Trystan and Twyll circled each other, Their blades up in the air. The first strike was delivered by Twyll. The swords clanged against each other, the sound echoing across space.
"Eager are we?" Trystan taunted as he flicked his wrist, effectively dislodging Twyll's screaming blade off of his.
"Eager to kick your ass? Then yes." Twyll growled in reproach as she ducked out of his blade's course and swung her blade at his legs.
"Your confidence truly amuses me." H quipped as he jumped up and the blade missed decapitating his legs. "It will also make my victory that much sweeter." He continued as he aimed his hilt at her wrist and jabbed it onto the wrist bone.
The pain momentarily disarmed her and Trystan taking advantage of her disarray swept her feet off from under her and landed her on her back.
"Good fight Merrick. Next time remember to protect your left side." He winked at her, his blade still pointed at her neck.
As he turned around she stuck her tongue out at him immaturely and got up. Dusting off the dirt on her behind she said, "You are skilled. Who taught you?"
"Bren. She taught all of us. Me, Shalom and Cadence more so than Kyan and Karsyn as the former was more interested in the alchemy and composition of the blades than the actual usage."
"And Karsyn?" She probed, knowing she was prying.
He smirked at her inquisitiveness and said, "She doesn't enjoy doing things she is not good at. Also, knives make her nervous." The last part was said with deliberate darkness which meant that Karsyn's aversion to blades was probably because of her past.
"You should probably choose your weapon."
"I don't really know what I'm most comfortable using. Aunt Jinn taught me to use everything that could be used to survive. I didn't really have a choice of weapon." She grouched taking the hint of his avoidance of that subject.
The fight with Trystan had felt good even if she had lost. The adrenaline and exhilaration of knowing that every move and clang of blades depended on her. Her and no one else. The energy had thrummed around her, travelling through the blades as they clashed and sending tiny vibrations through her hands. She wasn't sure if the levity was because of the thrill of movement or the boy who was such a mystery.
They all were. Bren with her mother-hen persona and Immortal wisdom all packed into a mask that hid unending power. Karsyn with the pink eyes that were all-seeing and unsettling and impenetrable walls of obsidian. Shalom was so far the only normal person in the group, but that also seemed like a shield. She had noticed that his mother was never mentioned or brought into the house. That was another weird thing. Kyan was always holed up in his lab and Cadence was hiding something and Twyll wanted to find out what it was about. Trystan was also just like them. She wondered why they let her stay with them. If they really cared what happened to her or tolerated her because she was The Crystal Heir. They exuded concealment and hiding. It bothered her. Every breath in this house felt measured and every conversation calculated.
Even the city, at least whatever she had seen so far, was strange. It seemed to be built around something central. High walls are locking the city in. She had only seen one gate on the west side of the city and those were only opened for trading. The entire east was dark and shadowed with smoke. It was suspicious and frankly very disconcerting. Their produce was being brought in from the fields that grew on the northern side of the city in terraces. It was like a self-sufficient jail. Twyll had worked all of this out when she had been searching for terraces and couldn't even find one.
"Twyll, you there?"
"Huh? Yeah," She replied absently. "Just thinking."
"Well, the ball is in three days so you'll have to choose a weapon to go with your costume."
"Yes, of course. I'll start with the knives."
She walked towards the panel where the daggers were kept and picked out ten throwing knives. She walked over to the targets and threw them in quick succession. They all hit bull's eye, but their feel felt off. Wrong.
Trystan passed her a short sword. She balanced it and swung it around in quick swipes and jabs. This one too felt just... off.
He passed her another weapon and every single one was wrong or hard to use.
"Well, aren't you hard to please?" Trystan stated amiably. "Here, this is your only other option." Saying this, he handed her long roll of cloth that were topped with sharp, quicksilver blades. The blades were etched with the four elements and also sprays of what looked like blood and a man shifting into a beast. It was all bound by sprays of blood. The cloth itself was a deep, satiny black with pure gold thread embroidery. They were also honed into points and razor-sharp.
Twyll felt her breath catch. "It's beautiful."
"Yes, it is." He whispered. His eyes on her.
She took it from him with careful hands. They walked over to a wall which she guessed was another hidden storage. She was right, it was a closet filled with wooden dummies with joints and skilfully crafted faces. Trystan dragged one out and placed it in the middle of the arena.
Twyll walked over the cloth a circular blur of red-gold in her rotating wrists.
The dummy came to life as Trystan pushed a button. Translucent blue images projected onto thin air. Trystan swiped through the screens until he found a picture of what he wanted. He touched it and the hands of the dummy turned once and produced a wicked sharp sword with a curved point. Trystan flipped a switch and a buzzing spread across the room. He walked to the edge and a spotlight shone on her and the dummy, the rest of it melted into darkness taking Trystan along with it.
Twyll assumed her stance as the dummy came forward. Twyll lunged first, but the machine was surprisingly fast and flexible. She stumbled as it zoomed past her. She barely ducked out of its way before it decapitated her head. Twyll was surprised at its intuit and agility. She couldn't help but smile as she truly let go. Every twirl and slash of cloth was like a dance to some unknown beat. Her pupils glowed milky white, the gold melting.
She wrapped the cloth around the dummy and twisted its neck out before it could do anything. Oil leaked from its head and stained the cloth black. The stain slowly lessened until it couldn't anymore.
"What was that?"
"This cloth is called a Bavmeč. It vaguely translates to a cotton sword. The cotton in the cloth is fused with a metal alloy and then gold filaments are painstakingly embroidered into patterns that end in points sharp enough to cut through metal and the cloth is rolled up tightly and then cinched into hollow metal blades, similar to spears. Some clothes are also infused with obsidian shards and bloodstone. These exude energies of blood and death. Any substance that stains the cloth is therefore swallowed by the cloth."
"That's impressive," Twyll admitted.
"Not as impressive as how quickly you eliminated the machine. It's one of the most high-tech builds. I took days to manage to defeat it. You are unexpected is all I can say."
Twyll just smiled and said, "I'd like to carry this as my weapon."
"You'll have to train some more and spar with actual humans with different weapons to get a little bit more of technique in you. Handwork is a little shaky." He remarked in what sounded like an I am the wisest and all-knowing kind of tone.
Twyll just scoffed and walked out of the room with the cloth bound tightly around her head like a chic turban.
Trystan smiled at her swagger and swaying hips. A tinge of guilt speared his soul at all the secrets kept hidden. Her parent's, Her Aunt's, His family's, His own, morbid secrets. Some yet to be discovered by them itself.