“No. No, I don’t,” Aiden whispered loudly. “I left at the same time as you all. Are you saying it’s missing?” Aiden clutched his hair, holding his head as he began to panic.
Markam just got more stoic, standing there with his mouth clenched shut but Gavin began to pace back and forth, cursing. Chari grabbed Aiden’s arms and pulled them down. “Okay, calm down, but yes, it’s missing. We went back this morning to gather our plates. We were going to bury yours, but it wasn’t there. We looked everywhere. We had to leave, though, the engineers were getting suspicious.”
Aiden just slid down the wall and sat, moaning. “You realize if anyone ever finds out I did that…they’ll kill me?”
Gavin stopped and turned quickly, crouching down in front of Aiden. “No. No, I won’t let them. This is my fault, and I am going to fix it.”
“Oh? How are you going to do that?” Chari asked, “You’re not the Duke and even if you were, you can’t just change the laws.”
Gavin turned to her fiercely. “I’ll think of something. There has to be a way.” Reaching out, he grabbed Aiden’s shoulders, and his voice was firm. “Aiden, I swear I will find a way.” For a long moment Aiden just stared at him, but finally nodded. It was not like he had a choice.
Gavin nodded back and then stood, helping Aiden up as he addressed the rest of them. “Okay, so if Aiden didn’t take it, we’ll just have to keep our eyes and ears open. Aiden, I am going to ask that you be assigned to this class each morning so we can keep in touch. We don’t have Professor Revius’s class each day, but this one we do so it should serve. I know Oya Dihya is intense, but you did well today. I think she was pleased with you. The important thing is, always do your best with her. If you don’t, well,” he grimaced, “just do your best.”
Markam frowned and spoke softly. “Are you going to tell him about the next part?”
When no one answered, Aiden’s eyes narrowed. “What next part?” Aiden asked suspiciously. “Don’t tell me this gets worse somehow because I’m only fifteen. I don’t know if my heart can take much more.”
Chari turned to him, a frown tugging at the corners of her mouth. “Well, we needed some time to speak to you without anyone around, so we had to ask Oya Dihya for it. She agreed…” Chari trailed off, wrinkling her cute mouth up as if afraid to go on.
Aiden sighed and then gestured at her. “Okay, there’s a but on the end of that sentence as big as a tarfin, so out with it.”
Markam finally broke in, nodding back towards Oya Dihya who was watching them from across the arena. “But, she requires all of us to meet her in a mock dual to make up for the lost time.”
Aiden’s eyes bugged, and Glowby just disappeared entirely. “By all of us, you mean me, too? Are you kidding me?” He threw his hands up and glared at the three others. “She’s two hundred freakin meters tall. I’m less than two.” He spun and glared at Gavin. “I thought you were going to try to avoid getting me killed, not hurry up the process!”
Gavin shushed him, but they all appeared worried. “Okay, I know! It’s not going to be fun, but really she won’t kill you. As long as you don’t run away, then I’m not sure.”
Aiden just closed his eyes before reopening them and glaring. That was exactly what he’d been considering.
Markam chimed in. “Probably best just to charge her first, Aiden. It will hurt less. If you hold back or try to hide behind us, she doesn’t take kindly to that.”
Chari and Gavin just winced but nodded as Aiden quietly fumed. “Is there anything else I should know?”
Markam continued, “The combat is to first touch using blunt reed swords only. When you are struck once you are out. We only have to touch her once, and the combat is over.”
“And how many times have you done that.”
“Um…” Markam’s stoic expression actually turned slightly embarrassed. “None.”
“Great. Just great. With friends like you, I should just turn myself into the guards now…You do know that I’ve never even touched a weapon in my life, right? Okay, fine. Let’s get this over with.”
None of them were in the mood for further chatter as they trooped back towards the towering figure of Oya Dihya. Aiden followed the other three to a table and picked up one of the reed swords, hefting it slowly. He had no idea if it was a good one or not, but he did know he probably looked like an idiot as he followed the others across the sand.
The rest of the students stood in a loose ring giving all of them plenty of room to maneuver. All Aiden could think about was how huge Oya Dihya was, almost sure she’d grown at least two meters since he first came into the arena. She had picked up a reed sword herself, reduced to the size of a knife in her hands, but faced the others stoically as they lined up in front of her.
Oya Dihya bowed, then straightened as her gaze came to rest upon Aiden. It was like ice and fire licking their way up his spine, and he wondered how anyone could stand up to someone like this. Her voice came out calm, relaxed as she spoke.
“Orphan Aiden Finn, I understand you are not accustomed to the ways of this combat, so I will speak the rules we will follow. All of us are allowed to use any skill or thing within this circle to lay first touch upon the other. Killing strikes are not allowed though unconsciousness is, being as this is a student class and not more advanced. As agreed for the time requested, the four of you shall take up this challenge against myself, alone.” She paused, her eyes boring into his without blinking. “Do you have any questions before we begin?”
Aiden had many, first of which is why he was even standing there in the first place but as he was about to speak, Glowby flitted in front of his face and hovered in front of his mouth. He paused, watching Glowby for a moment. For some reason, his friend was cautioning him not to speak those thoughts, so he just nodded sickly, resigning himself to pain. He didn’t understand, but he decided to trust his friend.
For her part, Oya Dihya didn’t let any emotion show on her face but nodded back to him, taking his word for what it was. She raised the hand that held the sword in front of her face and then saluted. Gavin, Markam, and Chari all returned that salute, and after a few seconds, he attempted to mimic what they had done. At that, Dihya called out in a clear, powerful voice. “Begin.” And then she began to move.
Aiden at once felt like a baby zerigeld being hunted by a grown tundra lioness. Despite her size, she moved more gracefully than anyone he’d ever seen. He was being hunted, and Aiden could feel his adrenaline and fear coursing through him in equal measure. At first, he didn’t hear Gavin, but finally, his voice made its way through the fog of his terror.
“Okay, circle to the left Markam. Chari, you stay with Aiden, and I’ll go to the right. If she charges it will be Markam or me, and we’ll fall back so she can’t use us as shields against the rest of you.” Gavin had a determined, if fatalistic look, on his face. Dihya just smiled slightly, deciding to test their resolve by suddenly darting towards Markam. She didn’t engage, but she moved so as to put Markam alone between her and the rest of them just as Gavin had warned against. Fortunately, Markam was ready, and while he didn’t move as gracefully as Dihya, he did move and faded back while Chari and Gavin moved forward, foiling Dihya’s tactic.
Remembering the words from earlier, Aiden kept up with Chari and tried not to appear as if he was trying to stay behind her. Oya Dihya wasn’t really letting her eyes rest on any of them, but at the same time, Aiden could tell she was watching all of them. As terrifying as it was, it was also somehow beautiful.
“Charge her.”
Aiden blinked and then realized that Chari was trying to whisper at him from the corner of her mouth. She didn’t take her eyes off of Dihya though. “What?” He hissed back.
“I said, charge her. Get it over with.”
Aiden blinked and turned his attention back towards Dihya. He realized that he probably shouldn’t have taken his eyes off of her, but suspected it wouldn’t have mattered except to lower her opinion of him as a danger. Well,
screw that, he thought, maybe I can at least give the others a chance.
Aiden darted out and ran forward, raising the reed sword above his head as he screamed at the top of his lungs. Dihya paused, her eyes moving just a bit towards him but not actually focusing on him while she began to back up. Distantly, Aiden realized that the move put more distance between herself and the other three combatants, drawing him out. Gavin and Markam both looked a little wide-eyed as he charged, but didn’t take their focus off of Dihya either.
And then Aiden threw his sword.
It flipped end over end directly towards Oya Dihya’s head. All of them could see her eyes lock onto it and go wide, something Aiden hadn’t expected to see. Oya Dihya was caught by surprise. Suddenly, Gavin screamed, “Charge her, Markam!” and lurched forward. Aiden could hear Chari move up fast from behind him as Markam moved to her flank. All of them racing towards Dihya even as the practice sword flew at her head.
For a brief moment, Aiden just stood there and watched it all happen. Would it succeed, as terrified of her as they all were, would it be him that landed the blow that won? He’d be able to walk into the dining hall to everyone cheering him. It would be fantastic! He was just beginning to smile when he saw Dihya knock the sword out of the air and swing her practice weapon towards him at an incredible speed.
Aiden’s brows began to wrinkle in slow motion, crinkling over his eyes at the injustice of it. He didn’t even have a weapon anymore. Why is she striking at me? The words slid through his mind even as he tried to think of something to do, but it was far too late for that. His eyes flicked over to Glowby, watching as his best buddy and friend turned around so as not to see what happened to him. Then, that thought preoccupied him for the few tenths of a second more before the practice sword impacted the left side of his head. How could he tell that Glowby turned away? Aiden had no idea.
Fortunately, the pain exploding in his skull and then the arena floor and sky changing places distracted him. He felt his body slam into something soft and warm, and then the next thing he saw was blackness crowding close around a small hole that his vision had narrowed to. He thought he heard distant screams from Gavin and Markam for a moment, but quickly dismissed that as unimportant, preferring to dwell on that disturbing blackness. His brain tried to get him to see reason, that yes it probably was important that his friends were screaming, but Aiden wasn’t about to listen. Instead, he pouted and slipped into unconsciousness. That would teach them. Good times.
Chapter 5
Aiden woke slowly and wondered briefly if he was still alive, but the pain in his head kind of confirmed that he was. Unfortunately. He groaned, opening his eyes and then closing them right away before squinting and peeking through his lashes. Chari and Trill’s anxious faces hovered in his field of vision. Chari turned away, speaking to someone out of his field of view, but shortly a grey-haired woman’s head joined those circled above him.
She was wearing a nurse’s smock, so he suspected he was in the infirmary and the woman confirmed it by ruthlessly pulling one of his eyes open and glaring into it. She probably wasn’t glaring, but Aiden wasn’t interested in being generous, so he stuck by the word in his head. After doing it to his other eye, she nodded and patted his chest, turning to the girls that were sitting with him.
“Yes, it looks like he’s okay. No sign of a concussion. Oya Dihya said there wouldn’t be, but she is rather large, and I wanted to be sure.” She sighed softly, shaking her head in exasperation while unbeknownst to her, Glowby made circles in and out of her head. “That will teach you to fight with someone that size, I bet? Why in the Circles name you did that, I’ll never know.” She raised one of her eyebrows and then sniffed, turning away from him and moving off into the infirmary.
Aiden wanted to classify her voice as harpy-ish, but the reality was she had a sweet old ladies voice and was being nice. Despite the injustice of her blaming him for this mess, he decided to give up on his internal rant with her and turn his terrible anger on the two girls. He braced himself and prepared his most scathing diatribe.
“Ouch. Ugh, how many days have I been out?” His voice came out about the farthest from angry as could be imagined, more closely resembling that of whiney and simpering. Chari leaned in, grinning softly. “Um, only about an hour actually? Oya Dihya carried you up herself. She didn’t seem overly worried, but we were. How are you feeling? I swear I’ve never seen someone do a cartwheel through the air before. It was quite spectacular, even if I did break your fall.”
“I wish I could have seen it.” She said, wrinkling up her nose and sounding disappointed. “I heard some of the kids in class talking about it on their way to lunch. Did you really charge her? And throw your sword?” She giggled, holding her hand in front of her mouth. He didn’t know why she did that; she was pretty even if not quite as nice looking as Chari. Certainly nothing worth being ashamed of, at least.
Chari chimed in, nodding and giggling along with Trill. “Oh, yes! It scared me to death. He just started screaming like a garcat with its tail stuck in a door. I thought I was going to faint when it started up right behind me. Gavin and Markam both said they thought someone had been stabbed. And then Aiden just…charged her.” She giggled, whispering as if it were a secret. “I’ve never seen Oya Dihya surprised before. You should have seen her grinning after it was all over. I thought she was going to kill Aiden, but instead, she seemed happy. She wants him to come back tomorrow to be a student!”
Aiden blinked. Did she just say student? “Wait, what? A student? I can’t be a student. I’m an orphan.”
“Yes, she said student. Gavin asked her about it. She just told him that his questioning of her would go on the rolls.” Aiden noticed that Trill winced when the word ‘rolls’ was mentioned, but Aiden had no idea what that meant. However, the thought of being hit again by that monster drove that question entirely from his mind before he could settle on it.
“Okay, hold on!” He held his arms out to the both of them. He could feel the terror in his eyes but didn’t care. “What do you mean a student? I don’t want to be her student.”
Trill bit her lip, but Chari took a deep breath. “Um… Aiden, I don’t know how to tell you this, but it might be more dangerous if you say no. She usually doesn’t give anyone choices, just statements if that makes sense.” Glowby seemed to be reaffirming what she said by bobbing up and down.
In answer, Aiden shook his head. “No. Just no! I mean come on, Chari. I’ve never even held a toy weapon before, much less what you all made me do today. I mean really, no.” He crossed his arms defiantly. He knew he looked more than a bit petulant, but he wasn’t feeling overly apologetic after having been knocked out.
“What does he mean, made him do?” Trill asked curiously.
“Well, Gavin made a deal with Oya Dihya to give us about fifteen minutes to talk to Aiden about… you know.” Chari said, a faint blush rising to her cheeks. “Part of the deal was all of us had to spar with her at the end.”
Trill gave a low whistle. “So that’s why he was involved? I wondered. Personally, I thought you were just sick of being an orphan and wanted to end it all. But why do it at all? I mean, couldn’t you have just grabbed him after class?”
Chari sighed and shrugged, “I mentioned that, but both Markam and Gavin didn’t want anyone overhearing us by accident. Honestly, I don’t even think they thought about it other than to get it over with.” She looked sadly at Aiden. “I’m sorry that happened, Aiden. To be fair, though, they were doing it to protect you.”
Aiden shrugged but didn’t appear overly convinced. By his experience nobles didn’t think too often about the comfort of anyone but themselves. Still, at least some of them were nice, like Chari and Trill. He decided to not make a big deal about it. “Okay, I am going to let it pass. Not that I have a choice, but that still doesn’t mean I’m going to be a student and get beaten by that monster again.”
Reaching out hesitantly, Chari patted him on the arm. “Well, maybe you
just have to figure it out for yourself. But first things first, you need a bath. Nurse Bandari cleaned your face and neck up a bit, but didn’t do anything for the rest of you.” Trill wrinkled her nose and nodded emphatically.
As if being called forward by her mentioning it, Aiden realized he was more than a bit ripe. Coupled with chopping wood, running water for the class, and then being used as a sparring bag, he didn’t even bother to argue and just nodded along with the two girls.
Aiden waited while Trill waved over the nurse who checked him out once more before declaring him fit to leave. He could see Glowby flickered happily above her head, pleased that Aiden was free from the confines of the infirmary. At this point, it was a war between his nose and his stomach, but he decided being clean was preferential to being chased out of the dining hall.
The girls walked to the bathhouse with him but left him at the door before heading off to another of their classes. Aiden caught himself staring as the girls walked away but shook himself, not wanting to be disrespectful before ducking into the doorway and into the humid interior. The school was lucky in that it was one of the few free bathhouses in the city that had ample heated water. There were huge boilers on the roof, and he’d spent his time stoking them as one of the orphans. However, just like the food hall, they were allowed and even encouraged to use the bath house at least once a day.
The Glimmer Steel Saga, Boxed Set, Books 1 - 4 Page 6
