Chris Wooding: The Fade

The arena sat atop an elevated plateau on the floor of the cavern, overlooked by other buildings and gardens on the slope behind. It was little more than a gravelly circle, fringed by a wall of rocks that thrust upward like broken teeth. The stone was heavy with veins of bright minerals, rhodonite and clinoclase and celestine, their surfaces glittering faintly. There were three entrances to the arena, gaps in the rock leading to downward-sloping paths. Lanterns stood on poles to boost the natural light.

The other students ringed the arena, dressed in the plain grey robes of students. Several Masters were here to observe, clad in crimson and wearing the insignias of their station. I spotted Master Allet as I entered: head shaved, nose hooked, face heavily patterned. He was wearing a scowl, as ever.

Rynn was waiting for me. He was six spans high already, and still growing. His body was bulking out fast, and he was much heavier than I was. I was a little over five spans, and the only thing still growing on me were my breasts and hips, neither of which were going to do me much good in a fight.

But I didn't care about any of that. As soon as I laid eyes on him, I wanted to scratch his eyes out. I wanted revenge for the instability he had introduced into my nicely ordered life.

Don't you see what you're doing to me? Are you so stupid? I wanted to shout at him, but I held it back. Saved it. I'd deliver that message in pain.

The combat was unarmed. Later, we'd progress to mock weapons, and later still we would spar with real ones; but for now, it was hand-to-hand. I was faster, he was stronger.

Master Allet brought us to the centre of the arena, and there we faced each other. I could see the uncertainty on Rynn's face. Fighting a girl went against every instinct he had; fighting me was worse. I caught a flicker of shock as he found malice in my gaze. It took him back a little. Good. That was my advantage. But then his own gaze hardened in response, and I saw his pride reassert itself. The only thing worse than fighting a girl was losing to a girl.

'If I suspect either of you are fighting below the very best of your abilities,' Master Allet muttered, 'your training at the Academy will end here. Am I clear?'

'Clear,' we both said at the same time.

'I'll end the match when I see a winner,' he said. He stepped back, and we moved apart after hastily sketched and obligatory gestures of respect. The arena was silent. My senses crackled. I couldn't wait to be at him.

'Begin!'

I attacked in a flurry, hoping to overtake his defences with speed while he was still unsure of me. No good. Though his moves were slower than mine, he flowed backward to match my advance. Somehow my kicks and strikes hit only forearms and shins, and were knocked aside.

I sprung back before he could mount a counter-offensive, but he didn't. He was measuring me, maybe. We circled each other, searching for an opening. I was plotting my next strikes. Strike high and low and wide. Spread them all over so he's forced to move quick to stop them all.

I went in again, flashing a kick at his leg, jabbing at his forehead, turning an elbow towards his ribs. Each attack met only the meaty impact of a blocking limb. Then I felt something like a stone battering ram drive into the side of my face, and I staggered backward, dazzled by the pain. I tripped over my heels and went down in the centre of the arena, scraping the palms of my hands on the gravel.

Voids, I hadn't even seen that punch coming. My vision doubled for a moment then settled down. We were trained to deal with pain, but I was surprised he hadn't knocked me out.

Rynn was hanging back, not pressing the advantage. Letting me recover. I saw Master Allet watching him carefully. Rynn was concerned. He couldn't believe he'd hit me and he was afraid he'd hurt me badly. He never could hide a thing.

I got to my feet, rolling my jaw. He'd pulled that punch. Didn't put his shoulder into it.

I stanced again, ready for the next assault. He'd scored a point on me, but I'd scored a bigger one. He was afraid to hit me, whatever Master Allet's threats. There was my advantage.

We closed on each other again. He was watching me for signs of a lapse in my defenses. I gave him one, trying to lure him in, but he didn't take it. Master Allet coughed pointedly in the background. Rynn glanced at him for a fraction of a second, and I swung an elbow up into his jaw, rocking his head back and clacking his teeth together.

The surprise of the impact gave me a moment to press the attack, and I used it. I punched into a nerve-point on his inner thigh, paralysing his leg, and as he buckled I went for the spot where his shoulder joined his body. It would have put his arm out of commission, but somehow he pulled back, kept his balance, and the strike wasn't hard enough to do any damage. I rolled away as he chopped at me, the hard edge of his hand missing the side of my throat by a whisper.

Then I was back on my feet and we were stanced again, but now his leg was dragging and useless and the odds were stacked in my favour. He was angry. It would make him careless, but it also meant he wouldn't go easy on me again.

He waited for me to come to him. He had no choice but to play it defensively. The most obvious move would be to go for his other leg, but he knew I was smarter than that. So I went for the leg. I feinted at his face, ducked the counterstrike and kicked the side of his good knee, where it was weakest. The connection was solid, and he fell, but as he did I felt one huge hand snatch me around the back of the neck. He bore me down, flinging me to the floor and landing on top of me. His weight drove the breath from my lungs.

I tried to struggle but I couldn't seem to drag any air into my chest. Several moments of scrambling, and then he was over me, fist cocked, aimed at my face. His teeth clenched, eyes wild, ready to put me out.

But he didn't. And that tiny hesitation was all I needed to bring my knee up into his balls with all the force I could muster.

His face went white, eyes bulging, and he crumpled on top of me. I shoved him aside before he suffocated me completely, and he rolled over, curled up like a dying spider, clutching at himself. He wasn't getting up again. The fight was over.

I slowly rose to my feet, surveying the crowd. The boys wore pained expressions; the girls were emitting silent congratulations. Master Allet walked over to me and declared me the winner. I knelt down next to Rynn and put my hand on his shoulder, but he was alone in his private world of agony and didn't acknowledge me.

Probably better he didn't. I couldn't keep the grin down. I was going to be wearing a bruise over the side of my face for a week, but I couldn't stop smiling. Because even when he had me down, even when he was angry and his pride was at stake, he couldn't finish me.

There was only one explanation. Rynn was in love with me.

We'd never seen such wonders in all of our ten-year-old lives. I clutched at my best friend Aila and we stared and stared from the back of our wagon, dazzled by the dream we had stumbled into. Our master Chorik was indulgent, laughing and joking about the simplicity of our kind and how it did his heart good to see us lost in admiration at their great land. It proved how much more beautiful it was than the one we had been taken from.

They called it the Silverlight Caves, but the name lost something in the translation. It was a region which, I later learned, was situated just backspin of the Borderlands, a place long treasured by the Gurta until the war swallowed it. The Silverlight Caves had a steep and savage beauty unrivalled by anything I have seen since, but then the bombs and Blackwings and shard-cannons came. Now it only exists in my memory.