Steel rang beneath the Jah Annan tent as Sora and Lawthe traded strikes with live steel. Leahan stood to the side of the tent, watching with an impassive expression as Lawthe parried and dodged every one of Sora’s deadly strikes.

A hit across her chest from the back of Lawthe’s saber sent Sora to the ground, breathing heavily as she tried to rise. Pain from the cut in her back ripped through her like a hot blade. She pushed the pain aside, glaring up at the Shield of Jiovar.

Lawthe placed one booted foot on her chest, pinning her to the ground. “You were too slow, girl. You’ll never kill me with attacks like that. Perhaps that penance was too much for you then?” He asked, looking down at her without a hint of emotion on his face.

“No, sir,” she replied. “I’m just not used to fighting in the day.”

He sighed, removing his boot from her chest and turning away. Sora rose as Lawthe moved to the water skins, and he said, “Not all battles are fought at night. If a bit of heat is enough to slow you this much, then perhaps you should train outside today.”

Lawthe took up a skin and raised it to his lips as Sora bowed. “As you say, shield,” was all she said before stepping back to let Leahan approach the sparring ring.

The other Jah Annan’s hands signed, careful little sister. We wouldn’t want you fainting on us again.

Sora nearly growled at the man. Yes, she had feinted after the first bout when the slash on her back opened again, but Lawthe had healed her, and she was fine now. It was just the pain, and the blood loss, and perhaps a bit of the heat. It could have happened to anyone.

Leahan ran through the standard Jah Annan saber forms, slithering silver, rushing weeds, dancing clouds, and so on. By the time Lawthe returned to the ring to face the other Jah Annan, Leahan was already sweating.

Smirking, Sora crossed her arms. It seemed she wasn’t the only one struggling beneath the hot sun. Lawthe’s first attack came quickly, a flash of steel that Leahan only barely caught with his blade, redirecting the jab to his left.

The blade cut shallowly into his side, but Leahan advanced, the twisting motion of his blade flowing into a high lunge aimed at the shield’s neck.

Lawthe leaned back and to the right, dodging the saber’s fine tip. The older Jah Annan sprung right in what nearly seemed a blur, moving halfway around Leahan. His second strike blurred towards Leahan’s chest, but the man again deflected the strike.

This time though, Lawthe stepped forward, sliding his blade down the side of Leahan’s saber, aiming to slash at the exposed hand gripping the sword’s hilt. Leahan spun to try and disengage but earned a heavy kick to the cut in his side for his efforts.

Staggering away, Leahan clutched his side with one hand, holding his sword out towards Lawthe.

“This is over,” Lawthe said, wiping his blade clean with his cloak and sheathing the weapon. Leahan calmly straightened, putting away his own saber before bowing.

“Why did you spin, boy?” Lawthe said, tone icy. Leahan’s placid expression never wavered as the shield stared him down.

“It felt right, Sir,” was all Leahan said, words quick and brisk. Sora half smirked. At least she hadn’t been cut today.

Lawthe tisked, moving towards Leahan to inspect the man’s wound. “Well, it was stupid. You left your whole backside exposed to me. I could have run you through if I’d wanted to.”

Leahan flinched at that. It was far from the first time he’d earned that chastisement, as most of the Jah Annan knew.

While Leahan’s strikes were quick and powerful, Sora noticed that he often struggled to keep from showing off. She suspected he was one of the few among the Jah Annan who longed to return to the dancing lessons from their childhood.

Grabbing Leahan’s head in his hands, the silverglass band in Lawthe’s ear began to glow a pure gold white as all five aspects of kar came together for a healing. Leahan flinched slightly as the power washed over him, erasing his wound, and a thin trickle of blood ran from the silverglass in Lawthe’s ear.

Leahan shuddered when the healing was done, breathing heavily, eyes fluttering with exhaustion. Lawthe straightened, wiping away the blood from his ear.

“Grab a drink, then return. The pair of you will face each other next,” Lawthe said. “And this time, you’ll be fighting outside.”

Both Sora and Leahan bowed to the shield, then Sora asked, “In that case, may we choose weapons other than the saber?”

Lawthe paused as if in thought, then shook his head. “You are both too lacking when it comes to swordsmanship. Once you prove yourselves worthy of the saber, then you may choose the next weapon to master.”

“As you say, Shield,” both Sora and Leahan intoned. Inwardly Sora cursed. She was smaller than most other Jah Annan because she was the only woman in a legion of men. The saber was too short of a weapon to compensate for her lack of reach. Instead, she had to rely on her skill with the sword to get by.

Suffice it to say, her skills were lacking compared to most Jah Annan. She needed to close the distance, get inside her opponent’s guard and finish the fight in as few strokes as possible if she actually wanted to succeed.

The sword staff was a much better weapon in those regards, at least for her. The range difference was nearly negligible when fighting against polearms with polearms, which meant she could more easily rely on her own skills.

After Leahan finished his drink and the pair sent each other several rude gestures behind Lawthe’s back, they followed him outside.

Prince Kaeto’s camp was alive with gin and gerin as the few freemen in the party ordered the slaves around. Gin scurried past carting kindling and performing the most menial of tasks while the gerin tended to the Lord Princes’ laundry and tents.

Lawthe lead them to a mostly clear patch of empty scrubland just outside the camp. The sun fell on them with oppressive heat, and Sora had already begun to feel sweet rolling down her back. “Begin,” Lawthe commanded before either could so much as fall into stance as the two entered the makeshift ring.

Immediately, Leahan drew his saber and lunged towards Sora, but she made an upward slash as she drew out her own blade. Leahan’s saber veered off course as she intercepted the strike to the side of her head. She stepped forward and brought her sword down in an arching cut towards where his neck met his shoulders.

The other Jah Annan managed to recover, stepping back, bringing his own sword up to block her strike. Sora cursed inwardly. Yet another opportunity to thin out Lawthe’s list of potential Shields gone.

Following his upward blocking strike with a side slash towards her head, Leahan stepped into her guard, forcing Sora back two steps. She raised her blade to meet his, this time pushing him away with a cutting strike of her own, barely managing to match his power.

Leahan took two steps back, disengaging and falling into a wide defensive stance. Sora Charged forward, sweeping her blade towards his middle in a shallow arc. The ring of steel hitting steel echoed off the surrounding hills as their sabers met.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Before Sora could take the initiative and slide around his defense, Leahan surprised her by spinning his blade around her’s, jabbing at her sword hand. The tip of his saber left a wide slash in the back of her hand, and Sora’s blade fell from her grip.

“Stop,” Lawthe called as Leahan brought his weapon down for a finishing blow towards Sora’s neck. The two of them froze still as stone, both breathing heavily, sweat rolling down the faces in salty rivulets. Slowly, Leahan drew his weapon away, cleaned, and then sheathed it.

Sora lifted her saber from the ground with her offhand and did likewise as Lawthe approached them. They both bowed as he stopped before them.

“That wasn’t the worst I’ve seen from you two,” Lawthe said slowly. “But it was still far from the best.”

Sora internally flinched at the words. Of the three candidates for shield, she was likely the weakest, physically speaking anyway. She was plenty skilled at killing. She’d more than proven that in the past. It was doubtful any of the army's regulars or most of the other Jah Annan could match her, but against Leahan, Botaran, and especially Lawthe, she almost felt weak.

Lawthe looked them both up and down, the pair drenched in sweat mixed with a bit of their own blood. After a moment, he nodded to himself. “I think that’s enough of that for now. We’ll move on to silverglass in an hour. Go and eat, then return to the tent.”

“As you order,” the two bowing Jah Annan said to the Shield before he left, and they straightened.

Blood still ran down Sora’s hand, and she cursed to herself at the sight of it. Not wanting to go to the tent for another bandage, she just wrapped it in her cloak. It seemed shallow enough, so with any luck, it’d have stopped before the Kar lessons.

Her stomach twisted at the thought of that. As starborn, the three candidates were all potentially powerful with kar, the power of starlight, but it was also the most painful part of their training exercises. Sora didn’t mind a bit of pain, but drawing out kar was a fair bit more excruciating.

Striding to the mess tent, both she and Leahan kept quiet, not so much as signing a bit of hand talk in the other’s direction. Sometimes Leahan was like that. He’d drop the teasing and self-aggrandizing and just became stoic as a statue, as any well-trained Jah Annan should always be.

They reached the tent, sat, and were given a pair of ration packs by a well-groomed gin who scurried from table to table like a trained mouse. They ate the flatbread, salted moa meat, and dried plums in silence.

Suddenly, Leahan signed, Sorry, was I too flashy? Was I too distracting for you? He was smirking at her now, she realized. Jah Annan expressions were subtle things, likely invisible to most outside the cast.

She signed back, No, brother, I simply thought you needed a boost in confidence after your fight with the shield.

The smirk twisted into a slight glare. It was just a twitch of an eyebrow and a slight curling at the corner of Leahan's mouth, but she saw it. He flashed her a subtle rude gesture as he finished his last plum. Sora just continued to eat, acting as if nothing had happened, a slight smile curving the corners of her mouth.

On their return to the tent, they found Lawthe conversing with one of the camp’s few gerin, a messenger if she recalled correctly. The man bobbed his head towards them as they pushed into the canvas-covered space, and Lawthe turned to see them.

Glancing at Sora’s hand, the shield frowned, then turned back to the gerin messenger. “Thank you for the report, Hallock. See that the prince is brought what he’s requested.”

The messenger, Hallock, bobbed his head again, this time towards Lawthe, then ducked from the tent with barely a rustle of cloth.

“The pair of you are early,” Lawthe said, turning back to them. “That’s good. Leahan, you’ll start with the band first. That cut you gave Sora will be an excellent opportunity for you to improve your healing arts.”

Sora and Leahan shared a glance. Him, using healing kar on her? It was all she could do not to groan at the thought. Leahan was the most skilled with healing of the three candidates, but they could still be dangerous.

The first time Sora had tried to use kar to heal, the poor bird she was practicing on died from extreme blood clotting. She didn’t like the idea of something like that happening to her. But, Lawthe was the shield, not her.

Leahan approached Lawthe, and the shield removed the silverglass from his ear, handing it to the younger Jah Annan. Leahan slipped the earring on with ease and turned to her, a slight grin on his lips. That did not make her feel any better.

Before she could protest or pull away, not that she would have with Lawthe there, Leahan grabbed her hand in both of his and closed his eyes. Slowly, lines of kar lit up the inside of the silverglass earring, red, yellow, green, blue, and orange, all blending together into a nimbus of bright white-gold light.

Blood began to seep from where the earring sat in Leahan’s left lobe, and Sora felt a building pressure on her hand as he pushed the power into her cut. She was bathed in a wash of numbing cold, then the slice in her hand flared red with pain. She grunted, but a moment later, the wound stitched itself back together.

Leahan released her hand, sweat rolling off his temples, mixing with the blood on the left side of his face.

“Well done, Leahan. You did well for a beginner. Unfortunately, you need to be more than a beginner. If you truly wish to take my title, you’ll need to get better.”

Leahan bowed his head. “Thank you, Shield,” was all he said. Lawthe nodded, then gestured towards Sora.

“I believe it would be best to let Leahan rest for a moment. You take the band, Sora.”

Obediently, Sora stepped towards Leahan. The other Jah Annan removed the band, wiping free his blood before handing it to her. At least he’d done that much, she thought.

She slid the ring through her ear and turned back to Lawthe. He nodded and gestured for her to move into the center of the tent. Leahan moved to sit on his pallet, watching from a safe distance, or at least what he thought was a safe distance.

In the center of the tent’s sparring circle, Lawthe had shaped a stone pillar with his power, thick as a man’s arm and reaching nearly as high as the tent’s ceiling.

“We’ll try air again today. Slice the pillar with one clean cut,” Lawthe said, gesturing towards the stone. Sora fingered the silverglass band, a bit of unease settling atop her shoulders.

Slowly, she focused on the small ring in her ear, urging it to draw out the power lying dormant in her blood. She felt the band prick her ear as kar flowed from her blood into the silverglass. She focused on a thin line of aiankar, siphoning it through the silverglass, producing a thin blade of air beside her.

She focused hard on the projectile, willing it to slide forward and slice into the pillar of stone. She didn’t move her body, make any gestures or sounds. She just pushed with her mind, and the air shimmered before her.

Suddenly, she felt the blade of air shoot forward, slamming into the stone pillar with a resounding crack. The thing shattered, scattering stone shrapnel around the canvas tent, knocking down poles and slamming into furniture.

A rock hit Sora in the side, bouncing off with a snap as something inside her gave way. She fell, and Leahan hit the floor at almost the exact moment she’d been struck, but Lawthe was untouched.

After the stones stopped flying, Sora rose, staring at the destruction around her. The tent was nearly collapsed. Tears in the canvas let in beams of bright sunlight, illuminating the now broken pallets. Lawthe shook his head and sighed.

“I suppose you can kill good enough with the power. Not much else you’ll need to know unless you actually want to become the shield.”

Behind them, Leahan got to his feet with a stifled groan. Sora glanced at him, and his hands sent, next time you need healing, ask someone else. She almost grinned at that.

Sora reached up to unclasp the silverglass band from her ear, but Lawthe caught her wrist in one heavy hand.

“No, we’re not done yet. You’re going to rebuild that pillar,” Lawthe said, and a look of incredulity flashed on Sora’s face before she could suppress the emotion.

The back of Lawthe’s hand cracked against her cheek, nearly knocking Sora back to the ground. “Watch yourself, girl. A shield’s mask must never fall or fade. If it so much as cracks, you risk all Jah Annan.”

Sorry nodded gravely, eyes downcast. “I understand, Shield. It will not happen again.”

He grunted softly, then gestured back towards the shattered ruins of the pillar. “Well?” he asked. “Go on then.”

Sora again focused on the band of silverglass in her ear, willing a line of elankar through the ring, followed by lewskar and fergkar. Stone, water, and fire mixed into a pale brown glow, and she tried to will the ground to rise.

At first, nothing happened, then slowly, the ground beneath them began to shake. Lawthe’s eyebrow rose slightly as he watched her, then the circle of bare ground at the tent’s center rippled like the surface of a pond.

A sharp rock shot up from the ground, a pale, thin needle of stone, and Sora’s power ran dry, blood practically gushing from her ear. She collapsed into a sweaty, bloody mess on the tent floor, Lawthe shaking his head above her.

“I expected more from you, girl.,” was all Sora heard him say as her mind faded, and the empty darkness of unconsciousness overcame her.