The Chosen (The Compendium of Raath, Book 1) (14 page)

Warrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
warrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

“Yes,” she agreed. “The Warden is a
problem.”

Her power ran out then.

“I can't handle this alone,” she said to the
air. “I must confide in another sister."

She knew who it would be.

T
i'Shed hadn't come out of his room since the person with the
red-sheathed sword had showed up at the door. It had taken Krothair
only four days to eat all the food in the house. He was looking
through the cupboards when he realized he would have to go buy
something to eat.

“Alright, Krothair. This is weird, but what
else are you supposed to do?” he muttered to himself as he gathered
a few things from around the house: a cloak, his sword, a small
pouch filled with coins. This last item he had found stashed away.
There were enough crumpled crown notes and silver oplates in it to
buy provisions for quite some time.

Krothair had already used some of those
coins a few days ago to stable his horse nearby. He figured that
was probably what Ti'Shed would have done, so he did it himself. It
had been a relatively short excursion because there was a stable
right near the house. No one had asked after Ti'Shed and Krothair
hadn't said 'Isn't it odd that my sword master won't come out of
his room?'

He'd had no visitors in the past four
days.

Krothair had knocked on the door several
times, both times he got a muffled yelled as a response. So Ti'Shed
was alive, but angry, telling Krothair to go away. That was fine
for now.

Krothair was quite used to taking care of
himself, so there was at least that familiar aspect to this
situation. But everything else was awkward and beyond his
understanding. He was technically still apprenticed to Ti'Shed and
the old man was still his master. That relationship would not
change until Ti'Shed said otherwise. And it was hard to say
otherwise when you barricaded yourself in a bedroom.

I should probably just go
into his room, despite his protests
.

That thought had occurred to him a few days
ago as well, but Krothair had been incredibly intimidated and
overawed by Ti'Shed for the brief moments he had known him. If the
sword master wanted to come out, he would come out. It even
lingered in Krothair's mind that this might be another test, but he
was beginning to doubt that.

Something had happened that first night, and
Krothair couldn't understand exactly what. What could that sword
have meant to the old man?

He opened the door and immediately a wave of
city air hit him. He wasn't used to the smells yet, that was for
certain. He blinked his eyes at the morning sun. He tried to smooth
out his hair, but it had always been a bit unruly so it refused to
comply.

He began to wander the wide streets of
Haroma with the intention of finding some food, but found he
couldn't help being distracted by the sights. When he'd been on his
way to Ti'Shed's his nerves hadn't afforded him the chance to look
around, but now his eyes couldn't stop wandering.

The morning was foggy as the sun hadn't
quite had enough time to clear it, but that gave everything a
mystical look. The cathedral that loomed large in the distance was
a stunning monument to religion. Krothair admired the design and
realized that it had been built so that when the sun was at just
the right level the giant window halfway up the front face – which
was shaped like a gigantic sun – would catch the light and splash
it everywhere. The effect was starting to happen already.

Krothair walked a bit
further and came to a spot where he could really see down onto the
city. The buildings were so closely packed that it was hard for him
to believe there was any space in between them. Smoke rose in great
clouds from some of them.
Probably forges
of some sort.
He looked for people
gathered in the streets as he felt that this might indicate some
sort of a market. He saw bright colors and movement not a tenth of
a band from where he stood.

Water splashed him as a
noisy cart drove by, swerving to avoid him. Someone's hand gestured
at him out the window. “Get outta the way, ya dumbass,” shouted the
helpful driver. Krothair realized he
was
standing in the middle of the
street gawking at everything.

He shook his head and took a deep breath,
making his way back to the edge of the road. He wasn't used to the
bustle here, and this wasn't even a busy part of the city from what
he could tell.

He took off in the direction of the crowd
and when he arrived he found he had been right. Tiny stands lined
the street here, packed together so tightly that it was hard to
tell where one ended and another began. But they had everything:
fruits of all different kinds, dead animals hanging here and there
waiting to be cooked up, and fish of course. It was the fish that
impressed Krothair the most. Ocean fish were huge. One of the
gigantic ocean fish even had a nose that protruded out a few feet,
looking sharp and hard as a sword.

Probably be a better weapon
than the one I got right now,
Krothair
thought, glancing down at his sad brand.

He thought about buying the sword-fish. He
had enough coins, but he didn't know how he would get it back to
Ti'Shed's or what he would do with it once he got it there, so he
abandoned that idea and settled for some smaller things that he
could fit inside his cloak pockets.

He was thoroughly lost in the crowd and the
experience of it all as he gathered his feast. He doled out coins
without even thinking that he was spending Ti'Shed's money and soon
he'd overdone it, his cloak lumpy and overflowing. He stuffed his
shirt and pants pockets as well. It wasn't a terribly long way to
Ti'Shed's house, but it would now be a rather uncomfortable walk
back.

H
e
was almost back to Ti'Shed's when he heard it.

“Help!”

The woman's shout came faintly from an
alley. Krothair swiveled his head, his heart suddenly thumping. A
chunk of the most delicious apple ever was still in his mouth. He
swallowed it and strained his ears, listening to make sure he
wasn't crazy.

“Someone! Help!”

Something was definitely wrong down that
alley. Krothair quickened his pace, cautiously on guard as his
boots crunched on the hard-packed dirt.

He saw someone lying on the ground at the
back of the alley. Her clothing was dirty and stained. The woman
lifted her head up to look at him, her eyes half-shut and her long,
red hair spilling in every direction.

Krothair walked ever closer, slowly, slowly.
“What's happened to you?” he asked, looking around.

The woman coughed and struggled up onto her
knees. “I was robbed and dragged down here. Not sure I can stand
up. Could really use your help.” She lifted her hand, long fingers
extending towards Krothair. “Can you use that sword if they come
back?”

Krothair nodded as he glanced behind him. He
didn't see any signs of anyone around so he grabbed her hand.

Something happened. The air shifted and her
grip twisted in his. Suddenly her hand was around his wrist pulling
him down. He tried to catch his balance, but his cloak flung out,
heavy with food, and dragged him over. He landed on his sword-side
and felt the ground punch a hard apple into his ribs. The woman was
moving over him then, spry and powerful. Before Krothair could
react she zipped her hand down and grabbed his coin pouch, tearing
it loose from his belt with a jerk that made Krothair's hip
bob.

He rolled onto his back and sprung to his
feet. He drew his sword and pelted after her down the alley. He
reached his hand up and untied his cloak, letting it and its tasty
cargo drop to the dirt. He could return to it later once he caught
this thief.

She was able to keep just ahead of him, her
bare feet getting traction where his boots had trouble. Her red
hair streamed out behind her, dust flying from it as her feet
pummeled the ground. She vaulted over a low railing and Krothair
followed her. His toe caught on it as he vaulted and he went down,
but turned it into a roll.

When he came up from the roll he found that
the woman had stopped running and was standing facing him. Then his
world sparkled as a blow connected with the side of his head.

Krothair sank to his knees, this new
alleyway suddenly spinning. Apparently city thieving was different
from country thieving. He understood the ploy immediately and
realized he had been duped.

“You are persistent,” said the first woman.
“But dumb.” She kicked him in the chest, sending him onto his back,
his worthless sword falling from his hand and landing with a dull
thud on the dirt. “Did these deceive you?” she asked, grabbing her
breasts and pushing them up. “Oh no! A damsel in distress!”

Another female voice laughed behind
Krothair. “Yeah, yeah,” the second woman said, walking slowly
around to the front of Krothair. “Don't waste time rubbing it in,
Katya. Should we cut just one of his balls off and leave the other?
He's kinda cute.”

The first woman, Katya, spat in the dirt.
“Yeah he is. I was just gonna steal his coins, but he had to be all
tough and manful about it. That's rough for him, I guess.” A knife
appeared in her hand and the second woman jumped on top of
Krothair.

He thrashed as best he could, but he was
still dizzy, unable to decide what to do. The second woman's body
snaked around him, pinning him.

“Cute is only skin deep anyway,” Katya said
as she moved towards Krothair. “Gotta see what's underneath to know
for sure.”

“He's got somethin' crunchy in his pocket
here,” said the second woman, feeling around on Krothair's chest.
“Might be more crown notes.”

“Don't get greedy,” Katya said. But her
accomplice had already loosened her grip slightly to dig in
Krothair's pocket. He knew what was in there: his Kingsguard paper.
The thought that this woman would steal it - or worse yet take it
out, find it meaningless, and throw it away - cleared his mind for
a brief moment.

He took a deep swift breath and did the
hardest, most determined sit-up of his life. His forehead crunched
into the side of the second woman's face and he felt her jawbone
shatter. She stumbled off of him but then Katya was on him,
thrusting her hand, of all places, into his mouth. She used his jaw
like a handle and whipped his head back down to the ground.

“Hold still. God, you're strong,” she said,
actually seeming impressed. Then she straddled him and the knife
was back in her hand. “You gonna be alright, Zin?” she yelled to
the woman behind her.

There was a very muffled
reply from that direction, making Krothair feel good that he had
accomplished something.
Probably won't be
talking anytime soon.
And then Katya was
digging around below Krothair's waist and he really did not like
where things were going.

Something swished through the air and Katya
flew off Krothair as another shape jumped over him. Krothair
righted himself and tried to focus on what was happening. Metal met
metal. Katya's small knife was parrying blows from a much longer
blade. She was totally silent as they rained down on her,
concentrating hard to block and parry every single one.

Krothair watched in awe as Ti'Shed whirled
and swiveled, using sophisticated forms and complex motions.

And suddenly Katya was gone, disappearing in
a whirl of dust around a corner.

Strong hands gripped Krothair and hauled him
up from the ground.

“Damn fool of a country boy,” Ti'Shed hissed
in his ear.

The sword master slung Krothair over his
shoulder and hauled him back home.

“M
y sword's back there,” Krothair said quietly.

“Your gonads could be back there, too,”
Ti'Shed said. The sword master looked terribly haggard. He was
dirty and seemed tired, his face streaked where he had been crying.
“That sword was garbage anyway.” He had a different look in his
eyes now, separate from the crying.

Krothair sat weakly in a chair, still
struggling to regain his thoughts.

“We should begin our training today,” said
Ti'Shed with a cock of his head. “And we need to work on more than
I thought. You are too new to the city.”

“I just thought she needed help.”

“And she wanted you to think that.”

Krothair exhaled. “I failed.”

“Failure only comes from a fair fight. You
need training. We start today.”

Krothair thought for a moment. “When I first
arrived here you told me honesty is the best policy.”

“It is,” Ti'Shed said.

“You sulk in your room for four days and
then I almost get gelded and now it's back to business as usual? I
want an honest explanation.”

A dangerous look swam
behind Ti'Shed's eyes. They hardened into slits. His powerful hands
twisted into Krothair's shirt and his face drew very, very near. “I
understand what you have just gone through,” he said. “But do not
presume you are entitled to know anything of my affairs. My
sulking
.” He bit the
words off with a tone that warned Krothair not to go down that path
ever again. The sword master backed off then and covered his face
with his hands, his mood changing swiftly. “I fear something inside
of me has broken,” he said through his palms. “If you wish to
continue with me, it will not be easy. It might be better if you
were taught by someone else.”

“No,” Krothair said, and found that he meant
it. “Not after I saw you in that alley. You were blurry to me, but
I saw the skill of your strikes.”