“Pass,” I said. She grinned and leaned against the
wall. I looked at Edward, hoping he was joking. “Seriously. I’m not good with
sharp objects.”
“Or explosives,” Divina added cheerfully. “At least
try.”
“I’ll go very easy on you,” Edward said.
I set the very heavy, long, and sharp object down as
carefully as I could and shook my head. “No, thank you.”
“Pick it up. I won’t hurt you,” he sighed.
“I’m not worried about you hurting me, or your sword.
I have a scar from a plastic butter knife! I will do whatever magic you tell me
to, but this is begging for trouble, and trouble is easily persuaded. This room
can have me dead so fast… And then there’d be no Guardian for my book.”
Divina picked up my sword and approached Edward.
“I’ll play you while the kid builds his confidence.” Divina raised the sword
but Edward lowered his. The color of her shirt slowly lightened.
He frowned. “I can’t fight you; you’re a woman.”
Divina just grinned. “Prove it.” She attacked so fast
that Edward barely had time to block.
He shoved her off and struck so fast his sword
practically disappeared, but she was no longer there; she was behind him. Her
sword swiped at his legs but he rolled forward and without any pause, tried to
sweep her legs out from under her. She jumped back and brought her sword down,
aimed at his chest. His sword deflected hers into the wood about half an inch
from his skin. He pushed his legs up to kick her, which she avoided, and he
used the force to kind of throw himself onto his feet.
They circled each other, maintaining eye contact the entire
time. I was extremely distracted by the fact that Divina’s shirt had changed
from pure black to deep cherry.
“You may one day end up fighting for your life
without the use of magic,” Edward said. While he was looking at Divina, I knew
he was speaking to me. “Hopefully, your enemy would not have a gun.”
Hopefully.
“Swordplay is a battle of seeing without looking,”
Divina said. “It doesn’t matter how big your sword is, as long as it isn’t much
smaller than your opponent’s. A bigger sword would just wear you out faster.”
“Your greatest weapon is the one you are most
familiar with.” Edward switched his sword to his other hand. “Ronez could win a
bar fight against ten men with a bent fork and a boot, but he never left his
house without a knife of some form. Whether it’s a whip, a dagger, a battle
axe, or a bow, everyone trained to fight will have a preference. Whatever yours
is, you will eventually go up against someone who has something more dangerous,
but you have to know your strengths, because even a gun is worthless if you
cannot use it. Magic is not a weapon.”
“Anything is a weapon,” Divina disagreed, “including
distractions.” A small twitch of her hand was the only warning before every
candle burst alive with bright flames. They both attacked simultaneously.
Divina tried to stay on his left but he was fast
enough to keep her in front. Though she kept moving back and forth from right
to left predictably, he didn’t fall for it. Divina wouldn’t have made it so
easy, and Edward knew that. His sword would strike across and she would back up
before rushing forward; his sword was too long and he’d have to step back,
where she’d be ready to strike him with her fist. Her sword somehow became
stuck in the wooden floor and I hoped to god there was another level below.
She was faster, but he was fast enough. He realized
when I did that she’d backed him into a corner. He dropped his sword and raised
his arms to block his face and the second her hands slowed from a blur, he
threw himself forward and went down on top on her. She raised her hands to
block her face and throat, so he went for her gut. She wormed herself onto her
side and put her legs up to keep off her back. With a forceful grunt and then
growl, she was able to roll over, bring Edward down, and stop on top of him.
Instead of blocking his face, he grabbed her arms to hold them away from him.
Edward was stronger, Divina was faster, and Edward did not like to hit women.
Edward shoved his legs up and she went rolling off,
but he didn’t let her hands go. He sat up, twisting her arms around, and pulled
her into his arms, still holding her wrists. He wrapped his arms around her and
she squirmed, but couldn’t break his grip. He said something in Sudo and by his
tone, I knew was mocking her, probably asking her if she gives up.
She leaned back and threw her leg up. In order to
avoid it, he leaned to the other side, where her elbow went into his face with
audible contact. He let go of her and they both broke off and ran to different
racks of equipment. Divina grabbed an axe and threw it at him, but he grabbed a
shield in time to block it. The axe dug a good couple of inches deep.
Edward dropped the shield and they dived for their
swords. An instant later, they were both at each other’s throats… literally.
The guard of Edward’s sword prevented Divina’s blade from reaching his throat
and her guard blocked his blade; both swords were inches from their necks.
After a few seconds, Edward’s strength won and Divina
was shoved back. She ducked under his sword and kicked him in what I hoped for
his sake was his gut. His feet left the ground as he was shoved back several
feet, where he landed on his back. Divina jumped and repeated her
sword-to-the-chest attack, but when he moved his sword to block it, he cleared
the way for her to bring her elbow down on his solar plexus. His fierce growl
turned into a pained grunt and he pushed her off. She stood up and held out her
hand to help him up, but he was already climbing to his feet. They both
breathed heavily and Divina beamed at me.
“I warmed him up for you. Your turn,” she said. Her
crimson shirt began to return to black.
“I don’t think so,” I said, trying to get my eyes
back in my skull.
She crowded me with her insanely beautiful and
persuasive smile. “Would you fight for me?” She tried to hand me the sword. I
pushed it and her hand away.
“Not Edward, I won’t.”
She grabbed my hand and wrapped it around hers on the
sword, then leaned into me very close. Her cheek brushed mine and my mind went
foggy. Her chest was pressed very softly against mine and her body heat called
to me to pull her closer. “Please,” she whispered in my ear, her voice low
pitched. Her lips very lightly brushed my cheek and it was very hard to
concentrate on her words; her voice was mesmerizing.
“Okay.” With her soft body against mine, there was
nothing I could refuse her. Suddenly the sword was in my shaking hand, her heat
was gone, and I was being shoved toward Edward, who had caught his breath. I
looked from the sword in my hand to Edward. “Wait, what?!” I cried.
Edward laughed lightly and raised his sword. I turned
my head, squeezed my eyes shut, and raised my sword slowly to block myself. I
could feel him approach slowly, ominously. His sword tapped me gently on my
completely unprotected legs and that brought on the shaking. There was a sound
of clattering metal.
“Relax, kid,” Edward said.
“I am relaxed,” I lied, shaking harder. Despite my
aversion to be called a kid, I would take any way out I could get. “Please
don’t stab me.”
“Look at what you’re doing.”
I slowly opened my eyes and looked around. The
clattering metal was from the weapons on the walls, all shaking with me. It was
very creepy. I shook harder.
“Release your energy or control it.”
Since all my control was focused on bodily functions,
I released most of my energy as quickly as I could. The weapons stopped
shivering. “Great lesson. Can I go now?”
“How do you expect to duel with magic if you can’t
duel with the sword? How do you expect to handle magic fearlessly if you can’t
use a weapon?”
“I can’t slip and cut my throat open with magic. I’ll
just use a gun; it’ll hurt less.” My sound logic was met with his unsympathetic
patience. The sword was very heavy, but I lifted it.
Edward rolled his eyes and lowered his sword. “What
did you learn from watching Divina and me fight?”
“Duranians are super fast and don’t piss off Divina.”
He gave me an exasperated sigh. “I think a shield would be more helpful when
the other person has a throwing weapon. And you reacted slower when she was on
your left.”
He turned to glare at Divina before looking back at
me. “And what does that mean you should do when fighting? Other people than us,
I mean.”
I considered it for a moment. “That you should always
let someone else fight first; you can see that person’s weaknesses and moves.”
He sighed. “Close. You should
usually
let
someone else fight first. Fighting is never honorable, and it can almost always
be avoided, but there are a few customary rules. Never let a child or woman
fight your battles unless it is for the sake of your book; then you do whatever
you have to, to ensure its safety. If you were not a Guardian, I would tell you
to defend women and children’s lives, honor, and rights, and to seek revenge on
a murdered loved one, but you have to protect your book and your own life so
you can protect your book. And whatever you do, do
not
agree to a fight
because a woman asks you real nicely.”
I could hear Divina laughing behind me, but I was too
ashamed to look at her. “Can I---”
“No, you cannot back out of the fight unless it is for
the sake of your book.” He smirked and patted his bag. “And I have your book
safe at my side.” He raised his sword again, then tossed it aside and indicated
with his head for me to do the same. I did… and he raised his fists.
“God…” He gave me his ‘not amused’ stare again.
“Sorry, God’s little helper.” I slowly advanced with my fists raised. At least
I knew how to fist fight; I never would have survived boarding school without
learning to, but I’d never fought an alien before. I won a lot by getting so clumsy
I’d end up taking me and my opponent down. Maybe I’d get lucky and trip him up
with me. Alas, I am not a lucky person.
I stopped a few feet from him. After a second, he
dropped his fists. I leaned in and took a shot at his face as quickly as I could,
but he stepped aside. I took another swipe at him and again; he dodged it.
“I hope this isn’t how you fight for a girl,” he
said. “Did you never have to defend a girlfriend?”
Nope.
I ignored his taunting and kept punching
in his direction. I knew he was ultimately trying to help me, but I wished I
could convince Divina to leave.
“I know you can’t beat me, but at least try. You had
to have been in fights before. Did you ever fight your stepbrother?”
The memory of Jacob shoving me into the freezing bathtub,
trying to drown me, popped into my head. I was lucky enough to stab him in the
throat with a toothbrush to get him off me. As the vivid memory faded, I
realized that I had barreled into Edward and was going down on top, the same
way I had with my stepbrother. Except I didn’t have a toothbrush.
I froze with embarrassment. His eyes were wide with
surprise that I tried to ignore as I rolled off and stood. “Sorry.”
He got to his feet slowly. “Do not apologize for
defeating me. I just didn’t think…” His voice was thick with disbelief, which
was annoying. While I was just as shocked as him, it would have been nice if he
gave me the benefit of the doubt.
“I didn’t really defeat you; you would have just
moved out of the way. I didn’t know I was going to do that anymore than you
did.”
“That is exactly the point. The fact is that you did
win, and you did so because you gave absolutely no sign you were about to
attack. You did… well enough,” he said doubtfully.
I grinned. “Cool. So all I have to do is play weak and
then surprise the hell out of them.” He gave a disapproving stare. “Or I could
learn to fight. We don’t have to move to the weapons for a while, do we?”
“Not until the first time you beat me,” he agreed.
Divina laughed and I groaned. They both glanced up as they heard something I
couldn’t. Edward started for the door. “There is no more time now; the ship is
boarding. Go, hurry up to the room and pack your stuff. We’ll catch up.” I
darted out the door. “Don’t get lost!” he yelled after me. I didn’t care what
they wanted to talk about alone; I was just glad to get out of the arena.
When I got to the room, I quickly put my old clothes
in Edward’s big bag. Inside of it were more empty bags, one of which wasn’t
completely empty. My shoes were… destroyed. I considered throwing them out the
window, but that would have been cruel to the monsters in the ocean, so I hid
them under the bed instead.
Edward slammed the door open with anger and Divina
brushed passed him. Her shirt was now an orangeish-red; it changed with her
mood! “I’m not any happier about it than you are, but I’m not going to wait at
some crappy little shack in the middle of the crappy little beach waiting for
the crappy little ship. I want to have some fun! East Mijii is so boring,”
Divina complained.
“You can do whatever you want. Dylan and I will wait
for sunrise at the beach. You’re only asking for trouble going into town.”
“You just say that because you don’t like people.”
“I don’t like Shogo. The people, food, and land are
all creepy. They sacrifice people at Shogo. They sacrifice northern Mijii
people!”
“Only in theory. And anyway, we are not northern
Mijii people, so we should be fine. We don’t have time to go anywhere else and
I really like the culture here. It’s quiet and old-fashioned. Besides, Dylan
should experience everything he can. Shogo is a very spiritual and beautiful
culture,” Divina argued.
“Um… I know you two are speaking English for my sake,
but I really have no clue what you’re talking about, so… Can I have a hint?” I
interrupted.
“The ship to Anoshii was postponed until sunset
tomorrow. We can get through the forest and then stay in one of the many
available cabins. Divina wants to take the extra time to explore Shogo, which
is the land we’re in,” Edward explained.