Bastial Energy (5 page)

He had to be especially cautious when he wanted to train with his bow, and he still couldn’t figure out how he’d let a chemist sneak up on him. His mother and father were killed eight years ago, and bows were outlawed shortly after. His solitary visits to train in Raywhite Forest began then. Cleve’s bow had belonged to his father, Dex, before being presented to Cleve on his eighth birthday.

During their lessons as a child, Cleve’s father had made it clear that the bow was more than just a weapon. It was a dedication. Respect for the weapon was just as important to learn as skill. Even after Dex died, Cleve still could hear his father’s voice giving tips when he missed his mark or laughing with excitement when he made a difficult shot. It was Cleve’s only way of thinking about his father without pain.

Terren cautioned Cleve to leave the bow behind when he moved. No one would search the headmaster’s house, and it was dangerous to try and transport the outlawed weapon. Cleve agreed with Terren’s reasoning and would have been concerned if his uncle had mentioned nothing of it, but he was taking the bow with him regardless. To leave it would be leaving a piece of himself behind.

Cleve packed it in his leather bag big enough to fit a small man. With the outlawed longbow, a quiver, a one-handed sword, and five throwing knives, the bag could barely close. Cleve wasn’t exceptional with throwing knives and would always prefer the bow in a ranged fight, but he had to keep up appearances. Throwing knives were the new bow, and it was expected of any decent warrior to be at least somewhat skilled with them. His quarterstaff couldn’t fit with all else, but he needed to make two trips for the rest of his stuff, so he would carry the quarterstaff in the open during his second trip. He liked the feeling of the weapon in his hands anyway.

When he first entered his new house, he readied a fake smile and told himself to be as nice as he knew how, expecting Steffen and the others to be there. Instead, he found no one home. He let out a sigh of relief and took a quick look around. It was similar to Terren’s house, except the kitchen was larger, and there were four bedrooms instead of two.

Terren’s house was positioned at the corner of campus and behind it was a private outdoor shower and outhouse. However, students didn’t have the same luxury as the head of the school. Instead, one large showering and bathing building was shared by five student houses. It had one entrance for men and another for women. A wall within the building segregated the two genders.

Cleve had expected to be the last one moving in, so he was surprised to find not one but two empty rooms to choose from. He put down his bag in the room closest to the front door and left to retrieve the rest of his belongings. When he arrived back at Terren’s, he took more time preparing for his second trip, making sure he had all the clothes, toiletries, utensils, and books he would need. He wasn’t surprised to find this bag was lighter than the first.
My weapons outweigh all my other belongings combined,
he realized.

Not more than an hour could have passed from the time of his first visit to his second, yet a King’s guardsman was standing outside the student house.

“What’s going on here?” Cleve asked.

“Back yourself two steps,” the guard said. He blocked the doorway and pointed a sword toward Cleve’s stomach. “The house is being searched for a bow.”

Cleve was bewildered.
I just brought it here. How could they have known?
He looked inside and found another guard searching the kitchen.
There isn’t much to search
.
They must’ve just gotten here if they haven’t found it yet
. He had no doubt they would find it if he let them continue. He had to do something.

“You have no reason to search this place. Let me inside.”

“Step back.” The guard looked sternly into Cleve’s eyes.
He’s looking for a sign of what I’m going to do
, Cleve realized. Terren had taught him the same skill. Cleve looked back into the guard’s eyes and found apprehension, just what he wanted to see
. Once he believes killing me is the only way to stop me, he’ll let me by.
Disobeying the King’s guards might give him some time in the dungeons, but it still was better than being caught with a bow.

Cleve readied his quarterstaff. “I’m going to walk inside. Let me through.”

“I will cut you if you come closer.”

Cleve took a confident step forward, the guard responding by thrusting his sword at Cleve’s chest. Cleve turned sideways and pushed the pointed end away from him with his quarterstaff. The sword slipped in between two buttons on Cleve’s shirt, ripping its way out.

They took a step away from each other to assess the damage. A third of Cleve’s shirt hung awkwardly, attached by a thread.

“You think the King would appreciate if you killed a student during this ridiculous search for a bow?”

The guard held his sword ready in silence.

“Are you Cleve?” a girl asked from behind, interrupting his plan.

Cleve swung around. At the sight of her, his anger and fear turned into a moment of lust. She had light hair, just between brown and blonde. It had an almost unnatural shine to it, giving it a glimmer as it hung down wavy and thick, falling a little past her shoulders. Her skin was creamy and soft. Her eyes were brilliantly green and pinched at the sides. Her mouth was slightly pressed, giving it a dangerously clever look. She seemed tall for a woman and with full breasts that pushed out her red dress on either side of the buttons that ran down its center.

“I’m Reela Worender,” she told him. “Steffen told me about you.” Her eyes switched to the guard, bright with curiosity. “What’s happening here?”

Cleve’s breath was taken from him. For a moment, the guard, the search for his bow, his impending arrest, his ripped shirt, everything was forgotten. Then suddenly Cleve remembered that she was a psychic.
Is my reaction because of some psychic spell?
He’d seen beauty before, and this was far more than that. The way she’d stopped his heart upon first glance was unnatural, crippling. It had to be psyche.

“We’re conducting a search for a bow,” the guard responded.

“A bow? Now that seems a bit absurd, doesn’t it?” Reela replied, offended. “Let me inside and we’ll get this all sorted.” Reela patted the guard on the shoulder, and he stepped aside.

Soon Cleve could hear Reela’s conversation with the other guard inside. “Think about how strange it would be for us to keep a bow here. Look at me. Does it look like I know how to use a bow?”

“No,” the guard replied.

“Haven’t you searched this place well enough to determine there’s no bow here? In fact, it seems to me like a waste of your time to stay here any longer.”

“You don’t need to tell me that,” the guard replied. “I was just leaving.”

The guard exited the house and eyed the other one. “Nothing there,” he said.

They left without another word.

Terren lied to me
, Cleve thought after witnessing the psychic in action.
There are other psychics like the Elf.
He stood outside for a moment, contemplating returning to his uncle’s. But he ran through the conversation that would take place and realized he would be forced out before the night was over.

Before Cleve could come up with something else, Reela approached him with a strangely calm smile. “Did you bring a bow here?” Her tone was hinting, as if she already knew but still would be surprised to hear him admit it.

Cleve took the opportunity to see what else she could do. “No, I don’t own a bow.”

Her face scrunched with intrigue. “I know you’re lying,” she said slowly, studying his eyes.

“I wanted to see if you would use it on me as well.” Cleve jabbed a finger at her face. “Don’t ever use psyche on me. If this is going to work, you’ll stay out of my head. Got it?”

Reela nodded. “I got it,” she said indifferently. Her smile reformed and it stole his breath again. “But I didn’t use psyche on you. You’re just not a very good liar.”

Cleve was puzzled by the lack of anger in her reply. She seemed…entertained, even? “Oh,” he replied apologetically. He’d expected quite the argument between them.

Reela shrugged. “Are you going to tell me why you have a bow, or would you rather I guess?”

Cleve took a breath, or maybe just tried to recover the one that had slipped from his lungs after she’d curled her lips at him. “The bow is more important to me than I can describe. I would rather risk the rest of my life in the dungeons than get rid of it.”

“Be aware that the dungeons are almost where you ended up. Luckily, they didn’t have more reason to believe there was actually a bow here. I could only persuade them to leave because I’m sure neither was expecting to find one. It’s been years since anyone has seen one, so why would there be one here? I just helped them come to that realization sooner.”

“So you didn’t control their thoughts?”

“No.”

“Could you read their thoughts, though?”

She giggled, shaking her head.

I guess that means no
. Only then did Cleve notice himself gawking. He relaxed his face. “What psyche can you use on me, then?” Cleve suddenly realized he was being blunt. “If you don’t mind me asking.”

She looked him up and down, her radiant green eyes stopping for a heartbeat at the flesh under his torn shirt, then rising again and locking back onto his face.

“You’re different than most warriors.” She tilted her head as if seeing something in his eyes. “Very different,” she said softly.

He felt a chill start down his back. It scared him, but he didn’t know why.

“I’ll tell you,” Reela continued. “But I trust you not to share this with others. You wouldn’t imagine how scared some people can become when they hear about psyche.” She produced a wicked smile that made his heart race. “I really can’t do that much to the mind of any intelligent or strong-willed being. I can sense some ideas and heavy emotions when they’re overwhelming the person’s mind, like fear.” Reela titled her head to the other side. “But I’m only able to alter a person’s mood or thoughts if what I’m trying to alter is rational to them.”

“What about memories?” Cleve asked. It was the only question he really cared about at the time.

Reela’s smile became wry as she shook her head. “I don’t have access to your mind.”

It might have been stupid to assume my memories were at risk,
Cleve thought. He felt a calm crawling over him until another thought brought back the feeling of danger.
Or is that just what she wants me to think? Could she be using psyche right now to make me more at ease?

“I understand the bow is important to you,” Reela said. “You don’t need to explain, but you have to realize I’m now at risk by it being here. The other roommates can pretend they didn’t know, but I’m a psychic who convinced guards to stop searching. If the King’s men figure that out, it can’t be good for me.”

“It won’t be a problem. I’m not sure what the process is for switching houses, but if you or the other roommates want me gone, I would go through whatever steps are necessary to live somewhere else.”
I never wanted to live here anyway.

Reela shook her head urgently. “That’s not necessary. You seem conscientious for a warrior.” Her eyes wandered down to his exposed stomach again. “And you’re ready to stand up for what you believe in, which may include us one day. I like that, but we’re going to have to figure out something with the bow.”

“I was going to create a storage space beneath the floorboards in my room, completely concealed. I just need to retrieve some tools from Terren’s.” It was Cleve’s plan all along. He was going to keep the bow in his bag, learn his roommates’ schedules, and dig up the floor when they weren’t around, but there was no need to keep it from them now.

“Steffen told me the headmaster was your uncle,” she said curiously. “You were living with him, and he knew about the bow?”

Can I trust her? Better yet, can I even lie to her?
“Yes. My father, Dex Polken, was Terren’s brother. Terren knows how important this bow was to my father and is to me, so he never made me get rid of it.”

“Dex Polken? I’ve heard of him. He was your father?”

“Yes.”

“Interesting. I never knew he was brothers with the headmaster of the Academy. I’m sorry for your loss. He was a great bowman.”

Cleve felt raw emotions beginning to surface and his barriers breaking down. “One more rule,” he said sternly. “Don’t talk to me about my father, and don’t let me hear you talk to anyone else about him.”

Reela nodded with apparent understanding. But her eyes didn’t register the subordination he’d expected to see after delivering his warning. Instead, they looked as if they held pity, the last thing he wanted. Fearful his emotions would escalate, he told Reela he would be back later with the tools to install the storage space and quickly left.

Chapter 7: Guess

CLEVE

While everyone else spent the day unpacking, Cleve worked tirelessly on a new hidden home for his bow under the floorboards beneath his bed. Ripping up the wooden floor was a loud task, but he took pains to keep as quiet as possible so as not to arouse suspicion from nearby houses. When the dusty air and his aching back eventually made the idea of a break sound too good to pass up, he found himself stepping out of his room but unsure of where to go.