Strength

Chapter 7

Strength

Initiate: “Who has built this great stone tower?”

High Priestess: “What great stone tower?”

Initiate: “Why the one we live and study in, of course!”

High Priestess: “It is already forgotten. For it, too, will crumble.”

-Il Discordea

Kriss was awakened by a sharp, insistent rapping at her door. After quickly slipping on her robe she shuffled across the room, half asleep, and jerked opened the door to find Patawpha standing there clad head to toe in a suit of battered armor.

“Daylight's wasting, Kriss!” The right corner of his mouth crept upwards in a wry smile.

Kriss cast her gaze over one shoulder and out the door that led to her balcony. There was very little sun to be found anywhere. “I thought I was to be taught magic.”

Patawpha huffed in derision. “Magic is unpredictable at best. A blow to the head gets results every time.” This made Kriss smile in spite of herself. Patawpha grinned in return and made a show of offering her his arm. She slipped her hand through the rusty crook of his elbow and together they made their way downstairs and out into the practice yard. The sun met them there as well, extending a few languid rays their way; just enough to light the patch of ground they were going to use.

Patawpha popped open an old trunk that rested against the stone wall of the tower and pulled out some leather gear for Kriss to wear. After clearing her throat several times he grinned widely and turned his back to her so she could slip on the leather armor. It fit perfectly; Kriss was learning to expect such things now. Patawpha then pulled a couple of old swords from a nearby weapons rack and handed her one. The balance of the blade felt off to her but at his signal she began to spar, making a few feints followed by a solid swing just the way her father had taught her. Patawpha disarmed her easily and the blade fell to the ground with an audible thump.

Kriss made a face and Patawpha did too but neither said a word. There was no doubt that he was one of the best swordsmen she had ever seen, so being disarmed by him was to be expected, but something just didn't feel right with her blade. She picked it up and tried again, this time with even worse results. She fumbled the sword almost immediately and sent it spinning dangerously across the field.

“Let's try another.” Kriss could tell that he was trying to act unshaken but clearly something was wrong. This time he chose a much nicer sword, one well crafted and not normally used for every day sparring. “This should be better,” Patawpha hefted the blade, testing its balance with a few spins around his hand.

Kriss took the sword and although it certainly felt better than the last one something still felt wrong. After several failed bouts of sparring Patawpha suggested they take a break. Kriss readily agreed, both frustrated and concerned. After several quiet moments of rest Patawpha broke the silence and climbed to his feet. “I have another idea.” He went to the weapons rack and this time selected a heavy, wicked looking mace; a spiked iron ball fixed to the end of a long, metal shaft. Kriss took it in her hands and although it was almost too heavy for her to wield properly it felt much better than any of the blades they had tried before.

She cast a puzzled look at Patawpha. “I've trained with the Moonblade for as long as I can remember. Surely that training should transfer to any other sword.”

“Normally I would agree.” Patawpha's voice was muffled as he bent over the open trunk, rummaging around for something. “The Moonblade is a unique and magical sword. Apparently, you are meant to wield no other.” Finding what he had been searching for, Patawpha turned around with a large, battered shield in his hands. “I think I'm going to need this.” Kriss grinned widely and further tested the weight of the mace in her hands. With every practice swing it felt better and better; still a bit heavy, but her muscles would grow into it with practice. Patawpha clashed his sword against his shield, signaling Kriss to have a go at him. As she swung the mighty weapon for the first time she felt a rush of joy that she had not felt in days. Everything seemed to come together as Patawpha effortlessly knocked the blow aside with his shield and strangely, for the first time, she felt truly at home.  The two fell against each other in glorious combat.

The next morning her muscles screamed in pain as she shuffled to the door to answer Patawpha's insistent knock but she was eager to practice just the same. Days of training quickly turned into weeks and as her strength grew their sparring sessions grew more and more intense. Other members of the Order began to gather in the morning to watch the two come to blows. After a time they were both dressed out in full suits of heavy plate armor in order to decrease the chance of injuries as well as to further strengthen Kriss' muscles. In the afternoons she would join Patawpha's group weapons training sessions where there was no shortage of members eager to challenge her to a fight. She rarely lost.

One morning, however, the knock at her door was different, more hesitant than Patawpha's and Kriss opened the door to find Kem standing there. With a start Kriss realized that she hadn't seen her friend in days. Or was it weeks? Kem must have known what she was thinking because she spoke first. “It's alright. I told you that time moves differently here. It's not uncommon to go for days without seeing someone.”

Kriss smiled, nodded, and managed to mutter and embarrassed, “Thank you.” The words didn't seem adequate, though, and something else was tugging at the edge of her thoughts. It wasn't just that she hadn't seen Kem but she had hardly thought about her, either. She felt terrible.

Kem rested her hand on her arm for a moment as if to tell her was alright but that just made Kriss feel worse. Kem smiled warmly and disarmed her as easily as Patawpha did on the practice field. “Come. 

Nora wishes to see you today.”

Kriss couldn't help but feel disappointed. “But why? I have practice...” She looked up and down the hall for Patawpha but he was nowhere to be found.

Kem tugged gently at Kriss' arm to get her moving. “It's time to awaken the magic inside you.”

Kriss came to an abrupt halt. “Wait...how?”

“That's different for everybody, Kriss.”

“But why today?”

“Patawpha has deemed you strong enough.” Kriss did not like the sound of that. “Please, we mustn't keep Nora waiting.” Kem tugged at her elbow again to get her moving and she reluctantly obliged.

“Where are we going"

"Never you mind that. We're late enough as it is." There was something in Kem's voice that

gave Kriss pause. She held her tongue and followed Kem through the maze of hallways and stairs that made up the tower until she was completely lost. Kriss felt as if they were now far underground.

At last they came to a room that was unlike any she had seen before. The room was massive, with a granite floor, and walls draped in deep blue cloth covered in gold moons and lightning bolts. Row after row of hard wooden benches gave Kriss the impression that she was now inside a hall of worship. Although her father had told her of such places she now found herself in completely unfamiliar territory.

Sensing her nervousness Kem rested a hand on her arm and encouraged her forward. They walked slowly down the center aisle with Kriss casting her nervous gaze everywhere at once as if expecting foes to leap from every shadow. Once they reach the end of the aisle they approached a large stone dais on which sat a large stone altar. Behind altar was another set of the large blue drapes that covered the walls. From behind these drapes step Nora, surprising Kriss to the point that a little, "Meep!" escaped her lips before she could clamp her hand tightly over them.

Nora smiled an unnerving smile that sent shivers down Kriss's back. Kriss was so focused on Nora that she did not notice when Kem released her arm and slipped away. Nora spoke in a sickly sweet voice so full of treacle that Kriss felt her breakfast churn unpleasantly in her stomach. "Dear Kriss, it's been months and we've hardly had the chance to get to know each other."

Alarm bells went off in Kriss's head. Months! 

Before she could speak Nora continued with a smile so fake and big it threatened to split her face in two, "Come love, let us step behind this curtain so we may speak in private."

Kriss did not want to go, not for all the gold in the world, but her feet betrayed her and she found herself following Nora behind the curtain very much against her will. The instant her body passed the curtain everything changed. She felt a disconcerting sideways lurch that threatened to upset the contents of her stomach all over again and everything went dark for an indeterminate amount of time. It may have been seconds. Possibly years. Kriss had now officially stopped trying to estimate time.

After a time she realized that she was on her hands and knees, no longer on stone but now coarse sand, and her eyes were closed. She opened them in amazement. She was alone, now losing her breakfast, on an endless sea of red sand. The sky above her was pitch black and held no stars. On the horizon brewed a storm out of which she saw appearing beautiful forks of bright blue lightning. She clambered to her feet and clapped the sand from the palms of her hands. There was nothing else to see other than the storm in the distance so she clenched her jaw and started moving that direction.