Page 32 of Sea of Stars

“Yes, I was testing to see if you were listening. That was unexpected, yes? I told you to be ready for the unexpected!”

“I won’t have to worry about Mortwar. My own grandfather is going to kill me,” I mumbled to myself. I was about to pick up the sword on the ground, but I paused. “Why is it stained with blood?” I asked in disgust.

“It’s lucky to have blood on your blade. It makes your opponents think you’re good.” He smiled broadly and I noticed he had a few teeth missing. “I used to train the divinare royal guard. I should be able to make a sword fighter out of you."

I picked up the heavy sword and held my arm out in front of me, pointing the tip toward Achates.

He hobbled over to me. “Wrong!” he yelled and whacked the sword out of my hand. “Always keep your elbows bent,” he instructed. “It’s okay to point your sword at your opponent, but don’t stretch your arm out like a fool. You won’t be able to get enough force behind your swing if you leave your arm flopping around in the wind.” He showed me an example of an outstretched arm thrusting, and then pulled his arm close to his body and thrust it forwards. “See the difference?” he asked.

I nodded my head and practiced a few times. I pretended I had a partner and turned and slashed and turned and slashed again.

“Wrong!” Achates yelled again, and hit me in the back with the flat part of his sword. I fell forward, barely getting my arms in front of me before I hit the ground.

“No need for the fancy twirls, girly. No one’s looking at you to see a show. They just want you dead. And you’re leaving your back exposed.” Achates snickered at me as I held my back getting up. “Oh you’re fine, it’s not like I used the sharp part,” he said sarcastically, showing me where the sword was sharp.

“I know where the blade is,” I said defensively.

“Well come and show me then,” he said and walked outside. I followed him out and blinked, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the bright sun. I walked past the large hut, lifted my hand to shield my eyes from the sun, and stared out in the distance. Far away, the yellow grass eventually turned into tan dirt. As far as I could possibly see there was a whole expanse of dirt. “Is that the desert you mentioned?” I asked Achates. I remembered seeing the Tragere Desert from the maps. “I’ve never seen one before.”

I felt the butt of his sword jab me hard in the back and I fell to the ground. “Again you’d be dead,” he laughed. “Always try to make sure your hair falls on your back so you can hear enemies approach from behind. Sometimes you’ll face many opponents at once.” He grabbed a handful of his beard and tossed it over his shoulder.

“Ow,” I moaned slowly standing. “I did hear you. I just thought you were coming over to talk to me,” I said, rubbing my back.

“Then you have forgotten the first lesson,” he said, shaking his head. “Now let’s actually start practicing.”

Achates crouched down into position and pointed his sword toward me. I mimicked his stance and studied his movements.

“A tall beast like Mortwar will have a longer reach than me.” I took advantage of him talking and took my first swing.

“So you’ll have to be quicker than that,” he said, as he stomped on my blade, pulling me to the ground. Swiftly, he whacked me on top of the head with the flat part of his sword. “Much quicker,” he added as he hoisted himself up on top of a barrel.

“Mortwar will be even taller than this I assume,” he said. “Try and fight me,” he mocked.

I walked over to the barrel. Standing on my tiptoes, I swung my sword at Achates.

“Wrong!” He yelled, as he hit my sword hard, pushing me backwards, and knocking me off my feet. “Keep the soles of your feet on the ground or you’ll lose your bal

ance. I know the sword is heavy, so it’s important to keep your balance or you’ll fall over. Falling over is not good in a battle,” he giggled. “That’s a good way to lose your head.”

I scrunched up my face in pain. Achates got off the barrel and came over to me. He reached out his hand to help me get up. When I went to grab it he swished his sword quickly to my throat. “And never trust an enemy with a helping hand.”

Chapter 12

I hugged my knees close and stared out towards the desert. It was hot, even though the sun had almost set. I could see the moon despite the fact that it wasn’t dark yet. It rose above the mountains to my left. I thought Augury would be back by now. Several days had passed and there was no sign of her. I rested my chin on my knee. The desert was a whole expanse of nothing. That meant there was nothing to keep my mind from wandering.

After being repeatedly beaten by my very agile grandfather, I was at least starting to learn. I felt stronger and the sword seemed lighter. Achates told me I was a fast learner, but I wasn’t sure I believed him. Although, it had been a few days since he was able to bop me on the head. The problem was my lack of desire to have a sword fight. All those years ago I had made a promise to my mother that I wouldn't let darkness enter my heart. I kept trying to tell myself that my desire to kill Mortwar was to save any other divinares he might soon slaughter. But that was a lie. I was seeking vengeance against Mortwar for killing Jeremody, Swishel, my friends, and other innocent divinares. And vengeance was the epitome of darkness, wasn't it? If I did the right thing for the wrong reasons, did that make it okay?

I looked down at my sword. At first Breghton had been a great source of motivation for learning how to use it. But now I pictured Breghton's face and felt no anger. I just felt sad, sad that I had trusted him and sad that I was even wasting my time thinking about him. I thought that he liked me, and for some reason I had wanted to cling on to that feeling and not miss out on it again. My naiveté and his stupid charming looks made me not see that his feelings were just lust over the idea that I had the gift of the Moira. He didn't really like me. If he had, he never would have left me. At first I wanted to storm the divinare castle and tell everyone of his lies, but now I couldn’t imagine doing such a thing. It was humorous to even picture Achates and me charging the gates. I laughed out loud and the noise sounded strange and unfamiliar.

I briefly had the idea that I should return to the Iron Gates and battle Mortwar. I knew that I was running out of time to free the captured divinares. The image of him whipping the babies couldn't be erased from my mind. But at the same time, the notion of attacking Mortwar was even more preposterous than storming Divinoira. I wasn’t going to be alive much longer. Why should I rush my death? It would take Mortwar a while to find me here. I leaned back and put my hands beneath my head. The sky was rapidly darkening. What I needed were more divinares on my side. I thought about Lyntel trying to gather humans to fight with me. I really hoped I would see him again.

It began to dawn on me what I really needed to do, but I didn’t want to think about it. I didn’t want to make the idea real. I needed the divinare castle and everyone in it to be on my side. It was the only chance I had of surviving Mortwar’s impending attack. I didn’t want to die, I wanted to be the one that killed Mortwar. It didn't matter that I had a few dark reasons for murdering him. His death would be a good thing for all the divinares. The morality behind saving innocent lives far outweighed a few evil thoughts of vengeance. If I was ever going to be a leader, I needed to stop doubting my decisions. Mortwar would die for his crimes. But in order to survive his attack against me, I would have to ask dozens of divinares to have the courage to fight and possibly die for me. It was a selfish thing to do, but wasn’t that expected of a ruler? From the stories I had heard it was definitely expected of a divinare ruler.

The stars began to burst into the night sky. They twinkled and shone. Then suddenly they blurred and looked like they were moving. Tears streamed down my cheeks and my vision continued to grow blurrier. The last part of my new idea was the hardest to grasp. I wiped my eyes and sat back up, staring into the darkness. I needed to kill Breghton.

But I didn’t have the courage to talk to Achates about my worries or my plans. That’s why I had excused myself after dinner and snuck up on the roof in the first place. I turned to slide off and that’s when I saw the light. It was very dim and far off in the distance toward the right. I didn’t want to stay there and stare into the abyss and I didn’t want to go inside and hear Achates fret through the night. I picked up my sword, which always lay beside me now, and leapt lightly off the roof, not making much of a sound at all. I glanced into the window of the small house and saw Achates casually talking to himself in the kitchen. I turned away from his strange behavior and trudged toward the light.

I was growing very tired by the time I finally arrived at the source of light. I made sure that my cloak was secure so that no one would notice the light emanating off my body as I approached the cluster of large houses. The village was dark except for a faint glow through an open window of one house. I approached the window cautiously, observing the strange dwellings. They were as tall as three divinare huts and built from wood. They were much too small for brutarians and more sturdily built than anything I’d ever seen behind the Iron Gates. And no divinare would want a house so tall. I had only met two humans in my lifetime, but I knew I was about to see more.

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