Heresy | Broken Time Series: Book Three

Chapter 7

Nagan wanted nothing more than to be back with the Information Unit. He wasn't sure if the restlessness kicked in as fast as it did for Az, but he now understood what Az was talking about. Sitting around in meetings for the better part of three days, twiddling his thumbs and feeling as if his skin was crawling, it was unpleasant and near-maddening. Rin helped a little bit as every morning he taught him a form of Froshrinese martial arts, one that was fast-paced and felt oddly like sword forms, and in the evening, they'd spar. Not with swords—Rin wouldn't have been enough of a challenge for Nagan—but with staffs. Nagan had trained with a spear before, but he wasn't nearly as proficient as Rin with a staff. It was the perfect distraction.

A dull red shimmer covered Nagan's knuckles as the staff collided over them.

"Mind your hands, Nagan," Rin warned before jabbing his staff at Nagan's shoulder. Nagan turned in time to avoid it, using that momentum to aim a blow at Rin's head. Rin blocked it seamlessly.

They exchanged another flurry of blows, Nagan barely keeping up with where to shift the staff and finding the right opportunity to strike back. Nagan's hands felt numb as the staff rattled from the force the blows had, and his shoulders ached terribly. Nonetheless, he focused on his opponent in front of him.

That was when Nagan reacted a bit too slowly, and within seconds, he was knocked to the ground, his side erupting in pain. He struggled to regain his breath as it continued to throb, and he didn't want to know how much damage that staff would've caused if Rin hadn't cast a protection incantation over him.

"And that's how you get broken ribs from this." Rin took a step back to give Nagan room to recover, keeping one end of his staff lowered. "Are you alright?"

Nagan laughed as he stood, stubbornly refusing to use the staff to help him up. "One more round."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"One more round then. Watch your hands, and remember to bring the staff above your elbow to avoid the bone. The spell isn't protecting you from your own staff." Rin spun his staff a couple times before getting into a starting position. "Ready?"

Nagan scoffed. "Show off."

Rin grinned but said nothing, waiting for Nagan to ready himself. Once he did, one foot forward from the other with the staff at his side, he nodded. This time, Rin didn't wait for Nagan to strike first, stepping forward and bringing the staff down using the flow of his momentum. Nagan blocked before trying to swing around and catch Rin by the jaw. Unsuccessful. Rin had already seen how Nagan's foot slid forward and stepped out of reach.

They kept up the simple exchange—Nagan was not experienced enough to do anything complex—but Rin didn't mind it. This was more for Nagan's benefit, giving Nagan an outlet to expend all his nervous energy.

The first day they were there, Rin knew Nagan was shaken by the sudden accusations thrown his way. Anyone would be, and Nagan wasn't foolish enough to assume the Council wouldn't think of him as a threat. If there ever was a world where, in a cruel twist of fate, Nagan had joined the Kinsmen, he knew the boy would be just as formidable as he was now to the Kinsmen. Rin didn't want to know how much blood may have been on Nagan's hands, and he certainly didn't want to be on the opposite end of his time spells.

So, he asked Nagan if he wanted to join him in his "training." It wasn't really anything combative, he wasn't a soldier, but it was a string of warm-ups and stances. That didn't seem to matter to Nagan, however, as he readily agreed and was eager to learn. And that was when an idea struck. Nagan may have been very proficient with a sword and a basic form of hand-to-hand combat, but Rin had always thought his movements were too rigid. Too stiff. From how lithe Nagan was, all that agility was going to waste, even if he was more reliant on speed rather than strength. This time, Rin didn't ask Nagan if he even wanted to learn how to use a staff. As soon as the meeting ended, he marched to the nearest weaponsmith, asking for two spear poles and modifying it a bit. They were made of pine, but that would do for the moment. When he arrived back to their shared room, he only held one of the staff out to Nagan and asked him to spar. The rest was history.

Nagan took a few steps back after a couple minutes, getting closer nor farther from winning. Rin didn't follow. He really shouldn't have been so surprised that Rin wasn't as defenseless as others thought. Meixong wouldn't bring someone who didn't know how to fight to war in the first place after all. Maybe if he could catch Rin by surprise...

Nagan charged forward, swinging hard to the left hoping to knock Rin off balance. Rin's eyes stayed focused as he raised his staff to block, but just as Nagan had hoped, the other tipped to the side. Nagan pulled back as the sound of wood cracking against each other rang around the grassy courtyard and aimed a jab at Rin's chest.

And Rin twisted away.

Catching the staff between his arm and his side, Rin grabbed Nagan's wrist and looped his other arm around him. Nagan soon felt his feet leave the ground, and his world tumbled sideways. With a shout of surprise, Nagan landed on his side, his staff leaving his hand in favor of breaking his fall, and he groaned as he rolled onto his back. Rin was kind to him in making sure he wouldn't hurt himself, but the throw still added to the list of bruises he was going to wake up with in the morning.

Rin offered his hand down to Nagan with a small grin. "You almost got me with that one."

"The key word there is 'almost.'" Nagan grumbled as he took the offer and allowed himself to be pulled up. "Where did you learn all this?"

"Yenhei taught me before they became a general." Rin walked over to where they had left their stuff, a couple of waterskins and their cloaks draped over the courtyard's short wall. He leaned against the same wall, feeling the cold stones cool his skin as he took a long drink. From the corner of his eye, he could see Nagan doing the same. "They wanted me to do something other than rot away in my room, so they lured me outside to watch the disciples train before asking me a 'hypothetical' question of which weapon I'd like to learn how to use. I chose the staff since it looked to be the least dangerous."

Nagan snorted. "That was a severe miscalculation."

"A good miscalculation. I don't know how Yenhei managed or even tolerated me—I yelled at them quite a bit—but they still got me out into a small, private courtyard nearly every day and taught me how to use a staff until I had trained enough to join the others." A genuine, soft smile shone on Rin's face. "I can't thank the Meixong's enough for what they did for me, and I don't know if I would be standing here today if Yenhei hadn't been a guest instructor at Carvolier."

Nagan hummed before stealing a glance at Rin. "I'm glad you're still here, if...if that means anything."

Rin blinked in surprise, and his smile grew. "Thank you, Nagan. Of course that means something to me!"

Rin's smile was contagious, and Nagan found himself grinning as well. It was clear the other was the happiest he's ever been. But deep down inside, there were still questions Nagan wanted to ask; questions he wasn't sure he wanted the answers to, but they all revolved around a single thought:

Did Rin wish he was Carth?

But that wasn't something he would question now. Instead, he chose to enjoy this moment of calm, something he didn't think he would achieved.

Perhaps...when the war ended, this would be something he could enjoy coming back to.

Movement caught his eye, and Master Erswell and a couple others—Nagan recognized Sir Tinlar as one of them—walked along the other end of the courtyard before disappearing out of sight. Nagan's eyes darkened at that.

But the war's not over, yet. Nagan pushed himself off the short wall, grabbing his Dragonmage cloak.

"I just remembered I needed to speak to Master Dagmire about something." He shrugged on the cloak, and his hands habitually moved to where his sword would've been to adjust it. They fell back to his sides. "Do you need help bringing anything back to the room?"

Rin waved him off. "I got it. Go ahead before it becomes too late in the day."

With a nod, Nagan walked out of the courtyard, following the same route Master Erswell had taken but turning a left instead of a right.

Rin's smile had long since faded, replaced with concern as he watched the younger leave.

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Rin wasn't supposed to be that prominent of a character, but here he is with his own chapter. Don't worry, I have no (current) plans to kill him :)