Moirai
Chapter 6

Over the next few days, Loni andI grew more comfortable around Mayran, and it seemed as though the feeling wasmutual. Conversation was less awkward and, despite my initial wariness aroundhim, I soon realised that for some reason he only had my best interests atheart.

However, what he thought my best interests are andwhat I thought they were contrastedjust a bit. Mayran started training lessons every morning before we moved onafter revealing that Kasanda had given him two swords to use.

“We’ll kill each other!” I criedwhen he first pulled them out of a bag three days after we had left Nerome.

He tutted. “Of course we won’t!They weigh and move like swords, but when they touch us they’ll feel likelittle more than rope.”

I stared at him, confused.“Mayran, those are swords! Sharp, hard swords! Did I mention sharp?”

He chuckled this time. “Want abet?”

Without any warning, he drew oneof the swords from its sheath and swung it towards my arm. I didn’t have timeto do anything more than flinch…only to feel nothing. It was, as he had said,like being hit with a piece of stiff rope.

“What are they made out of?” Iasked in wonder, gazing at the sword Mayran handed me.

“Normal metal.” He answered. “ButKasanda placed barriers around them so they don’t hurt the users; you and I.They will, however, hurt anyone or anything else.” To prove his point, hepromptly left a large gash in the side of a tree trunk.

My awe quickly turned todisapproval. “There’s magic guarding these?”

He sighed as though expecting acomment like that. “Yes, there is, Alnya. Aren’t you glad there is? Would yourather we cut each other to pieces?”

“No.” I mumbled, annoyed that,yet again, magic was doing something good. Why couldn’t things just remainsimple? Magic was scary and wrong. That was all I had believed.

“Right then.” He said in agetting-down-to-business voice, before taking a stance. “Copy me as best youcan. I know you’ve got practically no experience fighting with swords, so I’llgo really easy on you at first. Your style won’t be the same as mine, which isa good thing. Just try and do what comes natural.”

What comes natural? I almostlaughed. I’d never touched a blade in my life, except for knives in the kitchen.I was going to make an utter fool of myself. At least only Loni was theaudience.

He instructed me on how to take astance and be light on my feet. That part I found fairly easy. It was when hedemonstrated a few attacks that things got tricky. My own swings of the swordfelt awkward and stiff. He would block my every move, whereas I could hardlyever block his. After about half an hour, I got so frustrated that I threw thesort down in the dirt.

“This is stupid!” I cried. “Whywould Indina engage me in a sword fight, anyway? She could probably just useher aura to kill me in a second!”

I expected Mayran to frown andtell me I was being childish, but he didn’t. He, too, put his sword down andspoke to me gently. “Indina wouldn’t be satisfied with killing you quickly andthat is why you have a chance. She’ll want to test you, to play around withyou. That’s why you’ve got to be good enough to last against her. It willsurprise her and give you the advantage of that surprise. Besides, you mightneed sword skills before you meet her. This journey won’t be danger-free. Andsoon, we will work on your magic, as well.”

I looked down and away from hisface – so earnest that I could almost agree with him – and said, “That doesn’tgive me a load of confidence. And I’m not going to use my...my aura again, Ialready told you that.”

“I know you did.” He agreed. “ButI can also see that you can see that usingyour aura can have many benefits. That’s why I keep pointing out the wonderfulthings we auraics can do. Yes, of course, you may have to use your aura againstsomeone one day. Maybe even one day soon. But both Kasanda and I know that youwould never abuse your powers. You would always use them for what’s right.”

I bit my lip. It sounded sological, so right…but Kasanda’s unintentional warning about auraics dying dueto overexerting their auras rang in my ears once again, and the unbidden imageof a dead magic-user’s body floating out at sea swam in my mind’s eye. Iblinked fast, trying to get rid of it.

“Don’t push me into something Idon’t want to do.” I told him, hugging my shoulders. It was strange; I neverusually felt so insecure. But now things were changing. My whole life waschanging. I didn’t know what would happen tomorrow and that thought scared me, whileat the same time also filling me with a nervous excitement. I didn’t know whichone to listen to.

“I won’t.” he said softly, buthis tone was strange; it sounded like he was very certain that he wouldn’t…butthere was something else there, something he knew or suspected.

We didn’t practice any more thatmorning, heading off. Mayran told me we were roughly five day’s ride fromOkanto, where he said we could restock our supplies and possibly replace out if Indinahad made any moves from her castle since replaceing out that I was no longer inthe outer-world.

While riding and when we wouldstop at night, Mayran expressed a lot of curiosity about our lives in theouter-world, wanting to know about simple things such as the technology anddaily routine. In return, I asked both him and Loni endless questions aboutRenenta’s past and present. Loni mentioned never seeing Mayran around Neromebefore, either as a child or during brief visits back since becoming the Inventrix. The reason for that wasbecause he stayed in Kasanda’s cottage a lot, reading books on history andmagic, and if he ever went out it was to shop in the northern part of the citywhere Loni had never been before. It sounded like he just avoided people andmany times I wanted to ask why, but held back, afraid that he wouldn’t like meprying in.

Slowly, day by day, I managed toget a bit better with the sword. ‘A bit’ being the key phrase. Mayran’sconstantly kept telling me to relax every time the sword was in my hand and Itried to obey. It was difficult because even though I knew I couldn’t hurt him,there was still an automatic hesitation. He was extremely patient, but I couldsee a mild frustration in his eyes each day, even when we weren’t training, asthough he was expecting something from me that just wasn’t happening. I longedto ask him what it was. Loni suggested that it was because he thought he wasn’tteaching me right, but I didn’t agree.

“He knows he’s teaching me well.I can do things once after he shows me; I just can’t do them again.” I told herone afternoon, while Mayran had opted to collect kindling. We had resorted tocamping the last few nights, as Mayran warned us about the dangers of stayingwith strangers; anyone could be a spy for Indina. Collecting wood was difficultnow, as the forest-like areas we had been riding through had made way for steadilydrying grassland with very few trees. Mayran told me that Okanto was in themiddle of a small desert, so I knew that in a day or two the vegetation wouldgrow even less. “What do you honestly think of him?”

She frowned, considering thequestion. “I don’t really know. He seems to care, which is the main thing, andhe clearly enjoys teaching. He’s got a good sense of humour…but sometimes hegets this look in his eyes. Like…”

I finished her sentence. “Likehe’s reliving some painful memories. I know. I’ve seen it, too.”

“Maybe you should ask him.”

“Me? Why me?”

“Because he seems to be morecomfortable talking to you.” She said.

That didn’t make sense to me. “You’rethe one that’s from Renenta, not me.”

She completely ignored thestatement. “Trust me. He far prefers taking to you. The Hero of the Prophecy.” The way she said it was strange, slightlysarcastic and slightly trying to make a point…only, I didn’t get the point.

“What on Earth are you going onabout?”

She rolled her eyes. “Alnya! Ihave seen the way you glance at him out of the corner of your eyes when weride, and how you hang on his every word even when he brings up your aura!”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

She chuckled. “Sure, Alnya.”

I felt my face grow warm anddropped the subject, pushing it to the darkest depths of my mind.

On the morning of the eighth daysince leaving Nerome, we topped a hill to replace the last of the grass replacedby golden sand, rippling outwards towards the azure horizon. The dune-filledborder between sand and sky created a beautiful contrast and for severalminutes we all stared, transfixed. In the distance the hazy outline of a cityseemed to rise straight up out of the sand, its buildings coloured dusky redand tan. Okanto. I had the odd feeling that there was something off about the city.No, I decided, it just had different styled buildings to Nerome.

I looked behind me to contrastthe two sceneries…and felt my heart jump up to my mouth.

“Mayran!” I hissed, yanking onhis sleeve.

“What is it?”

He turned and saw what hadfrightened me. “We have to ride. Now!”

We urged our horses onwards at abreakneck speed, cantering down the other side of the hill before launchinginto as much of a gallop as they could manage on the slippery sand, towards thedistant smudge on the horizon that was Okanto.

“What are they?” Loni yelled overthe wind.

“Erkings, from the looks ofthem.” Mayran answered back. I glanced behind again and yelped as I realisedhow close they had gotten in seconds.

The name seemed to fit somehow. Agroup of small creatures the size of human children were chasing after us at anincredible speed, now only a few hundred metres away. There seemed to be aboutten of them. From what I could see, they were dark purple with thorns likethose found on rose bushes sticking out of every part of their body. Theirheads, in fact, were just two giant thorns back-to-back. I couldn’t see theireyes or mouths, but I suspected they must have both to see us and screech theway they were.

Fear clouded my thoughts as Iwatched the Erkings grow closer and closer.

“We won’t be able to outrunthem!” I cried to Mayran, who seemed to have the same thought because hereplied, “I know. We’ll have to stop and fight! They’re small so I should beable to overpower them, but be careful! Those spines are incredibly sharp!Alnya, stay out of the way and guard Loni! You’re not ready for a battle yet.”

All these instructions came sofast that it took me a few seconds to process them. I understood his warningfor me and was more than slightly relieved that he didn’t use thisconfrontation as a test. However, he did hand me the sword I had been using asa precaution once we stopped the horses and dismounted.

His calm and controlled motionsgave the illusion of a lack of fear, but I could tell that he was just asworried as us, hiding his concern behind a steely determined mask. I told Lonito get behind me.

The Erkings were upon us inseconds. Mayran leapt forth and slashing down two at once before they couldreact; they dissolved in a puff of green smoke. I watched, awestruck at the wayhe handled the sword. I realised he had been severely toning down his skillwhile practicing with me; he was incredible.

From what I could tell, the thornsacted as shields and were hard as metal, often deflecting many of Mayran’sattacks. I watched nervously, hoping he didn’t get on the wrong end of one ofthe spikes.

An Erking crept past him towardsLoni and I. I lifted my sword, trying to remember all of Mayran’s instructions.The Erking launched itself at us. Loni stifled a scream as I slashed downwards.My blade clanged harmlessly off its large nose horn, which then was thrust intomy leg.

I cried out as pain flaredthroughout my whole body and dropped to the ground as that leg gave way. TheErking shrieked in triumph and was about to slam its nose into my head before itvanished into green mist and Mayran stood in its place.

“You alright?” he asked quicklyas another one came at him from the side. I dimly realised that there were onlyfive left.

“Sort of.” I answered, indicatingthe leg. He nodded tersely.

I looked at him and saw that hewas growing tired from the excessive dodging. He had a large cut on his ownarm; his sword arm, which was also slowing him down. I then looked towards theremaining Erkings.

We’re outnumbered, I thought hopelessly.The Erkings’ size aided them well, as they ducked and weaved around Mayran,staying just out of reach before darting in for an attack. Mayran couldn’t killthem all. Even as I watched I saw one of them knock is sword out of his hand.Twenty different feelings rushed through me; fear, anxiety, guilt…Everythingslowed down and dulled, even the pain in my leg. Go away, I thought silently tothe Erkings. Just go away!

There was a strange, warmwrenching feeling just below my ribs and, suddenly, they did. Vanished. Out ofthin air. Gone, leaving only green mist behind.

I had used my aura again, and Ididn’t even have the strength to be annoyed. Exhaustion and pain fell over melike a blanket, dragging me towards unconsciousness faster than I thoughtpossible. I barely felt it when I fell sideways and my head hit the sand.Loni’s face appeared above me, her expression concerned. Mayran’s joined it,but his was more fuzzy.

I tried to remain conscious, but therelief of oblivion was too tempting to resist. I closed my eyes…