Mind Forged: Book One of the Enchanters of Xarparion (12 page)

“
I…you…just, wow.”

She blushed and looked at the ground
. “You like it?”

“
You’re beautiful, absolutely beautiful.”

She looked back up at me with a smile and even more blush
. “I’m glad; you look very handsome too, and I really like the shirt.”

Reminding me that they were there
, Lin and Julia walked closer to us with jaws dropped.

“
You’re the girl he’s going with? Alex, where did you find this goddess and why have you been keeping her a secret?”

Maya chuckled nervously, but I
laughed. “I didn’t keep her a secret; this is my combat instructor.”

“
Your what? She can’t be, she’s way too pretty.”

Maya smiled
graciously, “My name’s Maya. It’s nice to finally meet you two.” She leaned down and drew both of them into a brief hug. “Julia, Alex is so proud of your progress here. He has told me a lot about both of you.”

T
his seemed to finally jog Julia from her trance, and she gave me a conspiratorial wink. “Come on, Lin; let the pretty lady have fun with Alex. We have a whole festival to see!” Julia was dragging Lin away by the arm. Lin was still having a hard time believing what she was seeing, even as she was being dragged off.

“
But, but how? Three days ago he hadn’t even asked her yet,” was the last thing we heard from her as they skipped out of range.

With them
finally gone, I turned back to Maya. “You look…well, I will be the envy of every man at the dance tonight!”

“
Good, because you’re never going to get me in a dress again.” Ha, we will see. “And I’m pretty sure these shoes are going to kill me before the night is over.”

“
By the way, they didn’t seem to notice that you’re a dark elf.”

“
Rosa enchanted this dress to make me look as people expect me to appear, so if they expect to see a human girl, they see one. And when I am on the arm of the handsomest man at the party, they expect to see a beautiful woman, so it enhances that effect, too.”

“
Well, then I’m honored that I get to see the real you. Now let’s go have some fun. I’m sure you must be hungry, and I smell something wonderful.”

We took
off into the evening, trying food and visiting shops, even caught a juggling show. But as the night wore on, I noticed that Maya was looking a little uncomfortable.

“
What’s wrong, are the shoes bothering you still?”

“
All these people in one place, I guess I’m not used to it. All the stares and attention, people coming up to me who wouldn’t give me a second glance in my trainer’s outfit. I feel out of place and a little lost here.”

I didn
’t say anything, just reached out and held her hand as we walked. She smiled and didn’t say anything or try to pull away. We stayed like that for a long time, and the uneasy feelings she was having seemed to have gone away as well.

About an hour later
, it was announced that it was time for the guys to present their gifts to their girls. I led Maya to a more private location behind some pine trees. I figured it would be bad form to pull a sword out in the middle of a festival.

“
What’s going on?”

“
One of the main events of this festival is where the men make a gift for their ladies. After the gifts are presented, the girls will often have a contest to see who had the best gift. But the rules say that you must make it yourself, you can’t just buy one.”

She looked down at the ground
. “Oh, I see.”

“
Would you like your gift?”

She looked up at me in
surprise. “You made me a gift?”

“
Of course I did!”

“
But why? I’m not a human girl, so why did you make one for me?”

“
Because you’re wonderful and you deserve one”

She
nodded eagerly, and I opened the dimensional pouch and drew out the still wrapped sword. She looked at it oddly for a second before unwrapping it. Once the hilt was exposed, she stopped as if frozen.

“
You made me a sword?” she gasped shakily.

“
Before you say anything, please hold it for a second, please.”

Breathlessly
, she gripped the hilt. Once firmly in her hand, the wrappings fell away and the blade was exposed to the mild night air. The blade started to glow, the edges shimmering and distorting the view like heat off a winter campfire.

“
Alex, I can hear a voice in my head, she’s so calm and peaceful.”

“
Maya, close your eyes and listen to her, she will guide you.” She brought the sword into an upright position, leaning the flat of the blade against her forehead and calmly drew her eyelids closed. A range of expressions crossed her beautiful face, with the most common being wonder and awe. For a frozen minute, nothing happened, and then suddenly she thrust it out into the night sky above her head.

“
Winya Coia.” When she spoke the words, the blade flared white hot in color, and I had to look away. Once the light faded, I turned back and her blade was now complete. Maya was turning it over and over, admiring the lines of the weapon and its new appearance. The blade was now silver instead of the gray it was, with a sharp line of pure white running the length of the blade down the fuller. The guard was now also white and curved slightly upwards, and the pommel now featured a large emerald the same color as Maya’s eyes. The leather windings of the hilt matched the color of her skin. But the most noticeably thing was the words ‘Winya Coia’, meaning ‘new life’ etched into the blade; the words seemed to glow and pulse.

“
Maya, your gift is complete; I hope you like it.”

She opened her eyes and stared
blankly at the blade in her hand, finally shaking her head and whispered something in elfish that I didn’t catch, as a tear started to run down her cheek.

“
She’s beautiful, Alex! Winya feels like a part of me already. I don’t know how to explain it.”

“
Then I will. The sword is now a part of you, she is you. She is also a living and thinking entity. The voice you heard? That’s your sword, like a baby’s first words…and now that you gave her a name, she has gained her personality. No one else can ever use her, can’t even touch her, only you. She will serve you for the rest of time.”

She was
full out crying now, but they were tears of happiness. “Thank you, Alex. She’s perfect and so beautiful. I can’t wait to try her out in the ring, although she belongs in the hand of a duchess or queen rather than a dirt-poor weapons instructor.”

“
You know, there’s a contest you could enter to show her off if you would like.”

She drew a finger under each eye to wipe away the tears and mustered a smile
. “No, I think just us seeing her will be fine.” She stroked the blade a bit, looking over everything. “She’s perfect, but I think she should be put back before someone sees her. Thank you!”

She gently wrapped her sword back up in the fabric and slipped it back into the pouch.

“I’m glad you like her,” I whispered, leaning into her ear, as we walked out and rejoined the celebration. Maya was seemingly lost in thought, but she clung to my arm like a lifeline to a drowning man.

Close to midnight
, I drew her to the dance area that was in epic full swing.  Students, staff and teachers, all in their finest apparel, were having a great time. I even saw Lin and Julia out on the floor, spinning in dizzying circles to make their dresses poof out. The dance floor was decorated in streamers that hung from the sky, and magically gyrated in lockstep to the melody. The music was pretty exotic by Foalshead standards, with lofty, lilting swirls of pipes, strings, and soft drums that seemingly twirled the energetic dancers around like puppets on gossamer strings. I stopped and stared for a moment, unsure if Rosa’s last minute dance instructions had prepared me adequately to enter this fray. But it was now or never.

Without warning
, I veered into the dance crowd, pulling Maya with me. I quickly turned to face her and formally bowed as Rosa had taught me.

“
My lady, may I have this dance?”

“
Alex, what are you doing? I don’t know how to dance!” She looked around in genuine panic.

“
Don’t worry, just follow my lead. It’s not unlike the patterned footwork that you teach every day.” I placed one hand in hers, and wrapped the other around the small of her back, which was bare to the waist, save for some thin straps. At my touch, she took a ragged breath and stared up at me with a startled expression in those emerald eyes. By mutual consent, we began to move with the smoky backbeat of the music, tentative at first, with the voice in my head shouting,
“Watch her toes…watch her toes!”
Of course, I didn’t, leaving the poor toes to fend for themselves. I was already lost in her now trusting gaze, the oh-so-smooth silky skin where my hand touched her back, and her clean woodsy fragrance that affected me far more than the hundreds of stray perfumes that had assaulted my nose throughout the evening.

She must have read my thoughts as she smiled and
was sneaking looks at the other dancers. Quickly she started to loosen up and have fun. I snickered at the thought of how terrified she had been a few minutes before, and now she looked like she was ready to try some of their moves, and even surpass them. What can I say? The girl has a competitive streak. A few more dances and we were both enjoying the dance as it was meant to be enjoyed.

She and I completed the dance, and then the music changed flavors and spun way down, allowing some dancers to depart and e
ven more to jump in. Finally a slow dance! I pulled her much closer.

“
What are you doing?” she whispered, looking a bit scandalized.

I switched to the elf language and dialect that I had
grown up with in my old village and answered. It had been seven years since I’ve used it on a daily basis, so I hoped I still remembered. “This song is a slow dance, and this is how it’s done…I quite enjoy it!” The words had come back to me like a long-ignored faithful hound, and the syllables rolled in the correct sequence and tone.

She stiffened and leaned her head back away from my embrace, her expression bordering on exasperation
. “You know the language of my people,” she returned in the same tongue.

I nodded and gently placed her head back on my shoulder
. “I picked up a little in my youth.” She hugged me slightly and then continued in the same dialect, but avoiding my eyes and talking into my shoulder instead.

“
Alex, what if I wake up tomorrow and find out this was all a dream…you…me…us? I don’t know how much of all this to trust. It’s like my senses have abandoned me and I’m walking blind here.”

“
Maya, this is no dream and tomorrow will a good day, and the day after that, and the day after that. I promise.”

She shifted and sighed ever so slightly as if savoring that thought.
“I think I could get used to this dancing thing.”

“
I never gave it a lot of thought until tonight here with you. Now it’s my new favorite pastime, but I needed the right dance partner.”

Surprisingly, that resulted in a throaty growl under her breath, and I felt her hands tighten up, and her nails dig in slightly.
“I swear you are trying to drive me insane, Alex Martin! I am so going to kick your butt on the training field tomorrow, and the day after that, and the…”

“
What did I do to upset you, my lady?” I shrugged innocently.

She looked up at me; finally tracking me with those big eyes
. When she replied, it was in a soft dangerous tone. “Am I your lady? What is all this? The party, the dancing, the touching, Winya Coia, your constant smelling of my hair, about the only thing you haven’t done is…”

I drew her back in close
and let the music and soft lights wash over us. The dance floor was crowded, but as we were the only two speaking elfish, it really seemed we were in our own little world. Finally, Maya seemed to mentally put away her anger and frustration and sighed fatalistically. She took a deep cleansing breath. “You know, Alex, there is one very important thing that I’ve been trying to tell you. For my people, if a man gives a woman a gift, it’s a sign of love. But if that gift is their personal weapon then…well, damn it, it shows the desire to court her, dancing like this means the same. Now, I understand if you weren’t trying to…”

“
I know.”

“
You know?” Maya stopped abruptly and put both strong arms on my shoulders and pinned me with a look that took no prisoners. “What do you mean, you know?”

“
I mean, I would be extremely honored and happy to court you, Maya, if you will have me.”

Her eyes widened, and I had to catch her slightly as it looked as if she was goi
ng to wobble off her high shoes. She quickly regained her balance, and with an iron firm hand, dragged me off the dance floor to a quiet area behind a wine stand. After a quick glance to assure we were alone, she put her hands on both sides of my head and pulled me down to meet her searching eyes, her chest heaving with emotion.