Humayre: The Chronicles of Ronin Wilder
Chapter 19

Three knocks at the door woke Ronin. He rubbed his eyes and looked around his room. Kevin and Gus were still asleep. The sand clock was sitting on the mantle above the dormant fireplace. He wondered what time it said. The night before he tried to figure it out when he was unable to sleep. The sand clock was a mystery that apparently only Gus could solve. If Gus wasn’t as useless as a one legged man in a butt-kicking contest, Ronin might actually ask him how it worked.

Three more knocks. Gus and Kevin remained fast sleep. Wondering who could be knocking so early, or perhaps late, he glanced at the draped window, but the day revealed none of its secrets. He hopped out of bed and headed for the door. The grey stone floors chilled the bottoms of his bare feet. He opened the door. There stood Grace with a wooden sword in her left hand. She smiled as she looked at Ronin’s hair.

Oh crap. Ronin looked down to make sure he had pants on. He exhaled in relief. His hair. Oh no. With both hands he flattened down the mess sprouting from the top of his head.

“What time is it?” asked Ronin. He held his hands behind his back and tried to pinch his lips together as he talked.

“You don’t have to do that. Everyone in the school knows. I think it’s pretty neat actually.” Grace looked in the direction of his hands. “Can I see them?”

Ronin was hesitant. The last thing he wanted was for her to think he was some kind of freak. Her eyes were kind though. Something inside him told him he could trust her. “Um. I guess. You sure it’s not too weird for you?”

“Don’t be silly.” She smiled.

A smile so gentle and true it forced Ronin’s pulse into a flurry of thuds. With an aching heart, he stared at her perfectly straight pearly whites. Next he found himself staring at her lips, they were large, pink and framed her mouth in a softness that he wanted to kiss. Feeling himself gawking, he averted his gaze and looked to her feet. His neck felt warm and his ears were buzzing. Pulling his focus to her green eyes, he held out his hands.

She looked at his claws and smiled. “I was planning on asking you for a shoulder massage but I think I‘m going to have to pass now.”

Ronin nervously laughed. The thought of touching her shoulders turned his cheeks red.

“You should smile more. You have a really nice smile.” She focused on Ronin’s mouth. “I can barely tell that anything is different with your teeth. You shouldn’t even worry about it.”

Grace’s kindness put Ronin at ease. As pretty as she was, she was just as nice. He really liked her. He searched his mind for something to say but kept drawing a blank. The silence was making him nervous and he didn’t want to make her uncomfortable. “Yesterday was pretty crazy. Good thing Cyrus showed up, huh?” That was all I could come up with? Stupid idiot.

Grace’s face grew solemn. “Yeah, crazy.” Her smile reappeared but it looked forced. “You’re probably wondering what the crazy blonde girl is doing at your door?”

“No. No. I would never think you’re crazy. I’m really happy you’re here.” His face turned red. “I mean. I love seeing you. Wait. I don’t mean…” Everything coming out of his mouth sounded wrong. “I just mean it’s good to see you again.”

It was obvious she was used to boys gushing over her, but for some reason Ronin was having an effect on Grace and made her blush. “I know what you mean.” She touched his hand then pulled back. She brushed her fingers through her fine hair and tucked a bunch of strands behind her ear. “So, I have been assigned to show you around and to get you situated.”

“Okay.” Ronin’s eyebrows raised in confusion. “I thought that’s what Gus over there was for?” He looked to the sleeping Gus and then back to Grace.

“It is a bit odd. It’s always second year drop downs who do this sort of thing.” Grace shrugged her shoulders. “But, this is coming straight from Mr. Wetstone. So I’m not going to argue.”

“Okay.” Mr. Wetstone was the greatest man to ever live as far as Ronin was concerned. He made a mental note to thank him later. Maybe even offer to buy him dinner. He chuckled to himself. “Do we start right now?”

“The sooner the better. We have to get to the general store before your first class starts. If there is a line, it might take a while.”

“Okay.” Ronin hurried to his trunk and pulled out a long sleeve shirt, a pair of pants and some socks. He grabbed his boots off the floor and rushed to the bathroom.

In a frenzied rush to get dressed he almost fell as he pulled his pants on. He brushed his teeth, put deodorant on, and then stuck his head under the running sink. The water chilled his skull and instantly woke him up. He dried his hair and ran out of the bathroom. Half out of breath, he said, “Was that fast enough?”

Grace laughed. “You are fine. We aren’t in that big of a hurry.”

Kevin turned onto his stomach and put his pillow over his head. Gus lay on his back with his mouth open, lightly snoring.

As they walked out of the room Grace asked, “So how did you sleep?”

Ronin thought about it for a second. “Terrible.” He looked to Grace, his instinct was to keep it in, but for some reason he trusted her. “Apparently I have some sort of night vision to go along with my super smelling, super hearing and super seeing.” He paused to see how she would react, but before she could say anything he added, “If you didn’t think I was a freak before, I’m sure you do now.” He forced out a laugh, like he was only kidding, but really he wanted to see how she would react.

“You shouldn’t talk down about yourself. You are special with unique gifts…” She stopped midsentence. “Where is your bokken?”

“My bokken?” Ronin thought about it for a second and it came to him. “My sword?”

“Yeah. You need to go get it. I’ll wait here.” Before Ronin could run off, she grabbed his shoulder. “From this moment on you need your bokken with you at all times. If they catch you without it, they will deduct points from your combat readiness score which will affect your overall grade.” She released her grip. Ronin nodded.

Ronin ran back down the hall and into his secret training room. He grabbed his bokken and ran back to Grace. “Okay. I’m ready.”

“The sword is both life and death for us.” said Grace. Her face was solemn and it was obvious she was hiding some kind of pain or disappointment. “Don’t ever forget it or take it for granted. If you do you will end up like those men you saw killed by the Vein yesterday.”

A chill traveled down Ronin’s spine. Death was no longer some abstract thing that would eventually happen in some distant future. It was close, it was real, and it could take him at any time. “Okay.” It was all Ronin’s mind could think to say.

Grace touched Ronin’s elbow. “Let’s go get you set up.” As she said it, a sadness flickered just behind her put on smile.

“You okay?” asked Ronin. “Seem’s like something’s been bothering you.”

Averting her eyes from Ronin, Grace said, “I don’t know why I’m going to tell you this.” The creases in her forehead relaxed as she pulled her eyes back to Ronin’s. “I guess there’s just something about you that calms me.” She forced a smile. “I found out yesterday that they are not letting me go through with the Sword Ceremony.” She turned her head away and stared at the torch hanging from the wall. “It’s never happened in the history of the school.”

“That’s why you were looking for Cyrus yesterday in the pub? You were going to tell him?”

“Yeah.” Her blonde hair glowed in the torchlight.

“I knew something was wrong.” Nervously he moved his index claws back and forth. “Why aren’t they letting you do it?”

Tilting her head ever so slightly, Grace stared off into the corner as though she were thinking about whether or not she should tell him. “The Mayre in my blood is different, I guess. They said it’s somehow changing. They are afraid if I go through with the Sword Ceremony that it won’t work.” She nibbled the tip of her perfectly manicured thumb nail. “You can only do the ceremony once. The Mayre is essentially transferred from your body to your sword. Mayre can’t regenerate itself. So once it’s gone, it’s gone. That’s why you can only do the ceremony one time.”

Ronin’s eyes widened. Grace was the girl that Dr. Storm was talking about. She had to be. That’s why Mr. Wetstone sent her to show him around. They were putting the two of them together. It didn’t seem as though Grace knew though. He thought about telling her. But something deep down told him to hold his tongue. It was torturous. It was a way to connect with her. To get closer with her. But for some reason his gut told him no.

“I’m sorry,” he said, as he picked at the tip of his thumb claw. “Maybe they will still let you do it once they figure the whole thing out?”

“I don’t know.”

“Is it really that bad if you can’t do the ceremony?”

“It’s bad. Really bad.” She took a deep breath and exhaled. “If a Humayre can’t go through with the ceremony then their contracts are voided and they are sent home.” She folded her arms. “So yeah. It’s bad.”

A disturbing thought came to Ronin. Dr. Storm said he wouldn’t be able to do the sword ceremony. Did that mean they were going to expel him after the year was up, regardless of how he did? Mrs. Kinney, she would have said not to dwell on the negative, if you do, the negative will happen. Focus on the positive, believe that things will work out and they will. Easier said than done. As selfish as it felt Ronin was somewhat relieved. At least he wasn’t alone, at least someone else was in a similar situation.

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