It Rained Red Upon the Arena (2 page)

Nick always envied his father. He envied him in how he could be so giving to those around him. Whether it be close friends or a homeless stranger, Christopher was always willing to lend a helping hand. Christopher was Nick’s role model. He was happy and privileged to have him as a father. Nick looked at his father and smiled. Christopher was smiling right back and Thomas still had a huge smile on his face. The two boys left his study and walked out to the front yard of the house where they would begin the long day ahead of them.

The sun shined brightly on the two as they walked out of the house; both had to wince slightly to allow their eyes to adjust. The green leaves of the oak tree in the yard moved in unison as a slight breeze flowed through the air.

“Perfect day,” said Thomas.

The two always started training days with sword combat. They would strike at each other until one successfully hit the opponent’s flesh.

Thomas was the first to strike with a straight jab towards Nick’s lower abdomen. Nick struck the sword mid attack with his own. He jumped forward and to the left, and put his blade to Thomas’ neck so fast that it appeared he did it all in one motion.

“Dead,” said Nick.

Nick was a true Paplon. He was tall and had a lean, muscular build. He was not the strongest, but he made up his lack of brute force with the swiftness of his blade. His speedy movements cut through the air with finesse and integrity. No one could deny the fact that Nick was extremely fast. Thomas was shorter than Nick, but he was a very strong young Paplon. Thomas could lift a horse carriage slightly off the ground and throw hay bales as if he was throwing rocks in a field. Nick assumed that one day Thomas’ weapon of choice will be a two handed axe or malice as he would easily be able to handle the heavier weight over the traditional sword.

“You’re too fast, my friend,” said Thomas. “You know when we are at the academy I can bet that you will have the fastest blade of all the new recruits. In fact, if they let you spar with the actual guardsmen, you could defeat them. You could defeat them all, old and new.”

“I seriously doubt that,” Nick said modestly. “I have only ever really sparred with you. Maybe you’re just slow.”

Thomas tapped his wooden sword on Nick’s shin. A little pain to entice more practicing and stop the playful teasing. Nick responded by getting into proper stance.

Another round of wooden swords clashing began. Sweat dropped from the two as they breathed harder and harder. It was hard work, but the toughest work was up ahead when the academy started.

Normally there was an average of five hundred recruits trying to join the Refect. Of those five hundred fifty would be picked to join the Refect. It was stiff competition, and only a few would become the ones proud enough to wear the city’s colors and vow to protect its civilians and King Dedan Hudson from any harm.

After a few hours of combat training, the two boys moved onto their conditioning training. They dropped their wooden swords to the ground and began to run throughout the city’s streets.

Nick’s home was across the sandy street of the Vincot Church. Outside the church, the boys spotted Mrs. Gave. She was a dear old Reza that was familiar with both Nick and Thomas. As the two ran by her, she gave them an infectious smile and the two boys waved and smiled right back. Further up from the church was a residential area. It was a block of about sixty homes where the two boys used to play with other children as they were growing up.

As they were passing by the twelfth house they heard a woman scream. They paused, a few seconds passed and another shriek was heard from the home.

“We should go tell a Refect,” said Thomas. Nick stood up straight and had a serious look of concern on his face.

“The closest Refect could be a ten minute run from where we are,” replied Nick. “Let’s just take a look inside to be sure that nothing bad is going on.”

Thomas nodded in agreement, but he didn’t seem so sure that they should be going onto the property. They walked up past the gate surrounding the house and another scream was heard. The screams were getting louder.

“I think the screams are coming from outside, over in the side yard,” said Nick.

They walked over to the right side of the home and in the side yard they spotted a Reza man. He was shocked to see two boys show up, On the ground there was a young girl who looked about the same age as the two boys. The Reza man had the girl by the hands and was trying to drag her inside a door behind him.

The young human girl was one beauty that the two boys had seen before in the neighborhood. Her long golden blonde hair would flow in the wind and cause a crick in the neck by those who would pass by. Nick remembered her name, it was Penny Goldstem; though they were not friends, the three all knew of each other. Tears rushed down her face and Nick could see that her face was filled with fear.

“What is going on here?” Nick asked the man.

“My girlfriend is just being her silly and stubborn old self. She doesn’t want to come inside to cook my dinner,” the man replied with a chuckle at the end of his sentence trying to be nonchalant.

“Let her go. You’re not fooling us,” said Nick. “Even if that were true, no one should be physically forced to do anything. Besides, your hands are exposed and that in itself is a felony. Whatever you’re planning to do to this girl will not happen. Let her go right now.”

The Reza man dropped the girl’s hands and walked up to the two boys. “I will do what I wish, and if you don’t walk away right now and forget you saw anything, you will both die with the flesh melting off of your face,” said the man. “On second thought, why don’t you two join us for dinner? I can tell you’re rats. There’s no need for rats to be on the streets; they need a home, too.”

Nick was not a fan of threats. He reached for the hidden dagger on the inside of his shirt. A nifty leather holster carried the dagger on his left wrist, which was covered by his black long sleeved shirt.

In a swift motion, he grabbed his dagger and stabbed the man’s left hand. The blade, about five inches in length, pierced through his palm and protruded through the back of his hand. With the help of momentum from Nick’s attack, the exposed dagger blade stuck into the side of the house. The man had just enough time to look at his hand before Nick kicked his head three times until he was unconscious. Nick’s attack was fast and flowed flawlessly.

“Thank you,” said Penny. “Oh, thank you!” Her hands trembled as she reached for Nick’s hand so she could get off the ground. “He was going to rape me. I don’t even know who he is. Thank you for coming over for me, I thought no one could hear me struggle. He was trying to cover my mouth and threatening to kill me.”

“I’m glad I could help,” said Nick. “I’m certainly glad we got here before things got worse, Penny.”

“This man will go away and pay for his crimes and he surely won’t be waking up any time soon,” said Thomas. “I’ll go notify a Refect and explain the situation. Exposed hands are enough to put this man away and attempted rape will put him away for a long time.”

Thomas started to run towards the south guard tower in search of a Refect.

“Penny, look at me,” said Nick.

Her eyes were looking at the floor and they slowly ascended to meet Nick’s eyes.

“I promise you, everything is going to be alright,” said Nick. “Do you want a glass of water or anything? Anything I can do at all for you?”

“You are quite kind, but no, thank you,” said Penny. “I’m shaken up but I will be alright. I’m just going to go home now.” Nick looked at her tear-filled eyes and felt horrible.

“I know you want to go home but the Refect might want to question you when they get here, Penny,” said Nick.

Penny nodded in agreement and said, “You’re right, but I want to do anything but talk at the moment. If you don’t mind I’m just going to sit here until they arrive.”

Nick nodded as well and Penny sat under a tree in the backyard. The sun was beaming with heat and the shade allowed her to cool off. Shortly thereafter, Thomas returned with two Refect. Their dark steel armor was heavy, so they must have come from the guard tower. The two men attached white gloves to the unconscious man, which interfered with a Reza’s ability to conjure any type of magic, and placed steel handcuffs on his wrists.

They reported that they would need to question Penny on the incident to prosecute him and go through the phases of a criminal trial. Nick walked them over to where she was sitting. The Refect complimented Nick and Thomas on their heroic and fast action taken to save the poor girl.

Nick and Thomas felt a sense of pride for what they did that day. They could imagine themselves saving innocent civilians such as Penny on a daily basis as part of the Refect. That day was one the two would always remember, and one that would entice them to train harder in their journey to become Refect.

***

A few weeks later Nick was on a morning walk by himself to pick up some produce for his father at the market. Clouds overhead were thick and dark and rain poured down heavily. Nick shivered as the rain bounced off his dark garment hood. Nick was looking down to keep his eyes out of the rain as much as possible. In one of the rare instances when he looked up to see if he was still heading the right way he spotted Penny Goldstem sitting on a porch covered by a balcony on one of the houses to his left. Nick stared at her for a moment. She was fiddling with yarn and a needle, working on some sort of craft. Penny looked up at Nick, their eyes met, and after a moment he quickly looked back down at the ground.

Nick’s face was already glowing red. He could feel his face warm up and his heart began to race. He then found the courage to look up again to find Penny looking down and working on her craft.

Nick was absolutely horrible with girls. He was awkward and extremely shy when it came to talking to them. He had never even kissed a girl when every guy he knew had had their first kiss years ago. The thought of walking up by himself and sparking a conversation with a girl seemed impossible. Even if he had potentially saved that girl’s life a mere two weeks ago.

Right, just go up and ask her how she is doing.

With that thought in his mind, Nick found the courage to go up and speak to Penny. Every step he took towards her, in his mind he wanted to take three steps back. The rain got in his eyes as he walked up to Penny. She finally looked up again when Nick was at her fence.

“I thought that might be you, Nick,” Penny said with a big smile.

“Hey, hello, Penny. How are you doing this beautiful day?”

“Nick, it’s raining incredibly hard today. Most people wouldn’t call it beautiful.”

“Uhh, ye...uh, yeah, I mean, it’s better on other days. But this one is nice. I mean, you know, I like rain. Do you? I mean, do you like it when it rains?”

Penny chuckled and subtly covered her mouth. “Yes, I actually really do like the rain.” She stood up and took a step over to her balcony support beam to lean on it. “Nick, your face is incredibly red. Have you got a burn from the sun?”

Nick stood in the rain with his heart pounding heavily still. His palms were getting sweaty; his body wanted to run back home. “No,” replied Nick. “I don’t believe I have a sun burn. But I was just wondering how you have been since, you know...the incident a few weeks ago.”

“I’m doing really well, actually. I’m staying here at my aunt’s house because I got in an argument with my mother about what happened, but that’s a long story. But I am well. Thank you again for saving me from that horrendous man. It was very courageous of you to come over and stop him.”

“You’re welcome, Penny. I’m glad to hear you’re doing well. I’m glad I was in the right place to be there to help.”

Nick looked at her blue eyes. He looked at her golden blonde hair, it was so long and beautiful. He looked at her teeth when she smiled; such a smile could only be found once in a lifetime. Nick held out his hand to shake hers.

Penny walked out to meet his hand at the gate and shook his hand. She began to laugh as she looked at Nick in the eyes.

“You make a lady come out in the rain to shake your hand,” she said, then continued laughing. “You have no idea what you’re doing, do you, Nick Bint?”

Nick laughed with her and said, “No idea.”

Penny shook his hand, then pulled it to get him closer to her. Penny kissed Nick on the cheek and said, “I’ll see you around.”

Penny smiled and walked back up her stairs and sat down. Nick stood there with a glowing smile for a few moments in shock. Then he said, “Okay, yes, I’ll see you around, Penny.”

He waved at her and continued to walk down the muddy road to the market. Nick had a stupid smile on his face for the rest of his walk. He could not help but smile. A girl had kissed him on the cheek. Sure it wasn’t a real kiss on the lips but it could certainly happen soon with Penny. He kept replaying that moment in his mind. He could not believe that a girl had pulled him in and kissed him on the cheek.

He had never thought too much of Penny. He knew of her and sometimes he would even get caught up staring at her beauty while he walked by without her knowing. Strange how things just happened in life. But he certainly never had a conversation that went so well with a girl such as her in his entire life. Nick wanted to run back and ask her on a date, but he had to keep his cool. He didn’t want to come off as an awkward, desperate teenager even though that description might suit him perfectly.

Chapter Two

Christopher Bint was a smart and sophisticated Paplon. He started delving into the art of blacksmithing as a teenager and he never looked back. Christopher could feel a sense of pride with each blade he made, knowing he put his heart into it, and he always hoped the owner would use the steel to defend themselves. He never wanted to make a weapon of murder. But some Vincot residents and Hentrio travelers would have bad intentions upon purchasing weapons from Christopher’s grand weapon shop, and he was always aware of this fact, though he would try to limit the thought from ever reaching his mind.

The purchase of a weapon to defend one’s self was a right given to all civilians as written up by the laws of Hentrio centuries ago. The right to carry a weapon in all public places was also a right given to the people. However, crime and murder were ever so prominent in Hentrio, and the field Refect men and women were the ones who investigate such crimes.