Legon Awakening: Book One in the Legon Series (21 page)

“Now we need to sleep. Don’t worry about sleeping in
tomorrow. We have all had a hard day. I know it’s early, but you
need to rest,” Arkin said.

There was a part of Legon that wanted to stay up, the
same part that made him fight with his parents when he was growing
up and they wanted him to go to bed, but Arkin was right and they
did have a long way to go. Sleeping now was good. He replaced the
fenrra in their sheaths. “That sounds good. I am assuming you want
Kovos and Keither to share a tent, and you and me to take one?”

Sasha spoke for the first time in a while. “Please. I
don’t want to be alone tonight. Can I stay with you, Legon? I
promise I won’t bother you.”

Of course she would want to stay with him. She was
terrified. How could he make her be alone?

“Of course you can. I’m sorry, I should have said
that. I’ll move your bedroll and bag to my tent.”

“Stay with Legon as long as you like, Sasha,” Arkin
added.

* * * * *

Kovos couldn’t believe this. How did Arkin get those
swords and how was he able to hide in town for so long? Did anyone
know? Keither was looking better and he thought that the boy would
be fine by the morning. In truth he was a little proud of how well
Keither had done. He hadn’t complained and it looked like he was
toughing it out. This was a good thing, and it would be helpful for
their current situation. He suspected that there was going to be a
lot of toughing it out to come, and if Keither could keep it
together he may turn into a real person. “
It is going to feel
good to lie down and sleep,”
Kovos thought as he parted the
folds to the tent and entered. There was his bedroll waiting for
him. He thought about stripping down to his undergarments, but
decided against it. You never know when you might get attacked.

He couldn’t get the day off his mind, especially the
fenrra. Now that was metalwork at its best. Sharpened twice in two
thousand years, and they were so
sharp
. He didn’t even know
metal could get that sharp. Maybe if he played his cards right he
could learn how to do that.

He was also bothered by the fact that he wasn’t upset
about killing people. He should be, he should feel bad… but
nothing, nothing at all. He got mad when he thought about Keither
and Sasha getting hurt, but doing the hurting… it didn’t bother
him. In fact it felt… good. That bothered him. If killing felt
good, then that meant that he was capable of doing awful things,
things like what those men had done, and then what would Emma think
of him? Emma. Why did he think of her now! It was dark in the tent
and Keither had fallen asleep as soon as he was lying down, and
Kovos would have too, but now he was thinking about her.
“I
wonder what she’s doing,”
he thought. “
No, don’t think about
it.”
But how could he not? What if it had been her on the
ground having some sub-human on her?

He understood then why he didn’t feel bad for killing
the men. He didn’t feel bad because it was justifiable to kill them
in his mind.
“But is it ok to kill people even if they deserve
it?”
came a voice in his head. Who was he to judge others, who
was he to decide who lived and died? But at the same time, he knew
these men killed and raped, and who knows what else, so maybe it
was ok. Either way it didn’t matter. It was done and it wouldn’t do
to dwell on it. They did what they had to do and that was that. At
the same time he was surprised at how protective of Sasha he was.
Sure, he’d beaten people up for giving her a hard time, but that
was for his friend. Today he wasn’t killing entirely for
protection. He wanted to punish them for what they were going to do
to her and what they had done to probably many women. Sasha was a
good person, and when he thought about it, how could demons posses
her? Could a demon live in someone like that? Great, now he was
never going to sleep. His mind was starting to run. Maybe he could
get some air. That might help.

He got up and went outside. Arkin was at the fire
poking it with a stick. He turned to look at him. “Is everything
ok?” he said in a soft voice.

“Yeah I think so. I just can’t sleep, you?”

“I’m fine. I can stay up all night and be good to go
tomorrow. You did well today. I mean that.”

“Thanks. You did well yourself. So what happens now?
What do we become?”

Arkin gave a deep sigh. “That will be up to you, I
think. Let’s not talk about that now. Let’s talk about something
that will put you to sleep,” he said with a smile.

Kovos laughed. “Ok, why don’t you tell me about some
table or something you’re making.”

“Low blow from someone that hits things with a hammer
for a living,” Arkin retorted. He always enjoyed picking on the
carpenter for his craft. He knew Arkin was good at what he did, but
Arkin worked with wood and Kovos with metal, so there was a bit of
a rivalry. They both liked to talk about what it was like making
something with your hands, something that people could use for
generations, like those swords. They talked for about an hour
before Kovos got tired and went to bed.

* * * * *

Sasha woke up next to Legon, her head resting on his
bedroll. She was amazed at how well she slept. She thought that she
wouldn’t sleep deeply because she was scared, but Legon was with
her and he wouldn’t let anything happen. The air felt warm, so it
must have been mid morning. She crawled out of the tent to have her
suspicions confirmed. The sun was high in the sky, the morning dew
long since gone.

Arkin was up, or at least she thought that he was. He
was sitting on his heels with his back to her. It looked like his
hands were on his thighs. She didn’t want to disturb him from
whatever he was doing and began to go back in the tent.

“Good morning, Sasha,” he said in a deep, relaxed
voice.

“Oh, good morning Arkin. Did you sleep well?” She
wanted to know what he was doing, but she had to be polite. She did
owe him her life, or at least that’s how she saw it. He
chuckled.

“I am meditating.”

“Oh, ok. I didn’t want to be rude or disturb
you.”

“You’re not. Did you sleep well? I know Kovos and
Keither did. I think the whole forest knows that,” he said, turning
his head and giving her a slight smile.

She laughed. “Yes, I think they did.”

A snort from inside the tent told her that Legon was
getting up as well. He popped his head out. “Morning,” he said and
then looked at the sky. “Oh, sorry. I don’t think I’ve slept this
late in years.”

Arkin got up and moved to his tent, returning with a
sheathed blade.

“Sasha, this is for you. It’s also Elven. It belonged
to Legon’s mother. It’s the faloon. Elven women carry them.”

She took it. “A what?”

“Faloon. A thin, short sword that can be worn under
most skirts. The handle can be easily hidden with a bow or anything
else around your waist.”

“Oh, ok. Legon, do you…”

“Good idea, Arkin. I should have taught her how to
defend herself a long time ago. It was dumb of me. I just always
assumed that I could defend her… sorry, Sash.”

She was a little taken aback. He was feeling guilty
about what had happened yesterday, as if it was somehow his fault
those bastards had tried to hurt her. She knew that he would have
done anything to stop it. She saw the marks on his wrists where the
rope cut into him. She could almost feel them. There was nothing
that he could have done to stop it.

“It’s not your fault, Legon. There is nothing you
could have done. Even if I knew how to fight, do you really think
that I could have stood a chance against them?”

“That’s not the point. The point is that you have
always been in a danger and I haven’t taken the time to give you
the basic skills you may need to just get out of a situation. I
don’t expect you to be able to fight someone, but I could have
taught you how to hurt them enough so you could get away.”

Arkin broke in. “The truth is, it’s my fault as well.
I trained your brother and yet I did nothing for you. Forgive me,
Sasha, but going forward you will learn. In fact, I have training
for both of you while we’re on our journey. We are going into
situations that neither of you have faced and you need to learn
what to do, and Legon, you need to learn how to use the fenrra and
a few other techniques.”

“Like what?” Sasha asked.

“I will start to teach you the art of the
Jezeer.”

“The what?” started Legon.

“Jezeer. In short, you will learn how to fully use
your muscles, how to read people, inflect your voice and body
language to gain favor with people and get them to do what you
want. Sasha, you know a lot of the people skills because I have
taught you them from the time you were little. Legon, you I have
taught many of the physical, but you both need to learn more than
either of you currently knows.”

She’d been being what? She knew that Arkin was
training them, but to have him say it was a little unsettling, and
in a way violating. Her thoughts were interrupted by Arkin.

“And you will learn the Mahann, which will train your
mind to use logic, not emotion. Both of these we can learn in the
saddle, but at night in camp we’ll go over physical training.
Legon, I will work with you and in turn we will switch training
Keither and Sasha. Ok?” This wasn’t much of a question but Sasha
didn’t fight it. She was willing to go along if for no other reason
than curiosity.

Shortly after that, Kovos and Keither woke up and
they broke down camp and started off. They were hoping to make it
to within a half day’s ride from the end of the road, where it
split three ways. From there they would go southwest along the
mountains toward Salez. This wasn’t the most direct route, but it
had the least amount of towns and villages, so it was ideal for
them. As the day pressed on, Arkin was teaching them different
exercises to train their minds and quizzing them on hypothetical
situations. It made Sasha’s head hurt, but at the same time it was
nice. Kovos and Keither listened in and occasionally Keither would
make a remark or answer a question. He always got the questions
right, and Sasha began to wonder just how smart he was. Also, he’d
been so nice to her. She knew that it must have taken a lot for him
to say what he had, and she was thankful for that. He was a good
guy if you could get him to talk.

* * * * *

They were riding next to the river, which made the
air cool. Legon always loved the sound of a stream or river. They
seemed to give him energy and yet make him relax at the same time.
All the same, he would have liked it more if Arkin wasn’t drilling
them. He and Sasha always seemed to just get halfway there but
rarely all the way. It was like they had been given information but
only part of it. This didn’t seem to bother Arkin one bit. He was
rushing along, hitting them with question after question. Then he
would correct something that seemed to be insignificant and move
on.

He was looking forward to training tonight. He knew
how to use a sword and he could use two, but the fenrra were a
little shorter than regular swords, so he would have to get used to
that. He was glad that Sasha was going to be learning how to fight.
That way if anything ever happened to him she might be all right.
The faloon looked like it could be handy too. It had a little cord
that went around her waist and as it hung it moved with her legs
and skirt so no one could see it. There was just the end of the
handle that came up, and that could be hidden with cloth.

He could see the she was a little uncomfortable with
it. Sasha had never been in a fight and never carried a weapon,
much less one that had belonged to her adopted brother’s dead
mother. He, on the other hand, liked that she had the blade. It
seemed to fit. As the sun fell they set up camp next to a large
rock that rose thirty or forty feet above them. They were able to
set up camp beneath an overhang. They placed the tents close to the
rock, giving them more cover from the elements and making the smoke
from the fire track its way up the rock and fan out under the
overhang. As soon as dinner was done, Arkin walked into camp with a
bag that looked like it contained a spare tent. He started to pull
out wooden staves which were finished and polished, the same kind
that Legon and Kovos had learned to fight with.

He tossed two to Legon, who noticed that they were
shorter than most swords but the same length as the fenrra, and
handed one to Sasha and Kovos. Sasha looked a little confused, but
the two men got up, understanding it was training time.

Arkin looked down at Keither. “I imagine that your
ribs are bruised at the very least, so we won’t start training you
for a little while. As for the rest of you,” he addressed the
others, “Sasha, you will be working with Kovos, who is going to
start teaching you how to fight with a sword. He’s a very good
fighter and you will learn a lot from him. Legon, you’re with me. I
need to start getting you used to fighting with the fenrra. We will
use the wooded staves for a few nights until you get used to the
length and fighting style. After that we will put guards on the
real blades. Ok?” Everyone agreed, but Sasha was looking a little
nervous.

* * * * *

Sasha walked to one end of camp with Kovos. She was
feeling a little trepidation. Kovos was nice enough, but she’d
never been in a fight before and she was hoping she would never
need to. This must have shown on her face because Kovos smiled
warmly.

“Don’t worry. We’re just going to go over the basics
tonight. I think that Arkin just wants you to have a general
understanding, and then he will have to teach you to use that fa…
feloon?”

“Faloon,” she corrected.

“Yeah, that thing. It looks like a good weapon and a
great idea, but basic broadsword technique will be good for you to
know. Don’t worry, you’re not going to be good at it for a long
time, so if you’re not a master by the end of the week, don’t lose
sleep over it.”