Chapter 10: Chapter 9: Sallis Station (I)

----The Wayfarer-----

Cai had never been far outside his hometown, and he certainly had never been to a place as crowded or confusing as Sallis Station. There were over twenty train platforms, and they were not laid out with any kind of logic that he could determine. To get between them required crossing a complicated series of stairways and tunnels, and if you took the wrong one you could wind up on the opposite side of the track you wanted. While the platforms were numbered, they were not in order, with platforms 1 and 2 being on opposite sides of the station. Cai tried to navigate the maze using the map guides posted periodically, but between the intensity of the crowd and his general lack of comprehension of maps he had yet to locate platform 12.

He found himself in another open breezeway. These could commonly be found at the intersection between the tunnels and were full of shops and eateries, making the station feel more like a town than a transportation hub. Cai had been told that Sallis Station was the central hub of the continent’s whole railway network, so it made sense there would be a lot of stores to cater to travelers from all over. But for Cai’s purposes, they only added areas of congestion for him to have to wade through.

As he tried to make his way through the throng to get to the other side of the breezeway, he found that the crowd was particularly thick around a circle in the center. When he made it close, he found out why: someone was putting on a performance.

The performer was a woman dressed in long, lacey silk strips, like red ribbons that had been wrapped around her form. They accentuated her curves and showed off enough of her dark skin that it made Cai blush. She danced in slow, fluid motions, twirling a pair of thin, curved swords with every step. As she spun, her long braided hair whipping around her, she tossed the swords into the air. She spun again, this time leaping into the air as she twirled, and caught the two swords as they descended before landing in a graceful pose.

The crowd applauded, but the performer wasn’t done yet. From a strap hidden on her waist she pulled three daggers before tossing them, and both swords, high into the air. She leaped after them, flipping once in the air before starting to catch the descending weapons. The daggers she caught with one hand, the swords in another. She caught the last dagger just before her feet returned to the ground.

Now the crowd was really applauding, as was Cai. Her coordination and balance were exceptional, probably better than anything he had seen even among the Wayfarers. The performer bowed, soaking in the admiration.

“Thank you all very much,” she said. “I’ve been Afi, of Toomba City. I hope you will continue to support me as I take my talents into the tournament. I want to become a champion worthy of your praise and attention.”

She was part of the tournament? Cai supposed that made sense. This was a central hub, and many of the competitors were going to have to pass through here. He didn’t know how well that performance of hers translated into combat skill, but he’d already learned it was unwise to underestimate his competitors.

Afi bowed one more time, then tossed an arm up above her. One of the silk laces around her arm flew forward, wrapping themselves around a nearby lamppost. She leaped and seemed to be pulled by the lace towards the top of the post. With a single kick she launched off the post, disappearing onto the rooftops of the shops. There was an appreciative awe amongst the crowd at the impressive exit. Cai was left wondering how she did that. There was something more than just pure athleticism in that movement.

While he was still thinking about it, he felt himself get shoved. A man in the crowd was looking at him with anger. “Hey, weirdo! Give me back my coin-purse!”

Weirdo? “What are you talking about?”

“My coin-purse! Don’t play dumb. You were standing right behind me, and then it goes missing. Now give it back.”

“You are mistaken. The only coin I have on my person is in my own pouch …” Cai felt along his side as he spoke and trailed off when he realized his own pouch was pissing. He patted himself down in panic. Thankfully, the envelope with his invitation was still tucked into the front of his robes, but his pouch was nowhere to be seen.

Around him, others were also patting their pockets and looking around. It seemed a number of coin purses, pouches, and bags had all gone missing. A murmur of confusion and anger began to rise within the crowd.

“What happened?”

“Mine’s gone, too!”

“Damnit, my entire month’s salary was in there!”

“It was that performer! She must have been distracting us so that her partner could rob us unseen.”

“That’s why she took off so fast!”

“Well then, where’s her partner!”

The man who had called Cai a weirdo pointed a finger at him. “It was him! I saw him doing it! While everyone was distracted by the dancer!”

The accusation was so absurd that Cai didn’t even know how to begin to respond to it. But as angry eyes began to fix at him, he realized he needed to say something quickly. “He is lying. I was robbed as well, and am just as confused as the rest of you.”

“Yeah, right.”

“We should shake him down, bet our coins will drop out of his robes.”

They were crowding closer around him.

“Everyone, please, let’s be calm,” Cai said, holding his hands out defensively.

His words were wasted as a man grabbed him from behind, trying to put him in a chokehold. Reflexively, Cai struck back with his elbow into the man’s ribs, forcing him loose with a grunt, before grabbing his arm and flipping him forward. His assaulter hit the ground hard and groaned in pain.

Cai immediately regretted the action. All that time spent practicing sparring had caused his body to react on its own. And now the floodgates had opened.

The men in the crowd came at him. Cai ducked under a punch before kicking his assaulter’s feet out from under him. Another strike to his side, which Cai deflected with the palm of one hand while striking out with the other, catching the attacker in the mouth and sending him reeling. Two men at either side of him lunged at once, and Cai jumped up and kicked in both directions. Both attackers took a foot to the chest and went tumbling back.

Cai’s body naturally fell into a defensive stance as he prepared himself for more attacks. The men in the crowd were more wary now, having seen what Cai could do. But they didn’t look ready to give up, either. They looked to one another, daring each other to be the ones to make the first move.

As if Cai didn’t have enough of a reputation as a troublemaker. If it got back home that on his first time in the outside world, he had started a brawl and beat up a bunch of people, Master Shui would have him cleaning outhouses for a month. He needed to get out of this before it got even more out of hand.

One of the men finally built up the courage to rush him. Cai caught his outstretched fist and twisted, locking his attacker’s body where he wanted it. Then he gave it a good kick to the sternum, sending the man flying backwards into the group. The impact sent a section of the crowd to the ground, giving Cai an opportunity.

He took it, rushing into the gap. One man was still standing and tried to grab him. Cai let himself go to the ground, rolling as he did, causing the attacker to trip over him and go tumbling face first. He broke the roll as he cleared to the edge of the crowd and popped right back on his feet before bursting into a sprint.

The sound of shouting behind him told him he was being pursued. He might be able to outrun them, but the area ahead of him was dense with people. If they came to believe Cai was a thief, he might soon find himself fleeing from the entire station.

“Friend, over here.” He saw a young man in blue robes waving him to him from a nearby stairway. “This way!”

Cai had no idea who this guy was, or if he was leading him into a trap. But with no better ideas, Cai followed him. They ran up the stairway, onto a steel bridge that crossed the platform, and then down a narrow tunnel. The blue-robed figure stopped him there and pressed his back against the tunnel wall. Cai followed his lead.

Outside the tunnel they heard footsteps and shouts run past. Only when the shouts faded into the distance did Cai breathe out a sigh of relief.

“That was an unfortunate start to my journey,” Cai remarked. “I don’t know why they were so insistent that I was the thief. I was robbed, too.”

“Because you look different,” his savior explained. “People like us, we need to be careful when traveling far from home.”

“Like us?” Cai looked over the man and noticed a lot of similarities to his people. His skin was lighte and his robes were a different color, but the style of the robes and the straight black hair tied back into a knot were very familiar. “You’re from the Wayfarer communities?”

“I’m Ju-Won, a Wayfarer of the Way of Water.” He bowed. “While I haven’t met one of your people before, I believe that outfit belongs to the Way of Fire?”

Cai quickly returned the bow. “Yes. I’m Cai, Wayfarer of Flame. Thank you for helping me.”

“It is good we look out for each other. I remember the first time I left home, how lost I felt. Kind of the same look you have in your eyes right now.”

“It’s that obvious, huh? Yeah, this is my first time away from home.” Cai patted the envelope tucked in his robes, ensuring it was still there. “I’m actually on my way to the Tournament Lyris, but just getting there is proving to be troublesome. Would you happen to know the way to platform 12?”

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Ju-Won nodded. “We share a destination. I can lead the way for you. But first, we should take the time to enjoy a meal. It is unclear if we will have time to eat once the tournament begins.”

“You’re in the tournament, too? It figures that the Wayfarers of Water would send a fighter as well. I wonder how many of our towns sent someone?” Cai sighed, feeling the empty spot on his side where his pouch used to be. “I’d join you for that meal, but all my coin had up and vanished.”

“It’ll be my treat. Besides, you’ve never been here before. It’s only fair I show you to the best place to eat. Come on.”

Cai’s stomach told him not to reject Ju-Won’s generosity. He followed him back out the tunnel, down a different set of stairs, and to another breezeway. The Wayfarer of Water moved with confidence around every turn.

“You’ve been here a lot?” Cai asked.

“I have. My father sent me to get an education in Lumhaven, believing that more knowledge of the outside world would serve our community in the future. I had to travel back and forth frequently between my classes in Lumhaven and my Wayfarer training back home. Passed through this station each time. I grew to know it well. And though I have had a few incidents not too dissimilar to yours due to my looks, I’m quite fond of it.”

“You mentioned that before – that the reason people were so suspicious of me is because I look different. Have the Wayfarers done something to earn people’s distrust?”

“Not so directly. But people are more prone to distrust something unfamiliar to them, and Wayfarers rarely leaving their homes means they are unfamiliar almost anywhere they go. And it works both ways. Have you ever treated a foreigner visiting your village differently?”

Cai wished he could deny it, but he remembered having a laugh at the foreigners who struggled up the steps or who reacted poorly to the spice in their foods.

“We all could stand to do better,” Ju-Won concluded. “I view this tournament as an opportunity to learn even more about the outside world, and to show the world something about us. Even if I don’t win, if I’m able to leave an impression through battle I will consider the trip a success. Oh, and here we are. I think you’re going to like the food here.”

Ju-Won was likely only a few years older than Cai, but his maturity was impressive. It made Cai feel like a child in comparison. He still had a lot of work to do.

They found a table at the crowded eatery and Ju-Won ordered them some kind of beef rolled in pasty, fried potato wedges, and a cheesy soup with bread for dipping. All of it was delicious and nothing like what they ate at home. Cai wished he had the time, and the stomach capacity, to try even more of the menu.

While they ate, they talked about home. Cai enjoyed learning about Ju-Won’s village, built at the base of a waterfall, which fed the river from which they subsisted. It sounded like a nice place that he’d like to visit one day.

In the middle of their conversation, Ju-Won got distracted. His eyes fixed on a man at a table opposite of theirs. The man’s eyes were closed, and he seemed to be snoring.

“Some people can sleep anywhere,” Cai commented.

Ju-Won’s eyes were narrowed. “Look at his outfit.”

Cai gave the man another look. He had messy brown hair that fell down in front of his eyes, and a shadowing of facial hair. His outfit didn’t stand out in any way to Cai’s eyes: a black coat over a white vest. Though there was some kind of insignia on the coat that Cai didn’t recognize.

“That’s the Officiator marking,” Ju-Won explained. “He’s one of the people who will be supervising this tournament. Which must mean he’s one of the previous champions.”

“Wait – really?” It was hard to imagine the guy casually sleeping at a table in a crowded eatery as a champion of anything. “Are you sure?”

“That marking is unmistakably an Officiator. And all the Officiators are tournament champions. It is one of the duties they accept in exchange for giving their region control over the Lyris.”

Cai’s father had mentioned something about there being certain obligations to being champion that made him prefer to help someone else win. This must have been what he was talking about.

“He looks pretty young,” Cai commented. The Officiator couldn’t have been older than his early 30’s. “He must have one the most recent tournament at a young age.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure.” Ju-Won picked up their remaining pastry. “Champions have to undergo some kind of Lyris treatment. The exact details are kept secret, but what we know is they have several effects on their body, including dramatically slowing their aging. This guy could be a whole lot older than he looks. That’s the terrifying thing about Officiators. They’ve already proved they’re among the toughest around by winning the tournament. Since then, they’ve gained decades of experience on top of that, as well as whatever other enhancements that Lyris treatment provides. There’s a reason they’re able to enforce the rules in a competition filled with egos – because trying to defy them is suicide.”

Cai was realizing just how little about the tournament before he stole the invitation. If he won, he’d have to undergo so kind of mysterious Lyris treatment and serve as an Officiator in future tournaments? He wondered if there were other duties his father had been referring to that he just didn’t know about yet.

Ju-Won was bouncing the pastry in his hand. “I bet his reflexes have become so enhanced that he can catch this even if it’s thrown at him while he’s asleep.”

“Uh – I’m not sure that’s a great idea –“

Ju-Won was already tossing the pastry. It soared through the air, a perfect tragedy…

And hit the Officiator right in the face. He startled and bolted upright, knocking his table over.

“What the hell? Who did that?!” He wiped bits of pastry from his face. “Someone wants to get disqualified before the tournament even begins, huh? Who was it?”

His eyes landed right on Ju-Won.

Ju-Won looked like avenom will burn through your veins. You’ll melt from the inside out. It’s quite the messy process. If you want a pretty corpse, I recommend you let me kill you quickly.”

“That sword will not be getting anywhere close to me again.”

Tenner seemed frustrated that his attempts at intimidation did nothing. He brought his sword up above his head to prepare for an overhead strike.

He was far too slow. Cai’s fist connected with Tenner’s gut. Fire burst furth from the impact, burning a hole through Tenner’s rags and searing his abdomen.

Tenner dropped his sword and started to scream – or tried to scream, but he was having trouble drawing breath. He patted at the remains of his coat, which still burned around the hole. And stumbled back towards the edge of the pier.

Cai instinctively reached out to grab him. And then stopped. The memory of what the archer had done when Cai had tried to save him was fresh in his mind and caused him to doubt himself.

Whether it was right or not, that moment of hesitation cost Tenner, who slipped over the edge and dropped into the water.

Cai rushed over to the edge in time to see Tenner struggling to stay on the surface of the water. Then he saw what Tenner was struggling against: a giant tentacle burst forth and wrapped around the unfortunate swordsman. It dragged him under the water, after which everything became disturbingly still.

He was still trying to come to terms with what happened when Ju-Won returned, holding two long wooden planks.

“Everything alright?” Ju-Won asked, seeing the look on Cai’s face.

“I just …” Cai shook his head. “It’s fine. Do you have what you need?”

“I do. I just need to strap these two boards to your feet and we’ll be ready.”

Cai was confused, but didn’t complain as Ju-Won tied the planks underneath his shoes. Ju-Won then tied a rope around his own waist and handed the other end to Cai.

“Hold on tight,” Ju-Won instructed. “You’re about to experience the way of the flying fish, and if you let go you might be lost.”

Cai did as he was told, gripping the rope tightly as Ju-Won walked over to the pier’s edge.

Ju-Won kicked off, pulling Cai off the edge with him. The moment Ju-Won’s left foot touched the surface of the water, he exploded forward moving so fast across the water that it created torrents of spraying water in his wake. Cai was dragged along, the planks on his feet skirting across the water. He held the rope in a death grip, uncertain what would happen should he lose it, while struggling to maintain his balance.

Every time Ju-Won’s feet hit the water, he burst forward with renewed speed. It was frightening, but also exciting. In other circumstances, Cai could see himself doing this for fun.

They approached the island rapidly. Cai had survived the first round, but he knew far more difficult challenges awaited once he reached that shore.begged. “Don’t do this.”

“Come on, don’t you want to go splat!” the giant growled. “You’re going to make such a beautiful mess! Look, it’s coming! The train’s coming!”

To Cai’s shame, his legs were locked. His terror in the face of this beast undid all of his training in a moment and left him shaking. He wanted to hide, but his body wouldn’t even let him do that.

But Ju-Won didn’t have the same weakness. He stepped forward boldly. “Unhand her. I won’t ask you again.”

The giant looked over at him and smiled. “Oh? I guess we have a volunteer. It’s your lucky day, miss. Seems someone wants to go splat more than you do.”

He tossed the woman behind him. She hit the ground hard but quickly scrambled to her feet and ran away as fast as her legs could take her.

Cai continued to be frozen.

“Well, come on then, little man.” The giant fixed that malicious smile on Ju-Won. “Train’s about to arrive. Don’t want you to miss it.”

Ju-Won dropped into a combat stance. One leg in front and extended, the other behind and bent at the knee. His arms were raised parallel to his legs, with his front palm facing up and his back palm facing down. Cai might have been excited to get a firsthand look at one of the forms for the Way of the Water, if he hadn’t been paralyzed.

The giant laughed, a boisterous, rugged hoot. “Oh, I love it when they try to fight back. Makes it so much more satisfying when that struggle slowly fades away as the life leaves their body.”

He started to walk towards Jin-Won, slow, menacing steps bringing him closer. Ju-Won’s form didn’t shift, ready for the first strike. The giant raised a fist high –

And it was grabbed before the punch could be thrown – but no by Ju-Won. The Officiator from the eatery stood between the two, one hand over the giant’s fist, the other pointed at Ju-Won.

“That’s enough, you two,” the Officiator declared. “I’m not going to have you embarrass the tournament by murdering each on the train platform. Keep it in your pants for just a little longer. When the tournament starts, you can kill each other. Until then, keep this up and I’ll disqualify you.”

Ju-Won rose out of his form, but kept his eyes fixed on the giant. The big man, on the other hand, didn’t seem ready to back to down.

“Well, you look like a tough one,” the giant commented. “Never killed an Officiator before.”

The Officiator didn’t look intimidated. More like annoyed. “You can take your shot at me if you want. But then something much worse than disqualification is going to happen to you.”

The train arrived, squealing to a stop behind the face-off. Nobody blinked. The giant still looked like he was considering taking on the Officiator.

“Stop this right now, Harren!”

A group of men in grey suits rushed onto the scene. The giant seemed annoyed to see them. They ran around behind him and grabbed the ends of the chains connected to his wrists and ankles.

“Whitestone,” the Officiator commented. “I guess this must be the convict you’re entering into our tournament.”

One of the grey suits nodded to the Officiator. “Sorry about that. We have a deal with Harren; he’s supposed to behave until the tournament starts. And we took some precautions with these enchanted shackles, just to be safe. But we made the mistake of letting him use the bathroom on his own, since we hadn’t had any trouble with him on the trip so far. He ended up slipping out the bathroom window – well, more accurate to say through the bathroom wall. We won’t be letting him out of our sight again for the rest of the trip.”

The Officiator sighed and scratched at his beard stubble. “Well, see that he doesn’t. One more screw-up and I won’t hesitate to disqualify him – and your company – from this tournament.”

“Understood,” the grey suit replied. “It won’t happen again. Come on, Harren. You’ve lost privileges to sit in the front of the train, so we’re going to into cargo car.”

Harren gave Ju-Won another smile as he was carted away. “I’m sure we’ll see each other again real soon, little man. Looking forward to picking this up then.”

“They really intend to enter a monster like that into the tournament?” Ju-Won asked after Harren was out of sight. “Do they have no shame.”

“Some people are so desperate to win control of the Lyris, they’ll do anything,” the Officiator explained. “Even enter people convicted of terrible crimes. Feel like we should have a rule about that – but I don’t make the rules, just enforce. Anyway, keep out of trouble yourself. I’d hate to have to disqualify you for getting riled into another fight.”

Ju-Won nodded.

Cai snapped himself out of his fear-induced paralysis and tried to pretend like he hadn’t been frozen for the entirety of the confrontation. “Uh – we should probably get on the train ourselves.”

“Right,” Ju-Won replied. “Let’s find seats and take some time to center ourselves. The competition will be fiercer than I had anticipated, and we need to be ready for it.”

Ready. Right. Up until a few minutes ago, Cai had felt ready. But after freezing in the face of that convict, he was no longer so certain. How could he fight if he couldn’t even move his legs?

He doubted the train ride would yield the answers, but he couldn’t turn back now.