Growth Quest [Expert]
Kadryn headed to Ashen City to meet with her friend Smilira, Smilira had told her that she and some of her classmates wanted to spar with Kadryn. They wanted to see if Kadryn’s country training was up to par with theirs. It amused Kadryn that they somehow thought being taught in the city or the country made a real difference when what had made Kadryn so strong was continuous training and dragon hunting. She knew that book learning and practice could only take you so far, it was the actual fights and bloody battles with your life on the line that truly made one strong.
Noon saw Kadryn fluttering down into the training grounds of the Citadels. She grinned and waved at her friend as she called out,
“Alright Smil, who was it that thinks Country folk aren’t well trained? I’ll show them how real warriors fight!” She laughed.
“Kadryn! You know that’s not what I said!” Smilira chuckled as she went to hug the smaller blue Orderite.
“Oh really? That was how it sounded!” Kadryn raised an eyebrow as she hugged back.
“ ’Sides, doesn’t matter how you train, what matters is how much experience you have. You can practice all you like, but a real battle’s nothing like sparring.” She noticed some of the older boys nudging each other and muttering to each other. One slim but tall fellow came forward towards Kadryn and Smilira.
“We’d like to take you up on that,” He said boldly, as he crossed his arms and looked down at Kadryn. “Smil’s told us of how you delivered a Kiandri orb to Lady Avi. In my last delivery I gave her all Kiandri’s instead of just a few! I think my training has prepared me better than you.” Kadryn looked him up and down. A swordsman; her teacher Kral had warned her that they tended to think themselves superior to other types of warriors; which he should know since he trained many of them and tried his best to beat that out of them.
“That is impressive, let’s see if you are up to a barbarian’s mace though!” No sense in irritating him too much. Perhaps he just wanted to impress her or Smilira. But many Kiandri orbs, while a worthy achievement, was not as impressive as her Finani orbs! No need to tell him that though… that’d just make him more irritated….
“Alright! Everyone clear a space! We’ve got a challenger to our class’s ace!” One of the archer’s cried out. Chuckles and eager whispers spread out amid the sparring groups as they stopped and cleared a large area for the two to battle. Apparently this person was rather popular and challenged people regularly….
As Kadryn and the swordsmen entered the ring, Smilira gave her a worried look and told her to be careful, Larmes liked to humiliate his opponents and prove that he was completely superior to them. Kadryn didn’t like the sound of that, but she felt secure in her abilities to be able to beat him…. This had sounded fun in the morning but now it didn’t. This person apparently was a rude opponent and didn’t respect others.
She grabbed her mace and swung it around loosely as she stood on the balls of her feet, waiting for him to make the first move. His grin was cocky and he arrogantly flipped his sword from one hand to the other.
“Ready lil’l girl?” He called out mockingly. Kadryn’s eye’s narrowed; he was beginning to get on her nerves. She gave a small nod and watched carefully as he posed then charged.
Kadryn smirked. Charging? Really? Didn’t he know better? His blade was much more suited to quick slashes and slices… charging and bashing was for blunter and broader weapons... like hers. She smirked as she charged to meet him, her mace held low.
As they came close together, Kadryn’s mace flashed upwards and hit his blade as he tried for an overhead slice. Some days the best defense was an offense, and her mace was much heavier and could easily deflect his blows. Kadryn’s blows were careful and she deliberately didn’t aim for his legs which the idiot didn’t defend. She didn’t want to kill him; arrogant and irritating as he was he wasn’t an enemy. His sword flickered and danced elegantly; but for all his show, he couldn’t land a single blow through Kadryn’s simple yet complete defense.
His grin vanished and he scowled.
“What’s wrong l’il country girl? Scared to hit me?” He mocked. Kadryn snarled at him but kept a reign on her rising blood. She couldn’t go berserk here; she didn’t want to hurt anyone…
As they kept exchanging blows, Kadryn hitting slightly harder and shoving him around as he danced his elegant but ineffective dance as he called out insults. She could tell her actions were pissing him off, her defense annoyed him and seemed to mock him with her very refusal to attack. What he didn’t realize what Kadryn was losing her battle with her blood thirst. It wanted to rend this idiot that mocked her and insulted this battle with his insolence. At last he went too far, he insulted her abilities, her training,
and her teachers. No one did that! No one called her teachers pathetic and worthless! They were stronger than this stupid pampered puppy and she refused to let him go on.
Kadryn's leash on her anger slipped and an angry growl emerged from her throat as her eyes began to glow. She stepped forward into his latest blow and swung at his shoulder. He wasn’t expecting her to attack after so long of only defending. It smashed through his pathetic defense and bludgeoned into his shoulder. A sickening crunch echoed around the shocked field as Kadryn’s mace ripped and crushed his shoulder to bits, leaving a useless arm and gushing blood behind. Kadryn spun and kicked him in the head before smashing her mace into his back to send him screaming into the air. She growled and ignored the cries around her as people rushed towards them. All that mattered was that the insulting one must be destroyed. It must be killed and ripped to shreds to clean away the disgusting dishonor he’d given her and her teachers!
Several more swordsmen, of which there were so many, closed in on her, cutting her off form her intended target. Growling, Kadryn sneered at them and attacked. To defend that disgusting one was the act of an enemy! No enemy must be allowed to live! Her mace crashed among them, shattering bones and ripping muscles. One lucky blow almost cut her eyes, but she dodged just enough that it merely cut the bridge of her nose before she lunged forward and threw the offending swordsman aside with her mace. Her bloodied mace rose to attack the group of healers that surrounded the arrogant one as Smilira threw herself in front of Kadryn and cried out,
“Stop! Kadryn! Wait! Don’t do it… calm down please!” She was frightened, her kind and gently friend had vanished to be replaced by this furious and bloodthirsty monster. Was this what Kadryn had mentioned when she talked about her “blood thirst and berserk” feelings? If so, she wished she’d never given in to Larmes and asked Kadryn to come spar.
Kadryn paused, this was a friend, not an enemy… she shook her head and tried to think through the angry red haze that filled her mind. Smilira saw Kadryn pause and pressed forward, her hands held out to show they were empty. She tried to speak as if her friend was an angry animal that needed to be calmed; hating that she had to treat Kadryn like a beast but knowing that maybe the only way to calm her down.
“It’s okay Kadryn. You don’t need to keep on fighting. Just ... just calm down and think. Don’t keep hurting people.” She spoke calmly and quietly. She shook her head at one of the others as they tried to sneak up on Kadryn, ready to attack and either kill or knock her out. Smilira didn’t want that, she thought she could calm Kadryn down enough to get her back to being... well, back to being Kadryn.
Kadryn crouched and whimpered softly as she clutched her heads in her hands. The angry red haze beckoned, kill everything, get rid of those who so insulted her... get rid of them all! Leave non alive… No! She... she wasn’t like that... she wasn’t a bloodthirsty monster! She... she had to calm down... had to listen to Smilira... no more blood… no more….
The other Orderites backed away from her, they saw that Smilira was dealing with the dangerous girl from the country… maybe it was a good thing she trained out there and not in the city, that way they didn’t have to deal with berserk people like her….
Kadryn felt Smilira’s hand on her shoulder as the girl hesitantly knelt by her, whispering words to help her calm down. She knew now why Kadryn had been hesitant to come, and she regretted asking her. Smilira looked around and saw the fear in her class mate's eyes. Kadryn would not be welcome here for a while... She shook her head at them, they had cheered Larmas on when he challenged and humiliated many others, yet to see him get beaten like he so justly deserved and back a way in fear... Perhaps she should have warned Kadryn ahead of time before she’d showed up. Then maybe Kadryn could have worked out a way to beat Larmas without this… scene. She rubbed Kadryn’s back sadly as she heard her start to sob.
Kadryn had gotten control of herself and she was disgusted and distressed at what she’d done. Why? Why’d she have to go berserk here of all places? She didn’t want to face what she’d done, but knew she’d have too. She didn’t want to see fear in other people’s eyes, didn’t want to scare them; this couldn’t have turned out worse. There was no way they didn’t fear her now…they must think her a beast, a monster…
“I’m sorry Kadryn. I should have given you more warning of what Larmas was like.” Smilira whispered as she gathered the smaller girl to her and held Kadryn as she would a child. She had really hurt her friend with her stupid request….
Kadryn clung to Smilira,
“You--you’re not afraid of me, after what happened?” She asked hesitantly.
“Hmm? No. You told me you went berserk, and I thought you were ... I don’t know. Guess I didn’t really think of what you meant.” Smilira sighed.
“I should have thought about it. I certainly know my grandfather was a berserker in his days… I should have known…” She pulled Kadyrn back and looked at her,
“You are still Kadryn. Still my friend. So you get bersker in battle… you aren’t the only one. I know that. Eventually the others will know too, and they’ll come to the realization that you were pushed by Larmas into going berserk and they’ll realize how much effort you put into controlling yourself and perhaps one day they will be able to face you without fear. I certainly do not fear you or hold this against you.” She smiled,
“Though it will be a time before anyone wants to spar with you!”Kadryn managed a shaky smile, “
You think so?” Her large eyes sad but hopeful at the same time.
“Yes, I know so.” Smilira smiled,
“Let some time pass, let the immediacy of this event fade and they’ll be able to think over what happened and come to realize what I said.”“Hmm… you might be true.. I hope so…” Kadryn sighed as she rested her head on Smilira’s shoulder.
“I was so afraid that this would happen… I went berserk once before in a sparring match, but I was unarmed that time so I didn’t hurt him too much... plus I wasn’t really mad, just … I just got too caught up in the battle… but this time…”“I guess the more emotionally involved in the situation, the worse your berserk side is? Makes sense. The stronger the emotion, the harder it is to control. And that, Kadryn, is true for everyone not just you.” An adult in the robes of a healer approached Smilira and Kadryn. His eyes were sad but understanding. He knew what happened when Barbarians got too angry in a battle.
“It is a pity that no teachers were near for this match child. I am sorry you had to go through this. But, as I know our Lady Avi would say. Each event is a lesson from which you learn. You will be more careful in the future and our students here will never mock another country barbarian again... for which I know several of our younger children from the country will thank you for. Think on that young warrior and realize that while there are bad effects, there are also good effects.” He smiled kindly at the blood covered Kadryn. “And I think they will all be more careful and respectful of others for a while and not judge on looks too much… especially since one as small and sweet looking as you has just showed them that each flower has thorns and can bite back. Now let me see to your injuries, and do not worry about the others. No one died and we will make sure that all they have are scars from this afternoon to remind them of what happened….”
