Tray was trying to understand what he was meant to do. He tried many different things and very quickly grew bored instead of focused. As the hours passed by, he felt it. He felt a feeling as if he was pulling a never before used muscle. Excited, he opened his eyes.
A small piece of wood started to surface from below the dirt in front of him. With just a little bit more concentration, something would happen. He was sure of it! just a bit more concentr...
“Ouch!”
“PARRY! You should have parried my attack right there!”
...and so his concentration broke. Agnar took to teaching swordplay like a fish took to water, but it was certainly noisy.
As the day passed by, Nate’s bruises multiplied. Agnar tried holding back, but it was difficult when his opponent had never held a proper weapon before. Nate’s endurance had come to an end as he sat down and was short of breath.
It was starting to get late, but Tray had been so close. Whatever this talent thing is, he wanted to be able to use it before resting, and so he kept trying.
After many more attempts, he finally got results again.
A small patch of dirt near him about a foot in diameter started to churn as a cylindrical piece of wood emerged. It rose up faster than his last attempt at almost an inch per second.
The wooden object had surfaced. It was similar to a totem pole, but only 1 foot tall. A carved face was inscribed on both sides of it.
“I did it...” Tray almost whispered.
A question remained however. What did it do?
Tray stood up and took a few steps back before picking up a clump of grass and dirt. He threw it at the wooden face. It responded by belching a wimpy red fire across a small patch of grass.
“Well done, though most people I know usually figure out how to use their talent within only a couple of hours.” Agnar said.
Tray was so focused on this attempt that he didn’t even notice Agnar and Nate standing nearby and observing.
“Thanks for those inspiring words of encouragement.” He said in a flat tone.
“Don’t worry about the size or strength of it. You’ll get better soon enough."
Agnar looked around, seemingly surpurised at how fast time had flown.
"I’d say we’ve been out here long enough. Let’s head back and take a break.”
Nate agreed heavily. Tray wasn't so eager to agree, but then again he also wasn't the one swinging a stick all day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nolan felt better now than he had the day before. Even his two teammates, Andre and Glen, had agreed when he told them him feelings about the situation and asked them if they could just let the strangers escape if they encountered any. There was no way these strangers were responsible, and Nolan did not want to be responsible for the death of any more innocents.
Other teams had been assigned to patrol during the night while Nolan’s team and many others were instructed to rest in preparation for tomorrow.
Would the two strangers still be there when he returned? Or would they have fled the city by now? Nolan would find out shortly, and he gripped the doorknob to his home and opened it.
“I see they are still here, and still wearing my spare clothing” He spoke upon seeing the three occupants in the room.
“Their old clothing is still awaiting repairs, so you’ll just have to tolerate it.” Agnar said.
“It’s kind of hard to repair clothes that have been burnt into ash. I saw a shred of it in the fireplace.”
Agnar tensed upon hearing this and moved his hand to grasp his walking stick.
Nolan continued “I won’t tell anyone. If you trust them, that’s good enough for me. Just get them out of the city before sunset tomorrow. I don’t want any more problems.”
A cold voice reverberated out from the house’s entrance behind Nolan. “Oh, but it’s too late for that. There’s already a problem.”
Nolan turned around and found himself face to face with Donnel
“Hiding a pair of the foreign saboteurs in your own home? You disgrace the name of this very city, Nolan!”
In a flash, Donnel’s rapier was drawn and flying towards Nolan’s neck.
*clang*
Inches from it’s target, the blade was stopped by a walking stick. Oddly enough, the blade didn’t even manage to pierce the wood. Agnar scowled as his arm was stretched to it’s limit to block that attack.
Nolan stumbled backwards, shocked that his own captain would try to kill him without even a shred of remorse.
“Old man Agnar. I’ve always wanted to fight you. I finally have an excuse to do it too!”
Donnel laughed as he drew his rapier back to prepare for another swing. Agnar stepped in front of Nolan and pulled his walking stick apart to reveal a hidden sword.
Light glinted off the two weapons as they danced back and forth, each aiming to deal a lethal blow but getting parried on every attempt. The wooden floor underneath them strained to hold up under the fury of the two fighters.
Donnel smirked and a blood-orange bubbly glow enveloped his sword. He swung short instead of reaching far, and it seemed as if he had missed on purpose. Agnar planted his foot down hard, cracking the floor underneath, and a blue barrier appeared over his body to protect him. When Donnel’s blade was midswing, it was pointing forward through a gap between Agnar’s arms and his body.
A thin jet of blood-orange liquid shot out from the tip of his rapier and sailed past Agnar. It hit Nolan in the neck and he collapsed.
If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
Agnar was visibly shaken and for a moment he almost looked back to where Nolan had fallen.
Not one to give up an advantage when it presented itself, Donnel pressed his attacks forward against Agnar with renewed vigor. Agnar’s steady defense and concentration had started to falter. Agar parried another fierce attack from Donnel, but didn’t recover as quickly as usual this time.
Donnel readied his rapier and started to lunge for the final blow. A loud *snap* sounded out from below Donnel’s foot. An oddly short totem pole had broken through the floor and pushed up on Donnel’s foot, unbalancing him.
Agnar seized the moment and stabbed Donnel through the chest.
Donnel burst into a brilliant blue flame and collapsed into ash. Instead of relief, Agnar panicked when he saw this. Several flares that had been in Donnel’s pocket were ignited and flew around the room and one of them exited the building after crashing through the window.
“I hate phoenix talent users. They never know when to stay dead! In about three minutes his ash will reform and he will be alive again. How’s Nolan?”
Nate who was kneeling near Nolan and feeling his pulse just looked at Agnar. He couldn’t form an answer.
Rage spread across Agnar’s face. He walked closer to Donnel’s ashes and aimed his sword at it.
Agnar’s voice rose with each word, tears falling as he spoke. “Just show yourself, coward. The very second you come back to life, I’ll finish you off for real!”
“We might not have the time. I saw one of those flares fly out the window. People will know something is going on here.” Tray interrupted.
Agnar was conflicted by this, and for a moment it looked as if he was going to stay here and wait for revenge regardless of the cost. His hand trembled as he sheathed his sword back into it's disguise as a walking stick.
“You’re right. Let’s go.”
They quickly left the house as Nate grabbed Nolan’s sword and sheath from the belt where it lay. He hurried to catch up to the other two.
They sped across the many streets in a bee-line for the forest. The people they passed by thought little of them and their haste. Many just thought that it was probably just old man Agnar up to his no-good antics again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Donnel was furious! He had killed one of the traitors, but one more still remained and the two strangers had escaped.
He dusted himself off. All the soot and ash that remained from using his phoenix talent was unbearable, not to mention the hole he now had in his uniform. It was personal now. Agnar would pay for that!
Many of his men stood nearby in concern and on the verge of asking questions, but they wisely chose to remain silent instead.
After standing to his feet despite the lingering echo of pain in his chest where he was stabbed, Donnel finally spoke to his audience.
“Nolan is dead.”
He let that sink in for a moment before continuing.
“Agnar is allied with two of the foreign saboteurs and all three have fled on foot after slaying Nolan their attempt to keep things secret. I caught whiff of their plot and tried to intervene, but the result is as you can see. I was cut down.”
Many in the audience were terribly grieved. Noland had been a great and trustworthy friend over the years.
Donnel spoke in a softer tone. “Honors to the fallen, please.”
Donnel and all present turned to where Nolan lay and spoke in unison.
“Glory to the fallen who have died in defense of our great city, Nordsworth!”
Two people from the crowd entered the house to retrieve the corpse.
“As you can see from this totem here that is sticking out of the floor, one of these two who fled with Agnar is likely the one with the magic that created the horde of wooden monsters we were assaulted by yesterday. Half of you will stay to defend the city under the command of Tain. The rest will travel with me and hunt down this menace.
"Be aware that those two are not wearing the usual foreign garment that all the others wore. Their clothing is more similar to ours. For the city and for Nolan, we must succeed!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Two guards walked in silence, shocked at what had transpired. They were Andre and Glen; Nolan's teammates.
Glen grit his teeth. It wasn't long before the silence was broken.
"Is that it? That's what we get for having mercy on those strangers? One of them murdering Nolan in his own home?" Glen growled
Andre didn't reply, choosing instead to inspect his bow and make certain it was in proper condition.
"I'll turn them into mincemeat when I see them!"
"If we will. We were benched until we have a proper team of three again, unless you've forgotten." Andre finally spoke.
"There are plenty of people that could be our third teammate. I reccon' Donnel just doesn't think we are mentally fit for combat so soon after our friend died. I say he should just can it. I'm ready to fight now more than ever."
"Many others have already begun the search. What are two people who are late to the party going to find? Leftovers? It's almost night and we haven't gotten any sleep in quite awhile either. How are we supposed to track them as we currently are?"
"We just need to search where everyone else isn't searching."
Andre just sighed. He wanted revenge too, but there's a fine line between bravery and recklessness. He was almost certain that Glen was going to cross that line.
Still...
Even if it was just a small chance, Andre also wanted to get revenge.
He never did tell anyone about his third talent's ability, and it may just be what he needed to find those murderers before anyone else could.