THE LIGHT OF A'LEST

CHAPTER 16

As the sun rose to its zenith, a handful of commoners with children in tow gathered at the arena's edge and watched as Kara adjusted her grip, held her breath, and hurled another spear at the target. As soon as the shaft left her hand and the angular bladed tip began whistling through the air, Master Su hissed. "Short, again!"

     Cutting her eyes from the target, she snatched another spear, cursed, and kicked over the barrel. The Sword Master tutted but kept any further reprisal to himself as she placed her hands on her sides and didn't even bother watching her next failure arc through the sky and fall well short of its intended target. As it came to a clattering stop and added itself to an already sizable pile of her previous attempts, she looked at the wiry old man beside the tree. "You could help, you know."

     Master Su rolled his eyes, groaned as he pushed himself up off the tree, and fixed her with those piercing green eyes of his. He rooted around in his tunic for a moment before finally producing a fist-sized apple and raising it for her to see. Kara blinked and caught a flash of movement, a glimmer of steel. She then watched as the apple fell in half as if by magic. "I'm the sword master, girl. You do know the difference, correct?" His response was crisp, snipped but nonchalant as he tossed half of the apple to her and bit into the other.

     She snatched it from the air, fumbled with it, and barely kept it from hitting the ground before glancing at it and then back to the graying sword master. "Then why are you on the spear range, Sword Master?"

     The man grinned. The wrinkles at the corners of his eyes cobbled together as he spoke. "Teaching, of course!"

     Kara winced and almost cursed the crazy old man out before her eyes slid back to the pile of spears gathered well short of their intended target. "Aye, fine work you're doing."

     "Thank you! Took years of practice," he replied as he sauntered up beside her and surveyed the unscathed target. "You do that a lot."

    Kara felt the all-too-familiar heat building inside her and barely managed to keep a lid on it. "Miss. Yes. Thank you... teacher."

     Master Su finished chewing his apple, pitched the remains away, and wiped his hands together. "Lose your temper... Let your rage fester. Let it control you."

     Kara released a sigh, blinked, and stared quizzically at the grizzled old man.

     He smirked, cleared his throat, and placed his hands beneath his tunic. "You're not special, you know."

     She snorted and gritted her teeth. "Thanks for the encouragement."

     Master Su tugged on the cuffs of his sleeves and adjusted the sword at his back. "Kara, anger is a storm we all sail through. Wade in it if you must, struggle, but sooner or later, you must release it. To languish in those waters is to perish."

     Kara's brow furrowed as the gray-bearded man bowed, turned, and walked away. As she watched him fade from sight, she glanced around at the handful of gawkers who hadn't given up watching. Most seemed to be only mildly paying attention. A few whispered to one another but stopped when they realized she was watching. She huffed, walked over to the barrel, and began rolling it back and filling it with spears. As she picked up the last spear, the sword master's words echoed in her mind. Release it? Am I really that angry? Half of her dismissed the sword master's assessment out of hand. The other half wasn't so sure. Why shouldn't she be? Who was he to judge her? Perhaps she was angry. If he had been forced from his home, tossed away like rubbish, perhaps he might understand. Drawing a deep breath in through her nose and out through her mouth, she let the tension in her muscles wane, then threw. As the spear finished traveling along its path, a resounding thwack broke the hushed silence of the arena. A hit. Well, barely. The outermost ring. But still, a hit was a hit, and it was enough to send Kara leaping into the air. "Finally!"