Chapter 20 - My Imagination

Ukedideka had managed to return to the Poltergeists’ guild, he’d spent a few weeks in Khuuka with too many healers swarming around his bed. He’d convinced them he was all right after the burns on his back had healed over. Now the quiet Poltergeist was sitting in a cubby in the wall, grinding a whetstone across his sword to sharpen the shimmering blade. The constant, rhythmic scraping sound was remarkably calming to Ukedideka’s shaky nerves.

Ever since he had walked out of the hospital-city, he had felt like something just wasn’t quite right with the world; as if something had its every intent set on finding Ukedideka and dragging him back to the maniacal scientists on Nova. The best way to describe it was paranoia, plain and simple, Ukedideka was frightened of the world and found some solace in the rhythmic motions of the whetstone on the blade.

His concentration on the grating of the whetstone on his sword was shattered when Inkosi purposefully strode into the room, another pair of Poltergeists flanking him in their shadowy armour.

“Ah Ukedideka, just the man I was looking for.” The older Poltergeist began cheerfully as he sat in the cubby next to Ukedideka. The fearful man drew his knees closer to his chest, not knowing what the leader of the Guild might want from him.

“I trust that you are well after your…” Inkosi spoke before pausing a moment to consider his words, “Absence.”

Ukedideka opened his mouth to reply, but no words came forth, he simply nodded. It must not have been convincing to Inkosi as he shook his head and placed a reassuring hand around Ukedideka’s shoulders.

“If you’re not well, you don’t have to come back to duty yet.” Inkosi murmured, “I understand if you’re not healed.”

Ukedideka didn’t feel reassured by the king’s sentiment, even more so as the next cold words came from Inkosi’s mouth.

“You didn’t kill him.” He stated simply before letting more cold words spill from his throat, “I don’t think you’ve ever failed me before.”

Ukedideka stammered a moment before turning his head to face Inkosi, “You sent me to fight a god.” He protested, “I’ve fought no one like that before.”

“God or not, if they bleed, they can die.” Inkosi growled impatiently, “You aren’t the only one that failed me, but you’re the only one that returned alive.”

Ukedideka started, Inkosi was a close friend of his, the older Poltergeist wouldn’t think to threaten his friend like that; Ukedideka drew his knees closer to his chest defensively. His eye flitted from Inkosi to the other two Poltergeists in the room with them. Neither of them was reaching for their sword, at least not yet.

“I’m not trying to threaten you Ukedideka.” Inkosi muttered dismissively before standing up out of the cubby next to Ukedideka, “Just know that I expect more from you when you think you can come back to work.”

Inkosi shook his head at Ukedideka before taking his leave from the room, Ukey’s emotions squirmed and writhed in his mind. He didn’t know what to do with the sudden flurry of grief, shame, despair and acrimony as it snarled and snapped at his weakening psyche, Ukedideka dropped his sword with an agonisingly loud clatter on the floor to put his hands to his suddenly pounding head.

Gritting his teeth, Ukedideka pushed back against the tide of fury rising in his gut and crammed it back down where it belonged. He wanted so dearly to hurt Inkosi, he could almost see himself drawing his sword and plunging the razor-like blade into the king’s neck while his back was turned and his attention lingered elsewhere.

Ukedideka threw the idea out of his mind and tossed it aside with as much mental strength as he could muster. He reached down with a shaky hand to pick up his sword and spun it around his hand to retract it back to the small cylinder that he slipped into the holster on his hip.

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Quizzical could hear the roaring of the crowd from the other side of the gate, adorned with ceremonial Guardians’ armour she was preparing for a fencing display. So soon after the battle she wasn’t too confident about it, but they had ordered her to demonstrate the Guild were still strong after the guild.

The fight she was about to win was somewhat choreographed, though the frowbe dueling style was up for some level of interpretation within a duel. This was a rather closely kept secret between the display fencers of Imagination, that the fights were highly scripted and their bets were truly decided.

She couldn’t see very well in the small room she was standing in. There were no windows or torches to provide any meaningful light. Even with her superior vision in the dark, it was nigh-on impossible to discern any detail from the bare walls to her sides.

The deep brass of a high-horn sounded and the gate she was standing behind swung open. Quizzical waited until the sunlight had completely bathed the room in its warm afternoon light and her eyes had adjusted to the sudden bright assault. Her sensitive ears twitched at the roaring of the crowd. They were too excitable about this battle, unfortunately they wouldn’t be receiving the bloodshed they wanted.

The arena itself was built into the side of the Nameless King’s palace, a vast, bowl-shaped colosseum crammed with roaring Abstracts and two duellists that probably wished they were somewhere else. It was large enough to house entire battles, it frequently hosted mock battles between different regiments of Breakers for the entertainment of crowds of Abstracts.

The floor was covered in sand, similar to the Colosseum in our own Rome; it was done for similar reasons too, when there was bloodshed on the floor it could be easily covered up with five minutes and a shovel.

The other duellist stepped from their own room and raised their hands to the crowd to get the crowd more exited than they already were. The raucous cacophony of cheers and hollers he received rippled across the crowd. Quizzical stepped from her own room and heard the gate slowly swing shut behind her.

Quizzical didn’t need to raise her hand to excite the audience, they already knew who she was. One of the prestigious Guardians and a fantastic fencer to go with that, they also knew that the fight would be interesting as Quizzical was one to fight dirty from time to time.

The two fighters began to walk towards each other in a carefully considered pace, the crowd cheered with each step that took them closer to each other. It was slightly windy in the arena and the ceremonial armour Quizzical was wearing was flapping gently about her; it was made up of mostly chain-mail interlinked by long pieces of fabric and leather that draped down and gently flew like a flag in the wind.

The breaker standing in front of her was wearing the ceremonial armour of his guild; bright and shiny plates covered in delicately inlaid fabrics and filigree that must have taken an æon to create. Quizzical studied the meticulous designs a moment before they were within distance to touch each other. The breaker smiled and bowed his head to her as a sign of respect to the Guardian, Quizzical returned the gesture before crossing her left arm across her chest with her balled fist against her shoulder.

The Breaker smiled, “Let’s keep this to the script, Guardian.” He purred under his breath before crossing his arm over his chest in the same way Quizzical had.

The moment his fist touched his shoulder, Quizzical was moving. She bared her teeth at the other Abstract and kicked backwards, skidding along the sandy ground on the balls of her feet. The breaker did the same, though not as gracefully as the Guardian; they both reached for the swords at their hips though only the Breaker extended his out to its full length. His was a simple straight sword, similar to Ukedideka’s but longer.

The Breaker viciously growled and bared his shiny teeth at Quizzical and dashed forward, the crowd yelled out loud as they clashed. The sword’s swing was efficiently blocked with the small hilt Quizzical was holding, metal clashing against metal with an unpleasant grinding sound. The Guardian responded with a swift kick to the man’s chest, making him skid back along the ground before he launched himself back at Quizzical with his sword ready to strike.

He swiftly found himself on the floor after Quizzical had grabbed his wrist and flipped him over her shoulder with an elbow in his stomach; he impacted the ground and used the momentum to pull the Guardian down into a small throw of his own.

Quizzical rolled to her feet and flicked her sword down by her side to extend it out, she bared her teeth at the other Abstract as he flipped himself back upright and levelled his sword to her.

“To Guard, Aphré.” He snarled before sprinting forwards and swinging his sword at her, Quizzical ducked under the swing and launched an attack of her own at his side.

He rolled over the air her sword had cut through and over her swing, swiftly his own sword flew about in another strike which Quizzical slapped aside with the flat of her own blade. The clashing of metal threw sparks against the sandy ground. Both the fencers had forgotten the shrieking of the crowds, their concentration entirely on the whirling steel clashing together between them.

An opportunity revealed itself when Quizzical parried the Breaker’s blade aside and threw his stance off; she stepped forwards, inside the range of his sword and landed a solid punch to his chest with her offhand.

It didn’t affect him much through the plated armour, but it threw him off balance more and he had to change up his footing to remain on his feet. Quizzical stepped back into his sword range to avoid a swing of his fist, then swiftly had to bring her own blade to bear to fend off a wild swing of the razor at her throat.

Something was off about this Breaker’s fighting; she’d duelled many a breaker before in this very pit and knew how the militaristic guild trained their members in the art of frowbe. This guy wasn’t using the artful swordplay, he was aiming to hurt Quizzical, perhaps even kill her if he had the chance.

Seeing her revelation, the Breaker’s lips curled back into a snarl and he connected to the candelaum. Usually in ceremonial duels, an Abstract using their more superhuman abilities was disallowed, Quizzical knew at that moment that her suspicions were correct and he meant to harm her. The Guardian grit her teeth and willed a connection to the candelaum too.

Both of the Abstracts stood, staring at each other a moment longer before the Breaker snarled and lunged forwards with his blade out to skewer Quizzical. The Guardian stepped aside from the path of the sword and swung her own blade, fencing back and forth with the rogue Breaker. Neither of them landed any blows on the other. The Breaker was matching Quizzical’s fencing skills blow-for-blow.

The pair of duellists gritted their teeth and flew about each other, parrying blows and striking those of their own. Quizzical was forced to flicker herself to the other side of the Breaker a few times, but the armoured man was always too quick to turn before the Guardian could get a blow in.

Minutes past of the clashing of blades on the floor of the arena, sparks flying across the sand and dancing in the slowly darkening sky. Quizzical was tiring, her sword arm stung from the number of blows she had deflected. The Guardian dropped underneath a swing of the Breaker’s sword and took a moment to grab a handful of the sand from the ground. Coming back up, she continued to fight through the onslaught.

Quizzical felt blood spray, then the numbness of adrenaline neutered pain. The tip of the Breaker’s blade had caught her leg as she was rolling over a swing and was now leaking hot red blood down her thigh. The other combatant grinned and growled ever louder as he watched the bright liquid staining the tip of his blade. The Guardian responded by throwing the fist-full of sand into his face and blinding him while she backed up from his wild swinging. Quizzical glanced at the wound in her leg. It didn’t look too bad but would need to be looked at by a healer. All she’d need for it would be a strong drink and a night’s rest.

The Breaker dropped his connection to the candelaum and rubbed the sand from his face with the sleeve of his garbs, he could see well enough just in time to make a mental image of what the underside of a Guardians’ shoe looked like. The boot was quickly slammed into his temple with the full force of a very upset Abstract; the Breaker went down like a sack of bricks, dropping his sword from his limp hand. Quizzical quickly picked it up and pressed the blade of her own to the unconscious man’s neck in victory.

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While she had won the bout, Quizzical’s wound still needed seen to, one Healer in the underground workings of the coliseum was happily applying a stinging disinfectant to the wound while complementing Quizzical’s prowess within the arena.

The Guardian wasn’t interested in his flattery though, she just wanted to find Guldfaxe and ask what the hell had happened with his rogue soldier. She smiled at the Healer and thanked them for their support in Quizzical’s medical care and for the compliments before insisting they leave so she could get changed back into her more casual Guardians’ armour.

After making sure her wound wouldn’t rub on the leather, she tucked the flashy ceremonial armour into the bag at her side and slung it over her shoulder. The breaker had been arrested after Quizzical had mentioned that he’d tried to kill her, while Quizzical had her suspicions that whoever it was that she had fought in the arena wasn't working alone, she still wanted to speak to Guldfaxe.

She’d seen him walking into the arena with a group of other Breakers at his side, but not the man that Quizzical had fought.

Walking outside, the sudden brightness startled her again, and she shielded her eyes. Funnily enough, Guldfaxe was waiting outside the door, leaning casually on the wall on his own. The tall man was rarely seen out of his professional position, wearing full plate armour as his business suit. Quizzical couldn’t say she wasn’t at least startled to see him in the more casual attire he had donned for the afternoon’s entertainment.

He was still unimaginably tall, standing at least two heads taller than the short Guardian with a warm smile on his face. Quizzical knew that even though the Breaker was a skilled swordsman and ruthless tactician, he hid a soft teddy bear of a heart.

“Guardian Aphré!” He began with his deep voice, but Quizzical waved at him for quiet.

“Just call me Quizzical, or Quiz if it’s easier on the tongue.” She replied quickly, her name wasn’t common in Imagination so often-times people found it difficult to pronounce. The letter "Q" didn't exist in the Abstract alphabet so her name was spelt "Kwizzikal" in their lettering.

“Quizzical then.” Guldfaxe corrected himself happily, “I wanted to apologise for my solier's unfortunate behaviour in the arena, he should have known that there was to be no bloodshed.”

Quiz shook her head, “Damn right he should have.” She muttered angrily, “I’m thinking foul play may have been at fault.”

“Aye, as do I.” Guldfaxe replied calmly, “You need not fear my guild, Guardian, we mean you no harm.”

“Evidence suggests otherwise.” Quizzical snapped back at him. She wanted to trust the soft-spoken man desperately, but the breaker in the arena had put a seed of doubt in the back of her mind.

“I can promise you that we have no reason to harm you, Quizzical.” He reasoned patiently, his warm smile reassuring her. “I will get down to the bottom of this in my Guild and report anything back to you personally, my words to you.”

Quizzical thanked him with a small nod of her head before taking her leave from the man and starting on her way back to her guild hall. She needed to speak to someone about the incident in the arena. A number of the Guardians had been in the crowds and would have born witness to the fight that went down on the floor, Lidered had been notably absent during the event.

“Aphré!” Someone shouted, Quizzical paused and looked over her shoulder to see Vee purposefully walking towards her.

Quiz turned to face her student, the shorter Abstract girl walked over to her and paused to catch her breath. The older Guardian inquired what Vee needed.

“Two things.” Vee said with an air of worry on her words, regaining her breath, “First, are you alright?”

“Perfectly alright” She replied, placing a hand on her leg where she had been cut. “What is it that you actually want?”

Vee smiled, “I have been told to call you to the Nameless King, he wants to speak to you.”

“Oh delightful, a court with the king.” Quizzical muttered sarcastically, she didn’t enjoy speaking to him, he was a little creepy and made the Guardian feel inferior. “When am I expected?”

“As soon as possible, at your leisure.” Vee replied calmly.

“So right now, I understand.” Quizzical stated sarcastically, “I’ll get myself off home to put something more pleasant on.”

“Alright then Quizzical.” Vee said, “You owe me a fencing lesson.”

“I don’t owe you shit.” Quizzical said with a mock stern face, then smiled and poked Vee’s nose. That made the younger Guardian grit her teeth and fight a blush.

Quizzical walked away from the flustered Guardian with a small smile on her face before stepping into the candelaum and vanishing from the street with a small gust of wind.

Chapter 21 Delving Deep |--->