Chapter 2 #2
“I’m not giving you anything! I’m going to save Jun, I know she’s still alive.” The woman turned and tipped the bottle, attempting to pour it onto the dead woman’s body.
“Give it to me!” I shouted.
“Help! Help!” the old woman screamed.
The child cried harder.
I clenched the bottle and pushed the old woman in the chest and she fell on top of the dead body. Without wasting any more time I got the child into a lock. He fought me with all the strength of his small, but surprisingly strong body.
“I’m going to help you!” I kept repeating, extending his arm and forcing him to open the palm of his hand.
“Grandma, grandma!” the child wailed.
The old woman wrapped her arms around my neck, but did not have enough strength to stop me from pouring the liquid on the boy’s hand. I dropped the empty bottle and released the boy.
“Get away from me!” I pushed the old woman back.
Just minutes later, the child stopped crying, watching me with his large eyes.
“You’ll be alright,” I said, getting up to my feet.
My lungs were burning with anger and exertion, but my heart sank. That was probably my only chance to get sacred water.
Just then, as if on command, a burst of wind hit my face and the sky thickened with the darkened screen of black thunder clouds. The first drops of rain landed on my head. A storm was coming.
Rain lashed against the roof and windows with fury and force when I finally returned to Victor’s room. He had not moved, but his face had gone ashen white, his skin was damp with sweat, and wild chills rippled through his body.
“Victor!” I called, but he did not seem to hear me.
I clenched my teeth, his body was already weak and now it was also infected. I lit another candle and carefully washed my hands before approaching the bed. His head moved from side to side on the pillow. He tried to say something but no sound escaped his lips.
“Damn you, Victor,” I whispered.
“Frid,” he called.
“I’m here.” I cleaned his forehead with a wet cloth and washed his face, his neck, and his chest.
“Frid,” he kept repeating.
“Don’t worry, I’m right here.” I touched his shoulder and only then he seemed to relax a little.
I kept tending him, fighting my fatigue, forcing him to drink and trying to bring down the fever by changing the cold compresses. But I very well knew that it was not enough.
Half the night passed with me by his bed, while the thunder shook the windows and the wind tore at the wooden frame.
I sat in the chair hugging my knees, my flying suit, completely restored, was abandoned on the floor. Victor’s light grey suit, also newly cleaned, hung off the bed. The flashes of bright white light illuminated the room and shadows painted the floor with opaque silhouettes of the furniture.
I hid my face in my hands, too exhausted to cry.
“Are you kidding me?” Victor shouted at Tynan, when both of us came out from the castle.
My dark suit looked two sizes too big and sagged at the bottom.
There was no way I could buy myself a suit since my adopted family could barely afford the food on their table.
But, they gave me the suit of some long gone relative, and I was happy to finally have something that would not be ripped to shreds after transforming.
I glanced at Victor. He was barely taller than me at the age of thirteen. It was something I continuously reminded him of, because I knew how much it bothered him.
“That’s right. I’m going to train with you,” I said.
“You can’t do this! Ty? Are you serious? We’re going to be the laughing stock of the whole clan. Having a girl among us. Do you know what they’ll do to us?” Victor followed Tynan, but the latter did not seem too bothered by his words.
“Sol, check what weapons we have,” Tynan said.
Sol nodded and walked back into the building.
“What do you mean? Are we giving her our valuable weapons too?” Victor would not shut up.
“Are you expecting me to fight with my bare hands?” I asked.
“I expect you to go back to the other girls and play with dolls and make . . . flower . . . wreaths.”
“Screw you.” I hissed.
“She’s staying,” Tynan said.
“Clearly, you haven’t thought this through. Do you know what’ll happen if we all go to the competition together? There’ll be no going back,” Victor continued.
“She’s staying,” Tynan repeated, his brows furrowed.
“I’m not going with you then.” Victor crossed his arms on his chest.
“Seriously?” Tynan glanced at him.
“Yeah.”
“Alright.” Tynan adjusted the curved knife on his belt.
“What do you mean ‘alright’? Are you still going along with it?”
“Yes.”
“You would rather side with her than with me?”
“I’m not siding with anyone. But if we want to survive, we need more warriors on our side. If you want to sit this one out, be my guest.”
Victor only gritted his teeth and gave me another look of hate.
His light hair looked unruly and cut shorter on the sides. He just recently received his first set of weapons and was incredibly smug about it. He was also quite skinny for his age and by the look of it, he would not grow much taller.
I gave him a mocking smile and followed the others.
He did not join us at the fight later that day.
“Do you think you’re good enough?” A boy pushed me and I hit the stone wall behind me.
Pain exploded in my neck and shoulders. I glared at him. This guy and his group were like a pack of wild dogs that only attacked when no one was around. Really dumb, but ruthless, they would never come at me if Ty or Sol were around.
Gavin was at least three years older than me, and already the worst bully in the entire clan. His group usually ignored me, but for the first time, I was competing against the other boys in the clan. Some were visibly upset by seeing me on the field.
“What do you want?” I looked up at him.
“Who do you think you are? Who told you that you can be a clan warrior?” He sneered and his even less mentally gifted friends laughed.
“Yeah. Teach her a lesson, Gav,” one of them joined in.
“It’s not my fault that you lost,” I said.
The retaliation was immediate. Gavin slapped me across my face. At the same time, two other boys grabbed my arms.
A burst of anger mixed with humiliation rose up. The skin on my cheek burned. I struggled to break free, but my arms were carefully secured.
“Do you see her suit? Did she steal it?” One of them sneered.
“Yeah. Let's see what she hides under it.” One of them squeezed the side of my chest.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Victor just stepped out from around the corner.
His eyes shifted from the four boys to me, pressed against the stone wall, with a hand on my chest.
For a moment he looked confused then he clenched his hands into fists, stepping toward us.
“Move along, stool stepper.” Gavin hissed.
That was the distraction I needed. Gavin was too preoccupied to protect himself, and with all my strength, I kneed him in the groin.
He folded forward with the most pathetic look on his face.
I did not want that little victory to be wasted, and proceeded to knee him in the nose, busting his face open with a satisfying crunch.
Gavin fell to the ground, tipping to his side guarding his male parts.
I glanced up. Victor was surrounded by the three remaining bullies. He had just taken a hit, and blood dripped from the side of his mouth.
Victor was a grappler. That was his most lethal technique.
He had many disadvantages in a fist fight, but as soon as he managed to shorten the distance to his opponent, it was over.
And it did not matter how big and strong the person was.
If Victor got close, there was nothing anyone could do.
That was his particular talent, and we all knew it.
But, it did not work well with multiple opponents. I had to help.
While Victor was getting a strong hold on one of the boys, I reached for another one from behind.
With one fast movement, I wrapped my arm around the boy’s neck in a tight lock.
The boy fell backwards, stunning me for a moment when his weight landed on top of my body.
Recovering almost instantaneously, I clenched his torso with my thighs and squeezed his neck even harder.
He produced a low guttural sound, not willing to give up just yet.
His face turned beet red and his hand frantically moved on the ground looking for something he could use against me.
Finally, his body went limp in my arms and I immediately let go.
I rolled him off me, and kicked him between his legs, just to be sure he learned his lesson.
In the meantime, Victor had beaten the other bully and was dancing around the last one, keeping low to the ground.
I watched his beautiful technique, his fast and efficient foot work.
He got a hold of his opponent’s body and flipped him over with one violent shove.
That was something I would never be able to implement.
He had incredible upper body strength I would never be able to match.
But, while I was built differently, I was still very fast and decent with my sword.
I knew many sneaky ways to hurt someone, but I rarely fought openly.
Sucker punches, tricks, and kicks in the groin were my most beloved tactics.
When Victor straightened, I could clearly see that he had taken several hits and his left eye was swollen.
“Are you alright?” he asked.
“I’m fine.”
“Don’t expect me to save you every time,” he grumbled.
“I didn’t need any help.”
He stared at me for a good moment. His eyebrows lowered. His gaze started to irritate me.
“Stormflower,” he finally said.
“What?”
“You remind me of a wild flower that blooms only in a storm.”
“Huh?”
“Nothing. Forget I said anything.”
“By the way, I had it under control,” I said.
Victor shook his head and smirked. After that incident, he never complained about me being part of the group.