Kierna

The thick bamboo stalks hid her as she waited for her quarry. The crisp mountain air was cool on her fevered skin. Sweat ran in damp rivelets that snaked down her forehead and burned her eyes. The training sword was clutched in a white knuckled grip as she waited, heart beating like a drum in her chest. The entire week boiled down to this exercise.

Squad 9 vs squad 5. Kierna vs. Grace. All week they had sparred against each other, ran obstacle course, meditated, practiced aether cultivation, and done calisthenics. All within view of each other and their instructors. The instructors had said little, but the kids had spurred each other further and further. Their natural competitive nature came to the foreground as they all tried to outdo each other.

Sparring had been split evenly, with several clear champions emerging from the rings. Kierna still remained undefeated, all of her opponents falling to her fists and feet. Grace was different. Belying her name, the girl was a wrestler. She closed the distance, eating strikes to lock her hands on a limb. After that, it was a slow death as Grace slowly inched her way into a painful lock that allowed her victory. They hadn’t faced each other. The instructors wouldn’t allow them that clean of a victory. Instead they had both ravaged the opposing squads best.

Several of squad five now stared at Kierna with poorly disguised hatred. Their broken bones had been healed, but their bruised pride might not recover. Kierna didn’t mind, for every time she looked at poor Dion, her veins filled with rage until she could spit blood. Grace had snapped the poor girl's arm like it had been a twig, overwhelming the smaller girl near instantly. Kierna had gone out of her way to brutalize several of her next opponents.

Now, as the end of the week drew near, they were on their final test. Squad five had walked down the mountain at the crack of dawn this morning and had been told to go to the temple below them to receive a package. They would come back up the mountain with said package before dark. Kierna and squad nine were to relieve them of their delivery. They had all been given light wooden sparring weapons. Few knew how to use them, they had barely just started training with weapons this week. Everyone had taken them though, the thought of bashing their foes too strong to deny.

Kierna had followed on squad five’s trail, barely out of sight as they went down. Then she had organized the ambush. The thick bamboo protected them from all sides on a switchback. It was a simple plan, when squad five came back up the mountain and were halfway through the switchback, they’d attack. They’d split the squad in half, and overwhelm the package carrier. Twenty of the strongest fighters had been picked to be a rearguard. They’d hold the line and allow the fastest members of squad nine to retreat with the pilfered package.

Now Kierna was learning the hardest lesson in warfare. Patience. They’d been waiting for hours, the sun beating down on them while they waited. All around her, her squad members were laying down or napping as they waited for squad five. Dion was next to her, more quiet than normal. The sound of her arm snapping had haunted Kierna all week. Kierna had no idea how the other girl was handling it. She had withdrawn and become moody, snapping at the few others who talked to her.

If it wasn’t for her standing head and shoulders above everyone else when it came to aether cultivation, Kierna feared her friend would be in line to be dismissed. As it was, she just had to keep outpacing everyone until her aether reinforcement made up from her naturally small stature. Dion’s eyes were dark hooded and filled with anger as stared at the trail with a ferocity that belied her normally timid demeanor.

“Are you ok with this?” Kierna whispered down to her. Dion was one of those who had been picked to escort the package back up the hill. Kierna didn’t want her friend in the thick of the fighting and it had been a sore subject for them all day.

“No. But, I’ll do it anyway. Now quiet, I think I hear them,” Dion whispered back. Kierna perked up and looked down at the trail and moments later was rewarded by seeing the first of squad five come up the trail. A cluster of five, their wooden swords swaying loosley in their hands as they talked to one another.

Kierna didn’t like it. None of them were this careless. They were isolated, walking in front of the group, which still hadn’t appeared behind them. It was almost like they were inviting the attack. All around Kierna, the others got ready, preparing to drop down and overwhelm them. Kierna didn’t give the signal though, instead just watched them walk up the trail. Indecision tore at her.

Could they be carrying the package? Were they a trick to get them to deploy early and ruin her ambush? Could they just be idiots?

“Aster, take six and go and get them when they get ahead of us. Search them for a package. Everyone else, stay quiet and wait,” Kierna gave her orders. She’d be an idiot to allow them to just walk by her with the hidden package because she was too scared of changing her plans.

Aster nodded and quickly tapped on the shoulders of six others before rising up and going after the departing figures. Maybe a minute later, the rest of squad five came up. They were clustered around a heavy crate that took six of the cadets to carry. They filled the entire path all the way to the edge, six wide.

Kierna looked down on them, her heart pumping with excitement as she waited to give the order. All around her the others had risen, grabbing their faux weapons in preparation. As squad five made it to the turn of the switchback, just a few feet below squad nine, Kierna gave the signal. The signal was Kierna leaping out of the thick bamboo screaming at the top of her lungs as she swung her fake sword like a club.

The fall was brief, her sword hitting a shoulder with a meaty thump. The kid cried out in pain, dropping his own weapon as his arm was numbed. All around Kierna, the others were jumping and landing on the leading elements of squad five. Kierna had her eyes peeled for Grace though. She was determined to make the wrestler sorry for her actions.

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The turn of the trail became hotly contested, fists and wooden swords swinging about with abandon as teens fought each other. The two weeks of training had given them the beginning elements of grace, but for the most part it was a brawl. Kierna couldn’t fight with her customary calculation, forced to lash out all around her as the press of bodies grew too tight. Wedged shoulder to shoulder they just kept piling up. Kids were hit and thrown to the ground, feet tramping them as they tried to get back up.

Dust swirled around them, mixing with the huffing and heaving of the strenuous activity. Kierna was shoving her way closer, a knot of her best fighters slowly gathering around her as she battered anyone who got too close. They were aimed like an arrow at the large crate in the middle. Squad five parted like a wave before their wedge, lacking the discipline and skill to keep the knot of fighters back. The six kids lowered the package before scrambling for their own weapons. In the tight packed melee, there was no room to swing the wooden blade, so Kierna settled for short powerful thrusts.

Soft flesh bowed inward as she stabbed one of the kids, he groaned and curled around the wound, crying as he fell backward. Her other fighters had tangled and thrown the other guards down leaving the large wooden crate free. Kierna hopped on top of it, waving her sword above her head in the designated signal. From her perch above the fight she was able to look down at the confusion of the fight as almost all of squad nine were on the upper part of the switch while half of squad five struggled to turn the corner and join in.

A line was forming where the turn naturally made a chokepoint and her biggest and strongest were already there, holding the line as they hit and beat back the attacks. All of them were drenched in sweat, dust, and blood. Cuts, bruises, and broken bones were happening all around her, but for a moment Kierna stood above it all. Her eyes scanned the crowd looking for Grace, determined to match the other girl directly. She spotted her at the edge of the fight near the ledge of the trail. Dion was there too, only feet away from the girl who had snapped her arm.

Kierna leapt off the crate, a group of her squad scooping it up instantly. Kierna started pushing and shoving her way to the ledge and Grace. If the battle was lost and Grace wanted to extract revenge, then Dion was just standing there as an easy target. Kierna refused to see her friend hurt like that again. She pushed a pair of fighters apart, sliding between them, and emerged to see Dion and Grace fighting again.

Grace was bulkier than them, her arms hard packed muscle, her face pimply with her blonde hair tied up tight in braids. She had left her sword on the ground, had her knees bent and arms outstretched as she moved toward Dion in quick sure steps. Dion stood firm, her sword held in two hands in front of her. Grace closed the distance in a sudden surge, jerking her head to the side to avoid Dion’s thrust. Grace’s wide hands got under Dion’s knees; she wedged her shoulder in Dion’s gut and lifted her up, just to pile drive her back to the rocky ground.

Kierna raced toward the other girl, swinging her sword like a golf club. She caught Grace squad in the face as the wrestler got to her knees, ready to pummel the stunned Dion. Bones crunched and blood spurted out in a spray as Kierna connected solidly. Grace cried out in pain and rolled off of Dion, springing to her feet. Grace’s blue eyes were filled with tears and blood ran out in a river from her busted nose. She stood ready though, her face twisted into a grimace of anger as she closed the distance between the two of them, arms outstretched.

Kierna backed up, striking an arm that got to close with bruising force. Grace straightened from her wrestler's crouch and just sprinted at her. Kierna punched her in the face, her hard knuckles further damaging twisted cartilage. This managed to force a cry of pain out of the wrestler, grabbing at her face with both hands. A sob of agony and rage came from between her fingers as she backed up. Kierna could press her, finish her in a definitive way. Break her like she had broken Dion, but she didn’t. The girl was defenseless, sobbing into clenched hands and cradling her pulverized nose.

Kierna turned and walked away, floating high on her quick victory against Grace and squad five. They just had to finish their climb and it would be all but assured. The crate was even now being hoisted up and rushed back up towards the Golden Temple. It was all over, they had won. Kierna looked around for Dion, to pick her up and go with her back to the temple in victory.

She wasn’t where she had been. Kierna spun around looking for her. Dion was racing toward the still weeping Grace. Time slowed. The moment stretched out longer and longer. The dust that stuck to her mouth, the adrenaline racing through her, the high of victory sweet on her lips. Dion’s outstretched arms, Grace backpedaling, arms wheeling as she teetered at the edge of the ledge. The look of fear on Grace’s face, overwhelming the pain as her eyes begged and pleaded for someone to help her. She tipped over and disappeared.

Dion turned around, her face shocked, blank as her dark eyes met Kierna’s. The horror of what had just happened communicated through the meeting of their eyes. Dion’s eyes were wide, disbelieving of what had just happened. Grace was gone, falling off the side of the mountain. Dion had been the one to push her.

Kierna raced over and grabbed her friend's arm, dragging her away from the ledge she stood next to. The weight of the moment was weighing on them, but for everyone else, they hadn’t even noticed. The scuffle was still ongoing, kids hitting each other with pieces of wood or their fists. Blood was flowing, but for the most part it was a clean fight. Nothing the healers couldn’t fix in a few minutes. No one had even noticed Grace falling.

The two girls, clutching at each other desperately, fled up the mountain. Kierna was in a state of shock, not believing that her friend had just killed someone. The moment of Grace standing there on the ledge with her arms pinwheeling and a look of desperate horror on her face was etched into her memory. The sweetness of the fight, of winning, was now tainted. They had killed a girl.

Dion was just as startled and alarmed. It was so easy.

Far above them, floating in the sky, Pavel looked down with the beginning of a smile on his lips. It had only taken two weeks to make one of them a killer. This group was already performing above his admittedly low expectations. Their aether cultivation was on track, and while their actual skills were abysmal. Maybe Sorrow had been on to something when she recruited among the poorest and meanest of the children. There was a certain hunger in their action that was delightful.

He fell down the mountain, his eyes scanning the terrain looking for Grace. The girl had been more skilled than talented. Would have developed into a middling warrior. Her death would serve as an excellent base for the others though. To have one of the leaders die in only the second week, oh he could work with that. He was determined it would be one of his that was chosen by Sorrow. The rewards promised for the winning instructor was beyond anything he could gain for himself.

He gathered up the girl's broken body, her small frame easily held in his muscular arms. A faint pang of regret echoed through him at the waste of life. He could have saved her, it would have been trivially easy to grab her before she hit the ground. It wouldn’t have the message he wanted to deliver though. He rose back up to his temporary home with the dead child in his arms.