Soul Energy : Chapter Two

21

Two years before, Karn had just arrived at the main gates, soaked to the skin, his hooded cloak clinging to him like a second skin. Having walked ten miles in a torrential downpour, he wasn’t exactly in the best of moods. Knocking firmly twice on the dented wooden gate, he waited. Two minutes passed. 2

"Open these gates before I drown out here, Frederick!" he roared.3

Within two seconds, a face slick with perspiration and with guilt written all over it popped its head over the side, squinting through the rain. “Who’s out this time of night in this weather…oh…it’s you Karn, you look like a drowned rat”. State the obvious why don’t you, Karn thought sourly. Frederick’s hair was plastered down on his forehead, his leather armour almost black, weighing him down. In Karn’s opinion, he looked just as wet. Karn heard the mechanism behind the impenetrable wall creak and groan, and as soon there was enough of a gap he was through like a horse bolting his stable. He dragged himself through the courtyard towards the inviting glow of light from the dining hall.4

“Rough night.” 5

Karn glanced up, not recognising the rich voice laden with unspoken meaning. The owner stood twenty feet away, planted firmly between him and the dining hall, swathed in a silk shirt and baggy trousers, and with flowing shoulder length silvery hair. Karn shrugged and continued his shuffle: some puffed up royal visitor, no doubt. He drew level with the stranger and side-stepped; an arm barred his passage. No words were said. Karn looked the stranger fully in the face, and there saw the reason. In the blink of an eye Karn stood ten feet away from the stranger, his cloak billowing behind him. 6

The stranger spoke. “I would ask of you a name to address you by.” 7

While his voice was rich, his grasp of the common language seemed to be lacking. The silk hung loosely on his torso was transparent with the rain; Karn could see he was of slight build, with one thin long scar running the length of his stomach. 8

“My name is Karn. Now I ask of you the same.” He growled. 9

This was merely ritual; it was unheard of for warriors to fight against an unknown opponent. This opponent seemed incompetent though, leaving his secret weapons in plain view. His transparent shirt showed he had two long, honed daggers strapped to his wrists, and twin black shuriken’s hidden by his ankles. He saw no sign of a long blade, but the opponent’s back was not visible. 10

“My name is Sanjay” He replied. 11

Karn narrowed his eyes. The light from the dining hall had just reflected off an unseen blade onto the mirror-like flagstones. Karn quickly scanned the courtyard, not taking one eye off his opponent all the while. Frederick had obviously gone back in; there was no sign of him. The courtyard was devoid of all motion apart from the flow of water over the flagstones. Sheets of rain covered both opponents’ vision. Thunder rumbled in the clouds above, echoing Karn’s ravenous stomach. Forked lightning struck, and with that flash, Sanjay vanished. 12

Karn was ready for that trick though, and kept his head. Drawing his wakizashi out from underneath his sodden cloak along with his katana, he dropped into the guard position, and waited. To give his opponent credit, there was no sound to be heard, the storm masking any such noises. But the storm brought disadvantages as well as advantages. Karn looked to the floor, and sure enough, he saw Sanjay’s footsteps clearly marked in the surface water on the flagstones. Switching his katana to his right hand, he brought it up and neatly intercepted a thrust to his chest. Sanjay shimmered into the visible spectrum; obviously realising no advantage was to be had with tricks of light. His long sword having been blocked, he was quick to swing himself around out of Karn’s wakizashi which had been following through the interception.13

Noting the unusual choice of weapon his opponent used, Karn had to think quickly. Normally someone of this skill would have chosen the light and quick katana over the long but brutal power of a long sword, as it was easier to wield when using stealth. But this man had someone managed to master the long sword and combine it with his stealth training: something unheard of in all of Karn’s wanderings. Both opponents stalled, measuring each other’s strengths, and looking for weaknesses. Karn knew that his two blades should give him the advantage normally, but against this swordsman he wasn’t so sure. A flicker of uncertainty shone in his eyes, and Sanjay came at him in a frontal assault, wielding his long sword as easily as a whip. Caught slightly off guard, Karn blocked the first thrust by pure reflex only, bringing his wakizashi up to his face just in time to deflect the decapitating blow which was too close for comfort. The impact of the blow forced Karn to take a step back, not getting any chance to launch a successful counter-blow. What manner of opponent had he come across? Normally anyone foolish enough to challenge him was dispatched within a minute, posing no threat whatsoever. Yet this swordsman had kept him on the defensive so far, not letting up. 14

Parrying the continuous sweeps of the long sword, Karn began to panic. He’d never clashed blades with anyone of this skill before. Karn noticed that he was losing ground rapidly, as did Sanjay, who put more power into his assault, attacking like a madman, which opened a gate of opportunity for Karn. Seeing a gap in the swordsman’s defence, Karn struck like a snake with his katana, slipping under the wide sweep of the long sword and diving past, his blade slicing through Sanjay’s side like a knife through butter. Crimson blood splattered on the flagstones, instantly carried away with the water. Gasping, Karn swung around on the ball of his left foot to be sent reeling by a glancing blow to the forehead by Sanjay’s fist. He fell back five steps before regaining his footing, and adopted the guard position again, ready for the inevitable attack…which was not forthcoming. Surprised, Karn squinted through the rain, and saw that his opponent was standing stock-still, unmoving, the rain running off his head and shoulders in rivers. 15

“Right, let’s finish this” he muttered. 16

Taking slow, deep breaths, Karn prepared to go on the offensive. Sanjay remained where he was, almost in a meditative state. Lifting his feet, Karn launched himself directly at the swordsman’s back with his katana out, the wakizashi in his left hand, and a foot before plunging his blade sprung to the left, landed on one foot and launched himself again towards Sanjay’s side. His blade plunged straight into his opponent’s belly, sinking in to the hilt. Surprised, he let go of his katana and in the same movement brought his wakizashi up to sever a limb, while flying past Sanjay’s back. A screech of steel upon steel and Karn was sent crashing to the floor, bouncing once before landing painfully on the flagstones, completely winded.17

Struggling to his knees and spitting out blood, he raised his head. The swordsman was still exactly where he’d been before, showing no sign whatsoever of Karn’s assault, or the damage inflicted. Karn's forehead wrinkled in a frown. What on earth was going on here? 18

“What the hell is going on out here?”19

Startled, Karn turned his head to see Frederick sprinting out of the guard house brandishing his rapier wildly. Distracted by this new factor in the equation, he failed to see two blots of darkness flying towards him until the last moment. The first shuriken bit deep into his thigh, scattering droplets of Karn’s life blood to the wind. The second Karn managed to deflect swiftly with his katana. His sigh of relief was short-lived however. He discerned a shocked gasp through the sound of the rain, and a sickening gurgling. At the same time, Sanjay appeared to his right, standing, smirking. To his left, Frederick was splayed on the floor, a shuriken sticking out of his throat and a pool of blood around him, draining into the cracks of the flagstones. 20

Sanjay chuckled. “Well done old man, you just killed your own.” He gave a derisive snort. “Even if you were to kill me, you’d still lose. You’d be killed for killing. Ironic isn’t it?” 21

His voice got right under Karn’s skin, who still trying to work out what had just happened. Seething, Karn decided he’d had enough. Searching inside of him, he found what he was looking for, and embraced it fully with all his will. Purple flames danced along his torso, and his eyes glowed with renewed vigour. Stretching his stomach muscles, he flipped himself back onto his feet. With fire in his eyes he faced his opponent, who had taken two rapid steps back; his cool, calm exterior shattered. He spoke, fire licking his features. "Leave now, or the courtyard will run red with your blood".22

All bravado stripped from him, Sanjay looked wildly around for an escape.  Then a dagger bit deep into Karn’s wrist, forcing him to drop his katana. And finally he understood. A doppelganger. With a roar of animal fury, his entire body seemed to glow, radiating pure unrefined power. A flash of intense white light illuminated the night, blanking out even the frequent flashes of lightning with its brilliance. 23

Blinking against the aftermath of the light, a small boy with short auburn hair stared fearfully out into the courtyard from the dining hall door. The old man was silhouetted against the moon. The silken clad royal was nowhere to be found; a smouldering fire where he had once stood burning in the water.24

A mixture of emotions was raging through Karn at the moment: fury at Gaspard’s disobedience and arrogance at the feast, shock at the fact that he was able to discern Karn moving to knock him out and attempt a counter-attack, and something else. After contemplating it for a good while, Karn slowly realised it was pride. He was proud of how much his disciple had developed since the day they’d met and he’d agreed to train him. 25

Keeping his anger in check to discipline Gaspard had proven to be a great strain on Karn’s self-restraint. He wearily ran an ice cold hand down his sweaty face. Soon enough, student would surpass the master; that much was evident from today’s events. He still had trouble believing that Gaspard had managed to discern his movement. He’d only managed to avoid the counter-attack by a hair’s breadth, but it wouldn’t do to let Gaspard know that. At least he’s still been able to disable him. The tried and tested methods always worked best. Now with' Gaspard safely under lock and key Karn hoped he would have ample time to work out what to do with him. 26

By the looks of things, even Karn’s paramount talents were going to be over-shadowed soon enough. But enough dwelling on the past. There would be plenty of time for that later. Karn had an audience with Cador and their gracious host. Such a thing was rare. On past occasions, Karn had been summoned to attend the chief, Alexander, and every time it had been related to a dirty deed the chief had wanted carried out: a peasant killed; a noble’s dog poisoned, the dirty job’s no-one else would take. So it was with a sense of fore-boding that Karn traversed the corridors of the dark castle, winding his way through the corridors. He passed few people: peasants and nobles alike avoided him whenever possible; rumours that he had magic powers had spread like wildfire since that stormy night, although there had been no witnesses apart from Gaspard. Drawing nearer to the centre of the web, the corridors grew darker. There was no need for these corridors to be illuminated; the only person who walked down here was the Chief. Anyone else who had reason would bring a torch. 27

“What brings you down here, Karn?” A disembodied voice questioned.28

He gave a derisive glance to the shrouded presence hiding in the shadows behind him. Did she really think that Karn hadn’t noticed her following him? She made more noise than an army of drunken men when she walked. Karn sighed. Youths were always trying to prove their courage by trying to find out the way to the chief’s quarters. Not that it would do them any good. A few had actually managed to find their way, but they hadn’t come back. 29

“Go back Kathryn. And tell your friends that there is no future in pursuing me down here. It will lead to their demise.” He told her quietly.30

She stepped out of the shadows, unabashed that he recognised her. After all, she’d been his shadow for the past year. Her golden hair flowed down to her waist, small girl that she was, coming up no further than Karn’s chest. It was always this hair that betrayed her presence, it reflected the light. She was all too aware of this. There were streaks of soot from the fireplace in her hair. She’d made an effort to hide her hair this time. Karn raised an eyebrow at this. She had the potential to be a decent spy. At one time he had considered making her his apprentice, but went against it. She was too ready to disobey orders. But no matter how many times he had told her to give up this folly, she was unrepentant. Being only a child she could not really fathom the risk she ran by being down here.31

“I’m not going anywhere, I want to explore.” She retorted.  32

He sighed. This delay would cost him. Briefly his hand went to his dagger: it would be a simple matter to slit her throat, her body would not be found down here, and questions were rarely asked. Kathryn stood in front of him, balancing on one leg and then the other, totally at ease. She’d seen his hand move. 33

“You wouldn’t do that.” She stated calmly.34

“And what makes you so certain?”35

Switching to the other leg, she smiled. “If you were, you would have already.”36

Taken aback, Karn grunted, placed his palm on the wall for a second, turned his back on her and continued walking. “You cannot follow me further.” 37

With a swish of his cloak, he disappeared around the next corner. Briefly he heard Kathryn’s exclamation of surprise as she found an unseen barrier blocking her pursuit. Karn allowed himself a satisfied grin, and then he was in front of the chief’s room. Straining his ears, he could hear silent muttering from behind the oaken door, but was unable to make out any words. Bracing himself, he knocked once.38