***
“Are there any pointers you can give?” Connor asked Jack.
“Only that you keep a clear and focused mind.” Jack walked over and picked up Haunt from where he stood it up in the ground. He slung it over his shoulder and walked away from the group.
Connor followed him after giving his princess a smile. When Jack stopped he did as well and took Tool out of his belt. “I’m ready!” Connor said, but apparently he wasn’t.
Jack held the metal club in his right while he made fire with his left. He rubbed his left hand over the smooth surface of Haunt and created a flaming metal club. Connor stood frozen in cautious fear as Jack dashed directly at him. Connor moved instinctively, just in time before Jack jumped in the air and yelled as he struck the ground where Connor stood a moment ago. As he pulled his club out of the ground Connor noticed how deep he hit. The strike held absolutely nothing back. What was left behind was a smoking crater two feet deep in the stony ground. Connor would have died if that connected. He looked back at Jack in shock. “Connor, I told you to focus. As a warrior you know to never take your eyes off the enemy.” Jack said while Haunt remained aflame.
Taking a few breaths Connor finally found his voice. “Now I’m ready!”
This time he ran directly at Jack who stood over one hundred feet away. Connor focused as he ran directly at Jack as Tool jumped to the other hand. Connor encased the handle with an invisible fist of Pressure. Thirty feet away he released Tool from his grip, but the invisible fist held the handle and matched the set pace. As he saw Jack’s eyes widen Connor used the Pressure to throw Tool directly at him.
As Tool launched from his side it was intercepted with a heavy blow from Haunt. Connor then gathered his own fire to encase his palms. Jack continued to spin and Connor braced himself for the next daring move.
As Jack spun using the weight of Haunt in a circular arc Connor raised his flame encased hands. Jack recognized too late what he planned as Connor caught the head of the flaming metal club with both of his large hands. His hands went instantly numb from the tremendous impact, but they stopped the immense force and he only slid back a foot. Connor then focused on his forearm and made a flame shield to suck in all of the flames from his opponent’s flaming weapon.
Jack tried to kick him away, but couldn’t as Connor held Haunt, turned his back and with both hands over his head, gripped Haunt tighter between his hands. With all of the strength at his disposal Connor threw Jack up and over his head. He expected to flatten Jack on his back, but just before his backside hit the ground Jack twisted in midair, yanking his weapon out of Connor’s grip. The flame absorption hadn’t been completed as Jack swept Connor’s legs out from under him with Haunt.
“That was some slick movements.” Jack said casually as he put out the remaining flames that lit Connor’s pants. Unfortunately Connor ended up on his back. His heart kept drumming from the excitement. “How do you feel?”
“Numb!” Connor smiled at him and started laughing. Not only were his arms numb, but now his legs were as well.
“Connor, are you hurt?” Sarah thought worriedly.
He turned his head to see her standing and staring at him from the shade. “I’m fine; only a little desensitized at the moment. I will be better after a rest.”
“Good. Come over here and rest for a few minutes out of the sun.” She sat down and tapped the ground next to her.
As he struggled to stand and not show them how he really felt, Jack tossed him his weapon back. “Give this to Sarah. She needs some practice as well.”
Walking slowly Connor finally sat down in the shade next to Sarah. “You’re up next for a sparring lesson.” He handed her Tool and before she left she kissed his cheek. Connor smiled as he leaned against the trunk of the shade tree and sank to the ground from exhaustion and numbness.
“I think I should be the one to spar with her. You know, keep things even!” Jillian announced to her mate. She stood up and took Haunt from Jack. Jillian doused Haunt’s remaining flames as she picked it up. Jack smiled at her. If Connor didn’t know Jillian wasn’t a Balancer he would swear it would be impossible for a woman of Jillian’s size to swing that solid metal club with one hand as one would a small stick. Jillian spun and flipped Haunt like it was nearly weightless.
As Jack came and sat over next to his sparring partner he answered his astonished expression. “What? You thought Jillian couldn’t fight or is it that how she’s able to use my weapon?”
“Both actually!” Connor said, brutally honest.
He snickered. “Son, as old as Jillian and I are, we have been through many scrapes in our lives. Sometimes I couldn’t be around to protect her. I have a short story you should know about my mate.” Connor listened carefully to the story.
“About five hundred years ago or so when Pearl was at the age of a young teenager and Amber was an infant, I was out hunting during the winter. In those days I could be away for weeks on end, searching for our next sustainable meal, but I never came home empty handed. Nor did I let my family starve.
“One day, a band of thieves and rapists tried to hurt my family. Jillian was alone, nursing Amber at the time they broke down the front door. They saw only one nursing mother, not an enraged Balancer. They thought they’d found a prime target, but it proved to be a fatal assumption. She used my weapon to kill two of them in a second. She then used her water ability to drown the rest of them by forcing water down into their lungs. They didn’t stand a chance.
“No one in our village knew what happened to those men because I returned in time to dispose of the bodies, but we got word that since they left, our community had blossomed without fear of the band looming nearby. We had to leave soon after, just incase we might have been suspected to have done something beyond human understanding.
“Connor, so you can see that even when Jillian was unprepared, she was easily able to take care of five full grown men all by herself. Her frail femininity is just a disguise.” Jack finished and pointed to the spectacle about to unfold.
“Just watch and see for yourself.”
Jillian raised her left hand straight in the air while the club rested gingerly on her right shoulder. With her raised palm, Jillian made a beach ball sized water orb. She then dropped it on her head, soaking every part of her. “That’s why she wore her bathing suit.” Now dripping wet, she charged at Sarah.
Sarah stood still and relaxed while holding Tool tightly in her right hand.
Just before Jillian swung her weapon at the side of Sarah’s head, Sarah dove between Jillian’s legs. Sarah rotated and tried to grab her mother’s hair, but Jillian bent forward and kicked backwards and straight up, missing Sarah’s jaw by an inch. Sarah jumped away and as she did, she threw Tool at her mom’s unguarded back. Jillian moved to the side, clearly avoiding Tool and swung Haunt in Sarah’s direction and let go.
Sarah ducked as the heavy weapon arched past her head. Sarah grabbed a handful of dirt and threw it at Jillian as a distraction. Some sand landed in her eyes and she didn’t scream, but it didn’t stay for long. Jillian collected the water that clung to her body and used it to flush the sand out of her eyes.
It was enough time for Sarah to get in close though.
As Jillian was finally able to open her eyes two seconds later, she realized that Sarah stood before her with the sharp hatchet side of Tool close to her throat. Sarah smiled at Jillian and said loud enough for Connor to hear “I win this round, Mother.”
Her mom smiled back innocently. “More like a stalemate!” Sarah looked confused. “Look at your chest!” She looked down. Wrapped around Sarah’s chest was what looked like a lasso of water and the end of the water rope encased Jillian’s free hand. Then both girls started laughing.
The girls walked back to their mate’s and sat down. And Connor had to ask “Princess, how was that considered a stalemate? All she had was a funnel of water across your chest.”
“Oh, that’s because if Mother wanted to, she could i
nstantly tighten the rope. She could kill me with enough force to crush my entire upper body with one pull.” She explained in a light tone.
After a short break they all took turns fighting for the rest of the day. Jack beat Connor badly. Connor barely managed to win six matches to Jack’s twenty three. Sarah lost to Jillian as well with a score of nine to twenty two.
Sarah and Connor came to the same spot everyday for the next week to train and work on bettering their winning odds against their elders.
During the night Connor started building a new project at their cottage.
The day before graduation Connor finally became strong and skilled enough to win a total of forty three wins to Jack’s forty two. Sarah finally surpassed Jillian with a score of nineteen to seventeen. And most of her wins were close calls.
They only made the winning numbers because they had a wider variety of elements at their disposal compared to their two elders. That night Sarah and Connor celebrated their win with the new outside brick barbecue that he built. They invited her parents over along with Jenny, Kara and Mark joined in as well.
When all of the food was cooked everyone ate at the dinner table and talked about anything and nothing. They laughed when Kara said something that popped in her head. “Wow you and your sister sure eat a lot! Aren’t you afraid of getting fat?” Kara said while looking at Sarah.
After Jillian could breathe again she answered for a mortified Sarah. “We have to eat because we have very fast metabolisms.” And Kara dropped the subject, but Mark glanced at the four of them oddly.
As everything settled down Jenny stood up and put the dishes in the sink. She then told Connor “Your Cap and Gown came in this morning. I though you would like to try them on before tomorrow. And the special package also arrived.”
“That’s right!” He hugged her. “Thanks, Mom.” Connor looked down at his in-laws and asked politely “Will you be coming as well?”
“Of course we will. You’re family now!” Jack answered with a wave of his fork and a childish grin.