously empty and when I got into my room I found that my lunch had already been left for me. Merrywin had come and gone in the time I'd spent in the wash room. I devoured the meal, slices of meat, cheese, and bread quickly, finding that I was ravenously hungry. As I finished the last of my food, I fell back on to my bed and stared up at the ceiling. My head was throbbing, and I was aware that I shouldn't sleep after having taken such a severe blow to the skull. My injured side was also hurting. The skin there was only freshly healing and it didn't like the aggressive workout it had already been given once that day. I certainly didn't want to go back out and do more, but I knew that I had no say in the matter. I supposed, at the very least, I could look forward to the change of scenery. I sighed heavily, thinking back on my days failures. I would have to do better in the future. Kyeia had too much faith in me for me to do less than my best.
As if summoned by my thoughts, there was a knock on my door, and a moment later Kyeia stepped into the room, even as I was sitting up in bed. I briefly saw the shifting cloak of Silent behind her and then the door was shut again. She was dressed as she usually was, in a simple dress of white fabric, but her cloak and its hood were entirely absent. It was the first time that I'd seen her that way, and I was startled by how young she looked when I could really see her. If she were human, I would have guessed her age to be somewhere in the realm of fourteen or fifteen. Her figure was slender, but filling out in the pleasant ways of girls near my age. I felt heat rising to my cheeks and turned my head away. It wasn't right for me to look at her in such a way, even if we were close in age, and I couldn't even be sure of that since I knew nothing of her people, the Uliona. I was hardly a worthy contender for anyone's affections.
Too my surprise, Kyeia rushed across the room and threw her arms about me, her cheek, so warm and soft, pressing against my own fiery face. I was at a loss for what to say. I felt a wetness where her skin touched mine, and realized that there were tears running down her face. I was startled.
"Kyeia, are you alright?" I asked, taking her shoulders in my hands and pushing her away from me. She was smiling, and it wasn't a slight smile either. There was such warmth and pleasure in her mysterious purple eyes, and in her brilliant upturned mouth, that I hardly knew what to think.
"I'm brilliant!" She said excitedly. "I heard about your tests today and I came to tell you how proud I am of you." She seemed sincere, but I felt a sudden surge of doubt.
"Kyeia, I failed all of the tests. In fact, Malice told me I did worse than any one she'd ever trained before." I didn't want to tell her the truth, but I couldn't stand to sit there and lie to her, not when the subject was so important to her.
Kyeia laughed, somewhere between a giggle and a full bout of laughter. "Malice will never compliment you, Lowin, but you impressed her enough that she made a special report to Ethaniel before he left today. You excelled far beyond average in both the reflexes and dexterity challenges, and while you were very weak in the other two tests, you showed determination above and beyond what is expected for one of your background."
I shook my head in confusion, not sure what to make of what Kyeia was telling me. "That can't be right. On the reflexes test I was nearly brained by the practice dummy and I didn't score a single countable hit on the dexterity challenge."
Kyeia just smiled and stood up, straightening her dress, and wiping her damp eyes. "Only one other person has scored higher on their first reflex test, Lowin, and that was Malice herself. She had combat training before she joined the Knights, and still only beat you by one connection. As for your dexterity test, no one who hasn't risen to full knighthood has ever made multiple hits in one attack on the practice dummy. Not a single person, Lowin. You were amazing!"
I wasn't sure what to say, or how to feel about suddenly knowing that I had not failed entirely. I felt a mix of pride and accomplishment, but at the same time I knew that I still had a very long way to go. I had achieved only a small victory and, for all that I had done well on two tests, I had done exceedingly poorly on the other two. I did not feel that it was time to celebrate yet. At the same time, I was happy that Kyeia was pleased. I had been worried about disappointing her almost as much as I'd been worried about having to go outside and face Malice again, which was still a task I didn't relish.
I found myself at a loss for word
s. Compliments were not a common occurrence for me, and I was unsure how to take Kyeia's outpouring of enthusiasm. "I still have a long way to go. I'm clumsy, and tire quickly." I admitted, deciding the truth was the best route.
"You'll get better, Lowin." She replied.
"Would you like some water?" I offered, lifting the jug that had been provided with my meal and noting that it was not very full. Still, I felt awkward not having anything to offer my company. I certainly hadn't left any food. In fact, I still felt a pang of hunger, though it was nothing debilitating.
"No, but thank you." She walked over and sat down on the bed next to me. "When we first went looking for you, I wasn't entirely sure what sort of person you'd be." Her voice was soft, and pleasant, and I found myself falling into its alien rhythm. "The moment I saw you though, I just knew that you were good." She laughed, and it was like a soft warm rain on a summer day, refreshing and light. "That sounds stupid, but I don't know how else to say it. I still had my doubts, at first, but when you jumped from the carriage to attack the Shao Geok that was coming for us, I was certain that you were possessed of an incredible strength." She turned her head, looking closely at me, and I found myself lost in the depths of her eyes. There was a warmth between us, a connection on multiple levels that I could sense, but didn't know how to fully appreciate. Before I knew what was coming, she leaned towards me and placed her lips against mine. There was a blast of fire through my body, spreading from my lips, and I felt myself leaning into the kiss, wanting never to part my lips from hers. From so close, I could smell the essence of some sweet flower, subtle but unmistakable. I opened my eyes, only just realizing that I had closed them, and saw that hers were still closed. There was a beautiful pink cast to her pale skin and I felt, in that moment, that no woman would ever look as beautiful. She pulled away then and I felt my heart go with her. Her eyes came open, and she turned her face partially away, her cheeks shifting from pink to red.
"I'm not supposed to do that." She said, a bit breathlessly. "I shouldn't even come here as often as I do."
I reached out to her, put my arm about her shoulders, and drew her close to me, brushing her bright red cheek with my lips. "I don't understand anything about the rules, or how things work here, but if you didn't come back to see me, I would have no reason to bother waking up from day to day." I didn't know the truth in those words until I spoke them. It is strange the way your mind can occasionally work out complex problems without ever letting on to the rest of you exactly what has happened.
She looked at me again, her mouth so close that I could feel her breath as she spoke. "Then I suppose I shall have to keep coming, but Lowin..."
I waited for a moment, and then said, "Yes?"
"Don't let them know that I... that I care for you so much. It's forbidden." Her words sent a chill down my back, but I wasn't sure why. I wanted to ask. At that moment, I should have asked. Instead, I simply promised that I would never tell another soul, so long as she would continue to come and see me when she had the chance. I think I would have made any promise imaginable in order to continue feeling the warmth that had enveloped my entire being. I'd often heard it said, but had never really understood what was meant, that love will take you when you least expect it and consume you as quick as any flame.
Things were quiet for a moment, before a thought occurred to me. I spoke my mind. "Will this cause a problem between Tempest and you? ...because of the binding?"
A confused expression crossed Kyeia's face, and a moment later she smiled, and then laughed. "There is no binding between Tempest and I. I am, as you've heard, a 'Bound One,' but it is not Tempest to whom I'm bound. I'm bound to you, Lowin." I was surprised to hear this, but at the same time I knew the words were true as soon as I heard them. I could feel a certain connection to Kyeia that existed beyond mere affection. "It's the crystals..." she continued. "When you hold them they create an imprint of your personality, an image of who you are, and what sort of person you are. They also search for certain traits in your body that make you an acceptable candidate for becoming one of the Knights of Ethan. When the crystal turns blue, as yours did, it is sent to my people and the chosen one - me in this case - takes the crystal and reads it. Once I finished reading your crystal, it was like I'd known you all my life. I could see clips of your life, bits and pieces that came together to form a whole picture, up to the point that you held the crystal. Also, reading the crystal ties my life to yours . . . it forms a bridge between the two of us. I can sometimes feel what you're feeling, and sense your state of well-being. The same is probably true for you, to some extent."
If you've ever been in a position where you thought you were alone, only to find out that someone had actually been watching you for a long time, you might understand how I felt at that moment. I had led a decent life, but there were things I'd done that I didn't necessarily want someone else to know about. I found myself remembering how I'd been thinking of Kyeia's shapely form when she first walked into the room, and this caused me to blush fiercely, as I was, of course, thinking of it again.
She smiled. "It's not like I know everything you're thinking, Lowin, just a general idea of what you're feeling. You don't need to be embarrassed. I've liked what I've seen. You and I are strange, and not just because of this," She laid her head against my shoulder. "Breaking the taboo between us is just one aspect of what makes us different. We stand out from the others because you are male and I am female. In the past this has only happened on three occasions. Generally the one selected by the crystals, and the one chosen by my people to be bound, were of the same gender. It was not an intentional thing, but that is how it always worked out." She looked away then, her eyes becoming distant for a moment. "I can't tell you why the taboo exists. I want to, but it would be a betrayal of the pact, and so long as a king stands in the realm of humans, my people cannot break the pact." Such sorrow gripped at my heart for a moment that I felt as though someone had hit me in the chest. I tightened my hold around her shoulders. As my arms tightened the sorrow seemed to lift and I knew that was because of the bond, created by the crystal, between us. Looking back at my time spent with her, I realized that this was probably the reason I'd always felt the sense of sadness about her. I wasn't simply noticing that she was sad, I was feeling her sadness.
She changed the subject and I let her do so, eager for her happiness to return. "Tempest was my bodyguard on my mission to find you. When we returned here and reported the betrayal, he was immediately sent to Gray Post to dispatch the news."
I nodded. I had, in fact, been wondering where Tempest had gone since we arrived at Fell Rock. "Is Gray Post another fort of the Black Eyed..." I stopped myself, though belatedly, remembering that there was a proper name for the order I was going to join, whether or not I wished to. "...of the Knights of Ethan?"
Kyeia nodded. "It was the first of the two, actually, and is currently home to the other half of the Knights. At the moment, though, it doesn't actually hold half of our number, and neither does Fell Rock. A third of the Knights have been sent out into the field, to defend against the enemy."
Fell Rock had seemed quiet to me since I arrived, but I had thought that was merely because of the amount of time I spent alone in my room. It would make sense, though, that if a good portion of the Knights were away the staff would be low at the Post. I shrugged it away, not particularly interested in any of it at that moment. Kyeia was standing up from the bed, detaching herself from my grip and I, after checking my impulse to not let her go, loosened my arm.
"I have to go now." She said quietly. "There will be questions if I am gone too long from my quarters, and if I am to be allowed to return here, I'd best get back."
"My door is always open for you," I said, sad to see her ago, but understanding the situation, if not the fundamental reasons for the situation. I was also aware that I was expected back out on the practice field before long, and I couldn't imagine how bad things would be for me if I was late.
Kyeia leane
d down to me and kissed me on the cheek. "I'll see you again soon." She vanished out my door and the room became a much emptier place without her. There were so many questions I still wanted answers to. I wanted to know about the "enemy" that threatened us, and about the nature of the deep sorrow that plagued the lovely purple-eyed girl. The questions, though, would have to wait.
Four months of vigorous training with Malice left me a changed man. It is difficult to describe the extent one can improve under the tutelage of a brutal task-master, but I was a living testament to such a drastic restructuring. Malice forced me to push my limits on a daily basis, never showing any satisfaction in my advances, even if I managed to drastically improve myself. It became my personal goal to exceed her expectations. Whether I succeeded at that goal I did not know, but I at least was satisfied with my improvements. I was stronger, faster, and had more stamina than I'd ever had in my life.
