Chapter 11
Sparrow swung at the dummy, trying to cleave it in half as Maze had showed her. The burlap 'skin' split open and straw flew out but the dummy stayed in one piece. It was her third try and still she couldn't cut any of these things.
"Maybe my sword isn't sharp enough." She said.
Maze rolled his eyes and stepped up to her.
"Give me the blade." He thrust his hand towards her.
She handed it over.
"Now watch closely, you don't just charge your opponent and expect your blade to do all the work. It's a tool, and you need to put the proper strength and technique…" He spun and whipped the sword through the air, cleaving the dummy in two. "Behind your attack."
"I thought that spinning was for show."
Maze frowned.
"Nothing about your fighting technique should be for show, nothing."
Sparrow's eyes darted away from him, she couldn't stand to look at him with that deadly serious attitude. It was hard to believe this man was making sweet love to her not a few hours ago.
Maze gave her back her sword and made her take a proper stance, poking and pinching her when she deviated from it. Sparrow did that flying spinning move more times then she cared to count. Still even with all the yelling, scary looks, slapping, pinching and times she nearly got sick from the spinning, Sparrow got a hang on the move and learned also to perform it without getting nauseous. Unfortunately Maze did not give her a break once she mastered it, rather he moved straight on to drills involving blocking and rolling.
He challenged her to block or doge every attack he threw at her, not easy even with him using just his staff.
"Eventually, you'll have to block me while I have the Tear of Avo." He said as he beat her back towards a tree.
"Looking forward to it." Sparrow said sarcastically as she rolled out of the way before she hit the tree.
"Good, now start taking advantage of being at my back."
"You want me to hit you?" she said as she dove in for an attack.
Maze lifted his staff over his back and blocked her with ease.
"I want you fight by using every advantage you've got. You'll never hit me in these drills but you will knock the brains out of any other opponents."
Maze spun his staff as he turned around, blocked a few of her lunges and rolled behind her, whacking her in the back.
"Ah!" Sparrow fell to her knees.
"Get up! If you let a blow like that knock you down you might as well offer up your neck on a platter!"
She scrambled to her feet and did her best to fend him off, he yelled every time she slipped the smallest iota out of stance or didn't exploit some random opening. She was getting very sick of this and couldn't believe she had liked him so much only a few hours ago. He yelled at her again for falling out of stance and she snapped, all she wanted to do was whack him for once. She charged but he saw it coming, and placed his staff to block any blows from her height. But she surprised him; she jumped up high enough to clear his staff and swung. He dodged it but only just, losing a few silver strands to her vicious swing.
Sparrow landed with a thud and came back to herself.
"Oh," her eyes and mouth widened in shock as he rubbed his head, "I…I…didn't, oh, I."
Maze burst out laughing.
"Good, you actually surprised me a little."
He kept laughing a little as he picked up their bags.
"I think we've drilled enough for today."
Sparrow took her bag from him, still thoroughly confused.
"But I nearly scalped you."
"You cut some hairs, I told you you'd never get a real hit in on me, but I never said you couldn't get close."
As he said that he lowered his voice and leaned into her, lighting that little flame of romance again. Sparrow blushed but closed the distance and kissed him, all her anger melted away with his burning hot mouth. Once the kiss broke Maze set off for the road, leaving Sparrow a few steps behind as she collected her thoughts.
"You just keep confusing me." She said as she caught up.
Maze smiled.
"You like that though." He said.
"How do you know that?"
"Any woman interested in me is a woman who likes a little mystery in her men." He quirked an eyebrow at her.
"Am I wrong or am I right?"
Sparrow blushed again and diverted her eyes, Maze chuckled and turned his back to the road. Tasha came up to her side and whined for a pet. She'd been lying in the bushes all day and didn't like being ignored. Sparrow patted her golden head and fed her a piece of jerky. Tasha happily lapped it up, then sniffed the air and ran off into the trees barking. Sparrow followed her and dug up a small stash of gold. Maze didn't stop rather slowed down and let them catch up again.
"Good girl Tasha!" Sparrow rubbed the dog's head, let her jump up on hind legs and fed her another treat.
"Good girl!"
"Sparrow."
"You know of Theresa, yes?"
Sparrow grew a little more sedate at the mention of her caretaker.
"Yes, she raised me, after…"
"What?"
Sparrow took a deep breath and forced the words out.
"My sister and I bought a music box one day. We thought it was magic and wishes we could live in Fairfax Castle with Lord Lucien. The box disappeared, but we thought our wish came true when some guards said he wanted to see us. WE met him that night, and he…he had us stand on some platform, then got all weird and mad, and shot us. He shot both of us. He killed my sister, and he blew me out of the window. Theresa found me, she nursed me back to health and helped me learn about being a Hero."
"Would it shock you to know that such a tragic story id common among Heroes?"
Sparrow wasn't sure if he was annoyed with her or just stating a fact.
"No, Hammer lost her father too."
"Hammer, another Hero?" he asked.
"Yes," Sparrow perked up a bit, "The Hero of Might."
"I see."
"I have to find the Hero of Will now," Sparrow chimed, "and I think its you."
"Wrong." Said Maze.
"Why? How do you know your not the Hero of Will?"
"Well, being the Hero of Might Hammer only has the virtue of Might, correct?"
Sparrow nodded.
"Then it stems to reason the Hero of Will can only do magic, right?"
She nodded again.
"I possess all three virtues, then by these lines of logic I cannot be the Hero of Will."
Sparrow pouted a little.
"Can't things just be easy?" she folded her arms.
"Not for us. Though, if it's a Hero of Will you need, I think I know the best candidate."
"Whose that?"
"Another wizard, Garth."
Sparrow slapped her forehead.
"Of course! But its several days to Brightwood tower."
"Not for me, hang on."
Sparrow grabbed his arm and he teleported them straight to the interior of the tower.
"You been here already?" she said as they quickly climbed the steps.
"He found me in Bowerstone a while back. He should be here… what the?"
Instead of the dark skinned mage a man with a great glowing collar and a large rifle stood in the library atop the tower. The man turned around charged them, shooting wildly. Maze threw a Fireball at him and knocked him on his back. The man lay gasping and Maze put a foot on his chest, pressing down on his ribcage.
"Where is Garth, do not waste my time gnat."
He pressed a little harder, letting the man know it wouldn't take much for Maze to simply stomp his ribs in. The man gulped in air, and laughed as well as he could.
"He's where he needs to be, in the Spire." He gulped again.
"Lord Lucien wants to see you there too, Maze."
"I'd tell you give him a message, but your not going to live to do any such thing."
With that he shattered the man's ribs, caving his chest. The poor bastard was knocked out but he lived, so Maze finished him off with a casual bolt of Lightening.
"What do we do now? Lucien has Garth…" said Sparrow.
Maze turned around and put a hand to his chin.
"If Lord Lucien wants to see me, he can see me."
"Your not going to go to the Tattered Spire, are you?" Sparrow's growing worry was plain in her voice. Maze gave her that look that always says 'you guessed what I'm going to do but there's no way I'm saying it out loud'.
"That's crazy! You're a smart man why would you walk into a trap like that?" she rushed forward and grabbed his shoulders.
"Maze! Don't!"
"Quiet." His voice was a soft as it had ever been, "Quiet. I've known far worse than him." He put his arms around her, letting her feel safe in that warm circle. "He wants to use me, not kill me. And there he gives me the upper hand by making me more useful alive. You needn't fear."
"I don't want to lose you." Her voice was a whisper, "I don't want to lose anyone."
Maze placed his head on hers. It was only natural for her to fear that, after what she'd seen.
"Come now, steel yourself. We'll take our time getting there, and I'll make sure to train you as well as I can. While I get close to Lucien, I need you to become a guard at the Spire."
"What? Why?"
"Its always better to have someone on the inside to help." He smiled, his eyes sparkled with hidden guile.
"Ok." Sparrow still sounded scared, and buried her face in his chest. Maze lifted her chin and pressed his lips to hers, beckoning her mouth to open and slipping his tongue past her lips. Maze did things in that kiss that nearly drove her out of her mind, making her forget all the anguish and worry of a few moments past. When he finally pulled put she caught her breath and shivered.
"What was that?" she sounded almost drugged.
"Oh, a little something I picked up from a girl I knew years back." He led to the door and they began climbing down the steps, "she was from Samarkand." He said with a wink.
Sparrow gulped and kept a tight grip on his arm, feeling her knees go weak just at the thought of the other things he might know.
True to his word everyday Maze drilled Sparrow in the arts of the sword, the ways of the Will, and in the use of the bow, though he had to translate it into gunplay. Sparrow soaked up everything he taught her, and just when he thought that sponge could take not another drop she consumed another sea of knowledge. Maze watched her go from an adept amateur to a fighter that even in the days of the Guild would have given anyone a run for his or her money. She learned to rely less on just one virtue during a fight and employ all three to her advantage.
When they stopped to rest at night Sparrow would often climb into his lap, kiss his neck and nibble an ear. Maze would always take off his black robes and lay her down on them, then teach her techniques he learned as a younger man. He always held a few things back, saving them for the next night. They'd make love till neither one of them had the energy to lift a finger.
One night Maze sat by the fire wearing only his trousers, watching Sparrow as she slept bare breasted in the firelight. For the first time in a long, long time he was content, comfortable in someone's company. He wondered if this odd ability to draw everyone in was what made her ancestors so beloved. Too bad Theresa didn't seem to share it. He crawled back of to her and kissed her hair, placing an arm over her body.
A few days later and Maze could already smell the sea air. That was not the only sign they neared the coast, though. Just barely visible, miles out, the blurry black image of a tower was poking out of the ocean. Maze and Sparrow stood on a hill high above the coast, and they could see people being loaded onto large barges, being pushed about by burly men in dark red clothes and glowing red collars.
"Are you sure you don't want me with you?" said Sparrow, Tasha cowered a little and whined.
"No, I'll go on this ferry, you wait at least a day before you make your appearance. Give no signs of your presence, stay hidden at all costs, you understand?"
Sparrow swallowed hard and nodded.
"I'm going to miss you, and worry about you all the time."
"It'd be better to put me from your mind. If you don't want them to find out we know each other, act and think as if you have never known me."
Sparrow gave a heaving sigh, a physical sign of her mounting pain.
"Peace, dear one." He kissed very softly. "I will return to you unscathed. Now, go hide."
She and Tasha sulked off into the trees, and Maze made his way down to the boats.
"Oi! 'o are you?" yelled one of the guards.
"My name is Maze. I believe you've been recruiting Crucible champions?"
Maze got exactly the reaction he expected. The guard smiled and waved him onto the boat. He was one of the last to board and the ferry set off through the dark, choppy waters. Maze's black and gold robes billowed in the sea winds, his white hair and impressive height making him stand out like a sore thumb amidst all the very regular looking champions. The men chatted with each other but none approached him, his reputation had traveled quickly.
Finally the boat pulled up next to the dock and they disembarked, and all gawked at the incredible building before them. Even unfinished the Spire was imposing, made of a stone black as midnight but harder than diamonds. It was almost composed of miniature spires, each one stabbing the sky and clinging to another to create this one great monument.
Maze felt a distinctive pulsing beneath his feet, and he could hear the thumping of the ley lines being drawn into the Spire, giving it a heart beat all its own. While the others struggled to wrap their heads around it as they walked towards the entrance, Maze examined all around him. He'd need to find out what those collars were for soon, and make sure he didn't get one himself. One of the guards yelled for the men to shut up as they approached a great staircase, on which stood an older man, who like Maze was dressed in elegant black and gold.
The man's face was very gaunt and pale, like he'd spent far too many years cloistered away from the sun. His hair though tied with a black ribbon and as white as Maze's, was still unkempt and straggly. His glittering black eyes were the only thing that let Maze recognize him. They no longer had the joy and softness he saw in the portraits, they were now surveying all before him with a glint of contempt and cunning madness.
Lord Lucien rose his hand and began a well practiced speech for his literally captive audience.
"The world outside these marvelous walls is a rotting, corrupt husk. Reason is absent. Instead of order, there is only chaos. Chaos does not punish evil, nor reward righteousness. Chaos cuts innocent lives short, and we are to accept this as fate…I beg to differ." Lucien's even tone broke for those few last words, a little extra darkness could be seen on his features, " You stand in the center of a great instrument of change. I will remake this world, and my creation will be unrecognizable in its perfection. But my will alone is not sufficient for such a monumental task. It is only through your toil, through your labors, through your conviction, that Albion will be transformed. Do not fears the sound you hear, the throbbing beneath your feet. These sensations will soon be as familiar as your own heartbeat. And so long as your heart continues to beat, all I require of you is obedience. Now…" his voice reverberated unnaturally, and he swept his hand over the new recruits, "Sleep."
A wave of white magic swept over them, and all but Maze and guards fell over in a deep sleep.
"Well now," Lucien said in a surprised tone, "You not a normal man are you?"
Maze stopped himself from scoffing but his tone was still a little harsh.
"I'm sorry, but a sleep spell cast by a normal man on a mage is like giving an elephant on crack a children's sleeping pill."
Lucien chuckled.
"Maze I presume?"
"Yes."
"Excellent. I must admit I've been quite anxious to meet you. Please, follow me."
The guards parted to let him through but they seemed in tent on making him bump their shoulders to get through. He simply released a small Force Push as he passed and knocked them on their arses instead. Maze caught a glimmer of a smile on Lucien's face as the lord saw him humiliate his soldiers.
"I really have so much to discuss with you." Said Lucien.
"I'm quite sure of that, Lord Fairfax."
Maze followed Lucien through the gleaming door, inside the Spire.
