Chapter 10 - Duelist to the End

↤Chapter 9 - Drafted
Three days after her fight with Cat, Quizzical was on her feet again physically but not mentally. Having dramatically lost a fight against the Noble, she feared for her brother who still hadn’t returned from Nova after he had been sent to kill another of the Nobles. Having seen the level of power ferocity held in just a single member of the Novans, she had no idea how he could have survived on his own.

She had lain in a hospital bed, recovering for the better part of two days before she had been allowed on her feet by the healers. It wasn’t like she was sitting on death’s doorstep after her battle and she didn’t take kindly to the seemingly endless medical examinations that took staff away from the other Abstracts simply because she was a Guardian.

Quizzy hated the fact that she got special treatment because of an ugly black mark slashed across her eye, she’d kill to have the mark disregarded as false or removed entirely. The problem with having the sigil removed from her skin was that it would unpleasantly kill her, the Abstracts thrived on their connection to the Candelaum and it was through their sigils that their connection is maintained.

A few of the other guardians had come to see her during her few days in the hospital, she had shooed them away the moment they’d stepped through the door, but the damage had already been done. Rumours spread like a sickness through the small city and quickly to the other guild-cities and then Perception itself that there had been a Guardian brutally injured by the Novans on the battlefield, so much so that they’d nearly died.

The rumour stirred the cauldron of war and threw in newfound fury on the part of the Abstracts, Quizzical knew that the kettle was getting close to boiling over. That was something the people of Imagination couldn’t afford, even all standing together the might of the Abstract army could never stand up against the intergalactic superpower that was the Novan Empire. They were fighting a war that they were not going to win through sheer numbers or skill alone, they would only manage to win through foul play and subterfuge.

After she had been released from the hospital, Quizzy had slipped out of the medical building under the dark cover of night and walked through the Candelaum into Perception before making her way to her own house and collapsing on a chair in the kitchen.

There she sat for a long while, thinking about what she could do in an effort to end the war, but there was nothing she could think of that wouldn’t end in the destruction of most of her race. In the end, there was little she could think of besides committing high treason or having some Poltergeists infiltrate the Novan government building and hold the entire planet to ransom.

The first would get her banished and the second would never work, such a building was bound to have security tighter than one’s grip round a sword and would get Poltergeists killed.

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She was in the Guardians’ Guild again, near to the centre of Perception, she had been discouraged from going back by most of the other Guardians but had just ignored them. Sitting back at home, waiting for something to happen wasn’t exactly her style. Instead, she had walked in and challenged everyone in the room to a friendly, yet honourable duel. Most of the Abstracts backed off considering they knew that Quizzical had been hurt and they didn’t want to injure her any more. Anyway, it was a Friday and she didn’t want to miss the weekly banquet at the guild-hall.

On the other hand, one of them had stepped up and answered her challenge, Pe’thos. The Guardian was a taller man than Quizzical, considerably so, his sigil emblazoned white against his dark grey skin, slashed across the right of his neck. He had bright white hair too, something uncommon in Abstracts. Normally they would have a tamer colour like green or brown, maybe a dark red mixed in there from time to time. Pe’thos didn’t wield a sword most of the time, he preferred something with a little more heft to it when it was swung.

Donning his helmet as Quizzical did, the pair walked side by side towards the training arena off the main hall of the guild. Transitioning from the gloomy, candle-lit hall to the braziers of the training hall made Quizzical cringe away from the light a moment while her eyes adjusted. The pair were followed by a number of the other Guardians, some out of interest for the ensuing battle and some out of some degree of wariness for Quizzical’s health. Quizzical spotted the face of her student in the crowd, she had visited Quizzical when the older Guardian was in Khuuka and had tried to tell her about something that had happened in the forest; Quizzical had none of it at the time, shooing Vee out the door like she had all the others. She made a mental note to remember to ask her about it after her duel.

The hall looked as if it had been carved out of stone, the bricks the hall was constructed from lay so perfectly that there seemed to be no seam between each one in the inverted-boat shaped hall. Braziers hung from the ceiling and burned dark orange flames that flickered and crackled, making shadows twirl around the walls as if locked in an eternal ballet.

The floor was stone too, a large circular area in the middle marked out by scuffed white paint. The stone floor inside the circle was splattered with long dried blood and scored with deep sword marks from hundreds of fights within its bounds.

Quizzy carefully walked over the white paint and shrugged her jacket off her shoulders, she kicked it across the boundaries and rolled her lightly armoured shoulders. The familiar weight of her amour clutched her figure tightly, but not so to be uncomfortable. It was loose enough to give her some breathing room but wasn’t leaving any excess fabric to get in the way.

Her sword had been returned to her by one of the Abstract soldiers after the skirmish had concluded and the day had been won by the interdimensional creatures. She had been grateful to the young man who had given her weapon back to her after finding it on the ground, she had turned down his offer of a drink with him, much to his chagrin.

She breathed out and turned, watching her hulking opponent stride confidently into the circle with her. His armour was much heavier than Quizzical’s, he had suspended manoeuvrability for the protection of plate armour, although Quiz knew that he was still frighteningly quick in the heavy metal. The pair of Guardians weren’t allowed to touch their weapons till the duel had begun, something Quizzical hoped she could take advantage of. The large man crossed his hand over his chest in salute to Quizzy, a polite gesture of respect that was something of a salute in Imagination, she returned his salute before dropping into a low crouch.

The duel wouldn’t start till both combatants had pressed the palm of their dominant hand do the ground akin to sumo wrestling, it was a symbol that the duel was to be fair and even. Also, it was so both Abstracts knew which hand was going to be stronger, since the mental fight between the two had already begun.

Pe’thos assumed a similar stance to Quizzical, although she could predict how he was going to start moving from where the tension in his body was, just like he could most likely tell the same from her.

Palms pressed against cold stone and the duel began as both Abstracts whirled into the fight. Neither went for their weapons at first, Pe’thos dodged Quizzical’s high kick and launched himself at her in a tackle to try and push her out of the arena without having to draw his weapon on the injured Guardian.

Quizzical leapt and vaulted over his back, using the moment of time bought to draw her sword from the holster at the back of her hips and extend it with a practiced flick of her wrist. Her opponent turned around and watched Quizzical drop into a defensive stance, ready to defend herself against strong swings or ready to jump out of the way in case he ran at her again.

He thought for a moment before deciding to humour her and draw his own blades, he reached either hand either side of himself and took hold of the two cylinders in the holsters on his hips. Drawing them delicately and flicking them down by his sides the same way Quizzical had done with her sword, two short, broad-headed axes unfolded from the small metal cylinders and were rolled around practiced hands.

Steel swiftly clashed against steel, leather squeaked and rubbed harshly against skin. Sweat rolled down skin and dripped on cold, hard stone. This was Quizzical’s element, an honourable duel between two Abstracts, putting their mettle to the test to see who could wield a blade to a higher standard. Quizzical broke the lock her sword had become ensnared in and rolled beneath the axe-swipe before taking a swing at her adversary’s legs. Much to her surprise and impress, he leapt over her swing and rolled across her back in an effort to push her off-balance, his efforts were in vain as the only thing he got out of the attempt was an elbow in his face.

Quizzical’s opponent reeled across the arena, out of the way of the precise swing of the sword held in the female Guardian’s hand. He wiped the blood that ran from his nose on the back of his gloved hand and grinned with impress, the larger man was surprised and glad for Quizzy’s vigour. Pe’thos rolled the axes around his hands and launched another attack at his adversary, beginning with a carefully aimed throw of his lefthanded axe at her legs.

The spinning machete whirled underneath Quizzy’s jump and she easily deflected the blow from Pe’thos’ other axe, forcing the weapon to ricochet down and gouge another hole in the floor of the arena. With her adversary momentarily stunned, Quizzical took her moment to launch a high kick at his head, the heel of her boot cracked over his forehead and sent him sprawling over the ground as if he were a puppet with its strings cut.

A cheer erupted from the stands to Quizzical’s victory, especially considering the odds were against her, at least they thought so.

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“Was it really necessary for you to kick him that hard?” Lidered growled, his smooth voice floating gently through the brightly lit office. “Just to try and prove to me that you’re not as badly injured as I thought?”

“I thought it was, sir.” She replied calmly, wary of the quick-tempered Abstract she was talking to.

Lidered was the closest thing the Guardians had to an internal leader, the oldest among the prestigious guild with his Sigil emblazoned over his cheek. He was annoyed with Quizzical to be sure, but not angry, the older Abstract was just frustrated that the young Guardian wouldn’t just sit down and do as she was told. That was to be expected if he thought himself the commander of the Guardians, the group were known for going off and doing their own thing without any pre-planning.

“Right… Have you heard anything of my brother?” Quizzical asked, hoping for good news.

“Nothing so far.” Lidered responded, sympathising with Quizzical’s deflation, “But he’s not under my command so I need not know, if it carries such import to you, go and bother the Poltergeists… Carefully.”

Quizzical nodded, making it top of her list to go and do just that as soon as she had some time for herself. For now, she was to stay on watch in Khuuka as it was a prime target for a Novan incursion as it was not a very heavily defended city, no high walls like the majority of the Abstract cities were enclosed behind and only a very small military force stationed there that acted more like glorified police officers than an actual force to be reckoned with.

Before she left for the hospital city again, she wanted to stay for the banquet; she hadn’t had the chance to speak to vee after the duel and the feast was the prime time for the guardians to speak to one-another.

Exiting the guild, Quizzical quickly jumped into the Candelaum and flickered down the streets towards her house. She pushed the door open and strode into the cold building, since it was almost dark outside she knew she didn’t have long until the festivities began.

Quizzical also knew that she would have to be there early so she could be sure she would get a seat near to her student’s and be able to speak to her about whatever she wanted to talk to while she was in Khuuka. The Abstract began to take her armour off, undoing buckles and straps before tossing segments of the metal-lined leather onto the floor of her bedroom.

Quizzical stretched out in the tight-fitting suit she wore under her armour, glancing momentarily into her wardrobe to decide which set of formal armour she should wear. Most of the pieces were rather similar, gold trim ringed each of the pieces, dark blue or red-stained leather made up the majority of the protective plates while they were connected by a woven mesh of chainmail and light crimson fabric.

The Abstract took it up from the wardrobe and began to wriggle into it, the woven steel and leather fit squarely across her chest, leaving the rest of the clothing to gently rest over her shoulders and hang nicely around her. Quizzical tightened the buckles around her sides, the leather rubbing and squeaking against itself.

She clicked her tongue and picked the sword out of the holster now lying on her floor; she rolled it around the back of her hand before gently slipping the now extended blade into the sheath at her hip. Quizzical sighed and took a moment to walk through the candelaum and out of the air before the Guardians’ Guild.

Outside of the gatehouse was a small woman Quizzical was more than overjoyed to finally be seeing again, Vee was slowly walking towards the high walls around the Guild, looking rather sullen.

“Vee!” Quizzical called to her, sparking the younger Abstract to turn to face her teacher.

“Quizzy, hey.” Vee replied, the usual bounce in her step worryingly absent as she made her quiet way over to Quizzical. “How have you been?”

“I’ve been alright, are you ok?” Quizzical replied, gently placing her arm around Vee’s shoulders. The younger Abstract shook her head sullenly and took some comfort leaning into Quizzical’s gentle half embrace. Quizzical clicked her tongue and gently asked Vee to tell her what was so wrong.

“Finn’s dead Quizzy, got killed by a bunch of Novans.” Vee quietly replied after a moment of thinking about her words. “Ran into them in the woods. He didn’t stand a chance.”

Quizzical took a moment to absorb that, she had only met the Fae once, he’d seemed like a sleazy but thoughtful person. He genuinely cared about Vee and would have done anything to see her happy, it was a shame that the Novan soldiers had cut her friend down. While Quizzical sympathised with Vee and her friend’s unfortunate death, she was slightly more worried about the thought of Novan soldiers they didn’t know about infiltrating Imagination.

She didn’t show it as she tried her best to comfort the upset Guardian; she had done her best by coming to the feast, she’d have to share the news that she’d found the Novans in the woods now. It was another question on the other hand whether Lidered would listen, the older Guardian was more experienced and knew that Novans didn’t have any capabilities in moving between dimensions so it would be a hard task convincing him that Vee had actually found the Novans.

Unfortunately, Lidered was very conservative, he liked things to stay as close to normal as possible and he didn’t like listening to new ideas.

Quizzical and Vee were broken out of their conversation by a grand tune being played on an instrument similar to a bugle and the gate to the guild being raised open to let them in, Quizzical smiled gently at her student and guided her inside where lay the promise of good drink and excellently cooked food.

Chapter 11 - Don't Cage a Tiger↦