Bastial Frenzy (The Rhythm of Rivalry: Book 4) (57 page)

Effie laughed, as did many others. It was true—she’d seen Krepps practically throw away their lives in their rush to eat Leo. He’d survived, thankfully, along with most of the Slugari.

Terren began to list students. He asked them to come to the center where Warrior Sneary presented them with a scroll that Effie knew to be a certificate of their title.

The first person, Effie didn’t recognize. He was given the title “of Justice” for stopping Tegry Hiller from escaping.

But the second person was Cleve. As he walked down the aisle between the rows of benches, Terren announced, “For killing the other Slugari leading the Krepps long before battle began, and saving us all the trouble of dealing with two monstrous Slugari at once, he is now Cleve Polken, Beast Slayer.”

Effie had never seen Cleve so happy. His teeth showed in a wide grin while she and others applauded for him.

Terren called Steffen next. “For slaying Doe during battle, Steffen has also received the title of Beast Slayer.”

Cleve shook his hand as the two crossed by each other.

Steffen Duroby, Beast Slayer
, Effie said herself.
And I figured the only beasts he ever would slay were deranged rats.
She laughed to herself and clapped loudly for him, extremely proud.

Zoke’s name was called. To Effie’s surprise, people stood and cheered with great enthusiasm, whistling and hollering.

She was curious why everyone was so thrilled. But then she heard Terren’s announcement and realized what it was. Zoke had become a symbol to them.

“Zoke, for all your struggles to get here, and going against your own kind to fight for what you believe in, you’ll now be called Zoke the Idol. We wish every Krepp was more like you and your sister.”

The applause for Zoke was the loudest yet. He stood next to Terren, saying something. Terren nodded with a smile and held up his arms for everyone to quiet.

“Zoke has something to share.”

Holding his certificate tightly, Zoke’s eyes found Vithos in the crowd. “Without Vithos, I could’ve been one of the ignorant Krepps invading Kyrro rather than defending it. It was he who convinced me to truly think about who I am and what I want. This is a privilege other Krepps don’t get. We’re taught not to be curious. We’re spat at when we speculate. We’re told to endure, never to enjoy. And even though Vithos grew up around the Krepps, learning the same lessons as we did, he was different. No amount of threats or punishments ever stopped Vithos from being who he is. If anyone should be idolized, it’s him. Thank you for what you’ve done for me, Vithos.”

Effie saw that Vithos had been moved to tears. She stood and clapped, as did the rest of them.

Other titles were awarded for successful missions, none of which Effie had known about. They were all given to third-year students.

But then her name was called, followed by Reela, Steffen, Alex, Zoke, and Vithos. As they descended toward the center, Reela limping and holding Vithos’ arm for support, Terren spoke.

“When this group went with me to the Slugari colony, the last thing anyone expected was for us to encounter battle. But not only did we face Krepps within the underground colony, we fought back ambushers from Tenred on the Fjallejon Mountains. If we’d fallen then or failed to help the Slugari escape the Krepps, we would’ve had to fight this war without Slugari, without their Bastial Energy, without their Dajrik, without their caregelows, without the explosion beneath Tenred, and without all of the other assistance they’ve given us. If Liaison Wilfre, Welson Kimard, or I knew how dangerous this mission was going to be, we definitely wouldn’t have taken first-years.” Terren chuckled, and so did his audience.

“But Effie, Steffen, Reela, and Alex are exceptional young men and women. I saw it during the mission, and we’ve continued to see it from them in everything they do. They have something special that can’t be taught. There are no bounds to what they can do with their skills. It’s for this reason that they—along with Zoke and Vithos—have received the title of ‘the Limitless.’ ”

Effie could feel herself glowing red. From the stadium’s center, the applause was thunderous and overwhelming.

As they started back up toward their seats, she heard Zoke ask, “But I already have a title. What does this mean?”

“You have two now,” Reela informed him. “You’re Zoke of Idols and Zoke the Limitless.”

“I don’t think Krepps will acknowledge these titles,” Zoke said softly.

“You’re leaving?” Reela asked, surprised.

“Tomorrow,” Zoke said. “Sister and I are going to live with other Krepps in Merejic. Do you know where it is?”

“I do,” Reela said solemnly.

Effie was sad as well. They filed into their seats along the bench.

“You don’t have to go,” Steffen told Zoke.

“I must.” Zoke sounded apologetic. “There’s much the Krepps need to do, and I wish to help them.”

“These Krepps in Merejic,” Effie asked. “Did any of them fight against us?”

“No,” Zoke said. “They abandoned the army at the risk of death.”

“What’ll the Krepps do who stayed with Doe but didn’t come fight?” Steffen asked.

“I don’t know,” Zoke said. “Probably split into tribes like they were before Doe and Haemon.” He turned to face Vithos. “Are you sure you don’t wish to come? I’ll be very sad to leave without you.”

“I very sad also,” Vithos said. “But I stay with Reela. She my blood.”

“I understand,” Zoke said.

Chapter 43:

STEFFEN

Steffen was just finishing mixing a potion when Cleve came into his room.

“Can I talk to you?” Cleve asked.

“Of course.” Steffen carefully set down the vial. The wound on his leg stung, but it could’ve been much worse. The arrow hadn’t been fired hard enough to go deep into him. “Cleve Polken, Beast Slayer,” Steffen said with a grin.

Cleve smiled. “Steffen Duroby, Beast Slayer.”

“What do you want to talk about?” Steffen asked.

“Do you remember me asking you about a plant that absorbs Sartious Energy and you told me of the evesal vine?”

“Yes.”

“Now that we have permission to visit our families, I was hoping you could go with me to the Slugari colony. I’ve already told Terren, and he’s allowed it.”

Steffen was going to visit Gabby and his mother after breakfast. He knew Effie and Reela were walking to Oakshen as well.

“You can go on your own, can’t you?”

“Oh,” Cleve said, looking down. “I can, but I don’t know their language, and I’m not familiar with plants like you are. I was hoping you would go with me.”

“I want to go. I doubt the evesal vine grew out of the seed Marratrice brought, but there’s still that little bit of hope I can’t ignore. How about we do it tomorrow?” Steffen asked. “I was going to go to Oakshen with Effie and Reela.”

“Go ahead,” Cleve said. “Unfortunately, I need to go today.”

“Why today?” Steffen asked.

“I’m…” Cleve fell silent. “I’m leaving tomorrow.”

Steffen laughed, figuring Cleve was accidentally misleading him. “It sounds like you’re about to tell me you’re leaving Kyrro.”

“I am.”

“What? To go where?”

“Goldram,” Cleve replied softly.

“But that’s across the ocean!” Steffen nearly shouted.

Cleve nodded.

“Does Reela know?”

“She does,” he said even more quietly. “We talked about it at great length.”

Steffen took in a long breath. “You were just in Goldram.”

“Yes, and I need to go back. There’s still war there. I need to stop it from coming here.”

Steffen could feel guilt beginning to change his mind. Gabby and his mother could wait one more day. Cleve was leaving everything behind that he’d just fought for, not giving himself more than a few days to even enjoy it before rushing off to battle again. The least Steffen could do was accompany him to the Slugari colony.

“I’ll come with you,” Steffen said.

“Thank you. I truly appreciate it.”

“Is Reela awake?” Steffen asked, grabbing the potion from his desk.

“Maybe…” Cleve said hesitantly, examining the potion in Steffen’s hand. “Why?”

“I would like to give this to her before we leave.”

“I don’t think she’ll want that,” Cleve said, his eyes squinting as he shook his head.

“You don’t even know what it is.”

“I know it’s a potion you made. And I’ve heard the stories from Effie.”

“Damn Effie,” Steffen said. “Well, at least let Reela decide on her own.”

Cleve grumbled and then knocked on his bedroom door. “Reela, can you come out here?”

She stumbled out rubbing an eye. “Yes?”

Steffen showed her the potion. “Jack Rose and I have been working on this ever since you came back from Tenred with that scar.” Steffen pointed at her cheek. She turned away and grimaced, making him realize there was no need to point. But he found solace knowing he was going to make it better soon. “We wanted a potion that could restore burned and otherwise marred flesh. With everything else going on, we couldn’t spend as much time on it until recently.”

Steffen was interrupted by the front door opening and Effie and Alex coming through.

“What’s this?” Effie asked.

“Steffen’s trying to experiment on me,” Reela said.

“Don’t take that!” Effie exclaimed.

“None of you even know what’s in it,” Steffen complained.

“Alright,” Alex said. “So what’s in it?”

Steffen could feel himself making a sour face as he realized the answer would only hurt his argument, especially with Effie in the room.

“A mixture of caregelow and—”

“Don’t take that!” Effie screamed again and pointed. “And it’s so thick, it doesn’t even look drinkable. Trust me, Reela. You don’t want to go through what I did.”

“She doesn’t drink it,” Steffen said. “She applies it to the area.”

“Hold on a moment,” Alex said, stroking his chin. “What’s it supposed to do? Maybe Reela will want to take it.”

“I don’t think she should,” Cleve said. “Don’t you remember what Steffen did to those rats?”

Reela began to laugh. “Bastial hell, I can think for myself. Steffen, what potentially dangerous concoction have you come up with?”

“It wasn’t just me. The
master
chemist, Jack Rose, has been working with me this whole time.”

“But am I the first test subject?” Reela asked.

“No.”

“Besides a rat?”

Steffen sighed. “Yes. But it’s not going to hurt you!”

“No, Reela, you’ll be hurting yourself when the caregelow starts affecting you,” Effie said. “Steffen, you really think she would take that before going to Oakshen to visit our families? It’s a terrible idea.”

“There’s hardly any caregelow in it. She won’t feel anything.”

“I can tell you’re not certain about that,” Reela said.

“I
strongly
believe you won’t feel anything!” Steffen corrected himself. “Don’t you want to know what it does?”

“You basically told me already,” Reela replied. “You think it might heal my scar.”

“Yes,” Steffen said. “I thought you hated it.”

Reela grazed her fingers along her cheek. “I do, and it still hurts.”

“One potion isn’t going to fix it. But if you use it every day, Jack and I believe your skin will be completely restored in less than a week. You should see great progress by each evening if you take it in the morning.” Steffen held it out to her. “Rub it on your scar. Use all of it.”

Cleve pushed it away from Reela. “You don’t have to do this,” he told her.

“I know,” she said. “But I want to.” She took it from Steffen’s hand and turned the vial over to let the thick, silver liquid run out onto her palm. Then she used the other to dab it and rub it along her cheek and neck as she grimaced.

“You’ll be happy you did,” Steffen said. “I’ll make enough for a week by the end of the day. Now who hasn’t eaten breakfast yet?”

Alex and Reela raised their hands.

“Will you be leading us to the dining hall, Beast Slayer?” Reela teased.

“I will, if you’ll follow.” Steffen went along with the joke by speaking with facetious bravery.

“I will,” Reela and Alex both replied, smiling.

Someone knocked just before they left. Steffen opened the door to find Zoke with Zeti. Each was wearing a backpack. Zeti’s bow was around one shoulder. Zoke had his sword on his belt.

“I wanted to say goodbye,” Zoke said. “Zeti and I are leaving now.”

“I’m going to hug you,” Reela warned him.

“I had a feeling when I came here that might happen.” He reluctantly opened his arms, and they embraced each other.

Steffen was next. “I want to visit Merejic when I can,” he said. “You’ll make sure I’m not killed when I get there, right?”