Chapter 297: Wait for the Break

Chapter 297: Wait for the Break

The practice burrower was smaller than Spade and considerably less interested in fighting. It followed its handler into the earth bay, accepted a piece of feed, and began digging before she had finished explaining the exercise.

"Movement only," she told Jin. "Keep your beast outside the marked section. Mine won’t attack, and yours won’t touch him."

"Understood."

The tunnel-badger disappeared beneath the surface. Glitch shifted his forefeet, picking up the disturbance through the connected earth.

Jin felt direction through the bond, then a change as the animal turned. He guided Glitch around the outside of the marked section to keep him facing it.

The burrower turned again.

Four minutes later, Glitch had walked most of a circle. The animal hadn’t surfaced once.

Marris watched from the rail. "What are you gaining by following?"

"Not much," Jin admitted.

"Then try staying where you are."

He brought Glitch to a halt. Almost immediately, movement passed behind them, and he had to stop himself giving another command.

I watched six recordings of people doing this. Apparently I needed a turn too.

Tomas Yerrin knew about Tremor Sense. Jin had to assume that much. His matches were public, and Spade’s underground changes already punished opponents who tried to anticipate him from surface disturbance alone.

Jin needed to distinguish an ascent from an ordinary turn, then allow for a badger that would come up faster than this cooperative practice animal.

The handler cued several short passages through the upper part of the bed. Some stayed level. Others rose toward the surface. Glitch remained still while Jin compared the sensations with what he could see.

On an ascent, the disturbance sharpened as it approached the surface. Loose earth lifted a moment later, followed by the animal’s head and shoulders.

But a shallow sideways passage disturbed the surface too. Jin pointed at one such patch, sure he had caught the beginning of an emergence, and the handler shook her head.

"He’s still going across."

"Could you repeat that?" Jin asked.

She did. This time he noticed the continuing lateral movement beneath the lifting earth.

The signal wasn’t a picture. He could feel Glitch registering changes, but turning those impressions into a decision took attention. Guessing filled the gaps quickly and badly.

"Coming up," Jin said on the next pass.

The surface split. The burrower emerged, shook dirt from its ears, and looked for its reward.

Marris rested her forearms on the rail. "What did you use?"

"The rise through the ground, then the first break. Together."

"And if he comes up behind you?"

"I defend. I can’t Rush until Glitch is facing the line." Jin looked across the bay. "And I can’t take an opening too close to the boundary."

"Good. Don’t decide you must use it just because you practiced it."

"Spade will be quicker," Jin said. "And he won’t come up just because I’m ready."

"No," Marris agreed. "You need to make him want to."

Jin glanced toward the far end of the bay, where Yerrin would have stood in a match. Advancing on the tamer might draw his beast back. He would have to keep Glitch clear of the holes while he tried it.

They repeated the observation until Jin could let a sideways turn pass without moving Glitch. The handler then brought her animal out and led it from the bay.

Only after it was safely gone did the staff wheel in the padded target.

The target rose from a shallow recess on a signal. It could imitate a position and a delay, but not Spade’s speed or the choices Yerrin would make.

Jin marked a short approach with plenty of clear ground beyond it. Glitch walked the route first, stopped, and returned. Then they tried Faultline Rush.

Jin called too soon. Glitch crossed the recess before the pad had risen, skidded to a halt inside the stopping zone, and looked back at him.

"My fault."

The second attempt caught the target high, as Glitch’s burst was ending. Better, but Jin didn’t like how far his weight carried him past it.

They rested, checked his foreleg, and moved the starting mark slightly. On the third repetition he struck cleanly, braked, and turned back toward the pad without stumbling.

"That’ll do," Marris said.

Jin glanced at the target. He wanted another successful attempt to hold in his head instead of the two awkward ones.

Then Glitch rolled his shoulder, settling after the effort, and Jin remembered the medic’s instructions.

"Yeah. We’re done."

They walked out slowly. His plan still depended on Spade offering the right distance and angle. At least now he knew which openings he would have to leave alone.

The medic checked Glitch after supper and signed his clearance. Jin photographed the sheet before handing it to the team staff, then checked that the image was legible.

At nine, Marris submitted the order.

[Meridian Academy vs Ashfell Institute]

[1. Nessa Yun]

[2. Hollis Dray]

[3. Jin Astor]

[4. Tobias Renn]

[5. Corin Faile]

Nessa stared at the first line. "Opening again."

"You’ve practiced for it," Corin said.

"I’d like to win one this time."

"So would we." He nudged her water toward her. "And you don’t have to run twice as far as the other beast to do it."

Nessa gave him a look, but picked up the glass. She’d spent both preparation days shortening her runner’s routes and recovering its position sooner. Jin had seen enough of the drills to understand why Marris was giving her another chance.

The coach stopped beside him as the others left.

"Third because of the matchup," she said. "If Ashfell keep Yerrin there, you’re our best prepared answer."

"And if they move him?"

"We’ve prepared the others to face him too. Your place isn’t based on one possible opponent." Marris pointed toward his tablet. "Review the alternatives while we wait. We don’t change our order after theirs appears."

The pairings arrived at half past nine.

[Third bout: Jin Astor vs Tomas Yerrin]

Jin read the names, then locked the screen. His stomach tightened despite getting exactly the opponent he wanted.

Right. Tomorrow, then.

A few students remained in the dining hall. Someone had opened a bag of pressed fruit bars, and Bex was trying to persuade Corin that the complex canteen charged different prices at different counters.

Jin took a bar and sat down. He’d already watched enough badger footage for one day.

Dray pulled out the chair opposite him. "Yerrin’s quiet on the floor."

"I noticed."

"Don’t wait for him to announce an attack. You’ll hear very little from him." She broke her fruit bar in half. "But don’t spend the whole bout staring at the earth either. He’s still there."

Jin nodded. That had been the useful part of watching Lucian: remembering the second person on the floor, even when the beast demanded most of his attention.

"Argent ready?" he asked.

"He thinks so. He’s been trying to steal Sledge’s feed."

"Glitch tried the storage bin yesterday."

Dray looked at him over her food. "Did he get it open?"

"Not yet."

"Don’t teach him."

Jin laughed, finished the bar, and stayed until the conversation moved on. When he finally went upstairs, he left the recordings closed.