“Edis, are you injured?” Arkin’s voice asked concerned.
Edis moved his horse forward, trying to avoid bodies. “Edis!” he said, this time demanding. Edis looked up at Arkin. Crimson dotted his face. His white shirt was scarlet, as was the blade in his hand. But that wasn’t what really transfixed Edis, it was that Arkin was totally unaffected by this. The look on his face was apathetic, like someone who just took out the trash.
Arkin came up to him, placing his hand on his forearm, giving it a shake. Edis shook his head. “I’m not hurt,” he said, then after a moment, “I don’t want my family to see…”
“Of course not, I will move them, you just take a moment.”
* * * * *
Blood sprayed from Legon’s arm and a moment later his healing ward staunched the bleeding. He staggered back, his fenna feeling like lead in his hand. Mage, one of his guards, circled, giving Legon only a moment’s rest before lashing out again with his fenna. There was a deafening clang of metal on metal as Legon barely blocked the blow, his knees starting to buckle.
How can his attacks be this strong? He’s not even tired. Not even Sydin can hold up like this
, Legon thought, panicked.
Maybe if I attack him with some of the energy left in my blade I can get in a few hits. I at least want to draw blood
.
Almost as if he was reading Legon’s mind, Mage spoke, “I’m not Sydin.” Then with a roar he barked, “Flamma!” His fenna flashed gold as a long thick cord of fire and magic unfurled like a whip curling in the air, and as Mage swung his arm around sending the whip toward Legon yelling, “INGENIUM!” Legon barely had time to try and block and the spell hit his fenna with more force then he thought possible. His power drained in the blink of an eye. Gold surrounded him as Mage’s ward activated, saving Legon from certain death. Still, the force of it sent him flying back, crashing into the wall.
Legon collapsed in a heap, breathing hard and having no magic left. He looked up to Mage, who had already sheathed his fenna and was brushing his long sandy hair out of his bright blue eyes. They looked cold. The vibrant blue was like ice as Mage walked forward and extended a hand.
“Do you need a hand Un Prosa?” he asked, calm and collected.
Legon took the proffered hand and Mage lifted him. “How did you do that?” Legon asked.
Mage smirked. “Un Prose, who was the last person you fought with a fenna?”
Legon thought, “An Iumenta at the Precipice, and Sydin before that when he trained me how to use it, why?”
Mage nodded sagely. “You have never fought a master then.” He held up a hand. “Please allow me to explain. You see, Sydin is an Ascended, and is far more powerful than I, but when it comes to the fenna, he, like most of the Ascended, are not masters. You see, they never had to learn how to be masters of the fenna. Very few Venefica do. There are several levels to fighting with magic and several releases, if you will, the top of these is Binon.”
Legon interrupted, “Was that the crazy whip thing?”
Mage smiled. “Yes, that is one of the forms of my Binon, suffice it to say Binon is your maximum release of magic in a concentrated form. You have experienced this in some way I think.”
Legon thought about if he had and Mage kept speaking. “When you changed, didn’t you use a spell with so much power you thought it might kill you?” Legon nodded and Mage went on. “You felt like in that moment that you could die, that the entirety of yourself was in the spell?”
“Mage, I’ve never told anyone that, I know that you can’t die from casting a spell, so it felt silly to say that I had felt that way. How did you know?”
“That is Binon, but at that time you were only part Elf. Now if you can attain that release again you will be much stronger. You were in a life and death situation and that is why you were able to do what you did, however, it is much better to learn and master this skill so that you can use it at will, as opposed to waiting to be at death’s door. I will explain more to you, but only after you have had something to drink and eat. Come Un Prosa, you look horrible.”
They made their way to Legon’s apartment, Mage not walking quite evenly with Legon. They entered the spacious main room and he noticed that there was a sheathed fenna lying on a cabinet next to the door that led out onto the terrace. It took Legon a moment to figure out why it was there.
“Oh, they are done with it already. I thought it took a long time to make one?” Legon said, turning to Mage.
The latter walked to the fenna and picked it up. “Un Prose, they do take a long time, but you are the head of house, after all.”
Before leaving the Dragon Dome at the Precipice, Legon had met with a weapon’s master. She had taken a list of measurements of both his physical and magical attributes to send to Seeon. Fenna were powerful weapons, but Legon didn’t learn much about them until he was in his new home. Mage had explained that fenna were made for each Venefica, designed around them to make them stronger and more effective. The one he had now, the same he used in the battle, was more of a spare, and it was generic in its qualities, so it would work equally well for all. The blade he took from Mage now was fined tuned for him, and at once when he gripped the handle he could feel a difference. All Elvin and Iumenta blades would feel natural in his hand, but once when Mage had allowed Legon to use his fenna, the weapon felt off to him. Its physical makeup wasn’t the problem, but it was the magical makeup that was different; it felt foreign to him. With this new blade he understood fully why fenna were built to each fighter’s needs.
“It is named Tento, unless you would like a different name for it,” Mage explained.
Most soldiers named the sword they used. This was the case for all three races. Mage’s fenna was named Wrath, which was odd since most Elvin blades were named in the Elves’ tongue, but Mage liked the word and from what Legon could see it was fitting.
“What does that mean?” Legon asked.
“Attack.”
He pulled the long sword from the deep purple sheath, taking in its mirror-like appearance. Embossed near the hilt was his crest. Just next to that, but much smaller, was the house crest. The handle felt perfect in his hand. The handle’s wood was grown to look like it was wrapped in white and black silk, the fine gold bars twisting along like they were decoration, rather than a conductor for magic. The guard and pummel were gleaming platinum.
“It looks more like art then a weapon,” he said. Mage smiled in agreement. “They all do. Wait until you have used it before saying if you like it or not. This is why we ended early,” he said evenly.
Legon was incredulous. “That was early? How was I supposed to fight more?”
“Un Prosa, when you are tired is when you grow the most. It is my job to protect you and part of that job is teaching you how to protect yourself.” They walked out to the terrace and Legon asked a question he had been thinking about ever since they had left the training room. “Today when you used the Binon on me… why didn’t the Iumenta I fought use that? And I didn’t see any Venefica use anything like that for that matter.”
“Yes, in the type of combat you were in it would not be advisable. The vast majority of Venefica have not attained Binon, but even those that have can’t use it in battle most of the time. Today you saw how powerful a fenna can be, but that attack drained me of a lot of power. In truth, I can only attack like that four or five times before I’m exhausted. Then I must rest for a while. In a fight like the one you were in, I may use that attack two or three times, but then I will hold off until my energy has recovered some.”
“Recovered?”
“Yes, like when you exert yourself physically. The same is for magic. But like your muscles, you can train yourself to have higher endurance with magic and also spurts of power. But in combat, you must also be delegating energy to wards that protect your soldiers and the spells that make them stronger,” Mage explained.
“So that Iumenta couldn’t use Binon on me even if they knew how, is that what you’re saying?”
“Most likely, he may have made one last attempt to kill you, like you did defending Iselin. However, you defeated him before he was able to try, so we will never know.”
Legon spent most of the rest of the day learning everything he could about fenna and looking forward to trying out Tento as soon as he could.
* * * * *
Salty air filled Emma’s nose as she looked down on a small harbor town. She didn’t remember its name. All she knew was that they were going to meet a ship here. She couldn’t see the ocean, as it was obscured by buildings, but she could smell it.
“It’s different, isn’t it?” Arkin asked the group.
“I’ve never been to the sea, but I’ve heard that it is beautiful,” Laura said.
“We lived near the coast until I was twelve,” Edis said, breathing deep and seeming to relax.
They made their way through the teeming streets. The sun was high in the sky and the day was unusually hot for this time of year. The humidly and heat were making Emma’s hair and clothes stick to her, and she thought back longingly for the aridness of Salmont. As they made their way through the town, the smell of fish in the sun assaulted her and she wondered how people could live in a place like this.
Arkin sensed her thought and explained. “We are heading to the part of the bay where all the fishing boats land. All the markets are there as well. The rest of the city doesn’t smell this way,” he said in her mind.
Sure enough, there was a gap in the buildings and Emma caught her first glimpse of the sea. Her mouth parted slightly as she took in the sparkling bay. Gulls flew overhead, swooping down onto the ships as they came in. A breeze drifted off the water, cutting the scent of fish. She followed Arkin as he made his way down one of the docks. He stopped at one of the boats that looked to be empty. They all dismounted, Emma making her way to the edge of the dock looking down the gap in between the bobbing ships and the solid dock. Water was lapping against the thick moss-covered beams that supported the dock.
“Good day, can I help you?” a gruff voice said.
She started and looked up in time to see Arkin shake the hand of a scruffy looking man. “Hello, we are here for a tour of the bay. Could you help us?”
The man paused, looking Arkin over, still holding his hand. Finally he let go and turned to yell at someone somewhere below deck. “Kevin, get up here, we have a job.”
A tall, lanky boy that was presumably Kevin came above deck, running his hand through shaggy black hair. “What’s that, boss?” he asked.
“Captain,” the older man corrected. “Take these horses to the stable,” he said meaningfully.
“The stables? But weren’t we…” he trailed off, taking in Emma and her companions, and then he jumped like he’d been shocked. “Right, right, the stable got ya boss.”
Kevin scuttled onto the dock, yelling for a few nearby hands to come help him. Edis and Laura didn’t protest, and neither did Arkin, but the whole thing felt a bit odd to Emma.
Arkin spoke over the mental network. “This is Mick. He is going to take us out to the Elvin ship.” She noticed a new presence in her mind, and then the same gruff voice as before. “Get on board and go below deck. Your horses will be sent via the regular means of smuggling.”
Emma did as she was told and stepped over the rail of the ship onto the shifting deck. She made her way under deck into the musty hold. She was assailed by the smell of fish and brine. Her nose crinkled and she tasted the salt on the back of her tongue. She found a pile of nets to sit on and waited for Arkin to show up. Soon she was joined by Laura and Edis, who both seemed to dislike the space as much as she did.
Edis spoke. “Maybe we’ll get used to it over the next few weeks. I can’t imagine it will take too long to get to the Pawdin Empire.”
Laura nodded her head in agreement, but Emma thought otherwise. After her encounter with the Elvin house, she was pretty sure the Elf ship would be nothing like the one they were on right now. Soon enough she felt movement and she knew they were shoving off and on their way out to sea.
After an hour Arkin came below deck and told them they could come up. Emma was grateful to be out on the main deck of the ship. The fresh sea air was welcome after the must of the hold. Pelicans played in the spray from the ships bow and she had to admit that it was peaceful. She was alone overlooking the edge when she felt Arkin beside her.
He looked uncomfortable. “Emma, it’s been a long few weeks and we haven’t had any time to talk, and I don’t want to bring up painful memories, but I think you have the right to know about Kovos’ last few months.”
Was she ready for this? Was she going to be able to handle hearing about her love? She thought that she was and nodded for him to speak. Arkin explained about how Kovos was doing everything he could to prepare himself for her. Her chest tightened when she learned about how Elves connected so deeply that they died when their spouse did and that Kovos had wanted that with her. But they wouldn’t have that, they never would; that future had been stolen from her.
After Arkin was done, she took a moment to collect herself. “Is there anything else?” she asked.
Arkin frowned. “No. Just know you were the last thing he thought about before he engaged the Iumenta.”
Hours passed and night fell as Emma leaned against the rail of the ship, letting its rocking motion lull her mind. The moon rose high overhead and the stars appeared. She gazed up at the twinkling dots, thinking of everything she’d lost.
“Are you up there?” She asked the stars.
“They are,” said a voice next to her.
Emma started a bit at the boy from earlier in the day. “Oh, I’m sorry,” she breathed. “I didn’t see you there.”
“Yeah, the sea and the sky have that effect. It’s easy to lose yourself out here, you have to be careful,” he said.
Emma’s smile was more out of politeness than anything else. She didn’t care want to talk to anyone right now. “Well, that’s why we have you and your father,” she said.