Chapter 14

Ghosts in the yard

It’s annoying to keep my breaths quiet after having just run laps of the compound. I do it anyway. Whatever is going on in the yard I want to be the one catching someone else by surprise for once.

Moving slowly to stay quiet I pass the tower and creep towards the yard. The sound of metal on metal has stopped. But in its place, I can make out heavy breathing.

The training yard itself is a large square area dominating the eastern side of the compound. When you are in the yard it feels like it's ringed by walls. With training equipment, big rocks, practice dummies, little roped-off sparring pits, or benches lining them. When you are outside the training yard you realize it isn’t walled off so much as a massively wide hole dug into the dirt of the compound. Then reinforced with pillars of that weird stone that starts out as a thick grey liquid. The final result is a somewhat haphazard lower deck that represents a surprising chunk of the compound’s total area.

Getting low I crouch-walk my way to the rail.

In the yard are two figures. I recognize both instantly. Kalon and that not-slave kid. Xael. The dark-haired foreigner is helping Kalon over to one of the benches opposite where I’m crouched. Both boys are armed with long swords. Real ones Xael with the same blade he used to fight me. Kalon’s weapon I have never seen before. But I assume it belongs to Xael as well. It has the same sort of look to it. Long and thin but less thoroughly adorned. Still fancy though.

By the look of things the pair of boys had been drilling something and Kalon overexerted himself. Tearing his wound further. That is why I can smell blood. The idiot human had been at death’s door not three days ago. No wonder they were out here so early. The pair of boys are being sneaky. There is more chance BloodRock sets me free tomorrow than the surgeons in the tower let Kalon practice this soon after such a bad injury.

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After helping the slave sit Xael tells the other boy something I can’t hear. Kalon nods and Xael begins a demonstration. Moments later the blonde boy’s eyes go wide. I can only imagine mine are the same. Having moved to the center of the yard, Xael is fighting shadows. We all do it. Every person who has ever picked up a weapon or even thrown a punch has practiced against imaginary opposition. It’s practically mandatory. It helps you figure out where your balance and timing is off. It can even help with accuracy if you really focus on aiming at the correct spots on your phantom opponent.

We all fight shadows, but not like this. This is art made of flesh. Poetry made of motion. It’s almost like I can see the phantoms he is fighting. Six men. He dances between them. Switching from extended defensive sequences to blistering assaults with miraculous fluidity. The exercise was clearly developed to drill battlefield situations and techniques, rather than fighting in the pits. But its value is still abundantly clear. I almost believe he actually could hold his own against six skilled enemies. With a little snort, I remind myself it's only training. As impressive as the display is and as useful a tool it could be as an exercise. That is all it will ever be, an exercise. Try as you might, no one can truly imagine their enemy perfectly. The phantom is always either a little too accommodating or a little too perfect. The sequence wraps up with a footwork pattern that takes me a moment to understand. He begins bounding from side to side in a zig-zag pattern whilst still moving forward.

I’ve never seen anyone do that before. It doesn’t really make sense, there isn’t a weapon or beast that would call for those short uneven dashes.

I blink a few times as understanding settles on me. This is a drill for a kind of enemy you never see in the arenas. One with a ranged weapon.

Xael finishes the whole display a mere few feet from where Kalon is sitting. As he stands there panting the blonde boy stands, and crosses the distance with surprising vitality. Sweeping the skinny foreigner into his arms the pair of boys begin to kiss.

For my part, I’m shocked and appalled….If this Xael character is going to be among hall two showing them training techniques. The level of the boys I'm fighting for position is going to jump up dramatically! Hanging on to the top spot was already getting harder. On the upside, it doesn't look like Kalon is there against his will. In fact, he seems like the driving force behind the encounter. So at least I can probably relax a little about the non-slave taking advantage of the boys around him.