CHAPTER 12
She knew that not a dream had found her as she felt the tight grip around her ankles. Her hands met the cold rock, with face just above it as her body flew back from the bed. Her blanket still hung in mid air as if confused by her sudden departure. She looked up to see a bed post then Nakali’s feet. “The girl goes nowhere before morning meditation.”
“Kali, you are wasting my training time.” Lieten bent at the waist, placing a hand around the little girl’s arm just below her shoulder and jerked her up to standing in one quick jolt. Ren’ai stood there looking up at him, waiting for orders with a hand throbbing from the pressure he laid upon her upper arm.
“And you are wasting mine.” Nakali grabbed the other arm and Ren’ai could only surrender all will. “You may join us if you would like.” Ren’ai swung to the other side, suddenly facing the other trainer. Her hair fell into place one step behind her. “Have a seat, Nai.”
Ren’ai did not know what to do. As they both held her, her knees wobbled but she stayed to her feet. Their faces hovered above hers. She could feel their hot breath in the cold depths of the Jagged. Nakali held him in her stare, but Lieten did not yield.
His grip grew tighter then he released her. He fell into a seated pose with legs crossed. “Let’s get it over with.”
Ren’ai looked up as Nakali held back a smile before meeting Lieten on the rock. The apprentice followed.
Nakali began in a smooth low tone. “Deep breath. Feel the air coming into your body, filling you. Count. One, two, three four, five, six seven, eight. Release. Slow. With the air goes all manner of evil. It is expelled from you. Gone forever. Wait. Let it float away. Wait.”
Ren’ai could hear Lieten beside her, releasing the air. She hoped that all impatience and anger would float away from him. Maybe he would be nice to her, even say, “Good Job.”
“Nai, you’re thinking again. Focus only on breath. And again. Deep breath. Each breath is a gift. We are given a sparing few.” Nakali drew in her own slow breath.
Ren’ai drew her own, holding it, allowing it to draw up the evil inside her as Nakali had spoken. She counted to herself and released. Waiting.
“And again we welcome the new air and a new day. Yesterday’s sorrow and strife we leave behind. Tomorrow will serve itself.”
Ren’ai called the new breath to her. Waited and released.
They continued on drawing breath and releasing until Nakali spoke again. “And we are done.” Nakali stood into a stretch. Her body seemed to go on forever as it elongated upward before her.
Ren’ai followed, raising her hands up over her head and arching her neck back.
Lieten grabbed her arm, as she sought to bring it down to her side. “Time to go.”
Ren’ai did not fight his grip as she followed him out of the sleeping chambers and into the hallway. He led her past the other sleeping chambers where she could see others just waking for the day with sleep weighted faces a contrast to Lieten’s wide-eyed determination to get started with her training.
The glow of torches zagged across their faces. Ren’ai continued in measured breath preparing her mind for the day. As she stood in the training room they called the arena, she looked up through the one place in the Jagged that she could at times see the sun. The sky melted across wispy clouds cold and dark. Not even a hint of Greater Sun peeked over the mountains.
Lieten brought her to attention with a hard slap on the back. She fell a bit forward but stayed to her feet.
“Attack and Back.” Lieten spoke to her in a clear calm voice this lifted his voice. “Defensive stance.” He pulled one hand up in front of his face and the other at his chest, fingers loosely curled.
Ren’ai followed.
“Ready?”
Ren’ai knew she could never be ready. Never truly prepared to take the blows he had laid to her the day before. She drew a slow measured breath and called to herself endurance. “Ready.” She spoke through clinched teeth. She wanted to close her eyes as her arms went hard. If she did not see the hit coming maybe it would not hurt so badly. But she could not; through watching his movement she would learn to take his strikes, eventually avoid them. Afterall, he never hit her with joy filling loose cheeks, only with great duty thrust upon them. She understood it. She knew why she was here.
But Lieten did not strike her. “Why do we fight?”
“To protect the Healer.”
“Do you believe it, Nai?” Lieten’s glance showed uncertainty.
“I do.”
“What does vengeance bring?”
“Destruction.”
“To whom?”
Ren’ai fought to contain an escaping smile. She reeled it in, but captured it too late as Lieten’s staff came down upon her back. She released a whimper.
“To whom?”
“To me. To the avenger.” The girl cried out. “To me.”
He cast his staff aside.
Ren’ai sighed a relief before Lieten welcomed a metallic clang into the air.
Ren’ai stared for a moment at the new aggressor that had entered the room. Not a staff but a sword rose before her. “Do I get a weapon?” Ren’ai thought it a good question to ask as he swung the weapon low as if preparing a strike.
“When you earn one.”
“I can’t fight against a sword with bare hands.”
“A sword is only an extension of your hand, an extension of foot. You must understand how to move your body, before you can make a weapon part of you. Block it.” Lieten swung hard upon her.
She took a step back as the weapon shifted past her nose.
“Block.” The blade came up.
She hopped to the side, and curled around to the left of him.
He swung straight across and she ducked, the blade nipping at her already closely cut hair. Snips drifted to the ground.
“Block.” He swooped around and came down on her as she took two steps back.
Had he gone mad? What would she block with, her head? She watched dark eyes, seeking answers. Finding none.
“Block.” He brought the blade up between her legs. She leapt before falling back on her behind as the blade continued in its path without slowing.
“What do you have against a sword?” Lieten pulled the blade to his side.
“Nothing.”
“Everything that is important.” He swung down on her as she stood to her feet.
“Except a sword or axe or something.”
“Everything. Speed. Agility. Timing. Now block.” The blade moved past her face as she leaned back, then she leapt as he swiped hard past her legs. A foot came down on the flat of the blade. Lieten could not hold it. It clanged to the ground.
Lieten bent, reaching for the hilt of his sword. Ren’ai kicked him squarely in the chin. His head swung back from the strength of it. He stepped back, twisting his jaw between thumb and two fingers. He smiled with blood racing down his chin.
Ren’ai pulled up the sword. Now she had the weapon. She swung at him.
He took a step back, and then his foot came up, kicking her hand behind the blade. The metal banged across the rock, flipping and singing until it came to a stop.
They ran for it, with bare feet pounding against the rock. He drew it up and again she found herself in a position to move and roll and dodge his strikes. He thrust forward as the girl shifted to the side. She curled her tummy in as the blade licked her skin, ripping through her shirt. Again he thrust it out. She hesitated as she anticipated the direction of his strike. The blade sunk into her belly.
Ren’ai stood there a moment, watching dark eyes as they went from narrow to wide. She wondered why he had stopped his advance. In a swift jerk, he pulled the blade free. She released a long gasp then bent forward as the pain deluged her being. She looked up at him.
He called over his shoulder in a thunderous roar. “Healer.” It echoed through the caverns. It made her mind shake. He turned to her. Pulling his shirt up over his head, he reached his hands around her, urgi
ng her to sit as he tied it around her. “Healer.” He called again, holding his hand to the wound, lending to it pressure.
Many faces rose around her, spinning and dancing as they were. Some she knew, and some she did not. At that moment they were all strangers.
“Out of my way.” She heard the Healer’s voice.
The sea of onlookers parted as he came forward, ripping Lieten’s well placed tourniquet from her, laying his hand to the wound. She felt the warmth of his presence as the spinning room came to a halt around her. Her insides felt as yarn upon a weaver’s rack taking shape strand by strand. Finally, she was whole. Jabari pulled her to her feet. She threw her arms around him and then released as he stood.
She peered through the tear in her garment at the scar left behind and she smiled before looking up to Lieten who met her questioning glare with the signal of a hand. “You may go.”
Ren’ai spared no time in making her way through the sea on onlookers. She leapt past them as one with no blood lost though her garment told a different tale. She left the training room, meeting the cold cavern hallway. Her hand caressed cool rock and she ran, down the torch licked corridor, past the several sleeping quarters and waste chambers. Finally, she stopped.
“I have my first scar, Niv.” Ren’ai bounded out of the dreary Jagged hallway and into Ren’iv’s sleeping quarters bathed in cool light, draped in delicate pink tapestries. A large bed lay against the wall, on the left a sturdy table, on the right a simple chair, upon it a strikingly content Ren’iv.
Only silence made her reply. Ren’iv stared forward; not a glimmer of recognition pierced her eyes.
Ren’ai pulled up her shirt, calling Ren’iv to see that she spoke the truth. Across her belly lay a beautifully straight line of raised flesh, all that remained to bear witness to having had Lieten’s sword pierced through her. She jerked her garment down again into place. “Not very lady like, I know.” Ren’ai spoke the chastisement that she knew Big Sister could not. Ren’ai took a hard seat upon the soft bed. She sighed. “It’s only my first. But will be many more. Whatever it takes. I’ll do it. Whatever it takes.”
Ren’ai pulled a lifeless hand from Ren’iv’s lap. She moved as Little Sister moved her, no thought of her own. “I’ll learn what I need to know.” Ren’ai pulled Ren’iv’s hand to her cheek, took in the cool of her fingertips. “And then, Niv, they will pay for what they did to you. Mother and Father. We will bring their murderers to justice. Don’t you doubt it. Ruric will pay for his orders to have our father killed, destroy our family. And his Lieutenant no less for carrying out those orders.”
Little Sister returned Ren’iv’s hand to her lap and smiled a bright and caring smile. “You’re all I have left now, Niv. Nothing matters more than seeing them brought to justice. This.” Ren’ai pointed again to the stripe across her belly. “If this is what it takes to make that happen, so be it.” Little Sister waited for Big Sister’s ever reassuring smile. Only a blank stare met Ren’ai’s welling tears.
“Nai.” Ren’ai heard a calm voice calling to her. “It’s time for our midday meal, Nai.” Nakali’s golden ribbons appeared through the doorway.
Ren’ai turned to Big Sister. “Time to eat, Niv.” Little Sister pulled her up with a guiding hand.
Nakali joined her in her efforts, steadying Ren’iv’s stance, helping her as she took a step forward and then another. She looked across to Ren’ai. “You have no idea how fortunate you are. The Fates must have been distracted."
Ren’ai released a puzzled look.
“Within a few days the Healer will leave again. This time his journey will take him far to the south. We in the Jagged have learned the herbs and remedies of our master. We can treat most injuries even when he is away and that which we cannot, with what we know we can keep our Jagged Brother alive awaiting the Healer’s return, but a wound like that would have had you within a few days. Had the Healer not been here, the Fates certainly would have laid sharpness to your strand.”
“Are you telling me to be more careful?”
“I’m telling you that Lieten will not, so it must be you. Don’t be reckless. Pin Hi is not an art of random advances. It is measured. It is strong. It is swift. It is true.”
Ren’ai nodded her understanding.
“And above all, you must never expose your neck in battle.”
“But the Healer?”
Nakali cut her thought short. “It’s the mortal blow from which the quickness of it gives futility to the Healer’s touch. The gesture of a ridged hand across the throat is the highest insult in the Jagged.” Nakali held her hand to her side. She would not so much as display the gesture. “Not only does it suggest your wish of a cut strand upon another but it suggests that the person to whom you might gesture such is a traitor, an assassin, a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
“Ok, protect my neck. Don’t insult others. I’ve got it.” What could be simpler? Ren’ai knew she would heed it.
“It’s serious, Nai. Do you really understand?” As Ren’iv stopped moving forward, Nakali lifted her weight upon one shoulder and urged her on.
“I understand.”
“I do hope so. I plan to see you as a guard one day not a puddle of blood we bucket up off the arena floor.” Nakali spoke will all seriousness in her voice before shuffling the hair of her little apprentice between slender fingers.
Ren’ai stopped for a moment as Ren’iv needed rest. She allowed her to sit on a rock to regain her strength before they continued on toward the dining hall. She ached to change the subject. “I do hope to find a fine portion of boar on my midday platter. Chicken and fish and every manner of vegetable, nut and fruit, that’s all I’ve eaten since I’ve been here.”
Nakali shook her head. Ren’ai knew so little. “You’ll never see boar step foot in the Jagged. Neither ‘live nor dead.”
“Why? Niv can make a fine roasted boar.” Ren’ai turned to Big Sister still sitting on the rock. “Can’t you, Niv?” She turned back to Nakali when Ren’iv did not answer.
Nakali drew a breath. “That was your old life, Nai. You’ll have a new life in the Jagged. And to answer why, Jabari says the pig is a filthy animal, riddled with illness and worm and other manner of refuse one desiring to live a life in health would not desire to bring into the body.”
“He forbids it?”
“You will find, Nai, that our will is our own. The Healer only wishes the best for all of us, but what we do is entirely up to us. But we respect our master, so we do not bring that beast into his sanctuary. Whether you partake when you leave the Jagged walls is your choice not mine or his or anyone else’s. But we must hurry to the dining hall now.” Nakali drew Ren'iv up into her arms. “I’ll not have my portion taken because I was one called late to the table.”