Sparks (9 page)

“No,” she lectured me. “You can’t just throw your arms out and hope you make a hit. You have to wait for an opening.” She moved her arms to show me the difference between a block I couldn’t get around and one that I could effectively attack. It was a simple enough concept, but one that also seemed much harder to put into practice. It took a week before I felt as if I’d made any real improvements.

I’d been in Round Two for four months; it seemed like it was time to move on, so I made an uncharacteristic choice to issue challenges of my own. I waited until after lunch and found my mark by the far wall of the training area.

“Edith, I challenge you to combat.” I’d heard the words so many times before, yet it felt so strange to say them myself. I’d only yielded to Parvani, so I was eligible to pick whomever I wanted. Edith was the first to challenge me, and I chose to return the favor. I wish I could say it had been difficult, but she yielded after a few minutes and never landed a single hit.

For the next two weeks, I fought another student every day and earned a yield from each. There were only a handful left, but I knew those would be the most difficult: Shaz, because I worried my anger would cloud my judgment; Micha, because he was my friend; and Parvani, because I wasn’t confident I could truly beat her.

Just when I thought I was about to have to make a hard choice, a new student arrived at Combat Training and I knew the hardest one was still ahead of me: Khea.

She wore light blue and held her blonde hair out of her face with a braid. She looked better than when I last saw her: she’d put on a few pounds, which got rid of her starved look, her clothes fit properly, and she was clean. Girls at Myxini wore brown fitted pants, and her narrow knees were the only hint of what she’d been like before.

I could have jumped and yelled from excitement to see her. As soon as I saw her I ran over, but the blank expression she wore made it clear she wasn’t all that pleased to see me. It had been months, and I’d almost thought she’d gone home–or hadn’t had a bright enough Spark after all.

“Khea?”

“Lark, have you met my mentor, Mathias?” She turned to look at a middle-aged man who stood behind her. I couldn’t get a read on either one, though it was hard to tell in the commotion of the training area. He wore the grey coverings that all mentors wore and, despite the age on his face, his golden hair matched the yellow pendant–inlaid with a black stone spider–about his neck.

“Where have you been all this time?”

“Training, of course. Haven’t you?”

“Well, yes, but… Why haven’t I seen you?”

“Mathias is responsible for all my lessons.” She was cold and dismissive, almost as if I bothered her. I couldn’t believe it.
Why is she being so weird
? I only wanted to make sure she was safe, that she was protected.
What happened?

With a wave of dismissal, she walked past me to challenge Parvani. I was sure my mouth dropped to the ground.
Does she have any idea what she’s doing?

“Is she crazy?” Micha asked. He seemed more worried for her mental faculties than her general well-being, though I couldn’t disagree.

They stood and faced each other as Sinha commenced the fight. Khea was at least a full foot shorter than Parvani and looked like she could be her toy. I didn’t imagine Parvani was going to let her down easy.

In a moment of what must have been suicidal desire, Khea lunged, blocked a punch, and landed her fist square on Parvani’s cheek before the larger girl dropped onto her back on the ground. It was the most impressive display I had ever seen. Once she knew what she was up against, Parvani put in real effort to fight and, for a while, it seemed as if they were evenly matched. The final blow came when Khea grabbed Parvani’s wrist, spun around her, and forced her to the ground. “Yield,” Parvani let out, defeated.

Without a word to me or Micha, Khea walked back to Mathias, who quickly led her away. It was all I could think about the rest of the day– and into the next morning.
What happened to Khea? Where has she been all this time and why is she so distant now? And since when was she some sort of combat master?

The next day Khea returned alone and challenged Shaz, a move that made me feel that Micha might have been right. Unlike Parvani, Shaz only lasted a measly few minutes before the pain in his leg prompted a yield. That time, I was able to catch her before she left.

“Hey, Khea. What’s going on? Why won’t you talk to me?”

“I’m sorry, I’m not allowed.”

“You’re not allowed? Says who? That Mathias guy?” It seemed outlandish that anyone should be prevented from seeing me, particularly Khea.

She nodded before she replied, “I’m not supposed to talk to you. Please leave me alone.” Right then, a boulder fell from the sky and crushed me. I just wanted to make sure she was alright.
Why would someone prevent that?
What made it worse was that she went along with it. She hadn’t fought against it or refused to follow his rules. My insides ached with a new kind of pain.

She began to walk away, but she turned around suddenly and leaned in close. “Meet me at the gardens after dinner,” she whispered. A wide smile pressed into my cheeks; my friend was in there somewhere. Mathias may have convinced her to follow him publicly, but somewhere and in some small part, she was still my friend.

I had no choice but to go to the dining hall during the rush that night. I couldn’t miss dinner or I’d surely pay for it the next day in combat, but I didn’t want to miss my chance with Khea either. I choked down a plateful of roast pork and beans, and I all but threw my plate into the pile of dirty dishes before heading down the corridor to the gardens.

“What’s this, Simon?” echoed strangely from around the corner.

“It’s a little bird.”

“An ugly, grey bird.”

By the time I caught up to the voices, I witnessed a scene that would change my course at Myxini. Shaz and his friend, Simon, were on either side of a person so small it could only be Khea.

“It’s the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen.”

Aside from their verbal assault, their thoughts were vile. Shaz hated her for his humiliation in the training yard, and thought of ways to humiliate her in return. I knew I couldn’t fight either of them. It would mean leaving school, going home to face the parents I left for a few plates of food. No matter what happened, I needed to keep learning about my Spark, to make it all worthwhile.

“What should we do with it?”

“Let’s take the ugly bird back outside where it belongs.”

A picture of the girl naked in the snow popped into his head, and I snapped.

I screamed and charged him. Anger took over me completely then, and I slammed his face into the ground before he had time to react. Then I did it again. And kept doing it until he didn’t move anymore–maybe even after that. It was a blur. When I stopped, and my senses came to me, Simon stared at me wide-eyed, and scrambled away from me as fast as he could. I was left with Khea and Shaz, in a pool of his own blood.

Before I could stand fully, Khea latched her arms around my neck and sobbed violently. “You don’t need to worry,” I said, but when I looked down, I could imagine how it might not look that way. I picked her up and carried her the rest of the way to the gardens to spare her from the sight.

“Khea, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have –”
What? What did I just do?

“Thank you,” she managed once her sobs stopped, though her eyes remained puffy in the moonlight. “I’m sorry, too. I shouldn’t have let them keep me away.”

“Why don’t they want you to be around me?”

“He said you’re dangerous.” Well that I couldn’t deny.
Just ask Shaz.

“I don’t think you are.” She added.

“Do you think he’s–”
Dead?

“No. He won’t look right for a while, though.” I could have sworn I saw her lips quirk in a thin smile.

“Why were they calling you a bird? Did they know we were friends?”

“A khea is a bird from the Oakwick. My father visited there once. He thought it was very exotic.”

“What was he like?”

“He was a fisherman; he worked really hard.”

“Yeah, I got that. Khea Fisher.” In fact, nearly half the village had been Fishers, some more related than others.

“He would tell stories all the time, about his trip to Oakwick or this one about a really big fish he caught once in the cove.” She seemed to drift into thought. I wondered if she would ever tell me the rest one day. She was the only connection I had to Lagodon, and it felt nice to think about it again.

We talked for as long as we could before we needed to get to bed. With training, a lack of sleep was the last thing either of us needed.

“Just come find me, if you need anything,” I told her as she walked away, but I wasn’t sure if she’d heard me before she turned down the corridor.

~~~~~~~~~~

I woke the next morning to see Avis at the foot of my bed, and he seemed rather pleased for a change.
Oh no.
A happy Avis was likely to be worse than an angry one.

“Congratulations, you made it farther than any of my students and you still burned out before Round Three!”

“Burned out?”

“Yeah, don’t you remember what happened with Shaz? You’re going home my friend!” Avis seemed happy; no, more than that. He seemed overwhelmed with joy.
Does he really hate me that much?

“You’re burnt as toast! Come on, Lheda wants to see you.”

I couldn’t say I didn’t expect it; the rules were pretty damn clear. I didn’t want to go home though. I was only a few yields from Round Three, where I would finally start to learn how to use my Spark.

I feigned as much indifference as I could when I threw on my green coverings and followed behind him. The door somehow seemed larger than it had the first time. Gentle as an ox, he opened it, then threw me inside like a rabbit for the wolves. The Headmistress waited to speak until Avis closed the door.

“Lark, can you explain yourself?” Of course there was a perfectly rational explanation;
he wanted to hurt Khea, so I killed him.
As good as that sounded in my head, though, I couldn’t say it. Khea wasn’t supposed to see me, and I wouldn’t let my last words at Myxini condemn her to any sort of punishment. I’d go down with the ship.

“No.”

“Young man, you have severely injured another student. Don’t you have anything to say for yourself?”

At least he’s not dead? He got what he deserved?
“I don’t like him.”

“Very well, it seems I won’t be receiving any of your cooperation. Because of your actions, you will remain in Round Two until the first frost of the season.”
Is she simple? It’s been snowing for months.
If anything, it was starting to warm up a bit.

“The frost is already here.”

“I’m aware of that, Lark. I mean the
next
frost.” As if on cue, Avis appeared in the door to drag me away and down the corridor.

“I thought you said I was going home?”

“Don’t act like you wanted to go.” He was right–I didn’t–but that didn’t mean I understood why I wasn’t.

Avis dragged me by the collar of my shirt all the way back to my room and threw me onto the stone floor. “How could you have fucking gotten away with it?!” he screamed as he paced back and forth from the door to my bed. His hands raced through his dark hair and a few strands began to work loose. I’d never seen him so upset.
This is bad.

“Look, I know you don’t like me…” His foot shot out to kick me where I lay on the floor, but I brought up my leg to block him. I immediately knew that, while I had saved myself from one blow, I had earned a firestorm of anger in return. For the first time since I met him, I was scared of what he would do to me.

Avis moved to kick me again, harder this time, but stopped just at the last moment and turned to kick the iron frame of the bed. “God dammit!” He had clearly hurt himself, but I was thankful, if not confused, as to why he hadn’t hurt me instead.

He glared down at me before he hobbled out and slammed the door.
It’s going to be a long summer.

Threads

My fifteenth summer passed, and like the ships of Lagodon Cove, I could only sit by and watch as everyone moved on without me. It started with Parvani: she finally got the yield she’d needed out of Patna once he was released. She started Round Three before the snows had fully melted.

Micha followed, soon after, and earned his yields here and there. He beat others fairly, and worked to be better when he lost. It was my choice entirely to throw our match. There was no way he could beat me–I knew him too well–and his thoughts always stood out above the crowd. I played out our fight, though, and made it look good when I finally yielded to him. Then he, too, was gone.

When Shaz came back in the heat of the summer, he challenged everyone except for me. He would watch me through his misshapen eye, his hatred harbored in his fists. We fought twice: I earned a yield on the first, and he got one from me on the second. I’d like to say I let him win, but in the end, he managed to get me on my back again. I had my suspicions that he used his influence over the earth to make me slip, but no good could have come if I told anyone. I was the last student for him, so he moved on like the others.

The true challenge for the summer was Khea. We fought nearly every day, or at least every other day, for a span of several weeks–and neither would yield. She was a small target to hit, faster than anyone I’d ever seen, and she never missed a block. I had thrown hundreds of punches and never landed a single one. Always, I barely managed to escape with all my limbs intact. She was good; she was better than me, and it was only a matter of time.

We were both obstinate, though, and–despite her speed–she couldn’t beat me. We waited on who would yield first, and I wondered why she didn’t just kindly give hers to me. I took an extra summer of combat training for what I’d done to Shaz, but she just wouldn’t give in.
Wasn’t that enough for her?
I couldn’t help but think it, but I knew it wasn’t her fault. I didn’t want her to give up anyway; I wanted to become better than her on my own–but I couldn’t, and the frustration began to burn a hole.