The Call (2 page)

“Not to regular people, no. But you are far from regular, Katja. Now that you are maturing and becoming aware you can start to learn our arts,” Serdra leaned a bit forward and gave Katja a piercing look. “Until you become capable of facing
real
monsters.”

Her hard tone sent a fresh dose of fear through Katja's veins. Along with a spark of excitement.

“Just how unusual am I?” she asked. “Since I am to fight dragons and devils? Because I have never uprooted trees, or caught lightning or any of those things myths speak of.”

“Dragons do not exist, silly girl,” Serdra said calmly. “As for your question, we do get certain gifts in order to perform our duties.”

“Such as... what?”

“Didn't you feel a certain tingling before the creature appeared?”

Yes, there
had
been some unpleasant sensation that had begun in the morning and gradually grown more powerful. Serdra clearly saw the answer in her face.

“Our sensitivity varies between individuals. Some grow up with an incredible ability to sense upcoming events. To others it is little more than a hunch. A whisper. Whichever one it is with you, in time you'll learn to sharpen your sensitivity. It is your most valuable gift, and will aid you in finding where you are needed and whether danger is afoot. You can even learn to predict an enemy's movements in the middle of a fight.”

Katja pondered. Had something like that made all her victories easier? She wasn't sure. She had always been quick, but just chalked it up to good reflexes.

“And it's not just your mind that will serve you well,” Serdra continued. “Your body is a well-designed weapon. Not only are you quick and stronger than one would expect, but your wounds heal better than with any normal man. Any wound that doesn't kill you will heal perfectly and you'll never be crippled.”

“I have never been ill,” Katja mumbled, halfway to herself.

“And you never will. Nor age.”

Katja gaped and stared at her.

“What?!”

Serdra watched her with a strange smile on her lips. It didn't really seem to stem from mirth but Katja didn't understand what else could lie behind it. She was having no luck in reading this woman.

“You are eternal, Katja,” she said quietly but intensely. “Your face will continue maturing for a few years but you will never degenerate. We live until we fall in combat.”

Katja shook her head slowly and sighed. She could think of no other reaction. Eternal youth?             

“Wait, what about your hair?”

Serdra ran her right hand through that white and brown hair. The smile now had a slightly different feel, though Katja couldn't understand it any better. It didn't last long enough for analysis.

“This is not degeneration. The hair just starts to lighten after a while. Mine will be totally white in about twenty or thirty years. The elders call it a mark of wisdom. A sign that one has withstood the test of time and is finally properly skilled and learned.” She hesitated a bit. “They can be rather stodgy.”

“Just how old are you?”

“This winter will be my one hundred and thirty-second.”

Katja felt an urge to accuse her of lying, but refrained.

“And are you
still
not considered old?!”

“According to the elders I am taking my first steps into adulthood,” Serdra said with a sardonic smile. “Some of them are walking history books. And since our power grows over time then, well, later I can tell you tales of deeds. Absolutely incredible stories.”

“But I'll start with something smaller, I take it?”

“You'll start by
learning
, Katja. We are too few to afford losing a new warrior due to inexperience or haste.”

“And were you assigned to teaching me?”

“I was closest to you around this time and the least busy. So it became my task. We usually operate alone, but still have certain traditions and customs. You will need to learn those, along with everything else.”

“If respect for my elders is among those, then no one has managed to teach me that one yet. Just so you know.”

Serdra smiled and that unnerving gleam appeared in her eyes again. It occurred to Katja that the attitude would cost her when it came to combat training.

“Is there anything else I should know about you... us... myself, and these... gifts?”

“Plenty. But we will have time to discuss that in detail later. You won't be free of me until I consider you ready to walk your own path. I have never mentored before.” Serdra reached for the spear and threw it over the fire. “I look forward to seeing how you do.”

Katja caught the spear automatically. Reason told her she should find this all ridiculous madness, but this short meeting with Serdra had answered so many things she had never understood about herself. As if some missing part of her had been found. Though she feared the future this woman promised her, she also felt relieved at not having to live with her strange urges without ever getting to satisfy them.

“But what do you mean by later? What happens now?” She put up her best cocky grin. “Are you going to beat the attitude out of me?”

“No, I will clearly need to start by honing your sensitivity. Can't you feel that?”

“Feel wh-”

Then she did feel it. It was a cold tingle of fear, just as she had felt shortly before the monster attacked her village. Except this one was stronger. Much stronger.

She sprang to her feet and pointed the spear into the darkness. She heard an approaching noise and the sounds of Serdra getting to her feet and drawing the sword.

“They know what I am,” the woman said calmly, “And have been hesitant to approach. But they have been gathering numbers and so their courage.”

“Numbers?! What numbers?!”

Katja didn't look away from the direction of the noise, but heard the smile in Serdra's voice.

“You will need to learn to detect such things yourself. Why do you think I chose this hill as our meeting place? There is a good reason why people avoid this area.” She took a flaming stick out of the fire and slowly walked up to Katja's side. “This is a good place to give you a proper test.”

Katja looked at the tall woman with fear. Fear and excitement. And she felt she saw a hint of mirth in Serdra's eyes.

“Let us see what you can do, little raptor.”

She tossed the stick and the flame illuminated the approaching creatures.

Katja heard herself scream just as the monsters erupted into a horrible choir of shrieks. Serdra raised her sword with a slow and steady hand.

One of the blocky, hairless freaks snorted and sped up. The one closest to it did the same an instant later and then the next one, and in moments the entire group was charging towards them.

Fear poured over Katja like that time Maria had woken her with a bucket of ice cold water. But as before something else came to life, some inner flame which kept her from turning and fleeing and kept her grip on the spear firm.

Mothers and fathers!
she thought with terrified thrill.

“Aim high!” Serdra said in that familiar commanding tone and assumed a fighting pose. “Go for the neck! And dodge to the side rather than backwards!”

Crazy woman!

The first one came at Serdra and Katja expected to see her swing the sword but instead she sidestepped quickly. The freak couldn't slow the charge quickly enough to follow and so headed straight for Katja.

She had been bracing for attack from another direction and was barely able to leap to the side and thrust. The beast snapped its teeth where she'd stood a moment earlier, and Katja drove the spear with all her strength into what would have been the chest on a human.

The tip only pierced the tough flesh a bit and when Katja pulled it out she didn't see a drop of blood in the fire light. The monster managed to stop the charge and whipped around for another assault.

“Into the neck!” Serdra shouted and then looked in front of herself again, slashing the next one across the throat.

The monster fell with a gurgling whine. Katja found the noise familiar; as if she'd heard a distant echo of it at night. Or had those just been dreams?

The first monster attacked her again with its maw gaping, and the twisted arms and the claws they ended in held out in front. Katja thrust right under the jaw and connected. The spear tip slid in easily this time and something oozed out of the wound.

The creature gave a death scream but its momentum wasn't as easily slain and it slammed into Katja. She lost her grip on the spear as well as her balance and landed on her back. Another beast immediately came at her, but then fell as Serdra turned and cut the legs out from under it. Katja hadn't even seen her approach.

The legless monster almost fell on top of Katja, but she rolled to the side and leapt to her feet. Another one bit at her and she retreated. She slid her foot under the spear and kicked it upwards and caught it. She'd no time to stab so she smacked the shaft into the monster's face.

It shook from the blow and swung its claws at her. Katja expected the attack but couldn't react in time and got a scrape on her arm.

She didn't feel it in the heat of battle and leapt backwards and drove the spear at the monster's neck. It screamed at the hit but there was no oozing so she stabbed again and apparently hit the right spot that time.

The legless one grabbed her ankle and she cursed herself for forgetting about it. She stabbed it in the head, but it maintained the grip. Another one approached and Katja roughly tried to shake her leg loose, but the crippled monster just tightened the hold and seemed to be trying to rise on the stumps.

Katja grimaced from the pressure on her ankle and thrust at the approaching one, but the monster dodged the attack and beat the spear aside. Just then the one on the ground yanked and she lost her balance.

The monster came at her with the claws of one hand aloft, and Katja pictured them sinking into her throat. Then the arm fell on ground as Serdra darted between them. Before Katja could get her bearings the leg was free and the monster on the ground shrieked as its hand flew off.

Katja stabbed the one before her to death. Serdra cut down two more with a flash of movement and danced away from the strikes of two more. Katja could think of no other description. It was as if the woman had choreographed these movements ahead of time.

She cut the head off yet another creature and then the rest of them finally seemed to lose heart. The surviving one stayed at the edge of light and the shrieks had died down.

Katja seized the opportunity to finish the one on the ground.

Serdra took a quick look at Katja before turning back to the monsters and standing ready with her sword. She was utterly calm, not even winded, but her gaze was pure steel.

The creatures looked at her for a few moments and Katja thought she saw a few peeks towards herself as well. Then they staggered off into the darkness. The clumsy footsteps gradually went silent.

The fight was over.

Relief at being alive, horror, accumulated fear, pain and the deranged ecstasy of victory all poured into Katja at once and she started to shake. It was just like the other day. Except now no-one else had died.

Serdra took a rag from her belt and cleaned a bit of dark liquid off her blade.

“This was a fine job,” she said. “Such wretches are easily broken by adversity. They will vanish into the shadows and cause no trouble for some years.”

She sheathed the sword and looked at Katja with hands on her hips. Katja thought she saw a hint of a smile on her lips.

“Did you like it?”

The words instantly turned all of Katja's emotions into rage and she turned the spear in her hands and rushed at the woman with the blunt end first.

She screamed and struck. Serdra caught the shaft with one hand and smacked it back into Katja's forehead before throwing the spear aside. The blow dazed her and Serdra tackled her onto the ground.

Katja landed on her back, and before she knew it the woman had sat on her chest and held her wrists down with an iron grip.

Katja growled and tried to kick, tried to yank her hands loose, head butt, bite, but nothing worked. This damned madwoman held her like an infant.

“Easy,” Serdra said in the same tone as before. “As I said this was a test and you did alright.”

“Get off me!”

“No.”

“You almost got me killed!”

Serdra smiled.

“Hardly. I would have killed more if I hadn't had to babysit you. Your sensitivity will need to improve, like I said. Spirit alone does not suffice.”

Again Katja furiously tried to break free with no results. Serdra twisted her left arm slightly and examined the cut she'd received.

“Hm. That is nothing to worry about. It just needs bandages so filth won't slow down recovery, and then you can travel and train.”

“With you?!”

Serdra leaned in closer, though not within head-butting range.

“You saw how I did in that fight,” she said and gazed so hard in Katja's eyes it felt like she was examining her soul. “This was nothing to me. You can learn this. You can become stronger and more terrible than any warrior in that little village of yours, IF you have someone to guide you and keep you alive until you can stand on your own. Are you really going to tell me the thought doesn't appeal to you?”