Humayre: The Chronicles of Ronin Wilder
Chapter 29

What must have been the entire BrightWood population was spread out across the courtyard. In the center of the chaos stood one man. In his hand was a Bloodsword. In his eyes burned hate. The surrounding students kept a safe distance from the Vein.

Holding Grace’s hand and pushing his way through the crowd, Ronin found the front of the mob. Surprisingly the teachers and staff were also part of the hoard. Everyone sported the same dumbstruck expression. The mob was quiet, everyone seemed to be shocked into silence.

“My name is Darius. My brother’s name was Marius!” he shouted. “I am calling out Cyrus.” His short platinum blonde hair spiked out all over his head. “As per the accords I have a right to challenge my brother’s killer in one-versus-one combat.”

Grace looked to Ronin as she rubbed her hands together nervously. Her eyes were wide. The sweet smell of fear radiated from her. “He’s a class three.”

The crowd began to murmur.

Remembering what Cyrus said about class three’s the night before, he knew it couldn’t be good. “How do you know he’s a class three?” The cold stung his gloveless hands. He stuffed them in his pockets. “Can Cyrus win?”

“We study all the known Vein,” said Grace. “They are classified based on their Mayre readings. Class five is the highest. And no. Cyrus can’t win.”

The mob shifted and swayed as someone pushed their way through the crowd. Cyrus stepped out of the wall of people and into the center of the courtyard. He unsheathed his Mayreblade as he made his way toward Darius. Cyrus stopped. The Humayre and Vein stared at each other with blank steely eyed expressions.

“I am ready,” said Cyrus.

“We will see,” said Darius

“Stop!” shouted Master Kita. He burst through the crowd. His black kimono drug across the cobblestone street as he hurried to the center of the courtyard. In his right hand was a wooden bokken. He stopped between Cyrus and Darius. “It is my right as Cyrus’s master to claim this challenge as my own.”

“Mast...,” said Cyrus.

“Dog!” shouted Master Kita. “Shut your insolent mouth before I shut it for you.”

Cyrus’s eyes found Master Kita’s slippers as he backed away like a scolded animal.

“What’s happening?” asked Ronin. The excitement made him feel like his head was about to explode.

“Master Kita is taking his place,” she said, looking just as confused as Ronin felt.

“That’s good right?” asked Ronin. “If Cyrus can’t win then that’s good that he doesn’t have to fight, right?”

“Master Kita is sacrificing himself.” She looked relieved but at the same time saddened.

“He can’t win either?”

Grace shook her head. “Only the best Keiri are sent to take down class three’s and they send four of them to do it. And usually one or two Keiri are seriously injured or killed by that single class three Vein. And when I say the best Keiri I mean swordsmen who make Cyrus look like a first year who’s never picked up a sword. That how good our best are.” She gravely stared at Ronin. “Do you understand now?”

Ronin tried to swallow but his mouth was dry. As much as Master Kita had beaten and tortured him he didn’t want to see him killed.

“Stand up straight. Don’t make me beat you like the worthless dog you are. Show some honor,” said Master Kita, glaring at Cyrus.

The way in which Master Kita scolded Cyrus made Ronin feel a bit better. At least he wasn’t the only one who Master Kita talked to like that.

“Yes Master.” Cyrus held his head high, re sheathed his weapon and backed away to the edge of the crowd.

Darrius laughed as Cyrus retreated. Master Kita turned and faced Darius, the blade of his wooden sword resting nonchalantly on his shoulder.

“Let’s get this over with,” said Master Kita.

Darius looked past Master Kita and focused on Cyrus. “Don’t avert your eyes when I kill your Master. I want this memory to burn bright in your mind for the rest of your cowardly existence.” He grasped his Bloodsword with two hands, aimed the point at Master Kita and walked towards his opponent.

Master Kita didn’t move an inch. It looked as though he’d given up and was going to accept a death blow. Darius pulled his sword back and thrust the tip at Master Kita’s heart. Master Kita stepped to the right. The strike missed his torso by inches. A crack sounded out. It stretched over the mob, through the castle, past the village and into the forest. A clang followed by another clang. The Bloodsword bounced off the cobblestone and came to a peaceful rest. A single united gasp rolled through the mob. Darius dropped to his knees. Eyes dilated, shoulders slumped and hands dangling at his side, he fell forward. The last sound of the fight was Darius’s face hitting cold stone. Master Kita wiped the blade of his bokken on his kimono and causally strolled towards the crowd.

“Did you see how fast Master Kita was?” asked Mike. “I’ve never seen anything that.” In a burst of excitement he slapped the cider-stained table in front of him

“Did any of you guys know that Master Kita was Cyrus’s master?” asked Kevin.

Mike and Ronin shook their heads.

Buba placed three wooden mugs of cider on the table in front of Mike, Ronin and Kevin. “I’ll be puttin these on yer tabs, lads.”

“Thanks Buba,” said Mike. He stuck his fat thumb in the air and smiled.

Buba smiled as he headed back behind the bar.

Ronin pushed his mug away. He was in no mood for a drink. Really, he was in no mood to be at the pub but Kevin convinced him to come hang out.

“What’s up?” asked Kevin. “You look like someone stole your puppy.” He jokingly laughed.

Mike followed suit.

“Just tired,” said Ronin, forcing a smile. He wanted to tell his friends about Dr. Grey and the Vein Den but he didn’t want to get them involved. On top of finding out his parents were traitors and there would be no way to clear their names, he also had to worry about his final scores. He already knew what they were. Even though the scores were not finalized yet, each teacher had sat him down and given him the bad news. In order to stay at the school he needed a sixty percent proficiency rating. After adding up his scores he had only thirty percent.

A miracle is what Ronin needed. Even though he knew the bad news was coming, he somehow still hoped that maybe they would change their minds. He envisioned opening his letter and reading that he had somehow managed to pull sixty percent. At that point it is was all he had to hold onto.

“So,” said Kevin. “The reason I wanted us come here was so I could tell you guys the good news.” He glanced about the pub. “Guess Grace won’t be here for it.”

“I saw her go off with Cyrus after Master Kita’s fight,” said Ronin. The thought of Grace doing anything with Cyrus made his heart ache.

“Oh well. I can tell her later,” said Kevin. A smile stretched from ear to ear. He grabbed Ronin and Mikes shoulders. “I got top score in our class. It’s the highest score they’ve seen in ten years. That means I get any specialization I want.” He shook his head. “I can’t tell you how badly I wanted it. Best thing to ever happen to me.” He looked down, his face flushed red. “I mean the best thing aside from my sister being cured.”

“That’s great, bro.” Mike looked genuinely happy for Kevin. He grabbed his mug and held it up. “A toast. To my other best friend.”

Ronin and Kevin chuckled. They lifted their mugs, the three boys clashed them together. Cider splashed form the cups and soaked the table.

“So what are you going to choose?” asked Mike, looking to Kevin. He chugged down his remaining cider and waved to Buba for another.

“At first I wasn’t sure,” said Kevin. “I mean. Master Kita was the obvious choice as far as a masters goes. But, after months of watching him beat the stuffing out of Ronin, I didn’t think I could stomach him.”

“So who then?” asked Mike.

“Well. After seeing Master Kita in action today I changed my mind,” said Kevin. “I want to be the best. So I want the best to teach me. I’ve decided to go offensive with specialization in Veta form 1.”

“That’s sweet, bro. I’ve heard that’s the most difficult form to get in. Even Cyrus couldn’t qualify for it.” He pat Kevin on the shoulder. “Congrats, bro. You’re on the fast track to fame.”

“Thanks,” said Kevin. “What about you guys?”

“I couldn’t be so lucky, bro.” Mike shrugged his shoulders. “All I could pull was defensive with a specialization in Renchi form 1.”

“That’s not bad, man,” said Kevin. “I heard Master Qatar was good.”

“Seriously, bro?” asked Mike, sarcastically. “Master Qatar could bore a sloth to sleep man.” He shook his head. “Total crap man. But whatever. I’m happy for you.”

Kevin and Mike looked to Ronin with raised eyebrows.

Ronin shook his head. “I wasn’t given a choice of specialization.”

“What?” asked Kevin. “Everyone gets a spec.”

“Not me.”

“Bro. Did you score below sixty percent?”

“Our scores aren’t out yet,” said Ronin.

“We all know they gave us our scores early,” said Mike. He raised an eyebrow. “Bro. You have been telling us that your scores were fine.” He folded his arms. “You scored below sixty, didn’t you?”

“Yeah,” said Ronin. “Don’t worry about it.”

Kevin looked mad. He crossed his arms and shook his head.

“Bro. What the hell, man. We would’ve been helping you if you didn’t keep telling us that you were doing fine. That’s garbage. We’re your friend’s man. That’s messed up. We’re supposed to have each others backs. Can’t do that if you don’t tell us what’s goin on.”

“Did you tell Grace?” asked Kevin.

“No.”

“Okay, okay,” said Kevin, holding his hands up. “Let’s give the guy a break. Grace is going to kill him anyway.”

All three boys laughed.

“So let’s figure this out then,” said Kevin. “Looks like the only shot you have now is getting to the fourth round of the Tournament.” He straightened himself up and took a swig of cider. “We can do this. If Mike and I work with you every day until the tourney we can do this.”

“Hell yeah!” shouted Mike. He slammed his massive fist on the table.

“So that’s the plan then,” said Kevin. “You better be ready.” He nodded to Ronin. “We are going to work you into the ground.”

Ronin nodded. “Thank guys.”

Mike lifted his cup. “Another cheers. To us working Ronin to death before the Tourney.”

They all laughed, held their cups up and clashed them together.

“Okay,” said Kevin. “With that taken care of. Are you guys gonna try out for the teams next week?”

Ronin had completely forgotten about interschool competition. The four Dr. Storm owned academy’s fielded dueling teams during the last part of the school year. At first they compete amongst themselves within their own campuses. The winning team of each school then goes on to challenge the other schools winning teams in a four team championship. The winner takes home the cup, a great honor for that school and all of its students. At first Ronin was excited about the prospect of being on a team. Now he wondered if he could even make one of the squads.

“Yeah,” said Mike. “I’m gonna try out for Oak. I heard they need a defensive specialist. I think I may have a shot.”

“I’m going for Pine,” said Kevin, with a sly smile.

“Wow,” said Mike. “I heard they only take fourth years and there is only one spot on the team left.” He raised an eyebrow and rubbed his chin. “Actually. I think they are looking for a counter specialist.”

“Nope,” said Kevin. “They need an offensive spec.”

“Bro. You pull that off and I will be your first groupy.”

Kevin and Mike chuckled. Ronin was silent staring off in the distance.

“What about you?” asked Mike, looking to Ronin.

“I do…,” said Ronin, but was interrupted with Grace’s arrival.

Grace headed straight for their table, her eyes focused on the ground.

“What’s wrong?” asked Ronin.

Startled, Grace quickly looked up. She glanced at the three boys as though she hadn’t noticed them before. “What? Were you talking to me?”

“You okay?” asked Ronin.

“Yeah I’m fine. Just thinking,” said Grace.

“About what?” asked Mike. “You almost ran into our table you were so deep in thought.”

“Sorry.” Grace pulled her shoulders back and stood tall. “They found a letter on the Vein. Master Kita was able to read it apparently. It said something about Raven and an address. They sent five Keiri to investigate. One of the Keiri was Cyrus.”

“Raven?” interrupted Ronin.

“Yeah,” said Grace.

“What address?” asked Ronin. In his excitement he almost blended his words together. “Do you know the address?”

“Yes,” said Grace. “Cyrus said they were going to Ebonsville. To some street called Martin’s or Max’s.” She squinted her eyes trying to remember. “Marvin’s Way maybe.”

Marlen’s Way. They were going to the address Ajax had told Ronin about. It might be his one chance to find out why his parents had turned traitor.

“Did they leave yet?” asked Ronin. “Do you know when they are supposed to leave?”

“Why are you so worked up?” asked Grace.

“Just tell me. Did they leave yet?”

“Yes. An hour ago.”

Grace, Mike and Kevin all looked to each other with raised eyebrows.

“Do any of you guys know where Ebonsville is?” asked Ronin, looking to each of his friends.

“Yeah. It’s like a five hour drive from here. Right on the Idaho Washington border,” said Kevin. His forehead wrinkled. “Why?” He shook his head. “And how haven’t you heard of Ebonsville? It was all over the news like a year ago. They changed the town name. Named it after the war hero David Evans. It was huge news man. Seriously. You must’ve been living under a rock or something.”

Ronin looked to Grace, then Kevin and finally Mike. The big guy. He could count on him. “Mike,” said Ronin. “Can I talk to you over in the corner for a second?”

“Bro. You’re scaring me man. You got that psycho look in your eye again.”

Ronin stood up and pulled Mike by the shirt. “Please.”

“Hey. Okay okay.” Mike stood up and followed Ronin to the back of the pub. “You mind releasing your dagger fingers? That hurts, man.”

“Sorry,” said Ronin. He released his grip and stared at the holes in Mike jacket. “Oh man. Sorry about that.”

“No worries,” said Mike. He brushed off his shoulder. “What going on?”

“I need to borrow five hundred credits,” said Ronin.

“What?” asked Mike, almost shouting. “Five hundred?” He looked like he might fall over from shock. “That’s my whole savings, bro.”

“I’ll pay you back, I promise,” said Ronin. Desperation was all over his face. “Please.”

Mike stared at Ronin. He was silent for a good ten seconds.

Ronin squirmed. He really needed Mike to say yes.

“Alright. But you’re going to owe me big on top of owing me the credits.”

“Okay, okay. Anything. Thank you.”

“Yeah, yeah,” said Mike. “By the way. This does not make me the bank of Mike. I’m not some devilishly handsome ATM machine. This is a onetime deal, okay?”

“I promise I’ll never ask again.”

“If you don’t mind me asking. Why do you need that much?”

“Do you want me to lie to you?”

Mike scrunched his eyebrows.

“Then yes, I mind you asking,” said Ronin. “I promise I’ll tell you when I can.”

“Fair enough,” said Mike.

As Ronin and Mike headed to the Credit Exchange Ronin had a disturbing thought. What if five hundred doesn’t cover a ten hour roundtrip cab ride?

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