Chapter 410: Teller

Chapter 410: Teller

Crowe went through the rules at the edge of Yard Two before the match, the way he had for everyone.

"Controlled touch to the plate wins," he said. He tapped the white plate sewn across the chest of Jin’s padded vest, then Teller’s.

"Weapon or beast. A beast’s touch counts if it’s controlled. A talon, a nose, a horn tip. Not a body hit. Anyone or anything that knocks a student over is a foul, and I’ll stop it."

He looked at Flicker on Jin’s arm.

"Fire at the bear only. Light. None at either of you. Nothing heavy." He knew about the Lance. Jin had told him, because he’d thought Crowe should know. "And no breath from the drake."

"Understood."

"Teller?"

"Understood," Bram said.

He stood on the far side of the yard with the bear beside him. Up close, in the afternoon light, the Slatehide Bear was even bigger than Jin remembered: slate-grey, heavy-shouldered, its back and shoulders plated in thick, overlapping hide.

It looked at Glitch the way Glitch looked at it, with interest and no fear at all.

[Slatehide Bear]

[Quality: Gold (Low)]

[Combat Rank: 2 — 4-Star]

Bram held the short practice blade loose in his right hand. He nodded at Jin, and Jin nodded back. Crowe blew the whistle. Bram came at him straight away. He didn’t wait to see what Jin would do. He walked across the sand at a quick, even pace, blade low, while the bear went at Glitch.

Jin ran toward the left end of the nearest barrier block. When Bram lunged along that line, Jin used Crosswind Turn to cut outward, away from the stone. The gust snapped. He cut sideways off the attack line, clean, fast and exactly as he’d practised. He came down on his back foot with the spear round.

He finished in the open sand beyond the block’s end. The stone had ruled out a turn to the other side; he had chosen the one escape route Bram could expect.

Bram was already there. He hadn’t chased the turn. He’d watched Jin’s run, seen where it was taking him, and gone there. As Jin landed, the practice blade came in at his chest plate from the side.

Jin got the spear shaft across it with nothing to spare, and Bram stepped inside the point. Jin drew the shaft back, but the block left him little room to recover its reach.

No. No, no—

Glitch hit the bear and turned. He’d been holding the bear in the middle of the yard. Through the bond, Jin felt him feel Jin’s alarm, and break off. He shouldered the bear hard to make room and came across the sand toward Jin, three heavy strides. That was enough. Bram saw the drake coming and stepped back out of its path. Jin backed away behind the barrier block.

The plate was untouched, but the escape had cost them ground. Glitch was out of position now, near Jin and away from the middle, and the bear had the middle of the yard to itself. It was already coming.

Jin’s heart was going so hard he could feel it in his teeth.

He saw where I’d land. He saw it before I did.

That was the thing Crowe had told him on the first day. It was the thing Lucian had told him on Monday: you get away, and then you’re watching your feet.

Getting off Bram’s first line had never been the hard part. Bram could see the second one too.

I need to give him something else to defend.

The next three minutes were hard work. The bear was quick, much quicker in its short lunges than anything that size had a right to be. Twice, a checked forepaw strike made Glitch give ground even through Harden.

Glitch was stronger than he’d been a fortnight ago, and he could hold it, but he couldn’t push it back. It was a Star stronger, and it knew how to use its weight.

But it was slow to turn. Jin saw that the third time. When Glitch went round its flank, it came round after him in a wide, heavy arc. Glitch could reset his feet before it had finished following him.

Flicker was in the air above them all, and Jin used her. She put restrained Ember Shots against the thick plating on the bear’s outer shoulder. The fire dispersed across the hide. The bear could withstand it, but it still tracked her when she came around again.

They made it turn toward her or shift its weight, and each adjustment let Glitch work a little farther around its side. Bram saw that too. He called the bear back toward him twice, to cover his left. Each time, the bear left Glitch and came back to its tamer, which meant Jin couldn’t get anywhere near him.

Once, Jin tried to push past. He came round the barrier block and thrust the spear shaft at Bram’s shoulder, to shove him off his line. He checked the movement before it could become a strike, expecting Bram to give a step.

Bram didn’t even move. He planted his feet, and something in the ground under him seemed to set, like a post sinking into concrete. The spear shaft hit his shoulder and stopped dead.

The shock of it went all the way up Jin’s arms. Bram smiled slightly and stepped back.

His talent, Jin thought. He braces. He can take a hit.

He tried Gravity Press once, at the edge of the block where Bram was stepping. Bram checked his step before committing his weight, then circled the fixed patch. He’d seen it before.

By the fourth minute, Jin had stopped trying to get around the bear before it could return. Bram called it back as soon as he felt exposed. Jin needed it occupied when that call came.

He moved behind the nearest block and glanced at Flicker. She was circling beyond Bram’s right shoulder. Glitch stood left of the bear, with open sand for a short rush.

Turn it. Stay with it.

He sent the intention through the bond and began moving along the block’s edge. The stone kept Bram from closing directly, but Jin could still see his shoulders above it.

Glitch used Draconic Dread in a brief burst. The bear checked its advance, ears flattening. Faultline Rush carried the drake into its left shoulder while its weight was unsettled. The impact turned it partly away from Bram.

It recovered quickly. Glitch stopped his rush and braced beside it, pressing close enough that it had to turn toward him before it could get around his body. He couldn’t hold it there for long.

Flicker was already descending. She came from Bram’s right, feet extended for a light scoring touch. No fire, no full-speed impact. He had seen her change line too sharply to dismiss the approach, and his bear was still occupied.

Bram turned his blade toward her while taking a step back. He wasn’t forgetting Jin. The step kept both threats ahead of him for a moment. Jin ran past the end of the block on an oblique line toward Bram’s left. He could see the open sand beyond that shoulder, and he had room to bring the spear across without crossing Flicker’s flight.

Bram started to turn his guard back. Flicker checked her descent, then curved toward the edge of his plate. He lifted the blade again to deny her the touch. Jin used Crosswind Turn.

The gust redirected his running line inward, carrying him toward the position he’d chosen beside Bram’s left shoulder. He shortened the next step to catch his weight. The spear came round low, its padded point already rising toward the exposed plate.

Bram saw it and tried to bring the blade across. He was a fraction late. The tip touched the white plate cleanly. Jin checked the thrust as soon as it landed.

Bram’s feet planted for his brace, then relaxed. There was no force to resist; the scoring touch had already been made. Crowe’s whistle went.

"Astor," Crowe said.

The bear finished turning round, saw that everyone had stopped, and sat down heavily in the sand.