The Call (6 page)

“No,” Katja said through the haze. The fire still burned within her and drove her to her feet and towards the woman.

Serdra caught the blow as before, twisted Katja around and wrapped her own arm around Katja's neck. She squeezed hard, but the crook of her elbow was over the throat so Katja could still breathe. She couldn't see the point of this trick and tried both kicking out and jabbing her elbow backwards.

“This is called a sleeper hold,” Serdra said in her ear and Katja felt her strength suddenly wane. “It squeezes the veins in the neck.” Katja tried to tear loose but just got weaker the more she exerted. “Cuts off the blood to the brain.”

Serdra's voice became a sort of buzz and Katja tried to pull at the arm around her neck but the fingers were like wet dough.

Finally she just hung limp.

Next time.

She passed out.

--------------------

Serdra had her display her throwing skills, with spears, knives and the stick, and said they were good enough for now. She was also pleased with her archery, but did point out that she needed to become quicker: An enemy wouldn't have the consideration to allow careful aiming.

She then showed Katja how to make the best use of a spear, both two-handed and with the spear in one hand and a shield in the other. She did however caution against using shields except in certain circumstances.

“You have far more power and precision with both hands,” Serdra said. “And that's what we need. Many devils do not have organs like we do, and must be defeated by hacking them apart. Most of them can also smash a shield easily enough. Quick feet are a better defence against monsters.”

She showed Katja how to stand so as to be ready to dart in any direction at any moment.

“Soldiers were taught this in days gone by,” she said, as she swung at the air and hopped about. “Nowadays they only learn how to battle men.”

She had Katja draw her sword and imitate.

“Unfortunately I cannot attack you exactly like a gigantic monster with claws and fangs, so you can only learn this fully through experience.”

She instructed Katja to dance around in this loose pose, get accustomed to striking and retreating in it, and occasionally threw pebbles so she'd had something to dodge. The beating had greatly sapped her stamina and shortly before noon she felt like her muscles were made of jam.

Katja tried not to sigh out loud with relief when Serdra announced a break. She sheathed the sword, put it on the blanket and followed Serdra inside where she quaffed water.

Serdra brought out the dried fish and tore one in two and threw one piece to Katja, who was barely able to catch it. She dried the water from her lips and realized she had completely forgotten the nosebleed from before. The smell of the fish penetrated the congealed blood though and she realized she'd also forgotten her own hunger.

She ate like a starving dog. Her mother's lecture on table manners felt like the ancient past. As soon as the fish was where she wanted it Katja took out one of the two remaining grain cakes, glanced at Serdra, and hesitated.

Well, she did give me fish and ptarmigan.

Katja snapped the cake in two and threw one half to Serdra, who caught it between two fingers and nodded.

Katja bit a big piece from her half, but then hesitated and started chewing slowly and methodically. It could be months before she got good bread again, so perhaps she'd best enjoy this.

The meal passed far too quickly and Katja washed the last crumbs down with water and lay down on the bed. She sighed and felt her strength return by increments. She looked to her side at Serdra, who sat on a chair and ate slower than Katja.

“Say, what are we called?” Katja asked after some silence.

“Didn't we already introduce ourselves?” the woman asked with a hint of humour in her eyes.

“You know what I mean,” Katja said and gesticulated with her hands. “Us. This... demon-slaying... family. Thing.”

Serdra swallowed a bit of fish.

“It depends on who you ask.”

“I'm asking
you
.”

Serdra seemed to ponder for a bit. At any rate she fell silent and looked away from Katja.

“We didn't always need to hide,” she eventually said. “Our enemies were more obvious at one point and we had more allies.” She sipped water and still kept her gaze off Katja. “Before the dissolution of Jukiala we went about openly, in red cloaks so all would recognize us: a sign that creatures of darkness would be beaten back and people needn't fear them anymore, and a warning to all not to trouble us. That's why in later eras of the Jukiala union we were known as Redcloaks.”

“Jukiala,” Katja repeated. She had heard it before of course: The power that The Lady created from the ashes of the old world and which gradually spread across almost the entire known world. “But that was three centuries ago.”

“Yes,” Serdra said and finally looked at her. “I didn't see those times. But there are still elders around who did.”

Katja lay back and mulled on the word. She heard it before, in tales and poems of great warriors of bygone times, but never given it much thought. How did that song which Uncle Atli liked so much go again? She hadn't put much effort into learning it. The man was such a terrible singer.

“What about now? What are we called now?”

Serdra half-smiled.

“You and I live in different times. I think it's wisest to use no names at all, so as to draw the least attention. Some of those who know we still exist as more than legends called us Nightcloaks, since we mostly do our work at night. Or Graycloaks, since we try not to get noticed.”

Serdra fell silent and Katja gazed at the ceiling and tried to decide between the three words. It was a strange but pleasant feeling to be able to attach some name, or description, to what she was and had, to some degree, always sensed that she was. After all the unease and restlessness and sometimes suppressed doubts about her own sanity, she could call herself something.

Redcloak
, she thought. It was a very strong colour, after all.
I am a Redcloak.

The thought brought her a certain peace and she smiled faintly.

--------------------

After a bit of rest they went back to using bare fists, except now Serdra started pointing out how she could improve. The woman showed how best to apply one's body in delivering powerful blows, had her defend from an unexpected attack from behind and showed how to defend from attacks on the ground.

She went over the sensitive spots and joints on the human body and how best to assault them, usually by assaulting Katja. Katja was slightly unnerved by Serdra's descriptions of just how easy it really was to break a joint if one did it right. She herself had broken noses and sometimes fingers in her brawls, but usually by accident.

Serdra allowed a short break after a rough lesson in blows and kicks, and then went into grapples and throws. She showed her how to ground people with slight yanks, how to use an opponent's weight and strength against them and how to control people by twisting a leg, finger, arm - or even big toe.

Katja growled with pain as Serdra forced her to her knees and twisted her arm to the very edge of its breaking point. She said knowing such things could be useful when asking questions.

“Is the answer: 'This hurts?!'” she asked and tried to sound angry, but the pain and a recent punch in the jaw made it difficult.

Of course Serdra allowed Katja to do those same things to herself so she could learn them, but there was never much satisfaction in it. The woman showed no signs  of pain and Katja could never overpower her unless allowed to.

Late in the afternoon Serdra declared they'd done enough and brought the horse out of the stable. She said she was off searching for food and told Katja to practice archery while she was away.

Katja sighed as she watched the woman ride off to the east, and when she'd vanished from sight she finally staggered into the cabin as though her legs were made from wood and fetched the bow.

Counting the shots she fired into a knoll didn't occur to her until they'd become too many to bother starting. The woman probably had a point. She would need to be able to draw and aim faster if her archery was to be useful for something other than target shooting.

She snatched an arrow from the quiver, put it on the string as quickly as she could, fired and snatched the next one. When all fifteen were in the knoll or the surrounding grass she fetched them and started over.

The results weren't fantastic. Her arms quivered with fatigue and her fingers had a hard time with precision. She occasionally managed to shoot faster than usual, but most attempts either took too long due to fumbling or simply missing.

She got fed up with the annoyance and eventually switched over to knife throwing. She could at least still do
that
right and was almost in a good mood again when Serdra and the four legged monstrosity returned.

The woman had felled four more ptarmigans. They weren't quite as fat as the previous ones but she'd also found wild onions and filled a bag with them.

“We can sun-dry them when the weather allows and keep in reserve. I also spotted goat droppings and tracks. I will go hunting tomorrow afternoon and see if I don't catch something.”

Serdra plucked and gutted the birds and chatted with Katja about weapon maintenance. Katja prepared the fire and cut two onions for them. They went into the pot with the ptarmigans and made up for the somewhat tough meat.

Katja washed her hair, armpits and groin, and looked forward to bathing in the lake in the morning, no matter how cold it might be. She couldn't remember ever having sweated as much in one day in her life.

Maybe that's why she wants me to bathe a lot
, she thought with a smirk on her lips.
Seeing as we have to share a bed.

She hurt everywhere.
Everywhere
. In addition her face was swollen and she had a hard time accepting one loss after another. But in spite of all that she felt a strange satisfaction deep inside: She was getting to fight, with almost as much ferocity as against the monsters, except now she was in no danger. She could go all out,
had
to
in fact, against such a powerful opponent.

She lay down in the bed and let out a long breath. She tried to go over everything Serdra had shown her over the course of the day. It wasn't exactly easy. They had covered so many things, and she was so very tired. But she had to try if she was ever to prevail against Serdra. The woman had admitted to being beatable.

After a while she gave up and sat on the edge of the bed. She was too tired to think clearly and too agitated to sleep.

Serdra sat perfectly still on a chair and focused on nothing, as if she were deep in thought.

“Are there any more weapons you're going to teach me to use?” Katja asked after tiring on rubbing sore muscles and waiting for a sign of life from her.

“Slashing spears,” the woman answered in a rather distant voice. “They are better against monsters than stabbing spears, but also hard to get around here. I will teach you the basics with one of the spears we have, and more when we get a slashing spear.”

Katja had only seen those on a finely carved chest, which apparently showed some bygone battle. Spears with a big, curved blade. It sounded exciting.

“What are you doing anyway?” she asked hesitantly.

“Going over the future.”

“Do you mean you're thinking or,” she hesitated again, “looking?”

“A little bit of both.”

“Are you going to teach me... that, too?”

Serdra's eyes focused on Katja. Now that neither of them was busy with some task Katja remembered how odd meeting that gaze was. It also occurred to her that the woman was almost always like that.

“Don't you feel you have enough to do as it is?”

“Do? I-” She tried to calm her mind and describe her thoughts clearly, but the eyes didn't make it easy. “Yes, but I want... just want to know how... ugh... just what it is that we do!”

Katja was a bit relieved when Serdra closed her eyes and leaned her head back a bit.

“Yes, of course,” the woman said, even more serenely than usual. “But it is far more difficult to learn to use the sight correctly than to learn sword fighting, and even more dangerous to wield it incorrectly. The future is ever changing, Katja.” Serdra was silent for a few moments. “The actions of people, animals and monsters are constantly reshaping it, and it can take such a small deviation to utterly alter the consequences. The farther ahead one tries to look, the less clear the sight becomes. Mention an example from your past.”

“What?”

“Some incident where an event didn't surprise you.”

Katja hesitated.

“It must have happened,” Serdra said with that calm conviction which made it so hard to argue with her. “Whispers, feelings or dreams, which you may have dismissed at the time but now you know better. Tell me about one.”

“I-” Katja thought. It was uncomfortable to dig back into time in search of incidents which she'd tried to bury, partly out of fears of what they meant and partly due to doubts that she'd interpreted them correctly. “YOU tell me about one.” It came out more sulkily than she'd intended, but Katja suddenly felt defensive.