Then, I heard Corsin’s thoughts… He was considering challenging Nessi in the dance battle first. He was already getting amped. He felt good. He was ready.
Then Jalasa’s thoughts chorused in. I looked at her as I felt the weight of the sword in my hand. She lined the pipes up straight, ready for our next puff after this first dance sequence. She was laughing at her own exactitude, but also plotting a side strike against Nessi.
No one wanted to combat me first.
Clarity struck and the feelings of slowness evaporated as if a bell had been rung. Ice shivered down my spine, a wave of coolness quenched the heat in my face, the pressure behind my eyes stopped thudding, and I beamed at my Vailstorans.
“I will battle all of you at once.”
They looked at me and it was as if they moved in slow motion. It no longer felt like I was moving slowly, the slowness had transcended to the rest of the world and I could anticipate their every move: because I could read their minds. It was much more than their minds… I could read their intentions.
I could only imagine it was the combination of klastani and tele skills along with decades of training as a Berzerker to worship the nature within the beast of us.
Corsin swung his sword at me and I jumped back, Willing myself to float up into the air, my hands braced out, telekinetically floating myself up from the ground, and, much to all our surprises, there I hung, suspended four feet in the air, looking down at my stunned Vailstorans.
I was flying.
Jalasa traded a look with Nessi, and then bent low to the ground. Nessi immediately took two running steps, then launched off Jalasa’s back to fling herself up into the air, sword levied above her head, ready to spear me.
I spun myself through the air and landed back against the rock shore before Nessi’s lunge could reach me. She landed in a tuck and roll, then sprang back up to race toward me, just as the other two also dashed right in, swords swinging, and I was deftly flicking away all three blades at once.
And it was easy…
I knew their moves before they made them. I could read them.
As I dashed away Corsin’s blade with such force that he was sent back reeling, Jalasa held up her hand and stopped Nessi from attacking. All three of them stood back, breathless, sweat-soaked from their parry, thrust, lunge, slash, attack, and they stared at me. Then Jalasa held up her sword and pointed toward the moon, glowing bright in the sun’s setting rays.
I stood up straight, my own chest slicked with sweat, my hair curled into my neck and sticking to me awkwardly. I held my sword up high, puffed my bare chest up to the sky, and howled.
It was the most animalistic howl I had ever made, but it sounded the most pure in my ears, reverberated the most truly, sang songs of nature and oneness and truth.
The three Vailstorans echoed my call, leaning back, yipping and howling, embracing the wild tint of the klastani and the fierce intensity of the battle.
“Proceed,” I said and waved to three of them. The three turned their swords on each other and launched into an acrobatic display of flips and gyrations away from and into each other, swords clanging and crisping in the night air.
Beautiful… Warriors… Strength… Determination… Teamwork… I pressed my hands into my temples and tried to keep my thoughts targeted. Usually the klastani made such a flurry of thoughts that all you could focus on was the battle at hand, now I found I was tracking so many tangents that I could hardly see straight.
I took a deep breath and looked out over the harbor, the tall masts with their sails tucked tightly in, swaying in the tidal pull. The sunset streaked red and orange and yellow. The dusk was pulling over the edges of the palace behind us. Damox, Renin, Modifi and their soldiers would be waiting for us. Ilisa would be with them.
I had hope that the Duke would take the deal of protecting the people of the Kall and backing down from his antagonism. But, in my heart I knew that I only had that hope because I had changed since Ilisa had touched my life.
It was much more likely that I had a duel coming. And I wanted to be ready.
I reached for a pipe again and inhaled. The klastani didn’t hit quite as hard this time, it was more subtle, more nuanced. The new sensation was almost a physical, tactical prickling against the skin, as if I could feel the air molecules begging to somehow be used in tele arts. Even the air was dying to be shown my skill. I held my hands out, turning them over and over, as if I could actually see the ripples they made in space with the movement.
I turned to the Vailstorans where they still battled. Corsin had just been knocked off his feet by one of the girls. I held my hand out, slowed my mind, focused on the Will to lift him, the Will to make his soul and his desire and his matter obey me.
Corsin, who was getting to his feet, slipped to
