Freedom of Flight Ch. 03

The moment Alanna's feet were steady beneath her, he released her and stepped back. She blinked, saw his black wings and reacted. She spun and kicked, her foot landing firmly on his chest, ignoring the protests from her body and the slight tearing of stitches as she moved. He grunted as his body was thrust back by the force of her kick and landed on his back painfully. He laid still for a few moments, stunned. Never had he been caught off guard like that and what made it worst was he knew she had been bed ridden for four weeks… yet she could still manage to land him on his back. He wondered again what it would be like to battle her when she was back to her peak. He tilted his head forward and gave Sage a glare as he finally noticed that she had cracked up laughing.

Sage stopped the moment she saw her sister's glare. "Alanna… this is Tarval. He's kind of like my grandsire." Sage introduced as she raced to his side and helped him back to his feet. "Tarval is rare, he has four white feathers. He was created that way and he isn't really classed as Gephalim. Like I said, Gephalim have pure black wings. Michelle has four black feathers but she's not really classed as S'ephalim either. They gave birth to the Nephalim."

He opened his wings slightly and shook them to settle his feathers back into place, showing a few of the white feathers in his wings to prove Sage's story. He was a very handsome man, appearing to be in his early to mid thirties with strong regal features. His green eyes were a shade off being the deep rich colour of emeralds. His straight black hair was slightly long, giving him a rough dangerous look of a mercenary. Like all Gephalim, he was tall, standing at eight feet and was broad across the chest with powerful arms, narrow waist and long powerful legs.

Alanna went to apologise.

He shook his head. "Don't… I startled you, you reacted, it's normal." He told her quickly.

Alanna rubbed her face, she felt a little embarrassed about landing him on his arse for no reason other than the fact that his wings were black… well, mostly black… but how was she to know? The white feathers were only obvious when he opened his wings. Her mother had taught her not to judge a person by their race and she had over-reacted.

He smiled at her, making him seem even younger in her eyes, a dimple appeared in his left cheek and his eyes sparkled in friendly curiosity. "Any good with a sword?" He asked, not denying his excitement anymore.

Alanna smirked. "I beat Sage all the time."

Sage gently slapped her sister. "Only because I let you."

"Bullshit." Alanna retorted, amused.

He chuckled and stepped aside to let them go, realizing that he has been forgotten in the ongoing banter. Only when he was sure they were far enough away did he rub the spot her foot had landed. Never had he been dropped on his arse like that before but he liked the way she had reacted. He knew, when recovered, she would be as deadly as she was beautiful; a dangerous combination.

****

A week later when the last of Alanna's wounds had finally healed, she started to re-train to get her body back to the peak it was before her month of enforced rest. She couldn't feel safe and sure of herself until she could protect herself. Ever since her mother had started teaching her to be self reliant and to protect herself, she never felt right not working on improving her fighting. Sage joined her sister in long runs around the keep, rock climbing and sparing.

"How wide is that part of the natural wall?" Alanna asked, a month after her wounds had healed, pointing to a section of wall that ringed the large pool of water that fed the farms and the community. Alanna wanted to test her balance and that rim looked perfect for her purpose.

"About six inches. Why?" Sage answered before she drank from a water skin that would be slung over her shoulder when she finished.

"Let's go." Alanna said as she ran for the nearest section of wall. Sage rolled her eyes and jumped into the air. She grabbed Alanna and dragged her into the air and taking her up to the wall's rim. The wall's rim had been squared off so that people could land and perch on the rim to scout.

Alanna tested the surface beneath her feet; it was firm and stable with little to no debris to muddle their footings. Sage landed and together they drew their swords. They had been found by many people standing on roof beams, wood posts and narrow walkways so this was normal for them. But this would be a first for both of them as people would be able to watch them.

They started to duel, slowly at first to make sure they had their arena mapped in their minds. Their mother's first rule when it came to battle; know and be aware of the ground you fight on, was strong in their minds. When they were confident in their footings and the area around them, they started to move with speed and strength. People drawn by the clash of steel stopped what they were doing to watch the two fighters. Alanna and Sage had always been careful to keep their duels quiet, no witnesses. Even though they had been found, they had always stopped before people could see their skills. It wasn't because they didn't like to show off their skills, it was because Sage didn't want her people to see Alanna fight, not while she was still recovering. She had been afraid that people would judge her sister unfairly, not taking into account her injuries or the fact she was not at her best. It didn't matter now, she was back to her best.

Those with wings circled around the two fighters, keeping their distance so as not to distract them from their deadly dance. Tarval and Dominic quickly joined the watchers. Alanna and Sage's moves were well practised but it didn't allow for the two fighters to truly fight; they knew how each other moved, knew how to counter each other, a work out but no real challenge.

"You take Alanna, I'll take my daughter. Let's see just how good a teacher Amy and Rhiannon have been." He told Tarval who nodded in agreement. He had been wanting to see if his first impression of her was correct, as deadly as she was beautiful. Judging by the dance he's watching, it should be a resounding yes. He couldn't wait to test it himself. They both moved from their vantage spots in the wheeling circle, flying carefully into the ring and landed behind their opponents.

Alanna and Sage turned with their swords cutting fast arches as they had felt a person land behind them. Tarval jumped back to avoid the deadly swing as Dominic blocked.

Alanna advanced on Tarval, her sword moving rapidly, almost dancing in the air before him. He could only block or dodge, the narrow wall adding difficultly to his stance and balance. Alanna, when realizing this, backed off for a moment, giving him time to find his feet. He gave her an appreciative look, he was well known for his skills with a blade and was considered by all to be their species best sword master. Loosing to her quickly because he couldn't find his feet would get him teased for months.

Dominic was having no luck with his footings as his daughter's smaller frame and quick movements had him on the back foot to begin with. He could only block his daughter's furious moves and hope that he could figure out a way not to disgrace himself.

Tarval found his feet and took a stance indicating he was ready. Alanna smirked and moved in a blur of movement, her sword clashed with his, sending it away from his body and leaving his guard open for her attack. Immediately after she had opened his guard, she twisted her body using her sword as a counter balance. She kicked him in the stomach, going with the spin of her body as her foot landed on the rim and she was back in a fighting stance. He went flying back as she completed her movement. Only a quick beat of his wings saved him from tumbling down the wall and into the lake. Another beat had his body stabilised and a third put some distance between him and her so he that could take his feet again.

She smirked again and followed. So she can mix disciplines... what a combination, he thought admiringly. It had taken her years to learn how to mix martial arts in with fencing; the two fighting styles didn't normally work well together but she had made it work. Her mother had helped as they both found mixing skills helped to cover up flaws in those skills.

Dominic finally found a way to move and started to attack. Sage dodged and attacked his every move. She swapped hands from her dominant right to her left, she then rubbed her free hand on her thigh to dry it. He took it as a sign of weakness. He attacked but his daughter's sword was everywhere his sword was, blocking his attacks and countering with a few of her own. He now knew what Amy had been teaching his daughter. Her fighting style was still very much influenced by her Nephalim heritage but she had been teaching her how to fight as well with both hands, a talent which was rare but useful.

Sage smirked, seeing that her father realized her ambidexterity and started a fast series of movements that forced him back.

Alanna stalked Tarval for long moments as he backed away, hoping to find a wider part to the wall. She finally decided to attack again and swapped hands before attacking. He ducked a wicked swing, then had to jump to prevent being tripped. She smirked and waited. He took a deep breath and attacked without mercy.

Sage kept hacking; the moment her father was happy with his defence, she shifted her feet and her grip, creating a beautiful swirling arch before her sword came to rest against his neck. She panted slightly and smiled when her father admitted defeat. She removed her sword and turned to watch her sister. They both got air born to get out of the way as Alanna was forced back by Tarval's moves.

Tarval was beginning to get worried. Never had he met and fought an equal opponent before. Oh, he had fought Rhiannon and Vivian but their wins were always due to luck, not true skill like her. He was known among the Gephalim for his battle skills as the best. He got monthly letters from the other lords who wished for him to train their new batch of warriors. She was his match; she was all speed and skill with a fighting style he had never seen before but he recognised some moves as belonging to Rhiannon and a few more which belonged to Vivian.

She was completely focused on him and like Tarval, also starting to worry although no one would have seen it by the way she fought. He was good, having met some of her best moves with unknown skill. Her sword never stopped moving, looking for that one piece of weakness that would allow her victory. She never allowed herself to loose, more so when she was battling a man.

But as they continued fighting, she could find no weakness in his defence and he found no weakness in hers. He stepped back and raised his hands. "Enough, Alanna. Shall we call it a draw?" He asked, breathing heavily.

She thought for a moment then nodded, also trying to catch her breath. "Draw."

He sheathed his sword and rubbed his forearm as it had cramped, the battle had lasted a good half an hour and it was a mean duel. She sheathed her sword and glanced down to the pool of water, wanting to cool off.

"How deep is it?" She asked.

"No one has found the bottom, why?" He replied.

She gave a quick, cocky smile and jumped forward. His wings opened by reflex, ready to go and catch her but noticed she had turned into a dive. She splashed into the water. Everyone waited for her to resurface. She did and shook her hair out of her face as it had come free. He didn't know it but he had been holding his breath until seeing her black head bobbing around the pool. Sage smiled and closed her wings to dive into the water. Others joined them, wanting to cool off after watching the exciting duels.

Dominic stood next to Tarval. "If you ask nicely, I bet she might teach you to swim." He knew he was teasing Tarval but he couldn't help it. Watching Alanna and Tarval fight was like watching two great artists paint; pure art that seemed more like dancing than an actual battle, they were well-matched in more ways than just battle.

"Do you know how many times I came close to loosing that battle?" He asked, wanting to change the subject. He knew it was irrational to fear water, to fear drowning as he was immortal but he couldn't help it. And to date, no one had pushed hard enough for him to overcome his fear.

Dominic shook his head, knowing Tarval was changing the subject but allowing him to do so.

"18 times. Her sword nearly had me 18 times." He answered wonderingly.

Dominic shrugged and jumped off the wall and into the water. Tarval gave the swimming people a wistful look. He knew the lake would be icy cold as it received little to no sunlight to warm the water and was fed by an underground river from the ice capped mountains, a nice way to beat the heat. He took to the skies and flew away without noticing that Alanna was watching him with curiosity.

****

Tarval found Alanna in the library the next day. He smiled and leant on the table, "Interesting book?"

"Not really, but Sage says she's read it." She glanced up, meeting his eyes. For some reason, she didn't feel all that uncomfortable around this man so didn't mind him being here with her.

"Dominic would have insisted. It is a history of Nephalim wars. One day… although I don't know how, he is going to hand his post to her. He is going to find a way to die so he can try to find his Bianca." He pulled a chair up to join her.

"I don't understand."

"Neither do I… most of the time." He shook his head, "I have never experienced the bond he had with Bianca so I cannot sympathise with him, though I wish I could. It might help me get through to him… that his death is not the answer he is looking for."

"But why must he find a way to die? Surely it's a simple matter." She asked, confused.

He chuckled in a friendly manner, "Sadly… or luckily as this case might be, it is not that simple. The gods made the Nephalim war lords immortal in the true sense of the word. The Gephalim lords, the first twelve, were all the same as were the first S'ephalim. Only the gods made their spawn false immortals to keep our numbers down." He explained.

"False?" She asked, not understanding how there can be false immortals.

"Yes, false. They will live forever unless killed. True immortals, like your mother since she's an ancient, cannot be killed. They can be hacked into a billion pieces but those billion pieces will pull back together and they will continue to be." He explained.

"Am I immortal or am I a false immortal?" She asked.

He shrugged, not knowing much about Were or their abilities. He was embarrassed to admit that he had never taken the time to learn even when Bianca was here or after Sage's birth. "I don't know... what do your people say?"

She shrugged, "They deem me immortal but I never knew there were shades of immortality."

He frowned as he thought there was one way of knowing, "Okay, there is a way of knowing. Have you ever survived something that should have unequivocally killed you?" He asked trying to sound light hearted, never in a million years did he think that there was a yes to that question but it was worth a shot.

She thought for a moment. Gus had tried to kill her several times but the worst she had ever been hurt was when she had tried to take her own life. She had managed to run away and decided to end it all. She ran to the highest cliff she could find and jumped off. She had felt almost every bone in her body break, including her spine. She even felt her neck break as she landed and her head split open. She remembered not breathing, the heat of the sun baking down on her but she hadn't died, she had even remained aware of everything. It should have killed her but an hour later, she could move again, albeit with limited success, and breathe although she had to remember how to breathe. Gus had found her laying there an hour after she could breathe again, alive and with what seemed to him to be very minor wounds. He dragged her back to his home, locked her up in a small cage and left her alone to finish healing. He then mocked her for months about not even being able to kill herself right.

She felt her muscles tense, "Yes," she answered softly, still lost in the memory.

He was truly shocked that she had even had an experience that had almost led to her death. He saw the way she had tensed and realised that he was stepping on very dangerous ground. He wished he knew more about her so that he wouldn't bungle so badly. "How?" he asked gently, knowing that this was not going to be nice but needed to know how she could be so certain.

"Broke my neck and cracked my head open, I couldn't move or breathe, I should have died but I didn't. Nothing G-… he did could kill me and he tried many times." She closed the book and returned it to its spot. "Excuse me." She said as she was getting uncomfortable talking to him about her ex-mate and her life with him.

As she started to leave, he reached out and touched her hand. She tensed even further so he snatched back his hand. He didn't understand his body's reaction to her, the need to touch her, to comfort her but more than that, he didn't understand why she had tensed at his touch. He had done nothing to hurt her or for her to distrust him so.

"I'm sorry… I didn't mean to bring up bad memories." He put his hands behind his back to keep from touching her again.

She closed her eyes and shook her head slightly, "You didn't know."

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"I don't like to talk about that time." She said through gritted teeth, hoping he would back off.

"Ok." He stood, acknowledging her silent message and brushed pass her to leave her in peace.

She suddenly felt like she had done something wrong and raced out after him. "Tarval." He paused and turned to her. She took a deep breath, "Sorry, it's just…"

He shook his head and gently stroked her cheek using the very tips of his fingers, again the need to touch her was there but this time he made the touch feather light and fleeting. His hand dropped back down to his side once the brief contact had been made. "It's okay, seriously." He watched her for a moment. "I want to get to know you and to be your friend Alanna."

She shifted uneasily; she wasn't sure about friendship with him as she didn't trust men. From what she had seen and experienced, men didn't want friendship. They wanted sex and she neither wanted nor desired anything to do with it ever again.

"No strings. I just want to be a friend." He tried again reassuringly, trying to think of a way to convince her that he was a good guy but he couldn't. He didn't even know why he wanted to befriend her so much, only that he did.

She thought for several moments, she sighed regretfully and answered honestly. "I don't know, I trust very few people, Tarval… that's just who I am." She said and then walked off.

He shrugged to himself and walked fast to join her. "Well, I can keep on trying to be your friend even if you won't admit it."

They walked out of the keep in companionable silence until Alanna broke the silence. "So why aren't you lording it over your men and stuff?"

He answered ruefully. "I don't lead men since I don't have a keep so no men to boss around. I gave my keep to Dominic when he was old enough and my men went to Paul and Peter. That is why I have permanent chambers here. Because this is my home and Dominic would never deny me that."

She frowned as she suddenly remembered their previous conversation. "Why does Dominic want to die?"

He sighed and they sat beneath a tree to get out of the heat. "Dominic's and Bianca's love was deep, so deep that he feels as if a part of his soul went with Bianca into the afterlife. He wants to die in order to join her."