James Somers - Heir to the King

Wynn leapt over the two warriors to come down behind Kale and immediately began his own barrage of strikes. Now the boy had to defend against both attackers. His kemsticks whirled around, furiously defending the warrior within from every strike. They were trying to push at him mentally as well, to expose a weakness, but he was already there waiting for them and pushing back.

His mind was somewhere else as well. The clouds above continued to flash periodically with lightening. He had practiced the technique only twice and had been successful only once, but it was time. Kale put his mind to raising a streamer off of the rock towering above them.

He maintained it mentally and hoped for a bite from the clouds above but none came and the fight continued on until Wynn and his father began to overcome his defense. Why wasn't it working?

Kale abandoned the current position and leapt away from the both of them to regain his stance, but neither of his elders was going to let up on him that easy. They leapt in turn to follow and stay on him. Still it was enough for him to change strategy.

As they came back at him, Kale launched first one then the other kemstick at his opponents while the other pair he carried leapt to his hands and no sooner touched his palms before they were thrown away as well toward the attackers. They blocked the sticks as they flew at them and the sticks in turn rebounded back to Kale, one after the other striking, then rebounding back to strike, with a pair per hand striking at each opponent like some mad juggler had been unleashed upon them.

Wynn had never seen such a fighting technique used by any Barudii. It was amazing to him how well the boy was controlling the weapons; all four of them in coordinated attack. Wynn dodged as he blocked, trying to keep from getting hit. Even though they were only ignited with fields strong enough to stun, he didn't want to lose, but they were getting battered hard now and without hands to guide them the flying strikes were less predictable to counter. Then it happened, as one got past and struck him in the thigh, the stunning current sent him to his knees and out of the fight.

Kale knew he had won as Wynn went down and he immediately concentrated all four flying kemsticks at striking his father. Tiet had already pulled his second kemstick into his defense and was furiously countering everything Kale was throwing at him.

Then somehow he was able to counterstrike at the handles of one pair coming at him, deactivating them. They fell to the ground as Kale quickly pulled back the other pair to his hands. Now the fight was on between him and his father. No more private sparring for fun and practice. Play time was over and Kale was determined to win in the trials today.

He had been maintaining a streamer now throughout the fight and had almost put it in the back of his mind when the weather decided to engage the bait. A lightening strike burst into the crater battlefield before anyone could react. It struck the rock nearby, but the current coming off of it managed to knock down both fighters. Kale returned to his feet quickly but he saw Wynn next to his father, who was not moving. He checked his vitals for breathing and heartbeat then a look of relief came over his face. He was still alive.

Kale was at his side in an instant and scared to death as he tried to help Wynn wake up his father.

"Wake up, Father, I didn't mean to-"

The boy was in a panic.

"Kale, I think he will be alright, but we need to get him to a med lab to make sure," said Wynn.

People had begun to come down onto the arena after the lightening strike. Within moments Mirah was next to Tiet who was trying to regain consciousness now but was still very weak from the electrical shock. Grod and Daooth, along with Estall, were all around them now as Grod instructed some of his warriors to get Tiet back to the med-lab within the compound.

"Wynn, I'm sorry I didn't mean to, it wasn't supposed to come so close."

"Are you trying to tell me you caused that strike?"

"It wasn't supposed to be like that! I threw up a streamer just hoping to…"

But Wynn was only half listening now. As he watched the Horva escorting Tiet to the med-lab he couldn't believe the inventive ability of his pupil. This was certainly not something he had taught him, neither the use of two pairs of kemsticks simultaneously or the ability to mask his presence while presenting others as decoys.

Kale was extremely powerful, perhaps the most powerful Barudii he had ever known. He watched him as his mother took him with her to go after her husband to the medical lab-and another being watched as well.

Lucin watched the boy through Estall's eyes as the mother led him away. He walked over to examine the strike point of the lightning, while people milled about on the crater floor. The boy was more valuable than Tiet, he thought. To gain him as a host would mean the ability to conquer even the king.

Lucin made his way quickly out of the crowd and onto his shuttle. It was time to get back to Baeth Periege and set a trap that would give him the boy.

Mirah checked over her husband who was now conscious but slightly dazed.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Mirah, I'm okay," protested Tiet.

"How many times have I told you not to argue with the doctor?"

Tiet gave up and allowed her to finish her examination.

"Well, you do seem alright," she said finally.

"I just can't believe Kale actually caused that strike. It's amazing!"

"I don't think he sees it that way. Kale was terrified while you were unconscious. He thought he might have killed you."

"Yes, but the fact that he could even have come up with it. That's great."

When Tiet was dressed again after finishing the exam, he made his way with Mirah out to the waiting area where Wynn, Kale, Grod, his son Emil and Daooth were all anxious to see how he was doing.

"Well, you appear well enough," said Wynn.

Kale didn't look directly at him. He was ashamed of his actions and the danger he had put his father in.

"It just took the wind out of me. I've been given a clean bill of health by the doc here," he said smiling at Mirah.

Kale stepped to his father now, "Father I'm really very sorry for hurting you, it really was an accident…I didn't mean for it to strike so near, just to draw your attention and distract you."

Tiet smiled full of parental pride. Then he looked back to Wynn.

"Wynn, what do you think? What is your judgment of this candidate's performance in the trials-should he progress or regress for further training?"

"I would most definitely recommend that this candidate progress to the status of Barudii Warrior," said Wynn with a delighted grin.

Kale smiled noticeably from his downcast face and cast a gleeful look back to his friend Emil at his own father's side. Tiet laid his hand on Kale's shoulder.

"Son, I'm very proud of you. Don't think you'll be perfect and never make a mistake. Mistakes are to be learned from; you'll always be my son and I'll never stop loving you."

Kale grinned openly then hugged his father as hard as he could, which Tiet noticed was pretty hard. His boy was no longer a boy, at least not by Barudii standards; he was now setting out as a man.

"Well, Mirah are you sure you still want to put up with Emil for a week?" asked Grod.

"Of course! We're just beginning to celebrate. How could Kale ever enjoy it without Emil around?"

The two young men grinned at each other again.

"You two go on ahead and get Emil's things. We'll meet you at the transport."

"Yes, Mother."

Emil looked to Grod who nodded his approval, then he went off with Kale to the boy's quarters to fetch his things. This was a time of celebration; it was customary for the boys to go out on their own for an outing after the trials were passed, and they were eager to get going. They were planning another surprise upon their return and they needed just a little more time for their final preparations before unveiling it.