XIII
When school went back, the fencing season was ready to begin. On Fa'Diel, fencing isn't your traditional rapier-and-touché fencing, it involves spells.
Nase was keen on joining, as he had done it before, but I wasn't - the possibility of injury was my main reluctance. He persuaded me to put my name down for the trials, and Syoro Arak, the fencing master, would have been glad he did.
He called us out alphabetically - like many other languages, the "P" sound comes before the "Y" one - and Nase donned the suit. He was given a choice of swords, and had decided to go for the rapier. He had to do a small spar as well as a few techniques - but no spells - with Syoro Arak. Seeing Nase jump back and forth while swinging his rapier appealed to me…it seemed like poetry in motion. However, he was disarmed and was touched by Syoro Arak's rapier.
"He's good," Nase whispered to me.
A little while
later, I was called up to don the suit and have my own go. I was given a Yoshi
suit as a Yoshi head is about the same size as two humans'…as I recall, it was
a size or two too small, so it was a tight fit. I was
completely new to the sport, so I had to be helped along by
He told me to
bow, as was the custom, before getting into a ready position. Then the spar
began. I blocked him many times before a quick lunge saw me touch his arm.
Then, after a minute or two of clashing and blocking, I did what seemed to come
naturally. I did a swipe for his legs, and as I expected,
"Stop!" he said, and removed his mask. "That was absolutely fantastic, Dyluck-was-it?"
I was the only try-out who had disarmed Syoro Arak that day, as I watched. Nase congratulated me on "being a natural". The thought crossed my mind a few times that perhaps Syoro Arak let me win on purpose and was not so testing.
However, I was let into the fencing team, along with Nase. The first set of matches would take place in three weeks' time from the try-out. Training took place three times a week, and I grew pretty confident in my skills.
It was also
about this time that I met the person who would eventually step into
Occasionally, we would get lodgers who would stay for a considerably lengthy amount of time. One of the longest, in my memory, was a whole year, but this person stayed for about a week. You'll see why.
It was a Manaholyday when he arrived - the day when, under law, accommodation at any inn was free. Naturally, I didn't have to go to school, so my parents had employed me to do some chores. I was wiping down a few tables in the bar when he arrived. Whenever someone did arrive, my parents would greet them happily, and if I was around, I'd have a quick look to see the new face. I looked up briefly to see who had arrived, and was surprised by the man's shape, colour and build - as I continued wiping, I kept him in the corner of my eye. I also listened in to the conversation between him and my father.
"I'm surprised that people of your kind are running an inn on this world," the stranger smirked.
"We moved here from Yamauchi about ten years ago," my father smiled.
"Heh. Well, I'm after a room, going to be having it for some time."
"About how long?" Reuben asked, opening up the book where he kept his bookings and the like.
"Until I find what I'm looking for."
As soon as I heard that, I knew that he was a rough adventurer.
"Well…what's your estimate, then?"
"A few months."
"Right…" my father said, flicking through the book to check ahead. "Seems all clear…yes."
"How much will it cost?"
"Sixty GP a week, includes laundry."
"Tell you what, I'll pay you seventy if I'm left alone."
There was some silence as my father thought it over. He was wondering whether or not he could trust the stranger, but decided to go along with it as an extra ten GP was an extra ten GP.
"Seventy it is, then. Could I get your name then, please?" my father asked.
"How come?"
"I have to record it in the book, company rule."
The stranger sighed and said, "Name's Multehx."
The people of Fa'Diel knew well that knowledge is power, so they had built extensive libraries in every city, town and village - Kippo being no exception. It was the library and the fact that Kippo was off the beaten track that drew Multehx to the Navel Falls View.
His behaviour astounded us. He would leave in time for the library to open, before returning at its close with books under his arm and disappearing into the room we had set aside for him. He never ate, and when my mother went up to change the linen, she found the sheets clean and not slept in. Naturally I heard about this, and it puzzled me greatly, so much so that my curiosity was soon overflowing.
The next Sylphidsday evening it reached its peak. Multehx had not returned from his time in the library yet, as it closed later on Sylphidsdays. While my parents were occupied, I took the key to his room from the master set, went upstairs to it, looked around to check if anyone could see me, and stepped inside.
I looked around the room before warily shutting the door behind me, which locked as it did. Books were placed in piles all over the room, what I had been expecting. However, my wariness was caused by what lay on the table in front of me: a silver gun.
The gun had found its way onto Fa'Diel, and had worked its way into popular culture as well. No legendary weapon had been made of it yet, but it had gained popularity with the filmmakers. So, I had seen guns before and knew their power, and often of the mentality that pulled the trigger.
Beside the gun were ancient-looking scrolls written in the Rhenzin script. As Rhenzin is the universal language, it is only natural that incantation of Mana should take place in it. I tried reading one, but the ink strokes clouded my head.
As I was studying Mana Development at school, I was being taught to sense Presences on the Field, but the skill wasn't as developed as it is today. However, I did feel one in that room, and was able to put my finger on it reasonably quickly. It was a black pendant, made from a shiny, perhaps metallic material in the shape of what looked like a rune. It lay on the table nearby. My curiosity got the better of me again, and I picked it up. It felt warm and started to heat up. Afraid that my hand would catch on fire, I quickly set it down.
Over
the rabble in the bar, I heard footsteps coming up the stairs - heavy
footsteps. I dived under the bed and put as much of myself in the shadows as
possible. There was the fiddling of a key in the lock, and soon Multehx walked in. He was a scary sight for a young Yoshi,
with the only resemblance to a human or Yoshi being his arms and legs. Crowned
by his golden "M", the rest was made up of his spherical
He sat down on the bed, its springs digging into my legs. I resisted the urge to cry a yelp of pain as I moved them. He must have made up his mind about something because he soon got up and went to the table. There were some scrabbling noises, and I knew he was picking up the pendant. I wondered for a moment if he had realised it had been touched, perhaps moved, but this thought was put aside as the room suddenly darkened.
I suddenly felt cold - it wasn't the type of cold caused by the air, but an eerie cold that suggested arcane things being afoot. Purple mist started to roll along the floor, and I was soon enveloped in it. It filled up my nostrils in the same way heated lubricant does - clogs the nose and deprives the lungs of oxygen.
The mist didn’t stop at my nose - it went into my throat and started to tickle it. I then felt a surge of Mana as a red light filled the room - Multehx's Rage Force's flare, which I didn’t know at the time. With the last of the mist, my throat and lungs could no longer cope.
I coughed.
Suddenly, the light in the room returned to normal, and Tehx's breath had the sound of fear in its aspirations. He started to back away from the bed as I coughed once more, now cowering.
Silence reigned for about fifteen seconds, before he leapt for the table. Another scrabbling noise and a leap to the side later, there was a small explosion followed by a shower of foam and metal springs. I was crouched up in a ball with the remains of the bed around me, whimpering. A tear or two started to trickle down my cheeks.
"Don't hurt me…don't hurt me…" I begged in a whisper urgently.
I could see that he was standing with his heel against the door and his gun pointed at me. His arm was quivering. I gave a moan of fear and shut my eyes tightly.
"OK…inn kid…you saw nothing…" he said shakily.
I was surprised that I could understand what he said…it wasn't Pandoran to my ears, but it was in my head. I realised he was speaking in Rhenzin.
I began to shake myself and continued my pleas.
"You saw nothing."
Nothing could be heard for a while, except the noise from the bar, which had masked his gunshot. I tried to think of my ways of escape, and decided that I would distract him.
I shakily pointed my finger and fired a jet of water, but my brain would not put my legs into motion.
Gulto, I'm going to die, I thought.
His reply was an incredulous "That…was…pathetic! Parlour tricks?!"
I'm dead, he's going to shoot me…
To my surprise, he put his gun in his jacket, folded his arms and leaned back against the door. I thought that this was some kind of trick - he could have hastily taken it out again and fired.
"You're real green…aren't you?" he asked calmly, with a mocking sense of pity. "Not cut out for the adventuresome type."
My nerves settled down slightly, and with a sniff, I sat up. I kept my eyes on where he had put his gun. Time seemed to pass really slowly.
"Lemme guess," he started, seeming to what would have been to raise a brow, "you're some magic-inclined green behind the gills rookie who doesn't even have a weapon?"
"I…I-I learn m-magic a-at sch-oo-ool," I whispered, struggling to make my words come out in Pandoran, hoping he'd understand. "I-I als-s-so f-fence…"
He smirked and chuckled, a sign he did.
"Lizard," he said condescendingly. "You're no match for me, you know."
"Y…yoshi," I replied.
Yes, it always has been like this between us. Even from the beginning.
"No, lizard," he snapped. "I don't think you're a full member of the species until you prove you are."
Like with Keroco, I started to sob.
He let out a frustrated sigh and turned his attention to the chest of drawers beside him. He smiled sardonically.
"My God, what kind of hole is this?" he asked, in a mock innocence of asking the powers-that-be, but actually bullying me. "Filth everywhere, dust is rampant," he said as he ran his finger along the chest of drawers, inspecting his fingertip at the end, "in the middle of nowhere? Pfft, I've slept in better alleys…"
He was starting to pluck at my nerves, and he knew he was. I sobbed louder in reply, the prompt for his next string of insults as he inspected the doorframe.
"What shoddy workmanship! Someone does a lousy job maintaining this relic of a hotel! And seriously, who folds the bed sheets? I know military men missing their faces who can fold one better!"
Amid my bawling, a fire was ignited. I released a small growl. Satisfied, he continued.
"And those dolls downstairs are cute, though," he said, walking along the other side of the room from me. "I like the fire thing, the tree thing, and that fat blue thing. Of course, they're too foolish looking to be more than child's toys…"
He was insulting the Elemental Shrine, and tied in strongly with that was my brother, as a candle had been placed on it in his memory. It was the last straw, and he finally got what he wanted.
I leapt up and tackled him from behind. I punched the top area of his head, where it wasn't metal. He laughed, rolled, and tossed me off. I lay on the floor as he hopped up and stood over me with his arms akimbo.
"Oh ho!" he smirked. "The runt does have spunk in 'im! Well, come on, show me what your sorry little race can do!"
I hopped up and tried to charge him, but an expert sidestep had me crash into the wall behind where he was. After the rebound, he poked me teasingly in my back with his finger and snickered.
I rubbed my head and glared at him. My anger had increased from wanting to make him feel sorry for himself into bloodlust, so I raced from the room. My footsteps must have gone unnoticed as I ran into my room and opened my rapier case. I put it in my hand and charged out, down the hallway and back into Multehx's room where I tried to run it into his black flesh.
"Oh, I have something that works similarly here," he smirked as he backed away, pulling off a glove to reveal a black, clawed hand.
He knocked my rapier out of my hand, leaving a scratch mark where his claw came in contact. I picked it up and madly tried to swipe at him, the rapier making a low-pitched "whoom".
In the blink of an eye, he had backflipped, leapt up and grabbed the ceiling with his claw, before landing behind me. He then had the rapier out of my hand with his elbow, executed a backhanded catch then spun it around before wrapping his left arm around the top of my ribs, pinning me, and holding the blade to my throat. I gulped.
"Well…little boy want to play in the man's league, does he?" he said in a singsong, adult-to-toddler voice. "Well, perhaps he should learn to fight like a man and not a child."
He waited until I had calmed down before he released me, setting the rapier down on the table and leaning against the wall and folding his arms once more.
"So…what's it gonna be, kid?"
I swallowed once more and stared at him, too scared to answer - I was afraid that what I could have said could have killed me.
He shrugged as he was satisfied he would get no answer and walked over to the remnants of the bed. He sat down on a bedhead that was still standing, pulling out some device and working at it with a screwdriver.
My gaze followed him, and I stood there gazing at him. After half a minute, he looked up and said, "Still here?"
I took it as a sign that he was finished with me and didn't want to see me around anymore. I took the rapier from the table and slunk away to my room, setting it back in its case. I sat on my bed for some time, thinking about what had happened. Multehx was three walls away from me, an easy walk down the corridor, with a gun that he had tried to kill me with. I was scared, and I let my fear govern my actions.
I would run away.
I put all my essential items in my Mana Storage, and then opened my window. There was an awning just beneath it, so I stood on it and closed it again. I leapt off the awning onto the ground with a roll and some cursing of the pain, before running.
I did not care what direction I was running in, I just wanted to get away from the inn. I thought about going to the train station, but it would mean a wait, and a wait meant that I could be found by Multehx or caught by my parents - I didn't want to tell them why I was there and about being in Multehx's room and the broken bed.
My legs turned me eastwards, and I was soon on the road to Pandora. I thought about where I could go, and the thought of Nase made itself prominent. I had my rapier, so I had some re-assurance against monsters. I stopped, retrieved the case, took out the rapier, returned the case and continued running, holding it.
About twenty minutes after I began, I grew tired, and slowed to a jog, then a walk. I was now at the point of no return, so I continued my brisk walk. I prayed that nobody would pass me - it was now late at night, and nobody travels at that time.
I was continuing my walk when something leapt out of the bushes beside me. It was probably a rabite whose sleep I disturbed. My fear kicked in and my adrenaline started to pump my legs again. In the dim light, I found myself going through the nearby woods, twisting and turning to pass trees. I then tripped over a log, coming face to face with a lullabud. Threatened, it sprayed me with some sleep powder and backed off.
When I woke up as the sun hit my face, I found myself in a clearing. I got up groggily and sat down on the log I tripped over. I rubbed places where I hurt, before looking to see where the sun was exactly. Setting my mind's compass, I stood up to walk but the pain in my hips changed my mind.
I was injured, alone in a monster-ridden forest, lost.