Chapter 13 - Trial

Test day.

The morning the testing began, Ania woke up, a strange sense of calm filling every fiber of her being. Her daily sparring match with Randen took place without the usual playful banter and light-hearted laughter, and the breakfast hall was eerily quiet and empty of all except the fourteen Dativs that had entered the Compound seven years earlier. Silence akin to that of the day they had entered into the Covenant was all anyone could hear throughout the entire Compound.

When they all walked as one to the largest training ground, not a word was spoken. But it was not as the silence they had held that first day. No fear, no superiority. This was the silence of comrades in arms, a silence of determination and skill.

Entering the yard, they took their places in the order they had pledged their allegiance to the Queen. Two lines of seven. Mya was the oldest, and Cora, the youngest.  No one met the gaze of another. It was the picture of discipline�"the same discipline that the whole of Koronea feared.

The Masters walked in, donned in full uniform, and the tests began.

Fourteen smaller areas were fenced off, and each Dativ was sent to a separate one. There was cloth dummy in each, and, giving them each a spelled blindfold, the Masters explained that the mannequin would take on the skills of one of their fellows, and they would fight until one of them won. They would get brief breaks between fights, and then the testing would continue on.

First was hand to hand combat. Ania left her weapons outside the fenced off area, and at the signal, she tied the strip of shimmering black cloth around her eyes. She blinked when the world around her transformed�"she could no longer see her fellow Dativs. In fact, she didn’t even think she was still in the Compound. There were trees, so she had to be outside the city. The visibility was low, but she could easily see the figure in the shadows across from her.

It was a small figure, close to Echo in size. It wore the uniform of a Dativ, but the hood was pulled up, so she could not see the face… if it had one. Something about it seemed… inhuman.

Ania shook these thoughts from her mind, and took up a defensive stance. She waited for the mannequin to make the first move.

When it did, Ania was pleased to find that she recognized the technique being thrown at her. She fought it every day in training. Echo’s doppelganger continued to attack her, but Ania was able to easily avoid the attacks. This shouldn’t take too long…

But soon, Ania became very much aware of the differences. While the mannequin had Echo’s skill, it had none of the personality or inhibitions that made Echo who she was, and, subsequently, made her fight the way she did. Ania found herself dodging attacks that Echo had never dared try when they had sparred. She realized then�"this was an opponent, not her friend, and she would treat her as such.

Ania wiped her mind of all emotion, and the true fight began.

 

.:*:.:*:.:*:.

 

Mya staggered backwards, catching her breath after the latest bout of fighting with the inhuman thing before her. What were they playing at? They had said the doll would have the same strength and skill as the others. If it was only as strong as those weaklings, then why was she losing?

She had to duck to miss the next attack. She recognized this one�"it was that girl Ania. Everyone’s favorite. They were helping her, she could tell! That man, the one they had let become one of the Masters. He favored her. He must be paying off the TruMage casting the spell, he must be. How else could she be losing?

Mya let out a feral snarl, enraged that her chances of coming out on top were being challenged by that weakling. She was the oldest, the smartest, the strongest. Why should they help her? What was so special about that little witch?

She was so preoccupied in her own mind she completely missed the signs. She didn’t see it coming, didn’t see the booted foot shooting straight for her chest. When it connected, Mya felt her feet leave the ground, felt the back of her head slam into the tree trunk behind her. The world flashed white, and her last thought was one of vengeance.

 

.:*:.:*:.:*:.

 

Randen felt the magic that he had worked so hard to achieve well up inside him, and it was all he had to keep himself from releasing it then and there. He had to wait for just the right moment, and then his victory would be complete.

The days since testing had begun had started blurring together after the first few hours in that otherworldly place that the Covenant TruMages created with the blindfolds. He wasn’t sure, but he thought they had spent two or three days on hand to hand combat. He had won some, lost some, but all he knew was that he now ate, slept, and breathed in the dark forest. They hadn’t taken the blind fold off since he had put it on, and he was fine with that. Lady Zeriphanth had come to him earlier this… day?... and he had been told that they would begin battle magic testing. He couldn’t wait to get started.

Randen stayed crouched behind an old oak tree, each of his senses heightened with magic. He could feel the air, smell the breeze, but more importantly, he could hear his enemy.

The mannequin was quiet, very quiet, but each carefully placed foot sounded like thunder in Randen’s mind. He just needed to wait a little longer; just a few more steps and he would be right where he wanted him.

There! He heard the crack of dry twigs�"when he had entered this clearing, he had placed several small sticks in the dead center of the circular copse. It was time.

Bringing up the magic, Randen called on the gentle wind blowing throw the dark forest. It fueled the pool of molten power in him, and with a smile he reached out to the sporadic fires that marked the torches that provided most of the light in this place. They went out one by one, plunging the forest into a midnight of his own making.

He heard the mannequin stop, could see it freezing in his mind’s eye. While it knew no fear, caution was easily accessible. Turning from his hiding spot behind the oak, Randen saw exactly what he expected. The black-clad figure standing, dead center, just like it should. Now, for the main event.

Randen raised his hand over his head, and as he did, the magic followed his mental command and violent orange flames rose in a perfect circle around the mannequin. They followed his every thought, like a puppet on marionette strings. The living flames began to dance in a circle, around and around, growing higher and higher until they formed a seemingly solid pillar of flame rising into the night.

But he knew. Inside the conflagration, the enemy lived.

Randen looked up. A storm was brewing, lightning flashing in blue-white shots, a knife wound in the black sky. He smiled.

Lightning was energy.

Energy was fuel.

Fuel was magic.

Magic was power.

Bringing his upraised hand down in a hard fist, he cast it out before him, a door opening in the blazing wall before him as he sucked the power of nature from the sky. Walking in, he grinned when he saw his opponent trying to douse the flames with its own feeble attempts at magic. He could tell by the nature of the magic that it was using its own body as fuel, using its own mental state to initiate the counterattack.

Fool.

No matter their power, nothing human could match the raw power of the gods.

The mannequin backed as far back from him as it could without walking into the walled inferno. It put up its fists, as if that could stop the gods’ natural power.

Randen pointed his fist at the mannequin’s chest.

It ran towards him, trying to knock him off balance.

His mind found its target.

There was no escape.

He released the magic, and the power of ten thousand lightning bolts shot from his fist into the chest of his opponent.

He could barely see the triumphant flash of white through the chaotic, searing pain in his eyes, but he knew it was there. He had won.

Again.

 

.:*:.:*:.:*:.

 

Echo stood in the middle of a clearing, keeping her power in check. She couldn’t use it all at once, for fear of it taking too long to recharge. The onslaughts kept coming. She couldn’t waste a single moment.

She heard the whistle in the air to her left, and, turning, she saw the arrow coming her way. She threw out a fist, and shot a short, concentrated burst of power towards it, with a simple homing spell attached. She didn’t have the time to find its owner herself�"she’d let the arrow do that. Moving to face the next dagger, she let the attacking mannequin fall by its own doing.

Dagger after dagger, arrow after arrow, she met them each with precision and efficiency. Mannequin after mannequin fell by their own blade, but more were there to take their places.

Hearing a new sound, she turned to see three blades coming her way at once. They were to far apart for her to throw them back individually, and if she tried to send out a ripple blast, it would use up too much of her magic. It would take longer to recover, and they would pounce.

In the split second she had, Echo made the decision. Taking her quarterstaff from her back, she planted it firmly in the ground. Hoisting her light body up and using magic to keep the staff in place, she spun herself around the pole she had created. When her feet matched up with one of the daggers, she let out a burst of magic, and they were sent back. A few more arrows had joined the fray, and she took them out as well before landing.

Her feet back on the ground, she decided to end this skirmish. Preparing to let out a wave of uninterrupted magic, she added a lethal tip to the invisible ripple of magic. It would act like a thousand daggers on any enemy form it would come across. Aimon had helped her develop it. She only hoped that none of the mannequins was imitating him. That would just be rude.

 

.:*:.:*:.:*:.

 

Ania looked around at her surroundings, slightly confused at what was going on. The Masters had appeared to her a few moments ago and told her that the final stage of the testing would commence soon. They had said to stay where she was, that it would all make sense in a few moments.

Nothing was happening.

Ania sat down on a felled log, taking a few moments to contemplate what had happened over what she had to assume was the last few weeks. Hand to hand combat and battle magic aside, they had covered so much that even though she knew that it was only a short time, it had felt like years. They had tested all of them on horseback magic usage, turnabout shooting, close range fighting, sniper and assassin ranged, stealth and covert reconnaissance, as well as a world of other fighting styles that she now knew why the Knights were so feared. If they could master even a fraction of what she had learned, there was no way that any regular soldier, or even a battle scarred commander, could hold a candle to them.

Ania’s head snapped up when she heard a slight noise coming from the underbrush to her right. Turning to face the noise with her bow and a loaded arrow leading the way, she nearly released the line, out of surprise more than anything else, when she saw Aimon, and then Echo, Randen, Mya, Cora, Matya, Elyys, and every other Dativ in their group entered from various points all around the clearing. It was actually them, not mannequin puppet-figures. The looks on their faces showed that they had no better idea of what was going on than she did.

They all stood, exchanging glances of confusion and disorientation. When the Masters appeared on the outskirts of the clearing, they all turned, expressions begging an explanation.

“You have all performed admirable up to this point. But you have been thus far tested as individuals, or, at most, pairs. Contrary to the popular voice that we are a small force of individuals that lurk in shadows, the Knights of the Covenant are one of the most efficient groups in the world, not just Koronea. We work as one, with powerful commanders and brilliant tacticians.

“You will now be tested as such.

“Your objective is now to work together as one to defeat a force of mannequins that will take on the talents of the superior Knights that have gone on before you. It is this test, more than any other, which will determine your placement in the ranks of the Knights.

“Do not disappoint me, Dativs. You have not before, and it is my hope you will not start now.” And with that statement, the Masters faded from view.

The Dativs stood in silence a few moments, some in shock at the sudden change in the way things were to go about. Ania saw more than a few white knuckles holding shaking weapons.

This was her time.

Taking a deep breath and locking her fear in a deep hole within her, Ania slung her bow over her shoulder and stepped forward. “You heard her. Is anyone here a good tactician?” Several startled looks came her way, and she was about to speak again when Echo spoke up.

“My father’s a tactician in the army. He taught me the ropes. I’m pretty good. At least, he thought so.”

Ania nodded. “Anyone else?”

Much to her surprise, Elyys raised his hand. She wouldn’t have pegged him as much of a tactician, but as no one else was answering…

“Alright. Let’s do this. Now, I thi�"” Ania was cut off by a harsh sound from Mya.

“Who put you in charge? Just because you are the BowMaster’s favorite doesn’t you make us better than us.”

Ania’s eyes narrowed. “I never said I was better than you. And I would hazard a guess that what put me in charge was the fact no one else spoke up. If you have a problem with that you can deal with it later. Right now, we have test to pass and a file to beat.”

Mya looked like someone had just slapped her. “If you are in charge, then I am leaving. I’ll take them on myself.” And with that, she turned on her heel and stalked out of the clearing. Ania was about to follow her when she saw Echo’s gaze boring into her skull. Following Mya would just waste valuable time. They had to go, now.

“Elyys, Echo. I think because we have two tacticians, we should split in two. Two forces, even though they are smaller, would have a better chance in attacking a more skilled force. What do you think?” The two tacticians looked at each other and nodded. “Good. Aimon, will you lead the other force? We can split the skill divisions equally.”

In a matter of minutes, they had two filed formed. Aimon and Echo stood at the head of their file, Ania and Randen at the head of hers. Elyys stood just behind her, having let the position of second in command fall to Randen, explaining that he could come up with battle plans, but he couldn’t give orders. Respecting his choice, Ania had picked Randen to stand by her side. They each had three skilled archers, two magic users, and two skilled close ranged fighters.  Ania only had Randen for a close range, because Mya had run off. She didn’t mind. They were ready.

Following the directions of Elyys and Echo, they split off and started a silent movement towards the enemy. They had been allowed their Companions on this test, and she had the birds fly ahead and scout out the other party. The larger Companions ran far to either side, not too close as to tip the mannequins off to their approach.

At a nod from Randen, she knew the enemy to be just past the next trees. Motioning to Elyys and Saira, the girl who had surpassed them all in stealth training, she pulled her aunt’s dagger from her belt and began a careful, measured advance towards the dark shadow she knew to be a sentry.

Saira, moving like a leaf on the wind, reached the sentry first. Pulling out a weapon that consisted of two wooden handles and a thin but extraordinarily strong wire loop, she placed the loop over the sentry’s head, and pulled hard on the handles before the figure could have even known what was happening. The wire cut through its neck as easily as would a freshly sharpened knife.

Moving from sentry to sentry, they put down half a dozen black cloaks, as they had come to think of them, in the time it took the rest of their file to arrive.

“That was too easy.” Randen looked her in the eye, and she knew it to be true. There was no way that a trained Dativ, let alone a battle-seasoned Knight, would let that happen without hearing something.

“They’ll be waiting for us.” Her file nodded. “Are you ready?” They all gave her a look that was a combination between What choice do we have? and Bring it on.  She smiled. They were ready. She was ready.

Moving as they had been trained, like shadows from a nightmare, they descended on the camp. The moment they entered the camp, all insanity broke loose.

Black cloaks seemed to pour from the shadows even as they themselves entered from the woods. Ania drew her rapier, and dove into the fray, taking down the enemy as quickly and efficiently as she could. This was no time to get caught up in a sparring match. This was the time for the kill.

As soon as she could, she sheathed her sword and dagger, pulling forth her longbow. She started picking off the black cloaks with solid steel star tips to the heart, one right after the other. The screams, sounding hollow, as if from a distance, added to the insanity.

Ania smiled when she felt the rush of air that was Echo’s magic. The others had arrived.

The day was theirs.

Sucking in a breath when a black cloak got in a lucky shot and scored what would have been a nasty gash on her right shoulder, she responded by putting a star tip right in his face. Unnecessary, but satisfactory.

Making her way to the center of the camp, led by calls from Hakem, who was ripping the “throats” of the black cloaks out faster than she would have thought possible. Finding her way to the largest tent, she found a “dead” Mya. The girl had a white sheen covering her whole body�"the sign that she had been “killed,” or at least horribly injured, and would not be revived until the end of the skirmish. Standing over her downed companion, Ania continued to pick off black cloaks.

Suddenly, everything seemed to stop. Black cloaks fell to the ground, and all the “wounds” healed themselves. Looking up, Ania saw the Masters coming towards the camp.

Their faces were white.

The SwordMaster looked about her, as if she could hardly even believe what she was seeing. The Dativs lined up in order, tossing glances back and forth, trying to figure out if the Masters’ expressions were that of admiration or dread.

Taking a steadying breath, Lady Zeriphanth met their gazes. “I cannot tell you how surprised I am to see this. Normally it would take days for you to beat this test. The majority of you should be dead. I can honestly that this is the strongest group of Dativs I have ever seen or even heard about. Possibly the strongest in the history of the Covenant.

“Congratulations. You have passed. Every single one of you.”