Chapter 26 - Fighting Dreamers

Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Linda watched the knives quivering in her target. Three bulls-eyes. She glanced over at her companion. The expression on his face was the strangest cross between concentration and nothingness Linda had ever seen. His form wasn’t perfect, though there wasn’t exactly a “textbook” form, different people taught differently.

Thwack! Thunk! Clang! Damnit! Those were Ekyt’s sound effects. His first knife struck home, just short of the bull’s-eye. The second sound was the back end of the knife hitting the bull-eye square, the third sound was the knife striking the target on it’s side. The fourth sound was a not-entirely-stifled curse on Ekyt’s part. “Hey, relax! Just adjust your form a little. She leaned across his left side to correct his right arm. It looked like an inadvertent hug, and Ekyt felt his cheeks burn slightly. “Feel better?” she asked, after she had adjusted his grip slightly. He nodded. “Okay, NOW throw.” He did, finding the knife to be shaking in the dead-center of the target. Linda smiled and nodded. “C’mon, rest that hand.” She said, pointing at his left hand, which had turned an angry shade of red, a sign that it was time to apply some medication to prevent infection.

As he sat down, Linda got a glimpse of the wound. She grimaced, wishing she hadn’t seen it. She watched Ekyt pick out a certain plant and rub it in gently, then re-bandage the wound. At her questioning look, he shrugged. “I get stabbed a lot, I might as well know something to help it out.”

Linda found Ekyt didn’t need any help with his bo work. Empty hand wasn’t bad, just a few small improvements. Knives had been the worst of it for sure. But he didn’t have any of the skills you saw in masters. His running wasn’t soft and controlled. But he had never been trained. There was no time for it now. Just time enough to hone the skills he already had. Put two sticks or swords in his hand, and he was lethal. That was his problem, she knew. He didn’t WANT to kill. She was praying that nothing drove him to that point. His innocence was part of him, not the ideal part to have ripped out.

Then he had a question for her. “How long are you…” his voice trailed off. Linda kindly picked up the conversation. “Human? Until about noon.” She saw Ekyt’s eyes widen. “What is it?” she asked, worried. “Linda…it’s at least 3 o’clock.” Linda immediately panicked. “I’m still human? That’s not good! Not good!” She got up, but felt Ekyt’s hands push her back down. “Breathe in through your nose for a count of 4, out for a count of three, and rub your temples.” Once she had done that, she found she had stopped hyperventilating. “Okay, Chaotic Suppression technique: Isolate your mind’s pureness. I can’t tell when that’s happened, so I’ll tell you step two. Step Two is analyzation in a logical manner of your problem.”

Linda tried to calm down, finding Ekyt’s techniques to be helpful. She isolated her mind, but it didn’t last long as the thought “What if I’m stuck like this?” keep drifting across her thoughts. Eventually she was visibly shaking, wondering what she had done wrong when she administered the “Medication” to herself. She felt Ekyt’s hand on her shoulder. She realized she was on her knees. He had sank down as well. “You’ve done so much to help me…I can return the favor. I can fix this…”

“NO!”

Her singe word echoed through the forest. “If this is meant to be, it’s meant to be. Either I’ll find a cure, or I’ll stay a human.” Ekyt didn’t entirely understand. He had spent so much time disowning his heritage, his ancestry, his being, that he had never once given thought that an alternative might be worse. “If that’s what you want…I’m sorry I got you into this mess…If my crybaby @$$ was tougher…better…We would both be okay right now. It’s not a mistake I’ll make again…” She sank lower, then leaned forward and embraced him.

Linda grabbed Ekyt in an embrace, not knowing what else to do. She didn’t HATE being human. It felt weird; how the hell did they keep warm in the winter? Her senses seemed dulled too. Except for touch. The touch of the light fabric of Ekyt’s black T-shirt seemed pronounced. Her own clothes felt more comfortable. A knife felt colder. It was strange, but she found these thoughts calmed her down. She didn’t want to let go of Ekyt though, it was as if he was the last link to her old life, as well as a bridge to her new one. Gently, she held one of his hands. “How touching.” A cold voice said. Ekyt noticed it, and reached carefully for his boot knife…

Shihan Carl James laughed cruelly. “Is THIS what you’ve become Linda? An emotional wreck? And A HUMAN? When will you understand? When will you learn? Humans and all they stand for are bad! My students came to me as humans, and I put them back as warriors…a class you may still keep.”

Ekyt stood up, gently letting go of Linda’s hand. She wiper her eyes on her sleeve, finding that the emotional attack had done more damage than she thought. She looked around, noticing that they weren’t surrounded. She felt Ekyt move away, stepping in front of her.

“Carl, I will not stand here and allow you to ridicule her. She’s worth more than you, and she’s a better fighter! She saved my life, made me see how stupid I’ve been…I may never reach mastery, but for this…This isn’t something I can stand by and allow to happen.” He was standing straight up, taking off his headband and winding it around the exposed knuckles of his right hand. “You, as I recall, were unconscious most of the last fight. What makes you believe you can even REACH me?” he called. “Even if I can’t…I’m not letting this girl die.” Ekyt threw his boot knife at James, who grinned and caught it between two fingers. “You’ve improved…pity you won’t get the chance to further your skills…you might have been a worthy adversary someday…BUT NOT TODAY!!!” He threw the knife back, knowing Ekyt’s thoughts.

Ekyt stood still, in front of the emotionally stunned Linda. He couldn’t catch a knife. But he couldn’t move either. The knife would hit Linda. He sensed her moving slightly. He deepened his stance, forcing himself to prepare for intense pain…even death.

Linda saw the knife coming. She snapped out of her stupor, lunging lightly to her feet and leaping in front of Ekyt. She caught the knife and flipped it to a reverse-grip.

“AH! You have a guardian angel Ekyt! GET THEM! MY HONOR DEMANDS IT!” His warriors charged, the first wave holding bo’s.

Ekyt saw the weapon and knew if he could just get one somehow, their advantage would be lessened. He got his chance as two veered for him, one slightly ahead of the other. He feigned a low kick and high punch. As the nameless black-clad enemy blocked high and low simultaneously, Ekyt swung his foot around in a crescent kick, sweeping the bo aside and landing a reverse punch to the man’s forehead. Immediately, he kicked at the bo. He couldn’t get it in time, and if he couldn’t have it, neither could the enemy. Such was the enemy’s grip that when Ekyt knocked the bo down, he heard the snap-crack of many small bones breaking. The bo clattered to the ground. It bounced once on the rock-ridden soil and was retrieved by Ekyt, who caught it deftly in time to thrust inside his enemy’s guard to hit his temple with a precise amount of force. Not a killing blow, but enough to render him unconscious.

Linda suddenly felt alive again. Ekyt’s words had soothed her, and now she was focused on making sure she STAYED alive to live them. A bo slashed down at her, an easy strike to avoid. She thrust with a nukite (Open hand) finger strike, hitting just below the man’s rib cage. In this position, she could rip the rib cage completely out. (Yes, it can really happen) She chose not to, settling instead for yanking on some weak abdominal muscles. The man screamed with pain, begged her to stop. She did when he fell unconscious from the pain. She glanced over at Ekyt, who had procured a bo for himself. He met her glance and tossed her the other one from the unconscious man, also adding a pouch of stars to her bounty.

Ekyt threw the two weapons over, knowing even that the odds were grim. Then again, that had never stopped him, and Linda was the happiest he’d seen her since she’d become human for him. For him…he knew that would haunt him, although he had to admit to himself that he enjoyed having another human to talk to, let alone a beautiful female one. Even one that HAD shot him down…It didn’t FEEL like that, though. For once, he felt…peaceful.

James cursed, but stifled it quickly. “My next wave is more deadly! Good luck, former students!” “Blow it out your” But Linda’s words were cut off by a few whizzing knives. She was forced to do a backward handspring, reaching into the pouch of knives to return fire. She saw a blur suddenly, and knew what James was doing. He had a group of elite warriors, ones that could run so fast they could blur. They were coming, and getting close rapidly. She started to warn Ekyt, only to find him hitting the deck and sweeping his bo out, tripping one would-be assassin. Ekyt was on him quickly, breaking both ankles to put an end to that enemy’s biggest weapon. He relieved him of his weapons. His eyes suddenly widened in surprise. He threw a series of knives that came very close to Linda.

Linda dodged backward, watching the knives stick in the ground, wondering why Ekyt would throw them. Then she saw one knife had stuck in a foe’s foot. She cold-cocked him without thinking about it, yanked the knife out and slashed some tendons (Nowhere vital) in one motion, then threw it at the latest approaching warrior. She and Ekyt both threw a series of knives, forcing the for off-course. Linda’s flying side-kick put him down. A whip cracked down, striking Linda hard, followed by a hard-thrown stone. She grasped her head; the rock had been large and sharp. Another followed, this one striking Linda on the temple, knocking her out.

James sputtered, his false-charm gone. “You two will burn in hell for this! I’ll personally see to it!” Ekyt had enough. He charged James, who flung his hand down, snapping Ekyt’s bo in half. Ekyt dropped it, not going to face an unarmed enemy with an undue advantage. James grinned and made his first move. He jumped high in the air and came down, with Ekyt dodging aside as rights and lefts came at him. Ekyt blocked the last with his forearm, grunting slightly, then throwing an elbow, bringing it back, then snap-kicking as James got too close. James flipped backward, but in mid-flip Ekyt’s boot caught him full in the stomach. The human kicked low, aiming for James’ upside-down head. He missed narrowly as James extending foot forced Ekyt to dodge back. Ekyt leapt over the leg-sweep attempt, then ducking as he landed, avoiding a punch that could have killed him. Uncoiling, he lunged, tackling James. James tried to knee Ekyt in the groin, but Ekyt blocked the attack hard enough to hurt James’ knee slightly. They grappled on the ground, both landing strikes that were unimportant.

Then James surprised Ekyt by aiming for his throat with an elbow, then snap-kicking him in the chest. It knocked Ekyt down and James pounced, pinning his arms and putting his knee on Ekyt’s chest in such a way that made kicks impossible. “It seems you’ve met your end, doesn’t it? Quite an effort you put forth. It’ll be a shame that I must dull my knife on you…I’d torture you, but you’re not alone. And I know you’re too strong to give up.” He held a shuriken-styled knife to Ekyt’s throat, the cold metal touching it. Ekyt swallowed, and the knife made a small mark on the middle of his throat as it rose to allow the saliva to pass. A tiny drop or blood rolled down, running down Ekyt’s throat, and landing on his now-mortal enemy’s blade. James laughed. “Any last words?” Ekyt smiled serenly. “I’d gladly die for Linda…if I’m doing just that, giving her a chance at life, then it was worth it. Because I know she’ll kick your sorry @$$ straight to hell.” Ekyt said all this calmly, a fire in his eyes that made James shiver a little.

Linda got up, feeling the small lump on her head. She looked around and saw a scene that horrified her. James pinning Ekyt down, a knife to her friend’s throat. Silently, she took action.

Linda’s arms drew behind her as she ran, using the skill she never knew she had. She was running so fast she was blurring. She was inches away from James before he registered her running. He made the mistake of removing the knife against Ekyt’s throat without getting up. Linda kicked him square in the mouth, the knife clattering away. Ekyt scrambled up, grabbing the knife away before James could grab it.

Without speaking, Linda threw everything she had at James, who could only block maybe half of the vicious kicks and punches thrown at him. He pulled a knife on her, only to have it clatter away.

James was defeated. He dropped to his knees and pulled off his headband, then his black belt. He lowered his head in submission. “Ichini-san!” he called. One of his faceless warriors ran up. “You…you are my kaishaku-nin. Carry on in my name…son.” Before he could be stopped, James drew a dagger across his stomach, drawing a plus-shape in his stomach, his eyes flickering with something strangely between delight and hatred. “You…l-lose.” He said with a smile, before his head fell forward. Ichini drew his sword and swiftly cut off the man’s head to end his suffering.

Turning to Ekyt and Linda (Who both looked away, not seeing or hearing anything of this), he said “My father showed you disrespect…for that, I am sorry. I can tell you did not mean him death.” Ekyt and Linda both bowed respectfully as Ichini picked up his father’s body. “Ichini…your father was a great teacher…don’t make the same mistakes he did. I remember you from class, the most talented…don’t throw it away for money you don’t earn.” Ekyt said. Ichini nodded slightly, his face covered with a black handerchief. “You…you and the girl…I respect you two. I may yet decide to avenge my father’s death…for now, however, we part as friends.” He leapt off into the rapidly-darkening hills.

Linda turned to Ekyt, her newly-human face showing signs of tears. “Thank you.” She said in a whisper. Ekyt was puzzled at that. “You saved me, I should be thanking you. And I do.” She shook her head. “We’d BOTH be dead now if you hadn’t helped me discover that there are worse fates that being a different species. Whether you believe it or not, you are living proof that there IS some good in the human world.” Ekyt was still puzzled, and it showed. “My weakness nearly got us both killed…” “But you wanted to correct that weakness. And you did. When you threw that knife, I knew you had gotten it.” “I had a good teacher.” He said dismissively. Linda rolled her eyes, smiling slightly.

Then she embraced him, drawing him closer. Resting her head on his shoulder, she breathed a sigh of…contentment? Ekyt didn’t understand, she could tell. So she dug her head into his shoulder more, with no intention of moving at the moment. She felt his hand gently running through her hair. She thought he might have finally picked up some romantic sense, before she realized that he was making sure she wasn’t injured. With a growl of frustration, she muttered “Boys are stupid.” In his ear.

“What?” he said, not sure he heard her. “Never mind.” She answered quickly, content with the fact he was actually hugging back now. He’s not my boyfriend, just a friend who happens to be a boy…and we’ve just saved each other’s lives numerous time in the span of a single day…I guess you’d call this bonding…

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