Steel Magic

Carol and Allen sat on the back deck after dinner and talked about their lives before the ZA. The teenagers were in the living room playing video games. It felt surreal to Carol; she was sitting with a complete stranger talking about a past best left buried. Allen found himself pathetically grateful to have Carol to talk to; he had two years of stored up thoughts and theories. He could have talked all night and all day tomorrow and never scratched the surface. He concentrated on his failed marriage and his growing realization that most of their problems had been based on their mutual inability to respect the other's point of view. Carol listened sympathetically; she empathized with Allen's because she knew what it was to love someone who seemed forever out of reach. She didn't talk of her relationship with Daryl though; Carol talked of what it felt like to be with someone who picked you apart like a knitted sweater. The first blow was like a tear in the sweater and over course of time Ed had pulled every piece of yarn away from the sweater until you couldn't tell it was ever a sweater. You were just pieces of your old self that Ed toyed with like a cat with a ball of yarn.

Allen was a good listener and he sat quietly while she described her hellish marriage, and his voice was gentle after she finished, "Carol, you are not a pulled apart sweater now; how did you reknit yourself? You are living with a strange man who might do anything to you and no one here would lift a finger. The place is a nest of psychopaths and degenerates and yet you walk around these streets with a cool elegance. You don't seem to be afraid of anything."

Carol remembered talking to Merle about her new found bravery before he left the prison to battle the Governor. "I am not afraid to die, that's the key. My daughter was bitten early on and turned to a monster. That was the worst thing and that has already happened. I haven't reknit myself with wool; this time I used steel. Have you ever used a sword, machete, knife, katana, or a farming tool to kill a monster or a person?" Allen shook his head no and she went on, "I know how to use all of them; there is a terrible magic in using steel weapons to kill. It's personal, it is the power of your body driving the steel through another person, and you aren't the same after. I have killed used a pistol and a rifle and the weapon does the actual killing. You just guided it and it did the rest. It's different with a steel weapon; you are closer and you either kill or be killed."

Allen excused himself and went into the house; he came back in a few minutes with Caleb and the girls. Allen said, "Let's go play with some steel. He politely helped Carol off of the lounge chair and she had brief flash to a dark skinned woman and a younger girl who were hiding in a small building . She wondered if that was Jamela and Alyssa. Caleb led them on a back path past the houses toward the headquarters and then around behind to a separate large building. Caleb used a key to open one side of the building. Allen explained that the other side contained pistols, guns, rifles and that they didn't have a key to that side. He shut the doors and turned on the lights. One side wall contained all sorts of swords, machetes, knives, and she saw a Zakasushi. She examined it and took an experimental swing; it was made of the finest steel and while it needed cleaning, sharpening, and polishing it was a work of art. Just having her hands on such a weapon made her feel better. Allen watched Carol's face when she swung the sword; there was some magic in the steel for her. He knew that he could love this woman just for the look on her face when she went through a set of exercises with the sword. He still loved Jamela and always would and he suspected that Carol loved someone back there in the mountains as much as he loved his ex-wife. Carol would not be his lover but she would be his friend. Having a friend with some steel magic might get his over-educated ass off this hilltop and into those mountains where he would find Jamela and Alyssa. He knew they were alive and they needed him.

Carol watched Caleb with his sword; a longer heavier one than her new Zak. He was very good; graceful and strong. She worried though because fighting shadows in a building was not like thrusting through human flesh. Would Caleb have the mental strength to kill? And do it quickly and on to the next?

Carol was surprised that Allen was as good as he was; not as graceful or strong as Caleb but surprisingly efficient and economical in his movement. He was killing in his mind as he moved through the exercise and Carol figured that he would kill when push comes to shove. He wanted to get to his family and she knew that when Daryl and Company got them off this hilltop that she and Daryl would go with Caleb and Allen to find the rest of his family. She owed him that and more for risking everything to keep her and the girls safe.

The girls had never worked much with steel and Carol worked with Arya with a lighter weapon. Arya was motivated to learn and Caleb took over her training. Ariel swung half-heartedly and badly. Carol watched her silently comparing how she had resisted using weapons and that they couldn't afford to have a weak link if they were going to get out. It was time for tough love and she didn't know if Ariel would ever forgive her for what she was going to do.

Carol grabbed Ariel by her shoulders and quickly propelled her out the door and shut it behind her. She shook her like a rag doll and then slapped her hard. Ariel was angry and pushed her away crying. Carol grabbed her again and spoke to her in a low voice, "You aren't sitting in your palace on McAllister Mountain anymore, Princess. Daddy isn't going to make this all better; your mother is working as a slave and she isn't going to come over her and kiss your boo-boo. You know that our people are going to try to rescue us and we need every one of us to fight and kill for us to get out alive. Now either you get in there and get some fire in your belly or you are going to stay here and be raped every day for the rest of your life. No one is going to save your privileged ass but you. Do you understand?"

Ariel looked at Carol; she had always been a little afraid of Carol and her friends. They were tough and hard and they made her feel weak and soft when she was around them. Carol might leave her behind; her mother needed her and she was afraid that Carol was going to smack her again. Ariel nodded her head yes. Carol pushed her back in through the door and Ariel's training began.

Carol picked several swords on the wall and gave them to Ariel to try. The girl made a weak pass with one and catching a look at Carol's pissed off face she tried again. Ariel found her sword when she picked up the fourth sword. It was the longest and it was a little heavier but there was a sound it made to her when she swung it. Ariel loved music and she paid attention to sounds that others might miss. The sound turned to words and they said to the girl, "You and I belong together; there is a war coming and you are going to be a warrior in it".

Caleb worked with both girls; Carol wasn't surprised to learn that Caleb had had martial arts training since he was seven. He was also a gifted teacher in that he knew how to break down the steps of the movement so that the girls could follow them.

That night after Caleb and Allen had searched the master bedroom for bugs and finding nothing Carol and the girls took the king size bed. Allen and Caleb slept in the other bedrooms. Carol had brought their swords back with them and had spent the evening showing the girls how to clean, sharpen, and polish their swords. Ariel had avoided eye contact with Carol and the imprint of Carol's slap had been on her cheek when they walked back into the training room. Carol was afraid that Ariel would always hate her but she would accept that if Ariel survived this. Carol slept in the middle and the girls curled up close beside her like two kittens. Ariel muttered to her, "I will fight, just show me how." Carol hugged her close and kissed the top of her head, "I know you will; you are a warrior. I saw it when you picked up the right sword." Carol had a brief flash of Ariel using her sword to kill Jason King one of the raiders who brought them here. Carol knew that you could not go back from being a warrior; it became part of who you were. Ariel would struggle against it but the steel magic had already happened. Ariel the Princes was becoming Ariel the Warrior.

Carol wondered where Daryl was and sent him all the comfort that she could find. She hoped that Patrick and Rick would be able to make him wait until everything was ready to rescue them. Ariel and Arya needed some more practice before they went into battle. She longed to be at home with him but she knew that this upcoming battle was epic; they must destroy the evil elements of New America before they got stronger. Her people had hit them hard on McAllister Mountain and they were weaker now. Carol fell asleep and dreamed of making fried apples pies for Daryl and a blue eyed toddler. He looked like Daryl but her did have her eyes and her smile. She kissed Michael and gave him his little pie with a smiley face on it. Daryl pretended that he wanted to eat the baby pie and Michael laughed up at Daryl and Carol smiled in her sleep.