The four of us stood in silence, Kevin and Mintha unsure of what was occurring, me and Verdia waiting to see who made the first move. My eyes scanned the periphery as far as I dared without losing sight of my opponent. No one appeared to be watching our little scene, but even so I didn’t want to be the one to start this.

If this turned into a scuffle with a few cuts, bruises, and broken bones, that wouldn’t raise any eyebrows. But if someone died… Best to let her draw first, then I should be able to claim self-defense, should… That being said, people’s opinions of me were not flattering, and it could be claimed I took a sparring match too far. Either way, best never to give your enemies any amount of rope to hang you with.

Verdia was half a foot shorter as she crouched. I spread my legs a bit and bent my own knees. We were only four feet from each other. Normally I would’ve backed up a foot or two, but she was a mage. Only fools gave a mage distance. I could only assume that one of her hands would draw forth a wand while the other clutched a stiletto. Women always had stilettos.

I slowed my breathing, overreacting was not going to be useful here. My heart still beat furiously, ignoring my thoughts. I swallowed before steadying myself, this situation would not end well even if I won. Hmm, if I was lucky maybe I could take a stab to the gut but disarm her of her wand? She was more likely to get two to three stabs in even if I broke her wand hand, gah!

I was wearing my chainmail hauberk underneath my robe, thank the Gods for small miracles. Though that only afforded me a bit of protection, stilettos were small and thin. She would easily be able to get a third or more of their length through my armor, and into me.

She had taken her survival lessons to heart. All children from the age of eight were required to attend the foris magister to learn survival, rules, and society. Even the smallest hamlets were required to have several magisters to ensure that children had a better than fifty odds of living to become adults.

The boys and girls were separated and put under a magister of their same sex. The males instructed the boys how to act and be men, the females taught girls how to be women. Despite what slander the other worlders claim, girls’ lessons were not prissy or about house making (such things could be learned at home if their parents were so inclined). A good woman stood beside her husband, and should he be incapacitated, in front. Survival topped homemaking, manners, and speech. The girls grew up retaining their femininity, but could defend themselves with confidence.

Women learned how to grapple, but not so much with knives. Their training focused on speed and agility, as most women couldn’t compete with men for strength. Acknowledging this difference between the sexes strengthened them as they didn’t waste their efforts trying to out muscle a male. Instead, they had to use precision, speed, and wit. Boys were taught these too, but naturally preferred brute strength.

Other worlder women always brag about how they’re men’s equals, when all they are is a millstone around the neck of any man unfortunate enough to marry them. Extremely few woman can equal a man in a straight up brawl, so our women are taught ways around it, use thrusting attacks, going for the soft tissues, trying to strike between chinks in armor, attacking when the opponent is sleeping or distracted... While no one would claim men and women were equal, without both there would be neither. Our differences complemented each other, and we were taught to embrace those differences both for our own good and society’s.

Verdia’s hands flashed out of her robe, two deep red lodestone stilettos at the ready. Her light red hair contrasting starkly with them. I quickly pulled out my butcher’s knife in with my right hand, its light blue lodestone coating matching my robe, but paling in quality to her weapons. I kept my left hand near my side, still not sure whether to pull another blade or not. Two stilettos? Why the hell wasn’t she using her arcane? Some sort of ruse to get me to back away?

“Where’s your wand? Didn’t misplace it did you?” I prodded.

“You won’t be that much of a challenge.”

Ugh, so she was holding it back in reserve. My left hand fell to an outside pocket I had specially sown onto my robe. My fingers fumbled with the pouch inside. I hated to use my trump card, but if she later decided to use magic, I might not get a second chance.

“Uh, Verdia? I thought you said that they hadn’t given you a wand yet?” Kevin quizzically asked.

Both my and Verdia’s jaws dropped. We stared dumbly at Kevin, no idea what to say. Well, I knew what I wanted to say, “Excellent work slower runner, your ineptitude is finally showing some promise!”

But that would be a tad impolite…

My left hand moved from the outside pocket to one inside of my robe, withdrawing a cleaver. Our eyes locked and I took a step forward, no longer worried. Her weapons were superior in quality, but my strength and a quick ploy with the cleaver should more than do the trick. I would get stabbed a few times, but that was the price I would have to pay.

She sneered, quickly sprinting towards me. I took a step back, throwing the cleaver at her. She blocked it with her left arm, the blunt side of the blade striking her arm. Argh! I needed to practice more using my left hand! She kept up her speed, but the blade caused her to flinch. That’s just what I wanted. I jumped forward, my right hand raised high. I saw her right hand perform a feint while the left moved swiftly forward, towards my unprotected stomach. My hand began its downward arc, the point of my blade aiming for her left bicep or elbow, her robe making it difficult to tell which I would strike.

“Gods Above!” I screamed at the intense pain in my gut.

However, there was the satisfactory sound of grinding metal as my chainmail stopped the blade from penetrating to the hilt. Her face contorted in confusion just before my blade connected, and clinked. It clinked off of, metal? Angrily her right hand stabbed the other knife into my belly while her left arm flew downwards from the impact of my blow. She fell back, rolled over backwards, and adeptly came to her feet. Her left arm hung at her side, one stiletto laying impotently on the ground beside me. Her right stiletto was held horizontally, shielding her face.

My free hand clutched at my stomach, trying to assuage the pain, before common sense kicked in. Quickly I withdrew a serrated blade, an action far more useful than holding my damaged guts. That clink, she was wearing armor as well, and expensive plate armor at that! I sighed, now that she knew I was wearing chainmail she would go for my neck or face. She was injured and weaker than me, yes, but she was well trained. In addition, I couldn’t be sure how much of her body was shielded by that armor. Her eyes were now full of fury, her left arm twitching as she tried to restore it to function by force of will alone. Looks like one of us would be dying today…

I dashed forward, planning a right blade under her arm pit, than a left one to her neck. Hopefully with her injury I could end her before she landed a killing blow. She crouched expectantly; her eyes resolute. Bitch that she was, at least she was a real woman. Some women try the, “I’m helpless!” ploy, which only fools and other worlders fall prey to. Women are many things in the Lodestone Republic, pitiful and helpless, no.

A huge arm stretched in front of me, nearly clotheslining me. Instinctively I slid feet first, hands/blades crossed over my head as I prepared to defend myself. I stopped sliding, mere inches from my first opponent.

“Hey! Stop!”

It was Kevin. I stared blankly at him, surprised at his intervention. He didn’t appear to be threatening me, so my eyes flew to Verdia, now above my feet. She smiled evilly as her right hand fell towards my exposed foot. Godsdamnit all to hell!

A large, white, pockmarked wooden staff found itself between her blow and my leg, the stiletto falling from its owners grasp before bouncing off my leg to the ground. Mintha had quickly stepped in to stop Verdia’s strike.

“THAT’S ENOUGH, BOTH OF YOU,” she said sternly.

Panting, I slowly lowered my daggers under her hooded gaze. Verdia’s hatred burned brighter, but she only glowered as she stood up.

“This doesn’t concern you!”

“What are you two doing? Why are you attacking each other?” Kevin blustered, his usual confusion amped up to its highest degree.

“A, Attacking? No, n, NO! Uh… Me and your friend Tome, we were, we were, uh, just, sparring! Isn’t that right, huh Tome?”

She smiled meekly towards me, the hate in her eyes still palpable.

“Yeah, what the lady said. It’s just a little greeti…tradition, that we sometimes do,” I lied.

The fight was over, we both knew that. Later on, we might kill each other, but now was not the time. These two busybodies were something neither of us wanted. Verdia seemed to be one of those who hated other worlders beyond reason, so it was doubtful she would lower herself to asking for Kevin’s help. As for myself, I knew how other worlder males always involved themselves when there was a female in danger. Likely I would have to kill Kevin before going after her.

“Some tradition,” Mintha mumbled, her staff held out, ready to either launch a spell or knock someone on the head.

I looked carefully at her staff, in the heat of the moment I had been mistaken. Her staff wasn’t wood, but a porous stone like substance, one I had become familiar with in the coastal towns. I looked carefully at the fire mage, her appearance well concealed. I felt Mintha’s eyes connect with my own, before turning to her staff. She quickly moved it behind her. Huh…

Kevin gave me a hand which I begrudgingly took.

“Huh! I don’t know what town you’re from, but where I’m from we aren’t afraid of rough housing,” Verdia complained, rubbing her injured arm.

“Uh, Verdia, do you need a healer?” Kevin asked concerned.

Her face turned red.

“I, I’m fine! Your friend is not that strong!” She cradled her left arm while attempting to move it.

She had pride, that was good. Well, good for her, for Kevin and me, not so much.

Mintha turned to Kevin, “Whatever… Shall we continue, Kevin?”

“Uh, yeah, sure.”

For the next twenty minutes we did something called pushups. Why we laid belly down on the ground, moved up a foot, and then fell back nearly to the ground, still confounds me. Why we did variations on how far apart our arms were also puzzled me. As the exercise continued, the tension gradually decreased. Considering her injury, Verdia took it easy, merely watching for the first half before participating. She emitted a pained grunt with every ascension during the second half. Each time my smile grew broader, sometimes there was justice in the world of Nostrum.

After we finished, Kevin suggested something called load runs. He had several backpacks filled with lumber. We were supposed to run with extra weight to increase our leg strength and speed. Hmm, that actually sounded reasonable, unlike his pushups and the earlier exercise that I would later learn were called sit-ups.

“But, I only have three bags, I didn’t know we’d have someone else joining us,” Kevin remarked sadly.

“You and Mintha do your laps first, me and Tome will throw the medicine ball until you get back and then we will swap.”

“Okay!” Kevin replied cheerfully.

He quickly donned a heavy pack while Mintha looked at us hesitatingly.

“Don’t worry, we got that out of our system, we’ll just exercise, maybe have a polite conversation,” I assuaged her fears.

She nodded, took one more glance at Verdia, and donned her own pack. She and Kevin began jogging counterclockwise around the inner walls.

“Medicine ball?” I asked, watching my new friend pick up a leather ball.

Could it truly be filled with medicine? Why? What sense was there in that?

She shrugged, “That’s what Kevin called it, he’s the exercise expert.”

She threw it to me, hard. I staggered back and exclaimed sharply upon catching it, it was far heavier than I previously thought.

“What the hell…?”

“One of the other worlder earth mages made it for Kevin. He condensed some earth tightly for added weight and then put a leather covering over it.”

I nodded, it made no sense, either the name or the construction of something so useless. It fit Kevin to a T.

Once he and Mintha were farther out of sight we began our earnest conversation.

“Why are you helping him?”

“I’m not helping him, merely using him.”

“Uh huh. I heard about what happened in the infirmary, you had every right to be done with him there!”

I threw the ball with some added force, causing her to stagger. She wasn’t wrong, but explaining my terrible luck upon waking and the sensation of dread I felt would only make me look weak.

“True, but then tell me… How would I recoup my losses? I’ve never known a dead man to pay a debt, well, a monetary one at least.”

“That is your problem, as well as if he goes berserk!”

I caught the unwieldy orb, my hands stinging.

“Hey! All other worlders eventually go on a homicidal rampage. They’re just not built out of tougher stuff like us, that’s not my fault.”

“No, well yeah, they’re weak. But you know it is only when they begin to learn things, or they get those Schelmian notions in their heads that starts it. Ah! And you’re telling him things he is better off not knowing!”

I glared, throwing the ball at her in the middle of that little speech.

“And to think, you’d even talk to him about Schelm! Of all the stupid…”

“Don’t you dare lecture me! I know what I’m doing. He won’t find out anything he shouldn’t, and even if he does, I’ll deal with him.”

“Really? Phft!” she laughed, returning my throw, “You’re too chummy with him, you’ll slip up or pussy out if the time comes.”

I glared daggers into her. Kevin was my frien…Ally, no…Companion. I intended to help him survive so long as he was useful, or at the very least, not a threat to myself. When he eventually failed to pay me back, or betrayed me, I was resolved to finish him quickly. Providing his betrayal wasn’t a knife in my back, painlessly. I had killed before for my family and for the Republic, or was it really for my hometown of Sapphire? Huh, I wasn’t too sure on that point.

I sighed, life wasn’t fair, and it sure as hell wasn’t easy. While I would be lying if I didn’t admit a part of me would thoroughly enjoy running him through, Kevin’s annoying demeanor was more due to an odd naivete than actual malice. His death would bring me no lasting joy, much like the heretics and traitors I had dealt with after the siege of Sapphire.

My hands carried out the punishment, but I made the only logical choice there was, and for better or worse, that was my lot to carry. I lamented what I had to do back then, but the worst part was that, to this day, every time I thought back to the blood, screams, shattering, and even the Sovereign… I couldn’t think of a single action I’d change nor any one enemy or traitor that I would’ve spared.

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

Of all the fallacies the other worlders have brought to our world, perhaps the greatest is that of salvation. All you need is accept their God and say you repent of your sins on your deathbed, and eternal paradise is yours! Well, verily I say unto thee, there are some sins that can never be washed away. And if there are any righteous Gods, or God, in the afterlife, you will not escape judgment for such horrendous acts, be they justified or not.

-Vellanis Tine, Head Priestess of Demerus.