Chapter Sixty-Five: Jade In Magefell

“How are your parents?” Zade asks, staring at Jade fixedly, causing her chest to constrict in a strange yet nice way. The Ember is already full in the morning, and Jade eats her breakfast with relish, enjoying real food again after that sea slop.

“Oh, you know them, always loving and protective of me,” Jade shrugs. “And they talk about you all the time.”

“Really?”

“Oh, yes,” Jade says. “The pig is scrounging again. He entered our farm and ate our carrots!”

Zade mock glared at her as she laughed.

“That’s evil, Jay! At least I only look like a pig!”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Zade points at her as she shovels food into her mouth and she blushes. “Who’s evil now, Zade. Critiquing someone who hasn’t eaten food in almost two weeks!”

“What, are you going to cry?” Zade grins. “Sea food isn’t that bad!”

“Then why were you throwing it all up?” Jade quips, and Zade scowls.

“I’ve missed this,” he admits. “Me and Xavier tease each other all the time, but it just feels more normal to me.”

Jade nods wisely. “Like throwing up on a boat?”

“No, like throwing a potato.”

“You’ll never let that one go, will you?”

“Never, that potato hurt!” Zade complains. “I still feel it, deep in my heart.”

“Get a doctor,” Jade smiles. “You need help.”

“Oh, I need help? I’m not the one who uses vegetables as weapons!”

“It was just the one time,” Jade warns. “But you’re asking for the second.”

“And this is why everyone assumes you’re dating,” Guilia says, walking up to them, looking as if she just woke up, and chances were she had. “You eat together, laugh together, and you’re so close your lips are almost touching!”

Jade and Zade blush at the same time and pull themselves away from each other, but Jade is sure she catches her best friend smiling.

“Who’ll take the first step?” Guilia asks. “Should be you, right, Zade?”

Zade pointedly does not look at either of the girls, instead finding something interesting in the window.

“You do it, sister!” Robin exclaims walking up to them and dragging Mothe, who looks like he’d rather be anywhere else. “In my culture, women always take the first step.”

Now it is Jade’s turn to find the interesting speck of dirt by the window. The other two girls laugh, and Mothe chuckles nervously.

“Oh, sorry!” Guilia exclaims, raising her hand to her mouth in shock. “We disrupted your romantic breakfast, I can’t believe it. Let’s go, Robin. We should leave them to it.”

The girls talk and laugh as they leave, Mothe shooting one last desperate look at Jade, pleading for help. Jade, unforgiving of his laughter, offers no such assistance.

“Let’s agree to ignore everything that happened," Zade tells her, and she wholeheartedly agrees.

“Yes, please.”

“Are they two always like this? Guilia wasn’t always this…”

“Evil? No, whenever they’re together, they’ll probably find a way to tease me or you or us.”

“What about the guy?”

“Mothe? Robin seems to have taken a liking to her, but Mothe can’t with her.”

“Reminds me of Astil,” Zade says, turning serious.

“Oh, I didn’t mean to—”

“It’s not your fault,” He returns. “Astil was initially scared of his girlfriend too.”

“Oh, they aren’t dating. But they will soon!”

“Like us?” Zade teases, then flushes again as he realizes what he’s said.

“I thought we’d forget about it!”

“And we will, I’m sorry, I was just…”

“Just what, Zade Helstrom?” Jade asked, crossing her arms.

“Nothing.”

“That’s right, now leave it.”

“Yes, mom!”

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“Call me that again and I’ll paddle you,” Jade glares at him, and he grins.

“What if I said that wasn’t so bad?”

“You son of a—” She trails off as he laughs, expecting her reaction. “I can go back to Erenfeld, you know. I can just leave and not come back!”

“And get arrested for desertion,” Zade returns. “You’re stuck with me now.”

Jade winced. “That’s horrible.”

They burst out laughing at the same time, their food momentarily forgotten.

“I really missed you, Jade,” Zade finally says, catching his breath.

“Me too,” She returns. “It’s so good to talk to you again.”

“I wish we could do this forever, Jay!”

“Don’t you dare get sweet on me,” Jade says, pointing her knife at him. “I just arrived, and we still have a month. I’m not ready for it yet.”

“Fair enough,” Zade laughs.

They keep their conversation light as they keep eating. Breakfast feels too quick, and eventually, Jade has to leave for the field, where the Ajutoare have been allotted to practice that morning.

— — —

“Form up,” Captain Kanad tells them as they separate into two groups of one hundred and form a semblance of an army. Jade is shoulder to shoulder with two people she doesn’t recognize, all of them with leather over their swords to absorb any impact. Robin is on the other side, but both Mothe and Guilia are on her team.

“Attack,” Captain Kanad commands, and thus the battle starts.

“WALL!” Jade hears the commander of the other team scream, and, in a blink of an eye, that army begins to form themselves into a shield wall, protecting themselves. Jade’s team takes on the offense

“PUSH FORWARDS!” Her commander, Fuyr, yells. In the second row, Jade prepares to push on the shield wall, to break it.

Her army pummels into the next one. Any sort of strike from another sword to a man or woman’s vital parts and the soldier is dead, so she must be careful to attack but ferocious in them. As her team begins to attempt to find holes in the wall, the other side shoves their swords through, striking at the less defended. Mock screams arise from men and women who have died, but instead of falling to the ground, they leave the battle zone, making sure to avoid any other contact.

It’s the world’s greatest game of make-believe, but it’s a hell of a lot of fun! And it’s a great bit of training, which is a plus.

Jade pushes on the woman in front of her, who in turn is forcing on the shield wall, attacking with everything she has. A sword peeks through the shields, striking at the woman in front of her, who curses and leaves the zone, a smile on her face. Greedily, Jade takes her place and assembles herself well next to her new shoulder-mates, none whom she recognizes.

Finally, after five minutes and too many casualties—Jade is wiping a tear in her head—the shield wall breaks. Of course, breaking the shield wall is only the first step of any battle. The second is the real one-on-one combat, or most likely two-on-one for whichever side is winning.

And Jade’s isn’t.

As the first man runs at Jade, she ducks under his blow, thrusting her own at him, and he buckles under her well-positioned strike. Wheezing for breath, the man leaves the battle, dead as a nail but alive as, well, anyone else who’d died in the battle. Cheers erupt from the dead—a strange occurrence! Jade thinks. The dead, speaking!—as they root for the side they’d sacrificed themselves oh so valiantly for.

Two women run at Jade and she strikes at one, who dodges it as the second thrusts herself close to Jade to provide discomfort. And so the fight continues, with cries of war and despair on both sides and many one-sided fights ending with a victory for the one side. So far, the battle seems equal, although Jade’s side is still losing. Both commanders are alive, and the battle ends when one of them dies or everyone else dies.

Jade continuously fights one or two soldiers. She, as a guard, is a better swordswomen than most, but she isn't the best and she does realize that. Twice, she needs the assistance of one of those on her team.

Mothe dies relatively early, a strike to his heart ending his life, but he’ll fight again—in our hearts! Jade thinks—but Guilia is still standing, although she is having a hard time. There are about seventy-five fighters left, which means more than half have already died. Poor bastards!

Of Robin Jade has seen no sign of the entire battle. Maybe she’s already dead, but Jade doubts it. She’s too good and smart to die so early.

Not too long after, Jade finally gets a glimpse of her, but not in the way she wants. She has just a second to move as Robin barrels at her, and only her quick reflexes save her life. Robin passes her but turns quickly to face her.

“I am afraid I must kill you sister,” Robin smiles.

“Save your breath, sister,” Jade responds. “No sister of mine would do this.”

Robin laughs and attacks her and Jade quickly realizes how much she underestimated her. She’d thought Robin was good.

She just hadn’t understood how good.

Robin strikes quickly, expertly, stepping here, positioning her hips there. The Snjornin relies on her speed and maneuverability to attack, and Jade often feels inadequate as she fights her, only barely escaping her clutches.

She steps back as Robin lands a kick to her leg. Righting herself, Jade growls at strikes at Robin, who blocks and steps back herself.

“You asked for it,” Jade tells her as she stomps on the ground, kicking dirt up in Robin’s face, and the other girl squeals and wipes at her eyes. Jade steps in as soon as the girl is blinded, taking advantage of the opportunity, but the other girl has already blocked her.

“How?”

“There are many times you can’t see a battle in Snjornin,” Robin explains, blocking her every strike. “You rely on just your ears. You are very loud.”

“Oh, I will be loud. When I win.”

“I thought you would say when you see Zade again.” Robin grins wickedly as she takes on the offensive again, her eyes focused on Jade, the dirt clearly gone.

“There's. Nothing. Going. On. Between. Me. And. Zade.” Jade tells Robin, each word emphasized with a strike.

“Keep. Telling. Yourself. That.”

And so the fight goes, exhausting both Jade and Robin—Jade assumes Robin is tired, but she fights fiercely anyways—and Jade knows soon one of them will cave.

She does everything she can so it isn’t her, but unfortunately, it doesn’t work. As the Snjornin strikes, Jade blocks her, but this time, she misjudges the other girl’s strike,, and she only realizes what she’s done when the sword has left her hands, and Robin’s is at her throat.

“You’re dead, sister.”

Jade laughs, in disappointment and adrenaline, reaching for her sword.

“Good job.”

“Just leave already,” Robin winks. “You’re disrupting the battle.”

Jade glares at her but does as she says, noticing that there only seem to be about ten soldiers from each side on the field. With elation, Jade thinks about what that means.

I might be in the top ten percent here!

Joining her dead teammates, she begins to cheer for her team, who are now fighting desperately as the other side pummels them mercilessly. Robin is a force to be reckoned with as she moves from one player to another, crippling them. And so, she is the one to reach Jade’s commander and stab her in the back—literally and metaphorically, Jade smirks.

“White Team wins,” Captain Kanad exclaims. “Black Team, you fought well, but next time, protect your commander. I will give you each feedback and then we will start again.”

Jade grins. There’s more of this coming and she can’t wait for it.

“When’d you lose?” Guilia asks her from behind.

“Towards the end, Robin killed me,” Jade responds.

“I died a little after halfway,” Guilia scowls. “Some big guy got me from behind.”

“I win, then.”

“We both lost, really,” Guilia responds. “Let’s vow to do better this time.”

“Yes,”

Jade tells her. “We’ll win this time.”

But, to their extreme disappointment, they did not.