Seven Swords - Michael E. Shea (best manga ereader txt) š
- Author: Michael E. Shea
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Throughout the morning their eyes moved to Susan. She ate quietly, eyes on the ground. Jon sat by her and ruffled her hair. She squinted and grimaced. She was such a child in so many ways. Yet the glimpses of the things she had seen, the things they had done to her, they gave Jon nightmares for weeks. Thorn had moved to Vrenna and the two spoke briefly and then began to eat.
āAre you ready to train before our ride?ā Jon asked Adrin. Adrin looked at him as he took another bite off his spit.
āIām still sore from yesterday,ā said Adrin.
āYouāll be even more sore tomorrow,ā said Jon. āToday youāre going to fight the Kal.ā The Kal smiled at Adrin. Jon hated that smile but Adrin clearly hated it more and that worked for Jon.
The Kal stood a head taller than Adrin, thicker, and clearly stronger. He took a cloth belt and wrapped it around a sturdy stick. Though less sinister than his war club, two hits on Adrin proved that it served the job well.
The information Jon had shared about Susan shook Adrin and his confidence lagged. That served well. He would learn more if he wasnāt so worried about impressing them so much. Still, it took a while to get near his normal speed. The Kal didnāt help much. Adrin stood ready, offhand dagger in front and rapier in his rear hand. The Kal feigned and Adrin reacted. The padded club hit Adrinās forearm close to the elbow. The offhand dagger went to the earth. Adrin bent to pick it up and the Kal hit him in the head sending him flat.
āShite!ā shouted Adrin. Keeping his eyes up, he stood and readied himself. The club sailed in, head over tail. Adrin cursed again and brought his arm up. The club fell harmlessly but the Kal was there. He palmed Adrin in the chest, taking his wind. Both rapier and dagger fell. Jon shook his head.
āWhat in the hells,ā said Adrin, picking himself up again. āHow do I fight this barbarian?ā
āIām sorry Iāve never had the proper schooling to not so quickly kick your arse,ā said the Kal. Sanādoro laughed.
āWhat advantage do you have over him?ā asked Jon. āYouāll have to get used to the lack of any fighting style out here. You could be dueling beautifully until an arrow hits you in the back.ā
Adrin stood and prepared again. The Kal shifted and moved, feigning both a throw and a swing. Adrin was watching his feet. That was good. It wasnāt enough though. The Kal swung in and Adrin caught it with his offhand dagger. The Kal kicked low into Adrinās thigh. Adrin grunted and went down to one knee. The Kal tangled both of Adrinās arms, keeping the blades far away. He hit Adrin hard in the head with the back of his arm. If he had hit with his elbow, Adrin would be unconscious.
Adrin picked himself up again, a look of anger and frustration. Jon smiled. He went to the fire and picked up a pair of sticks, both charred black. He went up to Adrin, took his sword and dagger, and gave him the sticks. One he broke back to about the length of his forearm.
āThereās no good defense against a man of his size fighting the way he does. Donāt worry about defending against him. Think about cutting him. I want you to mark him. No matter what he does to you, mark him. Keep the moves simple. If you cut him it wonāt matter.ā
Adrin got the point. If he attempted to block or parry with the charred sticks, they would break. He still defended however. The Kal charged, stopped short, and kicked. The kick connected but not hard. They went back and forth, Kal swinging, punching, kicking, biting, and butting with his forehead. Adrin bobbed, dove, spun, ducked and fell bruised to the ground.
Adrin grunted and the expression on his face continued to fall into frustration and hopelessness. But he stood again. The two sticks hung loose in his hands. His knees were bent. The Kal came at him, club swinging high. Adrin ducked underneath, spun, and the two men grappled again. The Kal whirled and Adrin went skidding across the ground. But when he recovered, he smiled. A black line of ash ran across the Kalās stomach.
They dueled again and again. Most often Adrin ended on his back in the dust but a few times he ended on his feet and each time he left a new mark of ash on the Kalās large body.
As the morning matured, the two men stood facing each other. Adrin was breathing heavy but a dozen or more lines of black ash covered the Kalās body.
āYouāre getting it,ā said Jon. He handed Adrin his sword and dagger.
āYou fight better with those sticks than you did with the teatsword,ā remarked the Kal, grinning his awful grin. Adrin scowled. They returned to the camp where their horses had been packed for the journey south.
They spent two days crossing the barrens, the bluffs rising high above the flat plains. Jon watched in wonder. He had spent many years in the south desert but never had he seen such a place. The air was cooler and even the sky lightened as the dust clouds left the dark orange sky leaving it a beautiful amber. They camped the second night in the barrens, keeping fires sheltered in a deep pit. Caādaan spoke of the bandit tribes in the barrens and, as well as they had done against the slavers, Jon had no desire for further battle.
Adrin fought Sanādoro the next day. The brown man both fought and instructed as well as Jon so Jon simply watched the exchange. The small desert man fought with both his daggers held backwards which confused Adrin, but Sanādoro fought just hard enough to keep Adrin moving but not hard enough to put him into despair. In this, Sanādoro was a much better instructor than the Kal who had trouble holding back his skill.
Both men stood facing one another. Adrin with his long stick and short stick, Sanādoro with two short sticks held in a reverse grip. Adrin saluted, long stick to his nose, short stick out to his side, palm open. Sanādoro smiled, crossed both his sticks in front of him and bowed. Jon saw hell in Sanādoroās eyes.
Adrin fell back into a more relaxed version of his traditional fighting stance, much less graceful but much more functional. He held his offhand dagger higher and his rapier lower than he normally did. He had made the stance his own now, not the strict stance of the duelmasters of the north but his own relaxed stance prepared for any attack that might come his way.
Sanādoro spun low and threw one of the daggers twirling end over end. Adrin parried it away with his rapier-stick. The move was smooth, relaxed, and very impressive. Sanādoro followed the dagger with his own body, grappling Adrinās legs, lifting, and throwing him hard to the ground. Adrin struggled for position but Sanādoro straddled the young man, keeping control of Adrinās hips. Sanādoro roughly gripped Adrinās chin and pulled Adrinās head up, exposing his neck. Sanādoroās other stick came in, point toward the hollow in Adrinās throat.
āThink for a moment,ā said Sanādoro. āWhat is open to you.ā
āIām not even standing,ā said Adrin.
āSometime you may have to fight hanging upside down with nothing but your teeth,ā said Sanādoro. Sanādoro didnāt make it sound hypothetical, thought Jon. Adrin cocked his head, moved his elbow, and slid his offhand stick across Sanādoroās exposed belly. Had the blade been real, Adrin would have disemboweled the man. āGood,ā said Sanādoro. He helped Adrin to his feet.
The two men dueled as the rest of the group watched. Sanādoro fought with slow precision, attacking with unique techniques and a variance of styles. Jon was continually impressed with the small man. Jon wasnāt convinced he would win a duel against the desert native. Yet Sanādoro left openings, some clear and some very subtle. Adrin missed some and found others. As they continued Sanādoro fought harder and left fewer openings. Adrin found those few more.
When they were done both men stood, criss-crossed with dozens of stripes of black ash. The Kal laughed and Caādaan laughed with him. Jon looked at Susan and smiled. She smiled back.
āHow are they doing?ā said Jon as he sat down next to her, chewing on a strip of salted steak.
āThey donāt trust me, but they donāt want to hurt us,ā she said. āCaādaan doesnāt really understand yet.ā Jon could not get used to her adult vocabulary. He hadnāt known so many twelve-year-olds but none he knew spoke the way she did.
āWhat about Thorn and Vrenna?ā asked Jon.
āThorn cares little. He thinks about a woman he was with recently and a woman he knew long ago. Sometimes he thinks about a family he killed in a castle in the north, a young boy still clinging to his motherās breast. He thinks about another boy he saved from the Eye the way you saved me. That seems to make up for how he feels about what you did to the Voth. He is very dangerous but not to us.ā
āAnd Vrenna?ā
Susan turned and looked at Jon for a moment.
āI cannot read her at all.ā
āNothing?ā Jon asked.
āNothing.ā
That worried Jon a lot. He didnāt think Vrenna was a spy for the north but very few knew how to block someone like Susan.
āIām not worried bout her,ā said Susan, reading his mind. Jon looked at her and smiled, roughing up her hair. He loved her.
āSwords,ā Jon shouted. āMount up.ā
The weather grew cool enough that they didnāt have to stop in the afternoon. They rode through the barrens and shortly before dusk they found Heavenās Highway. Jon hadnāt seen anything like it in his whole life. The path was so long and narrow that it appeared to taper like the blade of a sword across the chasm. The Kal crawled to the edge and peered down. It took him clear effort to crawl back.
āIt goes down forever,ā the huge man said to Jon. āWe have to cross that?ā
āI fear so,ā said Jon. āCaādaan says itās safe. Itās been there for millions of years.ā
āIt could fall any time,ā said the Kal. āAnother million years or today.ā
āTrue,ā said Jon. Jon heard the Kal whisper in a language he didnāt recognize.
They sat on the edge of the gorge discussing whether to cross before the sun set or in the morning. Caādaan, concerned for his village, wanted to cross now but seeing the Kal so nervous did not convince Jon that it was a good idea. They spent the night on the gorgeās edge. The red moon painted the alien landscape the dark color of blood. Jon saw Caādaan watching Susan as she ate.
āHe feels guilty about the death of his wife,ā Susan had replied when Jon mentioned it to her. Jon studied the manās dark eyes and graying hair. Gray stubble sat on Caādaanās cheeks. He was a smaller man, only slightly taller than Sanādoro. He had a body of a runner, muscled calves and well muscled legs. He was a good man. He would never be like them, killers and soldiers. Jon envied that.
āWeāre going to try something different this morning,ā said Jon. āSusanās talent can help in many ways. She has helped me avoid a cutpurse who had clearly intended on robbing us and did it well before he came close. Against Marcus and his men, she blocked the
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