by J. B. North
“Oh,” he answered. “Should I leave you, then?”
I shrugged. “You don't have to.”
He smiled. “Can I show you something?” he asked.
I tilted my head. “What is it?”
He took a hold of my hand and pulled me toward the crowd again. I braced myself to go through them, but instead, Roland led me around the multitude of people and behind the stage, where we'd hung the lanterns. A few others had the same idea that we did, and were walking in front of us.
The glow of the lanterns cast a warm glow through the woods, and the gypsies' songs echoed through the trees. My shoes were beginning to pinch my feet, so I slipped them off, letting my bare feet walk on the soft, mossy ground. Smells of food wafted from the stands. Roland and I found a fallen log that hadn't already been taken, and sat down.
I sighed with relief. I hadn't noticed how much my legs were hurting.
“Is this better?” he asked.
I nodded gratefully. “A lot better.” I studied our surroundings. “So why exactly did we hang all these lanterns up?” I asked.
“There are usually people who want to get away from the ruckus of the festival for a few minutes. Many couples propose here, as well,” he said nonchalantly.
I could imagine this being an ideal place for a proposal.
Unexpectedly, I felt a drop on my forehead. I looked up as a few more drops began to sprinkle around us. I hadn't noticed earlier, but the smell of rain mingled with all the other smells of the festival.
“Uh-oh,” Roland said.
Then, the rain started to pour, and the echoing music stopped. Shouts were heard from the direction of the town. Roland stood, and pulled me up with him. “We'd better get inside somewhere,” he yelled over the sound of pouring rain.
We hurried out of the forest, and were met with the sight of chaos. From our hill, we could see that everyone was pushing to either get under the awning of the dance floor, to get in one of the tents, or to get in one of the buildings beyond the clearing.
“What should we do?” I asked.
“By the time we get to one of the buildings, it will be full of people. I say we make out way back to the school,” he said.
I nodded. “Then let's hurry.”
We avoided the crowd and ran around the entire town until we found the road that led to the conservatory. The mud on the road was thick, so Roland and I tried to stay on the grass that bordered the side. When we were almost there, my foot slid out from under me, and I fell in the mud.
Over the rain, I heard Roland laughing, which made me blush with anger. I dug my fingers in the mud, and threw the handful at him. It splattered across his face and trailed down his white shirt. It was worth it to hear his laughter come to a halt.
In the moonlight, I could barely see his stunned expression. Just seeing it made me laugh, and then we were both laughing.
I stood up, and slogged through the mud, a wide grin spread across my face. He caught up to me and took my hand. I was so surprised by the action that I didn't notice until a little while later that it was thick with mud. I jerked my hand out of his grasp with a squeal, wiping the dirt on my already soiled dress.
He laughed. Finally, we reached the closest building—the stables—and dragged ourselves inside. The sound of the rain quieted when we shut the door, and then, all we could hear was our heavy breathing and the nickering of horses. It was pitch black. Along with the sound of the rain, we had also shut out the moonlight.
“That was fun,” Roland's voice said nearby.
“Yeah,” I agreed. After a pause, I asked, “Do you think everyone is okay at the festival?”
“I think so,” he said. “This happened the first time I went to a festival, and nothing bad happened...well, except that everyone was soggy and muddy afterward.”
I sighed. I knew that I had gotten Natalia's dress dirty. I could only hope that I would be able to get the mud out, or if I couldn't, that she would understand it was an accident.
A draft of cool air blew through the stable, causing me to shiver. The rain had caused the temperatures to sink down significantly.
“We should both go change into some dry clothes,” Roland said.
“Yes, I suppose we should,” I answered. I had had such a wonderful time that I didn't want to end the evening.
“I'll see you for training tomorrow?” he asked.
I gave a half smile as I opened the stable door again. “Of course,” I replied. I left him, and walked back into the rain, toward the wavering lights of the girls' dorm. Thinking over the memories of tonight, I smiled widely, but just as quickly as it had come, it was gone, replaced with the memory of who I was.
My life was not meant to be fun. I had important tasks ahead of me. I'm an orphan. I'm a phoenix.
And I'm still a student at The Crescent Isle Conservatory.
CHAPTER TWELVE
That night, I soaked Natalia's dress in soapy water to get the mud out. Before anyone else got back to the dorm, I scrubbed it several times with a washboard before ringing it out and hanging it up on the changing screen to dry. The dress appeared to be cleaner, and I could only hope that no one would be able to tell that I had fallen in the mud.
As usual, I woke up early the next morning to train with Roland. There was no mention of the night before, for which I was very grateful. When I thought back on how I had acted, it made me blush.
We did the same thing we usually did, sparring together with my weighted sword. I was getting much better, and could almost keep up with him, at least for a few minutes.
Little did I know that today was the day that Roland's training would prove itself. Niko, who always settled for obstacle training and endurance finally stopped at the sword station during the second half of training.
He held one out for me, and I wrapped my hand around the familiar grip. It felt incredibly light compared to what I had been using in practice. While Niko led the way, I swung the sword around. It was so light!
“Let’s see how well you do in a fight with your current talent,” he said with a predatory smile.
He swung at me, and I blocked it. He proceeded with two more strikes, but I met them easily. His grin vanished once he figured out that I wasn't completely ignorant in the art of swordplay, and his eyes grew hard. I glared right back.
I moved into offense only seconds after the fight started. I slashed and I struck as hard as I could, angry at him for all the grief he’d caused on the days when I couldn’t even sleep on my back for all the pain. It was his turn to suffer. With one final blow, his sword was flung out of his hands, landing five feet away. I pressed the cool metal against his neck with pleasure, panting with a triumphant smile on my face.
Oddly enough, he didn’t seem angry. “Someone’s obviously been teaching you,” he said.
“Yes,” I replied haughtily. “They have.”
I felt the sword pulling away from Niko’s neck, but Niko wasn’t even touching it. In an instant, my sword was wrenched out of my hands and held at my own neck.
“Good,” he said. It was his turn to smile. Again. “That’s something I can check off my list.”
I was nearly shaking with anger.
“Right,” he said, rubbing his neck where I had not-so-accidentally cut him. “For today, training is over. This is a reward for finally accomplishing something.”
I wasn’t very grateful. It was only thirty minutes until everyone else finished. He lowered the sword from my neck and threw it on the ground at my feet before walking away. Before I could react, he turned back to me. “Oh, one more thing,” he said with a cold smile. “I enjoyed our dance last night.”
I ground my teeth together with a furious blush as I returned the two swords to their stand. Since I wanted to take my mind off things and I still had adrenaline from beating Niko in the fight, I decided to continue training. I made my way to the archery stand, something I had only tried with Kurt once. I hadn’t hit a single target that day, but today, I was
brimming with confidence. I slid on an arm guard and selected a bow from the table and a quiver full of arrows.
The first arrow I shot missed, but I paid no attention to that. I shot again and again, even though my arms and shoulders were starting to feel sore. The seventh arrow hit just outside the bull's-eye. My heart swelled with pride.
I used up all my free-time to do this, and by the time the two hours were up, I had my arrow sticking into the inner rings almost every time.
I felt pretty positive that supper would be good, too. I hadn’t missed a meal in at least a week. I went into the dining hall, and only then did I remember that it was Monday. The announcements were being made. The victors were listed, and then Headmaster Drake pulled out his piece of paper like usual. He listed off a few names, but I barely paid attention. I was too busy thinking about what Roland would say when I told him that I’d beaten Niko in sword practice.
Then, my name was called out. “Ivy Oliver, Level Eight.”
A smile that I had had on my face earlier got washed away. Again, everyone was looking at me, their eyes accusing me of doing something wrong. Liana only smiled, and I saw Grix and Roland smiling at different corners of the room. The headmaster had ended with my name before folding up his note and sitting in his seat. Then, the fruit platters were set down.
We got number 31, the desert, and I went to bed hungry for the first time in a long time. I didn’t care. I couldn’t eat anything anyway.
A Level Eight! Only two more levels stood between me and freedom.
I barely slept and was up before January when it was time to practice with Roland the next morning. I changed quickly and was out the door by the time she was standing groggily at the end of her bed. It turned out that I had beaten Grix and Roland there, too. I waited patiently for them, perched silently on a balance beam. Finally, Grix and Roland showed up together with January trailing behind.
“Ivy!” Grix shouted as he made his way across the training field. “What did you do to get a Level Eight?”
“That’s exactly what I wanted to tell you,” I yelled in reply. I climbed off the beam, and waited for them to come closer.
“I beat Niko in sword practice yesterday,” I said with a smile as soon as he and Roland were close enough to hear.
Roland clapped me on the back. “I told you it would work, didn't I?”
“What would work?” January questioned suspiciously.
“Your weighted sword. We figured that practicing with it would make handling a regular sword easier,” answered Roland.
Her eyes narrowed. “Glad I could help,” she said in a dangerously quiet voice. Then she walked off to get a sword of her own.
“We should start practicing with something else,” Roland said, breaking my attention away from January.
The idea surprised me. “We should? Why?”
“You can’t complete every mission with a sword,” he said. “There are many other tools you'd need. Knives and arrows and staffs and poisons. Hammers and slingshots. Not to mention the double-sword.”
“Double-sword?” I asked.
“That’s where you fight with two swords instead of one. But that’s not what I suggest for our next lesson. You need to know how to wield a smaller weapon. Something you can use when you’re sneaking. You don’t want to lug a sword around on quests that require stealth.”
“Then how about the knife?” I offered.
He nodded. “Exactly what I was thinking.”
Knife fighting was much trickier than I thought it would be. You had to be fast and agile so that you could dodge and lunge without getting stabbed. Roland had us start with the wooden training knives, and by the time the trumpets sounded, I had bruises everywhere. So far, the knife wasn't my strong suit.
Everything seemed to be back to normal. Regular survival tests, and Niko resorting to obstacles again. The only thing different was that I was starting to like training, just like Roselle said some people did. I crammed it into every free hour I had, only stopping to sleep. Pretty soon I could hit the bulls-eye almost every time. I perfected knife fighting, the smooth rhythm of the double-sword, and aiming with the slingshot. Staff fighting was a little harder for me to grasp, but I got the basics.
Two more months passed in a flash, and snow was bound to start falling soon.
Unfortunately, no matter how many weapons I learned how to use, Niko only ever put me through the obstacles. It was bothering me quite a bit. I didn’t see how I was going to graduate when he only focused me on one thing. It was like he refused to see my other abilities.
Roland was catching on, too. “Why hasn’t Niko advanced you to a Level Nine yet?” he asked one day when we were almost done training. “Compared to the others, you’re skilled enough to graduate…but only because of me.”
I shrugged. “Maybe he knows how much I hate it here,” I said glumly. I looked over at January and Grix. They were far enough away that they wouldn't hear our conversation.
“Or maybe he’s waiting for something. You might've forgotten, but I had Niko as my trainer as well,” Roland said.
“And what did you do to end it? What was your grand finale?” I inquired.
“A challenge,” he said. “I challenged him.”
I stared at him, surprised. “How did you beat him?” I asked. “He’s a wizard!”
“I am too,” he said. “Not very trained, I admit, but I know how to defend myself.”
“I’m not. I don’t see how that could work for me.”
“It’s simple really,” Roland said. “Magic hates peace, because magic is created by the father of mayhem. Just imagine the most peaceful place in your mind, and Niko's magic is useless against you.”
“A peaceful place?” I asked.
He nodded. “Mine is the tree house that I used to hide in when my father would get mad at me. I would stay up there for hours before coming back down.”
I knew what my place was. The clock tower in the orphanage. That’s where I sought out stillness.
“So let me try out a simple trick on you, and see if it works,” Roland continued. “If it doesn’t, you’re doing it right. If it does, the opposite.”
I imagined my clock tower. The dusty gears, the cold, gray light, the silence. Then, all of a sudden, I was blown off my feet. I yelped and flailed my arms before I landed on my back, stunned.
Roland was doubled over, laughing. I heard January scoffing from behind me.
“It’s not funny!” I yelled angrily as I got up and brushed my pants off.
He straightened and tried to paste on a serious face. “Of course not. And, uh…you didn’t do it right.”
“But I imagined a peaceful place!” I shouted, angry.
“No. You have to imagine the most peaceful place that you know,” he said. “Let’s try again.”
I glowered. “Wait until I say I’m ready,” I said. I closed my eyes and searched my mind for the most peaceful thing I knew. Then, up came the thought of my mother, putting the flower in my hair with her kind smile.
“Hey, it worked!” Roland said, bringing me out of my memory.
“I told you to wait!” I said with a frown. I was surprised, however, that that was my peaceful memory.
“It was so funny the first time, I wanted to do it again,” Roland countered with a shrug.
“Should we practice a few more times until I’ve got the hang of it?”
He raised his eyebrows. “After you’ve done it once, you’ve done it a thousand times. All you have to do is think about it. Do you have to practice thinking?”
“No,” I said with a shrug.
“Then you’re ready to go up against him. Plus, you’ve got more skills than I did when I graduated. Unless he’s gotten a lot better, he doesn’t stand a chance.”
I nodded nervously. “When should I offer up the challenge?”
He smiled. “The sooner, the better. I’d say this morning is a good time. Before you even start to train.”
The trumpets
sounded, as if on cue. “Then perhaps I’ll be your equal in a week.”
He chuckled and shook his head. “Not possible. It took me a while to get this position. You’ll have to go on many quests before you get where I am.”
I sucked in a breath and blew it out slowly. “I wish I had a simpler life,” I mused, staring off into the distance.
“Don’t we all…” Roland replied. We exited the arena after Grix and January.
Breakfast was easy, but I made sure not to eat too much. I didn't want to throw up in the challenge cage. It would give Niko enough time to eat me alive.
As soon as I walked into the arena, he fell into step beside me. I looked over at him, and then forward again, pretending to study the students that had already begun training. “I challenge you,” I said, my voice bold.
He snorted. “Been talking to Roland lately? That won’t work twice.”
My bravery withered into chaff. What could I do now? My mouth spoke up before I could think any further. “I meant, I challenge you and your brother. Together, at the same time.” I winced. What was I thinking?
“He’s not my brother,” Niko growled.
I stayed quiet.
He scrutinized me. “Fine. I take you up on your offer. We’ll fight after break time. Until then, I’ll let you prepare yourself.” He walked away, no doubt to find Kurt.
My heart flopped wildly inside my chest. I needed to find Roland. I searched almost the entire arena before I found him. He was training Natalia. I'd had no idea that he was her trainer. I waited at the side of the training area. When Roland saw me, he ended the fight by knocking Natalia’s staff out of her hands.
He gestured for her to run a lap around the arena, and Natalia gave me a calculating look before sprinting off.
“How did he take it?” asked Roland.
“He didn’t,” I replied.
Roland seemed taken aback. “And what did you do? He’s not with you right now, so I’m guessing you said something to change his mind.”
I bit my lip. “I said that I would fight him and Kurt at the same time.”
Roland’s eyes widened. “Do you know what you’ve gotten yourself into?” he asked.
