Chapter 7
Village
~Dragon Dancer~
I had met an Aborigine shaman, or clever man as they liked to call themselves, who was a dream walker. He was the first human one I ever knew, dream walkers were those who could travel into the minds of others while sleeping. I was one myself but for a human to be able to do that was extraordinary.
As you can imagine, it was surprising for me to find in the middle of the night, Aaron walking around in the recesses of my mind. I don’t think he even knew what he was doing or where he was. I always knew there was something peculiar about Aaron; he didn’t quite seem to be a non-magic user. He was the opposite, but in a different way than most, he was a dream walker, and a pretty decent one to be able to walk into my mind. I betted that that night his powers awoke because he slept in the presence of my magic which was rather powerful. Thankfully I was awake when he went into my mind, if I was dreaming who knows what he could have seen. I hadn’t really been sleeping anyway, when you live to be my age you sleep less and less; lately I was only taking ten minute naps.
The morning of the third day no official came in to tell us we were fighting next so everyone slept in. Aaron woke up first with dark circles around his eyes like he hadn’t slept at all. “Good morning,” I said as he sat up in his mat like the awakening dead.
He mumbled something incomprehensible and looked around the room groggily. After a few minutes he abruptly jumped up, “What’s the time?” he asked panicking.
“I don’t know, four rands after sunrise?” I guessed.
Aaron cursed and started to frantically get his clothes on. “Relax,” I said, “no one’s come by-,” the door knocked and opened without waiting for an answer. Aaron and I turned as Sean walked into the room.
“No need to get ready,” he said when Aaron resumed panicking.
Gret woke up and looked out of his blanket. “Wha?” he mumbled.
“What are you doing here?” said Aaron, “Are you going to blackmail us some more?”
“Just here to bring you some news,” Sean said, trying to look harmless. He sat himself down in the chair beside the table and faced all of us.
“Aren’t you supposed to be working?” said Rook from his cot, apparently he was awake.
“Being Head Official has its advantages,” said Sean fingering the golden star on the rim of his red shirt.
“You? Head Official?” said Aaron surprised. Head Official was the head honcho of all the officials, he practically ran the tournament.
“Shh!” shushed Sean, putting his finger to his lips, “I like keeping a low profile.” He smiled, “I heard that you were acquainted with Griffon’s Crown. Just to tell you they won’t be fighting today.”
“What? Why?” said Aaron.
“Questions, questions,” sighed Sean, “How many fights were there yesterday?”
“Fifteen.”
“So how many winners are there then?”
“Fifteen.”
“Exactly, with an odd number we can’t pair everyone up. So, one group had to be picked randomly to sit out a round and that group happened to be the Griffon’s Crown. So don’t worry, they’ll come back next round.”
“Oh,” said Aaron and Gret understanding dawning them.
Suddenly a huge snore exploded from Brand’s cot, the sound reminded me of a rocket blasting off. Rook angrily got up and threw his pillow, which was actually his rather heavy pack, at Brand’s head. That woke him up pretty quickly, not without a great deal of swearing.
“Now that everyone is bright-eyed and bushy-tailed,” said Sean, “I’ll get to the point or points I should say. First, you’re fighting a little before noon. Second, Gray,” he turned to me, “How old are you? There’s an age requirement, 16, and you don’t look a day over twelve years old.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” I said dryly, “But I’m well over sixteen. No, I’m not lying, Rook can tell.”
All of them looked at me skeptically except for Rook who wore an expression of genuine surprise, “I can’t believe I’m saying this but he’s right,” he said.
“Okay but if you’re wrong…” Sean sighed but moved on, “Thirdly, if I were you I wouldn’t befriend anyone still in the tournament, especially Griffon’s Crown.”
Aaron and the rest couldn’t believe what Sean just said, “I think that’s our business who we consider friends.” Aaron said.
Sean shrugged his shoulders, he expected that reaction. I sympathized with him, Sean was right, Ethan was a dangerous friend. Aaron and the rest didn’t know what they were getting into.
Sean got up from the chair, “Might as well get back to work. Nice job on making it through the second round, keep it up.” He did a sort of salute and as quickly as he came he left.
As soon as the door closed I got up, “I’m going to get some food,” I said brushing the dirt off my pants. I didn’t quite want to stick around and hear them complain about Sean.
“Okay,” nodded Aaron, “don’t get lost.”
“Bring me back some meat!” yelled Brand, his stomach growled audibly, emphasizing his request.
I nodded and stepped out of the room. I walked into the network of hallways that wound themselves around the stadium. It was not uncommon that one would get lost, without an official or solid knowledge of the hallways that was unavoidable. Thankfully I’d been there a few times and had an unfaltering photographic memory so I had a nice map in my head. Within seconds I found a dark, unused hallway where I took off my hoodie. I enjoyed the feel the air on my bear arms; Dark also enjoyed being exposed too and stretched his limbs and wings. I stuffed the jacket in my bag, I had a light brown shirt on underneath that I lengthened with magic into a makeshift dress. I also tampered with the light on my hair to make it look like a very light blonde rather than the standout silver. With my second disguise complete I stepped out into the busier hallway. In this one Dark didn’t even need to try to hide, the people and officials here had their own errands and schedules to attend too, Dark and I were all but invisible. I then made my way out of the stadium through a series of secret passageways; I didn’t really want to be questioned on my way in or out. When I was out I went to a little, almost forgotten, store. Out in the open it was the same way, no one really looked at Dark so he was okay in the open. As I approached the store the man running it greeted me warmly, “Well, isn’t this the beautiful young lady from yesterday?”
I acted like any flattered, naïve human girl, “And isn’t this the kind gentleman from before?”
He smiled, “What would you like? Breakfast?”
“Please, for seven.”
He gathered up some biscuits, apples, bread, bacon, and eggs. “Here you go,” he said handing me the large bag, “Are you sure you can carry that?” he asked concerned.
“I’m fine thank you,” I reassured him and turned so the bag was out of his reach, “How much?”
“Two trans.”
“Two trans? I’d be robbing you,” I said and handed him 15 trans. He tried to give the thirteen extra but I had already started to walk away, “Good-bye!” I called to him.
“Bye,” he sighed.
While walking back I gave Dark a strip of bacon from inside the bag, he crunched it happily. He deserved the treat, he’d been hiding for days, “Sorry Dark,” I said to him, “but you’re going to have to hide again.” Dark looked at me with resigned eyes, they seemed to say okay, I’ll do it.
It didn’t take me long to get back to the stadium, I changed back to Gray and quickly made my way to the room, I didn’t want my group to be too hungry. When I opened the door I realized I was too late, Brand and Rook both had the I’m-sooo-hungry looks. Everyone brightened when they saw me with the food and all reached eagerly for some.
“I got it from an official,” I said like yesterday, Aaron nodded his thoughts on the food though. I gave the bag to them; I took just an apple and sat quietly against the wall, munching on the crisp fruit.
Our match in the third round was about to start and already the group was getting used to the excitement of the tournament.
I didn’t have my sword out; I decided to have some fun with my other weapons.
The horn sounded and the hatch began to open, the crowd’s volume increased, this time their cries could sometimes be made out, there were some shouts of Dragon Dancer! and the other team, Double Luck! As I stepped out I thought I distinctly heard, “GRAY!” being screamed by a fanatic girl. I looked in the direction of the scream and shook my head, fangirls.
I looked over at the other team, there were five of them and they all looked like they had just met the age requirement. They looked inexperienced and way too young, their name actually fit, it was a wonder they got this far.
The announcer went through his speech and eventually started the fight. It was like last time, Rook and one of the other team stayed put while the rest of us charged, I same one of the ones in the back pull a bow out and fit an arrow on the string. With the skill of an experienced archer he aimed at Rook and let loose the arrow. Deadly fast I stepped in front of the path of the missile and brought out a dagger. There was a loud clash from the arrow hitting the flat of the blade, it wasn’t the best block but it was effective. The archer, or probably weapons master, looked at me in amazement as I did the near-inhuman block. I took advantage of his shock and brought out another dagger and sprinted to the guy. He recovered and fitted another arrow and shot it at me. I dodged it and within seconds reached him and with a swing of my dagger cut his bow string, rendering it useless. He seemed a little irritated with what I did to his bow but he didn’t let it distract him, like me he pulled out a dagger from his boot.
Up close I could see that the young man, or boy was probably more correct, was younger than sixteen. Then again, I thought to myself, he was probably thinking the same thing. What annoyed me though were the stubs on his chin, why did boys think that growing half a beard was attractive? (When it came to facial hair I had very strict opinions.)
Scruffy, as I now dubbed him, lunged at me with the dagger and I easily parried it. So the duel started, a dance of lunges and stabs. Scruffy was quick and practiced with the blade; he was a good quality weapons master and I could understand how he lasted through to this point. Unfortunately for him he was fighting against me and his years of training and practice were nothing against my centuries of experience. But I didn’t want to go too hard on the kid so I decided to make him think he was doing a pretty good job.
Also like the last round I watched my group fight from the corner of my eye. Brand was going against a comparatively small boy. Brand didn’t even get out his sword and just used his gargantuan fists. The fight reminded me of an unafraid elephant against a mouse; Brand swung his arms like the large animals trunk while the sorely unequal mousy guy skittered to the side.
Gret and Aaron were doing fairly well; Gret with his more club-like blows was gaining the upper hand against the swordsman he was fighting. Aaron was probably the most experienced out of the entire group (excluding me of course), the kid he was fighting against didn’t have a chance. I still hadn’t seen Aaron really use his MAO; I had a pretty good idea of what it was. Even though he really didn’t go all out, Aaron was an exceptional fighter; he used the sword more like one of his limbs and didn’t rely totally on it. He used his other hand, his elbows, his legs, combining them all into his own fighting style.
Still, I could see they all were holding back, they didn’t want to hurt children and I guess in a way they could see themselves in the boys. I was holding back too though so I really wasn’t the one to judge. At that thought I turned my attention back to the fight before me. Scruffy was getting tired, sweat beaded on his face and his breaths started to get ragged. Cutting him some slack I loosened my grip on my right dagger, I moved my hand so that his dagger hit it just right and it spun out of my hand and onto the ground. Shaggy smiled with delight and advanced with newfound energy. As he jabbed and swung I just barley blocked his swings and stepped back, creating the illusion that I was starting to retreat. Scruffy closed in on me, preparing to end the fight. It was at this time that I decided the fight had gone on long enough. Using my free hand I snapped my fingers in his face, he was taken aback for a second in which I kicked my right foot straight in the air. My boot hit his hand and his dagger flew up into the air, being over fifty pounds my boot continued to go up and slammed under Scruffy’s head. He fell backward and hit the ground with a thump. My free hand reached up into the air and caught his dagger; I then stepped over him, and put the daggers at his neck, crossing them like a pair of scissors.
“Yield?” I asked him.
“Y-yes,” he said carefully, aware that any movement would cut his neck.
“Okay,” I pulled the daggers away from his throat then using one of their pommels knocked him upside the head, rendering him unconscious.
I threw his blade onto the ground and picked up my other one; I put my daggers back on me and stepped away from Scruffy. Looking around I saw that this time it was only Brand and I who were finished. But as soon as I took another step Aaron disarmed his opponent then, like me, knocked him unconscious. Looking over in Rooks direction I saw he was about to finish, he was already stepping forward toward the other magic user.
I heard a clank and turned to see Gret with his sword pointing at the last one’s neck. Both of their chest’s heaved with exhaustion but they both seemed frozen.
A drop of sweat rolled down Gret’s neck, “Give up,” Gret said, panting.
The boy didn’t answer and just stared at him with determined, fearless eyes.
“Give up!” Gret yelled.
Suddenly the boy swerved around the sword and headed straight for Gret. Instinctively Gret thrust his sword at the boy, straight into his chest.
“FARELL!!” screamed the boy facing Rook, his scream was cut off as Rook’s magic broke through his.
Gret’s eyes widened in shock, blood splashed onto the ground. Farell fell to the side, Gret’s sword sliding out with a sickening sound. Gret quickly kneeled down and applied pressure to the boy’s wound, his magic hurriedly trying to fix it.
“Help!” he screamed to the officials. His hands were soaked with blood, he talked hurriedly to the boy, “It’s going to be alright. Hang in there.”
It wasn’t going to be alright, Farell was already slipping away, his heart started to sputter. By the time the officials reached him the boy was already dead. Gret sat there his hands still on the boy’s chest. There I heard one of the saddest sounds ever, nearly covered by the screams of the crowd, the words spoken softly by a doctor who killed his own patient. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry…”
The room we were moved into had enough cots for all of us that would have been something that the group might have celebrated if not for the weighed silence on us. Gret’s eyes didn’t laugh anymore they barley seemed to be looking at all. His attitude seeped into the room and even Brand was quiet. I looked at Gret, the way he was lifeless and I saw something familiar about it and the fact made me sad.
“It’s not your fault.” I said.
“What?” said Brand.
“It my fault,” I said, looking at Gret, “That’s what you’re thinking right?” Gret was nonresponsive.
“Look, I’m not telling you that you should be happy or anything but if you think that his death was your fault you are wrong.”
Aaron looked uncomfortable, “Gray, I don’t think you should-,”
“If I didn’t join the fight, if I just could have knocked him out, if only I just quit. All just excuses.”
Gret’s head jerked up, “Then whose fault was it?”
“Farell’s. He was young, he was fearless, he was stupid. If you weren’t there he would have been killed anyway.”
Gret looked at me stunned.
My toned softened, “I do not think anyone deserves to die but I don’t think you punish yourself for another person’s fault or your accident.”
Gret was quiet at this and looked away; the sadness in his eyes seemed to soften a bit.
Suddenly there was a knock at the door, “Who is it?” shouted Rook.
“Ethan,” replied the latter.
Aaron reached over and opened the door; Ethan waved and walked in, “Hey.”
“Hey,” said Aaron just a bit sadly from the mood in the room, “Having fun advancing without having to fight?”
Ethan laughed pained, “It’s more boring than you think. Congrats on making it through, I’m sorry to just come in here and ask this but would you mind if I talk with Gray for a bit?” he pointed behind him, indicating he wanted to talk alone.
“Gray?” Aaron questioned, “Gray?” he asked again when I got up and walked over to Ethan.
“I don’t mind,” I said and stepped out the door, Ethan followed and closed it before anyone could ask more questions. I kept walking until I reached the dark hallway from before. I stopped and faced Ethan, “Well?” I asked, I was expecting this.
Ethan wasted no time with formalities, “What are you doing here?” What are you planning to do with that group?” he demanded me.
“I should be asking you the same thing Etheldred,” I said with a smile.
“Don’t call me that! I hate that god-awful name,” seethed Ethan.
“All the more reason to say it, really, you shouldn’t deny your own name.”
“Oh? And what about you, Dragon Dancer?” he said accusingly.
I leaned in and smelled him, “Magic in the blood of your line is very strong, it’s nice to know it hasn’t faded.” As I said it I took off the spell on my voice and took my hood off.
Ethan stiffened as he saw me; I guess he didn’t expect me to look like what I was, “I’ve heard about you. You meddle; you make things go wrong, the way you want it to go. Why are you in that group, disguising yourself as a boy? Are you happy playing with them, deceiving them?”
I circled him, “Oh and what are you doing here? Saving up money to save a village from some terrible disease? What utter crap.” I stopped in front of him.
“I’m telling them about you, Aaron, Rook, all of them,” said Ethan angrily, trying to step around me.
I stopped him, putting my hand on his chest, “Really? Then maybe I should tell them that you are the-,”
“Don’t say it!” hissed Ethan, stepping away from me.
“Well, then how about you worry about keeping up your façade and I’ll worry about mine.”
“You think that will stop me?” said Ethan.
“No,” I said and my smile disappeared, “But I rather like this disguise and if you try to ruin it in any way I will kill you. After all, you are just an extra.”
Ethan flinched as if hit, “If you tell them-,”
“Really, if I wanted to tell the whole world your little secret if would have been done by now.” I turned away from him putting my hood back on and the magic back on my voice, “Goodbye Etheldred, I hope you save your village.”
*while I was trying to figure out names I asked my family if they could come up with any good ones, my Mom said Etheldred, the name of my great-grandfather, I first just laughed it off until I realized farther on when writing this that Ethan could be a shorter version of Etheldred, anyway, I got a laugh out of that
