"Laron Hirm"
The Youth moaned and rose from his seat to follow the speaker.
Since the beginning of the day the majority of the students had been called away from class. There was a new teacher- a magic teacher- and all the children had to be tested to see if they had any magic, and how much training they needed. Kuri, sighed, and sat straighter in her chair: They had done nothing all day but sit, and she was getting sore sitting on her wooden chair. She didn’t expect her name to be called, she doubted that her parents had enough money for her schooling, let alone an additional subject. Even so, she wouldn’t get in the class anyway, she knew she didn’t have any magic, she would have known if she did. A few of the other boys knew they had magic, and were glad to finally get to be taught how to use it.
Laron returned. The announcer looked at his lists "Kuri um.." He scanned his lists looking for a family name, finding none, he repeated "Kuri?"
She stood and grinned to herself, not even the school knew her family name, nor did she.
As she entered the room, she stopped short. The dark cloaked figure rose it’s head to look at her. His shoulder-length, sandy coloured hair hung around his face, and his white face made him look ill. His brown eyes were a contrast to the rest of his features. He was clean shaven, and was tall, so that if he stood, he would tower over Kuri. Although his face was pale white, the rest of his body appeared healthy and his shoulders were broad.
"Ah, Kuri. Now I have a name for the face."
Kuri gapped, but sat in the chair that he motioned her to.
"This will only take a few minutes...." He trailed off, obviously already busy with something Kuri couldn’t figure out. Suddenly she felt a strange tingly sensation in her head, then as sudden as it came it disappeared.
"I’ll see you tomorrow then I guess. And please don’t be late, it’s so annoying having to repeat myself for people who couldn’t be bothered getting up earlier."
"But...I don’t have magic!"
The black shadow from the previous night laughed, breaking the solemn look on his face. "I wouldn’t have you in my class if you didn’t."
Kuri looked at him, still not believing what he said, then rose and left the room.
"Now when I call out your names, I’ll tell you where to sit, and I want you stay there."
Kuri arrived as the last of the children were getting told where to sit. She stood in the door with her arms crossed over her chest, waiting to see what would happen. Usually she just got sent home.
The teacher sighed. "Nice of you to turn up Kuri. You can sit here." He patted the group of desks he was standing next to, which were empty.
"You can call me Sar, and as you know I’ll be teaching you for magic, or at least, teach you all as much as I can."
He turned to face two of the tables. "Your tables can go now, I’ll see you all tomorrow ." He faced the remaining group: the older, richer boys who always claimed they had more magic other than the Gods themselves.
"You can stay today, and every second day after today, since you have more magic that needs to be handled. And you, Kuri, needn’t come to any classes. Just come and see me if anything happens that isn’t normal." She raised her eyebrows at his last remark, but got up to leave the room, glad to have the day to herself.
One of the oldest boys, a young man really, named Guy, said "That’s ‘cause street kid here hasn’t got any magic at all. I bet she does something good for the teachers just to be allowed in school.", just loud enough for Kuri to hear. The group snickered, and look in her direction, waiting for a reaction.
Kuri stormed up to him, and pulled him to his feet, her orange eyes alight with anger. "Don’t you ever say anything like that again" She said, fighting to keep her voice under control.
"Or what? You hurt me?" He laughed, getting encouragement from his friends. "You’ll send fire bolts out of your fingers and burn me? You couldn’t hurt me if you tried." She felt her anger rise, and she clenched her fists, ready to do some damage.
"Kuri! Please leave now." Sar’s voice came over the excited youths, sounding almost afraid, but his plea went unnoticed by the angered girl.
Unable to control herself any longer, she ran for him. He fist landed in his stomach, and only momentarily winded, be brought up his fists, ready to show her that he could win. A few of his hard punches hit their target, making her lips bleed. All her attacks were blocked. His tall broad frame moved as if he were simply taking a walk; Hers heaved up and down with the unpracticed fighting. A knock from his elbow made her head spin, giving him enough time to grab her neck. Kuri saw a glint of metal appear in Guy’s other hand, and grabbed the wrist in time to save the dagger from being thrust into her chest. As the dagger came closer she began to get dizzy, whether from the blow to the head, or the sudden warmth on her hands, she didn’t know. Guy smiled as if possessed, and pressed harder against her weary muscles. As she fell to her knees Guy suddenly dropped the weapon, and cried out in pain, holding his hands in front of him. The other boys gathered around him. A minute later he staggered over to her, not wanting to get too near. He held out his hands.
"What have you done to them, Witch?" He cried. From his wrists down to his palms was burnt a deep red. A few parts of his palm had even gone sticky. She looked at her own hands, yet they were no different than they had ever been.
The dark figure of their teacher stepped in between the pair, making certain another fight wouldn’t begin. "Guy, go to the healer and get them fixed, but come straight back." Guy walked out slowly, they both knew that wouldn’t be the end of it.
"Kuri." Her eyes turned back to Sar. "Go home like I told you." He picked up the other boy’s dagger, "Take this, you’ll need it most likely." he said, so that only she could hear. She took the dagger and walked cooly out the door.
As she walked on the street, she looked about her for Guy, not knowing how long he would wait to attack her again. She stopped to put the dagger in her worn boot. She amazed herself how quickly she got herself into fights. She just didn’t know how it happened; one minute she was doing nothing, then another she was arguing with a teacher, or giving a child a blood nose. She reached the farm where her father and two older brothers worked. She always went there when she got sent out of school: the physical exercise helped calm her temper. As she came up to her brothers and starting picking the potatoes, they looked at her, and moved slightly away, knowing from past experience to stay away from her.
For three weeks now she had had the dagger, and still hadn’t been given the chance to use it. She didn’t know now to fight properly with weapons and her father wouldn’t teach her.
She sat on the blankets that made her bed and examined the hilt of it now. It was a good quality dagger, even Kuri with no weapons experience knew that. The hilt had a carving of a shoot of flame, as if from the legendary dragons mouth, or from Kumai’s, the Elemental God of Fire’s, hand. It was uncoloured, but it didn’t need to be. It was the most beautiful woodcraft Kuri had seen.
Kuri wondered why Guy would have such a dagger; no-one particularly worshipped the Fire God, only on bad winters when it was cold. Most preferred to worship the other Elemental Gods: farmers to the Earth Elemental God Seha; the majority of Westsiders to the Water Elemental God Fima; and everyone to the Air Elemental God Sha, to give them clean air and to protect them from bad winds. In general, no-one worshipped either of the four Elemental Gods a terrible amount, so why should Guy have Kumai’s Element on a dagger?
Clor, her second eldest brother, walked into the room they all shared, and Kuri quickly hid the dagger in her boot. He looked at her suspiciously, and walked out. A few seconds later he stuck his head back around the wall, and pulled back the sheet used as a door.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you, dinner’s ready."
At the dinner table, really just a board left on the floor, Kuri felt bored. Although she was glad to be going to school, she didn’t like her teachers. None of them like her in anyway, no matter how nice or mean she was to them. She didn’t see any reasons for this, so she assumed it was because she was one of the few girls at the school, and all the teachers were male. She tuned out of school thoughts, and into the dinner conversation.
"So tomorrow I’ll take Clor and Tiw on the trip." Said her foster-father to her foster-mother. Kuri perked up her ears: This was the first she had heard of a trip.
"Alright." Her mother said. "I wish you wouldn’t, but it has to happen sometime."
"Don’t worry, I’ll work extra to make up for it."
Kuri butted in. "What trip?"
"Clor, Tiw and I are going out for a few days so I can teach them how to hunt and live off the land, if the time should arise."
Hunting could be useful, though Kuri, as she remembered the dagger in her boot.
"Can I come?"
"And of what use would you be? You can’t learn to hunt, and you would only get in the way."
Kuri tried to think of a reasonable explanation. "I could stay at the camp to make sure nothing attacked it while you were gone. And I could teach them how to cook." Kuri knew almost as little about cooking as her brothers, but it was a good excuse.
"I suppose so. It will keep you out of trouble for a few days."
Kuri beamed inside herself. It was just the thing she needed: To get away from the Westside and Guy, and learn how to fight at the same time.
Kuri woke early as usual, and went to pump some clean water. It was before sunrise, and the air was crisp. She breathed deeply. This was her favorite time of day: clean air, not too much noise, and no drunks begging her for money. She washed her face with the first bucket, the water cold and refreshing, making her tingle with coldness. The next bucketful she pumped she carried inside for their mother to make porridge.
When she got inside, her father, two brother and mother were already up. Tiw and Clor wore only thick clothes and boots. They carried no food, weapons or blankets. Kuri gave the water to her mother, and sat down.
"We aren’t taking any food?"
"No. What is the point of learning to fend for yourself if you are given food?" Her foster-father carried no pack either.
Breakfast was served and eaten quickly. Kuri father hugged her mother. "Don’t forget that there is that bat next to the fire if you need it."
"I hope I wont need to use it." Her brothers hugged their mother.
Kuri didn’t see a need for farewells when they were only going for a few days. She was glad to be away from her annoying mother, and she knew her mother didn’t like her. She was always nagging her husband to get rid of Kuri, either by apprenticeship or some other means, but so far he hadn’t. Kuri felt a little better about her foster-father for this, but they had never been close. Fathers rarely had a use for daughters.
Kuri followed her father and brothers away from town. They said little, their father pointing out something edible when they came across it. They travelled mostly uphill; the City and it’s dirty river growing smaller and the Stern River that border the Hillon Forest growing larger. This was new country to Kuri. She had only travelled a little out of the City, mainly to the farm her father worked at. Outside the City on the Western Side were large farm areas, mainly used to grow the Cities supply of livestock. On the Western Side, over the river was a swamp for some distance before a small unused grass area, then the Hillon Forest.
Kuri’s father had taken them down the river, and avoiding the swamp made their way to the grass area. Now they were a few hours walk from the Forest and River. Kuri was amazed at the cleanness of the area. It was all uninhabited, and free form the typical mess humans made everywhere. She sighed.
"I hope you aren’t getting tired already. If you are, you can just go home." Her foster-father said.
Kuri turned her head away, so he wouldn’t see her anger. He had neither the time or patience of her mother, and wouldn’t stand for any of her temper tantrums.
After a while, the group became aware of a loud noise: the gushing of fast moving water. Ahead, Kuri could now clearly see the large river, as it ran it’s course from the close mountains to the distant sea. Foam floated down lightly in the slower currents of the Stern where the shallows were, but most the Stern moved quickly. The main source of the noise came from the waterfall just down stream, where the water jumped over the edge and dived into the rocks below.
Her father yelled over the sound, "That’s Signet Falls, don’t go near them. Lots of folk say that people who’ve gone over the falls and died try to lure others into the same fate."
Kuri looked to where the water disappeared over the drop. A mist of spray settled over the top, giving the horizon a distant look.
"So," the man said to his sons, "What’s the best way to go across?"
"Build a raft?"
"Swim?"
"Walk downstream to a bridge?"
"A raft and a bridge takes to long, and Swimming is too dangerous."
While they discussed the best options, Kuri walked upstream a little, and found that around the bend the river became skinnier, and was mainly shallow. She quickly ran across, soaking her boots and the bottom of her pants. She sat to empty the water from her boots, then stood and turned to face the darkness of the Hillon. Tall trunks fenced the night permanently in, guarding it from whatever wished to enter. She took a step in, then remember her father and brothers, ran to where she had left them.
They had remained on the east bank, and were eating the three mushrooms they had found. She yelled out to them across the river, and seeing her, she pointing north to where the shallows were.
Her foster-father strode through the water, not seeming to notice the cold. "What are you doing? Clor and Tiw were supposed to find a way over, and you were supposed to stay close! If you go wandering again you’ll wish you’d stayed home."
Without waiting for a response, he went into the forest and darkness. Kuri walked behind her brothers. Tiw and Clor walked side by side, and although Tiw was only two years older, Clor had to take twice as many steps to keep up.
As she and her foster-father set up camp, her brother went to try and catch fish with spears they had made with sharp rocks. After making a kind of shelter with branches and leaves, her father sat down to rest. He was getting old: His hair was nearly all grey.
"Kuri, light a fire. I’m going to rest a bit."
She gathered sticks and leaves, and was trying to make a spark from two stones when her brothers returned, bearing five trout. Tiw brought them over to her.
Haven’t you made a fire yet?"
She looked at him, shielding her eyes from the sinking sun. He bent down, took the stones from her and began to hit them together.
"I was doing fine on my own." She said, grabbing for the rocks. He moved them away from her, and continued to hit them together.
"Give them here! I’m not completely hopeless you know."
"Are you sure?" Said Tiw mockingly. He looked at her. Her eyes glowed like fire. He said nothing more, but tossed the stones away and grabbed another two. Kuri grabbed the two he had discarded.
"Those ones won’t work." She said, but before he had the chance to use them, the fire burst into flames, startling them both.
"Told you I could light it. A spark must have fallen down and taken a while to catch." He said smugly.
She left him to try and cook the fish himself, went to the river, and sat down next to it. The sky had clouded over, and in the distance, where she could make out the city, the sun had almost sunk. Around the horizon were black clouds, draping themselves over the slat golden beams, holding the light in, the orange discolouring their black. The wind started to blow gently on her face, still hot from the walk she had done earlier from the City. Overhead, the white fluff balls became harder to see, and they moved quickly past her eyes, pursued by their greedy black brothers, who were intent to take over the whole sky. As the stars appeared slowly, most were eaten up by the clouds, reappearing occasionally. With the dark clouds came a fresh clean feeling that Kuri liked. It felt just like getting up early.
Then came the rain. Kuri neither liked nor disliked the rain. It was nice on a hot day like this, cooling the whole body. The droplets fell heavily, quickly soaked through her clothes and skin. Her hair darkened with wetness and fell straight. Above her, no star or moon was in sight. Kuri rose, shivering now, and walked back to where her family camped.
Her shelter had fallen, weighted down by the heavy rain. The fire was out, and the fish lay next to it only half cooked. Under what little protection it offered, her brothers lay under a large tree, sleeping, seeming unaware of the rain. Kuri’s father sat under a large branch of another tree, looking out into the night through a veil of rain.
Kuri sat down against the trunk of his tree.
"Where did ye go?" He asked.
"The River."
He said nothing, continuing to look out into the black forest. Kuri picked up a stick and began to absently dig a hole in the forest floor, uneasy being in her father’s company alone. The rain fell harder and faster, reducing their field of vision.
Kuri looked at her father, his grey-black beard soaked with water, his mouth turned down. He was looking at his sons, his brown eyes sad. Kuri wondered if she should ask him. She had always wanted to know, but the time was never right. Now, alone in his company, with no-one else to hear, seemed the right time.
"Father..."
He looked at her, the kindness gone from his eye. She thought to stop, but was determined to go on. She looked at the ground and began to dig another hole.
"Who was my real pa?" She looked at him. "Who were my folks?"
"I don’t know." He replied, and looked away, as if he couldn’t bear to look into her eyes.
"But surely..." She started.
He looked at her, silencing her, then looked away. "It was nearly 15 years ago you were born, it’s hard for anyone to remember. I do remember a strange band of folds in town, but then they disappeared again. Not long after that a woman, I think it was one of the midwives from the Westside, came to us, gave us a baby and left. From what I heard, your ma died giving birth. But then, that may not be true. No-one knew who your pa was." He looked at her again, and touched her hair. "I’m sure anyone who saw your pa in the City would have remembered him, and I never saw any lady with hair and eyes like yours in the City b’fore."
He turned away from her then, and went to sleep. Kuri sat in the rain, thinking over what he had said. No-one knew. She might well have no family at all for all she knew.
A trickle of water ran down her face. Her foster-father began to snore quietly, bearing interrupting the rain as it fell. Outside her ring of vision, she could hear nothing. The rain had surrounded them, leaving puddles over the now soft and muddy forest floor.
Kuri, who belonged to nobody, sat awake, waiting for the sun to rise and stop the rain. She couldn’t sleep. She tried to remember anything she had been told about her parents, but came up with nothing. Perhaps her foster-father had been right, perhaps no-one really knew. Kuri found that hard to believe. Would the midwives remember? She doubted that too: they saw hundred of babies, why would they remember her?
She sighed, stood, and walked back to the river. It roar had grown louder since the day, and it was bloated. She sat on a solitary rock at the forest edge. Kuri felt lonely. She needed someone who understood, who knew what it was like to be an outsider. A faint breeze blew, shaking the trees’ leaves, making the whole forest rustle quickly. As she lay listening, she fell asleep.
Something pointy prodded her in the back. Kuri rolled over to see two silhouettes standing over her.
"Get up, stop laying about." Said the shorter one, sounding familiar. She sat up. While she had slept, the rain had stopped. The was muddy, and during her sleep, she had rolled off the rock and right into the mud. Her clothes and hair were covered in a dried brown muck. Clor, who held the stick, was laughing. Tiw had already moved away.
"You’d better get up and make that shelter again." Said Clor, still laughing, "Before it rains again. Everything got saturated last night."
She walked to the River, washed as much mud off as she could, and walked back to camp, ravenous and annoyed at being told what to do. Her father didn’t look up from draping some clothes over bushes as she ate the remains of the cooked fish and began to gather some branches.
Kuri took off her outer clothing and began to remove her boots when she saw the dagger and remembered it was there. Hadn’t he said he was going to teach them how to fight? He had. She worked quicker, hoping to be taught too. As she finished, her brothers returned, their hair wet.
"You go wash now." He father said. "And I’ll teach these two a little about staff fighting."
"But..."
"You know you didn’t come here to learn weapon fighting. An’ besides, you women folk don’t need it."
Her opened her mouth to retort, but could think of nothing to say, and so closed it again. As Kuri’s brothers selected their branches for staffs, she stomped off to the river, angry at herself. She should have known her father wouldn’t teach her. He believed that women didn’t need to know anything other than how to look after children, cook and clean. Kuri, of course, though this was ridiculous. How could anyone spend a whole day cook and cleaning, only to spend the next day doing the exact same thing? She walked upstream to the slower slowing currents and quickly threw off her clothes and jumped in. The water was cold under the morning sun, and she got out soon after, shivering with cold, quickly pulling on her pants and shirt. Sitting on the rock which she had spent half the night on, she lay in the sun like a lizard, warming herself.
As the sun shone down on her brown, freckle-free face, she closed her eyes and relaxed. Her breathing slowed, and she told every part of her to relax. Just as she was about to fall asleep, a rustling in the trees off to her left made Kuri jump up. She looked around, expecting one of her brothers to jump out in an attempt to scare her. As she stood warily, Kuri heard the sound of something large run through the trees away from her. Thinking they had given up, she looked around for something to keep her busy with. Finding a decent branch on the ground, and remembering that her brothers were lucky enough to be using weapons, she began to strip the branch of it’s bark.