Inaki pushed himself up, reaching the summit. He was getting better at this much quicker than he had thought. But that didn’t change the fact that he was in excruciating pain.
“Urima herb solution?” Yan asked.
“Yes please,” Inaki said.
Yan put just a few drops of it on Inaki’s hands, feet and back. Inaki felt much better. Two weeks had passed since Farrow won his fight. Leaving Inaki with only one more week. He had seven days to somehow become better than a Silver, and he had no plan on how that would work. He hadn’t even earned an Iron band on his sword yet, since the representative from the Coalition of Sages hadn’t arrived yet.
“I think you’re finally good enough to move to the last climbing challenge,” Yan said. They had already moved two levels forward on the mountain. Yan and Inaki walked on the flat plateau that came after the first level that he needed to climb. The second level was a little tougher to climb, but Inaki made quick work of it. He had spent three weeks scaling this wall of the mountain. The walk to the last level that Yan wanted Inaki to climb was a horrible slope. Yan walked effortlessly on his feet, but the slope was enough that Inaki had to walk on all fours.
Yan led Inaki to the final phase. The wall was completely vertical, ninety degrees to the ground. It didn’t have nearly enough handholds and footholds, and there was a part of the mountain which jut out before he would summit, Inaki had no idea how he was supposed to scale that.
“Follow me,” Yan said. He scaled the side of the mountain as if he was a spider, jumping from one handhold to the next. Inaki followed him. He pulled his body up and jumped. There were so few handholds that Inaki had to hold each of them with both hands. He realized just how good he had gotten at scaling mountains. Yan was waiting for Inaki near the flat area, which jut out. What Yan covered in a few minutes took Inaki about an hour. Exhausted from this climb, and the previous climb, Inaki held on for dear life, trying to breath in as much air as he could. This high the air was becoming thinner, and Inaki had to fight twice as hard to get half as much air.
“Come on,” Yan said. “This wasn’t the real challenge. Watch me.” Inaki flipped, facing away from the mountain to where Yan began moving. He jumped, and grabbed a small handhold on the nearly flat ceiling of rock. Inaki didn’t know if he would even be able to fit his hand there. Yan then picked his legs up and grabbed a hold of the flat rock. Inaki stared, dumbfounded. There was no way that he would be able to do that. Still holding his body flat on the ceiling, as if gravity was inverted for him, he moved one hand back, and grabbed a handhold. He pushed his legs back. He squirmed against the wall like that. Eventually he reached the front, and jumped up. He disappeared, climbing over the cliff.
Yan was saying something, but Inaki couldn’t hear it over the sound of the wind. At that point Inaki would’ve rather climbed back down. The part he needed to climb now was almost completely flat, with some handholds. How was he supposed to crawl upside down? Did he even have enough core strength?
Inaki decided to think about all that later. He looked down, the fear that he had taken so much effort to kill began stabbing at him again. He pictured himself jumping, missing then falling. Spending the seconds it took for him to hit the ground contemplating how stupid he was to think he could even make that jump.
“You’re going to die a week from now anyway, what’s dying now,” The man Inaki used to be whispered.
Inaki looked at the little handhold that Yan had grabbed. He focused on it like it was the wooden dummy that he needed to slash. Inaki threw himself off the wall. He was in the air for less then a second but he felt like he was going to throw up. His stomach lurched as he grabbed onto the little handhold with his life. He felt the skin of his hands rip and the muscles in his arms stretch. He ground his teeth together trying his best not to scream.
He forced his legs up and found that the ceiling wasn’t as flat as it looked, it was slightly round, round enough that Inaki’s legs could grip the wall a little bit. Inaki felt like he was carrying the weight of the rock on his core. The muscle felt like it was going to implode into itself.
I could go back down, it’s not too late to go back, Inaki thought. Inaki instead bit his fear and squirmed his legs back, grabbing another handhold. He tried not to think of the fact that one slight mistake could mean him falling down and turning into mulch. Inaki focused on his core. The muscles screamed at him, but Inaki powered through it. He squirmed a little bit, and caught one hand on the next handhold. It wasn’t much. He just needed to squirm a little bit more—
The grip of his legs slipped, his core couldn’t take it anymore. He was now hanging, holding the handhold. He was swinging in the wind, the wind pushing him back, away from his goal. He looked down, and saw the arms of death greeting him.
I guess I’m going to die before I face Farrow. Inaki thought. There was only one handhold to see, and for that Inaki would have to jump against the wind.
Inaki decided that he had come far enough to risk it, and swung back. He pushed his body back as much as he could, and as his body swung ahead he let go of the handhold, his only grip to life. He tried to catch the handhold with both hands, but only one of his hands could fit. He was now hanging from one hand. His shoulder burned. He felt like his shoulder was going to dislocate, and the muscle was about to rip into half. Inaki reached his hand up and began prying at the ceiling for something to hold, anything. Swung back, and jumped again, this time catching a hold with his other hand.
He was somehow still alive. He didn’t know for how much longer, but he was still alive. He looked up at the ceiling and saw that he didn’t have much more distance to cover. He took another swing. Each time he jumped his stomach lurched, each time he thought he was jumping into death, but each time he was able to catch the little handholds. It was almost like these handholds had been purposely put there, so that this mountain could be climbed. Inaki reached the edge, where there was no more to climb. He was under the ceiling, hanging by one hand. He pressed his other hand to the wall and for a hold. He found one, and grabbed onto it with all of his life, and pulled himself. Instantly he found a second handhold, and forced himself up.
The ledge was only one climb up. But Inaki found his muscles failing. His grip was falling loose. He had conquered such a difficult challenge, and now on a normal climb he was slipping. His muscles tensed, he tried to push himself up, putting on the will in his body but his muscles simply did not budge.
He felt like his body had turned into stone, stone too heavy to hold itself on the side of a mountain. Inaki looked up and saw two pairs of footsteps walking towards him. Before he could see the face of the person other than Yan, his hand slipped.
I guess I don’t have to fight Farrow anyways, Inaki thought, but before he could fall much, a man leaped forward. It was Takehito. Inaki raised his hand, and the monk caught it. Inaki raised his other hand and Yan grabbed it. The two men heaved together, lifting Inaki onto the surface.
“That was scary,” Takehito said. “If you were able to cross that part, how did you fail here?”
“I don’t know,” Inaki said. “How come you’re here, Takehito?”
“An entire entourage from Tomoka is here,” Yan said. “They arrived while we were on our way to the mountains.”
“We’re here to watch you fight,” Takehito smiled. “You seemed to have signed an agreement, which unfortunately we can’t get you out of.”
“Who else is here,” Inaki asked.
“Gonten is waiting for us at the ground,” Takehito said. “He obviously can’t do the whole rock climbing thing.” Takehito pulled one hand out of his sleeve and put it inside his robe, then flailed the empty sleeve around.
“Anyways,” Yan said. “We have no time to waste, Takehito says he’s going to help me train you.”
“As long as you don’t burn anything down this time,” Takehito said.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“I’ll try not to this time,” Inaki said. The monk snickered a little bit.
“Come on, we don’t have the time to waste,” Yan said. “You’re dueling Farrow in a week.”
“I remember,” Inaki said.
Yan tied a rope around a tree then pulled on the knot. “Time to go back to ground then.”
“Wanna race to see who reaches ground first,” Takehito yelled out.
“Come on, we’re both in our forties,” Yan said. “We don’t do foolish competitions for nothing.”
“Let’s do it for money then,” Takehito said.
“Deal,” Yan said.
“You’re a sage, why would you need money,” Inaki said.
“Principle,” Yan said. Yan tossed Inaki the rope, then jumped off the edge, Takehito did so too. Inaki looked down horrified, and saw the two of them were scaling the mountain as if it was just a walk. Inaki carefully tested the rope and stepped off, rappelling down, then letting himself fall a little bit before swinging onto the wall. Now that he was on the flat wall he would be able to climb down himself. Inaki untied his rope with one hand and clutched onto the wall.
The climb back down was much more difficult than the climb up had been, but almost a month of rock climbing had made Inaki proficient. Also the ability to get more training and then heal with the Urima herb was invaluable, it was like he was getting a year's worth of training in a month.
When Inaki reached the ground after climbing down the last level, he saw that Yan and Takehito had already long left him behind. Inaki quickly covered the rest of the way down, and when he landed on the ground, he saw Takehito, Yan and Gonten all joking around.
“Hello brother,” Gonten said. “Looks like you’ve gotten yourself into some real trouble.”
“Yeah,” Inaki said. “How are you doing?”
Gonten raised his sword and showed the Gold band on its hilt.
“What,” Inaki yelped.
“I beat father to become the youngest Gold,” Gonten said, a wide smile across his face.
“How have I not heard about this?” Inaki said.
“I am guessing because you’ve been captured here for the past month and a half,” Gonten said.
“When, how, what?” Inaki was completely dumbfounded. “Can you fight Farrow on my behalf.”
“I wish,” Gonten said. “But that contract was pretty strict.”
“Well,” Yan said. “We don’t have time to waste, let’s head back to the city.”
“Another race,” Takehito said. “Haven’t you lost enough money?”
“How about this, double or nothing,” Yan said.
“Deal.”
The two old men raced off as if they were children. Inaki tried to keep up, but found that he was somehow being left behind by everyone. Gonten was staying by Inaki’s side, but Inaki could tell that he was purposely slowing himself down.
“How did you go from a Wooden, to an Iron, to a Silver, then to a Gold in less than a year?” Inaki asked, gasping for air while running at the same pace that made Gonten look like he was going for a leisurely stroll.
“Takehito and I had a few misadventures on our way to Heoin,” Gonten said. “In the end we turned and came back here anyway.”
“You became a Gold because of misadventures?” Inaki asked.
“Oh I’ll tell you later, but I’ll give you a hint, it involves the Bakunin ax clan.”
“What,” Inaki said. Inaki couldn’t believe his ears.
Eventually they reached the city. After more than a month of training Inaki had worked himself up to being able to run the distance he needed to, and he was still tired by the end of the run, but somehow the other three didn’t look tired at. Instead he found that Takehito was rejoicing.
“I don’t need to work any gardens for a year,” Takehito said. “Now I can do gardening for leisure.”
“You never fail to amuse me with your gardening talk,” Yan said.
“You just refuse to try it,” Takehito. “What’s more peaceful than nurturing nature.”
“I’m sorry,” Yan said. “Throwing seeds then waiting for them to grow isn’t fun.”
“One day I will convince you to try it,” Takehito said.
“It’s been half a decade since you went insane and you still haven’t,” Yan said. The two of them laughed.
“What are they saying about Takehito going insane,” Inaki asked.
“I don’t know, he’s been training me for more than a year but he still doesn’t tell me about his past,” Gonten said.
“Well, we don’t have time to waste,” Yan said. “Time to train, Inaki.”
----------------------------------------
Farrow laughed.
The Tomoka entourage was finally here. Hassai would definitely be coming with them. He couldn’t wait to see the look of horror as the man watched his son die. The same horror that Farrow had gotten all those years ago seeing his grandfather die.
He stood on the roof of a building near the entrance, he looked as the entourage traveled towards the castle. It was a dozen swordsmen with Gold on the hilts of their swords, and two older men with Diamond on the hilt of their sword. Hassai was nowhere to be seen.
Farrow jumped off the roof of the building, he slammed his spear into the ground as he was about to hit the ground—it broke his fall—he then slammed onto the ground.
“Where is Hassai,” Farrow asked the entourage.
“We don’t know,” One of the Diamonds said.
“You don’t know?” Farrow asked.
“He will come here if he wishes,” the other Diamond said. The first Diamond was a young man with some white in his hair, whereas the other one was an old man with as many wrinkles on his face as years he had lived.
“You going to give us a place to stay?” The other Diamond asked. “You did invite us.”
“Sure,” Farrow said. He led them to a little outhouse in the Gael castle. As he was walking, he looked at one of the gates of the city. He saw his father, Inaki’s older brother, the monk, and Inaki all standing there and laughing.
I will definitely talk to him later.
It was a respectable place to stay. Farrow would’ve preferred them to stay in the stables, but Yan had been adamant on them living in the best corner of the palace for the time they were here.
The Diamonds had told Farrow their names, but he forgot them. I really need to learn to remember names. Farrow thought. Farrow then went to his training hall, and spent the rest of the day training, waiting for Yan to come home.
When the time that Yan usually came home arrived, Farrow cut his training short. He trudged through the castle to Yan’s quarters, he threw his door open and sauntered in.
“Hello father,” Farrow said.
“You really should knock before you come in,” Yan said.
“How is training the man who wants to kill me going,” Farrow said.
“Very well, he will defeat you, but he will not kill you,” Yan said. “Because he has learned the price of revenge. I am hoping that he can teach it to you, but much less severely.”
“If I die pursuing my revenge, I will die with my head up. Unlike your daughter, who is in bed with the enemy,” Farrow said.
“Oh everyone knows about Yaz and Inaki after their duel the other day,” Yan said. “And it’s all the better. Yaz will finally get married off, and we’ll have a better relationship with the Tomokas.”
“Why don’t you understand,” Farrow said. “That clan is evil, that sage Hassai has no morals. His son doesn’t either.”
“I have spent the better part of a month with Inaki, and I know him well,” Yan said. “Who are you to judge the Tomoka clan as evil?”
“A victim, father,” Farrow said. “Why won’t you believe me, he took me hostage to kill grandfather.”
“You are nobody to judge anybody. You broke Trish’s ribs in a spear tournament with no stakes. You nearly killed Irod.”
“It was a spear duel, they entered it willingly,” Farrow said.
“Yes,” Yan screamed. “You cannot blame the Tomoka clan any longer, we were at war, and in war you can’t blame your enemy.”
“Father, I will ask you one last time. If you want to sit in the enemy’s lap, move your head off their bosom while I stab their heart.”
“Do you have no respect for your father, the Sage,” Yan screamed. “I’ve had enough of you.”
“And I’ve had enough of you. More than sixteen years I’ve tolerated this. Who calls a four year old child a liar. To answer your question, I don't respect you. I never did. I believe that you’re a Sage only because your father was one.”
“Take that back,” Yan said. “If you take that back now, I will not banish you from my palace.”
“Banish me,” Farrow said. “You anyways didn’t raise me, and your wife died way too soon for me to even call her my mother. All leaving would mean to me is that I wouldn’t have to see my father that hates me and my sister who brings me shame.”
“Leave,” Yan said. He was quiet, but his fist was shaking. Farrow stood there. “I said, leave.” Yan whispered once again. Tears poured through like a broken dam. “Because you saw your grandfather die in front of your eyes, because you never got to meet your mother, I've always treated you too kindly. I should’ve done this years ago. Leave my palace, and never come back.”
Farrow wordlessly walked away. He didn’t pack any luggage, he didn’t take anything with him, except for the money he already had, and his Spear.
“I’ll be coming back to get my Silver band.”
“Then you shall enter my palace as a citizen of Gael, not my son.”
“Good,” Farrow said, walking away.