Kingdom of Rust Chapter 40

The trip was rather uneventful until we started getting closer to the northern territories. It started slow, with a few people here and there, looking down on their luck. They didn’t even spare us a glance as they walked past, pulling carts piled with items. The people looked defeated.

Eventually, that trickle of humanity turned into a steady stream of wagons or just people on foot, heading where I wasn’t sure.

Thea managed to stop one of the carts. “What's going on?” she asked the thin-looking man behind the reins.

“Crops failed from a blight. Second year in a row. People are getting out and heading to milder weather before food becomes too scarce. Only a fool would stick around for what comes next.”

Thea thanked the man and we pulled our horses off to the side and out of the way. We silently watched the column of people go by.

I could see she was concerned for the people but there wasn’t anything we could do for them. Protecting them from evil, sure, but feeding and housing them, not so much.

After a few minutes, the rush of passing carts slowed again.

“Come on, let's keep going.” She urged her horse into a trot and I followed behind, giving one last look at the line of dust in the distance from the passing throng. I wasn’t sure where they were heading but I wished them luck.

Eventually, we came to the outskirts of Bershal. It was easy to see why the people had decided to go south. The city guard was out in full force, turning people away.

“We have no room for displaced residents, be on your way!” One of the guards shouted as he shoved a man backward.

There were angry shouts and a general murmur of disquiet but the man who had been arguing with the guard picked himself up and stomped off with his cart and family.

A few others turned around and followed him but there were dozens of carts and families waiting to try and get into the city. One bold individual even tried to sprint past the guards. I was surprised more hadn’t tried that tactic as there were no walls around the city. It didn’t take too long to figure out why. An arrow found the man’s back and he went down.

“Things are turning ugly quick,” Master Thea mumbled. “Keep an eye out, I’ll try and reduce tensions.”

I did as she asked and kept an eye out but I wasn’t sure how even one Chosen could quell the anger of over a hundred people. But soon I felt a drop of water on my head. As I looked up, I saw a mass of dark clouds forming.

Soon the rain began to fall, slow at first, but then more and more came. Not wanting what little they had to be ruined, the people took their carts and belongings into the forest to seek shelter from the weather.

“There, that should cool some tempers. Come now, I want to find an inn and get some food and sleep.”

“Why is it still raining?” I asked in confusion. I had expected it to stop after she stopped using her power.

“It’ll continue until the storm is spent. While I am able to conjure water to some extent, I can’t control that large a volume. I just sort of gave it a nudge to form itself.”

I nodded, not knowing what she meant by that, but I didn’t want to look ignorant.

“City is closed, be on your way!” A surly and waterlogged guard said.

“You have no right to turn away a Chosen! Now move aside,” Master Thea ordered, and to make her point, she formed a dome of water around the startled guard. It was a guard I recognized.

“A- Apologies, Chosen, I didn’t know.” The man bowed respectfully as Thea rode past.

I stopped next to the man, “you should clean yourself up, as I recall, you have a trough in the back.”

The man looked at me with surprised recognition as I rode to catch up with Thea with a grin on my face. As soon as I was outside the dome of water, it all fell on top of the guard and I could hear him spluttering on the muddy ground. It was only then that I noticed Thea wasn’t even wet unlike me. At least my large brimmed hat kept most of the rain off my upper body. I was thankful for that much as the rain was rather cold.

The inn that Thea chose was much nicer than the types of places that Holton frequented. I was immensely grateful for that. The food wasn’t much though, speaking to the desperate conditions normal folk must be under if an establishment like this couldn’t provide proper meals.

We ate the bland potato soup and went to our rooms for some much-needed rest.

Morning came much too quickly as a knock on my door woke me from my peaceful rest on the soft and comfortable bed.

“Bakus, time to get up, we have to go find Holton and I need to notify the magistrate of our arrival.”

“Ok, give me a couple of minutes,” I replied groggily as I swung my feet out of the bed and onto the icy cold floor. “Ugh, how can people live in this cold,” I mumbled.

The previous day hadn’t been too cold until the rain came. It had taken time for that rain to chill me to my core and I was thankful to have extra sets of clothing along. My other clothing was hanging on a rack near a small clay stove but I hadn’t bothered lighting it before bed so the clothes were still damp. The only thing that wasn’t still wet was my sword and sheath. I had taken the time to dry them off and oil the blade before bed.

Knowing that Master Thea was waiting for me, I quickly dressed and threw an extra shirt over my normal one. It wasn’t cold enough to break out the jacket but it was chilly.

Master Thea and I walked toward the magistrate's office. The ground had turned into a muddy mess from the rain and there were puddles on the road but at least it was relatively quiet and peaceful as we made the walk.

This time I decided to just wait near the entrance of the building while Thea met with the magistrate. I didn’t need any more drama. It only took her a few minutes and she returned with news. “It appears Holton has reserved the guard barracks training yard for the week. So we will head over there.”

I just nodded and followed along. The town had changed quite a bit since I had been here last. It wasn’t nearly as vibrant and upbeat. Some of that was definitely due to it being fall but I think more of it had to do with the lack of food and the desperate people. Everyone we passed gave us furtive glances. Perhaps fearful that we might steal what little they had left.

We walked past more than a few boarded-up shops as we made our way to the barracks located just outside of town. An older guard greeted us and showed us the way to the training yard. Holton was already there, practicing.

The man paused his swing to look at us. His eyes flicked to Thea for a moment before settling back on me. “Took ya long enough, I thought you might try to slip out of our deal but you actually showed up.”

“Unlike some people, I know how to keep my word,” I replied tersely.

He only grunted at my response, then he turned to Thea. “Thea…”

“Holton,” she replied coldly.

“Well, daylight is wasting. I want to see what bad habits you picked up in my absence.” Holton put his sword away and stood waiting for me to attack.

“Did you want just the forms or for me to go all out?”

The man only shrugged in his infuriating way, “It’s your life, would you only defend it with half efforts?”

“Fine,” I hissed.

Master Thea stood back against a post on the far side of the training area. Once she was clear, I drew my blade in a smooth motion. The blade nearly hummed as I snapped it out and set my stance. Holton only smiled and motioned for me to come.

There was no holding back, if Holton was injured by my attack, that was his problem. My energy began to circulate through my body making everything feel just that much more alive. My leg tensed and I launched myself forward with a vicious stab.

Holton was no fool though and his sword leaped from its scabbard as if it had always been in his hand, deflecting my blade. Knowing that was a possibility, I had been prepared. I pushed my power onto the tip of my blade, causing it to arc back toward the man and forcing Holton to turn away from my strike or earn a nasty slash on his side.

When I went to retract my blade, I found his hand wrapped around mine. I groaned as I knew what came next. There was a heavy crack that filled the training ground as the flat of his wooden sword slapped hard against my bicep.

“Too many openings,” he said as he easily danced out of range of any possible retaliation on my part. “Did you already forget? Of course, you did. Only go for a killing blow when you know your opponent can’t retaliate in kind. You are faster, sure but I’ve met mundane fighters that could have stuck you like a pig before they died. Dying men have nothing to lose. Try and remember that.”

I mumbled angrily as I rubbed the bruise already forming on my shoulder.

“Master Mgumba said if you hurt him too much, there is going to be trouble.”

Holton paused and looked at Thea, “yeah, yeah. The kid isn’t made of glass. He needs to understand that actions have consequences.”

The sparring continued for another half hour before Holton stopped me. He tsked, “Your body is faster but your mind hasn’t yet realized that fact. You only utilize explosive movements to your advantage and all subtlety is lost in your motions. Reading you is easy even a novice could do it. No more speed boosting. You can use that little push trick of yours, what was that again? Allvar?”

I ignored the man’s probing question about my powers, I certainly didn’t have gravity manipulation.

“Well, whatever,” he said after I didn’t reply. “Good old mundane speed until I feel you are ready for more or at least as close as you can get. Trust me, I’ll know if you try to tweak it.”

The rest of the day was spent with me getting slapped around by a stick. Because Holton never said anything about himself using mundane speed. Still, it was better than I used to do. While my speed was slowed down, I still had faster reflexes than before. Adding in my ability to push or pull made a whole world of difference as our bouts lasted more than a few exchanges.

It occurred to me quite quickly that I had better success manipulating his blade than I did my own. The momentary loss of control didn’t hamper the man much but it meant one less bruise as I was able to avoid his strike or slap aside his blade with my own.

At one point I had tried cutting his blade in half since my sword was steel and his was wood but he quickly pointed out the futility of that action. I don’t know what it was, but striking his sword with mine felt like impacting a shield. The tremor went straight through my arm, making it so numb I nearly dropped my sword.

Holton simply smiled at my discomfort and slapped my wrist with his blade, making me finally drop my blade.

“You learned an interesting lesson today, care to guess what that was?”

I grabbed my throbbing wrist, “yeah, attacking your sword fucking hurts.”

Holton chuckled as he lazily twirled his wooden sword. “That it does, but do you know why?”

I looked at Thea, but she didn’t say anything or indicate that she knew what Holton was referring to.

“She wouldn’t know, she doesn’t fight in melee.”

Even from where Thea was standing at the edge of the training area, I could hear her muttered expletive toward Holton.

Holton ignored her as he continued. “Disruptive resonance. Since I discovered the phenomenon, you can thank me for that term.” I wanted to groan at that information. Of course, he came up with a special name.

The man held his blade up, turning it in front of his face. “To be considered a master swordsman, you need to become one with your blade. It is an extension of your will, blah blah blah. At least that’s what some old fart might tell ya. It’s a load of horseshit.

The real truth is that all you need to do is learn to push your power into your weapon. When you attacked my sword, I pushed that same power into yours and up your arm. Won’t work on those of the same alignment but it works fine on everyone else. So now that you figured out my trick, I get to use it during your lessons,” he added with a smile that did get an audible groan from me.