Beware, Beware, The Everlasting Tyrant

With eyes red of blood and skin dark of night

Whose history is filled with treachery abhorrent

The one who broke the world with overwhelming might

Dronn is His name, Remember it well

For He is here to stay

None can say the same, He outlived them all

And saw them all as prey

- Beware the Everlasting Tyrant, First Stanzas, author unknown

“Begin!” Derik shouted and I launched into motion, the duel finally began.

Jevi kept the point of her wooden sword pointed directly at me, tracking my slightly indirect approach. She did not strike or prepare any obvious counters, content to remain on the defensive. It made sense with her sword being longer than mine, as well as being a straight sword good for stabbing. My own sword was curved for slashing and slashing alone, but I wasn’t about to let that hold me back.

I hadn’t been able to pay much attention to Jevi when she was fighting with a sword thanks to being preoccupied at the time. That meant this was the first time I was really able to measure her apparent skill against my own benchmarks. There were a thousand different things to observe, but already I had a good handle on her speed.

She was kind of slow.

I lunged close as she expected me to, and I saw her moving her wooden blade to kiss my neck. In response, I feinted to the right, then spun back to the left when I saw she had fallen for it. My blade sang past where Jevi’s neck should’ve been when I completed my twirl and my expression twitched towards a frown.

Perhaps I’d been too hasty with my judgement.

Experience practicing this exact kind of thing with Brynn taught me to never stop moving, and I stepped to Jevi’s old position. I then followed the movements she had made since then, keeping her in sight so as to not lose track of her again. She was trying to gain distance to use her longer sword but I wasn’t letting her.

Jevi struck at me again and again, but I flowed around her strikes like water. She was allowed a half step of space at times, though only when she managed to get me in front of her. Even then, I would either feint an attack that forced her to evade and lose that advantage, or swing towards her neck, leg, or arm with speed enough to make her fumble as she dodged.

I was impressed, for all the times she nearly lost her footing, Jevi still managed to avoid me and strike back for what felt like five minutes of constant back and forth. The fight was less of an upfront clashing of blades like I’d done with Weldon, or me desperately deflecting an overwhelming and relentless onslaught from Brynn, but more of a dance of both Jevi and myself scrambling to find a dominant position. Mine being anywhere close without having her wooden sword in the way. Her’s simply one that kept me at a good distance.

Our weapons did not touch once.

Then they did and suddenly I was deflecting, countering, and striking in an all out rain of steel and wood. There was no satisfying clang as our weapons touched, but the thunk of wood on the softened steel of my sword still filled my ears.

Eventually I managed to get behind her with a twirl not unlike my opening lunge. Only this time I stayed my blade until I was sure I could strike, then gave her a sharp lick from her shoulder to her waist on the opposite side. Through the use of rezan, I managed to cut skin without damaging her dress.

“Victory to Amber!” Derik declared, hand raised in the air.

“Ah, bitch!” Jevi shouted as her footing failed and she fell forwards onto the sandy courtyard, kicking up a small cloud. “My fucking back!”

“Don’t worry,” I said cockily, resting the blunt side of my sword on my shoulder, “I spared your clothes.”

Jevi grumbled, and it was then that I noticed the applause from the six guardsmen that had gathered to watch our bout. There was an energy in the air that hadn’t been there the time I stabbed the angel back in Veliki. The five men and one woman that had gathered were whistling and cheering, and I couldn’t help it. I preened.

Derik gave me a grin. “Where in the world did you learn footwork like that at so young an age?” He asked, clapping a few times himself.

“A creepy cabin.” I responded impishly, flourishing my sword into a resting position. “Ready for another one of those?” I asked Jevi.

She frowned at me darkly as she staggered to her feet. “I’ll need a moment. Gods, you are a devil when you’re not fighting to kill.”

I hummed and noticed a questioning look from Derik. “I’m having trouble with my first killing.”

“Ah.” Derik gave a nod of understanding. “Grim business, that. I don’t blame you for putting that off for the time being, but those who can’t kill don’t survive long in this world.” He gave me a firm pat on the shoulder. “Aim to do it during your year of service. None more can be asked of you.”

I gave an uncertain smile. “I do have unique circumstances.”

Derik grunted. “I’ll bet it’s something to do with magic. Bet it’s also why you can move your sword like that, drawing blood without cutting the clothes…” He shook his head in disbelief, released me, and looked to the audience, which had gained another woman while I wasn’t looking, though this one was actually in proper uniform.

The rest, who had mostly been exchanging small amounts of coin, suddenly started doing so more discreetly.

Jevi took some more time to recover, then let Derik know she was ready. This time she was holding the wooden sword in one hand and her lips were moving ever so slightly. I narrowed my eyes. Maybe I should’ve asked for magic to be banned after all.

Actually, knowing Jevi she’d have claimed I would therefore not be allowed to use rezan, which would’ve killed any chances of me winning then and there. Whatever she cast, I’d have to deal with it. I just hoped she wasn’t about to unleash her zinger.

“Begin!” Derik shouted.

This time I began the duel in a completely relaxed position, confident in my ability to move my sword to where it needed to be when I needed it to move. Jevi stood at the ready as I approached, walking almost casually towards her, and then she grinned.

Her sword sung at me, and I leaned back to avoid getting hit across my unfortunately large chest. Jevi continued her assault, and after another evasion that nearly failed to be I was forced to deflect.

I regretted doing that the instant our weapons made contact.

The familiar sensation of lightning coursed through my sword and into my body, making my arm lock up. It was only a moment, but it was a moment Jevi used to deftly whack me on the arm. That sent a much stronger jolt of lightning coursing through me, and it was all I could do to stay standing.

“Victory to Jevi!”

I glared hard at the now smugly smiling girl. “You-”

“Now now,” she cut me off, “you’re the one using magic to swing your sword. It’s only fair that I am allowed to do the same.”

I grit my teeth. “Lightning is cheap.” Being reminded of what Mary used to try make me more obedient with wasn’t pleasant either. Actually, that was a colossal understatement. I was irrationally furious in the moment.

There was less cheering this time. Likely because there was less of a show. Money changed hands in much the opposite direction from before.

Derik was scratching his ever so slightly grey head. “I’ll not pretend to understand what happened there.”

“She shocked me.” I growled, stalking closer and grabbing her still magical sword. Instantly I was overcome with lightning, and the magic wasn’t stopping. This couldn’t be a standard spell. It felt like her zinger, but incredibly modified. The power behind it was nothing compared to her most damaging spell. “And she’ll be careful unless she wants to wake up with cuts in unfortunate places.” I told Derik through gritted teeth, though I looked Jevi in the eye.

“Oh. Haha.” Jevi laughed, her joviality now strained. “No zinger then.”

“No zinger.” I agreed, taking one last feel of Jevi’s magic before she ended it of her own accord. It made me frown. The flow of magic wasn’t as strong as I had expected it to be. When she had struck me, it had been stronger.

“Starting positions then, if you will.” Derik said, prompting me to release Jevi’s wooden sword. She let out a breath and I noticed her cheeks were red from exertion. Wordlessly, I stepped back and maintained eye contact. Her lips were moving.

Damn, she was casting it again.

“Begin!”

I launched myself forward, lunging to end up on her left side while flooding my sword with as much magic I could muster. This time I didn’t feint, and when Jevi tried to take advantage of my charge I simply slapped her sword away. I braced for the shock of lightning, but it just didn’t come. Her magic lost its potency travelling through the cloud of magic in my weapon. That brought a savage grin to my face.

Just as it brought confusion and then horror to Jevi’s own expression.

Instead of contesting her footwork, this time I went for a relentless assault in a flattering recreation of what Brynn had subjected me to. Or a not so flattering one. Brynn’s strikes had weight behind them that I still wasn’t able to match, and I certainly wasn’t attacking as quickly as he had either.

Even so, it was effective. Jevi was forced to back away to maintain her guard, and I used that to my advantage. Quickly and brutally I forced her to back off the sandy courtyard and against a wall. Occasionally I’d let magic slip out of my sword and back into my, and with it came the tingles of lightning. But the shocks were minor, and pushing the magic back into my sword barely took a thought.

“Why!?” Jevi shouted when her back finally hit the wall.

I didn’t respond, preferring to instead use the moment to disarm Jevi and slash her horizontally across her clavicle. The cut was actually deep since I was feeling vindictive about the lightning.

“Victory to Amber!” Derik declared. “And what a victory that was!”

Our small audience roared their agreement and disappointment as money was thrown around, their previous discretion forgotten.

“Well fought, I guess.” I said to Jevi, not really all that sure what I should be saying in my victory.

Jevi snorted. “What a humble victor you are, EmerVit.”

I frowned. It occurred to me that I hadn’t been using that alias in Source, though I quickly dismissed the thought. “All snark aside, I did enjoy that. It’s been a while since my swordplay was tested. But what does Vit mean?”

“It’s a title.” Jevi gestured dismissively. “Not an actual one since that isn’t even your name. Surprised you didn’t know. I’d have thought one of the two… curious characters that trained you would’ve had them.”

“Alas, they didn’t.” I glanced to the side, nothing that Derik had been approached by the armoured woman, and was sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. My eyes narrowed. I knew that look. “And it appears we may have been here under false pretence.”

Jevi’s eyes followed mine. “Oh yeah, that Derik guy was just looking for entertainment.”

The armoured woman noticed the both of us looking and dismissed Derik with a wave of her hand. “I am Guard Captain Paarla. I would like to know the names of the two young women causing a ruckus in my barracks.”

“Uh...” I wondered how to respond.

“Call me Jevi.” Jevi said in my moment of hesitation.

Guess we’re coming clean. “And I’m Amber.”

“And for what reason were the two of you fighting so vigorously?” Captain Paarla’s eyes focused on Jevi’s wound, which almost went from shoulder to shoulder. It wasn’t gushing blood, exactly, but it was definitely bleeding. The back of her dress had a distinct bloodstain as well, though it also wasn’t a deep wound.

“We were settling an argument.” Jevi answered dutifully. “We agreed to not do anything too deadly from the start.”

The guard captain frowned. “Then why are you using a steel blade and unrestrained magics to fight?”

Jevi laughed and pointedly looked at me. I frowned back. What are you expecting me to say!?

I sighed and looked Paarla in the eye. I had to look a fair ways up to do so. “I can choose what my sword cuts. As for the unrestrained magics…” I looked pointedly back at Jevi, who was sweating nervously.

“I didn’t use my deadliest spells?” She tried, then wilted under Paarla’s relentless stare.

Eventually Captain Paarla sighed. “Stupid rich kids... What are you doing in Source? Are you here with your family.”

Jevi flinched. “We’re just passing through.”

The guard captain looked like she was about to press the point so I spoke up. “We were arguing over where to go next. Well, how to get there actually.” She gave me a look that told me to continue. “Whether to pass Lake Luzi on the north or the south.”

“I see.” Captain Paarla said begrudgingly. That told me it was an adequate explanation and she couldn’t punish us the way she wanted to, if at all. “I hope this resolution has you travelling to the north, then. A chapter of Silver’s Reach was recently pulled back from the border with Eiar to garrison Burden Bridge, and the lords of Cavaan haven’t been sending the wagons they’re supposed to.” She gave me a once over. “You look to be the more reasonable one, hopefully that means I don’t need to worry.”

Jevi almost completely hid her reactive choke. I smiled like a responsible young girl that was eager to please.

“We’ll be careful regardless.” I told Paarla.

“Good. Though I suppose you’ll be taking a ferry to Lake Luzi at the very least. That will take you past Burden Bridge.” She gave a smile that didn’t quite match the character she’d been putting on until now. “You might catch a glimpse of some of the career men there.”

“We’re catching that ferry.” Jevi said instantly. The next moment she was nudging me with her elbow. “Get a good look at that eye candy, right Amber?”

I frowned at her, but that just made her nudge me more. Whatever she was implying I simply did not understand. “You’re still bleeding.” I told her, which did nothing to dissuade her course of action.

Captain Paarla glanced back at the guards that had watched our duel. She sighed. “I can’t trust any of these jokers with anything right now. Come inside and I’ll bind that wound. Then you can be on your way.” She gave us a severe look. “And the next time you think to duel on guard property, check with the captain instead of a bored gambler.”

I glanced at Derik, who was arguing with another guard that was shrugging and had his pockets outturned. He was pointing at some coin in his hand, and best I could figure the amount he had was not enough.

“You best have enjoyed yourself because you just signed on for a double shift!” Paarla shouted at them, making the guards all flinch. “I expect to see you all armoured and in my office waiting for orders in fifteen minutes. Anyone that’s late can expect to see their winnings disappear!”

The loitering guards shot off as if under the effect of a Scatter spell.

Paarla laughed once they were all gone, then glanced towards Jevi. “Come on. Don’t want that getting infected.”

\V/

“Not that I don’t appreciate what Paarla did for us, but are you going to get Weldon to heal those wounds?”

We were nearly back to the Frog Well, and Jevi was idly playing with the bandage that had been wrapped around her chest. The guard captain had been surprised when Jevi took her dress off, saying she’d never seen such a clean wound. That I had taken for a compliment, though I’d turned around and hadn’t seen it for myself.

“Hmm…” She pressed down on the left side of her collarbone. I winced, but she gave no visible reaction. Jevi must have had an insane tolerance for pain, I realised. “The back, yes. This…” Her palm slid across her clavicle from one side to the other, pressing hard on the wound and making me wince again. “It might scar. I think I'll keep it.”

I really hoped it wasn’t because it made me feel a touch guilty. That wound had been deeper than the back one thanks to me being overly vengeful. Not by much, but still deeper. “Well, that’s your decision.”

“When it scars it will be a reminder.” Jevi declared. “Every time I look down I will remember the first time I lost despite fighting to the best of my ability. And every time you look at me, you’ll feel guilt at marring my beauty.”

I glanced her way, maintaining a straight face for a few seconds before snorting. “Try again. Scars are sexy.”

Jevi’s jaw dropped open. “How!”

“How what?”

“You stare at me incomprehensibly so many times, and then you just… argh!” She threw her hands up, before returning to fidget with the bandage again. “Though you are correct. This will be the sexiest.”

I shook my head. “It’s the story that goes with the scar that makes it attractive. What will you tell the boy that asks about that? I argued with my friend and she beat me up?” A feeling of joy jumped inside that I was the stronger one in that story.

Suddenly Jevi’s shoulder hit my own, and I staggered to the side. By the time I recovered Jevi was howling with laughter. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry, I keep forgetting!” I huffed and continued walking, though Jevi started walking beside me once more, close enough that our shoulders brushed against one another. When I glanced over she was smiling in a manner I hadn’t seen from her before.

“What are you smiling about?” I demanded.

She looked at me, her expression a little shy. “First friend.” She said.

Ah. “Is that so?” Not comfortable with the turn of conversation, I looked ahead and ignored Jevi’s palpable joy. When she grabbed my arm and hooked her own around it, I just let it happen.

“Though I must ask, since it’s the first time I’ve heard you knowledgeable on such things, where did you learn that scars are sexy?” Jevi questioned.

I chuckled at the memory that brought up. “Mom was lecturing me on what makes a man a man, and used my dad as an example. She told me that his favourite scar was one on his chest near his heart, he got it killing a sand mage before he was even a part of Silver’s Reach, and when they were courting he’d tell her the story every time they got drunk.”

I sighed wistfully. “But she told me that her favourite scar was the one across the back of his hand that he got during the soup.”

“What was the soup?” Jevi asked.

I frowned. “I don’t remember the soup. But the scar was apparently from a cut that almost took two fingers off. That much I remember. I learned that they were not just attractive when my dad yelled across the house that scars were sexy.” I gave a shrug, not sure if there was anything else to say.

We had made it back to the inn by now, and I could sense that Jevi was thinking about disentangling herself from me. “I’m sorry about your parents. Whatever happened to them.”

I looked at her, confused. “Nothing happened to them. Except my mom… but that turned out okay.” At least as far as I’d been able to tell. I never learned what Maiathah did with her pity.

“But you said your house got flattened!” Jevi protested. “By burning rocks, even!”

“I never said they were inside.”

“You… ugh.” Jevi took back her arm and shoved me lightly. This one actually came off as a playful shove that I returned to a much lesser effect. I didn’t let that make me frown.

“Come on.” I said, laughter running through my voice. “Let’s get Weldon to heal your back and then rest. I don’t quite understand it, but we have a ferry to hire tomorrow, don’t we?”

“Quite.” Jevi said stiffly, stalking ahead of me.

\V/