START OF 'CITY OF MADNESS' ARC

40. Hardened

“Fire,” Eagle-Eyes said.

Lace kept her staff horizontal, holding it with a relaxed but firm two-handed grip. She breathed out, aimed, and pushed air through the bottom of the staff at a rapid speed.

Faster than the eye could catch, a bullet shot out of the staff and hit the straw dummy on the other side of the practice yard, square in the chest.

“Smoke,” Eagle-Eyes continued.

Lace withdrew her staff into a vertical angle. She grabbed a powder dye vial from her belt and placed it in one of the repositories at the top of the hollow weapon. She leveled it once more, breathed out, and fired.

A plume of green smoke came out of the staff in a narrow cone, billowing out to obscure the entire area around the dummy.

“Now, combination.”

Lace closed the distance to the dummy with a few long steps, the wind at her back. She performed a set of quick, whirling moves, striking the straw man over its shoulders and head.

She took a step back and spun the gale-staff so it ran parallel to her right arm.

Over in the distance, Kiren and Bits were exchanging blows. Although, for the most part, it consisted of Kiren getting badly beaten, ending up on the ground, then getting back up for another round.

Eagle-Eyes walked over at a slow, measured pace, correcting Lace’s stance with his unstrung longbow. A nudge to her foot here, a poke to the ribs there, a feathery touch to her chin to top it off.

“You’re improving,” Eagle-Eyes said, looking right through her with his yellow, slitted eyes, “but you’re not quick enough.”

Lace bit back a response. She wanted to say that she had beaten Kiren—who was already considered one of the brightest apprentices at the Lodge—in a one-on-one fight. In the weeks since then, in fact, she had improved even further. These days, they were almost an even match.

“Yes, Master,” Lace simply said, keeping her gaze firmly ahead.

After Excelerate’s injury, he had been unable to continue his duties as her and Kiren’s teacher. Instead, they had temporarily been assigned to Eagle-Eyes, who had been put in charge of their training for the time being.

Under Eagle-Eyes’ watchful guidance, she had made a rapid physical improvement. She had shed any excess fat from her body and put on an additional layer of hard muscle.

“You’ve developed a nice bag of tricks,” Eagle-Eyes said, “but you still lack power. You will need to refine your abilities further if you want to reach anything above D-Rank. Even with your new tool, you are still helpless at the hands of certain Villains.”

“Tell me how, and I’ll do it.”

“Torchbearer will require assistance with the Renewal Feast tonight. There are always revelries that get out of hand around the midsummer, and we fear that Evangel may make a move soon.”

“Patrol work,” Lace said. She couldn’t hide her disappointment. “What is that supposed to teach me, exactly? How to overcome boredom?”

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“It will give you experience,” Eagle-Eyes corrected. “Something you sorely need right now. Besides, Torchbearer wishes to groom you to see about taking you on as his apprentice, as he seems to have taken a liking to you. This arrangement cannot go on forever, after all. Having three apprentices under my care slows me down considerably.”

Lace nodded reluctantly. “Yes, Master. I’ll go with Torchbearer tonight.”

“Good. I have some reports to make, so the three of you may have the afternoon off.”

“Will Kiren be coming with Torchbearer as well?” Lace asked.

Eagle-Eyes shook his head, face remaining impassive. “Only you.”

Lace wanted to protest, but the Hero turned, cloak flapping with the movement, and walked off.

Lace sighed and turned to face the two sparring men.

Kiren was shirtless, taking blow after blow to his chest and arms without going down. Sweat glistened on his chest and back. Bits danced around him easily, grinning the whole time. His punches were rapid and sudden like a spider striking.

Kiren growled. He spun and lashed out with sweeping strikes like a bear, but they didn’t connect. He got a good elbow in which Bits barely blocked in time. The thorny scales along Kiren’s forearm ripped open his sleeve and put a few scratches on his skin.

Bits hissed, ducked under another blow, and kicked Kiren in the stomach. Kiren doubled over, and an open-palmed punch to the back of the neck sent him to the ground.

Bits looked like he was about to continue, but Lace went over and held up a hand, causing him to stop, albeit reluctantly, fist raised.

“I think you won that one,” Lace said. “No need to give Kiren his own medicine, even if it would teach him some humility.”

“Fuck you both,” Kiren groaned, cheek pressed against the ground.

Bits shrugged and settled into a relaxed stance. He eyed the practice yard, noticing that Eagle-Eyes was absent. “We done for the day?”

Lace nodded. “Mmhmm. I was thinking we could catch a bite.” She made a gesture like shoveling a spoonful of food into her mouth, but Bits was already walking past her.

“I’ve got stuff,” Bits said in passing. “You two knock yourselves out.”

Lace watched the man head up the stairs with a cocksure swagger, shaking his hands out. He pushed the doors open, headed inside, and they swung closed behind him.

Lace helped Kiren get back on his feet. He wiped some dirt off his face and rubbed his neck, muttering a curse under his breath.

“What a fucking freak, that guy,” Kiren grumbled. He shook his head. “I don’t understand his problem.”

“I think he’s just a little bit… wounded, like all of us,” Lace said. “Don’t be too hard on him. If you remember, you used to act like that just a couple months ago. Still do, when you haven’t had your food.”

She went up on her tiptoes and ran a hand through his hair, sweeping a few bits of gravel out of it.

Kiren did have a point, though. Although they had spent a good amount of time practicing together, Bits had barely said anything of note to the two of them. It was all cold greetings and distant goodbyes.

“He’s always squirreled away in his room,” Kiren said. “What do you think he does in there? Something about it just rubs me the wrong way.”

They headed for the Guild Hall.

“I can try and talk to him tomorrow,” Lace said. “I spoke to him one time, and I felt like I got through to him just a little bit. I’ve got patrol duty with Torchbearer tonight, though.”

“Ouch.”’

Lace sighed. “Yeah, seems like it’ll be a long, boring night for me.”

They headed inside and got themselves some food—the cooks had already brought out some delicacies for the Renewal Feast, tripe and liver paste and spiced apples. Lace wasn’t overly fond of the festive food. She settled on some chicken and vegetables, but Kiren ate with gusto.

“Hear they’re cooking up something big in the kitchen for the feast,” Kiren said between bites. A little bit of juice dribbled out of his distended lip, so Lace wiped it up for him. “Sorry you’ll miss it.”

“Suits me fine,” Lace said. “It’s the company I’ll miss.” She winked, and he snorted out a laugh.

“Seriously, though,” she continued. “I think they might be planning on splitting us up. Supposedly Torchbearer’s considering taking me.” She pursed her lips. “Only me.”

Kiren shrugged. “We’ll still see each other plenty.”

“Yeah, I suppose.”

The conversation took on a stale edge after that, and Lace lost a bit of her appetite.