Douglas and Erik sat together around a campfire in Central Requisitions. Simply sitting around and smoking, killing time as they did when not on a flight. “Another one.” Erik said dourly.
“Show it.” The man turned his phone over and showed Douglas the article: ‘Kirinyaa’s big problem.’ “We just don’t get a break.”
“Kassandora says not to worry about it.”
“I don’t worry about it.” Douglas replied. “I’m just not happy.”
“Neither am I.”
Kavaa raised her shield and blocked Aliana’s arrow. She took a step back as Saksma came in with that greatsword. It swung just past her chest, it would have been a chance at a counterattack, but Saksma quickly drew it back as Paida came in to cover her friend from a blow.
They were getting better, although who wouldn’t after a solid month of duelling? They always started like this, with a quick attack but their strategy was lacking. Agrita’s spear shot forwards, towards Kavaa’s chest. Kavaa found the opening. Her sword arm went up, she closed the distance, her sword smashed through Agrita’s armour and the Goddess groaned as Kavaa twisted it out. Another arrow was blocked, another blow from Saksma was narrowly dodged. Kavaa slammed into Saksma to push her back, then stopped just before Olonia’s sabre sliced into her chest. She took a step back as Agrita groaned and pushed herself off the ground and onto all fours.
Gone were the times when she would quickly wipe out all five in a quick show of skill. Iliyal was circling the duel. Two dozen Clerics were watching their Goddess fight. The camp had grown over the past two weeks, with supplies being dropped in. Fer’s friendly bear was still here, it was sleeping in a hole it had dug for itself. And so they came again. Saksma leading the charge, that was a good blow. From an angle and above, not one to be blocked, but to be dodged. To force Kavaa left where Olonia was already standing with a sabre.
Kavaa’s eyes met Olonia’s blue. Cold and focused, there was no thought behind them, only pure focus. Her arm was deadly still, not straining itself either. Her fingers gripped her sabre hilt, but they weren’t white with fear as they when Kavaa had come here a month ago. The Goddess of Health took a step towards Olonia, then quickly dug her foot into the dirt and pushed herself off. Her shield caught Saksma’s greatsword, she didn’t try to block, only disturbing its trajectory slightly up and over herself.
The hunk of metal on Kavaa’s arm ran down the blade, it bounced off the hilt, kept going and slammed into Saksma’s fingers. Paida’s sword came in from the other side, so did one of Aliana’s arrows. Both could not be blocked.
Kavaa held her breath, twisted her blade, slammed the shield into Saksma’s chest, her blade cut into Paida’s arm. The heavy plate dented as Paida took a step back wincing in pain. A month ago, she would have been screaming or shouting. Now she only grunted, tried moving her arm and looked down in frustration as metal plate creaked against metal plate.
Aliana’s arrow shot into Kavaa’s stomach. The Goddess of Health merely grit her teeth, and continued the blow that had crunched Paida’s armour into Saksma’s side. And the Goddess of Doschia fell. Paida quickly joined her on the ground. She was still trying to flex her arm when the butt of Kavaa’s sword struck her helm. Kavaa turned, blocked the next arrow from Aliana and pulled the one still in her chest with the same movement.
Kavaa turned to face Olonia, the Goddess’ eyes were sharp, they didn’t look at her friends once. Instead completely focused on Kavaa. Not her face, nor her fist or the blade in her hands, but the whole body. Good, she was learning. Kavaa stepped close, ultimately, a sword and shield would always beat a sabre. Olonia needed a different weapon at this point, or a shield. Heavy sabres like that were for horsemen who would swing past as they rode and sever heads in one smooth movement.
Olonia swung quick, she swung fast, she swung hard, but there was no reason to drag the fight on. Kavaa’s sword hit her arm on a counter attack, her shield aimed for the Goddess’ head. A raised arm managed to block it, Kavaa heard the shoulder pop and Olonia fell to the ground. Kavaa turned gave Agrita, still bleeding and picking herself up, spear in her hands, a kick to keep her down.
And she closed the distance on Aliana. The Goddess of Allia only got two arrows off before Kavaa swung her sword at the woman. Aliana dodged the first blow, she left herself open for the follow up. And Aliana fell. The fight was over, much better. This was the best these five had ever done. Kavaa honestly would not mind sending them off to battle like this. They wouldn’t be able to beat her of course, but there was being exceptional, and there was being good enough. Only the exceptional had been allowed into the White Pantheon after all. Basic duelling with Kavaa would never let them beat her, that sort of training could only do so much for battlefield instincts.
Iliyal came forwards as the Clerics cheered. They always cheered when Kavaa won, which meant they were cheering every fifteen or so minutes. The Goddesses were clambering to their feet. That was another thing that had changed. A month ago, they would need at least fifteen minutes on the ground. “Let them regenerate.” Iliyal said as he came close. “Good.” He gave them a round of applause. “That was good.” He turned to Kavaa, his eyes trailed down from her face and at the wound in her stomach, Kavaa already knew the only mark left of Aliana’s arrow was a hole in her armour that exposed fresh pink skin and some blood on the plate. “I assume you can’t teach them how to fix themselves faster?”
“You just better.” Kavaa replied. “There’s no method, it just gets faster the more you use it.” She shrugged as the Goddesses mumbled.
“Better this than healing.” Agrita said through grit teeth as she held her side.
“One thing I can say is not to hold the wound. Let your body do its own thing.” Kavaa said. That did nothing in reality, but it would be better if they started working to break the natural instinct of clutching at wounds. That was suicide in battle.
“Aliana, good aim, compliment on the hit. Saksma, fast swings. Olonia you too.” Iliyal listed them off. This always happened, he would give them one compliment before the critique came. “Paida, excellent teamwork and awareness. Agrita, good job on trying to pick yourself back up.” He finished as the five Goddesses lined up. The elf sighed.
“We’re going left to right then.” Kavaa wiped her blade of Divine blood on her shirt and sheathed it as stood there. “Firstly, Paida. You panicked in the armour.”
“I did.” Paida said earnestly. The pride had been beaten out of them on the first day, when it became undeniable that not listening to advice would get them nowhere. Iliyal went over to the Goddess, even though she was more than a head taller him, he took her injured arm and turned it over to reveal her fore-arm.
“What are these?” Iliyal pointed to the straps that held her plate fixed to her body.
“Straps.”
“And what do you have in your hand?” Paida had to look down.
“A sword.”
“I think you can put two and two together.” Iliyal said. “This goes to all of you. The first line of defence is movement, the second is your armour. If you have to sacrifice one line, you sacrifice your armour every time.” He drew his own blade and put the tip against Kavaa’s forearm. “You don’t cut like this.” He moved the blade to the side, so it slid between the gap between her plate and her undershirt. “But like this, or you slice yourself open. Alternatively, if you find yourself without a sword. Paida, sheath.”
The Goddess sheathed her blade and Iliyal took her other hand. He grabbed a finger and manhandled it until it was hooked around the leather. “Now pull.” Paida pulled and the leather snapped effortlessly. “Never forget you are Divines. Leather, wood, even steel, you can bend and you can break.” He walked to Kavaa and drew put his sword next to himself. “Now we don’t do this, ever.” He threw the blade into the air, did the motion of pulling the strap off on himself, and caught his own sword by the hilt. “Why? Do we know?” He asked.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
Five blank faces looked back at Iliyal. None of those eyes had the shine of being talked down to anymore, they were all looking curiously. “Kavaa. You’ve just done to my armour what you did to Paida’s.” He took a step back. Threw his blade in the air, and made the motion of snapping the leather strip of his own armour. Kavaa reacted with the speed only a Divine was capable of. She drew her own sword, slammed it into Iliyal’s and the elf’s sword was sent in an arc across the camp. “There we go.” Iliyal said. “Kavaa’s sword was in her sheath, that’s how easy it is to disarm an opponent. Never let go of your own weapon.”
A Cleric went to retrieve the elf’s sword as he turned around. “Aliana, you panicked when Kavaa closed the gap. The moment you see someone approaching you, you have to start backing away unless you’re certain you can down them. The dodge was good, but Kavaa is armed with a sword. It doesn’t matter if you dodge a thousand times, she only has to get you once. Understood?”
“Understood.” Aliana said in a sombre tone.
“Agrita. You thought you had an opening when you didn’t.” Iliyal repeated the movement Kavaa had done when she dodged Saksma’s blade. “This here.” Iliyal angled his foot in the same way Kavaa had done to suddenly reverse her direction. “Is a sign of a feint. This goes to all of you, Agrita, you were simply unlucky it happened to you.” Kavaa raised her eyebrows impressed. Most Divines wouldn’t have caught that, the elf was a mortal and yet he still did.
“Olonia and Saksma. I have sad news for you.” Iliyal said. “Which is that your weaponry is terrible. Olonia, you especially. Did you see how Kavaa moved effortlessly with her straight sword?” Both of them nodded. “Saksma, your greatsword is not a duelling weapon. I don’t have much issue with it, because a greatsword in Divine hands is for cutting men down. This, you have to prepare for yourself. I can’t tell you how to cope. You simply will deal with the fact that every battle, you will have a kill count in the thousands. Olonia though.” He sighed, looked down and shook his head. Kavaa wondered how much of that was actually thought, and how much was just pantomime. “Why does the axe have a handle? Why do we not simply used axe-heads as they are?”
Olonia’s though, was definitely not a pantomime. She narrowed her eyebrows and had to think for a few seconds. Kavaa only smiled, this was the world’s easiest question. But then, wasn’t youth’s best blessing the lack of knowledge? “For momentum.” Olonia replied, there we go. The girl wasn’t entirely stupid.
“Good. Momentum. Now look at your sabre. Why does it suddenly get thicker at the end?” Olonia looked at her blade. It did indeed get thicker. They had made duelling sabres in the past, thin pieces of steel, but those were merely experiments. Kavaa had been there after all. She remembered the question. Why not just use a straight sword?
“To carry momentum.” Olonia replied.
“Exactly. Why is it a cavalry sabre?”
This time, the Goddess took longer to answer. Iliyal sighed when he finally heard her answer. “Because it was used by cavalry?” It was earnest, that was the worst part. Iliyal turned to Kavaa. She didn’t need the question.
“You swing it, and it goes through everything. It’s heavy as to not get stuck in armour or bone.” Kavaa replied and Iliyal nodded.
“Kavaa puts it in a nicer fashion than I do. It’s heavy so that when combined with the speed of a horse, it will split heads and sever limbs in one blow.” Iliyal head. “But Divines are strong enough not to need assistance like this in the first place, it’s assistance for mortals, nothing more than that. You should be using a straight sword.”
“She’s always used a sabre!” Saksma shouted suddenly, then added in a less combative tone. “And we’ve trained in it.”
“I saw how well you were trained when you got here.” Iliyal said. “Saksma, it’s on you too, the greatsword is not a duelling weapon.” Saksma said nothing, she merely stood there and looked down at her weapon. It was undeniable that the woman was too weak to use a sword that large with any speed, the only reason she was troublesome was because they had good coordination, but she was the only who had not even grazed Kavaa yet.
“I’ve seen Kassandora use a greatsword.” Saksma said in quiet protest. Kavaa looked to Iliyal. She wondered about the man’s reaction. Would he bristle with rage? Would he shout? Would he shut her down? And once again, it was annoying that the elf’s flat expression did not change even in the slightest.
“Are you Goddess Kassandora?” He asked slowly.
“No.” Saksma replied.
“That’s all that needs to be said.” Iliyal said. “I’ve requested Divine straight swords already, they’ll come in the next supply drop. Agrita, you’re getting a shield. Aliana, you’re also getting a sword.” He clapped his hands. “Right, we go ag-“
Iliyal’s words were cut off by a cloud of grass, dirt and mud suddenly erupting from behind him. Kavaa didn’t even catch whatever that object was, it had come in like a meteorite, like artillery. A flash of dark and gold. Her instincts kicked in, she turned, hand on her sword, shield raised. She took a step forwards, towards to protect the elf as she would her own Clerics, her blessing started to flow into her Clerics, they lowered spears, raised shields and drew swords. Then she realised Iliyal’s lack of reaction. He merely sighed and turned.
The cloud of dust slowly settled. Kavaa realised who it was the moment she saw the two large ears, golden and shining. Then the lion’s mane of hair as soft as silk and stronger than steel. The two vulpine eyes, almost shining, the fangs. The smile.
Fer had arrived.
She stood there in her loose shirt and skirt, tail trailing from underneath it. She looked at the Goddesses, sniffed the air, looked around. Kavaa’s Clerics settled down. “Ladies, this is Fer, Goddess of Beasthood.” Iliyal said.
“I am Fer.” Fer confirmed, hands landed on hips, she puffed her chest out. She towered over all of them, the top of Kavaa’s said only reached up to her chest. “I am here to teach.” Iliyal sighed and nodded. The five national Goddesses all looked at the Goddess in shock, fingers and eyes going from the bear sleeping in its hole to the Goddess that had just descended from the sky. “I’ve been monitoring the progress.”
“Where have you been?” Iliyal asked.
“Paying respects.” Fer replied. She turned to Kavaa. “Long time since we’ve been here.”
“Long time indeed.” Kavaa said. She did not let go of her blade. Fer was lovely, Fer was sweet, Fer was funny, Fer was ever so loyal. And Kavaa had fought against Fer in these woods. And she had seen past the kitten on the outside. Blood empowered Fer so she drank it, but for every drop of strength she got from it, two drops of enjoyment were there too.
And Fer sighed. Her smile revealed her teeth, two fangs burst from her mouth. “It’s a nice wood. Favourite part of Epa here.” She turned from Kavaa to the Goddesses. “Right ladies. We’re on a schedule, so we’re not going to be wasting time.”
“You’re too much for them.” Iliyal said quietly. “Go easy. Very easy.” Fer made wide eyes, turned from the Goddesses to Iliyal.
“Weren’t you training them?”
“We didn’t have a lot to start with.” Iliyal said flatly.
“So now, what are they? Out of ten?”
“In comparison to what?”
“Me.”
“Two.” Fer looked at them with wide eyes.
“Are you really that bad?” She said, then pointed to Kavaa. “Can you defeat Kavaa?” The Goddesses all averted their eyes, faces flooded with shame. Olonia was the first to step up.
“She is rather good though, she’s the Goddess of Health.” Kavaa blinked. She… The only reason she was a battlefield Goddess was because of the blessing. She could duel, but she wasn’t… She didn’t compare to the giants of Maisara and Fortia. And the actual people with powers, Allasaria, Anassa. Those were an entire league above her, comparison wasn’t even necessary. Fer blinked too, she turned her head to Kavaa. Kavaa only shrugged in return.
“They’ve not defeated me once yet.”
“Five against one?”
“Five against one.” Kavaa confirmed. Fer turned on the spot and sighed.
“So you’ve never seen Kavaa lose?” All five shook their heads. Fer turned and cracked her fingers. “Kavaa, a demonstration then.”
“There is no need, we both know I can’t defeat you.” Kavaa said.
“No of you losing, but to show them what they’ll be up against.” Kavaa sighed. She supposed they should know after all. Fortia and Maisara would most likely enter the battlefield, and those, Kavaa did not pretend to be able to duel either. Fortia had utterly crushed Kassandora after Waeh died, and Kavaa did not even hope she could stand against Kass. Fer turned to the five women. “This is what Iliyal is training you against, the baby training is over now. You’re now going to be learning against a proper battlefield Divine.”
“Kavaa’s not?” Saksma asked.
“I am!” Kavaa shouted.
“Kavaa is.” Iliyal confirmed. Kavaa blinked in shock, did the elf just defend her? “But it’s not her battle prowess. Right now, there is no point teaching you strategy because you would be assassinated immediately. We build forts around treasuries before we fill them with gold.” He turned to Kavaa. “If you want to show them, then go ahead. There isn’t much for them to learn from this though.”
“I think there is.” Fer said.
“Then we agree to disagree.” Iliyal said.
“I’ll do it.”
“Excellent!” Fer said. “It’s been a long time.” Kavaa had never duelled Fer before. That was thanks to Leona, the woman would send a letter every time Kavaa was to avoid a battle. To leave her troops to die. There was nothing to be done. It was the same as when Olephia came. Everyone who could would retreat, everyone who could not would slow Fer down.
“Your blow first.” Fer said as she spread her arms and legs.
“I fight defensively.” Kavaa replied.
“I suppose you do.” Fer said.
The distance between them shrunk in the blink of an eye. One moment, Kavaa was some twenty steps away from Fer, the next, Fer was casting a shadow upon her. She swung her sword. Fer caught the blade with her hand. Blood leaked down it as Fer slid her hand down. Fingers closed around the hilt and Kavaa’s fist.
Kavaa smashed her shield into Fer’s side. It was like smashing her shield into a cliff of iron. She tried to kick Fer’s feet to knock her over, at least stumble her. She may as well have been kicking an anvil. She tried to take a step back. And Fer merely moved her arm up. Kavaa felt her feet leave the grass, she swayed in the air.
It was over.
Fer didn’t even hurt her, yet it was already over. “I lose.” Kavaa said and Fer nodded.
“You do.” Fer replied. She turned to the five Goddesses. “Kavaa’s a friend so I’m rather gentle with her.” Kavaa just hung there for a moment. Fer released her grasp. Kavaa saw the wound on her palm close immediately. That shouldn’t have been called regeneration, it was more akin to when mages would stitch castle walls back together. Fer dropped her tone as she spoke. “Now it’s your turn.”