The teachers gave mild accolades to Kosai in learning his lesson, and then left, leaving Mearto to train Kosai. As soon as the arena was clear, Mearto wasted no time in beginning the exercises.
Kosai left his shirt off, taking the blows in full. Mearto changed her tactics and instead of casting bolts from her hands, shot out balls of green glowing power that exploded on impact. To Kosai, it felt like being punched by the Captain tenfold.
Every time Kosai was knocked out and revived, he was given a fifteen-minute respite for meditation and communion. These brief sessions were different than the others. Each time the storm grew fiercer. Wind blew the rain across the beach, pelting the side of his face, reminding him of storm he faced during his Awakening. Waves crashed on the shore of the beach with ferocity, sucking sand back into the sea and spewing up various forms of flotsam. Zenith sat silently on the beach, the tarp wrapped around him in a makeshift robe, a portion placed over his head.
Each meditation began in the same way in that Zenith looked over his shoulder towards Kosai, and then patted a portion of sand for him to sit on. Kosai did so and placed a hand on Zenith’s shoulder for the necessary communion. The communion performed, Zenith sighed and then shook his head.
“You’re still not ready,” Zenith would always say.
“What does this storm mean?” Kosai always replied, but Zenith continued as if Kosai hadn’t spoken.
“You will need to be careful, and let the other Teachers handle whatever happens… I wonder…”
Kosai sat silently and continued to watch the violent waves, waiting for Zenith to continue.
“Something isn’t right with what you are about to do. It would take too long to create a circle of power for your use, and you don’t have the skill to take on the Teachers in any sense of the word. Your presence there is necessary as the commanding officer of the Guard and to make the arrest, but I doubt it will be without much struggle. If I had it my way, I would have you back with the Captain and let him make the arrest. I’m not happy about any of it. If things don’t work out, or it begins to look like you won’t be successful, you need to be smart enough to run away, no matter what happens. Do I have your word on that?”
“I’ve never been one to run from a fight,” Kosai started to say, and then stopped and dragged his fingers in the sand. The wet sand reminded him of his first encounter with the lindworms and the Dark One. He should have run then, but his arrogance and pride pushed him forward. He was not going to make the same mistake twice. “But you have my word that I will try.” Another fierce gust of wind raced across the sea, whipping another barrage of rain and seawater into Kosai’s face. Kosai put up his hand to protect from the annoyance. “Why is it like this?”
“I’m not sure, but it isn’t good,” Zenith responded. He wrapped his canvass tighter around his body and ran into the forest. Kosai was about to follow but felt Mearto’s hand on his shoulder. Kosai stood with a start.
“It hasn’t been fifteen minutes,” he said.
“I know. The matron is here,” Mearto said. Kosai turned, seeing her at the entrance.
“A special meeting has been called. Your presences are requested by the Head Teacher,” the matron said. She smiled and shut the door. Kosai grabbed his shirt and put it on.
“Here we go,” Kosai said.
“Kosai, one more thing, don’t accuse the Seer and the others of betraying the caravan routes until I tell you to, and let me and the rest of the Teachers do the rest.”
“Yes ma’am.”
The meeting was already in progress when Kosai and Mearto arrived in the conference room. Two chairs were open on the left side towards the middle of the table. The Seer and Isaac sat across from them.
“The city is chaos!” Faeris said as Kosai sat down. “People are fighting against the Guard, they are preparing to go to the Capital building if they can, and to add to it, nomads are entering the city, and you say we do nothing?” His question was directed at Daius.
“What good would it do? We need the people to stay on our side, not against us. Showing our power to the people would only frighten them more. We would do more harm than good,” the Head Teacher said.
“I agree,” said the Seer. “When we work in public, it is done with a quiet and uplifting hand, not oppressive. We must trust the Guard to be successful. The worst is that people will die, but the city will still stand. The structure may be damaged, but the nomads are too unorganized to do anything lasting. They just want food like the rest of the populace.”
Jacqueline made some remark about the value of human life, while Xidan responded by rephrasing what the Head Teacher already said. Others broke into the argument until the whole table was in an uproar, save for Kosai, Mearto the Head Teacher and the Seer. The Head Teacher finally stood and raised his hands calling for silence. The teachers quieted.
“Kosai, what do you think?” he said, gesturing a hand to Kosai.
“I think I need to be with my Captain,” he said thinking of the Captain’s wounded arm. “The Guard may need me.” He looked over at Mearto and she gave the slightest nod. “I think the most important thing we can discuss is how this uprising came to be, coinciding with a nomadic raid.”
“Do you have any thoughts on the matter?” the Head Teacher asked. Kosai nodded and was silent for a moment as he gathered his thoughts.
“I was asked by you to come to this school in preparation to defeat the Dark One. I have also had another motive in mind. The caravan routes are being betrayed and people are dying of starvation because of it. I was sent to see if I could find the betrayer in these walls, and found that there was not just one, but many. The Seer, Xidan, Isaac, Viktor and Theo have all been working with the Council, which the Captain is now removing, to destroy our own caravans.”
The door to the conference room flew open; a black mist flowed from the doorway. The Dark One stood there with his hand on the matron’s head, blood spilling out of her mouth, and her body dragging behind him. He dropped her in the doorway. Mearto, the Head Teacher, and the others that sided with Kosai backed up against the wall. Kosai stood firm, as well as the other teachers.
“That is where you are wrong,” the Dark One said. “Your Captain did nothing of the sort. He made his claim, and removals from the Council were necessary, but they were made by me.” The Dark One stretched his club at the Teachers and held it steady. A dark flame grew around his arm. “You have a choice. Either side with me, or die.”
The Head Teacher walked to the other side of the table and was followed by Mearto.
“What are you doing?” Kosai yelled. She didn’t respond but stood next to the Seer with her head down.
“We have promised to spare her life,” the Seer said, “and the life of her future family if she was loyal to our commands in delivering you to us during the uprising. First, I wanted you to believe that she was against you.” As the Seer spoke, he brushed Mearto’s cheek with the back of his age spotted hand. “Then she showed you the nomadic tribe and filtered your information about me giving the routes to the nomads. Everything else, you found on your own, but that was to be expected.”
“Think of your family, I can still free you!” he said. Mearto began to cry. She didn’t look up at Kosai, but stared at the ground, watching her tears fall. Kosai flexed, his blood surging and pulsing within him. He thought back to his promise to Zenith, that he would run if thing didn’t work out. The Dark One was here, and it meant certain death for some, and Kosai was not strong enough to stop him yet. If he stayed, he would die, he was sure of it. If he ran, Kosai thought the Teachers would die and the Dark One would come after him and probably kill him.
“Anyone else?” the Dark One asked.
“Now Kosai!” one of the teachers called. Kosai wasn’t sure who it was. He made a quick connection with the Faye. His hands and forearms lighted with flame, the instinct to fight came over him. Kosai jumped and slid over the table, and struck the Seer. The Head Teacher swung with his staff
. Kosai ducked, turned and landed an uppercut to the Head Teacher’s jaw, his face catching fire, crushing jaw and knocking teeth loose. He pushed Mearto out of the way as another teacher launched a black rope.
It wrapped around his arm, but Kosai pulled and then punched it with his other hand. The roped broke and he rushed towards Isaac. More black strands shot out. Kosai couldn’t tell who they were coming from, but each one missed. Kosai kneed Isaac in his large gut, and the teacher doubled over. Taking the opportunity, Kosai placed both hands behind the Teacher’s head and smashed his knee into his face. Isaac fell back, bloody and unconscious. The Dark One jumped on the table and ran toward Mearto. Kosai rushed towards her but was too late. The Dark One grabbed her by the neck and held up his club, ready to strike, the black flames close to dripping on her red hair.
“No!” Kosai called. The other teachers stopped their attack. Kosai looked around the room. The teachers that had sided with him were all dead. Daius looked as if he had never been injured. Kosai shook slightly, the chilling sense of death closing around him like a coffin. The door was still open, he could still run, still have a chance to escape, but for how long? He looked down at his hands and extinguished the flames. One of his knuckles has split open during the fight and the blood began to spread down the back of his fingers.
“You have been a thorn to us,” the Dark One said.
“Kill him,” the Seer said.
“No, no, no we mustn’t do that,” he said to the Seer. Then he looked at Kosai. “I promised your father not to kill you. But I did not promise to do worse. I still have a need of you Kosai.”
Kosai still had a chance, he looked over at Mearto quickly. She looked up and mouthed “run”.
“You can do anything to me! Just let her go. Let her live her life. Let her be free.” Kosai flung his bloodied hand over towards Mearto and the Dark One. The other Teacher’s attention was drawn from the red streak, but that second was enough. Kosai turned and sprinted towards the door. But before he could reach it and escape, black coils wrapped around his feet, tripping him and sending him headlong to the ground. Kosai tried to correct himself and fell on his shoulder. The black coils twisted tighter and tighter around him, inching up his legs and pulled him back into the room like black, constricting snakes.
“Your escape and terms were not part of the agreement,” the Dark One said smoothly as the black ropes wrapped around his chest and the stood him upright. “Daius, curse him as Nameless. We must also transform him so that his father cannot recognize him. Your title,” he said looking at Kosai, “what was it again?”
“I am Kosai,” he said firmly. “Wolf of the Capital Barracks.”
“How fitting, perhaps your shape ought to reflect that more perfectly. Make one motion of resistance and she dies.”
The black ropes had come from the Head Teacher. Daius made a small twisting motion with his staff and they squeezed even tighter. Kosai locked eyes with the Seer, then Daius, Mearto, and then Dark One. He showed no fear as the ropes constricted against his body.
“I will end you, I will end all of you,” Kosai roared. The ropes lessened slightly for a split second as the teachers flinched. After regaining their poise, the black ropes continued to tighten.
As Daius uttered the Unspoken, the power of the Faye filled the room. Kosai closed his eyes, attempting to call up his Father’s face one last time, but too late. Already, his father’s face disappeared into nothingness, and the thought of a father vanished.
The Barracks, the training, the sparring, the lessons, one by one seceded into blackness. Each lieutenant, each recruit, each guard, each mission, dissolved in his mind, as if it had never happened. The former recruit tried to remember his name, his title, but those were now gone from him. He opened his eyes one last time and saw a woman with red hair staring at him, weeping. Her cheeks flushed red from tears and sadness. Why was she crying?
Then he was nothing. The pressure of the Unspoken grew. The young man fell to the ground, unconscious.
CHAPTER 26