NexLord: Dark Prophecies (23 page)

Aerin knew he couldn't descend the old
drainpipe quickly while still holding onto his
quarterstaff.  He set the quarterstaff on the slight
incline of the roof next him and let it start to roll towards the
edge. Then he
leaped
across
the gap to the drainpipe, and his decent into the battle zone was
more of a controlled fall.  When he was still twelve feet
above the street he pushed off from the wall with both
feet
and flipped over the heads of the boys
below to land beside Lor.

His sudden arrival caused the Skulls to pause
in their advance.

Lor looked up and saw Aerin, and gasped, "Get
out of here, there are too many!" His voice was laden with
pain.

Aerin remembered Mara’s teachings, not all
battles were won with fighting skill; he tried
bravado.  “You mean this rabble?  I’ll try not
to kill any of them, but…” he shrugged and his voice trailed
off
as if it was out of his
hands.

One of the Skulls spoke up in reply, “We
ain’t afraid, you
don’t have no
weapon!”

"You mean, like this?"  Aerin
asked, then looked up and caught the falling quarterstaff with both
hands.

"Get him!” the boy with the club
exclaimed.

Aerin spun the quarterstaff around into
defensive position, noted the position of his enemies, and then
moved.  He stepped into a gap and his quarterstaff
blurred into motion.  Three rapid thuds preceded three
moaning boys landing in the alley.  Before anyone could
react Aerin had stepped back past Lor and the spinning quarterstaff
came down on the hand of the boy holding the club, who had struck
Lor earlier.  His weapon clattered to the
cobblestones.

"Can you move?" Aerin whispered to Lor, as he
stepped back next to his friend.

Lor staggered to his feet, "Watch me."

Aerin spun and attacked the boys blocking
their way out of the alley.  The Skulls pack backed away
from the lethal spinning quarterstaff.  Aerin and Lor
dashed through the gap and out of the alley.  On the way out
Aerin hooked the bottom of a stack of crates, leaning high against
the side of the alley, and sent them to crashing down to block the
alley behind them.  As the two friends rounded the corner
the still woozy Lor lost his footing on a moss covered cobblestone
and slipped to the street.

Aerin transferred his quarterstaff to his
left hand and grabbed Lor's shirt to help pull him to his
feet.  The torn shirt pulled open and since the cloth
that Lor normally used to bind down her breasts had gotten pulled
down, Lor's very female left breast came into
view.  Aerin gasped for a moment, but Lor pulled herself
to her feet by Aerin's arm.  

Giving him her best scowl, she said, "Are you
going to stare all day, or are we going to get out of here while we
still can?"

Aerin recovered from his momentary shock, and
the two friends ran toward a large passing wagon.  Aerin
leaped
into the back and grabbed
Lor’s wrist, pulling her into the hay.  They just managed
to pull the hay over their bodies when the first of the Skulls gang
boys ran out of the alley.  They paused, trying to see
which way their quarry had run.  
Meanwhile,
the wagon turned at the next bend, moving out
of their sight.

As soon as Aerin saw they were safe, he spun
to face Lor.  "You're a girl!” he gasped in what sounded
like dismay.

Lor looked defiant and ashamed at the same
moment.  "It's not a disease!"

"But..."

"But what?"  Lor demanded.

Aerin could hardly find words in his
confusion.  "…why didn't you ever tell me?  You
shouldn't..."

Lor interrupted, angrily, "Shouldn't
what?  Shouldn’t have been learning to
fight?  Shouldn’t have been out in the world, unprotected
and on my own?  Shouldn’t have lied to keep my
freedom? Besides, I never lied to you, remember, you just
never asked!"

"I just assumed, and..." Aerin didn't know
what else to say.  One of his closest friends in the
world had just yanked the mat out from under his feet.

"
Well,
you
can just go on 'assuming'.  I don't want to be a girl,
and I DON'T want anyone else to know!" Lor growled.  "And
if you do anything… anything at all, that treats me like a girl
instead of a boy; I swear to Gedin, I'll punch you in the
mouth."

Aerin was taken aback
by
the vehemence in Lor's voice.  "I can't say
I understand, but if that is the way you want it..."

"Yes, that is the way I want it, and I don’t
need to explain my reasons to you."

Aerin took a deep breath, "All right, but I
don't know if I can fight with you in weapons practice... Ow!"

At Aerin's
words,
Lor had doubled up her fist and hit him in the
mouth with all the strength left in her tired, bruised body.

"Don't do that!" Aerin said in anger, tasting
blood from the inside of his lower lip.

"I warned you!  Now hit me back,"
Lor demanded.

"No, you're a gi..."

Lor attempted to hit Aerin in the mouth
again, but
this time,
he managed
to block the blow with his arm.

"Stop hitting me!"  Aerin
demanded.

"Stop treating me like a girl," Lor
countered.

Aerin scowled at her, "Well, you certainly
don't act like one."

"Exactly, now hit me back or I'll wallop you
again."

"No," Aerin countered, and then
snickered.

Lor frowned and aimed a deadly look at him,
and then she doubled up her bony fist for another punch.

"Are you laughing at me?” she demanded.

Aerin laughed, "I'm laughing at the two of
us! Lor, I’m sorry, you are still the friend you have always been,
I was just in shock, I guess.  However, I will treat you
the same as I always did, and that includes NOT hitting
you.  I didn’t do that when I thought you were a
boy.  Now PLEASE, stop hitting me!"

Lor relaxed her fist and spoke through terse
lips, "All right, but remember my words, and don't tell
anyone."

Aerin shrugged, "I won't, but it is only a
matter of time, from what I glimpsed you are going to have a
difficult time hiding it soon."

Now it was Lor’s turn to blush and sigh
heavily.  "I wish I could just cut them off; they keep
getting bigger."  Then she looked up at Aerin with
fire
burning in her eyes, "And if
you make just one joke..."

Aerin held up his hands in feigned fear, "I
wouldn't dream of it.  But to think all this time I
thought you were hiding a thief's brand."

"These are worse," Lor said mournfully.

The wagon pulled to the side of a street and
stopped, the driver got down and went into a livery
stable.  Lor and Aerin climbed down to the street.

Aerin went to help the limping Lor, but at
her
scowl,
he refrained.

“You think we are safe now?” Aerin asked
while looking around the street, trying to recognize where they
were.

Lor glanced around, “No,
unfortunately,
the wagon headed deeper into
Skulls Town; we’re in the thick of it now.  Maybe we can
get to the high road.”

Aerin watched the slow and stiff way Lor was
moving.

“Please don’t take this wrong, but I don’t
think you are in good enough shape to navigate the high road right
now,” Aerin noted apologetically.

Lor scowled, but nodded, “You’re right, I
don’t know if I could make the jumps.  We’ll have to try
and find another wagon moving in our direction, and hitch a
ride.”

“All right, let’s get off this main street
before one of those boneheads spots us.”

Lor smiled, “Boneheads?”

“Skull… Bonehead,” Aerin explained with a
grin.

“I think we’re close to the Arena, Skulls
Town has moved a little that way recently.  If we head
for the Arena we should be out of danger when we get
there.  No gangs hold that area, it’s no-mans-land,” Lor
explained.  “Head up that alley over there, it should cut
through to
Hemlar
Street, which
leads to Arena Square.”

Just as Aerin and Lor reached the mouth of
the alley, they heard a yell down the street behind them.

“Gedin’s breath, they spotted us,” Lor
swore.  “Let’s run for it, quick!”

They headed down the alley at the fastest
pace Lor could manage.  Within a
block,
she was panting and wincing from the
pain
in her side.  As they rounded the
corner of the alley onto
Hemlar
Street, they found a boy about their age holding a staff before
them.

Aerin jumped in front of the
panting
Lor and swung his quarterstaff into
position.

The boy in front of them had a single long
braid of hair that hung far down his back.  His own staff
blurred into motion in response to Aerin’s attack positioning.

Knowing that the other pursuit was not far
behind, Aerin pressed the attack.

The other boy’s quarterstaff met Aerin’s in a
solid block.  Within
seconds,
their staffs had spun, hit and parried a host of
times.  Aerin couldn’t believe it, but he felt
overmatched.  Soon he was on the
defensive.  Then the already tired Aerin missed a block
and the other boy’s staff swept his feet out from under him, and
Aerin landed on his back on the cobblestones.  The end of
the boy’s staff ended up at his throat ready to jab
forward.  Aerin considered trying to swing his own staff
around to knock it aside, but he knew from his battle that this boy
was an expert with a quarterstaff.

“Katek!” A deep male voice barked out, “what
are you doing attacking that boy?”

The youth above Aerin
answered.  "He attacked me, Temmen, I was just defending
myself.”

Aerin puzzled over this for a moment.

Lor spoke from behind him, “You aren’t part
of the Skulls?”

“No,” the boy answered. “What’s that?"

Aerin replayed the start of their battle
through his memory, and realized that he instigated the attack; he
had just assumed this armed boy was one of their pursuers.

“I’m sorry, we are being attacked by a gang
around these streets, they were pursuing us, and I thought you were
one of them,” Aerin said from the street.

The staff suddenly swung away, and the boy
named Katek replaced it with his open hand to help Aerin to his
feet.

“No harm then, and I’m sorry I dropped you to
the stones,” the boy said as Aerin arrived at his feet.

“No, it is my error, I’m just glad I didn’t
injure you.”

The man who had spoken stepped forward. He,
too, had a large braid of hair down his back and carried a
staff.  “Then you won’t press charges with the city
guard?”

“Of course not!” Aerin answered.

A group of ten Skulls gang members ran out of
the alley at that moment.

“There they are!” A boy in the lead
yelled.

Aerin spun to face his enemies.

The large man put his hand on Aerin’s
shoulder as he said, “Let me handle this.”

“What can I do for you boys?” he asked,
stepping between them and Aerin.

The Skulls stopped.

“We want them,” a Skulls boy said, pointing
at Lor and Aerin.

The man lifted his right eyebrow. “For
what?”

“Ah…” the boy stammered.

“Yes?” the man prompted.

“They stole somethin’ from us,” the boy
finally spit out.

“Oh?” the braided man asked, “What did they
steal?

That confused the Skulls boy for a moment,
but one of his companions spoke to him, “That’s Temmen, the
gladiator.”

At that announcement the Skulls Town boys
backed away into the alley, but their spokesman had
a last
word for Lor and Aerin before they got
out of sight, “You’re marked now, and we’ll be looking for
you.”  Then the Skulls left.

The gladiator turned to the two
boys.  “I don’t know what kind of trouble you got
yourself into, nor do I care to find out, but I suggest you try to
stay away from that pack.  Now if our misunderstanding is
concluded, Katek?”

“Ready ,
Temmen
.” the younger braided boy answered.

“We’ll be on our way,” the gladiator
concluded, and they headed up the street in the direction of the
Arena.

As they left, Katek looked back over his
shoulder at Aerin and gave him a nod, “Nice work with that
quarterstaff.”

“Not good enough,” Aerin
muttered
but nodded back to the departing
boy.

"I could have taken him," Lor noted, just
loud enough for Aerin to hear.

"You think so?"

"Well, maybe," Lor admitted.

Lor and Aerin continued on their way past the
Arena and into the relative safety outside of Skulls Town.

When Aerin finally helped the limping Lor
into the familiar confines of the courtyard training area, Tocor
and Mara met them.  Dono sat on a bench, his sprained
foot elevated and wrapped tightly in a cloth.

"Lor's hurt," Aerin said,
unnecessarily.  The way she leaned on his shoulder and
the cuts and bruises on her face told the story plain enough.

Mara pointed to her room, "Get him up
there.  No, you stay down here, Aerin, I'll speak with
you soon enough about this latest business."

Tocor scooped Lor up with his large arms and
carried her into Mara's rooms at the top of the stairs,
and Mara followed.

Tocor placed Lor on Mara's
bed.  The quarian stepped
back
while Mara approached her
patient.  "Tocor, you go see if Aerin is all right."

The large quarian nodded and left, closing
the door.

"All right, Lor, let's get that shirt off,"
Mara instructed.

Lor looked extremely
uncomfortable.  "I'm fine; it’s just a few bruises... I
just need some rest."

Mara shook her head, "No, I will be the judge
of that; besides, I know your secret."