Amanda Flieder - Short Stories

The student regiments trained hard. Every lesson was aimed at getting the very most out of every Trainee, and every Trainee was promoted to the next level of training only once the class's Master was convinced that the very most had been gotten. Trainees and Masters were always graduating at different times due to completing their training on an individual basis, new recruits were always being sought out to join the ranks. It was a massive, finely honed system that encouraged recruits to advance in the areas that they were the best at.
            For some, the forever changing environment and constantly demanded high quality was too much. But as a rule, no Trainee in his first year could be removed from the system based solely on poor performance. It was in the second year that Trainees started to filter out.
            In their fifth year at the compound, Addint made Master and began his first full step into his Armyman career by becoming a Facility Instructor, and Enti, much to the frustration of his superiors, remained a Trainee. Over the past five years, Commander Archer had had many private laughs over Trainee Torinson. As well as many moments of private admiration for how adept, responsive, and efficiently competent the young man could be whenever he felt necessity required it. Unfortunately for most of the Masters training him, his personal view of ‘necessity’ seemed to cause his best traits to shine when it would be the most inconvenient for him to possess them.
            Commander Archer did sometimes feel sorry for the Masters most inconvenienced by Enti. More often than not, though, he agreed with the Trainee that such inconvenience was well past due. Time passed easily into the Torinson brothers’ sixth year at the compound. Then the rumors of war began.

“Commander Archer, I fail to see your point.”
            The Commander scowled at the image of the richly clad, older woman standing in the view cube on his desk. Her name was Luinda, and she was a Mage member of the Council. Archer had a complete mistrust of magic, so had had more than the normal number of foul run-ins with the Council in general, and Luinda in particular.
            “What I mean, Madam,” he began through clenched teeth, “is that Arkin was known to have prepared for war in the past months, and that their entire army has now disappeared. As they were preparing along the northeast border of Ternick, and the mountains and this compound are the only things between your fine city of Tern and the border, I believe it would be best to have this compound equipped for something more than training when Arkin marches on the capital!” Archer slammed his fist onto the desktop beside the view cube, making it rattle.
            Council Mage Luinda frowned out at him from the side facing him, her acute dislike of soldiers in general doubling in his particular direction. She sniffed haughtily at his outburst.
“The Council will consider your suggestion when we have time for such barbaric ideas. Currently, we are in a time of peace and your opinion is not relevant.”
            Council Mage Luinda broke the connection just before Archer could again yell at her. He snarled and pounced to his feet, knocking over his chair, and shoved everything off his desk in one angry swipe. He felt a small satisfaction in watching the view cube bounce along the floor and into the wall as he envisioned a specific tiny Council Mage trapped inside it.
            Knowing he didn't have much time because his gut told him so, he strode out of his office and down the hallway to the meal hall. It was dinner time, the Masters and Trainees would all be there. It was well past time to start planning for the nearing war that he now needed to prove was coming.

HARD TRAVELS
“Yes, Master Torinson! Whatever you say, Master Torinson!”
            Addint glared at his brother.
   “I swear it Enti, if you call me that one more time I'll force-feed you some of that fickleroot!”
“And who's going to hold me for you?” what Enti called his ‘Soldier Face’ evaporated into a wicked grin. “Him?” he pointed to a moaning set of bushes to his left, “or them?”
Another set of bushes to Enti's right were emitting similar sounds of misery. Addint closed his eyes and counted to ten before answering.
            “Enti,” he began as his younger brother snapped back to full attention.
            “Yes, Master -”
            Addint threw a right hook that his brother narrowly dodged. Enti was suddenly laughing too hard to keep his balance in the snow and, tripping over his own feet, went down onto his ass in a drift. Addint, taking full advantage, had his younger brother flipped onto his stomach before Enti could get in any type of defense. Addint scrubbed his brother’s face in the snow.
            The older of the two sprang lithely to his feet, using the younger as his lift-off point, and was out of reach before Enti could recover. Enti, nearly angry, sat up with both fists clenched and a beard full of snow. Then, realizing what had just happened, burst out into another fit of laughter. Addint tried to scowl, but snickers soon began to leak out of him as well. He finally conceded, sat down in the snow beside his brother, and they both laughed themselves to tears; much to the humiliation of their non-mountain-folk peers. Once their joviality had mostly subsided, Addint sighed and shook his head.
   “You know, we'd move a lot faster – and a lot more comfortably – if you'd quit screwing around.”
            Enti nodded, agreeing completely as he swiped the tears out of his eyes.
            “You're the only Trainee that Archer sent out and that's only because you're from the High Mountains. It wouldn't be funny if this scouting mission ended with you being kicked out of the compound based on bad references from these guys,” Addint encircled the surrounding foliage with one sweeping gesture.
            Enti broke down into fits of giggles, his eyes dancing with mischief. Addint found himself again getting caught up by his brother's humor and tried to turn it to anger.
   “And why under stars did you give them fickleroot?!”
            Enti burst out laughing. “Well,” he started, once he could talk again. “Master Catsh was saying how he felt nervous shitting in the woods, which was delaying us, and you kept saying how we all needed to pick up the pace...” Enti shrugged. Addint stared at his brother in disbelief. “I just thought it would help to kill two birds with one stone. Master Catsh is shitting easily, and everyone is moving really, really quickly...”
            Addint rolled back into the snow drift, laughing so hard his belly hurt. Enti managed to stay sitting… barely.

The five young men were soon traveling hard and fast, going cross-country to the mountains instead of taking the winding roads. In seventeen days’ time the brothers led their small group out of the foothills and into the familiar terrain of the High Mountains. Twenty-two days later, they passed out of the High Mountains into the uninhabitable and unnamed peaks beyond. They didn't stop at their home village on the way by, their orders didn't allow it.
            The three men traveling with the brothers, despite a deserved dislike of Trainee Torinson, held a grudging respect for the two men leading them. After all, Master Torinson was a man in his element when in command, and Enti always seemed to know just where to step. Whether it was on snow covered ice, or scaling a sheer rock face, his hands and feet always found the right spot to lead them all safely through. Addint had smiled and winked at their shocked exclamations when first seeing Enti really climb.
  “It's because we're only half-brothers,” he told them. “We have different mothers.”
            Enti had swung free then, dangling 30 feet above them by only the fingers of his left hand.
            “That is entirely correct!” he'd cried down at them. “My mother was a goat!”

FIRST CONTACT
“Commander Archer seems more troubled this morning than when we spoke to him yesterday,” Master Catsh also looked troubled as he stowed the view cube back into his pack.
            “Yes,” Addint answered. “But you heard him as well as I did. We're all to start wearing the amulets as of now.”
            The amulets were smaller, simplified versions of the view cube. They were designed only to transmit, not to receive. Master Catsh removed the five small packets from where they had been stowed in his bag beside the view cube. Each of the young men took one and unwrapped it, then tied the leather thongs the crystals hung off of around their necks.
            “This means he believes us to be getting close,” Addint quietly vocalized the thought in each man's mind.
            “If, of course, there is anyone to get close to,” Master Chintson replied, hopeful that there was nothing out here.
            The first knife took Chintson high in the back and he burped up a mouthful of blood before falling over sideways in the snow. The four remaining blinked at their dead friend, momentarily and completely perplexed.
            “Scatter!” Addint recovered first and ordered the rest into motion.
They bolted in different directions, diving for what they hoped would be cover. Master Arden was the slowest to respond; his focus staying horrifically transfixed on the contrast of the red blood on the white snow. The second knife thrown caught Arden in the throat. He gurgled out what might have been a scream and fell to the snow beside his friend.
            Addint slid in behind a small boulder beside Catsh as the third knife he saw sliced past where his head had just been. Enti ducked into a divot in the ground that was covered by scrub growth, narrowly dodging the small missiles aimed at him by their unseen assailant.
            Catsh had dropped into a trance the moment he was covered by the large stone. He snapped out of it a few heartbeats after Addint slid in beside him.
            “There's only one. He has two knives left,” a sheen of sweat appeared on Catsh's brow.
When Addint glanced out towards where Enti had gone, he could see the trail of red in the snow that led to where Catsh was now sitting. A knife was buried high in Catsh's right thigh, vibrating with each beat of his heart.
            Addint stared at his friend for a split second then slammed his hands hard over the wound around the knife as best he could. Catsh smiled at him.
            “It's too deep for that, Addint. But thanks anyway.”
            Catsh's eyes glazed over again, his smile dropping away.
“This man is a scout. The rest of the army is still two hours down the valley from here,” he took a shuddering breath. “Enti could get a clear view of the camp if he can get up there,” he pointed at the cliff face to the west that was about a half day's travel from where they were. “You'll have to hurry, the camp sentries start patrolling before sundown.”
            Catsh emerged from the trance. Addint didn't know what to say. He took one of his blood covered hands from the wound and pressed it to his friend's chest. Catsh looked at him, trying hard to focus.
            “Addint?” he grabbed out in the general direction of his friend.
            “I’m here,” Addint answered as he pushed his fingers into Catsh's hands.
            “Tell the Commander he was right,” Catsh demanded as a grin tried to push out at the corners of his mouth. “I am just... just another... useless mage,” his breath shuddered again and he touched the handle of the knife. “Just here to... get in the way... so you... you can get through...”
            Catsh died with a smile playing at his lips.

Enti circled around the clear spot they had been sitting in, slipping out of his coat and leaving it piled where he had first ducked for cover. He had been just within hearing distance of Catsh as he'd said that there was only one man, so decided to eliminate the threat.
Enti silently pulled his own good hunting knife as he belly crawled around the snow covered clearing. The other man was well placed, entirely hidden from where the young men had been sitting, but still having a complete view of the whole clearing. The man was quickly shifting his gaze from where Addint and Catsh were and over to where Enti's coat still was, hoping to get a clear line of sight.

HALF GOAT
Enti came up on him from behind and about six feet above, took position and, tightening his grip on his knife, fell on the man. Before the scout knew what was going on Enti killed him with a sharp and well-trained thrust. The scout spasmed once and died quickly and silently.
            Enti stayed low and well-hidden while he edged around to where Addint and Catsh were sitting. He whistled a few notes from a bird call the brothers had learned as children – one that was from a bird that didn't winter in the mountains. Addint silently prayed a thank you to whatever it was that kept watching out over his little brother and whistled the remainder of the call.
            Enti slid out from behind some rocks.
“Are you guys all right.”
            “I am. But Catsh –” Addint hesitated.
He was still holding one of Catsh's hands. Enti finally saw the blood. He balled his hands into fists and bit on the knuckles of his left hand, rocking back on his heels where he crouched in front of his brother. Addint was unable to look up.
            “Catsh,” Addint started, his voice choked. “He said the man was a scout and alone, and that we'd be able to see the rest of army from up there,” he tilted his head to the cliff. “He said you would be able to see them.”
            Enti turned to the cliff, staring it down. It looked to be about a half day's travel away, and from where they sat it appeared to be approximately 300 feet of flawless stone. Enti's jaw set hard. He channeled his grief at losing three friends so suddenly into a rage. He stood fast, startling his brother.
            “Come on.”
            Addint looked at his brother with shock.
“It's still half a day away,” Addint argued. “And we should stay and –”
            “We can come back and bury them once we've seen the army and sent the information back to Archer,” Enti stooped and cleaned the frozen blood off his knife with a couple handfuls of snow before he dried it and sheathed it. “And it's only a few hours’ run, at most.”

The brothers pushed on through the snow, running in silence that was broken only by their even breathing. They reached the base of the cliff in less than three hours.
            Addint knelt in the cliff's shadow. He clutched at the snow, drawing the frozen water slowly into his mouth as their father had taught them. Enti wasted no time for rest yet; he instantly began pacing at the bottom of the cliff, searching its face for the best way up. Spotting a route that suited him, he walked back to his brother.
            Addint had started pushing snow out from the base of the cliff to make a small dugout for the two of them to rest in. Enti fell to helping him, and soon they were sitting close together, drinking snow and preparing for the climb. They huddled deep in their coats, sharing the close quarters for the extra warmth it offered.
            “How many hours of sunlight left down here, do you think?” Addint asked.
            Enti looked across the valley to the sharp peaks on the other side.
“Four, maybe three and a half,” He took another bite of snow and pointed up. “See that, where the rock curves out?”
            From so far below, the outcropping looked tiny.
            “I'm going to get up there. It's the top and will have the best view,” Enti took another bite of snow. “I spotted it out as we were running, and there’s a good way to get to it.”
            “Do you have enough time?” Addint looked doubtfully from the precipice to the position of the sun.
            “Yes.”
Enti shrugged and threw the last of his snow away. He stood and began stretching out and re-warming his cooling muscles. The brothers shared a moment of quiet, surrounded by the foreign yet familiar mountains. Addint saw the flash from between the trees. An arrow broke against the rock that Enti had just twisted away from as he stretched. Addint leapt from the dugout, drawing his sword.
“Go, Enti! Now!” he ordered as he charged at where he'd seen the flash of the bow. “Commander Archer!” he demanded, grasping at the crystal at his throat as he closed in to attack the bowman.
            The view cube on Archer's desk glowed to life, the odd angle of the two dimensional battle showing on all five of the exposed sides. Archer himself was not there to see it. He had been forced from his constant vigil over the cube by the arrival of a Council member at the compound.

Addint crawled back to the dugout, his left arm trailing uselessly. It had been a scouting party this time. One bowman, three swordsmen. He had won the upper hand in the brief battle by surprise, and then won the battle by default: he was the only one still alive.
            That victory appeared as though it would be short lived.
            Addint looked up to where he could see Enti's coat shifting as his younger brother climbed. The elder brother smiled up at the coat. Enti was moving fast up the first part of the cliff face, but that was the part Addint could have climbed nearly as well. It was going to be the last one hundred feet that would have been the problem for any normal man.
            Good thing Enti was half goat.
            Addint choked on a laugh and puked up a full stomach’s worth of blood. The view cube on Commander Archer's desk went slickly dark, then even that faded out as the cube went black. A few moments later Archer lead Luinda into his office and, attempting at politeness, pointed her to a visitor chair as he tried to not slam the door.

CONFIRMATION
Enti paused for a rest. He glanced down at the dark shape in the dugout; the one that had left the dark red trail that stretched back into the trees where Addint had charged.
            Addint still hadn't moved.
            Enti curbed the grief threatening to overwhelm him and channeled it into more hatred, more rage. Those were productive emotions right now. Those fueled his body and stopped his muscles from shaking with exhaustion. They made sure his grip was always secure. That was the only way he would get up the final seventy-five feet.
            The crack he had chimneyed in up until now was quickly running out; there was maybe ten feet of it left. After that, he would be free climbing in the basin of the now spoon shaped cliff. He looked out over the valley below where he could see the edge of the army from his current perch, but not the main body of it yet. That was still hidden by the trees that edged the deeper part of the valley that they were setting camp in. He grasped the crystal at his neck anyway.
            “Commander Archer,” he rasped.
The crystal grew warm in his hand, glowing softly in the pit of his clavicle.
            Archer cut off his heated rebuttal and pushed the council member out of his way, springing across his office as his view cube glowed to life. Luinda, who’d been reluctantly sent to assess the validity of Archer's continued worries and was currently trying not to slap the old fool she’d been forced to spend the past hours with, huffed at being so rudely shoved.
            “I don't know if you can hear me or not, Archer, but I'm going to talk to this little rock anyway.”
            Luinda slunk across the floor, nursing her wounded pride, but wanting to see what Archer thought was so important.
            “This is Trainee Torinson, sir. Master Catsh –” Enti hesitated, his throat hitching. “Catsh said that you could see through this thing somehow. Do you see that?”
            Enti twisted the amulet so it better faced the edge of the army he could see. Archer's countenance grew grim at the glimpse of the corner of the Arkin Army. Luinda quit her huffing and grew silent. She paled as the young man at the other end of the view cube began to climb again and recounted the events of the day since they’d reported in, the events which had led him to be climbing the cliff that now filled every side of the view cube.
            Enti's briefing grew more and more broken as the climb got harder. Fighting against gravity for the last twenty feet as the cliff's angle forced him over backward, his haggard breathing was the only sound as he concentrated on clinging on to the nearly non-existent hand and foot holds.
            Finally he reached the end of the overhang. Enti carefully pulled himself around it and up the final rise to the top of the cliff. He lay, gasping and shuddering for a few moments, gathering what strength he could from the frozen air burning into his lungs. Sky and clouds covered the cube in Archer’s office.
            With arms and legs that felt like water, Enti rolled onto his belly and crawled to the farthest point of the precipice he had climbed up beside. He could see the entire army now, like Catsh had said he would.
            Enti tried three times before his fumbling fingers could untie the knot in the leather thong at his neck. He forced his cramped hands to hold the amulet tight enough to be sure of its security.
            “You'd better be seeing this.”
            He held the amulet out in front of him, over the edge of the cliff, so that he could look through it and be certain that the army was filling its entire scope.
            “I am, kid,” Archer answered, holding the view cube in front of himself with whitened knuckles, knowing the limited abilities of the amulet meant that Enti couldn’t hear him.
Luinda had gone frightfully pale, her own white knuckles clenched around the lapel of her robe, clutching it to her breast. Archer saw the shadow and yelled a warning. Enti couldn’t hear him through the one-way amulet.
            The scene in the view cube lurched once, and then began to spiral down.
            Cliff face...
            Distant ground, hidden in evening shadow...
            The entire Arkin Army, hundreds of sections making camp for the approaching night...
            The mountains across the valley...
            The sun, beginning its descent behind the peaks...
            The lazy afternoon sky...
            The griffin-riding sentry, drawing back his bow for a second shot at the Trainee...
            Enti's hands, hanging limp over the edge of the precipice...
            Cliff face...
            The scene in the view cube Archer held faded to black. When he could finally tear his eyes away, the Mage was shaking and pale. Archer held out the cube to her.
            “Contact the council,” he ordered quietly.

If I knew what to 'say' here, I wouldn't be a writer...

Ternick's Pride