Storm Phase – 11
In this epic fantasy, a young wizard with a mysterious destiny, a cat-girl ninja, and a diary that turns into a bat-like creature journey through worlds of monsters and mayhem.
On the practice field, nine teenage boys followed Arms Instructor Kilono as he led them through the Crane Style fighting routine. Breathing deeply, the boys eased smoothly from one pose to the next. The routine's seventy-two movements imitated combat techniques while strengthening one’s internal kenja, balance, and flexibility.
Turesobei removed his sandals and knelt at the field's edge, waiting for the routine's completion. Once they finished, Kilono ordered the boys into a line and stormed over to him.
“You're late again!” Arms Instructor Kilono yelled.
Turesobei bowed low and touched his forehead to the ground, respecting the teacher he had wronged. “I am deeply sorry, instructor.”
Kilono's eyes narrowed, and his face wrinkled from his second chin to his bald pate. His voice sounded like rocks poured into a wooden bucket. “Let me guess, the library again?”
“Yes, instructor. I was studying the—”
“I don't care what you were studying! There is a time for reading, and there’s a time for martial arts.”
“Yes, instructor.”
“After your riding lessons with Master Saru, return here,” Kilono growled.
“I’m supposed to have dinner after riding, instructor.”
“I do not care whether you eat,” Kilono replied. “When you return, you will perform the Crane, Crow, and Sun Staff routines three times each. And if you make any mistakes, you will repeat them all. I don’t care if it takes all night for you to get them right.”
“I have a wizardry lesson after dinner.” A lesson he had no intention of attending, if he could find a way out of it.
“I will speak with Lord Kahenan about the matter.”
Turesobei groaned. Grandfather Kahenan would let Kilono have his way then berate him for not being on time for his evening lesson. Worst of all, the library would be closed by the time he was free, and he’d have no way of getting back to Lu Bei today.
Fear sparked through him. What if the creature had lied? What if Lu Bei was roaming around the city causing mischief, all because he’d freed him by opening the book? People could get hurt, and it would be all his fault. He closed his eyes and tamped down the fear with a few quick breaths. He’d made his decision, and there was nothing he could do about it now.
“Get up and join the others who were here on time, whose practice you have needlessly interrupted,” Kilono ordered.
The other boys feared Kilono too much to make a sound, but Turesobei could tell from their wide, sparkling eyes that they were laughing within. They often laughed at his expense when they thought he wasn't looking. While Awasa and her companions could mock him openly, none of these boys could afford to do that to the clan’s future high wizard, who would soon rank far above them.
Like Awasa and her acolytes, the boys his age were practically strangers. He had never interacted with any of them outside of training. In fact, he never interacted with anyone except his mother, his fifteen-year-old sister, and his grandfather, and he avoided his mother as much as possible.
It was hard to have friends when he didn't have any free time to spend on socializing. And despite his future station, no one gravitated toward him, hoping to earn future favors. Somehow, he repelled people. Actually, he knew exactly how. He had inherited Chonda Lu’s kavaru, he possessed superior intelligence, which was not bragging but mere fact, and he had been exposed to many things the average well-educated person could not comprehend. That created a vast distance between him and his peers, and he had no idea — or frankly interest — in bridging that gap.
After the Crow routine’s thirty-two movements to improve concentration and enhance the senses, Kilono directed them in attack and defense maneuvers, staff forms, and grappling.
Turesobei took several scuffs and bruises from more skilled opponents. He wasn't bad at fighting. He was talented. But he was behind the other boys his age. His wizardry studies denied him more than half the time that the others spent training. He did, however, equal his peers in sword fighting because Grandfather Kahenan insisted that he receive extra sword practice. A wizard had to be able to wield a white-steel blade like Yomifano because only white-steel could slay demons and other spirit creatures.
As practice wore on, Kilono pointed out Turesobei’s every error, and with each mistake, he lost focus and did worse on the succeeding drills, earning more criticism. At last, they reached sword fighting, but by then he was so rattled that he might as well have fought with both hands tied behind his back.
When practice ended, he was sweaty and exhausted, as usual, and his stomach was knotty and rumbling. Normally, he would have an hour to reach his riding lessons. Along the way, he would stop at the East Gate fountain, drink water that tasted of copper and iron, and recline under the willows. Sometimes as he left home in the mornings, he would remember to grab the lunch the servants wrapped for him daily, and he’d munch on bread and cheese while resting. Now and then, he would go home for lunch, but not often because he was more likely to run into his mother in the afternoon.
He figured if he ran straight to the library, he could grab the Lu Bei book, assuming the creature hadn’t wandered away, and rush home with it. Then he could stash the book in his room, pick up some food, and hurry to his riding lessons. He wouldn’t have much time to spare, though, because home was on the opposite side of Ekaran from the stables. No matter what, though, he had to get something to eat, even if it meant being late. Without food, he wasn’t going to make it through the grueling lessons ahead of him.
He raced to the Chonda Library and found the doors locked. Three students were sitting outside on the steps waiting. One told him the head librarian would be back in half an hour. He didn’t have time to wait. He hurried home as fast as possible, which in this case was a lumbering jog, and dashed into the kitchen. He downed a bowl of apple juice then grabbed the lunch that was still waiting for him. On his way to the stables, he crammed bread and cheese into his mouth, all the while praying that he wouldn’t run into Awasa again along the way.
In that regard, he was lucky. But that was where his good fortune ended. Arriving early, he slipped on his riding boots, and waited... and waited. Master Saru turned up half an hour late, apologized for the delay, then refused to let Turesobei leave early because it wouldn’t be fair to the other students. He also insisted that they complete their full one-hour lesson.
Afterward, Turesobei cursed and grumbled all the way to the training field. Master Kilono wasn’t going to believe that he was late because Saru had failed to show up on time.
Sure enough, a sullen Kilono awaited him with clenched fists and an angry glint in his eyes. Kilono upped the requirement from three to four times through on each exercise, and when Turesobei tried to plead his case, the number increased to five.
What was he going to do now? There wasn’t a chance in hell that he would make it back to the library before the head librarian barred the doors for the night.