Of Maagik, Swords and Crowns (Chapter 7)

Of Maagik, Swords and Crowns (Chapter 7)

CHAPTER 7 – CONNECTIONS

Conrrin and the strange man with the girl had been gone for 10 minutes. They strolled back looking serious, both with frowns on both their faces.

The man strolled up and bowed, still holding the young woman.
“Hello, Zanda and Gwen. May I introduce myself? My name is Vuitton, formerly House de Halda. I can see that my ex-wife’s servant boy is now a grown man, in your company. I noticed his –” he stopped abruptly when Conrrin started to cough. Vuitton looked at him and something passed between them silently. “Well…you’re lucky to have Con with you,” he finished lamely. “He is good with a sword, and has obviously educated you in the way of my former wife, Gucci de Halda.”

Conrrin nodded briefly and swept a bow.
“I’ll go check out the rest of the ship, OK?” he said as Vuitton strolled off.
I shivered. “How did you get with that family?”
“He didn’t use to be like that,” Conrrin replied uneasily.
“OK, enough said, I don’t want to probe into his life; I don’t think I’d enjoy it,” Glifádha said. Conrrin shrugged and moseyed off.

Glifádha and I gazed at the scenery. I was peaceful for a while, til thoughts started to run circles in my head.
What was so special about Conrrin, or Con as Vuitton called him? There had to be something about his childhood that I didn’t know...did he come from somewhere out of the Isles?

I turned to Glifádha and murmured, “Do you know what Conrrin’s up to? Where did he come from?” Glifádha shrugged. “I’m going to find out,” I decided out loud.

Conrrin had disappeared into the cabin and the door was closed. We tiptoed up to it and listened at the door. There was a swishing noise inside. We flung the door open and suddenly we were on the floor with swords pointed to our throats and an urge to lie on our stomachs with our hands on our heads, ready for black bags and concentration camps. I felt Glifádha’s magic build up next to me, if whoever didn’t remove the swords soon, he/she was going to get blown to kingdom come.
“Oops, sorry,” laughed Conrrin lightly. The cold blades were removed and we turned over.
“I was going to blow you up,” Glifádha said shakily, eyebrows steepled with worry. “I got scared! You know what –”
“Yes, sorry,” Conrrin repeated impatiently. “I was just touching up on my skills.” He waved his hand at the sword case. It was velvet lined, and had two indents that fit the swords snugly. The swords themselves were thin, almost rapier-like, but they still had the heaviness that would give speed in a swing. They were to swords what a Stradivarius is to violins.

“Where did you get these?” I asked. “Can’t you tell us anything? I didn’t know you were rich! You could have paid for this really expensive boat!”
“I pitched in for my ticket,” Conrrin said calmly.
“I don’t have much money left!” I cried out. “Who are you?”
The Maagik burst out and filled the room with light. Conrrin stood firm, swords at his side.
“What do you want from me?” he said. I walked towards him, hands tensed like claws, and eyes glowing.
“Tell me everything,” I said quietly.
“Let’s just say I have friends in high places,” he said casually.
“I don’t want to have to beat it out of you,” I said sadly, but warningly. “I’d hate to have you at sword-point every time I wanted to ask you a question.” Conrrin shrugged.
“We’ll fight,” he grinned. “It’s time I had some practise with someone else. You win, you get some information. I win, you don’t.”

Swords as thin as paper but as strong as five lions appeared in my hands. I strode towards him and lunged with speed and power. He parried the blow (with extraordinary strength) and attacked. It was easy for me because of the Maagik’s power, so I batted him away. His temporary blue eyes flashed black, so there was no white on his eyeballs for a second. He lashed out and a frenzy of swords clashing filled the room.

Glifádha, scared that someone would come to see or hear, staggered to the door, locked it, and soundproofed the room. She was most clever when she was scared. A sword tip slashed her neck and she fell, but Conrrin and I didn’t even hear her shriek.

After some frantic blows and parries (on Conrrin’s part), I slapped Conrrin with the flat of my sword, ripping his shirt and leaving a red welt. He lurched to the side and collapsed. He began to get up again, but my warm sword point was on his neck. He clenched his teeth as I nicked the skin and drew blood.
“Tell me everything,” I said again.
“I have friends in high places,” he said between breaths.
“What friends? Tell me the truth. I can’t look into your mind, but I have other ways of telling if you’re lying.”
“Fine, those swords were given to me by the King of Dipccove when I went there to learn.” Probably true, I thought.
“Learn what?”
“Swordsmanship and other helpful stuff.” Yeah right, I thought sarcastically.
“Why did you go there?”
“My parents live there.” That sounded true, said an inner voice inside me. I didn’t want to believe, but I had to agree with my conscience.
“Who are your parents?”
“They are servants to the king.”
“Dipccove. Isn’t that the isle that’s covered in mountains and caves?”
“Yes. It’s a good life.”
“Who are you?”
“Conrrin.” I laughed inside.
“I mean, do you have any importance in society?” I rolled my eyes.
“To a certain degree.” A certain degree. He’s powerful, more than what he says about himself.
I sighed.
“Are you a Dipccovian?”
“No.” he said. “And by the way, why is Glifádha lying so still?”
I turned around with my sword still at his neck.
“Oh no, Gli,” I groaned. My sword disappeared as I ran over to Glifádha.
“She’s got a nasty cut,” Conrrin commented.
“I can see that,” I snapped back. “Let me try and close it.”
“Why did you do that?” she whispered weakly. “You shouldn’t work her up, Conrrin.”
“I’m sorry, Gli,” I said. “I didn’t mean to hit you. Thanks for locking the door and stuff.”
“It’s instinct,” she replied modestly. “I panic too much.”
“But it saves us,” put in Conrrin. “Don’t worry, because Zaidaanj has got what she wants, even if at sword-point!” He paused, and then turned to me. “You’re good with a sword. Who taught you?”
I realised that I didn’t know.
“I’ve known as long as I can remember…I don’t know who taught me.”
Conrrin muttered something.
“What was that?” I inquired politely.
“I just felt I needed to mutter something,” he said, raising his eyebrows at me. “And you must realise you only beat me because of the Maagik.”

I snorted and bent to Glifádha’s cut.

Glifádha frowned.
“What did he tell you?” she asked softly. I repeated what Conrrin had said.
“Some of it was a lie,” I murmured to her with conviction.
“How do you know?” she replied.
“He paused too often,” I said sheepishly. I knew she was expecting me to have looked into his mind, but I liked Conrrin too much to do that.

A bell tolled outside, a deep hollow sound that rung in your ears even after it had finished.
“Lunch!” yelled a smooth voice, so different from the croaking one that announced our takeoff. “Lunch!”

We walked outside and followed the rest of the guests to the tables on deck beneath a shade. The tables were circular, and covered in a blue and white chequered cloth that gave the impression of some leftover material from a little girl’s dress. The cutlery was silver and the plates were glass, something very expensive in the Isles.

The buffet was set up on the side on little tables with wheels on the bottom. There was juicy meat with rivulets of gravy, pork with apple puree, rare vegetables from outlying islands not worth naming, and servants standing behind the tables. This really was First Class.

As we stood gaping, other nobles streamed past us as if we were rocks diverting the flow of the water. Some people looked back at us, so we moved on and claimed a table. We waited for the crowd to clear so we could reach the food, then it was all we could to stop ourselves running up.

“Wow,” I whispered in wonder. The food sat before me, begging to be eaten. I piled meat and veggies (up to the maximum of a polite amount) onto my beautiful gilded plate. Then I excitedly walked back to the table before Glifádha and Conrrin had even started getting food.

At the end of the main course lunch, after savouring the flavour of the rich meat and greens, dessert was served. Thick, sweet chocolaty mud cake was served with a block of dark chocolate and vanilla sauce running down the sides in waterfalls of warm heaven.

Everyone retired to their cabins with sighs of happiness and feeling plumper than they were before. This was the life.