by Katie Pottle
“I think the spread-out team is planning to sabotage the other teams. Our first goal should be to outrun her and not engage at all if possible. I don’t want to waste time.”
“Got it,” Sun said. “If I have to, I will keep her at bay with a few arrows.”
“On your marks!” Instructor Kade yelled. They broke up and took their starting marks. “Get set. Go!”
They sprinted off to the left towards the ravine and the girl was right on their tail. Cadin’s team followed the plan and ran outright. There were a few statue targets on their way but they ignored them and headed straight for the ravine. The lone girl slowed to stab at a couple of targets giving them a healthy distance from her. Cadin and Lep sheathed their weapons on the run and jumped into the ravine without any hesitation and started to swim at a steady pace. They had played together for so many hours at Mist Lake that they had great synchronization without even trying. Gur alternated between riding Cadin’s back and swimming alongside him.
Cadin glanced downstream and saw a trap. Then he saw an arrow fly overhead and sever a small piece of rope holding the trap together. A large rope net tumbled out of its bag and hung sadly down half of the ravine. Cadin wanted to shout a thank you to Sun but the water was getting turbulent and he had to focus. There was a thin trip line attached between one wall of the ravine and a large rock in the middle of the waterway, leaving half the water clear.
“Lep, we have to swim around or under the trip lines.”
“Sounds good,” Lep said just as they heard a big splash behind them.
They both turned as the lone girl jumped into rushing water behind them and started swimming towards them.
Lep smiled “She doesn’t give up too easily, does she?”
“We should be able to outswim her, just don’t let her pressure us into one of those traps.”
They both took off and found that Cadin was right in his assessment that they were better swimmers. The lone girl was okay, but she had nothing on them. She tried to take off and fly a few times, but the netting was strategically set up to prevent students from flying through the course. They managed to avoid tripping a couple more traps by swimming around them; unfortunately, that meant the lone girl avoided the traps as well as she was following their route. There were a couple of statues set up in the water and Cadin and Lep both took a swing or two at them while swimming by. The lone girl didn’t seem to notice the traps much as she was focusing on her swimming, so Cadin nudged Lep as they approached another net.
“Swim under the line and let her get trapped?” Lep asked.
“Exactly.” Cadin said. “Try to wave Sun off.”
“I think they are busy up there. I haven’t seen them in a while.”
That worried Cadin, but he had to focus on finding the trip line. Lep nudged him, and pointed to an upcoming trap. They both dived deftly under the line and accelerated. A shout preceded a loud splash. He turned momentarily to see the girl caught in a gigantic net that spanned the ravine. This one had weights that pulled the net down to the bottom of the water. The lone girl’s only option now was to climb the huge net out of the ravine and finish the course on foot.
“Awesome,” Lep said, breathing heavily. They hi-fived before forcing their sore arms to continue swimming.
Cadin’s muscles ached and his lungs burned in protest with every hard breath. He was relieved to round a bend where the ravine floor ascended to meet the upper ground of the course; the water weaving off to the left where a grid would prevent any angels from following its path any further.
“Finally!” Lep sputtered.
They both climbed out and lay down for a moment. They scooped up some water into their waiting mouths. Cadin wished he had his tang-gin, but he had left it in the gin-blade along with the others.
“Let’s find our teammates and finish this course!”
They reached the top and turned at a shout. Sun and Bart were running full speed towards them. In the distance the lone girl looked a muddy mess, running from a swarm of large insects.
“Cloud-fiend trap! Run!” Bart yelled. Both Cadin and Lep unsheathed their swords cut down the few cloud-fiends that had a hold of Sun’s hair and Bart’s shirt, flapping their little wings and trying to pull them backwards. Cloud-fiends were one of few cloud-creatures Cadin was not fond of. They looked like giant Earth mosquitoes about the size of a songbird, but had three sets of hand-like claws that they used to grab anything. They were contrarians and enjoyed pulling whatever they had a hold of in the opposite direction it was going.
The only time Cadin enjoyed one was when he decided to go to Mist Lake for a drawing assignment for primary school. He attempted to draw the lake and all of the surrounding trees when a baby cloud-fiend flew up and grabbed his drawing hand and pulled it opposite of whichever way he was trying to draw. Because it was just a baby, Cadin hadn’t swatted it away right when it attached and instead attempted to draw with it. He had tried to draw in mirror form so when the cloud-fiend would pull him in the opposite direction needed to make the correct mark. In concept, it worked out quite well; however, his actual drawing turned out very poor and he got a sad face as a mark from his teacher when he turned it in.
Cadin was not looking forward to dealing with an entire nest of adult cloud-fiends and turned to run at full speed with his team once they were clear of the few that had attached. The lone girl had slowed way down when dozens of large insects attached pulled her backwards. There was one small statue at the base of the hill they hoped hid the end statue. They each took a good running shot at the small statue before heading up the mound. Sun took an extra shot at a statue that sat a good-distance away from them and loaded her last arrow.
There were some steep areas which made up the fastest route over the hill that could only be accomplished with a team member’s help. It would have been no good to fly as the ceiling net matched the pitch of the hill and hung only a couple of feet above their heads. When they reached the top, they spotted the huge end statue nestled at the bottom with no other competitors in sight. All three boys raced for the statue as Sun slid down the hill a couple of paces to be clear of the ceiling net, and let lose her final arrow.
Exhausted, Cadin’s team walked on to the stage to receive their scores. They watched as the other three teams got their marks first. The first two teams did quite poorly and were giving dirty looks the team-members standing next to their lone girl. The sabotage team did well, though they looked terribly beat up and did not make it to the top three. Cadin realized that although their strategy could work well for defeating teams within their heat, teams from other heats were likely to come out ahead if no teams in their races had also focused on delaying rivals. Cadin placed his sword in the light bay and stepped up to his marker. He knew the canyon strategy had been risky, and he thought they made good time, but they barely hit any targets on the way. The numbers lit up and Cadin let out a sigh of relief. Their hit scores were well below average, but their time was by far the best! Their total score put them in second place behind Oblivion.
“We did it!” Sun yelled as they jumped off the stage. “We placed!”
“There is still one more heat left to go. If two of the four teams do better than us, then we won’t place at all,” Cadin said with a worried sigh.
“Oh, don’t worry about it, man—we just rocked the Blue Qualifier!” Lep thrust his fist in the air.
“I agree with Lep and Sun,” Bart said. “Why don’t we get some water and chill until the final heat finishes up and then we can officially celebrate our first Qualifying points!”
“Yeah, probably second place too. I mean who is going to beat us?” Lep asked.
“Well, two of the teams are all third years,” Cadin said.
“Yeah, but the best third year teams are Gregor’s and Araina’s and who have both gone already,” Lep said with a smile.
“True,” Cadin agreed.
“Oh, I forgot Cora’s team was in this heat,” Bart said as he looked up at the teams in the
final race.
“Yeah, I forgot about them too. Freddy looks pleased with himself.” Cadin noted.
“And you can see why,” Sun said as she pointed at their scores.
Cadin’s heart constricted when their final score lit the board. It was just enough to bump Cadin’s team to third place. They were the second fastest group only to Cadin’s; however, they had done more damage along the way.
“Oh, no. And they are only the first team in this heat to get their scores. We really could be bumped from qualifying all together.”
“No, boys—we still have this.” Sun’s mouth was set hard, as her lips pressed together and her eyes narrowed at the score-board.
She was right. None of the other three teams in the heat came close to qualifying! The top three teams took to the stage to receive medals from Headmaster Tripharian: Oblivion in first place, Strikers in second, and No Names hanging on to third.
“We did it,” Cadin said to himself more than anyone else.
Lep answered anyway.
“I told you we had it.” His voice was nonchalant as if he had never given in to the doubt that he voiced upon seeing Freddy’s group take second.
“This means we only have to place in two of the last three to qualify for the Com Games!” Cadin said.
“Do you think the next Qualifier will be red or yellow?” Bart asked.
“I hope it’s yellow!” Sun said “I’m ready to really kick some butt!”
“That’s right, we still have yellow!” Cadin said. “I don’t think anyone in the school can match us in the Yellow Qualifier with Sun on our team.”
“Plus, you guys have been putting in a lot of work at Challenge Club.” Sun added.
“Yellow it is!”
CHAPTER TEN
Tsuyo
“You should have seen us in the Qualifier, Master Emilio,” Cadin said, nearly hopping off his chair, “we were awesome and won third place.”
Master Emilio smiled from behind his desk, but didn’t say anything—his white hair whipping around with the breeze from the open window. Cadin continued his train of thought out loud. “We would have won for sure if we had done more total damage. I should have used my gin-blade—it worked on the wrath,” Cadin said with a wishful sigh.
Master Emilio’s eyes popped open. “Your what? And the what?”
Cadin couldn’t believe he forgot to tell Master Emilio about his present from Marvin. “My new or rather old gin-blade my Grandpa Marvin gave me. It is amazing! It has a dragon on the hilt and…”
“Marvin gave you a gin-blade that you used to kill a wrath?” Master Emilio asked incredulously.
Cadin was taken back by his tone. Master Emilio was usually so calm. Nothing like this with his eyes bugging out, nostrils flaring and his hands twitching on the desk. Master Emilio seemed to take in Cadin’s read of his reaction and instantly reined himself in. He took a deep breath, sat back and folded one hand over the other. The transformation was so complete that Cadin doubted what he had originally seen.
“Well, not so much killed it, as maybe sort of distracted it, while my mom hid us inside a cloud-bubble. At least until we were rescued.” It sounded decidedly less impressive when he said it out loud.
“I would like to see this gin-blade,” Master Emilio said calmly, though his wrinkled fingers still twitched.
“Oh, of course—but I didn’t bring it with me today. I left it at my house.”
Master Emilio, stood up and extended his hand out in a ‘lead the way’ motion.
The walk to Cadin’s house was filled with questions about the wrath attack and the gin-blade.
Neither of Cadin’s parents answered when Cadin called out as they stepped through the front door. Cadin shrugged, knowing he was not expected home for at least another hour and led the way up to his bedroom. Cadin cringed upon seeing Tsuyo lying out casually on his bed where he had been inspecting the dragon hilt.
“Oh my,” Master Emilio said quietly but with an edge of excitement. “So, it is true—Tsuyo survived the war.”
“Survived what?” Cadin asked.
“The Great War.”
“You mean the Cloud-Raider War?”
“No, I mean the Great War. Gin-blades were much more common even up to a hundred years ago; however, it was the Japanese humans who inspired the katana gin-blade design—which is what your gin-blade is. Many were lost and reabsorbed into the clouds during the Great War. Once the war ended, there was much less need of Gin Masters, and even less so of gin-blades. The art was all but lost over the years—the Aura energy of angels became less able to convert the raw gin cloud-stones into fused gins when Aura colors began to homogenize across the Calvarian System. These amazing weapons were worth very little without a matching gin set. The surviving blades were neglected and even tossed into the clouds to be recycled. The Master who forged this blade used it to fight in the Great War. He was killed towards the end and it was assumed his gin-blade was lost to the clouds. It was said his grandson inherited this Master’s personal affects. The gin-blade must have been among them. I am amazed that Tsuyo is in such good condition.”
“Well, Grandpa Marvin did fix it up a bit.”
“That concerns me, as the art of working with zeronium has been lost for a long time,” Master Emilio said, scrunching his heavy brow as he examined the sword. He had been hovering around but had not reached out to touch it. “If Marvin did something even slightly wrong, the blade would be tainted and not function properly.”
“He said he had researched it and found some helpful documents before he started.”
“I am curious what he uncovered,” Master Emilio muttered under his breath. Cadin wasn’t sure if he was supposed to respond or not, so he just watched as Master Emilio started waving his hands over the gin-blade.
“Do you want to pick it up?” Cadin asked.
“Oh, no, child. This blade is yours and may react poorly to me. How has Tsuyo responded to you and your gins so far?”
“Well, Grandpa Marvin said the initial contact between all of us went well according to his findings of gin-blades,” Cadin said while looking down at the ground.
“Is there more?” Master Emilio prompted Cadin.
Cadin stared down at the floor a moment before answering. “Well…the gins still don’t do exactly what I want them to. I feel like battle would be easier using a regular sword in most battle situations.”
“Easier—yes, superior in any way once a gin-blade is mastered—no! You must embody patience with a weapon as rare and amazing as Tsuyo. Training will take time and effort, but the results will be worth it. You cannot rush something as unique and intricate as gin training. Do you understand?”
Master Emilio lifted Cadin’s chin until their eyes locked. There was something incredibly powerful within those misty blue eyes and Cadin felt uncomfortable held in their gaze. He also trusted that Master Emilio would not lead him astray.
“I understand.”
They spent the rest of the afternoon in the field behind the house, Cadin demonstrating what he could do with Tsuyo so far. The gin-blade changed shape when asked; however, the gins buzzed with excess energy from the blade and overdid everything Cadin was trying to demonstrate. One gin returned so fast and inaccurately that it knocked Gur off Cadin’s shoulder. Gur crawled back up hissing and growling incessantly at Cadin as if he had meant to send a fast-flying gin at his dragon’s butt.
“I’m sorry, Gur. Why don’t you go play in the water bucket until we are done?”
“Gurrrrrrr…. hisss, guur!” Gur spat back before quickly crawling down and hunkering in the shade of Tal’s shed.
“At least it wasn’t a slice-gin,” Master Emilio said with a raised eyebrow.
“Right,” Cadin said, feeling horrible that he could not get it right.
“You are doing remarkably well.”
“I almost killed Gur!” Cadin shook his fist. Gur lifted his head up and spit a little burning ember before lying back down. The brigh
t ember landed on some hay, smoked a little and then went out. When Gur first started spitting out embers Sara had been concerned he was going to burn down the house, but it turned out the embers were not hot enough to light even the most combustible material.
“With time and training you will be amazed at the capabilities of this weapon.”
Cadin scoffed and sat down on an upturned bucket.
“Think of what you were able to do against a wrath when your adrenaline was peaked. Or your last Qualifier for instance…” Master Emilio said and then waited.
“What of it?” Cadin asked, curious.
“Well you said you would have placed first if you had scored more damage points in the ravine. Think about if you had sent gins to different targets.”
“That’s true, and I did think about that right when we finished. That would have helped a lot.”
“This is a versatile weapon with advantages that neither of us fully understands yet.”
“Maybe I should start working with the gin-blade at the Challenge Club practices,” Cadin said, thinking of all the extra training he could get in.
“Absolutely not!” Master Emilio was stern. Cadin flinched at the sudden change in tone. “It is far too dangerous of a weapon to take lightly and train with around children!”
“I am not a child!” Cadin said standing up.
“Sit down, boy—you look ridiculous. You are right, of course,” Master Emilio said. His outburst had woken Gur up who had run over and perched himself back on Cadin’s right shoulder. He was now spouting out what Cadin was sure were warnings to Master Emilio to back off. Apparently Cadin had already been forgiven from the earlier mishap.
“You are not a child in many respects,” Master Emilio continued. “You are on the cusp of getting your wings, of becoming a man. I simply fear as young as you are, you may lack in judgment what I can lend you in knowledge and experience. How would you feel if you injured a classmate?”
“You must not use Tsuyo for anything but practice, either alone or with me, until you are completely ready.” Master Emilio turned his attention to the back door of the house and Cadin followed his gaze to see his mother walking towards them.
