by Reiter
With a slight bow, the proud woman turned back toward the house, ushering the two retainers to walk in front of her. “Annodia, Quilori, Kethgeegan,” she whispered into her comm-link, “get everyone to a monitor and tune the feed to the optics on the front lawn! Do it quickly!
“You two,” she said to the two dismissed retainers, “get inside and find a window from which to witness this.”
“You’re going to watch?” the young woman asked.
“I will look away... when it begins.”
Valian looked at Kayjoe and in his mind he readied himself to say farewell to the outcome he would have preferred. “I’ve had enough of trying to help you. You are simple-minded, but you know right from wrong. Why you continue to follow behind this idiot is a mystery I have neither the time nor the inclination to unravel.
“Each of you has been well-fed and cared for since you came onto this property. With the exception of these two, you have all had the choice of leaving whenever you wished. Yet all you can generate is treachery.
“I have had my fill of it!” Valian declared. His feet spread to shoulder-width and his knees bent slightly as he ground his feet into the dirt. With his hands open, fingers pressed together, Valian tucked his right wrist against his ribs, his left hand extended forward, the palm facing his opponents.
“Girzakki?” Gilestra said in an airy breath.
“What’s Girzakki?” K’Vatti asked.
“For many it was the answer to the patterns of Kung-Fu,” Gilestra explained. “It’s thousands of years old, named after its creator... a woman who was one of the more noted students of Nexeous.”
“Why would... one of his students... do something like that?” Bef’Lurro panted.
“Because her master asked her to,” Gilestra answered. “Nexeous would be the first to tell you that the pattern is not the destination, but simply the beginning. He wanted to see what one of his path could create. Girzakki is one of those answers. I can’t believe that Jorkethian taught it to someone else! Not a second time.”
Larry looked at his numbers and then at Valian as the young KnighT’s forward hand slowly clenched into a fist. Larry just shook his head and chuckled. “You’ve been reading those books again, haven’t you? You know, where you think–”
Valian left his feet in a forward lunge. It was as if his entire body moved at the speed of a pugilist’s fastest jab. His fist pounded into the side of Larry’s jaw, lifting the man from his feet and spinning him around once before he reached the ground. Valian’s feet landed on the ground and he slid to a stop, still in the midst of breathing out.
The two who stood on either side of Kayjoe charged into an attack, with one drawing a knife. The unarmed man arrived and tackled a column that did not give to his charge. Valian’s elbow stabbed at the center of his lower back and the man lost feeling in his body as he fell to the grass.
A swift back-bend kept the swing blade from claiming flesh and Valian came up, landing a jab to the armed man’s face.
The retainer dropped the knife as he staggered back, dizzy and weak-legged. He clawed for something that was not there: anything steady that would help him remain standing.
Valian dropped to one knee, driving his fist into the face of the nerve-struck man. He stood up slowly, his rage registering only on his face as he turned to face Kayjoe.
“It’s your turn!” Valian declared, pointing at his large opponent.
The large man stammered as he looked at Larry who was unquestionably unconscious. He had never seen anyone get hit so hard before, and he wondered if anything was broken on the man. “I-I-I-I don’t want to f-f-fight you,” he stammered softly.
“Yes you do,” Valian argued. “You were going to attack Lady Gilestra. That is the same thing. Kayjoe. She serves my station... my house... my retainers... she serves me. To attack anyone in my service is to attack me! Even if they are a prisoner under my roof, they are mine to protect.
“Up until a few moments ago,” Valian hissed, “that included you!”
“No!” Kayjoe yelled, dropping to his knees. “I don’t want to lose my family! Not again!”
“So that’s it,” Valian thought as his hands relaxed from clenched fists. His body followed suit.
“And what about you, woman?” he asked without taking his eyes off of Kayjoe. He closed his eyes, hearing a knife drop to the ground.
“A lot of things have been said about you,” Ereena claimed. “From where I’m standing... I don’t think any of them are true. I apologize, my lord,” she said, dropping to one knee. “If you will take me back, I promise you I will make you proud that you did.”
“I can’t do that, Ereena,” Valian said, turning to walk over to Larry. “You haven’t been discharged yet. I trust, before you make your apologies to her ladyship, that you will see your fellow retainers to the infirmary.”
“It shall be done, sire!”
“I am no one’s sire,” he corrected. “While we are in the company of family, I am Valian.”
“You are my lord and I will address you as such,” Ereena proclaimed before running to one of her downed colleagues.
“Help her out, Kayjoe... and we never talk like this again. Attack my family again, and I will end you!” He started for the house, using long but slow steps.
“That hardly took any time at all,” K’Vatti said and Gilestra, who had been standing next to the woman with her back facing the window, quickly turned to see Valian walking toward the house... presumably untouched by any of those he had faced. Her eyes squinted with pride and her nostrils flared. She breathed in deeply and nodded.
“It was a lifetime, little one,” Gilestra stated. “Sometimes those can pass in the blink of an eye. I left my student to handle his affairs. It is my Lord for whom I shall open this door.” Gilestra dismissed the two who had been watching to go and prepare their baths. When Valian came through the doorway, she wrapped her cape around his shoulders. It was a gesture that told the young man what his trainer thought of him.
“Any notes?” he asked.
“I was told not to watch,” Gilestra replied and Valian chuckled.
“Okay. Then how did it sound?”
“Your attack on Larry was personally driven, not combatively efficient,” she noted. “Other than that, I am pleased with your performance. Also... I believe I would’ve hit him first too!”
The truth is: Belonging starts with self-acceptance. Your level of belonging, in fact, can never be greater than your level of self-acceptance, because believing that you’re enough is what gives you the courage to be authentic, vulnerable, and imperfect.
Brené Brown
(Rims Time: XI-4805.17)
“It’s looking like it’s going to be a fine afternoon!” Valian said, jogging out of the house carrying a large, black canvas bag over his shoulder and running toward the large warehouse-like facility. “For breakfast, Gilestra tried to kill us again... might have even succeeded in a couple of cases... and then she asked me about my code. Why did she have to go and remind me of that?!”
Once inside the building, Valian proceeded to the holding area. He dropped the canvas bag to the middle of the floor and ran to the cell. His gaze focused on the woman they had captured the first day of retainer interviews. The bracer and collars Kurshigg had placed on the woman were still in place, ready to release energy charges into her body.
“Twenty days,” Valian said, opening her cell. “For twenty days, all you’ve done is eat the food we’ve brought to you and take up the time of my family.”
“Keep your time and your food,” the woman replied sharply, turning her back to him. “I have asked for neither.”
“That is not all you will receive without request, woman,” Valian huffed, walking into the cell.
The back kick snapped out quickly, striking only air and the woman turned clockwise to find her target was not where she had thought. All she could see was the open door of the cell and the warehouse.
“And you’re right
-handed,” Valian commented, and she knew he was behind her. “Restraints, release!”
The four bracers and neck collar fell to the floor about the time Annodia came in through the doors of the large building.
“Are you freeing me?” the woman asked, slowly turning to face Valian.
“From your bonds, yes.” Valian took a step back and started massaging his hands. “I’ll not engage with a fettered opponent. Now, do you require any more warm-up time? That kick was pretty sharp, but if you feel you still need to stretch, I will oblige you.”
“I don’t want to fight you,” she said.
“But you will bait me and mine into a trap easily enough,” Valian remarked, nodding and looking at the woman. After several nods, he started to shake his head. “No. I think I’ve had enough. Enough of the games, the posturing, the falsehood.
“I am a puppet,” Valian declared. “That I can accept. It seems the more I learn, I can see clearly how much we’re all puppets at one time or another. But I’ll be damned if I let just anyone pull my strings. You will either tell me what I wish to know now, or, when you awaken after the HealeR restores you, we will simply have this discussion again.”
“So I become your puppet?” she asked.
“You see, and we didn’t even need to scream and shout for that point to get across,” Valian smiled.
The woman lunged forward, clawing for his face. Valian stepped back, but the woman never finished her attack. Having sold her feint, she bolted for the cell door. She jumped and grabbed two of the vertical bars, one was in the cell wall and one in the partially opened door. Her mule kick landed against Valian’s chest, sending him deeper into the cell as she rolled out of it. Getting up to one knee, the woman spun, her extended foot sweeping the door, slamming it shut just before Valian could reach it.
“Some puppet master,” the woman whispered, grinning at Valian. She stood up and spun around. Annodia’s fist passed by the side of her face and her lifted foot kicked Annodia in the back of the head, sending her toward the cell.
Valian reached out between the bars with both hands and caught Annodia. “Your left,” he whispered. Her body gave as he pulled and her head was moved out of the way from another spinning kick. “Jump,” he directed and Annodia’s feet just cleared the floor before the woman’s sweeping kick passed under her.
“Brace,” Annodia whispered and Valian set his body. Annodia jumped again, her body avoiding a powerful kick that rattled against the bars of the cell. Annodia had landed, her left foot on Valian’s right forearm, her right foot on his right arm. Valian’s knees bent slightly as she landed on his arms. “Knew you’d be strong enough,” she huffed, jumping up to the top of the cell.
The moment Annodia’s feet left his arms, Valian’s left hand grasped the woman’s ankle as she missed with another kick. She winced at his vice-like grip.
Quickly lifting her other foot the woman spun, hoping to kick Valian’s hand and free her leg. The moment she jumped, Valian dropped to his knee, pulling her leg down with him. The woman lost her form and landed hard on her chest. She was still moaning from the fall when Annodia landed on her back, driving a fist to the center of her spine. The woman fell unconscious and Annodia got up, walking over to the cell to open the door.
“I appreciate the assist,” Valian said, walking out of the cell and over to the canvas bag.
“You didn’t need it,” Annodia remarked. “But she did manage to get out of the cell.”
“She’s fast... and cunning. If I weren’t so – well, let’s just call it aggravated – I would say that I am beginning to like her.” Valian brought a healing rod out of the bag and pointed it at the woman. A blue bolt of light shot from the crystalline rod, striking the woman. She was instantly revived and healed of her injuries. Valian then tossed the rod over to Annodia and closed the bag.
“How many charges?” Annodia asked, looking at the healing device.
“Don’t know,” Valian remarked, “but there are two more rods and three vials of healing drops in the bag.”
Annodia’s eyebrows shot up as she took a step back, muttering, “And we are introduced to yet another face of Valian Styrke.”
“Indeed we are,” Valian said as he reached for the woman. He hopped back, avoiding her clawing hand. “You do like to scratch, don’t you, cat?”
“Cats do more than scratch!” the woman snorted, pushing up from the floor. Her body came up from the ground and she landed on one foot, kicking with the other. The instep of her foot collided with Valian’s forearm, a small puff of dust forming from the impact.
“Those kicks,” Valian noted, blocking the next three kicks with the same ease he had blocked the first. “You seem to prefer arcing attacks over direct snap kicks. Tae Kwon Do?”
The woman had lifted her foot from the floor, but stopped short of engaging the attack. She looked at Valian and realized her previously landed kick had been due to surprise. He was set for her now, and he was better than she was... at fighting.
“Rah!” she shouted, taking a lunging step forward before jumping up and over Valian. She landed on the floor and he had a hold of her belt. Her back kick was instinctive and she grimaced in frustration he trapped her leg.
“Time to fly, cat,” Valian huffed, lifting the woman from the floor. She carried up in an arc, flipping three times before landing on her feet. “Nice landing, cat.”
The woman gritted her teeth, turning to run for the wall. “I’ll show you a cat!” She jumped to the wall and took another three quick jumps to land on the catwalk. She looked down to the floor where the young KnighT should have been. The squire was there, her arms folded as she leaned against the cell, looking at the woman and shaking her head. She then pointed at the catwalk, a few meters down from where the woman was standing. The woman looked up to see the KnighT leaning forward on the rails of the catwalk.
“You like heights, cat?”
“Stop calling me that!” the woman yelled.
“Then give me your name!” Valian boomed, startling the woman with his voice. “Because... if it hasn’t dawned on you already... this isn’t going to stop until I either run out of healing aids or you run out of your stubbornness. You were involved in a plot to bring harm to my Praeceptor... or were you there to hurt my family? Either way, I want to know who and why... or I will mark where your ashes will be returned to the universe!”
“I can’t tell you,” she shouted. “He will kill me!”
“That is a possible future! You need to be concerned with the definite present!”
“It is the undeniable future!” she screamed. “You think you have the power to stand against these people?!”
“You went from fearing him to fearing them, cat,” Valian stated. “Who is he and who does he work for?”
“You are only a single KnighT!”
“You don’t know what I am!” Valian countered. “And apparently, neither do they. They sent you and your accomplices to capture us. You failed. You started with stun-sticks and when capture proved to be beyond their grasp, they turned to energy pistols. But still here we are.”
Valian took a step back and huffed in frustration before his eyes squinted. “Yes, the truth is there... somewhere inside you.” Valian sneered, holding up his right hand, a soft light sparkling to life in his eyes. Though he did not consider himself a telepath, the reading of surface thoughts was something he could perform. The woman had a tragic fear of the arcane arts that seemed to be well-founded. For Valian, that was a mystery for another time. He turned and looked at his hand. “... somewhere inside you.” The woman shrieked when his hand burst into black flames. “I shall have to dig for it! Annodia, ready the soul-catcher. The demons in our care will dine well tonight.”
“You think her soul is sufficient to satisfy their hungers, sire?”
“Damn, I shall have to revive her then... allow her soul to recover... and rip that out of her as well!” Valian took one step forward and he started to laugh. At first, it was just
his simple voice, but then it began to echo as the immediate area grew dim.
The woman screamed, begging for her life as Valian drew closer.
Black, steamy liquid dropped from the sides of his mouth, sizzling when it reached the stone floor. “Yes, my Master’s power is with me, and in his name, I shall burn her flesh and feed upon her soul!”
“Bruntelior!” the woman cried out. “Sir Evard Bruntelior! That is the man my mistress summoned. He was the one who arranged the trap!”
“And who is your mistress?!” Valian yelled.
“The Countess!” the woman stated. “Countess Lusorra Necaltiere!”
The light returned to normal when Valian released his hold on the FantasioR he had summoned through his threshold. He staggered back a step, breathing deeply and rapidly. His hand was no longer on fire and the light in his eyes diminished. He nodded, swallowed hard, and closed his eyes. The long exercise routine had already taken its toll. Valian had driven his body to the point of fatigue and it was a struggle just to remain standing. He backed away from the woman as Annodia advanced, gun drawn and trained on the woman.
“Back in your pen, cat,” Annodia said softly. she could hear Valian reach the door and make his way back to the house.
“My name is Champanna,” the woman snapped.
“Congratulations,” Annodia smiled. “Cell. Now!”
“You look as tired as he is,” Champanna noted just before Annodia shot her in the shoulder.
“Argh!” Champanna screamed, rolling over in pain.
“Twice as tired,” Annodia shared. “I’d rather not have to drag you, but it’s not out of the question.” Annodia extended her arm away from her body to take better aim.
Champanna lifted her hand and got up, favoring her wounded shoulder. She limped to the cell and after the door was closed and locked, Annodia used the healing rod on the wound.
“Get some sleep,” Annodia directed before energizing the bars of the cell. “... I have a feeling you’re going to need it.”
“Why?”
