A Warrior's Path Read online

  Changing his tactic, the Swift One began blocking Kiusu's attacks with heavy counterstrikes against the offending limbs, which he immediately followed with a number of random kicks or punches. It quickly became obvious that Kiusu was much too clever and powerful a fighter for such a tactic to work. He seemed to be aware of every move that Urietsin intended to make even before he was, and his strong limbs, conditioned by years of training and experience, were as hard as stone. Every counterstrike affected the young warrior more than they did the old man.

  Urietsin became frustrated and momentarily lost his focus on the fight as he wondered what he could possibly do to even present a challenge to his very skilled master. The distraction proved to be a mistake that the Swift One did not need in this fight as he went flying back from a double front punch to the chest. He hit the ground with a thud and immediately propped himself up on his elbows and shook away the dizziness that had suddenly come over him.

  “You fight better with your eyes closed, Urishe'etsi'in,” Kiusu called out with a laugh.

  Urietsin cocked his head curiously. His master's reference to their previous match seemed significant to him. “...apply what you have learned,” the old man had said at the beginning of this fight. An understanding grin spread across his youthful face. This time he rose with a look of confidence rather than anger, which was somehow much more intimidating.

  The young warrior did not have to strain to hear infinity's call. He faced his master with his eyes wide open, not that his eyes had much to do with how he saw things now. His senses spread out to take in the entire battlefield; his spirit was surveying the arena.

  Kiusu rushed at him suddenly, but the Swift One could feel the disturbance in the environment the moment the old man's muscles twitched. As his master came within reach, Urietsin jumped up and flipped effortlessly over his head. He landed into a sidekick that just barely grazed Kiusu's back, but still added to his forward momentum.

  The old man stumbled a few steps, then turned swiftly to eye his student a bit more cautiously and respectfully. It seemed now that the fight was truly on in full. Kiusu came on then, a blinding flurry of whipping limbs. Urietsin met his charge with a blur of defensive moves and counters. The two men danced their way around the sparsely wooded area and uneven terrain as if it were a dance floor. The percussion of their strikes provided the musical accompaniment.

  Many steps into their dance, Kiusu managed to back his student up to one of the thin trees that dotted the area. Urietsin was clearly aware of the trunk behind him, as he continually tried to sidestep away from it, but Kiusu would allow no such evasion. Whenever his student stepped sideways, the master would circle him so that his back was again almost brushing the smooth bark of the tree. The old man feinted with another double front punch, which Urietsin was all too eager to block. But the adept student was more completely aware than even the most attentive warrior. So, when Kiusu's foot swung up from the side seeking the Swift One's temple, it found only the hard wood of the tree.

  Urietsin dove under his master and rolled to safety.

  Kiusu winced, not in pain, but in sympathy for the tree that had just received a huge dent from his kick. He did not waste any more time than that, however, and spun to face his opponent. He had to dodge aside immediately as Urietsin's fist sailed past. A loud crack rang out as the student's punch connected with the hard wood.

  “Be careful of the tree!” Kiusu wailed, noting with lament that the Swift One's strike had left a similar scar to his own.

  Urietsin looked apologetic, but he did not let it distract him from the fight. The two men faced off and were about to leap at one another when a creaking groan turned their attention elsewhere. They both dove away from each other as quickly as they could while the tree around which they had been fighting came tumbling down between them. When the dust cleared, the two sat up and looked over the trunk at one another.

  “I think, perhaps, we should postpone this test,” Kiusu suggested dryly.

  Urietsin nodded slowly in response.

  Together the men retrieved some cutting tools from Kiusu's rebuilt hut and got to work chopping each and every part of the tree into wood that they would use later. They both were saddened that the healthy tree had been prematurely knocked down by their own actions, but they thanked it for its sacrifice and vowed to make use of every scrap. By the time they were finished and had packed the wood in their ample winter store, it was early evening, and there was a slight chill in the air. They retired to the hut to have a quiet and simple dinner, rice and some type of fowl.

  That night, Urietsin's sleep was restless with many dreams. He found himself surrounded by violent foes that attacked him ferociously. He fought desperately to keep them all at bay, but he seemed always on the verge of defeat. He could hear Kiusu's voice somewhere calling out to him, urging him on, but as from far away. The voices of three fallen warriors echoed across the dreamscape as well, but he couldn’t see anyone he knew. Instead he saw volumes of fierce men and other creatures clawing and swiping at him. Morning found the young warrior sluggish and bleary eyed, as if he had actually spent the whole night fighting.

  “Are you feeling well?” Kiusu asked when he saw him that morning.

  “I am tired. Strange dreams...” he said absently.

  “Will you be well enough to continue our little match?” the master asked with a curious expression.

  “Perhaps,” shrugged the Swift One. “We shall see.”

  Kiusu nodded and watched the young warrior walk off into the foliage.

  Urietsin went to his traditional spot for his regular meditation, but unlike most days, it was quite some time before he could quiet his mind enough to hear the multiverse calling out to him. Even then, his trip through the great interconnectedness seemed fraught with turbulence. He wondered if his weariness was the cause, and with that thought his mind came alive with a thousand other distracting thoughts, pulling him again away from his concentration. Eventually, he was able to find some peace drifting upon the tide of infinity, and it was very restful. By late morning he was able to make his way back to the hut feeling refreshed, the strange feeling of this morning fading into memory.

  “Better?” Kiusu asked when the Swift One stepped up more lightly than when he had left.

  “Much,” Urietsin nodded.

  “Good,” was the old man's response, which he immediately followed up with jumping toe-kick to his student's chin.

  Urietsin's reaction was completely instinctual. He reached up with both hands and turned the kick away with such force that Kiusu landed with his back to his student. The Swift One's rapid sidekick caught his master across the shoulders, and Kiusu went rolling away. The young warrior chased after the tumbling form of his master, who suddenly stopped and twisted around in a low sweep. Urietsin was ready for the move, though, and he jumped over the old man's seeking leg. From the failed sweep, Kiusu lunged forward with a rigid spearhand, which was parried effortlessly by the student. Urietsin followed the block with his knee.

  Kiusu tried to fall away to absorb most of the hit, but the Swift One's knee was true and landed a solid hit on the lunging master's jaw. It was a jarring strike, but one that the old man recovered from quickly. Rolling backward and leaping to his feet, Kiusu pressed ahead against his ready student. A high kick to the head, fast one-two front punch to the solar plexus, and a head butt were all blocked or dodged expertly by Urietsin. The old man could see that today was going to be very telling about his student's progress.

  The Swift One weaved around his master's strikes with hardly any effort. He could feel himself slipping deeper into his meditative state. Kiusu seemed to him to be moving in slow motion, so apparent were his moves to the ultimately focused Urietsin. The young warrior saw an opening, and with all his concentration he struck at his master, advancing with a deadly backfist.

  No stranger to the enticing call of infinity, Kiusu recognized that he was no longer fighting the Swift One's physical being alone. The old
master had been forming his own connection with the multiverse since the fight had begun. He could see his student's fist coming at him with a force that went beyond the capabilities of mere muscle. The old man knew that there was no physical block he could offer that would stop that strike. In a split second Kiusu had to decide whether to counter or dodge.

  He countered.

  The area around the two men lit up with a blinding flash and shook as a loud boom echoed out over the valley below. The light faded quickly, and they found themselves lying on their backs several feet away from one another. It took a few minutes to shake off the daze that followed.

  Kiusu got to his feet and stepped up to the Swift One and bowed deeply.

  Urietsin stood and mirrored his master's bow.

  The old man shook his head slowly. “I begin to wonder if there is much more I can teach you.”

  The young warrior’s expression shifted between surprise and pride. “Can it really be this easy?” he asked curiously, wondering how long it had truly taken his master to learn as much as he had.

  Kiusu’s expression suddenly changed; he seemed almost upset. “No, it is not easy,” he said quietly. He then turned and headed back to his hut.

  Urietsin watched him go, stunned at this strange reaction. Never had he seen Kiusu look unhappy, but it seemed something he had said to the old man had disappointed or saddened him. For the first time in more than a month he thought about home and felt the longing rise up in him more powerfully than ever before. Along with the homesickness returned a stinging sense of guilt. His studies had been distracting him from the memory of his fallen comrades, although it seemed many things had tried to remind him. He admitted to himself that he had been looking for a distraction from that painful memory.

  Now that he was thinking of it, nothing could stop the flow of the other thoughts that logically followed. He understood now that he should go home soon. Kiusu had buried the soldiers that had fallen to the gotori, so Captain Komeris and the rest of the empire’s soldiers probably had no idea what had happened to them. Unless, of course, the fourth man had escaped. Even so, the fallen warriors’ families should at least know where their sons were buried.

  Urietsin felt ashamed. He did not even know where Kiusu had buried them. He had let his guilt keep him from honoring their sacrifice to the empire.

  Suddenly, the Swift One felt like all these thoughts were twisting around in his head faster and faster until they became an overwhelming whirlwind. He didn't understand the dizziness that came over him, and he could not shake it. He blinked and looked around, but his surroundings seemed to be dissolving before his very eyes.

  With eyes still open, but staring sightlessly, the young warrior toppled limply to the ground. As the last bits of what he knew to be reality fluttered away, Urietsin found himself in completely unfamiliar surroundings. He stood next to Kiusu on a wide battlefield. Men and other creatures lay lifeless or dying on the ground. Above them a dark cloud whipped by and cast an ominous moving shadow over the already gloomy setting. The young warrior looked up at the cloud curiously; it all seemed so surreal.

  Impossibly, the cloud turned in the air and came back, swooping threateningly over the massacre. Urietsin ducked, and when he got back up, it seemed to him that the cloud had turned into a huge, featureless monster. Beside him Kiusu stood passively, as if nothing were out of the ordinary. The Swift One again looked up at the demon cloud, noting with dread that it was soaring back in his direction. As it dived toward the two men, it broke into thousands of flying creatures, all screeching terribly.

  The creatures descended upon the young warrior in torrents, and somehow he managed to fend them off. His limbs were an impenetrable blur that sent the rain of beasts scattering, but that hardly stopped them from coming on. Through the cloud of pelting creatures, Urietsin could see his former master standing there, unaffected by the downpour. The old man made no move to defend himself, and the flying demons did not attack him. The Swift One was dumbfounded at this, but did not dare to stop swinging.

  But despite all his efforts, Urietsin could not hold out indefinitely against a near unending stream of attacking creatures. They overpowered him and wrestled him to the ground and covered him so completely that he saw nothing but blackness.

  “Do not fear Urietsi'in,” Kiusu's voice echoed in his mind. “Death is but a new beginning.”

  Slowly, the Swift One's vision faded back in. He realized that he was in Kiusu's hut, but it was dark except for a small fire burning in the hearth. He ached all over and felt very ill, though he could not discern exactly what it was that did not feel right.

  “What happened?” he asked groggily.

  Kiusu gave him a curious expression. “Perhaps you should tell me,” he said mysteriously.

  “What do you mean?”

  The old man shrugged. “I found you lying on the ground unconscious. For days now you have been tossing and mumbling restlessly. Tell me what you saw.”

  “Days?!” the Swift One exclaimed in disbelief. He sat up quickly, but his head swam, causing him to seek his pillow once again. “How long?” he asked weakly.

  “Almost a week now,” Kiusu explained gently. “Tell me, Swift One. What did you see?”

  Urietsin swallowed in disbelief. “A week...” He paused, trying to adjust his mind to the passage of time. “Well, I saw a field. Many lying dead. And these beasts, terrible things, attacking me...”

  Kiusu nodded slowly, leaning closer in intrigue, eyes wide with bemused fascination.

  “...and you told me not to be afraid,” the Swift one added, closing his eyes as he tried to remember. “For some reason, they could not hurt you.”

  The old man blanched visibly, even in the dim light. Kiusu wiped away the beads of sweat that were forming on his forehead. He knew now that the time had come. “Urietsin,” he said slowly, deliberately, “rest well. When you are feeling better we must be ready to leave this place.”

  Urietsin tried to sit up again. “Where?” he groaned as he wisely lay back down.

  “Home,” the old man replied distantly.

  * * *

  The day was dreary with thick clouds blocking out much of the daylight. General Etrusin crouched down behind a rock and looked over his shoulder to the men waiting behind him. He signaled back to them, and they nodded, turning to tell the others. The general again peered around the boulder to the valley below.

  A river of men wound its way through the valley beginning directly under Etrusin's hiding place and stretching back as far as he could see in the dim light. It was a large army, but he and his men had an advantage. They were lying in wait to surprise them from the high ground. Etrusin stood and shouted out a call that echoed back and forth between the mountains. His men bounded up behind him, answering with a deafening charge.

  Several soldiers ran up next to the general and helped him push his boulder free of its perch. It bounced down the side of the mountain toward the head of the army below. To their horror, the rock slammed hard against the jagged edges of the mountainside and broke up into smaller pieces, which in turn broke apart as they hit the hard surface again. Soon there was nothing left of the boulder that still rolled downward.

  Etrusin and his men looked at one another with slightly worried expressions, then joined the rest of the soldiers that were charging down the mountain. Below they could see a flurry of activity as the other army reacted to the general's charge. He couldn't hear over the noisome rush of his own men, but Etrusin knew that orders were being called out as the men in the valley broke formation and hurried into position to meet the enemy.

  Arrows sailed overhead and dove into the valley aimed for the ranks below. Etrusin could not make out more than a few hits as he ran on. He wished he could get down there as fast as those arrows had. Now that he thought about it, hiding a bit further down the mountainside would have been wiser. He shook his doubts away and plunged ahead.

  With great dismay, Etrusin watched as several of his own sold
iers found the loose rock left by the broken boulder. They tumbled down the mountain, some headfirst, others sliding and rolling. He saw many of them flailing in an attempt to grab onto something and stop their descent. Others, however, bounced limply down into the valley. As the enemies gathered around those men who were the first to reach the bottom, the general prayed that they were already dead.

  Although the charge had gone poorly thus far, Etrusin still hoped to press their advantage. He called out for men to watch for loose rock and for them to fire another volley of arrows. The missiles again whistled over them and down into the valley. As the general watched their course, he noticed that the army below seemed to be gathering around what looked like several large wagons.

  Etrusin continued to watch, confused as his enemies lit fires on top of the wagons. It became clear to him very quickly that his estimation of the situation was grossly inaccurate. The fires lit on the wagons below launched into the air, and Etrusin could only stare as balls of flaming pitch rained out of the sky onto his army. His men had no determined direction in mind once they saw the approaching fire; they simply ran. Regardless, the balls of pitch fell and splattered outward onto the soldiers of Kesitul, covering them in a gooey, burning mess.

  Chaos ensued. Etrusin watched helplessly as his soldiers, brothers and sisters of the empire, came tumbling down the mountain in flames. Some ran. Some were already dead and simply rolling to their final resting place in the valley of their enemy. Although not all the soldiers had been hit, at least not fatally, the general knew without question that the battle was lost. He shouted out the call for retreat.

  His order was lost in the hectic screams and bustle of the scene around him. He saw soldiers stumbling by, barely able to walk, horribly disfigured by the fire. Some of them were covered in blood from falls that had not been merciful enough to kill them. His army now looked like a gathering of walking dead. He briefly thought, in this moment of defeat and desperation, that if they all ran down in this condition, they would scare off their foes. The thought humored him in a macabre way, and he almost laughed, but a dreadful sound echoed out from below. The second volley of pitch was already in the air.