Devil Ash Deceit (Devil Ash Saga) (13 page)

In the castle’s private courtyard, a heated sparring match raged on until the sun went dim. Shiva, Ash, and Aura battled against Phoenix and Wilhelm in their first full training session with the pair. The servant girl Leona sat in the grass nearby watching her master. The teachers carried wooden staffs to taunt their students, dodging every attack and then swatting them for their failure. After a full day of this kind of training the combatants grew tired and frustrated.

Shiva and Phoenix stood facing each other, eyes locked. The girl dashed forward and Phoenix readied his staff. Shiva faked left, shot a small fireball, and then went right. In one swing of his staff, Phoenix extinguished the flames, spun, and jammed the end of his staff in Shiva’s face. The girl dropped her head, exhaled in defeat, and then looked up with a smile.

“You never go easy on me, Phoenix,” she said. “I respect that. But to tell you the truth, it’s becoming a little frustrating.”

Phoenix smiled back at her. “When you learn how to unlock your soul power, you won’t think so.”

On the other side of the yard, the boys were having an equally frustrating experience. Ash and Aura dripped sweat as they chased Wilhelm around the yard. For being an old man, the Great Satan could really move fast. He held his staff behind his back, rarely even needing to use it. The boys did their best at throwing fireballs and punches at the old Satan, but to no avail.

Wilhelm dodged every attack, and those he couldn’t dodge he would simply deflect with his staff. The boys even tried the same routine that once defeated Commander Stryd in a sparring match, but Wilhelm could not be taken so easily. As Ash sped in, hoping to get close enough for another punch, Wilhelm raised his staff above his head. The boy, too tired to dodge, thought he would try and catch the staff before it connected with his head.

Wilhelm smiled at the boy’s tenacity. The old man swung. Ash raised his hands, clasping them together above his head. Too late, it turned out, as the wooden staff slipped right through his fingertips and cracked Ash on the top of his head. The boy fell to the ground, clutching his head and whining.

“I think that will be enough for today,” Wilhelm said.

Leona fetched several buckets of water for everyone and they sat together in the grass, drinking a bucket each. When at last the student’s thirsts were quenched and their bodies rested, the teachers gave their parting words of wisdom for the day.

“How do you feel today’s session went?” asked Phoenix.

“Fine,” said Shiva.

“Bad,” said Ash.

“Sucky,” said Aura.

“I guess I’m just not getting the point of this whole exercise,” Shiva admitted. “The fighting I understand, but when you said we had to use our
emotions
to bring out our soul power…. That’s where you lost me.”

“Yeah, what exactly are we supposed to be feeling?” asked Aura.

“Soul power is almost impossible to bring out without a powerful surge of emotions to unlock it,” answered Wilhelm. “What our training will focus on is using your emotions and memories in a controlled combat situation to hopefully bring out your latent abilities.”

“What kind of memories work best?” asked Ash.

“Usually, its easiest to use soul power when there’s someone or something you’re trying to protect,” said Phoenix. “The first time I brought out my soul power, I was defending a group of children during a demon attack. I kept telling myself I would not allow a single child to be harmed, and even though I was outnumbered my passion to save everyone drove out my true power.”

“And once you unlock it, it becomes easier to do again?” asked Aura.

“That is correct,” said Wilhelm. “All you need is one good push, and you’ll find it easier to accomplish every time after that.”

The Royal Advisor entered the courtyard and approached the tired group. Phoenix was on his feet at once to greet the man.

“Am I interrupting?” Goddard asked politely.

“No sir, Mr. von Gosick,” said Phoenix. “I’m sorry we didn’t get the chance to speak at length when we met. I had the good fortune to attend one of your classes years ago, before you accepted the Royal Advisor job of course. You were quite brilliant.”

“Ah, I knew I recognized you from somewhere else. Yes, well these days my brilliance is hard at work securing the prosperity of the Kingdom.”

“I’ve heard rumors going around that a new group of rebels are amassing. Is there any truth to the rumors, or are they simply the paranoid delusions of the upper-class?”

“Unfortunately there will always be a tiny minority of the citizens that think they could do better as King,” said Goddard. “But that in no way means they are a real threat. In fact, my team here is already hard at work tracking them down.”

“Then I know we’re in good hands,” Phoenix said with an encouraging smile. “Lady Shiva and her team are quite capable fighters. Once they’ve mastered their souls, I know they will be a force to be reckoned with. I must formally give you my thanks for allowing us the honor of working with them.”

“It is I who should be thanking you and Master Wilhelm,” said Goddard. “I’ve been meaning to teach the team about soul power but I haven’t had the time to do it myself.”

“We were just leaving,” said Wilhelm. “I’m sure you have business to discuss with your team.”

“That is why I’m here,” said Goddard.

“We’ll be off then,” Phoenix said. “Perhaps another time we could chat for longer. I’d love to pick your brain.”

Before they departed, Aura snuck a glance at Leona. He’d taken to studying the servant girl when she least expected it. Her face was lovelier than any servant he’d seen before, but the boy was perplexed by her usual lack of emotions. He noticed her staring at Goddard with icy malice in her eyes, though she said nothing. When she left with her master, the boy forgot about her face and turned his attention towards her rear.

“So what’s up, Goddard?” Ash asked. “You don’t usually come down for our training sessions… unless you have a job for us.”

“Actually, all this talk of extra training got me thinking. You guys fight like hooligans and you’ve been getting your butts kicked a lot more than usual lately. Starting tomorrow, you’ll begin weapons training with your new instructor.”

“Weapons like swords and spears?” Ash’s face lit up. “That’s awesome!”

“
Heh
,” Aura snickered. “I guess I’ll finally get to show you all my skills.”

“So Yazma has agreed to give up some of her days for us to do this? So how many days of advanced flame training and weapons training do we get now? Because I’m totally fine with giving up that pesky free day,” Shiva said.

“Not our free day!” Ash and Aura said simultaneously.

“Shut up, everyone!” Goddard said, raising his voice. “I managed to get one of Hell’s foremost weapons experts, a living legend, and
relative
of someone in this courtyard right now.”

This caught their attention. Both Ash and Shiva were relatively sure they had no family they were unaware of in Hell. Goddard was a mystery, and it was his usual style to brag about himself, so perhaps the weapons expert was someone in his lineage. The only clues Aura gave were his eyebrows slanting and a nervous tap of his foot against the grass.

Someone opened the door to the courtyard. Aura directed his eyes down at the grass and closed them. The man stepped into the yard and approached the team. Ash had never seen him before, so he was off the hook. Shiva recognized him from long ago, but could not remember what business he’d had with her father back then.

“Here he is now to introduce himself! I give you your new weapons instructor, Amos
Draxler
!” Goddard said with smug satisfaction.

Aura’s eyes shot open, but he did not look up. His teammates stared in disbelief at the man before them. He was old but not elderly. Large but not fat. His black beard hung down to his chest. Strapped to his back was an enormous barrel stuffed full of various weapons. All sorts of varieties were present, but Ash really wanted to get his hands on a sword.

“Uh…” Amos said, his eyes lingering on Aura. “Thanks, Goddard. It’s nice to meet you all.” Amos looked choked up. He still stared at Aura, who refused to remove his eyes from the ground. “It’s nice to see you again, Aura.”

“Hey, Aura,” Shiva said. “This guy knows you. Is he your…”

“Is he your
brother
?!” Ash asked.

“Idiot! He’s way too old for that!” Shiva barked.

“Aura…” Amos said, holding back tears. “Please,
look at me!”

Goddard stifled a smile, pleased at the chaos he’d introduced.

Aura exhaled and lifted his head. “It’s been a while, huh…” he said.

“Almost thirty years, son.”

“How can you still call me that after…
everything
.”

“I never stopped thinking of you as my son!”

“Then why didn’t you ever come looking for me?”

“I’ve come here today to make amends with you. I’m ready to forgive you.”

“You
forgive
me…?” Aura asked. “Well you can keep your amends; I don’t want them.” The boy turned his shoulder to his father and headed for the door.

“Hey Draxler! Where are you going?” Shiva called.

“There’s nothing more for me to gain by training with
him
,” Aura said. “I’m going to have to decline.”

“You can’t just get out of training that easily!” Shiva said. “Hey
old man Draxler
! Toss me one of those swords! I’m going to teach him a little respect!”

“As you wish, Lady Shiva,” Amos said and instinctively grabbed a wooden practice sword from his back-barrel, tossing it to Shiva. “But I must warn you: I highly recommend
against
attacking him.”

“He may be your son, but I won’t go easy on him!” Shiva dashed towards Aura, screaming barbarically as a warning while holding the wooden sword above her head.

“
I warned her
,” Amos muttered to himself.

Shiva pounced on Aura from behind, swinging the wooden sword like a club at the boy. Aura responded by simply stepping to the side of her attack, avoiding it completely. With his gauntlet hand he grabbed the blade of the sword, spun around backwards pulling the wooden blade out of Shiva’s hand and grasping it with his own free hand. Now
he
was the one pointing a sword directly at Shiva.

“Whoa!” Ash said, as Shiva took into account everything that happened. “He’s good!”

“I don’t need the training, because I’ve been through it all before,” Aura said. “So I’ll take these days off instead. See you.” Without another glance back at his long-lost father, the boy left. Everyone looked stunned.

“I guess the younger Draxler is going to stubbornly insist on skipping these sessions,” Goddard said. “I’m taking that out of your fee, Amos.”

“I don’t care,” said Amos. “I’m just happy I got to see my son…”

“Dude…” Ash said. “What’d you do to him?”

“None of your damn business, kid!” Amos replied. “I apologize for making such a scene. When Goddard told me he could reunite me with my son, I just had to take the chance. Honestly, it went about as well as I imagined it would… This is a pretty lousy first impression of me you’re all getting. Still, I’d like to thank you for bringing me here today Mr. von Gosick. I’ll continue to try making amends with Aura on my own time.”

“I’m happy I could bring you both together once again.” Though Goddard said this with the noblest of smiles, in the back of his mind another scheme was hard at work. As it happened, Goddard knowingly hired Amos Draxler just to see how his estranged son would react. The results were less than he had hoped for.

“Why don’t we just forget what happened here and start over,” Amos said. “I’m Amos. I used to run the weapons factory that at one time supplied the entire Kingdom. I’ve mastered every weapon there is, and now I’m going to pass down that knowledge to you two.”

“Whoa…” Ash said.

“
’Bout time
,” said Shiva.

“We’ll have our first official lesson tomorrow, so for right now I’d just like to get a sense of what you both already know.” Amos ripped two wooden swords from his back-barrel and tossed them to Ash and Shiva. “Let me see how you hold them.”

The two caught their swords, more or less, and held them by the hilt. Amos eyed their technique and stances.

“Pathetic! Do either of you even know how to hold a sword?”

“Isn’t it like this?” Ash asked, holding the sword forward with both hands.

“You need both hands to hold that flimsy piece of wood, do you?” Amos asked.

“It’s a
one-handed
sword,” Shiva said. “Even I can tell that!” She held her sword out with her right hand, keeping her left hand placed defiantly on her hip.

“Your stance isn’t any better!” Amos said. Shiva deflated in embarrassment. “Very well, if this is all you got, come at me and do your worst!”