CHAPTER 41: A NEW ENEMY

The next few weeks tested Aeron in ways he had never imagined.

From the moment the sun touched the rooftops till it went off, he threw himself into two impossible tasks: mastering the sword and mastering the strange gift Nyella had called pyromancy.

Sword fighting at least had rules. There were stances to learn, strikes to memorize, and footwork to drill until it became instinct. With Varek’s guidance, Aeron’s movements became faster and more precise. He could beat most ordinary soldiers. Still... the skill of the Phoenix Guard was a mountain he had yet to climb.

Pyromancy, however, was a different thing altogether.

Every day, Aeron would search for answers, ancient scrolls, and different types of old writings, anything that spoke of men or women who could command fire without a dragon’s aid. He found nothing. No records. No legends. It was as if he were the first to bear this gift in the history of man.

He refused to believe that.

When the search yielded nothing, he turned to practice. In the cave, Aeron would light a small flame, a torch or candle, and try to make it grow, bend, or move at his command, but nothing happened at all, and he would sit for hours staring into the flames, feeling frustrated.

Varek, though, didn’t teach Aeron only how to fight... "You can be the strongest in the world," he told Aeron one evening as they sparred, "and still fall without ever seeing the blade that kills you."

Aeron wiped sweat from his brow. "You mean my enemies."

Varek’s expression darkened. "No. Your enemies you’ll watch for. You’ll expect their strike. But the real danger..." He stepped closer, lowering his voice, "...will come from those you call your friends."

Aeron frowned. "That’s..."

"That’s the truth," Varek said. "The ones closest to you will know your weaknesses. They’ll know when to strike, and you won’t guard against it. Watch your enemies, Aeron, but watch your friends more."

It wasn’t just his body Varek was training. It was his mind. Every conversation had a lesson, every duel carried with it a layer of strategy, politics, deception, to know who was for him or against him... To understand how the palace and the world outside of Varnmoor worked as a whole.

"..."

Meanwhile, the royal house had not forgotten him.

They had been sending letters at First, politely, inviting Aeron to step inside the palace walls. When those went unanswered, more came, more insistent. And when those, too, were refused, messengers began to appear, asking for an audience.

Every time, Aeron found an excuse. A sudden illness. An urgent training session. A wound that needed rest.

And every time, Nyella stood by him.

"It’s not time yet," she would say. "The moment you walk through those gates, you’re theirs. They’ll weigh every word you say, every move you make. You have to be ready."

Varek didn’t like it though. "What if they become tired of waiting? What if they send someone here not with an invitation, but with a blade?"

Nyella would look at him. "If they make a move, I’ll know. And when I know, you’ll know. Until then, intensify the training.."

One day Aeron was training with Varek in the Forest alone... They now used swords to spar against each other, and Aeron could attempt to hold off Varek for some minutes, even though Varek acknowledged him and would tell him that he was improving, but still no match. Aeron would try harder to at least make an attempt, but no. he still had a long way to go.

As they were sparring against each other, they began to smell smoke.

It wasn’t the faint smell of a campfire, this was thicker.

Varek looked confused. "Do you smell that?"

Before Aeron could answer, a dense wall of black smoke rolled through the trees, moving like a living thing. It moved fast and was coming straight for them.

Varek stretched his hand and motioned to Aeron to get behind him as they kept moving backwards slowly.

Just then, they saw 3 men fully covered in red cloaks from head to toe, coming out of the smoke and heading towards them.

Varek’s voice dropped. "Impossible... The Ashantis."

"The what?" Aeron’s voice was tight.

"Stay by my side. No matter what happens, do not try to fight them. Do you hear me?"

Aeron didn’t understand why Varek’s tone had changed or what he meant.

The men didn’t wait. They moved forward in unison, with a smooth movement that was almost inhuman. Varek stepped into their midst and began fighting them. The sound of metal on metal rang through the forest.

Aeron watched in shock. These men fought like Varek... But no, they were faster. Sharper. They struck from angles Aeron had never seen, each blow would be a kill if not blocked in time.

Varek was holding them off but barely, three against one. He would spin his sword, twist his body, duck, and strike, but they were at an advantage. Aeron squeezed his hand tight. He couldn’t just stand there as he had seen they were too much for him to handle alone.

He moved.

He remembered what Varek had told him about staying off, but the fight was already coming too close to him. Aeron cut into the path of one attacker and forced him away from Varek.

The man’s sword hit Aeron’s so hard that it made his arm shake. He just managed to block the next strike, and then another. His hand was starting to slip, but his opponent didn’t slow down.

Suddenly, the blade cut his left arm. He stumbled back and barely held the wound as his vision went blurry for a moment.

Varek saw the blood and pushed away from the two enemies in front of him and struck Aeron’s attacker with a hard blow that made him stumble back. Now all three fighters were on Varek again, and they attacked even harder, sensing he was hurt.

The fight turned wild. Blades flashed from all sides. Varek blocked high, ducked low, kicked one enemy back, got cut on his side, spun around, and hit another in the shoulder, but they kept coming.

Blood covered his shirt, on his back, arms, and legs. He stumbled, fell to one knee, but forced himself up, and continued fighting.

Aeron saw that and was very scared. This wasn’t a fight anymore, it was Varek getting torn apart bit by bit.

"Where are you, Draco...?" he whispered.