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Lady Shang Keladry
Sorrel Rowan
Chapter Twenty-Two: Fire
Two days after the Ordeal
Have you ever stood in a crowded room and felt alone? Kel thought, a Yamani proverb to encourage stillness and serenity. She couldn�t help thinking of how ironic it now was. She wore plain clothes, her own this time and not ritual. Despite the glamorous court ladies present, the last thing on her mind was vanity. They were all things she had worn for years, practice dress made of cotton so light it was almost a second skin and almost weightless against her flesh. The trousers were simple, the same un-dyed fabric, simply hanging straight down, very wide, but not wide enough to hinder her movement. The tunic was again the most basic she owned, sleeveless, showing arms smooth and toned through years of discipline. It was long, reaching to below her waist and with a Bazhir styled hood, and again almost floated.
Everything she wore was designed to allow her the fastest speed and ease of movement. She wore no jewellery except her engagement ring on her left hand and a single pendant from her grandmother.
The duelling court itself was different. Placed parallel along the edges of the court were identical racks of weapons. The number and type of weapon were identical, but Kel�s glaive from the Black God and her glaive from her mother hung on hers. The sword she had been given by her first teacher, the Wildcat, its thin blade deceptively light to the eye, was also there. It was now cleaned, bearing no signs of the battle at Mindelan. Her Yamani stars, throwing daggers, mace, axe � and entire armoury was in the court.
Kel started her stretches, painfully aware of the people watching from the balconies of the duelling court. Eda had been right - almost the entire court was there. All her friends had also come, not to mention her entire family - Anders, Conal, Adie and Orie were all in the balconies with the monarchs, Roald, Shinko, Neal, Yuki, Jodai, Maggur, Eda, Hakuin, Raoul, Buri, Alanna and her husband, Sir Myles, Daine and Numair and even Lord Wyldon had decided to watch. Kel had no idea what to make of that - the formidable former training master had travelled from the northern border to observe, as he wasn�t strictly needed anymore, but Kel had to wonder at his motivations.
Trouble didn�t respect borders anymore, the immortals were everywhere. With the falling barriers, the absence of the machines was a relief - albeit an unexplained and mysterious one.
Dom was there, of course, smiling tightly down to Kel. What would I do without him? Kel wondered idly as she stretched her left leg. A part of her was shocked that she was so reliant on anyone else, but the rest of her was perfectly happy, considering the person in question was the man she loved.
Laila was also on hand, or in hand, Kel thought with a grin, with Evin. The two had became a firm couple overnight, well, to be fair, in two weeks. But it was still something that raised quite a few eyebrows - not that the blond commander or brunette healer cared.
As she looked the older man she would fight over, the bud of fear that Kel had crushed came into full bloom. The Snake was a very tall, lithe man with obsidian black hair and eyes that matched. He was not the sort of man that anyone would point out as a fighter, but Kel knew from deadly first hand experience just how proficient he was. He wore similar attire to Kel, only his was black and tight, made of a much less serviceable material. On his bare arms were encrusted silver circlets of snakes, seeming to slither up shoulders.
Looking up from where he sat casually, he raised his glass in an ironic toast, eyes totally opaque and unreadable. Kel nodded tightly, keeping her feelings on a tight reign and silently blessing the Yamani people.
Well, with Jodai, Neal, Laila, Alanna and Duke Baird here, its not as if we�ll be short of healers! Kel thought giddily, again forcing her childhood fear to the pit of her stomach.
Eda was walking over to her. Kel stood, her stretches now finished. She was as ready as she would ever be.
Only the Shangs were allowed to communicate with Kel now, she had entered the ritual phase of the trial - she could still speak, but only to another Shang.
Kel didn�t mind this too much, she had been sure to say everything that she wanted anyone to know the day before. She refused to think of it - or the letters she had written - as goodbyes, only as a just in case.
She remembered the letter she had left to Dom, quite probably her fifth or sixth attempt.
Dom - Thank you for helping me keep my sanity and being everything to me. I love you. I always will.
Forever, Kel
It was as much as she could bring herself to write - the things she and Dom said often enough, but she had to know that he would hear it one last time if she died tonight.
Eda was speaking. �� and queen agreed to witness. No one will argue with that.�
Dazed, Kel looked at her numbly. �Uh, of course, yeah, sure.�
She looked at her quizzically. �You didn�t hear a word I just said, did you?�
�Of cour- no, not really. What was it?�
Eda sighed and shook her head with an indulgent smile. �Their majesties agreed to witness for you. And I�m your Shang witness, Violetta seconding me.�
Kel simply looked at her before hugging her and whispering a desperate �thank you�.
A herald struck a bell.
Again, Eda smiled. This time it was tight and didn�t reach her eyes. She nodded to Kel and murmured the Shang greeting - in the same lost language as the pledge - �lana mastul.�
It meant all sorts of things - hello and goodbye when directly translated.
Shangs only ever used it to mean one thing - �find your path.�
Taking a deep breath, Kel walked to the centre of the court, facing Rayjan defiantly. They both held out their hands to signal that they were unarmed, then backed away from each other. Rayjan nodded and walked to his rack of weapons. He took down a sword.
Kel nodded, thinking he was a fool to pick his favoured weapon first. She went to her rack and took down the long bladed sword. Then she returned to the centre, standing loosely, her sword in her left hand. The two looked at each other then crossed blades in the accepted way to begin combat.
Rayjan looked at Kel, his eyes boring into her. �One,� he whispered. In the silence, everyone heard him.
�Two,� Kel replied evenly. They both took a breath and Kel felt him tense for the battle.
They spoke together.
�Three.�
His blade whipped out from under hers and aimed directly for a slash through her knees. Kel lunged back, prepared for this, and held her sword horizontally, the steel ringing when it met.
The next strike was hers, she parried and spun, her sword coming at him from the opposite side towards his unguarded left. He had no choice but to flatten himself to the floor of the court to avoid her blade.
He stood, rolling to the ground five paces to the right of where he was and charged. Kel parried again, blocking and striking.
So it continued, until Kel saw an opening to end this incredibly long sword fight. She knew that he had not expected her to hold him this long, he was rapidly getting sloppier and more desperate.
In his time teaching, he had gotten complacent, Kel thought. What other explanation was there for her being able to hold out this long?
Feinting a direct thrust to the thigh, she brought her sword up under his in a butterfly strike, her sword snaking through his guard until it landed to touch his throat.
They froze. Kel felt the chill touch and looked down very carefully. His sword was levelled at her abdomen.
It was declared an even match.
Eda was stunned as Kel whirled and slashed, even more stunned when she held the Snake to a draw. He was well known in Shang as the best with a sword, and Kel had almost beaten him.
Not that the contest was intended to be a duel, that wasn�t the point. But still� Eda almost grinned when announcing the result. The Snake was not a very happy person. He looked positively venomous.
Kel took a drink of the canteen offered gladly. One round down, and she knew what was next - the unarmed combat. This would be a challenge, it was the most difficult area of every Shang discipline - and a full Shang would have to be outstanding in it, especially one who taught at the Shang training itself. This round would not be a contest of arms, they would spar as a timer counted in front of the court and the Shang witness� would judge it in private. This was introduced because the Shang they faced soundly beat almost every adept.
At least there�s less chance of a lethal blow in unarmed, Dom thought. But he knew it wasn�t true � the Shang knew how to kill without weapons.
She only allowed herself one look at Dom, who smiled, trying not to show his worry. Her smile was just as tense.
She entered the arena once more.
They stood, facing each other. They crouched into identical guard stances; again glaring at each other as the Master this time gave the count.
�Three!� Violetta clapped as she spoke, and it was the clap that Kel and Rayjan struck on.
Their limbs were immediately blurs of motion, blocking, kicking, pivoting.
Rayjan lunged for Kel, trying to throw her, and Kel aimed a fierce kick at the back of his neck as she rolled over his back. He dropped her and she swept another kick to trip him as he leapt over it.
They were spinning, tossing, losing all sense of time in the rhythm of the spar. Kel forgot where she was, when she was, who was watching, even who she was fighting in the intricate dance of Shang combat.
Jodai, watching, almost imagined a pain in her own stomach when Rayjan kicked Kel in the abdomen; it had looked that fierce. Strangely, both of their faces were becoming blank; the rivalry was vanishing as they fought faster and faster, performing moves that no page was ever taught.
She was soon reaching into the depths of her repertoire as she flipped to avoid a punch and kick that happened almost simultaneously. She didn�t hear the muffled �oohs� and �aahs� that the watching crowd gave, entranced by the fighters.
Then a bell sounded, chiming through the arena. In mid throw, Kel dumped Rayjan onto the mat. Glaring as he stood, he too bowed towards the platform that the witnesses sat on.
After another canteen of water � half was poured over her head, half was drunk � Kel took a breath that shuddered. This was the final round of the fight. It wasn�t a contest, but she had to win. It was a personal matter of pride.
After a final look and smile around the balconies, Kel walked to the center of the arena for the last time. Shang fights were not supposed to be to the death, but many adepts had died in the process. The combat was considered more dangerous than the ordeal itself.
Eda stood between the two combatants. She looked at Kel. �You may choose the weapon of choice.�
Her words were formal, her eyes said don�t hold back.
Kel nodded and walked to the racks. There really wasn�t any question what she would pick; it was a rare weapon, and one that the Snake had no experience against. The only question was which one to use � the one her mother gifted her or a gift from a god. She picked up the black weapon, its deep mahogany contrasting darkly against the cream of her skin and clothes, the equally dark blade shimmering royal blue in the torchlight. When Kel touched the glaive, the emblem of a bird flared a deep red.
The room was silent, almost as though people were afraid to breath.
With an ironic grin, Rayjan went to the rack on his side and took a quarterstaff tipped with a thin blade � a halberd.
He knew I would pick the glaive! Kel thought, suddenly panicking as she brought her staff up sharply to meet his. He had been practicing, improving on staff just to beat her.
This time she could not forget the man who faced her, using the shorter length and lighter weight of his weapon against her. Instantly, the qualities Kel prized in the heavier, longer glaive were a disadvantage. He smirked, nimbly flicking her staff from her hand and tripping her.
As it was the final round, it was a fight not governed by any rules - the combatants could use what they wished, unlike the sword fight where the blades were a necessary. Kel took advantage of that now, rolling on the ground just before the sharp end of a halbred skewered her. Rising up into a complex flip, she took his weapon in his feet and it sailed into the air, while he fell to the mat from a kick she had placed in his gut in the unexpected move.
Jodai watched and felt a pang in the pit of her stomach for Rayjan, she knew how hard a Shang kicked from personal experience. Another followed. Jodai bit her lip and looked at her swollen stomach. Casually, she sent a tongue of white flame through her veins and into her womb.
The lighter weapon fell into his hands - but he was wary now. And Kel also had her own weapon again Jodai almost cheered as Kel brought it into an offensive position, striking with an intensity she could sense. The Snake was forced to defend, looking for an opening Kel wasn�t about to give. She watched as Kel attacked and blocked, her glaive whirling beyond that even a Yamani could wield it. Peppering her thrusts and cuts with hand to hand movements, Kel was rapidly gaining the upper hand.
What Jodai found drove the wind from her lungs with the next sting in her chest. Now?
Completing a spin, Kel reversed her glaive and met his blade on hers directly. Muscles screaming, she broke the moment and reversed direction again. Hooking his staff under her own, Kel didn�t repeat his twist action he had used to disarm her. Instead, she used her glaive to lock down his halbred and aim a clear-cut kick at his legs. A sharp hit behind the knees brought him to the ground, where Kel levelled her glaive at his throat.
The court was still, no one breathing. The only audible sounds in the packed room were the heaving breath�s of the two combatants, eyes boring into each other as they froze in place.
He raised his hands slowly in surrender as though his arms were filled with lead. Throat dry, Kel forced the word out in a strong voice, when all she wanted to do was flop to the ground in relief and exhaustion. Her knees threatened to buckle and she had an overwhelming desire to be in the grip of battle fever, that place where injuries and pain went unnoticed in the oblivion of combat.
She did not think she would be able to get any other words out anyway.
When she spoke, her voice was harsh.
�Yield.�
The Snake held her eyes with his own coal black orbs, darker than the space between the night stars. Their last confrontation ended when grudging respect filled those opaque eyes for an instant as he nodded.
Neither was listening as Eda declared the combat over, reiterating that Kel could not speak to anyone who was not Shang until her naming ceremony was over - she would face the world a full Shang or not at all.
Kel lowered her glaive to the floor with a sigh. It had been by far the most difficult - and lengthy - fight of her career, calling on reserves built up over years and rarely needed.
The Snake looked at her, a small smile on his lips. As though he knew something she didn�t. Kel offered him a hand up, which he took. �I�ll see you at the final ceremony,� he said, then walked away without a glance back.
A soft cry echoed through the emptying court. Laila was running to Jodai, Maggur holding her up. The healers who remained in the room followed - Alanna and Neal. Kel vaguely heard Neal tell someone to get his father, now!
She hadn�t realised it, but her feet were carrying her to the stairs of the balcony and to her friend. Someone stepped in front of her. �No, Kel! You aren�t permitted, not yet!�
It was Eda. Kel looked numbly at her, everything else driven from her mind by her sister�s call. Eda sighed and conceded. �I�ll go, and then I�ll talk to you - it�s a loophole.�
It was eternities before Eda returned. Walking down the stairs, she reported back to Kel with a grin. �She�s in labour, the healers convention are all saying she�ll be fine.�
Kel wilted in relief, and then remembered why she wasn�t there herself. Unblocking her throat, she asked, �Are you sure? What now?�
Eda looked at her oddly, then smacked her fore head and gave her a canteen of water to drink. Kel drank and drank and drank, then asked for a refill. She slowly took her hair down from the loose plait with a grin - she had survived the Shang ordeal, Jodai was having her baby, the peace treaty was signed and Kel was getting married soon. Jodai�s �perfect world� was coming together - only Blayce and that creature stood in their way. At that moment Kel felt like taking on the world single-handedly. Well, maybe not totally alone.
She looked up, and saw that Dom was watching her with relief, pride and care.
Kel smiled tentatively at him , and her smile widened when he nodded to her. She nodded back, a yes to the questions in his eyes - telling him she was fine.
Eda looked at her reprovingly. All innocence, Kel looked at her. �I didn�t say a word.�
�You said a lot more than that, youngster, now let�s get you named properly,� she said with a chuckle. Kel heard a familiar laugh and knew Dom was listening. Blushing, she let her old friend pull her towards the side chamber with only one look over her shoulder at beaming knight.
Evin stood outside in the corridor with Jonathon, Numair, Shinko, Yuki, Neal, Duke Baird and Maggur. In an old Yamani superstition, men in a birthing chamber were bad luck, unless special prayers and so on were made to Yamani gods after the birth. The labour was progressing as normal, or better according to the healers, and so Laila and Alanna evicted him. Jodai had smiled through the pain and told him they would be fine.
So now Maggur sat on a low bench, staring at the door his wife was beyond. Jon sat next to the younger king. An odd feeling of kinship had developed between the two, who were now firm friends. Like Jon and George, Maggur understood the burdens of kingship and the strain of accepting them at a young age. Maggur had only become king in his own right months before despite being enslaved on the throne for two years.
But what Jon also understood was the agonising wait while his wife was in childbirth, with four children of his own. Watching the blonde man stare at the door as though he could see through it if he looked hard enough, Jon couldn�t help but think of the births of his own children - Roald, Kalasin, Jasson, Lianne and Liam were everything to him.
Jon stretched a hand out, breaking the tense hush. �Sit, you�ll wear out the floor and I can�t really afford to replace it,� he ordered with a smile.
Maggur sat, running a hand through his now cropped blond hair. Jodai had begged him to cut it, and he had reluctantly given in, as a deal to make her do less in the lead up to birth. He had found it much more useful, actually, and it didn�t get into his eyes anymore.
Not that I�ll ever tell Jo that, he thought with a nervous smile.
He looked at Jon and saw understanding there, and relentlessly went back to pacing.
Shinko and Yuki sat together, hands intertwined as both their sisters underwent the events of their lives.
Kel sat in front of Violetta, Hakuin, Rayjan and Eda. If anyone had looked on, they would have thought she did not care less. That wasn�t really accurate, she did care - a lot - she had worked for this all her life. But she kept wondering, with a fizzy feeling in her stomach and a prick in her eyes, if she was an aunt yet.
The Snake, Wildcat and Horse looked to the Master. Violetta had been the Wildcat herself until she became a master, her grey hair still showing signs of tawny brown.
Violetta turned to Kel. The ritual words slipped from her mouth with the sound of someone who had done this before many times. However, the expression in her eyes was one of almost childlike excitement. She spoke the ancient language of the Old Ones.
�You have succeeded in our trials, and we accept you as our own. Do you enter our ranks freely?�
Kel nodded, a feeling gathering at the edge of her mind. It was a distant heat.
�You may love, live but you must teach and follow our code. You may give allegiance to whichever God or country you please, but know that you must always follow the path of right.�
Again she nodded, the heat brushing her fingertips gently, a caress. Time seemed to be running away, or was it Kel that was running to a place where time could not reach?
�You have a sacred duty to protect all, regardless of gender, creed or race, but your primary duty shall be that of every Shang from the days of the past to this moment and every Shang hereafter; to teach and pass on the wisdom you have gained to all.�
Yet another nod. The heat seemed to be slipping under her skin, weaving itself through her awareness.
Jodai looked at her husband as the healers slipped out of the room, an exhausted but dazed smile on her face. She seemed to be in awe of the tiny example of humanity she held in her arms.
Maggur was overwhelmed by the child - his child. He looked at his wife.
Their child.
�You will become one of us, a teacher of ways, and the remnants of the First of us all. You will know and watch as our brothers of the sand later the Gods walk and die as men. You will watch the Nameless Ones build and be confined.�
Something was happening. The whispering echo changed, Violetta speaking in multitudes of voices.
�You will become as ancient as the sand, as free as the wind and as intense as the tides.�
Eda and the others were watching Violetta strangely, shock written on their faces. They know something I don�t, Kel thought.
The multitudes spoke as one, a symphony of voices from all of time.
The heat was spreading, now it was a physical feeling.
�We light the fire within you, Lady Shang Keladry of Mindelan, and name you the Phoenix, carrier of the sacred blaze.�
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