Chapter 20 #2
Then I will bring her into my order. All people can be subdued with time, all wills crushed.
‘Her what?’ Sohrab asks from behind me. ‘What are you muttering?’
‘Nothing.’ I walk cautiously toward Arezu’s tree, avoiding the karkadann.
Her eyes widen at me. ‘Help!’
‘I do not take kindly to rogue girls spying on my lessons. If that karkadann fells you, well, I think you deserve the mess you have put yourself in.’
Shut it, Azadnian heretic. Arezu struggles, her face reddening from maintaining her grip or, perhaps, embarrassment.
Swinging her legs, the momentum flies her back on to the branch. She attempts to shoo away the horned beast as it circles the tree languidly.
‘I will help you on one condition,’ I offer.
‘You are a jinn,’ she spits. ‘I will not be in your Marka squadron—’ A clamouring rustles the branches above her and, to our surprise, a furred arm smacks her face.
She cries out. ‘Monkeys!’
The creatures swing through the trees, down and up. Arezu huddles low, shrieking, trying to dodge them. My pulse quickens but I affect a blank look, to not clue her into my inner panic. It is what I am good at, pretending my problems are small.
I dare closer to the karkadann. Arezu throws a lemon at a monkey but misses.
‘If you recite remembrance about the Divine, the beasts might leave you,’ I tell her.
She screams more.
I gaze around the clearing, thinking fast. Once, I had known the secret to fell a karkadann, but that part of me died a long time ago. All I’ve left is to recall Yabghu’s words from my first day. He alluded that karkadann and monkeys dislike . . .
Incense. In my satchel, I unlatch my attar incense from the Qabl monks and throw the ash behind the beast. It does not work. Angered, the karkadann rams into the trunk, and the branches quiver.
To my horror, Arezu begins crouching, moving into first stance, as if she could fight the creatures.
‘That stance is dangerous against them.’ I raise my voice above the cackling creatures.
‘That stance is dangerous,’ she mimics, smirking.
‘True grandmasters would stance train on treetops to learn balance. Yet, you train students on the ground.’ But the smiles slides off when the karkadann gives a great thrust. Arezu’s foot slips and she plummets backwards.
I dive and catch her before she smacks into the hard ground.
Retreating, I take us into the safety of the fountains.
I dump her on the ground. ‘If you fool around with the karkadann in amateur stances, you will be attacked long before the bones of your body break.’
Her face tightens. ‘You think you are better.’
‘Yes.’
Her eyes darken. ‘My formations are good.’ Unsheathing an onyx training knife, she moves into second stance.
‘Good,’ I say flatly. ‘Try to throw the blade by using the Heavenly bonds in your feet.’ She pivots but remains flat-footed instead of rising on to the balls of her feet. ‘You will twist your ankle.’
Her lips grimace. ‘You want to rope me in with the rest of those gullible fools.’ She gestures to Sohrab, Yasaman and Yahya, watching us from the far fountains. That is true.
She shifts her elbows into a line before throwing the onyx knife.
Carefully, as if approaching a ravening beast, I chop behind her knees before pressing a palm lightly between her shoulders at the sensitive point. She folds to the dirt.
‘What the Hells!’
‘Your centre of Heavenly Energy is pathetic. You look pretty but aesthetics are irrelevant. Instead, open the bonds beneath your feet. My overseer told me it’s the First-Stratum of summoning. But you would know this if you joined us. Your potential is good.’
Her back straightens. Bewildered at the change, I wonder if I should compliment her more to win her over. ‘But you are still awful,’ I add quickly. ‘Anyhow, we can make it work.’ I examine her height and scrawniness.
‘We are not making anything work.’
‘You know, Sohrab needs a sparring partner. And you could benefit from a teacher.’
She barks out a laugh. ‘What kind of master are you? Half the time, you hold Yahya in your arms because he sobs like a fat babe.’
‘No, I don’t!’ Yahya cries.
Now it’s my turn to be embarrassed. ‘I hold him for a quarter of the time because he cannot handle the training as much as the others. And he’s four years old.’
‘Whatever. Watch now.’ She readies her fists.
Yasaman, sensing what’s to come, shoots to her feet. ‘Arezu, do not—’
Arezu barrels toward me but I catch her fists. ‘I will snap those fingers. Know that I’ve made good on worse threats before.’ Another lie. Not a single threat I’ve made in this city has ever come true.
‘But why do I need you? I am fine by myself.’
‘It’s a matter of heuristics. An Azadnian monk once said: one cannot learn to be a warrior by inaction. A tactician does not learn sufficient warfare through study only. There is no substitute for experience—’
Arezu rolls her eyes, saying, ‘O, Master, thank you for that parable. Please quote more sagely scrolls,’ before clambering up into a tree. ‘I will do nothing with you.’ Like a sparrow, she hops away branch to branch.
‘She left,’ Sohrab points out.
‘She will be back.’
The next morning, she marches up the hill. Sohrab grins widely.
‘I’m here to observe,’ Arezu snaps. I catch her fingers curling into her blue tunic as if she awaits my scorn.
‘I see. Would the new pupil like to introduce herself?’
‘We are well acquainted. I enjoy thrashing Sohrab,’ she mutters. The others wince. Arezu glances at my kerchief. ‘O, master?’
‘Yes?’
She bows extra mockingly. ‘There is a cockroach in your hair.’
I stare. Sohrab looks accusingly to Yasaman, who shrugs mildly. ‘It’s my affinity.’
If I show scorn, they will use it against me. But if I ignore it, I set an ill precedent. Children, I have learnt over the weeks, must be handled strategically.
‘I am the fool for not noticing.’ I fling the cockroach at Arezu, and she screams.