The Pass by Zion Kistler (top 100 novels txt) 📕

the Blackwolf Spirits had attacked. Treaf suddenly realized that he was so not in the mood to work it almost seemed overwhelming. He just wanted to scream as loud as he could and bash in every window that he could find, but that would be against the ‘law’ and people would take him for a maniac. He wanted some sort of help, something to drag him into something else….then he heard a familiar sound, but he could not place it. The sound of boots, Treaf thought. Then a hand touched him, and he turned around for some reason, even though a lot of people were touching him at the time. But before he could look around in dull curiosity Treaf realized that it was Malock, and soon he said, “Treaf, what the heck are you doing? Aren’t you injured? Treaf looked confused, and then said, “Well, it isn’t that big of a deal. I can still walk. That’s all that anybody cares about.” Malock looked like he was about to puke, and he grabbed Treaf’s arm, pulling him away without any explanation. Treaf was curious for a second what Malock was planning, and he decided that the only answer would be to wait things through and find out. If he’s putting me in group A, I’m gonna get mad, Treaf thought, and he felt much more heated now that he was heated.
When they had gone through the city for quite a time Treaf started getting even madder. What the heck is he doing?
“Hey, Malock, what the heck are you doing with me? We’ve been walking through the city for a long time, and I am curious why you want me not to work. It isn’t exactly…like you.” Malock turned his head to look at Treaf, but nothing more. In fact Treaf took this beckon to mean ‘be quiet.’
After a few more minutes they came to a circled fence, and it was not big enough to house cattle, and it was too big to store chickens. There were people around it, and among them he spotted Mildo. Ah. We’re gonna train. Treaf was actually very pleased at this. They had been fighting a lot since they had left Goshop, but that didn’t mean training. Training was a whole different thing, and Treaf didn’t consider it to be one of those things where you’re constantly thinking about how to defeat your enemy. When there was a war going on, it was unacceptable to lose, for then you were dead.
“So this is what we’re doing today,” Treaf said, and he had a smile on his lips.
“Yes. I’ve noted that you have been getting injured a lot recently, so we’re going to practice. If you become as good as me, then you will have a lot to look forward to.”
“Hey, I beet you at Goshop on the little test thing, so doesn’t that mean…?” Treaf broke off to give emphasis, but Malock did not understand or pretended not to understand to make Treaf angry.
“Doesn’t that mean what?” Malock said, his expression dry.
“Doesn’t that mean that I’m better than you?” Treaf felt clammy under the circumstances, and slightly foolish. But then he decided to watch as Hibned, who Treaf had thought was to be working too, started fighting with one of the Rangers. Treaf was actually very surprised that five of the Rangers had survived: only one of them had died. This meant that they had been very highly trained, and Treaf actually admired them even more than he had before.
Treaf watched as the Ranger that Hibned was fighting ducked under one of Hibned’s blows, and he realized that he had a lot to learn if he was ever going to get near to Mourgorth. After all, they still had much more to do before then, and Treaf personally thought that it would be foolish for them to go into the Dark Lands without gathering a very large army. If the Blackwolf Spirits hadn’t attacked they would have been able to gather more people for an army from The Jaragon, but since all of the men from this city had died, they would have no men to bring with them when they attacked the enemy.
If we expect to win anything we’re gonna need to make more Magical Beings, because if we don’t, we’re done for. Treaf grimaced. Only then did he realize that Malock was watching him, and then Treaf looked back to the battle that was going on inside the middle of the circular fence. Neither one had gone down, but it looked like Hibned was getting tired. Treaf didn’t blame him: it looked like a tough fight. Against a Ranger, Treaf would have probably been dead by now. Malock was now looking in the same direction that Treaf was, and he realized that he wanted to fight Malock or Maybe Mildo one of these days. For some reason I have the feeling that I’ve gotten pretty rusty, Treaf thought, and he had a nagging feeling that this was true. It had only been a few days since the battle, but Treaf was still in the mood to get better, and he knew that he would.
After a few minutes the Ranger had beat Hibned, and Treaf said to Malock, “So, ya wanna duel?” Malock looked the same as always when faced with a question, but after a few seconds he had a faint smile, or it was a snarl, but even so Treaf felt his injured stomach and then grinned when it felt absolutely fine. It still had a lot of bandages on it, but he was not willing to take them off: he would trust someone else with experience on injuries.
After a few seconds Treaf ducked into the training area, and Malock followed, but came in on the other side. Treaf was not nervous as he had been on his first day of fighting and training with Malock, for he had done this many times now, and he had not died doing yet, so Treaf thought that him as a person probably had a sliver of hope left for fighting and conquering Mourgorth. Huh. I would never have dreamed that I would be training with an experienced warrior, much less having potential to beating him.
Treaf then drew his sword quickly, and stood in his usual position; he had his legs wide for support, and he held his sword in a parrying position. Malock then brandished his sword, and with the naked blade came a very loud ringing noise. It had been a joke between Mildo and Treaf that Malock had sharpeners inside his sheath just like Mourgorth, but Treaf doubted it. It would be a very handy thing to have, but it would be expensive and hard to keep intact. Looks like we’re about to begin. Treaf watched Malock’s move; he was moving his sword slightly every time he took a step or moved. Now. Treaf ran forward, and he predicted that Malock would probably think that Treaf was dumb enough to leave all of his sides open in a full-fledged attack. Treaf, however was now too smart for Malock, and part of him knew that Malock underestimated him. Malock kept his sword in a vertical position, and Treaf knew that this was a simple way to block Treaf’s sword or possibly take a downswing on him. But at the last second Treaf broke into a roll, and when he was upon Malock’s leg he stuck out his own, knocking Malock to the ground with a cloud of dust. Before Malock could retaliate, Treaf attempted a swing at Malock’s neck, but it turned out that Treaf had underestimated him. In less than a seconds time, had somehow been able to jump out of the way, and Treaf distinctly heard a few cheers at this move. But Treaf was too busy to worry about the crowd right thn, so he grimaced and decided that he would win this. Treaf waited for Malock to attack first this time, and when he did Treaf easily parried a thrust that Malock had delivered. After this Treaf jumped as high as he could, (which was pretty high,) and delivered a series of fast sidestrokes that Treaf was pleased to see that Malock was having trouble with. He forced his blows deeper into Malock’s sword, and he hit as hard and fast as he could. Treaf realized that he could not, however grow tired, so he stopped and lunged with his sword outstretched to full power. This would have been a very bad move if Treaf had not put up some precautions. Malock actually lunged too, and Treaf was so surprised that he did a side roll before Malock had made any damage. This particular full attack had never happened to Treaf, and he realized that he felt slightly foolish. But what else would he have done? There had been no time for a parry, so he would have been stabbed, and there had been no time to break into a slash. Malock probably realized that I would not know what to do, and he also realized that I would think that to have been a bad move. Improper. Irregular. Treaf then bounced back up as Malock thrust downwards at Treaf’s stomach, and while Malock’s back was exposed he made a slash at it. Malock somehow blocked this with his sword vertical, and Treaf realized that this seemed to be Malock’s favorite position. Can’t fool me with the same trick, old man, Treaf thought. He snickered. This had been a harder duel than he had ever been in, but it was still fun. This time Malock jumped, and Treaf almost laughed. He made an upward stab at Malock’s chest, but Malock was soon out of range. When he landed, he swung high at Treaf’s neck, and Treaf moved down slightly; Malock tried kicking, but Treaf blocked it with his own boot; he tried to stab Treaf, but Treaf made a very powerful parry that sent Malock’s sword banging backwards, and in this instant Treaf stabbed, then stopped right when he was about to puncture Malock’s skin. There came a single, silent moment when Treaf was absolutely sure that he had won, and he smiled. He had beaten Malock twice now, and he was so hot that he felt that he was about to die, but it was worth it. Treaf did not make any winning cries or anything, but everybody could tell that he was pleased with himself.
After he was outside of the fence area the cheers were still going around, but Treaf was not shunting them today. He welcomed them warmly, that is until he saw Mildo clapping too. The bigger-than-Treaf person looked clammy and pleased, and immediately Treaf’s face turned into a toothy, evil look, like he was melting away into some kind of devil.
When he had taken off his cloak and white, bloodied over shirt, he doused himself with water, and then looked on into the duel that was happening shortly after he had beaten Malock. Malock did not look pleased with himself as always; instead he looked angry, almost like he would truly like to have rematch with Treaf. Well it’s your fault for underestimating me, huh, old man? Treaf smiled.