Michael Manning - The Line of Illeniel

Cyhan released the sword to fall beside the staff and idly brushed her punch aside. Almost without trying he slapped her across the face with his open palm. I saw her head whip to the side as she reeled from the blow. I was trying to rise but my legs seemed to be made of jelly and I struggled just to stay conscious. Marc seemed to be out cold.

Penny wasn’t giving up. She bore a large red hand print on one cheek, but she wouldn’t quit. Growling she swung at the burly warrior again. Moving lightly on his feet he let her fist glide past and slapped her again. “Good! You have spirit, I was afraid you’d be a shrinking violet,” he taunted her.

They had several more exchanges of blows. Well that might be too dignified a way of putting it. She swung at him and he slapped her… repeatedly. Every time she closed she caught another open palm across the face. She had red marks on both cheeks and as blurry as my vision was I thought she might have a split lip as well. She was watching him carefully though. The next time she attacked it was a feint, pretending to swing at his midsection. He started to move his feet but she planted her foot down hard on top of his and brought her fist up to strike him solidly in the face.

The blow hardly moved him. Cyhan stopped and looked at her calmly, “Excellent, you’re learning already.”

An inarticulate howl issued from Penny’s throat. I had to give it to her; the girl had an excellent battle cry. Without moving she struck again, but he calmly raised his foot, bringing hers off the ground. A small push and she went over backward to land hard on her derriere. “The lesson is over girl. We’ll continue more this evening after you’ve had time to recover your wits,” Cyhan turned away and walked over to check on Wallace who was starting to rise. “Sorry about that, are you ok?” he asked the older man as he offered his hand.

Before Wallace could reply a voice came from the direction of the gate, “Oh dear! Am I interrupting something? Again?” Rose Hightower stood in the open arch. I tried to explain, since I was the nearest to her, “Nothing to worry about Rose, we’re just getting the hell beat out of us,” but my voice didn’t seem to be working properly. All I got out was a gobbledy-gook of mismatched syllables.

Penny spoke up, obviously embarrassed, “Uh, hello Rose. We… ahhh…” She was at a loss for words.

“We were just having a lesson in hand to hand combat while ironing out some personal differences,” Cyhan answered for her. He was trying to wake Marc up as he spoke. “I think I may have hit him too hard. Anyone have some water?”

Hit him too hard? He had knocked him cold and then tried to use me as a battering ram. The warrior had a talent for understatement. “Msh goon keek err ash ooo bshtid,” I said clearly. I won’t bother to translate but you can rest assured it was a dire warning to him.

“Once you cool off you’ll rethink that,” Cyhan looked at me. He was fluent in ‘incoherent-rage’ apparently. Either that or he simply knew whatever I was saying must be a threat.

“What is going on here?” James Lancaster was standing in the yard. I hadn’t noticed his arrival but then my powers of observation weren’t at their best just then. It took several minutes of explanation to satisfy him. A bucket of water had roused Marc so he was able to answer a few questions. Eventually the duke got enough information to have an idea what had happened, “So you knocked my son on his ass…” He was giving Cyhan a hard look.

For his part the veteran trainer didn’t look the least bit embarrassed, “Yes your grace.”

“A week ago I might have had you flogged for such an insult,” James stepped forward and held out his hand. Cyhan took it and the two men clasped arms. “Thank you,” James said. I might have agreed with his sentiment, except that I had just had the sense knocked out of me.

Half an hour later we were all safely ensconced in the duke’s house, drinking tea and nursing our wounds. I had gotten the worst of it, my head still felt a bit dizzy. Marc was a bit unsteady as well, but Penny showed the most obvious outward signs. Both of her cheeks were red from repeated slapping and her lower lip was swollen. The looks she gave Cyhan across the table might have burned a hole in the wall. I’ve never understood how women do that, but having been the recipient of a few similar looks in the past I found it unsettling.

“My apologies for insulting you Mordecai,” Cyhan said, quite unexpectedly. “I spoke only truth, but I did it with the deliberate intention of testing you.”

“Being tested isn’t big on my list of favorite things,” I replied. “I hope you learned what you needed. I won’t go easy on you next time.” By that I meant I wouldn’t refrain from using magic against him. It was clear that the man was nearly invincible in physical combat.

He laughed, “I warned you to use magic at the start as you’ll recall. In any case I learned what I needed to know.”

Rose was intrigued, “And that was?”

“That he’s not afraid to take on a larger opponent, if he feels that he has been wronged. Many men shy from such a fight.”

I felt a bit better hearing that, till Rose continued, “Is that a good thing?”

Cyhan frowned slightly, “In most ways men are measured, yes, if he was to be a soldier or knight, certainly. As a leader, and as a wizard, it isn’t so good. He let his emotions take charge of him, overruling his better judgment.”

Rose grinned impishly, “Does that apply to the others as well?”

“Not at all,” Cyhan answered immediately. “They all fought for different reasons. Marcus for example, he didn’t step into the fight until it was clear I might seriously injure his friend. That’s a mark of strong loyalty and a sense of fairness. He didn’t intervene till it was clear I meant to take advantage of his friend once he was down. On the other hand, he fought as if we were in a boxing match. There are no rules in a brawl, such foolishness cost him a headache and a taste of dirt.”

“I’m not sure that it would have mattered, you fought like a lion,” Marc interjected. “I’ve never seen anyone move like that.”

“You have a lot of natural talent. You could be a real threat with some training,” Cyhan said. “Penny on the other hand, was my primary target for the test and I was pleased with the result.”

Penny bared her teeth at him. I swear the girl is half wild-cat. “You’ll be less pleased next time,” she warned.

“You mean in an hour?” he smiled at her.

She lost her fire, “What?”

“From here on we’ll be training every evening. While we travel you’ll train during the rest stops as well. You showed some good instincts, a quick eye, and a lot of spirit, but you fight like a child. That must change.”

“I don’t understand why she has to be trained like a soldier,” I put in. “We can form the bond without any need for that.”

Cyhan raised one eyebrow, “It has everything to do with the bond, but not for the reasons you might think.” He stood up, “Follow me; it’s time for your second lesson.”

I winced, I had a feeling this would hurt.

Back in the yard Penny and I stood side by side, for some reason he wanted us both there. I stared at him uncertainly, “Alright, so what do you plan to teach us, oh wise master?” My sarcasm was legendary. It didn’t seem to faze him though.

“Let us assume, for the present, that you and she are already bonded. Why do you think that Anath’Meridum are taught to fight?” he said.

“Presumably to protect their wizard from unscrupulous thugs,” I said, giving him a pointed look. “But I don’t need someone else’s protection. My magic shields me more effectively.”