by Alan Carr
My father and I spent some time talking on the several day journey back to the Rægena academy. That is, we didn’t talk a whole lot, but you can end up still saying a whole lot over the course of several days if you add it all together. He told me that the academy waited three weeks to write to them about my condition, and that as soon as they’d heard he had ridden to the academy and brought me back home with him, against the Rector’s strict wishes. He said that my mother believed she could help me recover faster and better than they could. It was hard to argue with her results; now that I’d had some time for my head to clear and my muscles to wake up, I did feel better than I had in a long time.
I told my father about the festival and details about the fight that I’d won, and how I was the only Stone Soul to beat one of the challengers from the Tournament. He congratulated me, but warned me not to revel too much in smaller victories, that it was the big challenges in life that must be overcome at all costs, not the individual skirmishes. I supposed I understood what he meant. I wanted to tell him about Daija, I wanted to ask his advice, to know how he and my mother had started out, but I didn’t ever feel it was the right time to ask those kinds of questions. We talked about mother’s garden and her experiments with alchemic brews. We talked about his work; he was helping to reinforce some of the battlements around Helmsbridge in preparation for the coming Dragonbirths.
By the time we arrived back at the academy, I felt fully refreshed and ready to slay a dragon or two.
***
“Caedan!”
Boe was the first to see me as I finally arrived at the training grounds after saying my goodbyes to my father at the perimeter. I’d been directed to suit up and join my class, but I hadn’t even reached the barracks when I saw Boe’s familiar red locks bounding toward me. We embraced and I could feel a change in Boe, like it had been a very long time since I’d seen him and he’d spent that whole time doing nothing but training furiously. It turned out that was almost exactly what had been happening. Commander Hawk had moved on from our class to train the younger recruits while we were assigned a new instructor. Master Walker Ebondell.
“He’s insane,” Boe said, which, coming from him, was saying something. “You’re going to have a hard time keeping up with things at first.”
It was hard not to take that personally. I forced a smile and just said, “You’ll see.”
He shrugged at me and then changed the subject, saying, “You arrived just in time, we’re going to be splitting into our dragon quest teams today. We’ll be having skirmishes and the winners will get to choose someone to be on their team.” Teams were groups of five, and we’d spent some time trying to guess how Hawk would assign them. It turned out that he wasn’t even going to have anything to do with it.
“You’ll want to warm up,” Boe warned me as he jogged off to the training grounds, presumably to follow his own advice. I hurried to the barracks to get my armor on.
***
Master Walker explained the rules briefly, and I got the impression it was mostly for my benefit. We’d each be assigned an opponent and the first to win three matches would be declared the winner and permitted to choose another Stone Soul to join their dragon quest team. For my skirmishes, I was assigned to spar with Warley. He had a determination in his piercing black eyes that I was sure I’d never seen in him before. In truth, everyone in the class seemed to have a certain new ferocity and drive. I hadn’t spent any time training with Master Walker, but I was already beginning to fear him. I hoped I would have an advantage because I was well rested, but I was also out of practice while it looked like everyone else had some new tricks and techniques. In all, it seemed like it would be a fair fight.
Boe was assigned to spar with Irvin. I didn’t much like Boe’s odds, even though it was obvious that he’d improved in the time I was gone. I knew Irvin didn’t really like Boe’s constant enthusiasm and that he’d see this as a chance to show up Boe as well the chance to choose a team member. But I didn’t have any time to focus on Boe’s match. I had to figure out what to do about Warley.
I decided not to let Warley have time to size me up and realize how well rested I was, or how rusty I felt. The moment the first round began, I sprung forward and went for a decisive blow. He fought off my attack, but he was clearly caught off guard and I pressed my advantage with two more relentless strikes. I felt a thrill as my practice sword broke though his defenses and came into contact with his neck. Victory. Warley stumbled backward and fell on his butt, and I offered him my hand to help him up. He accepted it, and nodded at me in thanks. I smiled and shrugged at him. I’d tried a risky strategy and it had paid off, that was all.
I looked around and saw that I was the first to win any of the rounds. Everyone seemed to have a renewed focus on defense, and there were almost no bold attacks or indeed any of the moves that Commander Hawk had taught us. I watched Boe’s match, and smiled when I saw him perfectly execute a double feint and then slice his sword upward to strike at Irvin. I was surprised when Irvin lunged backward suddenly and brought his own sword around and hit Boe in the back, taking the victory. That was a new move. I checked and Warley wasn’t watching any of the other matches, just breathing heavily, lost in thought.
When our second round began, I considered taking the same approach as the first, then decided against it. Warley parried my first exploratory blow so expertly that I would have surely lost footing if I’d had anything other than retreat in mind. So that worked out for me. We circled each other and I looked into the burning coal of his eyes and saw that he was watching only my sword. I waved my blade around in the air and watched him; his eyes darted around following it as he took two steps further away from me, unsure what I was doing. Well, I could always confuse him further. I tossed my sword forward and up into the air, then I ran forward and leapt up to grab the sword and bring it down on him, hoping to have enough force behind the move to break his defenses and strike another quick victory. Not my best idea ever. I wasn’t able to get a proper grip on the sword’s hilt and he easily blocked the blow and sent my sword flying out of my grasp. In an instant he tagged me on my backside and I had lost the round.
We traded two more rounds; I took the next and then he took the round after that one. Neither match was especially close. I was able to simply overwhelm Warley with a strength move in our third match but I never came close to getting a winning blow in our fourth. He simply let me wear myself down with attack after attack, easily defending each until I was too exhausted to properly block one of his own attacks. I was feeling pretty down, but I tried to keep in mind what my father said about winning big challenges. Still, after that fourth round I was definitely winded. I was hoping that the other fourth round matches would go on for a while, giving me a chance to rest or at least fully catch my breath, but there was only one match still going on and one of the Stone Souls looked like he was moments away from simply collapsing. Sure enough, he was too slow trying to dodge the next attack and was eliminated. I looked to Boe as I leaned forward, panting, and Boe shook his head at me. He’d lost and been eliminated. Gable was over by Bayrd, jumping up excitedly and slapping him on the back and I could guess that even if Gable had lost, Bayrd had won.
“Jade and Elias, to the center of the ring. Now please.” Master Walker didn’t bark our names as Commander Hawk would have. He was firm, but quiet. I had to strain to hear his words over the sounds of my own hoarse breathing, but I could clearly identify his tone as one of pure authority. I waited to hear who else had a fifth match, but to my surprise none of the other match-ups had gone a full five rounds. So it was just me and Warley.
Looking at Master Walker I could see that I wasn’t going to be able to stall for time, so I raised my sword and stood up straight, making sure I was ready when the round began. Warley did the same. Everyone else formed a wide circle around us, hoping for a good fight. Boe saluted me and I nodded at him. Out of habit, I looked around to see if anyone else w
as watching, maybe a certain one of Walker’s wives. I didn’t see anyone. That was just as well, it had been nearly two months since I’d seen Kamelia, and I’d never seen her when Walker was around, didn’t know if she acted differently in his presence. I shook my head to clear it of these thoughts. Just in time to see the Dragon Master bring his outstretched arm down sharply.
“Begin.”
This time, Warley surprised me by charging forward, swinging his sword down at me in a huge arc. I raised my sword instinctively to defend myself, but I knew I didn’t have the proper footing to deflect this blow. I braced myself. Warley snapped his wrists back up and stepped away, not committing to the attack. Just a feint, then. I got lucky. And Warley was just guessing, not properly reading me like he was supposed to. Commander Hawk had told us that we were training to kill dragons, yes, but since we didn’t have any dragons around to spar against we would have to settle for each other. We were teaching our bodies how to react, how to read situations, how to control our strength and momentum to attack and defend. I felt then that I had to win this match; not only for myself and for Boe, but also to somehow defend Commander Hawk. Everyone else, it seemed, had already forgotten our old commander. I impulsively felt a strange connection to him, like I was the last hope to justify everything we’d spent the past five years of our lives learning and practicing.
When Warley attacked next, I could see him commit to the attack, but I wasn’t in position to counter. I stepped aside and parried the blow then took another sidestep, making him whirl to face me. I could see now that our last match had winded him, too, and he didn’t have the benefit of coming off six weeks rest to help him recover. I decided to try a risky maneuver that, if properly blocked, could leave me momentarily exposed to a killing blow. Reading the situation, I was willing to risk that Warley wouldn’t be quick enough to get off that blow. If he tried it and didn’t execute then I would have him. I started running laterally, then pivoted and was running straight at my opponent. I saw a glimpse of wide eyed fear before he could mask it. I could feel the grin in my own eyes and let it shine. I signaled my attack by pulling my arm back, making sure I had the maximum force behind my coming thrust. I struck. He blocked, then tried to counterattack. As I suspected, he was too slow to pull it off and I had time to adjust my footing and duck under his wild swing. I came up close to him, sword first, and sliced at his midsection. Victory.
We were standing face to face, then, and I nodded slightly and whispered, “Good match.” Then I stepped back and sheathed my sword.
Warley began to chuckle, and when that turned into a wheeze he just shook his head once at me in amused agreement and stuck out his hand. We shook. I don’t think I could have been so gracious in defeat.
Commander Hawk had the victors take turns choosing partners, and the process involved very little drama. Nobody else tried to choose Boe, so that was easy enough—I didn’t even consider choosing anyone else, even if there were stronger members of the Stone Soul class to choose from. One of the victors tried to choose Bayrd but was stopped short with a curt “no” from Master Walker. The remaining unpaired Stone Souls had another round of skirmishes to further pair up until we were left with eighteen pairs and a dozen leftovers. Warley ended up among the leftovers.
Before we broke for supper, Master Walker put Boe and me with Bayrd and Gable, then added Warley to complete our dragon quest team. I didn’t respect Gable, and I didn’t much like Bayrd, but I still felt lucky to have him on a team with me. I had no qualms about Warley. He was a good, solid fighter, even though we’d never been particularly friendly. And after all, he had been gracious in defeat.
***
“You were really great out there,” Boe said, eyeing my spinach bread load. He’d already polished off his own loaf as soon as we’d sat down in the mess hall.
“I felt great,” I offered. “I’ve had a few weeks of extra rest and relaxation time, after all!” I laughed, then gave in and handed him my bread. My appetite still hadn’t fully returned, though it seemed Boe’s had doubled. He was even starting to add a little bulk to his frame, though perhaps bulk wasn’t the right word for it. It was more like a second layer of batter on a fried fig.
“What in the Realm happened to you anyway?” Boe was suddenly serious, concerned.
“I don’t really know. I guess I haven’t really thought about it.” I paused, trying to remember. I couldn’t come up with anything but images of the stone floor of the keep rushing at my head. “I just felt sick and I fell and hit my head I guess. Maybe something I ate.”
Boe looked down the bread loaf in his hand. He’d already consumed half of it. He dipped the remaining half in his tomato barley soup and downed it before continuing.
“Maybe you were too busy daydreaming about someone’s twin sister and weren’t watching where you were going,” Boe teased. So we were back to that. I didn’t contradict him.
“What did you tell her? I mean her and your family and everyone, about why I wasn’t there to say goodbye?”
“Oh.” He got quiet. “They didn’t really ask.” He half heartedly shrugged, then stuck a forkful of roasted potatoes in his mouth.
“Oh.” I said. “So, did they say anything about my fall?” What I really wanted to know was whether Daija had ever considered coming to check up on me herself. The journey from Chialaa Valley to Helmsbridge wasn’t at all short, but it should have been relatively safe if she’d joined a caravan traveling through Rægena.
“I didn’t think to tell them.”
“Oh.”
“Sorry.”
“Uh, it’s okay.” I guess it made sense. In a way. It wasn’t like I normally kept my parents informed about what Boe was up to. Or even what I was up to. Still, we’d just spent a whole month together. Daija didn’t think it weird that I never tried contacting her again after that last night at the festival?
Boe kept stuffing his mouth, not pausing between forkfuls.
Finally I asked, “Have you heard from Laciann?”
He blushed at that. “Well, she sent me something.”
“Something?” I raised an eyebrow.
“Something.”
“Something like?” I wasn’t about to let this one go.
“Something like a secret.”
Okay, so he wasn’t going to talk about it in the mess hall. I’d ask him again when we got to the bunks after training ended for the day.
“It’s just something small, okay? Not a big deal.”
Okay, so he wasn’t going to want to talk about it at all. Boe was giving me nothing here!
“How is Daija?” There. I asked.
“I don’t know,” he said, examining his empty plate. He finished chewing the food in his mouth and saw me watching him.
I expected more of an answer. I’d just laid my heart down here, opening myself up to ridicule and teasing. And anyway, I really wanted to know.
“I haven’t heard from my family,” Boe finally said, helplessly. “They’re safe. I mean, they obviously got back home okay. Laciann was with them, and she’s back home okay.”
Well, so much for getting any information out of Boe. He was useless! Plus he hadn’t even told Daija what happened to me.
“So I didn’t get any letters then?” Maybe Daija had at least written to me directly. I hadn’t been to the bunks yet, I could have a letter waiting. Daija didn’t even know that I hadn’t been conscious or even at the academy, so it would make sense that she would write to me here.
“No letters.” Boe said. “Did you and Daija promise to write to each other or something?”
Well, no.
But … still.
I was starting to just feel confused. Like maybe I was remembering things wrong. I wasn’t, was I? I conjured up the images from that last night of the festival. I saw swirling mists. I saw glowing eyes. No, those weren’t right. Well, they were, but they weren’t. I tried harder. I saw a smi
le. Yes, Daija, smiling shyly. Her eyes twinkled. Green like the shooting star. It was a sign, that star. It was telling me to start paying attention to Daija, that she was someone special. And I’d almost missed it. But then the log ride happened, we held hands. We laughed. We connected.
So why hadn’t Daija written to me? Or at least to her brother to see why I hadn’t written to her? Why hadn’t I written to her? That’s right, I’d tried to write to her. Before the accident.
“Did you take my parchment?” This came out as more of an accusation than I’d intended.
Boe looked startled. “Woah, what? What parchment?”
“I was…” I trailed off. What was I doing? Doodling? Writing out exercises? “I was just writing some stuff, that day in the study, and then it went missing and when I was trying to figure out what happened to the parchment, that was when I fell.”
“What were you writing? What do you mean it went missing?”
“I don’t know.” I didn’t know, not exactly. “I was trying to write but I couldn’t figure out what to say.”
“To my sister.”
“Yes.”
“Oh.”
“But I didn’t write anything to her. I drew a bunch of scribbles on a piece of parchment. Kind of a picture of the shooting star from the Stoneflame.”
“And the star flew out of the parchment and knocked you out? Then disappeared?”
“No.” I scoffed.
“Okay.” Boe was clearly getting concerned about me. Like I’d gone completely crazy from the fall. Maybe I had?
I stared up the ceiling and tried to explain myself. “I also wrote out one of those writing exercises. You know, the one about the Jade and Silver.”
“The one about the Stoneflame,” he corrected. “Dragon born a’rage bewith, twice o’eachery year fifth—”
“Yeah, that one,” I said, cutting Boe off before he could recite the whole thing. That part wasn’t important.
“And it was stolen and then you felt sick and fell?”
