‘Master Nello, myinstructor was really lovely. At first he was very formal andawkward. He finally admitted that he wasn’t used to teaching womenhis special fighting techniques, as few women took up arms in theirsociety. He said his methods needed a strong arm and steady legsand I was too lightly built. However, after the first couple oftraining sessions where I thrashed his best assistant at swordfighting, he changed his mind and we got on well from then on.
‘He first taught me themain techniques with his unusual type of shield and then we workedon how to blend it all together with my style of dagger and shortsword fighting. He had a pair of his special shields made for meand we practiced and modified the technique for my light buildevery day for weeks, until I could do it in my sleep.’
‘That’s wonderfulMelanie; now tell me, how did you pull that trick on me? I couldn’tfeel any magic being used at all, and you know how sensitive I amto it.’
‘What trick Rob?’
‘The one where you mademy fingers all meld together into a flipper,’ said Rob, as hepulled out his hand from under his arm to show her. However, hefound his fingers had returned to their normal state.
‘What are you talkingabout? It looks normal to me,’ said Melanie with an impish grin.‘It sounds like someone in the marketplace has played some sort ofillusion trick on you, but I swear it wasn’t me this time.’
Melanie returned to thetopic of her trip and talked on about the place for ages, showinghim mental images of some of the people and places; but Rob wasonly partially paying attention. He was also trying to work out howsomeone had disguised the magic so well that he couldn’t feel it.He was still highly suspicious that Melanie might have done it, andwas concerned that he had not seen through it. Previously, he hadalways been able to perceive illusions for what they were. This onehad looked and felt so real.
They chatted for morethan an hour, warmly enjoying each other’s company, exchangingmemorable images and feelings through the mindlink with ease, whilequenching their thirst with two jugs of ale.
‘And how are you,Alpha?’ asked Melanie, momentarily glancing up at the top of Rob’shat. ‘Aren’t you going to talk to me?’
‘Hello Melanie<feeling of a loving hug>,’ replied Alpha. ‘You two seemed tobe so excited at seeing each other, I didn’t want tointerrupt.’
Alpha, was a rough cutemerald, as large as a walnut, camouflaged with a simple glamour tolook like an ordinary pebble. It was Rob’s memcrystal, an extremelyuseful little magical construct, given life by having a small pieceof Rob’s own mind embedded into it.
Sitting on top of Rob’shat, Alpha was a sentinel with a 360-degree view, watching andlistening for trouble. It was akin to the familiars often used bywizards, but less obvious and considerably more reliable. It couldcommunicate with him and others using mindspeak.
Eventually, Rob andMelanie finished chatting, left the tavern and started home downone of the narrow streets filled with cheap bars and food stalls,towards the more respectable area where their grandfather’s magicequipment shop was located. They light heartedly strolled alongconversing mentally and not paying much attention to anythingaround them, until Alpha sounded an alarm.
‘Warning! Possibletrouble behind! <Strong feeling of urgency>. The lane acrossthe street looks clear!’
They turned and saw agroup of six men who looked to have an unhealthy interest in them,approaching rapidly. Rob grabbed Melanie’s arm and ran with heracross the street to the entrance to the narrow lane, but as he didhis anger surged. His legs folded underneath him as if they weremade of rubber and he collapsed heavily, using his arms to cushionthe fall.
He screamed in rage,sending a huge pulse of emotion through the mindlink. It scaredMelanie for a few moments. She pulled free and spun around to facetheir attackers, shouting though the mindlink.
‘By the Powers Rob,control yourself or someone might get hurt! Please use forbearance;I’ll take care of these idiots.’
Rob crawled painfullyto the nearest laneway wall, his head throbbing with pain. Heturned to watch, while mentally struggling with the darkness thatwas trying to take hold of him.
Melanie stood slightlyside on to the approaching group. She spread her legs a little,adopting a comfortable and relaxed fighting stance, and waited. Thegroup slowed to a halt and five of the men formed circle around herwhile the sixth, who seemed to be the leader, stayed back.
‘What’s the problem,boys?’ she asked casually.
‘We’ve been asked toteach you two a lesson. You shouldn’t go around stealing goods fromour friend,’ said the leader.
‘You have been giventhe wrong information. We have stolen nothing,’ replied Melaniedefiantly.
‘You’re lying, bitch!’he shouted and signalled one of his men to attack. A large baldbrute lumbered forward with arms outstretched as if to grab her.She nimbly sidestepped his hopeful embrace, kicking him so hard inthe rear that he seemed to fly a few paces through the air, landingin a heap face down on the ground. His uncouth friends laughed athis misfortune and suggested he have another try.
He bellowed in anger,raised himself off the ground and charged again, this time swingingat her with his meaty fists. She coolly diverted his clumsy attackand struck him a vicious blow to the throat. He staggered off,struggling for breath, and collapsed to his knees.
‘Get her!’ yelled thegroup leader, and all four charged in, one diving to grab herlegs.
Melanie danced aselegantly as any artiste on a stage. She moved with a grace thatwas beautiful to watch, weaving and dodging amongst the fourassailants with ease, diverting or blocking blows and returning adevastating pounding to all parts of their bodies. Her arms movedin a blur. Her feet struck with the deadly accuracy of a snakeattack, but hit with the impact of heavy rock, stunning herattackers. In seconds all five lay scattered on the ground.
‘Have you had enough?’she taunted as she turned towards the gang leader, but he wasn’tthere. She adopted a defensive stance and waited and listened. Adagger flew from nowhere. Using
