The Hidden Fire (Book 2) Read Online Free

told him, “Today we will, umm, spar.  Too
many swordsmen will wait for an attack, thinking a parry and then a counter to
be the best defense.  Attacks are the key to any swordfight.  Far more attacks
hit home than ripostes.  So the rule today is no parries, no dodging — only
attacks.  I’ll give you a hint,” he said with a wink.  “Focus on distance and
timing.”
    “Then
why have you been showing me so many defensive techniques?”
    “Those
are for when you’re late .  Not on time.”
    “So
I can attack any way I want?”
    “Yes.”
    “What
do I do if you parry and riposte?”
    Aiyan
glared at him.  “You attack.”
    The
next day Aiyan slipped his practice sword into his sash and had Kyric do the
same.  “I’ve shown you how to cut on the draw.  Today you will combine this
with first strike technique.  We shall stand still, and at some point I’ll
decide to draw and attack.  You must cut me before my sword has cleared the
sash.”
    On
the first try Kyric didn’t come close.  It was he who got cut before his sword
cleared his sash.  “There’s no way I will ever get that fast,” he said.
    “You
don’t need to be faster,” Aiyan said.  “You only need to be first.  You must
begin to move before I do, at the very moment I decide to kill you.”
    This
time it was Kyric who glared.
    Aiyan
tried to suppress a smile.  “This is your first lesson in the knowing of
moments.  If you are truly empty of self — much like what you already do in your
archery — you can feel certain vibrations on the spirit plane.  You can feel my
intention to attack you.  This one is not so hard as it seems, but it will be
harder in practice because I mean you no harm.  With someone who really wants
to kill you, it is much easier to feel, I can promise.  If you are not filled
up with everything in this world.”
    Not
so simple to do, thought Kyric.  He felt like he was full of new thoughts.
    “I’ll make this as easy on you as I
can,” Aiyan said.  “I’ll let you close your eyes.”
    That
night they stood on deck and watched a shower of falling stars streak down from
the heavens.  A soft murmur of voices drifted past from a group of sailors who stood
in the glow of the foremast lantern.  They lit their pipes and smoked while one
of them played the squeeze box and hummed a low chantey.
    “Last
day of summer,” Aiyan said.
    “I
hadn’t realized,” said Kyric.  “I’ve lost track of the date.  I’m not even sure
what day it is.”
    “It’s
Thirstday,”  said Aiyan lazily, watching another star fall.  He turned to face
Kyric.  “Emptiness is the foundation of almost all the weird arts.  When you
make yourself empty, the Unknowable Forces rush in — whether you want them to
do so or not.  They are one, but they are many as well.  Somehow, through your
years of archery I’m sure, you’ve learned a good bit about how to find
emptiness at need.
    “The
way is to channel an individual aspect of the Unknowable to suit our need,
rather like picking out the melody of a single instrument from a full orchestra. 
The aspect we use, for example, to find directions, comes to me as, ah,” Aiyan
couldn’t help but grin a little, “a funny feeling at the tip of my nose when it
is pointing the right direction.  But it’s different for almost everyone. 
Master Bortolamae once told me that for him it was a sound he could follow. 
But be aware that we are not commanding the Unknowable, rather we allow it to
use us for . . . let us say, mutual benefit.  And there are aspects we
call the Designing Powers.  They have their own way and their own plans.”
    “And
they care not for the will or wellness of man, or dragon, or firebird,” Kyric
said, reciting a lesson.  “The sisters may not have taught me the weird, but I was raised in a rune temple.”
    “And
did they tell you how to keep those forces at bay?”
    Kyric
looked out across the dark sea.  “Mother Nistra used to say that