Chapter 12 - the Training

“What are you doing?” I yelled, and smacked the dagger out of his hand. Dark red blood had already began pooling in his palm. I folded Aricor’s hand into a fist, trying to press the edges of the wound together.

Aricor pulled his hand from mine, and held it over the fountain. Droplets of blood fell into the gently swirling water, and the crimson tendrils immediately diffused into a macabre ballet of liquids.

Aricor held his hand over the water for another long moment, and then held it out to me again. “If you wouldn’t mind, please stop my bleeding,” he requested, as plainly as if he had just asked me to pass him some salt.

I took a deep breath, and closed my eyes. I imagined covering his hand in Starvine pulp, and dressing it in its leaves. And then I willed it to work. I knew the Starvine wouldn’t have made a difference —and neither would Altenite, or any other plant for that matter— but it gave me a sense of comfort, imagining treating the wound the way I would have at home. I opened my eyes, and was pleased to find the wound had indeed stopped bleeding.

“Good,” Aricor said again. “Now clean the water.”

“I beg your pardon?” I said, unable to hide my bewilderment.

“My blood is in there,” Aricor clarified, “that doesn’t seem very hygienic, does it? Please take it out.”

My jaw dropped. “Take out your blood?!” I yelled in outrage, “maybe you shouldn’t have bled into it then, Aricor. You did that on purpose. How do you expect me to take your blood out of the water?! It’s already been mixed in!”

Aricor nodded. “And you wield blood. Just gather it, and lift it out.”

I stood up, and tried making myself look as intimidating as I possibly could. “I cannot filter blood out of water. I barely had enough strength to move your hand. Actually, maybe I should try slapping you again,” I mumbled.

Aricor grinned. “Just do it, Serin,” he ushered, ignoring my last remark.

“I can’t,” I hissed.

Aricor got up too, immediately overtaking the advantage I had on him. “Yes you can,” he said, “stop making excuses and take out my blood.”

“Oh, I’ll take out your blood alright,” I mumbled and raised my hands dramatically.

“Hey!” Aricor yelled and grabbed me by the shoulders to turn me in the fountain’s direction. “No funny business. Just take it out!”

I sighed, and looked at the swirling water once more.

“Fine,” I hissed, “I’ll give it a go. But don’t get angry if—”

“I don’t have all day,” Aricor cut me off impatiently.

I huffed and held out my hands. I imagined the blood swirling in the water, and used gentle raking movements to make it all gather in front of me. To my surprise, I could actually see the water getting pinker below my hands, and eventually, there was a small puddle of blood within the fountain.

“What do I do now?” I asked Aricor.

“I don’t know,” he said, “I wasn’t even sure you’d be able to pull this off in the first place, honestly.”

I grimaced, and focussed my attention back on the water. The blood had already started to diffuse again in the absence of my attention. I gathered it again, and made a scooping motion with my hands, lifting them higher and higher. And as if guided by invisible hands, the puddle of blood was lifted out of the water too.

“That’s amazing!” Aricor said, and fueled by his amazement, I was able to form the blood into a small ball, and sent it flying for Aricor’s face. He ducked just in time, making the blood fly by him and hit the ground a little but further back. He grimaced at me, and I returned his gaze with a smug look on my face.

“That was pretty good,” Aricor said, fixing his hood, “how do you feel?”

I sat back down on the fountain’s edge. “Pretty worn out,” I replied. I did. Between the broken night and the use of my powers, I was feeling drained.

“I understand,” Aricor said, “let’s just take it easy today. We’ll move on to the physical part.”

“That’s what you call ’taking it easy’?” I complained.

“Do you want to get strong or not?” Aricor challenged me, poking me in the arm.

I narrowed my eyes at him and rubbed my arm. “Yes,” I replied, dragging out the word.

We spent the rest of the morning doing physical exercises, and didn’t stop until Warrian came to get us for lunch. “How is it going?” he asked, putting an arm around my shoulders.

“Better than expected,” Aricor answered for me, and I didn’t know wether to be pleased or offended about that remark.

“Her wielding is going great,” Aricor continued, “I didn’t expect her to pick it up so quickly. And the physical part — well, at least she’s not a quitter.”

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. “I used to be really strong,” I complained, “until your Crown Prince force-fed me his blood.”

Aricor furrowed his brows.

“He didn’t force-feed her,” Warrian clarified, “but he did give it to her without her consent. And then she rejected the bond,” he added proudly, pulling me closer to his chest.

“You tried feeding me your blood without my consent too, you hypocrite,” I reminded him, ducking out from under his arm.

Aricor’s eyes darted back between Warrian and me a few times.

“Well, that’s twisted,” Aricor said, and opened the door back to the palace. “Let’s go have lunch.”

We made it back to the dining hall, and sat down at the table. Phaedra and Thoridor were nowhere to be found. I tried not to be disappointed, but that proved to be harder than I thought. I missed Thor. Why did I miss Thor?! I plastered a smile onto my face and took a sip of water.

“Morai gets here tomorrow,” Warrian told me, as he began loading our plates with some sort of savory pie and a bunch of grilled vegetables. “I won’t be able to hang out with you as much as I do now, not during the day at least.”

I tilted my head to the side as I studied his face. “Why not?” I asked.

“Well, I’ll have to work,” Warrian explained, “I am still a Royal Guard, after all. Morai usually takes me along when she does royal business here in Aquatic Ardanis.”

I took a bite of food. The pie was lovely. The crust was flakey and almost buttery —although I doubted they even had butter here— and the filling was warm and gooey in the best way possible. I suppressed the urge to moan in contentment.

“I thought you were Thoridor’s guard?” I asked.

“No, not really,” Warrian replied, “I’m not specifically assigned to anyone. I am around Thoridor a lot, but mainly because he’s my friend. He doesn’t really like the royal duties, I think. He mostly stays at the palace when he’s here, and focusses on defending our borders instead of the more political tasks. Just like the King, I suppose. The Queen did most of the governing, which is probably why he let her keep her title.”

I tapped my fork against my plate mindlessly. “What does that mean, ‘defending the border’?” I asked Warrian.

Warrian bit his lip. “Well,” he replied, “our Kingdom is not the only one on our continent. Kintara, also known as ‘The Kinian Kingdom’ is directly to our left, and just behind the Dark Mountains, there’s Seraphia — the ‘Seraphian Dominion’. Our Kingdoms have all been at war since time immemorial, and every once in a while, they attack our borders in an attempt to seize control of our leadership and annex our lands.”

I swallowed. “So how does one defend the borders?” I asked, scared to learn the answer.

“We can shift, and they can’t,” Warrian said plainly. “So a few of our warriors go there in beast form, and rip the enemy to shreds.”