Chương 35: The Oathrunner vs. The Pale Death

The Pale Death

"Are... they truly sparring?!"

"Should we not tell someone about this?"

"Who? The Marshal is the one sparring!" The hall thundered with the voices of the trainees. Most of them leaned forward in anticipation, while the others looked at each other, uncertain whether to cheer or stay quiet. Tommen was now on one of the circular platforms, one hand on his hip.

"Come now, pretty lord." He pointed at Enel, the scarf on his wrist flowing with the wind.

"We cannot keep the audience waiting any further, no?"

"Must... we spar here?" Enel looked around, slightly uncomfortable with all the eyes on him. He was used to being watched and stared at—but for some reason, when it was people his age, he felt a little...

"Oh, don't be shy," Tommen smirked at him.

"I am not."

"Then come." Tommen spread his arms wide.

"You are not going to make a lady wait, are you?" Tiny's lips slightly parted upon hearing that. He turned to Guinevere, but she didn't seem to have any reaction at all to what Tommen said. Enel gazed down for a moment, then finally stepped into the circle. He stood opposite Tommen, who was now waving his hands around him, letting the scarves dance. Roger moved to the side of the platform, his eyes switching back and forth between Enel and Tommen. He sighed at first, as if completely tired of his job.

But when Tommen raised an eyebrow at him, he raised his hand.

"Positions!" Enel turned his body to its side, moving the hilt of his sword away from Tommen. His other hand was slightly raised toward his opponent. As for Tommen, he slowly crouched down, his scarves soon touching the floor. But he didn't stop there. He raised his hips, and lowered his chin until it was almost on the ground, and his arms stretched forward and laying on the marble. The tips of his fingers, almost clawing the floor. Roger continued to look at them, then finally swung his hand down.

To Tiny's surprise, Enel was the first to move. To most of the hall, it must have looked as if he had disappeared and left only a trail of dust.

"What?!" Some of the trainees stood up.

"He's there!" Enel was now standing where Tommen was. But Tommen was also nowhere to be seen—no. He was right there, beside Enel. He turned aside at the last possible breath, his coat fluttering as Enel's hand passed through the air where his hips had been. His feet barely seemed to touch the ground. Enel moved, but Tommen just bowed under his arm, slipping around him like a leaf on water. Enel stopped and turned. For a moment, his eyes narrowed... he'd seen something like this before.

It was a little more brash, but he was sure of it. Even with her axe, his mother moved like this. Like water, dancing through force, not against it. But Tommen Uller did not dance the way Mira did. He didn't simply move through the force...... he made the force move around him. Enel reached again. And Tommen spun under his arm again, tapped two fingers against Enel's elbow, and drifted away with the scarf still fluttering from his wrist.

"Good," Tommen said.

"Again." Enel tried to move more carefully this time. His hand came slower, then changed direction halfway. Tommen smiled and stepped onto Enel's outstretched wrist as if it were a stair. The room gasped, and they all watched as Tommen tiptoed on the back of Enel's hand. He balanced there lightly, one boot on Enel's arm, the scarf hanging just above Enel's fingers.

"You have wonderful posture," Tommen said. Enel blinked up at him. Then Tommen stepped off before Enel could move his hand, landing behind him without a sound. Tiny's mouth hung open.

"Enel... cannot touch him?" Enel turned again. His breathing had not changed, but his eyes had. He watched Tommen's feet now. His shoulders. The way the scarf moved a breath before the Marshal did. Tommen noticed, and the smile on his face widened.

"You're a cute little monster, are you not?" he said.

"As I thought, you were not trained restraint—because if you were, whoever trained you would not have trained someone like you at all." Enel moved again. This time, Tommen had to bend farther than before. Enel's fingers brushed the loose end of the scarf, missing it by less than an inch. The trainees' gasps echoed. But just Tommen softly landed near the edge of the circle.

"Very good," he said.

"But I know you have more in you, pretty lord. Let loose. Use all of your strength that is hiding behind those delectable arms of yours." Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"No." Tommen tilted his head.

"No?"

"I promised Mother I would only use all my strength when it is needed. And even then, heed caution."

"Mother?" Tommen raised an eyebrow.

"I knew it. Your mother is Mira Bronzebear."

"You... know of Mother?"

"She came into my tutelage, once upon a time," Tommen smirked.

"I did hear she married into a poor barony. Poor little Mira. Tell me, what Depth does she have now?"

"Fourth."

"Ha!" Tommen covered his lips.

"Training you must have pushed her way beyond her limits. I remember her being... well, ordinary."

"What...?" Enel's eyebrows lowered.

"Are you ready to let loose now, young lord?"

"No. I do not want to hurt you. You are teaching me restraint..." Enel's hands curled.

"This is me practicing it."

"Oho?" Something in Tommen's expression changed then. The playfulness remained, but it became... colder.

"Lord Blackwood," he said, "I am not teaching you right now. But if you insist on learning, then learn this—knowing when not to restrain your strength matters more than knowing when to restrain it."

"Are... they not the same?"

"No. I will show you." Tommen's eyes moved to Tiny.

"Uh... why is he looking at me?" Tommen smiled.

"Because I was told by a bird that the pretty lord is pretty fast." Guinevere's face sharpened.

"Marshal Uller." Tommen did not look at her, but instead turned his focus back to Enel.

"I will kill the little one." Tiny's face went blank.

"Huh?" And before Enel could think whether he was joking or not, Tommen moved. He rushed toward Tiny before anyone could breathe, scarf snapping behind him like a streak of pale red. Guinevere reached for Tiny, but Tommen was already past her. Tommen's sharp nails reached toward Tiny's eyes, but when they were only inches away from digging into them, Enel appeared beside him. And unlike Tommen, Enel did not reach or raise his arm at all. He just moved... toward him, like walking into him, almost.

But that was enough to shake the testing grounds. Everyone gasped and covered their eyes when they saw Tommen's body erupt into bits and pieces, his guts bursting everywhere, and his bones shooting like arrows. Well, at least that was what they thought they saw. The bits and pieces turned into wood. The guts were, too. And the bones shooting like arrows were pieces of metal. The dummy's head bounced against the wall close to some of the trainees, causing them to almost scream at first.

But for one terrible moment, the hall believed Marshal Uller had died. Tiny stood frozen with his arms halfway raised, then his eyes gazed up at Enel, only to see him breathing hard.

"M... M'lord? I... I think I'm alive." Enel's eyes snapped toward Tiny, a deep sigh of relief escaping both of them.

"Good..." he whispered. Then someone clapped slowly from behind him. Enel turned, only to see Tommen a few steps behind him, scarves still around his wrists, though now the ends of them were torn. He continued to clap, then click his tongue several times.

"Messy, messy," he said. Then he faced the trainees, bowing toward them with the utmost grace. The trainees erupted, shouting over each other. Someone laughed out of sheer panic, but most stood up and cheered for Tommen. Soon, however, it was drowned by another.

"Oathrunner... Oathrunner!"

"Did you see how fast he moved?!"

"... Did you?"

"I... I must tell Father about this so he will send wedding proposals!"

"Ack. Not fair!" And while the trainees' words once again filled the air, Enel stared at the shattered dummy in front of him. There was almost nothing left of it that was recognizable, aside from its head. Tommen stepped down from the circle and raised one hand. The chamber quieted slowly, but it did quiet.

"You are not here because you lack restraint... or are weak, Lord Blackwood," Tommen said. Enel looked at him.

"You are here because everyone else is." The words moved through the testing grounds, and even the trainees above seemed to understand enough to stop whispering. Tommen walked toward Enel, slower now.

"Control is not merely holding back your strength," he said.

"A strong man can hold back and still ruin lives by choosing the wrong moment, the wrong target, the wrong... fear. Control is remembering, every breath, that the world is softer than you are. But do you know what the better option is...?"

"... No."

"It is letting people know you are not to be trifled with in the first place." Tommen looked Enel in the eyes.

"If they know that you can crush them with a single finger. If they know you can snap their necks like rotten twigs, none would dare to even try you, pretty lord."

"I... do not want people to fear me."

"Fear you? Oh, sweet child..." Tommen smiled.

"They will revere you."

"I do not want that, either." Enel shook his head.

"I just... want everyone to treat me the same as they treat their friends." Tommen closed his eyes for a moment.

"The realm would always disappoint its young. The testing is concluded!" Roger's eyes widened.

"Marshal, we have not completed—""We have completed the part that matters." Tommen smiled again, and just like that, his cold demeanor vanished.

"The rest can wait until after Lord Blackwood has eaten, bathed, and been properly admired... from a safe distance, of course." Tommen eyed the audience, then clapped once more.

"Now, everyone. Disperse!" Tiny stared at Tommen, still completely weirded out by how quickly his demeanor shifted. But now, knowing that he used to be an assassin... Tiny just decided to keep all of his opinions of Tommen to himself.

"So..." Tommen slightly bowed to Enel.

"Welcome to the Crown's Guild, pretty lord." Enel returned the bow.

"Thank you, Marshal."

"Hhmn. We shall see if you still thank me tomorrow." Tommen turned with a flourish of his coat, snapping his fingers at Roger, who quickly returned his original longer scarf. Roger followed after him, but not before giving Enel one last look before leaving the testing grounds. The moment they disappeared from the testing grounds, the whispering turned into roars.

"What was that?!"

"W-wait. I need to get down there. Oathrunner!"

"Oathrunner. Do you know about House Greenwood?! We are both positioned next to a Veiled forest!"

"Oathrunner!" Enel's eyes widened as he watched some of the trainees jump to the testing grounds. He stood there, frozen like a deer and not knowing what to do. Guinevere stepped beside him.

"Come. We should get you away from them for now." Tiny nodded quickly.

"Yes! I agree... I agree!" Meanwhile, as Enel and the others were making their escape from the testing hall, Marshal Tommen walked gracefully across the hallway outside. His posture remained perfect, even when he turned a corner, nothing seemed wrong.

"Roger," he said. Roger appeared from behind him.

"Marshal?" Tommen opened his mouth to answer, but blood came first. Roger's face changed.

"Marshal?!" Tommen waved him off, then used his long, pale red scarf to wipe his mouth with. The blood spread across the silk, bloody red, before sinking in. But within a breath, the scarf returned to its pale red shade.

"How inelegant," Tommen muttered. Roger stepped closer, taking Tommen's arm and slinging it over his shoulder.

"He reached you...? When?"

"Ugh. Do not make it more dramatic than it looks. I merely died, is all." Tommen smirked.

"What did that old man send to us? I knew I should not have taken this position."

"You have been here for twenty years, Sir," Roger said.

"And you would be hunted and executed if you leave."

"What difference does it make now that that monster is here?" Tommen broke free from Roger and leaned one hand against the wall. He smiled, but the color was slowly draining from his lips.

"And Roger..."

"Yes, Sir?"

"Do not let the boy meet Sigrud...... two Blessed children cannot be in the same room together." And while Tommen was wiping the blood from his chin, Enel and the group were blocked by a young hisker.

"Greetings to you, Lord Blackwood." The hisker bowed, his thick tail wrapped around his waist, purple scales catching the light across the vast hall.

"My name is Sigrud."