Child of Time (22 page)

“Young one, I was many times the age of this one
before I was as good as he is, now I teach him. The day when he is
better than me is yet to come.” Draxos laughed as he answered. “He
is uniquely skilled.”

“But he is a stone skin. How can you be better than
Fred is?” Savos queried before he remembered his place. “I am
sorry, I shouldn't have spoken like that.”

Draxos flexed his muscles as his scales shifted into
diamond like crystals. Another flex and he looked normal again.
“Savos there is one thing you need to understand. You accepted our
offer of being your planet's representative. We turned down the
other candidates because they couldn't be trusted. When you
accepted the position you became one of us. A protector. As such we
trust you and you can trust us. We know you mean no offense when
you speak so feel free to speak what you will. Just know that your
place is with us not below us.”

Savos wasn't sure how to respond so he attempted to
change the conversation. “You wanted me to try earthbending?”

Draxos smiled. “A natural diplomat, yes if you can
show me what you know I can assess what you can be trained on.”

Savos focused on a couple smaller rocks nearby and
levitated them. He broke them into smaller pieces and propelled
them at the waterfall. “We had some benders that became quite
skilled but I was never able to train under any one. I only know
what I learned by myself.”

“The first master never has a teacher. It is an old
thoran saying.” Draxos explained. “You have learned more by
yourself than many learn in a lifetime. You know how to manipulate
earth on a lower level but you have learned the basic skills that
some practice for years to develops. You will make a promising
student.”

“I had never heard about water bending before and
Fred mentioned other schools?” Savos developed the courage to ask
Draxos after a few minutes.

“Well you have learned about earth bending and water
bending. There is fire and air bending also and a rare school
called life bending. Fire and air bending are simply that but life
bending is basically energy bending as a whole. They are called
life benders because they are quite skilled in using energy to heal
injury and enhance the body. You met Ray he is a kayloo that is
bound to Kiyan like Addy is bound to Fred. Ray is a draconic type
shape shifter where Addy is a forest type. There is much that you
will learn over time.” Draxos gave Savos a brief overview of some
of the abilities he was surrounded with. “Try holding these four
stones still in the air around you, practice being able to control
them without thinking.”

Kiyan was sparing with Fred and found that Fred was a
difficult adversary. He was a stronger bender but he was also
physically much stronger. Kiyan wasn't attacking with all his
strength but an attack that would have washed Fred over before
barely seemed to touch him.

“So you are fireproof now?” Kiyan dodged a rock and
took advantage of an opening to douse Fred with a spray of
water.

“That's what Corban says.” Fred smirked as he bent a
rock at Kiyan.

Kiyan deflected the rock with an ice wall and
countered with a fire ball. The concussion sent Fred over backwards
and Kiyan moved with lightning speed to his side in concern. Kiyan
found himself flying through the air backwards as the unscathed
Fred shoved him. Instinctively compressing the air around himself
Kiyan landed without a sound in a defensive posture. Distracting
Fred with a few blasts of air Kiyan fused some rocks to the ground
and melted them around Fred's feet before he could react. Kiyan's
victory only lasted a moment before the shackles exploded and Fred
rejoined the fight. Kiyan switched to a new tactic. Fred couldn't
fight what he couldn't see. Using the air as a weapon Kiyan danced
around Fred's strikes and caught him off guard with a wave of air
blasts. Fred made a face as he tried to break through Kiyan's
guards but seemed to be deflected every time he made a push.

Savos watched Kiyan and Fred dueling for a few
minutes. “Are they hurting each other?”

Draxos laughed for a moment before answering. “Fred
as you know is a stone skin, there isn't much that can be done to
hurt him. Kiyan has shielding plus he is ascended so I'm not
worried about him either.” They watched for a couple more minutes
before going back to practice.

Chapter Eleven: Replica

Kiyan was having breakfast when he felt the energy
buildup. It was vaguely familiar in nature. He recognized it as
temporal energy but was unable to figure out where it was coming
from. There was an overwhelming pressure in his head and it was
over as fast as it had begun. Kiyan was sitting on a log staring at
the stick in his hand. Confusion faded as he remembered what he was
doing. Kiyan had made an excursion into the woods on his way home
from school. The stick was a mock sword and he had been
playing.

Kiyan looked up at the ranks of wooden brigands that
had set on him the instant he had set foot off the road. “Give up
or die!” Kiyan mimed for the trees.

“I will never give in to ye uncouth ruffians.” Kiyan
uttered the statement with finality. He faced a band of the most
notorious thieves that his fertile imagination could conjure. Kiyan
swung his sword and prepared himself.

“Ye fool. This be no place for chivalrous knights in
these dark woods.” The nearest tree threatened. Kiyan responded by
spinning and swinging as hard as his spare frame would permit.
There was a satisfying snap as the dead branch that represented the
hulking cutthroat's jaw snapped into a dozen pieces.

“Take that ye knave!” Kiyan spun to face the rest of
the band.

“You will never live to regret that boy.” The
undamaged trees threatened ominously.

“I’m no boy, I will see that you regret that slight.”
Kiyan rushed forward and trees innocent or not felt his wrath. Soon
Kiyan’s mighty sword was broken by a treacherously sturdy limb and
he was forced to wrestle another from his adversaries. The victory
was going to Kiyan as he broke his opponent's weapons like the old
dead limbs that they were. With only a swarthy oaken brigand, an
ashen cutpurse and an alder thief left Kiyan felt assured of
victory.

He made a final rush to deal with the knaves once and
for all. Sadly the oak had more intelligence to him than Kiyan had
originally thought. That fall he had dropped a limb and cunningly
disguised it with fallen leaves. Kiyan fell into this trap and
landed with his face in the dirt. He recovered his feet a moment
later and considered calling the battle a draw. Thinking better of
it Kiyan wiped the dirt off his face and spit out what had managed
to get in his mouth.

“You will pay dearly for that.” Kiyan made good on
his promise and deprived the thinner outlaws of their limbs as high
as he could reach. The oak suffered under a hail of blows until
Kiyan’s sword parted company with the handle. Kiyan decided that
the game no longer held any more enjoyment and made his way back to
the road. His clash with the bandits had taken longer than he had
anticipated and the sun was only a couple finger widths above the
horizon now. Less than a half hour of light remained.

Kiyan arrived at the road and began plodding home.
Home as he called it was little more than a hovel alongside the
road. Kiyan lived with a man in this hovel that he called his
father. The man rarely acknowledged Kiyan’s presence. As long as
the boy fed himself and stayed out of his way Paulson could have
cared less.

Kiyan’s living arrangements had not always been this
way. When his mother had been alive they had lived in town in a
nicer house. When she had died Kiyan had been sent to the man that
a scrap of paper had said was his father. At least that is what
Kiyan could remember being told. He really couldn’t remember
anything much from his earlier life. Paulson was rarely sober
enough outside of the mines to recall anything either.

Today school had been about history in Europe and a
band of bandits that had terrorized merchant men for years. Kiyan
liked learning but because of his situation he wasn’t able to
attend regularly. Fortunately the old school teacher had been
transferred and the new one had refrained from sending him away.
Kiyan knew that this state of things was not likely to continue for
long. The children of the more affluent families had moved to the
far side of the classroom so as to avoid contamination with the
dirty boy.

“What happened to your face? You been in a fight
again?” Paulson met Kiyan on the path to the door. He limped from
an old wound acquired in the last war. The evening’s beverages were
in a sack at his side.

“No, I tripped.” Kiyan wiped a dirty hand over his
cheek in an attempt to remove a smear of rotten leaves.

“Likely story. Just don’t go gettin in trouble and
making the officials show up here again.” Paulson shambled on
before deciding to back up the command with a threat. “If you get
in any more trouble I’ll throw ya out on the street.” Kiyan wasn’t
particularly worried. Once Paulson got drunk he would settle into
his chair and stare at nothing for hours on end. Once Paulson had
actually carried out the threat. Fortunately it had been summer and
the man had forgotten about it by the next day.

-------

Jeremy’s life was only marginally better. Materially
he was among the more affluent. As the adopted son of the town
constable Jeremy was left alone at school. The butler picked him up
after school and drove him home.

The big white house had been among the ones that had
been originally built in the town. It wasn’t that a chief constable
had a good wage that made the lifestyle affordable. It was the fact
that the constable was frequently receiving sizable donations for
favors. Jeremy had seen several of these donations being handed
discreetly to his step father.

Jeremy tried to recall the past when life had been
simpler. Before arriving at the white house with the butler there
was nothing but fuzz no matter how hard he tried. The adoption
agency had stated that he had been abandoned at the orphanages. The
constable had flown into a rage last time Jeremy had asked.
Something about being part of this family now and forgetting the
past. The car was pulling up the driveway now.

Jeremy gave the butler a smile and picked up his
bundle of textbooks. The old man drove the car around to the back
of the house while Jeremy pondered the house. He wondered what room
his step mother was inhabiting today.

The front door was only for formal occasions but
there were several side doors. Jeremy picked one and approached it
cautiously. Listening outside he didn’t hear anything. Deciding
that it was as good of a choice as any Jeremy quietly slipped
inside. After pulling the door shut with a soft click he turned
around and froze. His choice had been wrong. His stepmother was
with the baby in this room today.

She glared at him before elaborately pointing into
the cradle and shushing. Jeremy slunk silently through the room. He
felt her eyes boring into his back the whole way. Depositing his
books in his room he prepared himself for supper. The meal was
consumed in silence and Jeremy excused himself as soon as possible.
His stepfather had been busy and hadn’t made it so it was only
Jeremy and his stepmother.

After the constable had arrived Jeremy made his way
to the attic. The wonderful thing about the house being so old was
that the attic was large and unoccupied. There had once been
servant quarters here but the partitions had been knocked out and
now it was storage.

Jeremy was lost in his thought for a time until he
heard his name. Moving closer to the chimney that came up through
the middle of the attic he could hear everything that was said in
the house. Small wood stoves were located in many of the big drafty
rooms to provide heat. Now a modern heating system did the job but
the stoves remained to retain the authenticity of the old house.
All of the chimneys converged into one large one in the attic. The
large brick chimney came from the kitchen and the smaller ones were
ducted through holes with metal tubes. These effectively carried
the noise to Jeremy.

“He burst through the door today and it took me an
hour to quiet our baby.” Jeremy knew that there was no truth in the
accusation.

“He is only a boy. They do that but if it helps I
will have a talk with him about his behavior around the baby.”

“Talk? That is all you ever do with him. He needs a
good spanking! Better yet send him away. We have our own child that
we need to think about.” Jeremy’s blood curdled at the comment. He
knew that his step mother somehow felt that he was a threat to her
child but he hadn’t thought that her feelings ran so deep.

“I can’t do that! I have a reputation to maintain.
Besides, he seems a well-mannered child and stays out of the way
whenever I'm here.”

“When you aren’t here, he runs around hollering his
head off. He has no respect for me. Send him back to the orphanage
before he harms our baby.”

“Enough woman! I decide when he gets sent away, not
you.”

“At least send him to a boarding school. I fear for
our child. Jeremy gave our sweet baby such a hateful look this
afternoon. I can’t sleep at night with him in the house thinking
that he might get jealous of our son.” There was a dramatic display
of weeping as Jeremy crawled to the far side of the attic.

-------

Fred yawned as the sun painted the sky. His bed was
hard as metal but warmed by the hot water lines below. The cubby
between two supports was not luxury in any way but it was better
than the living conditions of some of the people. A sheet metal
space about ten feet long, four feet wide and three feet tall. The
roof overhang kept the water off and a curtain made from old boxes,
flour sacks and discarded tarp kept the sea breeze away. Fred
pulled his shirt around him and shivered as he climbed out into the
morning. The workmen were already at work below. Fred could hear
the welders and metal workers.