by Billy Wong
Kath cupped her face in thought. "Well since they didn't kill you right away, maybe they wanted to kidnap you."
"Kidnap? But my family's just minor nobility, not really any better off than your average moderately successful merchant. I wouldn't think anybody would find it worth all the risk and effort..."
"Who knows," Marty said beside Kath, "some people will go to extremes over all kinds of things. I'm sure there'll be an investigation and they'll get to the bottom of this."
Quinn frowned. "I wonder what kind of mysterious and dreadful power might have masterminded this."
"I hope so... about the investigation part, I mean." Zack smiled at her. "Thanks for saving me. You're a hero in my book."
"Oh, it's nothing. Leroy would have punched one of those guys out the roof and slammed the other all the way down to hell."
His smile turned into a frown. "But, have you ever killed anyone before?"
She shivered. She knew what she'd done had been justified, in self defense, and she'd even tried to spare the second foe. But the memory of the blood splattering over her hands as she rammed the steel home in John's ribs made her nauseous. "No, never did. Guess I'm a blooded warrior now."
Despite her attempt to make light of it, he sensed her unease. "Sorry about making you go through that. If I'd been tougher and able to defend myself like a man..."
"Don't beat yourself up about it. Everybody needs help from time to time."
"Besides, Kath loves being a man," Marty added.
"Do not."
"Yeah you do."
She exhaled and mumbled under her breath, "Performing as well as men isn't the same as being one, asshole."
As they waited for somebody in authority to come, Kath began to worry. What if they didn't believe their story that Kale and John attacked first? She reassured herself evidence would be found to support them, and if not she and Zack were the only surviving witnesses...
Eventually Major Jax and Lieutenant Harris arrived. Thankfully, a boy who had also been awake backed Kath up, saying he had noticed the two dead follow Zack out before she went after them. After they confirmed John had been killed with Kale's weapon and Kale by the impact against the wall, Lieutenant Harris promised they would find out why they had done this and bring any accomplices to justice. He then praised Kath for her resourcefulness in overcoming the disadvantages of being unarmed and outnumbered.
"It's not so impressive," Leroy said. "Skill is also an advantage which happened to outweigh theirs."
Kath rolled her eyes, but supposed it was technically true. "Is Zack going to be okay? He got hit pretty hard on the head."
Major Jax looked him over. "He should be fine. Let him stay in tomorrow, and if he feels better the next day he can come back to class."
"Wait... stay in?" Zack asked. "Aren't you going to give me a private room where I can be better protected? I don't know who else is in on this, I don't want to sleep with the other students anymore!"
"Nobody will try to do anything to you with us around," Leroy said.
"But you're not going to be around if I 'stay in' tomorrow. I'll be here while no one else is, and somebody could..."
"One of the guards will watch over you tomorrow," Major Jax told him, "but you can't get your own room. It's against policy."
He sat up angrily. "Policy? But I just almost got kidnapped and two students are dead! Don't you think that warrants making an exception to policy that applies during normal circumstances? Because this is really not normal..." He clutched his head as if it hurt and sank back onto the bed.
Marty put a hand on his shoulder while he blinked dazedly. "Come on, relax. It can't be good to get worked up with that head injury. You'll be guarded during the day as he said and at night, Kath and Leroy will be there. And me, and Quinn of the transcendent insights."
"B-but even then you're just kids like me! I want to be protected by adults, I don't want to possibly be sleeping with the enemy. I won't be able to fall asleep knowing somebody might be watching, waiting for a chance to harm me."
Lieutenant Harris shook his head. "Sorry, but that's the way things have to be."
"I understand how you feel," Kath said after the instructors left, although she was a little irritated at being dismissed as a "kid." Sure she might only be eighteen, but wasn't that technically an adult? She understood what he meant, but still didn't think that precluded her from being equal to a mature adult in many ways. "Remember what we discussed about individual tests. Even though we'll help you, you too have to be strong and believe you can get through this."
"But I didn't sign on for this! It was supposed to be about learning and proving myself, not life and death!"
She lowered her voice. "Sometimes unexpected problems arise... part of being a strong person is dealing with that."
"No, fuck that! You're not the one who almost got your skull cracked and kidnapped."
But I'm the one who had to kill two boys trying to kill me. "Get some rest. I'm sure you'll feel better when your head does." Zack nodded grudgingly and turned away to sleep.
"That was a bit whiny of him," Leroy whispered.
"Yeah, it was getting to be a bit annoying. Can't blame him that much though. People aren't all cut from the same cloth."
"True. How are you holding up, yourself?"
She forced a grin. "Kath the Blade still solid."
"Refining your nickname even now?" Marty asked bemusedly.
"Zack did it for me." Kath regarded him snoozing on her bed. "And I guess I'll be sleeping in the upper bunk for the rest of the night." She climbed up. "Better get in a few more hours if I can."
#
Though she managed to go back to sleep, Kath woke up feeling weary and unrested. She couldn't focus in class, spent more time thinking about Zack back at the dorm than paying attention. It shouldn't be all on her to protect him, she knew, but it would sadden her greatly if something terrible happened. She didn't speak much at lunch with her friends, whose tones were also more hushed than usual as they pondered the motives behind the kidnapping attempt.
Though Quinn still proposed the most ideas, he seemed totally serious this time around. "You think maybe they wanted to ransom him to his family? They might not be the richest, but they should still have some wealth."
"He lives quite far away," Marty pointed out. "It seems like a lot of trouble to grab him here and ransom him to his family when there are a lot of potential victims who would be more convenient."
"Maybe they or whoever hired them has a grudge against his parents."
Leroy grunted. "Yeah, vendettas often lead to irrational acts."
Kath decided to join the discussion. The slop in her dry mouth seemed tasteless and stale, so she might as well distract herself from it. "Those two guys were a lot more skilled than they let on in practice. That makes me think it was planned for a long time, at least since before they came here, and it's very likely Zack will be targeted again."
"Not good. Hopefully they can get to the root of this before another incident happens."
"Maybe we should try investigating ourselves," Marty said. "The other students could be more inclined to trust us, and let out information they won't give to the instructors."
"I don't know if much will come of that considering we're not professionals, but it can't hurt. Could at least keep the culprits on their toes knowing there are more eyes on them."
"Think it's possible they're trying to use Zack to get to Marty?" Quinn suggested. "His family's more well off, and probably has more enemies."
Marty tensed, but then shook his head. "If I was me they're after, why wouldn't they just go after me directly? It's not like I'm some kind of invincible swordsman."
"But maybe you are, and hiding it from us."
"No, that's Kath the Blade and Hero Leroy. Anyway, we haven't been friends for a long time so I doubt that's it."
Leroy burped, having finished his third plate of slop. Somehow he had managed to start getting multiple servings, which Kath suppos
ed a big boy like him might need. "Not hiding anything."
"But don't you always talk about how you're holding back massively and all?" Marty asked. "Oops."
"I am. I'm not hiding that I'm a mighty hero though." He turned to Kath. "How are you doing? You look like crap, are you thinking a lot about the people you killed?"
"It's not so much that." Although on second thought, perhaps it contributed to her uninvigorating sleep despite her not being conscious of it. Still, "I know I did what I had to. I've no regrets and if I have to do it again, I'll deal. I'm more anxious about Zack. Wish I could skip class and stay with him."
"They probably won't try anything again so soon. Hopefully he'll be back with us tomorrow." His voice grew more somber than she'd heard before. "By the way, I've killed too. It does get easier."
She'd suspected as much, though she considered if it might not speak so well for the human condition. On the other hand, it was logical that what one had to do for survival would gradually become second nature. "I wonder how I'll do in fight class later. I'm so tired."
"Spar with me. I'll go easy on you."
"You will?" She smiled weakly. "Thank you for that."
The training today turned out to be for hand to hand combat. Kath paired up with Leroy and slipped his halfhearted jabs with her hands low, thinking to just practice head movement as she didn't expect to be in much danger. All of sudden he exploded into a massive lunging hook, which passed over her too slowly raised guard and slammed into her jaw. Her vision blurred and her knees grew weak. He followed up with a teeth-rattling uppercut and she crumpled. She tried to look up, but he dove in with another punch that crushed her skull against the floor and she could no longer keep her heavy eyelids open. Her head fell back, and the world turned dark.
She still vaguely felt heavy impacts on her face from above, and hear Marty's voice yell, "What are you doing, stop it, she's hurt!" Footsteps moved closer, then there was a yelp and the sound of a body hitting the earth. Another hammer to her cheek. Kath opened her eyes and saw that Leroy sat on her belly, her blood on his knuckles. She screamed and rolled them over so that he was on the bottom, returned the favor of blasting fists into his visage. He closed his legs about her torso as to control her posture, but she stood up, lifting him into the air, and slammed him down hard enough to loosen his hold. She slid forward from between his legs onto his chest, looped an arm around his neck as he tried to adjust and squeezed.
"Okay, you win," he gasped, tapping her side. "Don't have to... choke me out to prove it."
Kath released him, but stood up and shoved him to the ground when he tried to follow suit. Nearby, Marty rested on his knees where he'd been thrown by Leroy. "What the hell did you do that for?! You said you were going to take it easy, then suddenly punch my lights out and try to beat my face in?"
He raised a hand in a gesture to listen. "I wanted to teach you never to let your guard down. You can't ever trust anyone completely, even if they love you they could betray you for... other reasons. Better to learn that from some punches than somebody stabbing you in the spine, huh?"
"But how did you know I would be able to recover?"
"I didn't plan for you to. I would've stopped after a few more punches, once I'd done enough damage to your face that I thought you'd remember it."
She kicked him in the mouth, knocking him to his back. "Bastard!" She wobbled and stumbled backward, where an unseen student caught her. When she wiped her eyes, her hand came away slick with red. "I'm already messed up."
He spat out a bloody gob. "Guess I deserved that kick. But, you learn your lesson?"
"I sure did. To try my hardest to kick the shit out of you every time we spar!"
"Yeah, that's the spirit."
#
Oddly, Kath felt more alert after the fight as it seemed to have woken her up, although she continued to have flashes of dizziness from it now and then. She had forgiven Leroy by the time dinner came, and rested her head on his shoulder in her weariness. "So who did you love who betrayed you?" she asked, her voice sounding thick and unfamiliar in her concussed state.
"It doesn't matter. You should finish your food quickly so you can go back and check on Zack."
She washed her bread down with some soup, guzzled the rest, stuffed as much meat from the ribs as she could into her mouth until her cheeks bulged comically, and held the rest in her hand as she headed unsteadily for the dorm. "You're here already?" the bearded guard before the door asked. "I thought dinnertime wasn't over yet."
"I'm not feeling well, I hit my head. Or rather, somebody else did." Her bruised and swollen face probably helped convince him. "I need to lie down."
He let her pass. As she ate the last of the meat and stepped inside, she heard a cry from her left and spun. A... scabbard? was streaking at her face. She realized it covered a sword. Whoever swung it didn't want to kill her, but getting hit in her battered features with a sheathed blade would still hurt. She ducked and punched at the torso behind it—but before the blow landed she'd already gotten a glimpse of the person's face, and somewhat regretted throwing the punch.
Struck in the solar plexus, Zack was launched away and tumbled head over heels across the floor. He landed on his back, hugged himself coughing and wheezing, and curled into a fetal ball. She approached him, asking, "Are you alright? Why did you attack me?"
It took a while before he caught his breath enough to form words. "The... the guard told me he wouldn't let anybody in before mealtime was over. When I heard you talking to him and the door open, I thought you were a kidnapper and he was in on it so..."
She supposed he couldn't be blamed for not recognizing her voice through the thick wood. "I'm glad you're safe, at least."
"Safe except from being beaten by you. Say, what happened to your face?"
"Leroy was teaching me the importance of keeping my guard up. With a sucker punch or a few."
His mouth opened in surprise. "Oh."
"How was your day? I trust nothing happened?"
"Boring. But scary too. I really hope they catch whoever was behind this soon. I could sleep last night because I was barely conscious, but I don't know if I can now."
Kath wondered if they would switch roles tonight. She was concussed and he appeared to have recovered. In the morning, Zack didn't want to get up and only dragged himself down from his bunk after minutes of prodding. His eyes were red, and large bags hung under them. "Did you sleep at all?" she asked.
"I don't think so."
Predictably, he kept putting his head down in class to be reprimanded by the instructors, hardly spoke at lunch, and performed awfully in physical training. He accidentally threw his blunt sword at a sparring partner, breaking his collarbone, and was told to sit out the rest of the class. The injured boy glared at him, as he wouldn't be able to continue his schooling and would have to go home. Kath felt for him, but didn't blame Zack. Looking over your shoulder all the time, always fearing someone was waiting for a chance to hurt you, had to be terrible on one's mental state. Zack's friends tried to cheer him up, but to no avail. He claimed to have gotten some sleep the next day, but it must have been a couple hours at most for he still looked half dead and moved very lethargically. This went on for the rest of the week. Kath and the others worried. He'd never pass the fitness test like this. Even she probably couldn't on those two or however many hours of sleep a night.
She brought this up to him on their day off, while he stared blankly out a dorm window into the distance after refusing to go anywhere. "I know this is hard on you, but don't you still want to prove yourself worthy of the girl you love? If you don't stop letting this pull you down so much and turn things around, you'll be out of here in no time."
His eyes were teary when they met hers. "I don't care! I don't feel safe, they aren't doing their jobs properly at all. I keep asking how far along the investigation's come and they won't give me any answers, they tell me nothing! What if they're in on it, what if they're waiting for a good chance w
hen I can disappear and no one will be the wiser? I don't want to be here anymore, I want to go home."
"Are you sure about this? You'd be giving up your dreams."
"My dreams are just to make Meryl's parents accept me, maybe I could find another way to make that happen. But if I just stay here waiting to be taken, how many kidnapping victims don't get back alive, especially if the captor has a vendetta against their family? I'll be safer at home, at least hopefully they won't be so daring."
Kath sighed. "Hiding at home is no guarantee danger won't find you, and I think you'd be better off staying here and facing it like a man. You have us to help you, remember? And you shouldn't accuse our teachers without proof. Maybe they just haven't found any leads yet, it hasn't been a long time. They don't seem like bad people to me, anyway." She paused, not sure if she should say the next thought that came to mind. "But if you really do want to go, all you have to do is fail the fitness test the second time."
"There's still two weeks until then though. It feels like such a long way off."
She squeezed his shoulder. Even though a fair layer of muscle could be detected below the skin and fat, his small bones made it feel somewhat frail to her. "Which is why you need to take it easy, not think about bad things all the time and try to get some more sleep. You're destroying your body and mind like this, you need to stop because in this state, you'll be even more vulnerable should you get attacked."
"You're right. I'll try to let myself get more rest. Thanks for caring."
"Do you still want to leave? I'd miss you if you're gone, and so will the others."
He looked down. "I... I'll think about it some more."
That was all she could ask, she supposed. She sat down on her bed and opened the book she'd borrowed from the library, missing her other friends as they were out no doubt having fun, but not wanting to leave Zack to fend for himself.
The next day Zack seemed to have improved, waking up with more energy and participating meaningfully in physical activities again. He didn't give her an answer as to whether he still wanted to leave, but she took his demeanor for a sign he might be reconsidering it. The group of friends' mood improved along with his, and they enjoyed meal times and free time together again. They avoided bringing up the kidnapping issue in front of Zack. Maybe it really had just been an isolated incident, and Kale and John acted on their own. Whenever she tried to convince herself of that, though, Kath just couldn't quite do it.
