Kari, I suspect, was still feeling the effects of her concussion. Tossing and turning all night.
Addie worried me the most, though. She’d been weak all day and basically passed out on the way back to the room. She was quiet for a while, but then went far beyond tossing and turning. She was actually crying out and screaming.
Needless to say, I didn’t get much sleep at all.
The girl awakes in darkness. Not an underground sort of darkness but rather the darkness of a cloudy moonless night. Looking up, she sees the occasional star but for the most part there are only clouds dimly reflecting a red glow.
Looking around, she realizes she’s alone on a hilltop. To her front is a road leading down toward a large town. A town which seems to be on fire. Thousands of torches cover the ground like tiny orange stars. Most are clustered around the walls of the town, but others race out along the roads like streamers of sparks. One such group of torches is headed directly for her, though they’re yet some distance away.
“It’s a sad day,” says a gravelly voice from her left. She spins quickly but sees no one there.
“A typical story. Almost a cliche,” says the voice - now on her right. She spins again but sees no one there, either.
“Tonight is a night of choices for you. You must embrace what you are and choose a course.” This time the voice is directly in front of her. A dark, shadowy figure emerges from a patch of darkness.
“What I am?” she asks. “How can I embrace it if I don’t know what it is?”
“You are a being of power. A leader of other beings of power.”
Ignoring the cryptic nature of those statements, she asks, “How do I embrace that?”
“Accept what you are. Once you do that, you can choose a course. Please state your name for the Trial.”
“Aoede Westridge.” Addie watches the torches for a moment. Slowly getting closer. “What’s happening? Who are they?”
“Just an army. Destroying a town. Destroying lives in the name of power. Soon this whole region will be desolate and empty.”
“Why am I here?”
“You are here because you need to feed. There is plenty of blood here. And at this moment it’s going for cheap. All you need is the strength to take it.”
Addie ponders a few moments more. “And choosing my course? I assume that has something to do with whose blood I choose to take?”
The figure laughs. “Of course. Truly you are a strategist. Coming at you now is a group of soldiers. They believe they are in the right. Anything they do, therefore, is right.”
Addie observes them again, “And are they in the right?”
“Of course they are. And also they aren’t. There is no such thing as right and wrong on the battlefield. It’s fight or die. The other side feels they are in the right as well. Who can say?”
“I’m not seeing a course here.”
“You can do nothing. You can take blood indiscriminately. Those are courses.”
“There must be others as well.”
“There are. You can choose to protect those who are … uninvolved.”
“Ah, I see. So there must be something relevant behind me.”
“Yes. Let’s go. It’s time to learn to walk in the shadows.” Taking Addie by the arm, the dark figure leads her into a dim shadow behind a tree. They emerge again slightly farther down the hill away from the town. Addie is startled but tries not to let it show.
“Shadows are complex. They are not just darkness. A shadow requires light to define it. Why do you think that we only came a short way down this road?”
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“Because there isn’t enough light to make shadows. We have to wait for the soldiers with the torches.”
“Correct. Hide with me now and wait.” The figure steps back into the shadow from which they had emerged. This time they don’t travel, merely stay hidden there.
In a short time, six soldiers march past. Moving quickly down the road. Without warning, Addie and her companion jump ahead to a flickering shadow behind the soldiers. Then again.
“Do you feel what I am doing?”
Addie concentrates for a moment. “I think so. Let me try.” Breaking the hold of her companion, she takes a funny little mental step and finds herself in a different shadow.
“Very good. You have the main idea. You will figure out the rest in time. Now let’s go ahead and make a decision.”
Grabbing her once again, the shadowy figure steps out and carries them to another shadow. This one is far ahead of the soldiers. A shadow cast by a dim light from the window of a small country home. Looking around, Addie sees a large barn, a chicken coop, and a few other small buildings. She can hear animals moving about in the barn. Approaching the window, she looks in to see a man working a piece of leather by candle light. A woman parts a curtain to check on a pair of young children sleeping in an alcove.
Addie turns and looks back the way they’d come. Torches are already coming down the lane to the farm.
“Do you know the difference between empathy and compassion?” asks the dark figure.
“Yes. But I no longer feel empathy. I know what I should be feeling, but I don’t feel it.”
“That doesn’t mean you can’t act upon it. You know what is about to happen. I am pretending to offer you a choice right now but I’m not. We both know what you will choose to do.”
“Yes,” Addie whispers. Then jumps to a shadow behind the soldiers. A hoarse scream breaks the silence. A scream of true heart-stopping terror, for on this night a vampire stalks her prey.
Roaring in a most annoying way, the man leaps forward and grabs me. I try to resist. No dice. I'm picked up like a rag doll and tossed across the room. Hit the wall with a dull thud and a sharp explosion of pain.
I roll desperately to dodge his follow up charge. Barely avoid being grabbed again. Run like hell. Unfortunately the room isn't big. I turn to face my attacker again. Or at least I would have if I hadn't been tackled and put into a full nelson.
"I surrender! I surrender!" I cry out.
"Heh, heh, heh," a deep gravelly laugh comes from above my head. "See what I mean now? Just being strong isn't enough. You have to know how to use your strength properly."
"I see! I see! Lemme go!"
"Not until you apologize for questioning the wisdom of your Master."
"Who made you my Master? Ow, ow, ow! Okay! Okay! I apologize Master, I will never question your wisdom again!"
"I became your Master when I put you in this choke hold. Apology accepted." He drops me on my face. I roll over and sit up, breathing heavily.
I'd been lifting weights early when some mean-looking dude came up to me and started making fun of me. My protector was nowhere around. I lost my temper pretty quick and ended up going full macho woman. Saying things I shouldn't have. Like, 'I'll kick your butt', and 'I'll take you down any day'.
Kari should learn to keep her mouth shut. This is how Kari ends up with a new Master. Dumbass.
"What's your name?" he asks.
"Kari," I say.
He theatrically puts his pinkie finger in his ear and digs around for a second then puts his hand behind his ear like he's deaf. "Sorry, I didn't hear you properly"
"Nice to meet you, Kari. My name is Veldothian. You can shorten that to Master."
"Thank you, Master." I say, deciding to get into my role. Veldothian has a big shit-eating grin on his face. "Are you sure you want to take on the role of my Master? I can be quite the handful, and I'm curious to know what's in it for you."
"Nothin' in it for me. Trainin' fighters is what I do around here. Big Bad Bill told me to come teach 'that cute little girl' a lesson."
I put my palms to either side of my face and rock my head back and forth. "He thinks I'm cute!" I say in my best little girl voice. "Who's Big Bad Bill?"
"The guy you threw across the room the other day."
"Ah."
"You impressed him. In fact, I'm pretty sure he's got a crush on you now. That's why we're changin’ his name to Sweet William. He's worried about you. Doesn't want you to get hurt in a real fight. You need trainin’ little girl."
He puts out his hand. I take it and he pulls me to my feet. "Anyway, I'm the unarmed combat trainer for the guard units here. I got time in the mornin' if you want me to show you a few things."
I drop to my kneee in front of him, bowing my head. "You honor me with your care, Master. Please accept the bow of your apprentice."
He aims a slow kick at my head, which I pretend to take, doing a double flip to the side and landing on my face. "Thank you sir! Can I have another?"
"Okay, lass. Enough with the comedy routine. Let's get to work."
A week ago, I couldn’t do Magic. Now there’s Magic in my every move.
I swing my sword, watching as the enormous ball of water I conjured slings out from its tip and strikes the target. The whole far end of the salle is now a dripping swamp.
My doing. My power. I am awesome. The rest of my party watches with awe, the exercise forgotten.
Bored, I walk off. I’ll go back to my room now. There doesn’t seem to be much point to practice when everything I do is more powerful than anyone can comprehend.
Maybe that Princess will be back soon. I’m sure she must have heard of me by now. No doubt she’ll be more entertaining than playing with my inadequate classmates and these pathetic soldiers.