The Cult of Sutek (22 page)

“What sparked the renewed effort?”

She looked down as if ashamed. Rondel had never seen her show that emotion before. “Fern.”

“Duke Engren’s bodyguard?”

She nodded.

“But you won.”

“Only after you helped.”

“So?”

“I could maybe accept defeat against multiple opponents, but with just one, there is no reason I should ever need help. I trained under the greatest fighter in all of Juntark, probably the world. I have all the tools I need to win and no excuse not to.”

All this time I thought she was hard on me, but it was nothing compared to the pressure she places on herself. I guess that’s why she’s always in such a bad mood. Fighting her own inner demons.

“What can I do to help?”

“Help with what?”

“Well, you want to be the best. Let me help you train.”

“You’re not good enough to help me train. I spar with you for your benefit, not mine.”

“Don’t hold back or anything.”

She grunted. “You aren’t dumb. You've improved, but you can see the difference between us. If you really want to help me, then keep working to improve yourself. It would be nice to count on at least one other person if we are able to find the girl.”

“You’re not expecting Jahi to help?”

“Why should I? He had his chance to prove himself and failed.”

“It was probably his first fight where he needed to use sorcery. I doubt he’s killed a man before.”

“You said your first time killing a man was when we escaped prison. And yet you didn’t freeze up.”

“Well, I had a lot of hate driving me.”
And I did knock myself unconscious during the actual killing part.

“This cult has his sister. You’d think that would be more than enough. He knows what they are rumored to do to people.”Andrasta made a mocking gesture while looking around. “Even now, where is he? He should be practicing.”

“He said he needed to do so alone. That’s why he’s been going off in the woods when we stop to rest.”

“I care little about what he does alone. He needs to prove to me what he can do. Otherwise, I say we leave him behind. He’ll only make things harder on us.”

“What does he need to do to prove himself to you?”

“That depends. He needs to fight me. Even if he can’t use sorcery, perhaps I can teach him something with a sword.”

“That does make sense. Let me go find him.”

* * *

Jahi stared at the pile of sticks at his feet while sitting on a half-rotted sycamore log. He stared
into
the sticks, seeing their dried fibers and lack of moisture. He widened his legs slightly and forced himself to go still. He always got fidgety before casting a spell, making it hard to focus.

And I don’t have Dendera here to help me.

He had tried the spell three times already and was interrupted each time by unwanted thoughts. His failure in helping with the bandits attacking Andrasta had shaken him.

But I can do it this time.

A long breath passed through his lips, then another.

Slowly the tension melted away from his neck and shoulders until his entire body relaxed.

Almost ready.

The exercise in concentration was simple, one of the first things he learned from old texts Dendera snuck him after they had discovered his talent. She never told him how she obtained the items, but he knew every time a new book appeared his sister would suddenly be out of money.

The texts had been written by famous sorcerers around the world in languages neither knew. They tricked their tutors into helping translate the works, and Jahi practiced the principles they were able to decipher.

The steps he went through alone mirrored the very first spell he had attempted from those books. Late at night, in Dendera’s room, he had lit the wick of a candle using only his talent. He smiled, recalling the look of pride on his sister’s face when he had succeeded. His talent was something they shared in secrecy because so many in Iget condemned the practice of sorcery.

Jahi sighed.

He hated to admit it but, the talk about the mercenary sorcerer had gotten to him, maybe more than Rondel intended.

He had used sorcery in his father’s great hall to provide light after the cult attacked his father and kidnapped Dendera. He had used sorcery when trying to intimidate Andrasta after escaping the dungeons. Before then, he performed spells of fire and earth regularly at night with Dendera at his side so his father would not learn of their secret.

Plenty enough practice. Yet the two chances I had to use sorcery in a real fight, I failed.

The first had been at Thabit’s room at the inn. Rondel needed help, but all Jahi could do was grab a pot and smash it across the back of the cultist’s head. The second came at the river when Andrasta and Rondel fought bandits. He had truly wanted to help, but could not will himself to cast even the simplest of spells.

Jahi did not want to freeze up again and, if given the chance, be unable to help Dendera. But since the attack of the bandits, he had even greater trouble focusing.

And Rondel’s story of failure only made it worse.

His hands opened and closed in anger.

I can’t believe I’m struggling with a few twigs. It’s like I’ve regressed by years in skill. Enough. Focus.This is just something in your head.

He went through the ritual of calming himself once more, thankful it took less time. He reached out with his mind and felt the sticks with an invisible touch. He began the spell.

“Jahi!”

He jumped, kicking the sticks by accident.

“Oh. Did I scare you?” Rondel asked, walking up behind him.

Jahi turned, unable to mask his annoyance. He had drifted far from camp for both privacy and silence as the annoying sounds of Rondel and Andrasta sparring distracted him. “I was in the middle of something.”

“Sorry.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Andrasta and I were talking. We want you to start training with us using a sword. Andrasta can show you things that would help in a bind.”

Jahi swallowed his annoyance.
What did I expect after failing them?
“I don’t think that’s necessary.”

“You’ve seen Andrasta fight. She knows what she’s doing.”

“It’s not that. I was actually trained regularly by the captain of my father’s guard. He is my father’s best swordsman.”

“Then maybe you can show her a thing or two.”

“I appreciate the offer, but I’d really like to get back to what I was doing.”

“Sorcery?”

“Yes.”

“Any success?”

Jahi grimaced. “Not yet, but—”

“Well, then it sounds like you need a break to clear your head. What better way to do that than to do something physical and get the blood flowing?” he asked, voice lined with excitement.

Before Jahi could respond, Rondel grabbed his arm and yanked him up, all while talking about things inconsequential, making sure Jahi couldn’t get a word in while being dragged back to camp.

Andrasta stood in the middle of tall, wiry grass. Most of it lay trampled as a result of her sparring with Rondel. He noticed her weight shift to ease pressure from her wounded leg. Jahi had caught a glimpse of the wound and found it hard to imagine the woman training in that condition. Yet she barely showed signs of discomfort. She held her sword loosely in her grip. A shield was strapped to her other arm, hanging at rest. Her eyes narrowed as he approached.

Since the attack by the river, she seemed to hold him in higher contempt. He looked away from her stare, in part because of the intimidation of her gaze and in part because of his own embarrassment as he recalled her nakedness. Nearly everything about the woman frightened him, yet the image of her body, one he hadn’t realized existed beneath the layers of clothing and armor, pushed aside much of his fear and replaced it with something else.

A hand fell on his shoulder while another pushed the grip of a sword into his hand.

“You can use my sword,” said Rondel.

“Let’s begin before we lose daylight,” said Andrasta.

“You’ll do fine,” said Rondel, patting him on the back and looping another shield through Jahi’s other arm. They had taken it from the bandits that attacked Andrasta.

Jahi walked toward Andrasta, armpits itching with sudden perspiration. The closer he got, the faster his lingering lusts faded. The long scar that spanned Andrasta’s dark face reminded him of the savage stories he had heard as a child about the people from Juntark.

How did she get the scar?

He stopped six feet from the woman, then raised his shield and sword.

Andrasta did the same. “Do not hold back. I want to properly gauge your skill.”

“What if I hurt you?”

“You won’t.”

Jahi thought he blinked, but he must have taken a short nap. He never saw the sword that slammed into his shield, but he felt it. The thunderous impact shook not just his arm, but his entire body. He dropped to one knee, wincing at the weight of the blow.

“Go easy on him,” Rondel shouted.

“I am.”

Jahi stood slowly.

“If that was enough to break you, you’ve got bigger problems than I thought,” she said.

“I wasn’t ready.” He circled around Andrasta. “It is common for someone to say ‘begin’ before a session.”

“Is that what you were taught?” She snorted. “Here is your first lesson. Don’t expect a warning. It’s far more likely that someone will stick you from behind or rush in when you least expect it. Would you announce your intentions to the person you’re trying to kill?”

“We aren’t trying to kill each other. We’re sparring.”

“Practice should emulate the real thing. If you train at half speed then your body will only know how to respond at half speed. And then you’ll die.”

Fine.

Jahi grit his teeth, angry at the way Andrasta talked down to him, angrier still because he saw the wisdom in her words.

He bolted at her, thrusting and swinging with all his might. Though Andrasta barely moved from her spot, his attacks only found air. She did not dive or duck dramatically. A simple sway of her body or slight step to the side was all it took to make him look like a fool.

She’s toying with me.

The thought enraged him further. He screamed in frustration, hacking wildly. A blow finally struck something solid, Andrasta’s shield. It did not give as Jahi had hoped, but the contact felt good all the same. He drove his weight into the blow, thinking he would take advantage of her injury and use leverage to knock her down.

She didn’t budge.

He swung harder, faster, despite the ache in his arms. His breath came in desperate gasps. Rondel yelled something, but the minstrel’s raspy voice was lost in the fighting.

Andrasta stepped to the side, seeming to lose her balance. Jahi smiled, attacking the opening in the woman’s guard.

Now she’ll have to admit that I have some skill.

His arm had barely come forward when his back slammed into the ground, head striking a second afterward on the padding of the trampled grass. Staring at the gray-blue sky, he wondered what had happened.

Rondel appeared above him. “Are you all right?”

Jahi nodded, not wanting to move as the fatigue in his limbs hit him. “What happened?”

Rondel grinned. “I tried to warn you that she was setting you up. She did the same thing to me the first time we fought.”

“You mean she hadn’t lost her balance?”

“Nope.” Rondel offered a hand.

Jahi took it and stood. Andrasta waited across from him, still as a statue, completely calm.

“Well?” Rondel asked while looking at his partner.

“Worse than I thought. I’m not sure if his instructors were that incompetent in teaching him, or simply didn’t care what he knew.” She grunted. “It could just be that the boy is an awful student. He might be worse than you were, but then again you never had any training. We won’t be able to count on him in a fight. We’ll leave him in the next town we come upon and continue by ourselves.”

“I will not be left behind!”

“You’re a liability.”

“How am I a liability? I know sorcery. Neither of you do.”

“We need someone who can perform sorcery when we need it.”

“I can do that.”

“Then why haven’t you already?”

Jahi opened his mouth, but said nothing. Admission of a faltering confidence and inability to focus would not help his argument.

Andrasta spat. “You could have lit the cloaks of the men who attacked me. Instead, you did nothing. And just now, you lost all control and lashed out in a blind rage.”

“Gods, Andrasta. Lighten up,” said Rondel.

“He needs to know the truth. It’ll be hard enough trying to save the girl. Watching out for him isn’t something we can afford to do.”

“I want to help my sister. I need to help her,” he nearly begged.

“No. I thought you were a sorcerer. That was the only reason I didn’t care about your youth. But you can’t heal wounds, and you’re no good in a fight. You can’t even use a sword.”

Jahi seethed. Dendera was his sister, the most important person in the world to him and they were going to just drop him off somewhere and make him wait while they searched for her.

But, she’s right. What have I done to prove myself to them? Rondel might not be half the warrior Andrasta is, but he did kill that spearman. He can at least tend to wounds.

“What do I need to do to convince you I should come?”

Andrasta raised her sword. “Beat me.”

“You’ve already proven I can’t.”

“Not with a sword. With sorcery.”

“But you have no talent.”

Rondel clicked his tongue. “You can’t be serious, Andrasta. He could kill you.”

She shrugged. “I’ve fought sorcerers before, much stronger than him.”

“And what happened?”

“I’m here. They’re not.” She turned to Jahi. “Well?”

“Jahi, there is no shame in waiting for us,” said Rondel.

“Yes. There is,” he whispered. He dropped Rondel’s weapons. “I accept.”

Andrasta ducked behind her shield. “Begin when you’re ready. I’ll even let you strike first as you’re accustomed.”