The duelist 7, p.7
The Duelist 7, page 7
If he was indeed the Headest of all Honchos.
Who knew how deep the rabbit hole went?
“Dance with us, Shepherd.” A little lizard girl with clear blue eyes and adorable purple dreadlocks done up into pigtails tugged my hand.
“Shepherd…?” I allowed the little girl to pull me into a circle until I was forced to play along and dance with her alongside Zoie and Rylan.
It definitely helped to pass the time, that was for sure, and I forgot a little bit about my irate mood as I eventually came together with my cat-wife and spun her around.
“Why hello, Shepherd,” Zoie said as she looped her arms loosely around my neck. “What have you been up to?”
“I learned some very interesting information about our Amaya,” I said as we swayed in a circle. “Also, why are people calling me Shepherd?”
“It’s the name the Terrans have given you because you helped lead them out of the Lower Echelon,” she explained as she twirled the hair at the nape of my neck around one of her fingers. “And what is wrong with our Amaya?”
“Aside from the fact the Order wants her to hurry up and take her Oath?” I asked as I released a gusty sigh. “Oh, just the fact she kept some pretty important information from me and put herself at risk.”
“That doesn’t sound much like her,” Zoie said as we came to a stop along with the rest of the dancers. “What did she do?”
“She assured me coupling with her wouldn’t bring about any consequences, and nothing happened, but according to Anwaar, Amaya could have ended up dead, or at the very least really sick.” I pinched the bridge of my nose as I once again went over how lucky we both were that nothing adverse came out of our lovemaking. “I just don’t know why she would do something like that.”
“I can’t begin to guess at her reasons,” my cat-wife said as she kneaded both of my shoulders. “But you are quite tense over the matter, husband. Might I suggest you work off a little energy before you speak with her? I can tell by the fire behind your eyes that you might say something in haste that you would regret in the future.”
I glanced at the knowing woman beside me who never failed to catch me off-guard with little things like this. She was there to constantly remind me even though I was the head of this family, I was not alone or without support from her especially.
Maybe it was just the natural hierarchy that developed, but Zoie had taken on the role of first wife with a seriousness that belied her stalwart loyalty and endless patience. She really was my right hand, and the partner I turned to for advice and strategy, so it was natural to let go of some of my worries and let her take over.
“What do you recommend, wife?” I asked as I smoothed my hands along the curve of her waist.
“It’s been a while since you sparred with me, husband,” she purred. “The Terrans are partial to staff-like weapons, and I thought it might be useful to train with them. If you are unarmed, you at least will be able to use any sort of long melee object with efficiency.”
“You’re so sexy when you get all technical,” I remarked as I felt my good humor returning.
“We should do this outside in the forest so you may practice with found weapons you might come across just in case you ever find yourself in a similar scenario,” she said in a distracted but all-business tone of voice.
I chuckled and shook my head. “What do you think? Should we bring the kid, too?”
“Yes, he will need to learn this as well,” she said.
“Hey, Ry!” I yelled across the courtyard to him, and he halted in the middle of his dancing. “Come on, Mom wants to teach us how to hit each other with sticks!”
“Okay!” he said with a bright smile and bounded over like a Labrador retriever.
“Please,” Zoie said as she clicked her teeth disapprovingly. “There’s a bit more nuance to it than just ‘hitting each other with sticks.’”
“Yes, Mom,” Rylan and I both chorused.
And then the three of us let the Terrans get on with their Exodus while we jogged through the airship back toward the sentinel tower.
“Here is as good of a place as any,” Zoie said as she slowed to a stop in the clearing where the squallers used to be tied. “Each of you, find a staff you can wield.”
“Like this?” Rylan asked as he held a large branch that towered at least three feet above his head after he stabbed it in the ground.
“A little shorter than that,” Zoie giggled as she broke off her own makeshift quarterstaff.
“Here, let me help you with that, bud,” I said and took the overly large branch from him. Then I broke the top quarter of the branch off so now it came up to his chin.
After I’d fixed him up with a suitable weapon, I got my own from a fallen tree right next to me, and with a little more elbow grease, I was able to break it down to size.
“A real weapon of this type would be hewn of the strongest wood and balanced correctly, but if you find yourself without a weapon, anything will do,” she said and then demonstrated how capable she was at kicking ass by twirling her branch around like some gorgeous Electra from Daredevil.
“That’s so awesome,” Rylan said as we both watched the cat-woman twirl and flip, and she demonstrated her wicked moves. “She’s going to teach us all that, right?”
“Well, let’s start with the basics first,” Zoie chuckled when she came to a rest. “First, you both need instruction on how to hold your quarterstaffs.”
Like the no-nonsense trainer she was, she then went behind each of us and adjusted both our stances and our grips so we were holding our staffs with two hands and pointed away from our bodies as if we were holding a sword. The only difference was how wide apart I had to place my hands in order to control the staff, and currently, it felt foreign from wielding my blades.
Hopefully, it wouldn’t be too much of a learning curve.
“It feels a little awkward,” Rylan admitted as he tried to find a position that was more comfortable.
“It will feel unnatural until you start practicing with a properly balanced staff,” Zoie explained and then tapped her staff against his so he would straighten up and pay attention. “It is more difficult to fight with a found weapon just like this, so if you practice the hard way first, then the easy way will be even easier.”
“Makes sense,” I said with a shrug and held my staff at the ready. “What’s next?”
“Next, I will show you both slowly how to strike and how to block,” she said and squared off in front of me. “Pay attention if you can to my hands and my feet. The key is to make big steps so the power you build behind the follow-through only increases with your body’s motion.”
Rylan and I both watched captivated as the seasoned warrior raised the staff across her chest, took a step back with her right foot, and then with a cry, she surged forward and struck a rock straight on the top with a mighty swack.
The strike reverberated around the small clearing, shortly followed by a strange crackling sound. Then a huge fissure began growing down the center of the rock until it broke apart into two equal halves.
“Holy shit!” Rylan gasped as he gaped at the two halves gently rocking to a stop where they fell.
“Dude, language, but honestly, I feel the same,” I said as I stared at what used to be a small sturdy boulder.
“If you maximize the power behind your strike with your whole body and use your left hand as the pivot point, you have a weapon just as deadly as a blade.” My sexy badass wife swung her branch around until it was resting across the top of both of her shoulders. “Who wants to try first?”
It was a toss-up whose “me” was loudest between the two of us.
What followed next was a lot of sticks banging on the top of rocks without a whole lot to show for it, and an ache growing in my forearms.
“Alright, that’s enough,” Zoie finally instructed. “That’s not going to develop in a day. Let’s move on to some actual sparring.”
“Thank Mercedes,” Rylan huffed and then rested his staff against a rock so he could shake out his hands.
“Although, instead of going for each other’s heads, we will aim to strike each other on the shoulders,” Zoie said and squared up in front of me again.
In slow and exaggerated movements, she took a step and swung the staff down toward my right shoulder where she tapped it and then raised the staff over her head immediately after.
When she gazed at me with her intense sapphire eyes, I knew she was waiting for me to respond in kind, so I copied what I saw and proceeded to strike her like she showed me.
“Like that?” I asked her as I adjusted my grip.
“Make sure your thumbs are both pointed inward when you wield,” she said and tapped my top hand.
I flipped over my right hand so both of them were holding the staff correctly.
“It feels funny to hold it like this,” Rylan said.
“I know it will at first,” Zoie explained as she helped the kid with his stance one more time. “But you want your full driving power behind your striking palm here. Think of it like you are pushing the staff instead of swinging it. Now, face off, you two.”
“Oh, man, I’m so going to kick your butt,” I teased as I bounced a little on the balls of my feet.
“Not if I kick yours first!” Rylan said with a playful little snarl on his face, and then the two of us commenced trying to tap each other on the shoulder as we danced around one another.
Zoie would occasionally call out suggestions or adjustments from where she was perched on a high stump.
“Be sure after you strike, you raise the staff above your head!” she called out. “That is how you block any incoming attacks.”
I took a step toward Ry and tapped him on the shoulder before I leaped back. “Gotcha!”
“Hey!” he growled and attempted to swipe at me.
“Push, not swing,” I parroted Zoie’s earlier instruction, and then I whacked him on the other shoulder. “Gotcha again.”
“Grr,” the kid growled again, but this time the fierce look that marred his face was mingled with frustration and determination.
A sudden scream pierced the air right as Rylan upped his game and feinted a strike, but because I was distracted, the strike meant for my shoulder actually connected with my temple.
There was a bright flash of light before everything went abruptly black.
Chapter 6
“Dad?” A curious voice prodded at my awareness, and I groaned when my hangover throbbed mercilessly through my head.
“G’way,” I mumbled as I swatted away whoever was trying to wake me up. “It’s my day off.”
“Dad, wake up.” Something nudged me in the ribs, and I finally cracked my eyes open.
“Rylan?” I asked as his face swam into view. Not a hangover, it seemed. “What happened?”
“I’m so, so sorry, Dad, I accidentally hit you in the head, and then you wouldn’t wake up because you were in the Dark Realm so we had to go get Mozz so she could get me here because I couldn’t focus, and--”
I held up a hand to stall his machine gun fire rapport and then slowly sat up.
“What?” I asked as I rubbed my eyes. “Did you just say you knocked me into the Dark Realm with your staff?”
“Um… yes?” He rubbed the back of his neck and gave me a sheepish grin. “Again, I’m so sorry. And like I said, I would have been here myself to come and get you, but you weren’t making any noise, so I didn’t know where to find you. And I was a little freaked out about what I did, so I couldn’t really focus.”
“Yeah, you said,” I grunted as he helped me up to my feet. “Damn, kid. Good shot. I’ll never doubt you again.”
“I’m sorry,” he repeated, and I nudged him with my shoulder so he knew he didn’t have to feel guilty.
“I’m proud of you, kiddo,” I said just for posterity’s sake. “And I’m sorry you were freaking out.”
“Mozz told me how you had an injury in your head she helped you fix,” he said. “And she explained more about the time I came to take her out of the Dark Realm with you. I tried to go back to find you at the time, but I was too exhausted. I can’t believe I heard the code word, though.”
“Yeah,” I said as I glanced around the nondescript clearing and spied a few tall trees. “I thank you for that. Mozz didn’t know how to get back. Hey, Rylan, are you able to travel between the clearings?”
“No,” he said. “I can see them in my canterfly form from above, but I can only enter a clearing if someone calls for me.”
“Interesting,” I muttered.
“Are you able to?” he asked with a curious tilt of his head.
“Turns out, yes.” I grinned as I waggled my eyebrows. “Second question: remember the sword you transformed last time we were here?”
“The mega awesome one with the purple handle?” he answered back. “That was the best.”
“Yeah, it was cool, and it turns out it’s still in the Dark Realm,” I said. “I stashed it in one of these clearings, and I wanted to ask you if you’ve ever been able to take anything out of the Realm besides people.”
I bent down and picked up a small stone, tossed it up in the air, and then handed it to him.
“I’ve never tried to do that before,” he said as he reached for the small stone. It had a burnt-orange pattern similar to a tiger’s eye and had a perfectly smooth divot in the center perfect for worrying a thumb against. “I don’t know what’s required.”
“Well, how does it work when you manifest something?” I asked. “You visualize it, right?”
“I’ll try to concentrate on keeping it with me when we leave,” he said as he slipped the trinket into his pants pocket. “Which should be soon because Mom is a little worried.”
“Hah, okay,” I said as I ruffled his hair. “You should probably fly us out of here in that case. I don’t think I have time to meditate my way back.”
“Alright, hang on,” he said and closed his eyes, and then his form blurred and phased into the sandy-blond butterfly-pegasus form he was comfortable in when in the Dark Realm.
“Still cool every time,” I commented and patted his flank.
He pranced in place with something like pride, and I got up on his back. Then he reared back on his hind legs and launched us both into the static white sky.
I glanced over my shoulder and scanned the clearings for one in particular, and when I spotted it, I tugged on Rylan’s mane. “Look, Ry. See that tall tree in the clearing down there?”
“Hee-oo!” CanterRy tossed his head when he saw what I meant.
“That’s the tree where I hid our sword!” I called over the rushing wind.
CanterRy whistled again, and I laughed as he turned our ascent into a happy little upward spiral, and as the stark whiteness filled my vision, I could still feel the echo of laughter in the back of my throat before I came to in the clearing with Zoie, Rylan, and Mozz hovering over me.
“He’s fine,” Mozz’s sarcastic drawl greeted me as both she and Rylan helped me to my feet.
“Good to see you, Mozz,” I said and couldn’t resist ruffling her short blue locks. She growled and hissed at me like a wet alley cat, and I couldn’t help but laugh. “Thanks, by the way. Ry told me he needed your assistance.”
“Yeah, it was no problem,” she said with a nonchalant sniff that was trying way too hard to be nonchalant, and the faint blush on her scaled cheeks gave away the fact she must have been at least a little pleased with the gratitude. “Just be careful next time.”
“You bet,” I said with a wink.
“The rock!” Rylan suddenly gasped as he searched his pockets. “It’s gone.”
“Aw, that’s okay, bud,” I said. “I didn’t expect you to get it on the first go.”
“I’ll keep practicing,” he sighed.
“Practicing what?” Zoie asked as she peered into my face and checked my head for any more damage. “I think we are done with practice for the time being.”
“No, Mom, we mean practice with the Dark Realm,” Rylan explained. “I’m going to try to bring something back.”
“Really?” she asked, and then she turned her astute sapphire gaze onto her kit and scrutinized him like she did with me. “Is that safe?”
“Probably.” He shrugged, and Zoie’s eyes narrowed even more before they slid over to me.
“Erm…” I cleared my throat. “Now, Ry, make sure you don’t overdo it, okay? Actually, let’s make a rule: you are not allowed to try anything larger than that stone. Once you can do that successfully--”
“Three times,” Zoie interjected.
“Three times,” I added dutifully. Yay, parenting. “After that, we’ll see about bigger stuff.”
“What, like, sticks?” he scoffed sarcastically and glanced at Mozz like he’d just said the Joke of the Year.
The lizard-girl simply blinked at him with an unimpressed-looking stare.
“Yes, sticks,” I said as I arched a single eyebrow. “Is that okay with you, Your Highness?”
My tone conveyed just how unimpressed I was as well with his snark, and he lowered his eyes with a contrite grin.
“Sticks are fine,” he said agreeably.
“Good,” I snorted.
“Glad that’s sorted,” Mozz said, as if she had remotely anything to do with the so-called Sorting. “Hey, Rylan, want to fly on the squallers with me?”
“Oh, yeah, definitely!” He perked up and turned his wide eyes on the both of us. “Can I?”
“Just please be careful,” Zoie relented under the full blast of his puppy dog eyes.
“Will do!” he nearly hollered, and then he practically ran out of the clearing with the blue-haired lizard-girl.
“Good Goddess,” I huffed as I blew my bangs out of my eyes. “We’d better follow them.”
“Agreed,” Zoie said, but she didn’t make any other moves to follow them as she continued to eye me uncertainly. “Are you sure you are alright? He definitely got you good, but I didn’t think it was that serious until you wouldn’t respond.”
“Ah, I’m sorry, love,” I said as I kissed her on the cheek. “I’m perfect, I promise.”
