Blade Archer ~ Ten
Nov. 12th, 2004 01:24 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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yrae
Aside from the occasional snide remark or shove in the back, Kael made it to the end of his first year of army training with few worries. By mid-Spring, the dagger master had decided, since Qinen was obviously not learning anything being with Kael, that he would be better off with someone of a lower standard, and likewise, that Kael should be partnered with someone wielding a little more skill. Or at the very least, someone who wouldn’t be intimidated by Kael’s assertive approach to dagger fighting.
That someone ended up being Niloren.
Both boys looked belittlingly at the master.
“Sir,” Niloren reasoned, “We’ve already been partnered for hand to hand combat.”
The master grinned, but there was no humour in the gesture. “Then you’ll be good friends already.”
“He’s not even a blade archer!” Kael protested.
“Still, he shows more promise than a good deal of them.” The master held up a hand to stop any further protests in their tracks. “Both of you: try to disarm each other, not kill each other.”
The boys slanted each other disparaging looks, then simultaneously swung their blades at each other in a clash of rusted iron and glimmering steel. What the dagger master’s plan was, or indeed, if he even had one, Kael couldn’t guess.
The result though, was that both boys were sent to the healing house when lunch rolled around, Kael considerably more smug than Niloren. He’d sustained far fewer cuts and grazes, and even then they were mostly superficial. If it weren’t for the gash on his upper arm he would not have bothered. As it was, it was only the fact that the healing house was just a short walk from the barracks that he ended up going, more out of curiosity than anything else. He’d been to one or the other of the smaller healing houses around Ni-Yana before, but never the huge white dome on the palace grounds.
There were five green-robed healers on duty that day, plus the head healer in a robe of the same cut, only in blue silk. One healer tended a man in the dusty red uniform of the palace staff who appeared to have a scolded hand, another healer was rolling bandages, and the other four sat on the stone blocks that served as beds, chatting happily.
The women all turned to the doorway when Kael and Niloren entered, then two detached from the group in the middle, catching bandages thrown by the healer who was rolling them up.
“Go a bit overboard with the training today, boys?” The healer approaching Kael didn’t have the gold band on her upper arm worn by the other healers, indicating that she was in training. She appeared to be about Elara’s age, two years older than Kael.
Kael shrugged. “Something like that.”
The healer held her hand out to a bed block, indicating that Kael should take a seat there. She laid the bandages beside him, then began wiping the blood from his arm with a damp cloth.
“You wouldn’t happen to be the same boy who keeps sending poor Qinen here every day, would you?” the girl asked, dabbing at his other minor cuts with the cloth.
“That’d be me,” Kael admitted.
The healer grinned, not looking up from her work. “It appears you’ve finally met your match, then.”
Kael cocked an eyebrow, glancing over at the wounded swordsman-in-training. Niloren shot a brief glare back at him.
“Wouldn’t think so,” Kael answered.
The healer merely laughed and shook her head, loose curls bouncing over her shoulders. Kael could clearly see her thoughts on her face: ‘Boys will be boys.’
“Naughty boy,” she chided, emphasising her words with a few slaps of her cloth on Kael’s right wrist.
He shrugged and gave the response he’d grown used to giving: “It’s a living.”
The healer put her cloth down and took up the bandage, holding Kael’s arm out so she could wrap it up. “Too much more of that living and you’ll not have a finger to count on.” She said it lightly, as though she were talking about cutting his hair or bruising his elbow.
“The thought had crossed me mind, yeah. When I start losing fingers, I’ll let you know.” He grinned overenthusiastically, then slouched, rolling his eyes.
“Now that was uncalled for. There’s no need to be sarcastic.” She slipped a pin into the bandage to keep it held together. “That should heal up in a few days. It will probably leave a scar, though I suppose one in a profession such as yours would know all about scars and bruises.” She smiled sweetly and patted his scarred wrist. “Play nice. I shouldn’t want to see another scar lined against those three the next time I see you here.”
Kael slid off the block, muttered a quick thank you to the young healer, then strode out of the healing house, not bothering to wait for Niloren. He’d be there a good deal longer, what with his multitude of slashes. Kael couldn’t help a crooked grin sliding over his face at that thought.
There was one bonus in having Niloren as a training partner in place of Qinen: Niloren definitely provided more of a challenge, and Kael was growing tired of having to hold back as much as he had been with Qinen. Even so, if Kael was going to switch partners at all, he would have preferred just about anyone over Niloren.
He shrugged, adjusting the bandage on his arm slightly and making his way to the hall where the palace staff ate lunch.
Kael skipped the Summer Solstice celebrations at the end of the year. There was nothing specifically for him to do this time, and since the first day of summer was heralded this time by whipping winds, he felt there was little reason if any to go.
On days such as these, Kael sat with his sister on the rooftop, legs dangling over the edge, surveying the hazy horizon to catch sight of an approaching sand storm. The sky, usually a sharp blue overhead and slightly murky on the horizon, was tinted a strange pink that would have been eerie, otherworldly, did it not happen so often in the desert kingdom.
Kael had always enjoyed going to the docks when the sky turned pink, smirking at the poor travellers from other kingdoms who took the pink sky as an omen. They stood on their ships and the jetties, shielding their eyes as they squinted up at the strange sky, then sneezing when some of the floating red dust got up their nose.
“Sand storm,” Elara said blandly, pointing out at eastern horizon.
Kael tore his eyes away from the willy-willy he had been watching to look where his sister pointed. Sure enough, there was a dark red smudge on the horizon, eating up the desert and the sky as it drew closer.
The two siblings slid down the ladder and gathered in the house with their mother and Ynuk, fastening the canvas flaps securely over the window and doorway. The richer people had wooden shutters to keep out the sand and wind, but Kael and his family had to make do with fabric.
“How big did it look?” Ynuk asked.
Elara shrugged as she set her back against the wall, preparing for a long wait. “We’ll be having dinner inside tonight, is my reckoning.”
At that moment, the wind outside began howling and screaming through any crevice it could find, so Kael couldn’t hear if there was any response. He yawned widely, wondering why he’d been so scared of dust storms when he was younger, then drew his dagger and began scratching at the earthen floor. Sandstorms were just boring now. The storms with rain, though far less frequent, were much more exciting. More often than not, thunder and lightning accompanied the deluge, and unlike the flying sand, rain didn’t hurt when it hit.
He looked up, aware that Ynuk had called out to him. His older brother held up his dagger, eyebrows raised in question. Kael shrugged and got to his feet. He vaguely heard Ynuk shout something that sounded like ‘Let’s see what the army’s taught ye,’ but the rushing of the wind drowned out most of what he’d said.
Kael shook his head. “Nothing,” he shouted, exaggerating his mouth movements so that even if he couldn’t be heard, his brother might have some chance of understanding what he’d said. Ynuk laughed in reply, then lunged forward.
After practicing with Niloren nearly every day since the middle of Spring, Kael had improved since he’d last fought his brother. His technique hadn’t changed a great deal, but Elara commented on his speed and reflexes when he and Ynuk had grown bored of the practice in an hour or so. It was always impossible to gauge time when the sun cast no shadows and the light of the day was in a state of perpetual twilight.
They eventually came to a mutual decision, decided upon more by their stomachs than any perceptible change in light, to have dinner. Since cooking would only have filled the small room with smoke, dinner consisted of flat bread and a piece of juicy dragon fruit, named for the strange green flaps that decorated the fruit’s red skin.
Kael licked the sticky juice and tiny black seeds from his fingers, wondering what to do next. There would be no point trying to sleep at least until it grew dark, and even then slipping into subconsciousness was unlikely.
Elara decided for him. She stood, walked to the wall opposite the window and retraced the lines of their makeshift target that had been gouged into the mud brick wall.
The family had a few rounds of that, with the loser each time having to gather the scattered daggers, but Kathani soon gave up on the idea, leaving it to her children, who each dropped out when fetching dropped blades became too much of a bore.
Kael blew up at his fringe and folded his arms behind his head, tapping his foot absently in the air. It was going to be a long, sleepless night.
~ ~ ~
Chapter~ 1700
Total~ 17 004
Time~ 2hrs, 40mins
Total~ 23hrs, 56mins
Notes~ For the curious, this is a willy-willy, kinda like a mini twister. Very mini. I believe the international/non-Aussie name for them is 'dust devil', but I like willy-willy better X3 Also~ this is a dragon fruit. We had one when we were in Singapore, but I've discovered they fare quite well in the desert as well as the tropics, so there you go.
That someone ended up being Niloren.
Both boys looked belittlingly at the master.
“Sir,” Niloren reasoned, “We’ve already been partnered for hand to hand combat.”
The master grinned, but there was no humour in the gesture. “Then you’ll be good friends already.”
“He’s not even a blade archer!” Kael protested.
“Still, he shows more promise than a good deal of them.” The master held up a hand to stop any further protests in their tracks. “Both of you: try to disarm each other, not kill each other.”
The boys slanted each other disparaging looks, then simultaneously swung their blades at each other in a clash of rusted iron and glimmering steel. What the dagger master’s plan was, or indeed, if he even had one, Kael couldn’t guess.
The result though, was that both boys were sent to the healing house when lunch rolled around, Kael considerably more smug than Niloren. He’d sustained far fewer cuts and grazes, and even then they were mostly superficial. If it weren’t for the gash on his upper arm he would not have bothered. As it was, it was only the fact that the healing house was just a short walk from the barracks that he ended up going, more out of curiosity than anything else. He’d been to one or the other of the smaller healing houses around Ni-Yana before, but never the huge white dome on the palace grounds.
There were five green-robed healers on duty that day, plus the head healer in a robe of the same cut, only in blue silk. One healer tended a man in the dusty red uniform of the palace staff who appeared to have a scolded hand, another healer was rolling bandages, and the other four sat on the stone blocks that served as beds, chatting happily.
The women all turned to the doorway when Kael and Niloren entered, then two detached from the group in the middle, catching bandages thrown by the healer who was rolling them up.
“Go a bit overboard with the training today, boys?” The healer approaching Kael didn’t have the gold band on her upper arm worn by the other healers, indicating that she was in training. She appeared to be about Elara’s age, two years older than Kael.
Kael shrugged. “Something like that.”
The healer held her hand out to a bed block, indicating that Kael should take a seat there. She laid the bandages beside him, then began wiping the blood from his arm with a damp cloth.
“You wouldn’t happen to be the same boy who keeps sending poor Qinen here every day, would you?” the girl asked, dabbing at his other minor cuts with the cloth.
“That’d be me,” Kael admitted.
The healer grinned, not looking up from her work. “It appears you’ve finally met your match, then.”
Kael cocked an eyebrow, glancing over at the wounded swordsman-in-training. Niloren shot a brief glare back at him.
“Wouldn’t think so,” Kael answered.
The healer merely laughed and shook her head, loose curls bouncing over her shoulders. Kael could clearly see her thoughts on her face: ‘Boys will be boys.’
“Naughty boy,” she chided, emphasising her words with a few slaps of her cloth on Kael’s right wrist.
He shrugged and gave the response he’d grown used to giving: “It’s a living.”
The healer put her cloth down and took up the bandage, holding Kael’s arm out so she could wrap it up. “Too much more of that living and you’ll not have a finger to count on.” She said it lightly, as though she were talking about cutting his hair or bruising his elbow.
“The thought had crossed me mind, yeah. When I start losing fingers, I’ll let you know.” He grinned overenthusiastically, then slouched, rolling his eyes.
“Now that was uncalled for. There’s no need to be sarcastic.” She slipped a pin into the bandage to keep it held together. “That should heal up in a few days. It will probably leave a scar, though I suppose one in a profession such as yours would know all about scars and bruises.” She smiled sweetly and patted his scarred wrist. “Play nice. I shouldn’t want to see another scar lined against those three the next time I see you here.”
Kael slid off the block, muttered a quick thank you to the young healer, then strode out of the healing house, not bothering to wait for Niloren. He’d be there a good deal longer, what with his multitude of slashes. Kael couldn’t help a crooked grin sliding over his face at that thought.
There was one bonus in having Niloren as a training partner in place of Qinen: Niloren definitely provided more of a challenge, and Kael was growing tired of having to hold back as much as he had been with Qinen. Even so, if Kael was going to switch partners at all, he would have preferred just about anyone over Niloren.
He shrugged, adjusting the bandage on his arm slightly and making his way to the hall where the palace staff ate lunch.
Kael skipped the Summer Solstice celebrations at the end of the year. There was nothing specifically for him to do this time, and since the first day of summer was heralded this time by whipping winds, he felt there was little reason if any to go.
On days such as these, Kael sat with his sister on the rooftop, legs dangling over the edge, surveying the hazy horizon to catch sight of an approaching sand storm. The sky, usually a sharp blue overhead and slightly murky on the horizon, was tinted a strange pink that would have been eerie, otherworldly, did it not happen so often in the desert kingdom.
Kael had always enjoyed going to the docks when the sky turned pink, smirking at the poor travellers from other kingdoms who took the pink sky as an omen. They stood on their ships and the jetties, shielding their eyes as they squinted up at the strange sky, then sneezing when some of the floating red dust got up their nose.
“Sand storm,” Elara said blandly, pointing out at eastern horizon.
Kael tore his eyes away from the willy-willy he had been watching to look where his sister pointed. Sure enough, there was a dark red smudge on the horizon, eating up the desert and the sky as it drew closer.
The two siblings slid down the ladder and gathered in the house with their mother and Ynuk, fastening the canvas flaps securely over the window and doorway. The richer people had wooden shutters to keep out the sand and wind, but Kael and his family had to make do with fabric.
“How big did it look?” Ynuk asked.
Elara shrugged as she set her back against the wall, preparing for a long wait. “We’ll be having dinner inside tonight, is my reckoning.”
At that moment, the wind outside began howling and screaming through any crevice it could find, so Kael couldn’t hear if there was any response. He yawned widely, wondering why he’d been so scared of dust storms when he was younger, then drew his dagger and began scratching at the earthen floor. Sandstorms were just boring now. The storms with rain, though far less frequent, were much more exciting. More often than not, thunder and lightning accompanied the deluge, and unlike the flying sand, rain didn’t hurt when it hit.
He looked up, aware that Ynuk had called out to him. His older brother held up his dagger, eyebrows raised in question. Kael shrugged and got to his feet. He vaguely heard Ynuk shout something that sounded like ‘Let’s see what the army’s taught ye,’ but the rushing of the wind drowned out most of what he’d said.
Kael shook his head. “Nothing,” he shouted, exaggerating his mouth movements so that even if he couldn’t be heard, his brother might have some chance of understanding what he’d said. Ynuk laughed in reply, then lunged forward.
After practicing with Niloren nearly every day since the middle of Spring, Kael had improved since he’d last fought his brother. His technique hadn’t changed a great deal, but Elara commented on his speed and reflexes when he and Ynuk had grown bored of the practice in an hour or so. It was always impossible to gauge time when the sun cast no shadows and the light of the day was in a state of perpetual twilight.
They eventually came to a mutual decision, decided upon more by their stomachs than any perceptible change in light, to have dinner. Since cooking would only have filled the small room with smoke, dinner consisted of flat bread and a piece of juicy dragon fruit, named for the strange green flaps that decorated the fruit’s red skin.
Kael licked the sticky juice and tiny black seeds from his fingers, wondering what to do next. There would be no point trying to sleep at least until it grew dark, and even then slipping into subconsciousness was unlikely.
Elara decided for him. She stood, walked to the wall opposite the window and retraced the lines of their makeshift target that had been gouged into the mud brick wall.
The family had a few rounds of that, with the loser each time having to gather the scattered daggers, but Kathani soon gave up on the idea, leaving it to her children, who each dropped out when fetching dropped blades became too much of a bore.
Kael blew up at his fringe and folded his arms behind his head, tapping his foot absently in the air. It was going to be a long, sleepless night.
Chapter~ 1700
Total~ 17 004
Time~ 2hrs, 40mins
Total~ 23hrs, 56mins
Notes~ For the curious, this is a willy-willy, kinda like a mini twister. Very mini. I believe the international/non-Aussie name for them is 'dust devil', but I like willy-willy better X3 Also~ this is a dragon fruit. We had one when we were in Singapore, but I've discovered they fare quite well in the desert as well as the tropics, so there you go.
no subject
Date: 2004-11-11 07:11 am (UTC)OMG they're in a desert! =O
no subject
Date: 2004-11-11 07:34 am (UTC)Pfft, willy-willy, dust devil, same~ dif ^^ I refuse to change my vocabularly just so the rest of the world knows what I'm saying =P