Chronicles of the Blackblade 02
Chapter 2 – The Race
“Yes! A race” he repeated as if he could sense the gathered students unspoken question. “You will see that older students of Kyndale have setup a course leading around the town, at the town gates you will be given a item to bring back with you. You have one hour.” The man turned to leave but then fought better of it “Oh, I forgot to mention; this is a race and rewards will be given – as well as appropriate punishment for those who are late, if you cant finish within the hour, don’t come” with that, he swiftly turned and entered the academy, flanked by the man and woman either side of him.
Zela waited. There was no need to rush; she could make the complete circuit in 30 minutes at a continuous jog, she also didn’t want to have to fight with huge mob competing to be first, there was a lot of well build girls and boys there; there was also all of the noble kids wanting to prove themselves, she’d overtake them soon enough, as long as she wasn’t last she wouldn’t have to worry, and it was such a nice day for a simple jog as well….
The courtyard bell rang again; this signalled the start of the race, the courtyard gates swung open and a single huge figure was standing there; he beckoned, turned, and sprinted off down the street at a roaring pace, slowly the courtyard emptied and Zela decided it was time to start, she leapt from the carriage and took off at a gentle trot; outside of the gates and a left turn, she followed the crowd; she didn’t get far as she was roughly grabbed and pulled into a back ally.
She was thrown to the floor painfully, twisting her ankle as she tried to keep her balance and failing, two rather large men stood blocking the way, one grinning like mad, the second with a more serious look on his face, it was hard to make out the details with the sun behind them. “Why hello there princess.” the first chuckled “that’s such a nice dress you have on.” “Look just give us the gold and you can go on your way.” The second said in a much more threatening and sinister manner.
“But I don’t-“ began Zela, but she was cut off mid sentence. The first man has taken the two steps over to her, picked her up using the front of her dress and slammed her into the nearby wall. Zela moaned in pain as the breath was knocked out of her lungs and she gasped for air. “Don’t play games with me *Girl* we saw you and the old man at the gate.” The first man was getting angry, the second looked kind of nervous. Zela started to choke out “I told you I don-“ she got rammed against the wall again in response. The air retreating from her lungs again, this time with added blood as she coughed and spluttered. “Give. Us. The. Gold. NOW!” the man growled.
“Maybe she doesn’t have it anymore.” the second man suggested, now worried that they had gone too far. “Shut Up.” Was the reply snorted from the first man, “We’re going to have to find it ourselves” as he began patting the girl down trying to feel for anything of value; she tried to scream but could not bring sound to her voice, she tried to gather some magical energy but was too disorientated to do so; she could not do anything to stop herself from getting groped and tears began to stream down her face.
“Yes! A race” he repeated; then continued, “You will see that older students of Kyndale have setup a course leading around the town, at the town gates you will be given a item to bring back with you. You have one hour.” The man attempted to leave, but then remembered something else “Oh, I forgot to mention; this is a race and rewards will be given – as well as appropriate punishment for those who are late, if you cant finish within the hour, don’t come” that said the three returned to the academy.
Dawn took off at once; she had been stood at the courtyard gates, and was one of the first out. She didn’t want to be part of the crowd but didn’t have a choice. When the gates first opened a single huge man was standing there, he was a beast of a man standing at least 8 foot tall, he was wearing strategically placed green armour, she had seen the like before – Gladiators it was called, he beckoned wordlessly and turned and sprinted off down the street with a cry that encouraged others nearby to charge after him.
Dawn kept to the edge of the circuit; with her robes hindering her top speed she soon lost sight of the giant man but could tell where to go from the other students running along, she was used to this kind of task and had no trouble keeping up behind the other boys who was exhausting themselves trying to be first. What appeared to be a general run around town soon turned sour, she was soon caught up by the group that she had left earlier, they seemed to be breathing heavily, she knew they wouldn’t last, but that didn’t stop them from continuing from where they left off, Dawn picked up the pace and soon left them behind as they started gasping for breathe and began to slow down.
It was when she reached the town gates that she realized the real reason for the test.
“Yes! A race” he repeated as if he could sense Rose’s hesitation. “You will see that older students of Kyndale have setup a course leading around the town, at the town gates you will be given a item to bring back with you. You have one hour.” The man turned to leave and after a suitable pause for effect continued “Oh, I forgot to mention; this is a race and rewards will be given – as well as appropriate punishment for those who are late, if you cant finish within the hour, don’t come.” Happy that his speech was finished he left with his lackeys.
Rose was on the far side of the courtyard, and she waited for the crowd to move off, she had no idea how long the circuit was, and she didn’t like the idea of having to run around the town, but it didn’t look like there was anyone to complain to, she was used to stuffy room’s with teachers and mentors babbling on, not running around town racing around like kids.
She had barely been running for ten minutes when she began to get fatigued; yet she continued onwards; she knew this would push her to the limit, yet it had to be done, her black dress made it hard for her to run, she had tried holding it up but that didn’t help, finally having enough she took part of her dress in both hands and ripped the bottom part off just below the knees – she’d have to change when she got back to the academy, such a waste of a dress.
Soon thought Rose ran into problems she had rounded a corner in the track and came face to face with three boys, they was dressed in peasants garb and stood waiting, Rose soon found that it was her they was waiting for – as she tried to run past them she was tripped and fell into the cold hard pavement; scratching her hands, covering her arms in soon to be bruises and cutting her knee as she landed on it heavily, she rolled along and tried to regain a standing stance but her leg let her down and left her kneeling.
Looking up the 3 boys approached grinning madly, they had to be her age, possibly included in this race, but why were they waiting for her? She soon found out. “weel loookee wat weee foud.” the first chuckled “ah thnk its ah lil lost rich gurl, wheees your mummar n pappa.” the third burst out laughing. “Awww theers no one to healp little old youh.” the second spoke as if talking to a baby. Rose tried to rise to her feet but was let down by her protesting leg again; this was only met by laughter from the three boys.
Until they was cut short, a solid –Thunk- in the wooden house next to them and a feathered end sticking out informed them that the whiz they felt 3 inches from their faces was indeed from a arrow, standing atop the building opposite the street was an archer; his bow pointed towards the three boys, another arrow already noosed ready to shoot.
“You three” he yelled, “Remove yourselves from my sight this instant - before I turn you into pin cushions” he smiled evilly; the last words tainted with spoken intentions, at this he released the arrow, this time it hit the floor in-between the third boy’s feet with a crunch; and stayed there – indented on the stone floor. The boys left no time in escaping down the street.
Rose managed to stand as the archer jumped from the building and ran over to her side, she had blood running down her leg from where she fell, if she was in any pain, she didn’t show it, instead her anger and seething at what happened caused her to forget the pain, she turned and attempted to continue with the race, but was stopped by the archer.
“And where exactly do you think YOUR going.” It wasn’t a question – it was a demand. “Well I’m going to finish this stupid race of course.” Rose stated flatly, her anger showing. “You won’t finish like that, you can hardly walk with that leg.” The archer reply calmly “Well what else do you want me to do!” Rose snapped, directing her anger at the larger man. He bursts out laughing and starts patting Rose on the head “That’s no way to speak to your savoir you know.” While holding her face close to his and looking into her eyes; Rose shakes herself loose and he backs off laughing more. “Here, drink this” he say’s while throwing a canteen at the girl. “It will make you feel better, it’s fresh from a healing spring in Bellasee Forest.”
Rose looked at the water inside the canteen before taking a huge gulp of the warm water contained within; warm water that didn’t taste too good being stuck in a canteen for however long it was, she looked up to complain but the man was no where in sight, it were like he disappeared; she had to admit, she was feeling better immediately, she threw the canteen strap over her head and started on the race again, now fully aware that she was behind.
She arrived at the town gates in short order and as she was told what would happen now her smile faded as panic attempted to take over….
“Release that woman IMMIDIATLY” the voice yelled from the street, the two men looked over, and though blurry eyes Zela did so as well, she could make out the forum or a largish man, she recognized the clothes but wouldn’t quite place them. “Don’t just stand there, get him!” the first man barked his orders at the smaller thug. Nervously he stepped towards the man drawing his sword as he went, he broke into a run towards the unknown man.
It was over in a second the thug swung his sword at the man; which he parried easily with his left hand, pushing the sword off to one side leaving the thug off balance and being carried forward while leaving his chest wide open, it was all that was needed as the man brought his right hand down, and with a open palm full of white energy; forced it into the thugs chest.
“Holy Strike!” he yelled as the thug was sent flying behind him, landing in a heap and not moving anymore. The thug holding Zela threw her to one side and drew his own sword as she landed on the floor in a heap, she sat up in time to see the thug strike the man with a violent attack designed to sever arteries across his torso.
The thug screamed in pain and then collapsed, the man in robes stepped over the thug’s body and approached Zela, she finally recognized him as the bald monk from the balcony earlier, his robes now slashed but with no damage done to his chest.
“Are you hurt my dear?” he asked, his voice full of kindness without a hint of pain in it. Zela mumbled incoherently while sobbing quietly to herself, she had never experienced something so rotten, so foul and so evil in all her life. She had never felt fear like that before, it was even worse then the fear of death. The monk took the girl in his arms, giving her a shoulder to cry on while he chanted his spell. “Blessed Light” he whispered to himself as healing energies burst forth and covered the girl, completely curing the girls ankle and all of her bruises.
Zela recovered quickly; after the kind words and a shoulder to cry on, once her mind regained control of her body it wasn’t long before she realized that nothing actually happened, it had been around ten seconds from when he started searching for a gold pouch she did not have on her person anymore, to until she was saved, but them ten seconds was like ten minutes to her.
Zela was helped to her feet by the monk, he’d offered to take her back the academy to deal with this matter properly, but Zela declined, she had a race to finish; and quickly took off down the street – she would really have to push herself to get this done, she hoped the punishment would not be too harsh, and with that thought in mind she quickly chanted the words of her spell.
“Windborne Speed!” she whispered to herself as her feet began to be pushed along with an unseen force; she didn’t want to have to use her basic magic she knew, she wanted to learn like all the rest, but it appeared that she had no choice.
As she approached the town gates she allowed the magic to dissipate.
In front of her stood a table with a bored looking man sitting at it, at first he didn’t notice as Zela approached, he seemed to be in his own dream world and a gentle poke got his attention. “Whauwhenwhuuiwasntdoinganything” he jumbled out while falling off his seat backwards to a loud crash; this act alone caused Zela to lose her grim look and to laugh again. “What do you want?” he asked, surprised that anyone was even talking to him. “Well, I’m in the race as we were meant to stop here to get something?” Zela said questionably. “What?!” he said finally returning to his seating position at the table. “Your very late you know, you might not even be able to finish, what took you so long?” “Well I kind of ran into some problems…” Zela trailed off “Look, I’m already late can I have whatever it is I need to take with me?”
