Chapter 20

I woke up with an excruciating headache.

“Oooh, oww” I said as I cradled my neck. It felt like rocks were hanging from my puffy eyes.

After a long and devastating night, the last thing I wanted to do was read more of that journal. I left it on my nightstand next to my useless cellphone.

The usual ways I cleared my head didn’t exist in Threa. Nothing passed for a longboard, and coffee didn’t exist. I knew I had to get out of the manor for awhile.

I tiptoed quietly down the hallway and to the front door. The barest rays of reluctant dawn passed over the shutters. I heard the shuffle of footsteps, presumably Roquette’s. I slipped through and creaked the door closed, not wanting to talk to anyone.

I gave a start when I saw the head of a guard close by, but he gave a small nod as I passed him.

I let myself out the front gate, and stood face to face with a surprised Osner. He raised an eyebrow.

“Early start’n today?” He looked wistfully past me as though mourning his shortened walk.

“Good to see you.” I barely managed in response. I cursed myself for being a burden. I probably should have brought some kind of guard with me, so Osner didn’t feel obligated to babysit me. The other half of me was glad to see him, though.

He sported a fresh set of leather armor, custom fit. He no longer had those awful gaps by his neck and under his shoulder. It folded organically around the joints like an armadillo shell.

“Oh, wow, your mom did a good job on that, and so fast!”

“Ya, she spent th’ night on it. Fits well, I have to thank yas.”

“Don’t mention it.” I said.

I needed a change of pace, a distraction from the throbbing memories from the previous night.

“Osner, can you show me a place to train?”

He rose an eyebrow.

“Waiz, sure. No ‘arm init.” We started walking to the stairs connecting to the lower terraces.

“What, may ask, you need trainin’ for?”

“I’m entering the Tournament of Locturne. Actually, I have to ask you about that. I know absolutely nothing about it.” I gave him a guilty smile.

He sighed and rubbed his temples.

“Aye, so where to starts…” His lip twitched.

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“It’s not a grand free-for all, there’s events. Gladiator is for fighters with no magic. I s’pose you don’ qualify. Then there’s ta Might an’ Magic event, mos’ popular, as ya guess, is fightin’ an’ magic. Trouble is yas cannae fight the common circuit, an’ the noble circuit got some real beasties.”

I thought about Ignis smiling wickedly with his double-bladed war axe. That brought up another question.

“Um..do people die during this tournament?”

Osner laughed.

“Nar usual, Few deep cuts and brok’n bones, but thar’s magic that dampen the blows on the vitals. I’ll show yas in the pit.”

Thankfully Osner didn’t take me to the arena floor on the lowest tier of the city. I bristled at the thought of so many people watching me.

He took me to the stone barracks at the gates of Vivenheim, then to a large outdoor training yard. I took my shoes off and flexed my toes in the warming earth.

He walked to the center of the yard and grabbed two helmets and breastplates that looked like white marble. The peculiar stone weighed next to nothing and automatically snapped and adjusted to my body. Glittering runes highlighted my chest and head. There were two bells in the courtyard, one on either side of a line. Osner explained that the victor’s bell would ring if the magic determined a fatal blow on the loser.

“Now we cn’ go all out. I bin needin’ a stretch.” said Osner.

He tilted his head to both sides, then reached up, then all the way down to his toes. He rounded his shoulders. I did the same.

His gaze shifted, becoming fierce and predatory. I’d seen those burning eyes only once, during the fight with the manticore. He drew his sword and dagger.

“Ready?” he asked.

I nodded. A sudden wave of nervousness flooded through me.

“Go!” Osner yelled. He charged.

No time to hesitate. I embraced my porcine form, and felt my tusks extend and my six hooves stamp the earth.

I rushed him head down, tusks forward. He vaulted over my head with a sly grin and chucked the dagger at my flank.

I shot a geyser of earth up and knocked the dagger away. I got some sand in his eyes.

“Tch” he said, landing on both feet as I swerved to intercept him. I launched a cloud of sand towards him. He pranced away.

I felt a pulse of magic, and four Osners materialized. Even by feeling the earth I couldn’t tell which one was the real one. I ripped one mirage into vapors as two crisscrossed in front of my path. I tried to blast one with a fountain of earth but it skipped away.

A fourth materialized. The duplicates spread farther out, one to each corner of the courtyard. They all raised their swords. I felt a surge of power.

A blur shot from the copy to the south. I shot a wall of earth up to intercept it. Too late. Pain lanced my chest. I sensed a defiant magic in my chest repelling the worst of the fatal magic. Osner’s bell rang.

Three Osners disappeared and I begrudgingly admitted defeat, slowly shifting back into my human form.

“You win, Osner.” I panted.

“Did marvelous yesself.” Osner replied with a grin.

“No, that was too fast.” I said. “I have to figure out a way to deal with range. What was that thing you shot me with?”

“It’s the same type a magic I bin usin with my copies. I jes’ have ta charge it.”

“Impressive stuff.” I coughed. Dust ransacked my eyes and nose.

It aggravated me to lose, but sparring with Osner lifted some of the weight off my shoulders.