Wayne Batson - The Rise of the Wrym Lord

“Remember, no shots at the head. Shinais may be wooden, but they can still do some serious damage.”

“That’s not very comforting either.”

Antoinette laughed. “Ready then?”

Aidan shrugged. “I guess.”

Antoinette held her wooden blade with both hands vertically out in front of her. Her back and neck were upright, perfectly straight, mirroring her sword. She flexed at the knees, one foot a pace in front of the other. She stood very, very still.

Aidan was about to speak, when Antoinette lunged forward with lightning quickness. Her wooden blade swept down with tremendous force. Aidan blocked it just in time. He sidestepped, but Antoinette pursued the attack. A combination high left chop followed by a low sweep at his right ankle. Aidan blocked and leaped, but the blows kept coming. Her sword moved with dizzying speed. Aidan didn’t have time to think of a counter. All he could do was block.

She brought the blade down again and again. And all the time, she pressed forward. Aidan backed up a step.

Antoinette slashed left, right, and left again. Then she drove forward with two thrusts in succession. Aidan stumbled and found himself on his back with the tip of Antoinette’s blade pressed into his chest pad.

“That is called kakari-geiko,” Antoinette said, helping Aidan to his feet. “You charge forward with multiple strikes, never letting up, so that your opponent must abandon his own plan of attack.”

“Well, it worked!” Aidan said, shaking his head. “And you said you were just okay.”

“So… maybe I’m pretty good. Go again?”

Aidan nodded. He wasn’t about to be taken off guard a second time.

They stood ready.

Once again, Antoinette launched forward, raining down blows. This time, Aidan was ready. He remembered that her slashing strikes came in threes with a slight pause between each series. He blocked and parried, playing defense and backing up-all the while counting her strikes. When she slashed the third time, Aidan snapped his wooden blade suddenly from outside in, driving her sword down almost to the turf. Maintaining control of her blade, Aidan let his elbow collapse in toward his side. Then he thrust forward before she could raise her sword to defend. The tip of his wooden sword stabbed into Antoinette’s pads, and she jumped backward.

“Ouch!” she said. “That was amazing.”

“It’s called a moulinet,” Aidan said, smiling. “A friend from Alleble taught me how.”

“And you said you were just okay,” Antoinette said, grinning.

“Maybe… I’m pretty good, then,” Aidan replied with a wink.

“Well, we’re even,” Antoinette said. “Next strike wins?”

Aidan nodded, and once again they clashed. Wooden blades cracked against each other as Aidan and Antoinette ranged all over the backyard. Antoinette changed her strategy, and her attacks didn’t seem to follow a pattern. She kept her slashes high, and Aidan couldn’t find an opening for a moulinet.

For a moment, Antoinette pressed forward, driving Aidan back. But he countered with creative, sweeping combinations that forced Antoinette into awkward defensive backpedals. No one kept an advantage for very long.

Aidan pushed the attack. He figured Antoinette probably had not faced too many left-handers, so he went one-handed with his blade and came at her from left to right. It seemed to be working. He drove her into a sunny patch of the yard, and her guard seemed to be weakening. A few more strikes, he thought, and then a moulinet!

But as Aidan lunged forward, his foot turned on a tree root, and he stumbled. He went to one knee, and suddenly things went into slow motion.

He looked up at Antoinette, and with the sun directly behind her, her hair became brilliant gold. Details fell into place like puzzle pieces. The lavender poncho, the piercing blue eyes, the golden hair-

“Gwenne…,” Aidan said aloud. His sword fell. But it was so fast that Antoinette did not see. She was already swinging with all her might to block Aidan’s next strike, which never came. Her wooden blade smacked Aidan across the nose, and he tumbled to the side with a yelp.

Antoinette dropped her shinai and knelt beside Aidan. “Oh, Aidan, I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! Oh, oh no, your nose is bleeding!”

Aidan sat up, clutched his nose, and tried to pinch shut the flow of blood. “Antoinette,” he said nasally. “I can’t believe I didn’t see it before! I met your Glimpse in Alleble. Your Glimpse is Gwenne!”

And though his nose throbbed, and the blood flowed freely, Aidan smiled. For it was clear that King Eliam’s plan was already in motion.

I think the bleeding has stopped,” Aidan said, tossing a red wad of paper towels into the trash. He joined Antoinette and her dad at the kitchen table.

“Y’know this isn’t the first time Antoinette’s done this,” Mrs. Reed said, sitting down with a cup of coffee.

“Mom!” Antoinette exclaimed.

“She and her father were sparring in the basement,” Mrs. Reed continued, ignoring Antoinette’s pleas. “The Broncos scored a touchdown-”

“We had a TV down there at the time,” explained Antoinette’s dad. “I looked over for just a split second to watch the replay, and WHAM, Antoinette got me with a round kick.”

“It was an accident!” Antoinette said.

“Boy, that was a gusher!” Mr. Reed said, absently pinching the bridge of his nose. “I probably should have seen a doctor. I bet it was broken.”

“Dad, I feel bad enough already, okay?”

“I had it coming,” Aidan said. “I shouldn’t have dropped my guard, but when I saw you-that way-I just kind of lost it.”

“So my Glimpse’s name is Gwenne?”

“Yes, but she’s a blond.”

“Y’know, my hair is normally blond. I just like to dye it red.” Antoinette tilted her head back and fluffed her hair like a model. “So tell me more about Gwenne.”

“She is one of the twelve knights who went to Mithegard. We went through a lot together. She’s… she’s my friend.”

Aidan hoped he wasn’t blushing. From the moment he said goodbye to Gwenne, all he could think about was finding her human twin. Now that he had found her, he didn’t know what to say. He certainly didn’t want Antoinette to know how he felt about Gwenne.

“If Antoinette enters The Realm,” Mr. Reed began, “what do you think her mission will be?”

“I don’t know,” Aidan replied. “It might be a mission like mine. I was told that there were many smaller kingdoms and cities still to be reached with the message of Alleble. But-” Aidan looked hopefully to Antoinette, “I was hoping that if you go, you might do something for me.” Aidan held his breath.

“Just name it,” Antoinette said.

Aidan felt a huge weight leave his shoulders. “I have this great friend, back in Maryland. His name is Robby Pierson. Well, when I left Alleble, I had a vision of him, and he was on Paragor’s side.”

Antoinette’s parents stiffened. The room seemed to darken. Only Antoinette seemed unaffected by the mentioning of The Betrayer’s name. “How do you know?” she asked.

“He was wearing the black and crimson armor of the enemy,” Aidan explained sadly. “And his eyes… they flashed red.”

“But it was a vision,” Mrs. Reed asked. “Like a dream? Maybe you’ve just been so worried about him that it affected your dreams.”

Aidan’s stomach tightened uncomfortably. “Sometimes they are dreams,” he said. “But other times they happen when I’m wide awake. They just come over me, and I see things. The events that I see… some of them have come true. I had another vision last night. I saw my friend Robby as an attendant to Paragor himself, and the two of them were setting something free from an underground cell. It was a monster. I’m afraid it will come true if someone doesn’t reach Robby for the King.”