“So…I hold it like this?” Helen asked Adalene, holding the kopis in the way she thought Adalene had told her to.
Adalene stood there, her arms crossed, looking at Helen with narrowed eyes.
“Hmm…almost…” she said, then walked around Helen, adjusting where her arms and legs were, “You need to be more defensive vith your arms, and spread your legs out more. It vill help you keep your balance.”
Once in the ready position, Adalene stood in front of Helen, drawing one of her swords. “Now, I vill run you through a few of ze simple exercises, at least until you are ready for me fighting you for real. Are you ready?”
Helen nodded.
“Okay. Zis is ze first position.” Adalene held her sword out in front of her, both hands gripped on the handle. Helen did the same, holding her kopis in the first position.
“Second position,” Adalene held her sword at an angle towards her right, and Helen copied.
“Third position,” Adalene held her sword at an angle towards her left.
They ran through all the positions in a matter of minutes, and finally, Adalene said, “Now ve vill go through ze positions in a fighting scenario, and each time ve go through ze positions ve vill go faster. Ve’ll see how long you can go before you are finished.”
Helen nodded, ready for the exercises.
Adalene slowly swung at her with her sword, saying the numbers of the positions as Helen blocked with them. Then they went again, faster this time. Adalene continued to test her with the positions, faster each time they went through the positions just like Adalene had said.
Eventually, it was almost too fast for Helen to handle. On the fourth position, Adalene disarmed Helen, and Helen fell to the ground, with Adalene towering over her. Adalene sheathed her sword, extending her hand to help Helen up.
“Zat vas good,” she said, smiling, “You lasted much longer zan I thought.”
“Thank you for your teaching,” Helen said, picking up her fallen kopis.
“Ve can go over it more if you like, but Alice also vants me to teach her how to use her dagger proficiently.”
Helen nodded and backed away for Alice to walk over to Adalene, her dagger in hand.
“I want to know how to use it better,” she said, letting Adalene inspect the dagger.
Adalene looked it over, inspecting the weight and style of the dagger. “A fine veapon,” she said, twirling it in her hand, “A dagger is a tool of many zings. Ze dagger is a civilized veapon, one from a different time.”
Adalene handed the dagger back to Alice, who inspected it more carefully than she had before, with a sense of pride in owning the weapon.
“Is there any way I can wield it without…killing anybody?” Alice asked, looking at Adalene’s face.
Adalene nodded, understanding. “Of course. Zere are many vays you can disarm your opponent, and you don’t have to kill them.”
As Adalene began to run Alice through some of the ways she could disarm her opponent, Helen left the area in search of the boys, interested in what was going on.
This island was the smallest they’d been on, and by Adalene’s calculations, they were almost to Dueglestein. Hopefully, this time they’d get there.
As Helen approached The Bowen, she noticed how much they had grown. Their friendships had strengthened, even with the little fights and quarrels here and there. Helen smiled as she saw the boys sitting on the ship, laughing and talking. She was glad they were having a good time.
“How’s it going, guys?” she asked, walking onto the ship.
“Hey Helen,” Richard said as she sat next to them, crossing her legs. Luke nodded his acknowledgment and Peter waved.
“We were just talking about how we should give the Dueglesteiners a nickname,” Luke said with a smile.
“Yeah,” Peter chimed in, “We were thinking something original, but would stick.”
Helen laughed at the idea. “So…what’s the nickname?”
Luke, Peter, and Richard looked at each other, preparing for the right time to say at the same time. “Doodoosteiners.”
It was so ridiculous yet so smart that Helen immediately snorted, breaking into a laughing fit. The boys joined in, laughing hysterically over the stupid nickname.
It was nice just to sit there, laughing with the people Helen cared about. For a moment, she forgot about all the worries they had. It was just her and her friends, laughing over a stupid name.
Richard hissed in pain, clutching his head. “Ah, my head,”
“What’s wrong, Richard?” Helen asked, concerned. For the last few days, he would occasionally complain about headaches, which were becoming more frequent. Helen was beginning to become concerned. She didn’t know if it had to do with the injury to his head or something else.
“Yeah,” Richard answered, “It’s just my head.” He looked at her for a moment, his eye glazing. Helen rubbed her own eyes, and Richard’s eye were no longer glazed.
He blinked rapidly, the glazed look flickering in his eyes.
Helen felt fear close her throat, remembering what had happened to her father when his eyes became glazed.
Suddenly afraid and confused, Helen said that she’d be right back.
Maybe it was all in her head. She had traumatic memories from her time in Hilgaria, and maybe they just kept coming to mind when she saw Richard, someone who had been with her during those experiences.
She walked over to a nearby stream, kneeling down and splashing the cool water in her face. She didn’t want to believe that something bad was happening to Richard, but she was becoming more and more worried.
As Helen dipped her hands into the water to splash it onto her face, her fears were confirmed. She heard shouts and the clanging of metal and immediately sat up.
“Oh no,” she whispered and shot to her feet. Looking over at where The Bowen was, Helen saw the shapes of people fighting on deck. There were more shouts and Helen started to run towards The Bowen, drawing her kopis to help the boys.
She got to The Bowen and was greeted by the sight of Richard in battle with Luke. Peter was laying on the ground, a cut on his head gushing blood.
“I don’t want to fight you, Richard,” Luke said as he blocked one of Richard’s attacks, blocking Richard’s dual short swords with his own, “I’m your friend! Remember we were making a joke a few minutes ago?”
Richard’s eye was glazed, his expression angry. He seemed like he was in a daze as if his mind was working against what his body was doing.
“I…” Richard started, blinking. For a moment the glaze faded, but then he shook his head and said, “I have to turn you in…the Dueglestein army will be waiting for you…you are all traitors of Iddenu.”
Luke pushed back against Richard and held his sword at the ready. “Dueglestein is the real traitor of Iddenu.” Luke was about to charge at Richard, when Helen shouted, “Stop!”
Luke stopped in his tracks, and Richard even stopped, blinking again. The glaze was flickering in his eye again, and he stumbled about, hitting his head.
“What’s…wrong with me?” Richard asked, and the glaze stopped. He looked around, seeing Luke with his sword drawn and Peter on the ground.
“Richard?” Helen asked.
Richard looked at the scene again, asking, “What did I-”
But the glaze filled his eye again, and Richard stumbled around the ship, swinging wildly at Luke and Helen with his swords.
“Richard,” Helen tried, ducking one of Richard’s attacks, “You need to snap out of it. This isn’t you.”
“I…” Richard slurred again, blinking, again and again, to stop the glazing in his eye, “I can’t do that!” he yelled, running at Helen with his swords raised. Helen blocked his attack with her kopis, using one of the positions Adalene had taught her.
“Richard, please,” Helen begged, looking him in the eye as he continued to press his swords against her kopis, “You are a good person. And you care about people. And I care about you. Please, don’t let this…thing control your actions. Don’t let it control your heart.”
Richard looked into her eyes, the glaze fading once again. He gasped at the sight of fighting Helen, and looked away from her, ashamed.
“I don’t know what’s happening to-” He started to say, but doubled over, screaming in pain. He clutched at his head with both hands, shaking his head and shouting, “No! No, I won’t do it! Stop!”
Helen looked at Richard in fear, who continued to smack at his head. “Get…out! Get out of my head! I won’t do it!” he screamed in pain again, rigidly moving his arms to throw his weapons to the ground.
“Richard?” Helen tried to put a hand on his back, trying to calm him down. His body went rigid, and then he stood up. He turned around and stared at Helen, his eye glazed again.
“Richard,” Helen tried, but he raised his hands to her neck, and before she knew what was happening he was squeezing around her neck. She gasped, putting her hands up to his, trying to pry his fingers off her neck.
“Richard!” Luke shouted at him, pounding Richard’s back with his fists, “Let. Her. Go!”
Helen’s vision was slowly going black, and she was terrified to see the glaze in Richard’s eye so intense as if nothing of the old Richard was there.
“You are a child of the prophecy, and you will answer to her,” Richard said in a dark tone, sounding nothing like himself.
Helen felt she was about to slip into unconsciousness, but was freed by Luke smacking his sword handle on Richard’s head.
Helen fell to the ground, wheezing as she inhaled and exhaled, each breath a miracle.
Helen looked over at Richard who was laying unconscious on the ground, and Luke standing with his sword still in his hand.
“He…” Luke started, “He was going to…”
Helen nodded, saying, “It’s fine, Luke. Thank you.”
Helen knelt next to Richard, gently touching his face. “Richard? Richard, can you wake up?”
Richard groaned a little, and he started to sit up, rubbing his head. “What…what happened?” he asked, looking confused at Helen. The glaze in his eye was gone, and he looked tired.
“Do you…remember anything, Richard?” Luke asked.
Richard rubbed his head again, and said, “I was trying to fight it, but…” Richard trailed off, looking into the distance.
“But what?” Helen asked gently.
“There…was a voice.”
Luke’s eyes widened. “Like the voice that guided us together?”
Richard shook his head, “No,” he said, “It…she told me…to take you guys to Dueglestein…to give to her. But…I couldn’t…I wouldn’t…do it. But then…she…she took control of me. I tried to fight it…but every time I fought her control…she just took more control of me.”
Helen took a deep breath, knowing what she’d say next might scare Richard.
“Richard…” she said, “Your eye…was…was like my father’s. When my father turned against us.”
Richard nodded, and he didn’t look very surprised. “I figured so. I knew something was going wrong with him, and it seems like this happened to me as well.”
Helen hugged Richard, clinging tight to his body. “You scared me, Richard. It wasn’t…it wasn’t like you.”
Richard hugged her back, and she rested her head on his shoulder. “It’s alright, Helen,” he said, resting his hand on the back of her head, “It’s over now.”
Helen squeezed her eyes shut, so scared of what might have happened to Helen or the others if Luke hadn’t broken Richard out of the spell.
There was a groaning sound, and Helen and Richard broke away from their hug to look over at Peter, who was slowly sitting up, gingerly touching his head where the blood still was pouring out.
“Ugh, what…what happened?” he asked groggily, looking at his hand which was now covered in blood.
As Luke went below deck to get some of the medical supplies, Helen explained to Peter what happened...
ns 172.70.39.203da2
