by Billy Wong
"Where's Niles?" she asked.
Leroy glanced to his left, prompting her to follow his gaze. "Sitting with the enemy." Niles ate with Jerome the dueling champion and the other tall blond Leroy had words with early in the day. The latter two looked similar now that Kathryn saw them together, and she wondered if they were related.
"Traitor," Zack said. He sat uncomfortably, still in noticeable pain from the fitness test.
Kathryn laughed. "We did only know each other for half a day. Not surprising some of us would drift away if we found somebody more compatible to talk to. Maybe he doesn't find you guys serious enough with all of your hero this, hero that."
He blinked and looked at Leroy. "You mean that stuff's not serious?"
"Of course it is. I'm a great flapping hero who slays swamp wyrms with my titan blade." He reached behind his shoulder. "Oh, I forgot they took it."
Zack seemed confused now. Kathryn wondered if he would be devastated if he found out Leroy wasn't serious about all this. She herself wasn't sure. That other boy had mentioned him being some famous hero. Or maybe it was a deed blown up beyond its actual significance? "Anyway," Zack asked, "speaking of compatibility, do you all have girls waiting for you back home? I think you mentioned you did, Leroy."
"Indeed, she is a ravishing beauty with locks of silken gold, and skin like polished ivory."
"That sounds fitting of you," Marty said. Before Leroy could respond, he added, "I don't have anyone, I'm still looking. You, Zack?"
"There's this girl... she likes me, and I like her... but her parents don't think I'm cut out to be her man. So I came here, to show them that I am."
Really, that was why he'd signed up? She had considered that his motivation might not be anything internal, but this seemed even weaker than she'd imagined. Still, she didn't want to hurt him, and thus was gentle in asking, "And do you still want to? This isn't for everyone, and I'm sure the training will only get harder."
He hesitated briefly, then met her eyes. "Yeah, I do. At first I was worried I wouldn't be able to make any friends, and thus have no one to help me when I needed it. But since I already met you all, I feel like a weight's been lifted off my chest."
Kathryn didn't know how to respond. What he said was endearing in a way, but also felt somehow wrong. Marty put into words what she couldn't. "It's good you feel better after meeting us, but if you came to prove yourself worthy of something, you have to do it for yourself. I mean, like Lieutenant Harris said, some tests are individual tests. There's no point in being here if you don't want yourself to grow—and besides, you'll have to just to get through the month."
For one who hadn't spoken as much as the other boys, what Marty just said might be the most valuable thing any of them had so far. Kathryn nodded her approval and added, "That's exactly right. Don't get me wrong, I'll help you when I can, and I bet Marty and Leroy will be glad to too. But a place like this is for you to better yourself, and besides, how long will your charade last if you go back under the premise you've improved, only for everybody to realize you haven't?"
"I think I get what you guys are saying." Zack bit his lip. "I arrived thinking mostly about how I'd need help, and hanging too much of my hopes on others. I'll probably still need some help, and won't be ashamed to accept it, but I'm going to believe in myself more from now on, and try my best to succeed on my own merits."
Leroy clapped his back, making him spit a mouthful of soup into Kathryn's face in surprise. She wiped it off as best she could, holding back an urge to slap Leroy. "That's the spirit! Instead of relying on others to be heroes for you, you should strive to become a hero yourself." At least even he got it.
The conversation shortly took a turn to what features the boys found appealing in women, which Kathryn felt rather left out of. Oh well, she was sure there would be moments like this if she was a boy too, considering everyone didn't share the same interests. She did find a chance upon Marty saying he liked women with soft hands, to make a joke that she also liked men with soft hands since it made bullying them easier. This got the others laughing, and Zack commented she could probably bully many men without soft hands too.
For the rest of the evening until bedtime, they were free to do whatever they wanted within the confines of the school. While Leroy wanted to explore, Zack and Marty were exhausted and longed to rest their bodies. Though Kathryn wasn't so tired she couldn't have taken a walk around, there would be plenty of time to do that later, and she too retired to the freshman dorm early.
She was thankful to find her belongings waiting for her in the small closet she'd been given among a row of them by the door. Zack fell dead asleep upon flopping down on his bunk above hers, but Kathryn laid on her own for a few minutes reflecting on the day's events first. The thin blanket and hard mattress didn't come close to what she was used to at home, but she welcomed it as part of the experience. Before she closed her eyes to let slumber claim her, she heard Marty's lazy voice drift over from a few beds away. "Hey Kathryn, think maybe we should come up with a nickname for you?"
"A nickname? Why?"
"It gets tiresome calling you Kathryn all the time, so I was thinking something shorter might roll off the tongue better. That, and help you fit in more since Kathryn is a bit overly girly."
She didn't think there was anything wrong with a feminine name. But upon further consideration, she was here to grow, and maybe a different moniker would go well with becoming a new person. "I'll play your game. How about Ryn?"
"That sounds a bit too... foreign. How about Kat?"
"You're the one who suggested a less girly name and that's what you come up with?" She giggled. "It's too common, anyway."
Leroy returned from his tour. "There you are, Marty and Kath. It's a bit late now, but you really should come check out the armory tomorrow. I think you'll find the variety of armaments there interesting."
"Wait, that's it!"
He looked confusedly at her. "What's it?"
Kathryn grinned. "We were trying to think of a nickname for me, and you gave just the right one. From now on, here I will be known... as Kath."
Chapter 2
Kath woke in the night needing to use the restroom and ambled groggily there. When she exited the small stinky room with a rough but functional hole cut into the floor, she was roused fully by a pair of hands grabbing her and slamming her against a wall. She regarded the boy who resembled Jerome, an exaggerated scowl across his face as if he tried hard to look scary. "That was my cousin you humiliated," he snarled. "Listen carefully, whore. Tomorrow when he challenges you to a rematch, you better be a good girl and lose if you know what's good for you."
The old her, before coming to this school, might have been tempted to consider giving in to his demand so as to avoid conflict. But she was Kath now, strong and confident, and would hardly be bullied without resistance. She kicked him in the belly, knocking him back towards the center of the hall, and circled out away from the wall. He regained his balance, charged her with a sloppy overhand punch. She ducked, grabbed his arm, and used it to throw him over her shoulder. Without releasing the limb, she trapped it and his neck between her legs. His face rapidly turned red as the hold cut off the blood flow to his head.
"No, you listen to me. I didn't come here to make trouble for anyone. But if you keep pushing the wrong people, don't be shocked if you bite off more than you can chew."
She released him, not wanting to render him fully unconscious, but he was already too dizzy to get up right away. Kath made as to kick him again, stopped while he cringed with hands covering his face and walked back to the dorm. She returned to bed, figuring she'd frightened him enough to dissuade any more aggression in the near future.
The next morning, she was relieved to find they got to eat breakfast and thus she wouldn't go through the day starved. Jerome didn't ask for a rematch. Their training continued, though the classes weren't always the same—sometimes they learned about arms and armor maintenance or what things were safe to e
at in the wild, practiced the use of other weapons or hand to hand combat instead of swords, or underwent teamwork and leadership building by working to solve hypothetical scenarios in groups. Kath wondered when they would get to more hands-on exercises in the field, but recalled they were surrounded by monster-infested lands and assumed that would be saved for when they'd gone further in their studies.
Regardless of what else they did, they went through strenuous physical training every day except for the one per week they had off, and each session Zack got through without serious injury seemed like good fortune. Two more boys, one of whom busted a knee and the other breaking three ribs, weren't as lucky. He did improve, looking more and more like he'd pass the test the second time as he struggled less with exercises, and his fighting skills progressed enough with help from her and Leroy to get him promoted to the "intermediate" level. She appreciated all the other advanced students as sparring partners. Alvin, the boy with small hands, used a quick, tricky style that tested her ability to adjust on the fly, while despite his questionable enthusiasm Jerome made for good practice against superior reach. Niles' slower, more methodical yet deceptively efficient style honed her patience and caution.
Leroy proved to be the hardest opponent. His blows seemed both exceptionally strong and fast, and every match was an uphill battle. Jerome took amusement in watching her struggle, and pleasure when she did lose. But she somehow gritted out a win almost half the time. She supposed there shouldn't be any shame in being second best when her rival was that much bigger than her and yet so inexplicably quick.
Once, she managed to win enough to tie him for the day overall. "I finally... reached your level," she said between gasps for breath after the last fight, hands on her knees.
"I'm still holding back a lot," he said nonchalantly.
She slapped his arm. "No you aren't! A real hero accepts when he's bested—or matched—instead of lying to save his rep."
"I only tell the truth. It wouldn't be very heroic to lie just to flatter a fellow warrior either."
"Then next time, go all out and I'll beat you for real!"
He chuckled. "But how are you supposed to learn anything if I flatten you in an instant before you can do anything every time?" Kath really doubted he was serious.
Over the next weeks, she learned more about the boys. Leroy was an expert in swamp fauna and the use of their body parts—this, he backed up with enough examples that she believed him—and could cook a decent dish or two with them. Zack really enjoyed downhill cart racing, although he wasn't any good at it. The thought brought back to mind Kath's injury concerns regarding him. Marty was writing a chronicle of his experience at military school and beyond. He thought it might benefit other people who considered pursuing these studies, to decide if it was right for them or not. They also compared their lineage. Zack turned out to be minor city nobility like Kath, while Marty was more well off being the son of a decently influential count. Leroy claimed something about hero blood in his ancestry. Marty brought a new boy named Quinn who he'd befriended in the library to their meal table group, and when he turned out to be a master of weaving wild theories about people in authority's secret motives, their conversations became even more lively.
"I think they had Charles fake breaking his ribs so he could sit out of class and be trained on the side in secret to surpass all of us!" he said the first time he joined them.
Leroy played along. "Yeah, I bet they found out he's gifted and thus want to take special care in honing his abilities."
"I don't know about gifted... I think maybe Major Jax just has a thing for him, the way he keeps looking at him."
"I can see that," Zack said with a barely suppressed laugh.
You mean the way he glares at him in consternation because of how bad he is? But Kath kept her mouth shut so her friends could continue having fun. After a few days she learned to join in and enjoy stringing Quinn along, though she hoped he wasn't completely serious similar to how she suspected Leroy was about the hero thing.
She got to explore the armory and library. The former was good for a few visits to examine all the armor and various types of weapons, melee and ranged, but the latter was where she concluded she'd end up spending the most of her free time when she wasn't horsing around with the boys. So many interesting tales! She was especially thrilled any time she came across an account of the age when great divine serpents flew freely over the world. Back then the blessed, or gifted, had been more common, but so too were monsters. She wondered if one caused the other, or if they were both tied to some other phenomenon.
She barely remembered she was a lone female among many males. Even when she had to change in their presence—at least, it would be inconvenient to make a big fuss of always hogging the restroom to do that—they seemed to respect her and rarely made unpleasant comments to her face. One of the benefits of impressive fighting ability, she guessed. Even though she had a match in Leroy, she still felt kind of like a big fish in a small pond. Nobody else could take her outside of a fluke, and combat aside the physical training and classes weren't difficult so far either. The true challenge she'd imagined finding yet eluded her. It didn't matter so much, though. She was still improving her knowledge and skills, and having a good time with her new friends didn't hurt either. Kath realized it might be hard to see each other often after their schooling ended. So she'd enjoy it while it lasted.
One night, she was woken from her slumber by Zack climbing down from the upper bunk. It happened from time to time, and she didn't mind; she usually went right back to sleep. But this time she heard the footsteps of probably two other boys follow him out of the dorm, which seemed weird. Another person being inspired to use the restroom wasn't unusual, but two at once? It still wasn't enough to worry about, and she had almost drifted back to sleep when she thought she heard a distant grunt and thud. Her eyes popped open. The boys could just be fooling around, or one of them might have accidentally tripped, but she felt a need to check. She too got up and exited into the hall.
At first she didn't see anything. Then, far down the dark corridor, she spotted a foot on the floor sticking out from behind a bend. It slid back out of sight, as if the body attached to it had been dragged. She walked briskly forward to see what was going on. Maybe Jerome and his cousin intended to get back at her by messing with her friends? But what she found proved much more disconcerting. When she turned the corner, she beheld two boys she didn't know well standing over a prone Zack—with swords drawn.
Her breath caught in her throat, and blood pounded in her veins. She didn't even know if he lived, though the lack of crimson on blades gave some hope. "Kale, John? What are you doing?" The closer boy, the sinewy brunet named after a vegetable, didn't answer and just rushed swinging his sword. Dammit, she wished she had brought her weapon... but she couldn't have known she would need it.
"Help! Help!" she cried as she dodged cuts, but didn't know if any would hear her in time considering she'd shut the heavy door behind her. Her attacker's strokes were faster and better controlled than she remembered seeing in class—wasn't he supposed to in the beginner group? And yet, now his skill appeared beyond most of the intermediates. She glimpsed John step forward too, and knew she had to do something before she faced two blades unarmed. Kale feinted at her face, then lunged stabbing at her middle. She sidestepped and kicked his wrist from below, making him release his hilt with a yelp. The sword flew into the air. Kath caught it. John was almost on her. She turned to face him, ducked just in time under a skull cleaving slash—and ran him through.
His face stopped inches from her own, eyes bulging. He opened his mouth as if to say something, instead gagged and coughed out a spray of blood. His legs gave out and his weight started to drag the sword towards the ground, but refusing to relinquish it Kath ripped it out of his body with a gruesome tearing sound. She stood stiffly with the blade held between her and Kale. She hadn't consciously thought to kill John, but just reacted in the moment the way her body wante
d. Now she felt light; her breaths came quick and shallow, and her arms shook. Even though Kale had been staring in shock at John's corpse, now his confidence seemed to return. He reached inside his jacket.
Kath stepped back, uncertain. Lamplight flashed off metal as Kale threw something at her. She smacked the dagger out of the air with her sword, but with that distraction he dove forward and snatched up John's dropped weapon. It swept up in an uppercut she avoided by jumping back, then he brought it chopping down. She dodged and punched him hard since she didn't want to kill him too, but failed to knock him out. He retaliated with a lunging thrust. She spun past it and him, planted a boot into the back of his head. He stumbled forward, tripped—and smashed his face into the wall. A sickening crunch filled Kath's ears and he knelt motionless against the masonry, his neck at an unnatural angle.
No time to think about that now. She could feel bad later after she took care of her friend. She knelt next to Zack and gently rolled him over. "Zack, are you all right? Help, somebody help!"
He slowly opened his eyes. "What happened? I realized they were going to attack me and tried to run, but they were too fast..." He looked around and caught sight of the bodies. "Oh my," he said in what sounded like delirious amazement. "Kath the Blade."
"Now's not the time to make up more nicknames for me." She frowned. "If they knocked you out, your bell's probably still rung. I'll take you back and then we can get help."
She lifted him in her arms and carried him to the dorm, where she laid him down on her bed and told everyone what had happened. The room fell into frightened muttering while Leroy went to find an adult. At least the hero did keep his wits about him in a bad situation. "If you're well enough to talk," Kath asked Zack, "can you think of any reason why they might have done this?"
"I have no idea. I don't know those boys at all."
