FARHAYVEN: VENGEANCE (61 page)

     “Killing demons
?
We kill demons too, do we not
?
What is the value of their service, then
?
Besides, The Serpentians and the Aridytes are bigger threats than demons. Our kingdom needs us, warriors; not Elementhars
!
” argued Serene.

     “Maybe so. But I assure you, the Elementhars are heroes nonetheless. An Elementhar saved me once, Serene. He controlled fire, and he burnt that bum in Timberstock to death. I wish I could be like him,” said Clover.

     “Maybe only one Elementhar is a hero. But what about the rest
?
Are they all heroes as well
?
How many people have they saved
?
Do they organise and administrate the society like how we soldiers do
?
I do not think so, Clover
!
” argued Serene.

     Clover had wanted to argue, but decided against it. Serene had a point. Clover had only met one Elementhar. Except for Master Elementhar Rock Dencon, the rest could all be bad.

     Needless to say, the two girls were very famous at school. Who at Fallsene Brightshield did not know the Genoxes
?
Their fathers and uncles were the bosses of everyone else’s fathers and uncles. That was mostly the case. There were, however, a few students who were not from the lineage of soldiers. Every year, a handful of students were selected from outside of Fallsene City and were given a full scholarship to attend the school. Besides the school fees, they were given boarding and financial allowances as well by the government. This incentive was, of course, an effort by the government to boost the soldier lineage of Free Falls.

     One such scholarship recipient was Javelin Farhan. He was three years more senior than the Cousins Genox. Being
not
of soldier lineage, he failed to see what the fuss was about with these two girls. They behaved just like any other girl. The only difference was that they took their reputation more seriously than others. He felt that the entire Genox clan was overrated. As such, he made it a point to tease the two girls whenever he got the chance, for he wished to teach them some ‘humility’.

     When the cousins were in their third year at Fallsene Brightshield Educational, they represented their school in a martial arts tournament against other schools in the province. It was a vicious tournament. They had to fight three bouts in the round robin system just to reach the finals, the finals being the fourth bout. When they finally reached their final bouts, both girls were badly injured. Their bodies were battered with bruises. Serene had a busted lip. Clover had a bloody nose. Both girls were limping badly.

     Serene was the first to fight in her final bout. Clover coached her. Serene stepped to the centre of the ring when the referee called for her. Her opponent from Royal Fallsene Educational did the same. Serene was clad in a blue protective vest and headgear while her opponent wore red. They bowed to the judge in front of them and then turned and bowed to each other. There were no smiles. The Royal Fallsene fighter wore a fierce expression. Serene’ expression was as her namesake. The referee gave the signal. The fight began. The two fighters exchange blow after blow. Each fighter played out their tactics and strategies. Serene took a blow in the face that gave her a bloody nose fit to challenge her cousin’s. She managed to stagger away from her opponent to a safe distance so that she could regain her composure. The pain was consuming, but her anger and thirst for revenge possessed her to carry on. In the end, Serene landed an Axe Kick straight down onto her opponent’s forehead and knocked her out cold. The crowd went wild. The Fallsene Brightshielders cheered. The Royal Fallseneers booed. The referee stopped the fight. The count to eight was done. The Royal Fallsene fighter was still unconscious on the ground. The count was completed to ten. The match was ended by the referee with Serene being declared the winner.

     Then came Clover’s turn, and her cousin coached for her. She too was clad in blue and was facing a Royal Fallseneer. They went through the protocols and the referee started the fight. Both fighters unleashed themselves onto each other. Clover received a punch that sent her toppling to the ground and gave her a black eye to go with her already bloody nose. But she was up on her feet by the count of four, so the fight continued. Another ferocious exchange of blows occurred and Clover landed a Back Horse Kick to her opponent’s torso, sending the Royal Fallsene girl staggering backwards and falling on her buttocks in pain. The girl tried to get up, but after two steps she fell down to the ground in agony. The referee ended the fight. Clover was declared the victor. The Fallsene Brightshielders exploded in celebration. The Royal Fallseneers stormed out of the stadium in shame.

     The cousins clung to each other for mutual support as they walked out of the arena. They were badly battered and looked like a pair of limping, bleeding rag dolls came to life. But the two girls were smiling and even laughing. The sweet taste of victory had drowned out all sense of pain.

     Javelin Farhan came over to congratulate them. He even brought them medicine for their cuts and bruises. The girls shook their heads and gave him a quizzical look.

     “Javelin, we think you need the medicine more than we do
!
” said Clover.

     “Yes, Javelin, You look like you have just been hit by a runaway cart laden with rocks
!
” added Serene.

     And it was probably true, for not only was he limping and suffered two swollen eyes and a bloody nose, one of his lower arms was broken and had been set in a cast.

     “Very funny, girls
!
Very funny
!
” said Javelin as he gave them a ‘Yeah
!
Ingrates
!
’ sort of smile and stormed away, vowing vengeance and a stronger effort to teach the girls some humility.

     A week later, the cousins sat for an academic examination. It was a time of great importance for the Cousins Genox. Their grandfather, Boulder, would ferry them straight from home to school and vice versa with no stops or detour for the two months leading up to the examination. And every night he would supervise their revision studies and would give them mock examinations. He would spank them for every question they answered wrongly. He was as fierce as he was old, the cousins’ concluded.

     When the two girls went to school, Javelin would tease them. He called them ‘Tiger Arms’, because there were spank marks on their arms which looked like tiger stripes. Serene and Clover would then hastily roll down their sleeves, but it was too late. By then, the whole school knew that they had Tiger Arms. And for the first time, there were a few Fallsene Brightshielders who were glad they were not a Genox. They did not want to have Tiger Arms
!

     When examination day arrived, Clover and Serene were calm and focussed as they made their way through the examination papers. The euphoria of winning the martial arts tournament seemed to have boosted their morale. And they had managed to put the Tiger Arms issue behind them. Their examination period lasted for one week. And at the end of it, they were given a month’s holiday.

     During this holiday, the cousins went visited Glitterpool Town in Southern Falls Province, where their uncle, Arrow, commanded the town garrison.  They had heard of the beauty of the local waterfalls there and had wanted to see them for themselves. It was a six day travel from Fallsene to Glitterpool by horse-drawn carriage. It was nightfall when they finally arrived in town. Arrow, his wife Aroma and their firstborn son, Delta, were there to greet them. The travel-weary girls were brought to Garrison Glitterpool and were given the guest quarters. They were so tired that they did not join their uncle, aunt and cousins for dinner in the mess hall, but went straight to sleep instead.

     Clover and Serene more than managed breakfast with their relatives the next morning, chatting and catching up with each other. Arrow was dressed in his uniform, steel breastplate, dark brown steel shoulder and arm pieces, vambraces, groin piece, thigh guards and greaves. The girls guessed that their uncle had already begun his shift. They also noticed a few soldiers coming up to their uncle every now and then to inform him of certain things or to present their reports or to get his signature for some documents.

     Clover noticed the difference in lifestyle of the garrisons in contrast to the forts. Back when she was at Fort Eastguard, her father would never be around when he was on duty, and at times he was never around even when he was supposed to be
off
duty, due to the various emergencies that would crop up. Whereas here in Garrison Glitterpool, her uncle could afford to have breakfast and chat with visiting relatives while being on duty at the same time. The garrisons operated on a slower and more relaxed pace as compared to the forts, Clover concluded. Serene found the situation a little strange as well. Although she had never lived in a fort, but when her father went to work, he was away and not at home; but here, her uncle’s workplace
was
his home. Perhaps living in a garrison is a better lifestyle, she considered.

     Breakfast was replaced by lunch, and the Genoxes were still chatting away at the mess hall. After lunch, the girls went out on horseback to visit the waterfalls that had they heard so much about. It took about a quarter of an hour for them to reach there and another quarter of an hour to climb to the spot that had the best view. The pool beneath the waterfall was as huge as a small lake. The water flow from the fall was swift, and caused waves and ripples in the pool below. And when the water waved and rippled, it reflected the sunlight and glittered like gemstones. Hence the name, Glitterpool.

     The first item on their agenda was to jump into the pool for a swim. The water was just too inviting to resist. They spent half an hour in the pool. Then they climbed the rocks under the portion where the flow was not too strong, sat on a nice spot and allowed the water to pour down on them. When they were finally satisfied, they climbed out of the pool, dried themselves up, sat under a shady tree and read their story books. It was mid evening before they finally decided to return to the garrison. They arrived just in time for dinner, and more chatting with their relatives.

     The girls visited the waterfalls on a daily basis. On some days they even chose to climb up the side of the waterfalls and do a bit of exploring. Sometimes they went alone and sometimes they went with a few of the younger soldiers from the garrison. The townsfolk crowded the waterfalls on the weekends, and on these days the girls had a lot of trouble finding a nice spot to set their picnic basket or a shady tree under which to shelter for a good bit of reading. But they were happy just the same. Life could not be better.

     One day, the girls decided to try a different waterfall. They had heard about it from some of the townsfolk. This second waterfall was further away from the first, not as large and its pool not as big; but it was always void of people on the weekends. There was also a cave nearby that would be worth exploring. The ride there took three quarters of an hour. They tethered their horses and got into their usual practice of swimming and reading. But they had to leave earlier than usual, just to get back to the garrison in time for dinner.

     On their third Seventh Day in Glitterpool, the girls went to the second waterfall as per their usual practise. They had just tethered their horses when Clover felt something bite her in the neck. She swatted down on it in reflex and discovered a mosquito squashed in her palm. She took no further notice of the incident. But within the hour she felt feverish and nauseated. She climbed out of the pool and vomited. Serene realised that something was very wrong. She got out of the pool, got herself and her cousin dried up and changed; and packed up their picnic basket. Then the girls rode back to the garrison. At first, the girls set a fast pace, but Clover’s condition worsened. She had trouble steadying herself on the saddle. Serene brought the both of them to a stop. She dismounted her horse, tied its reigns to the end of Clover’s saddle, climbed onto Clover’s horse and sat behind Clover, cradling her with her arms as she held the reigns. Then she set the horses to gallop all the way to Garrison Glitterpool. Clover was fully unconscious by the time they arrived.

     Clover was carried to their quarters by some of the soldiers. One of them ran off to inform Arrow. In the quarters, Aroma helped Serene sponge off some of Clover’s fever. Arrow arrived with a healer a few moments later. The healer asked Serene some questions, examined Clover for symptoms and determined that Clover had been infected with a deadly fever by the mosquito that had bitten her. He placed a variety of roots and dried leaves from his bag into a bowl and gave Serene instructions to boil them.

     Serene was back half an hour later with a bowl of steaming potion. Clover grimaced as she drank spoonfuls of the potion, not because it was hot, but because it was bitter. It was the bitterest drink that Clover had ever tasted in her entire life. She began to sweat, and her expression became slightly more relaxed. But she was still barely conscious, her skin was pale and clammy; and she still shivered every now and then.