Evaluations of the Tribe Read online

  Aly didn’t move a muscle as Catty got down from the tree and walked up to her. She stepped back when she thought the mastra was getting too close, and swore for showing such vulnerability.

  “Finally afraid, after all of your big talk,” Catty said as Aly eyed the ground. “You best be.”

  Aly didn’t say anything, forcing her bright gray eyes up. She showed her respect to her opponent again, and Catty did the same.

  “I make a proposal, Aly. Since there be two witnesses, why not make this a formal duel? If knocked down, we merely have ten seconds to arise.”

  “Fair enough. What say you lot?”

  “I can give the count, if need be,” Glani said, still rubbing her head.

  Requai grinned. “Indeed, this sounds enticing enough.”

  Aly took a step back. “Then, feel free to charge, Catty.”

  The other mastra crossed her arms across her chest before shooting them out to her sides. The blast of being emitting from her fists kicked twigs away as the yellow glow reflected in Aly’s eyes. Catty then dug her left heel back into the gravel as Aly placed her right leg back. She held her weapons in a reverse form as she hunkered down on her front leg, leaning forward slightly in preparation for a counter.

  Aly’s hands trembled and clasped her weapons for dear life. No time for fear. Truly, I can do this. The thumping of her heartbeat sped up. She wetted her dry lips by rolling her tongue over them once. She relaxed her back leg, and held her breath. And then, Catty swung.

  * * *

  Before she could even register it, she heard and felt the strike slam into her head. Everything went black and she just knew it was already over. The side of her face felt the chill of the ground, and she thought she heard what sounded like yelling on the tips of her ears. Her temple’s throbbing felt like a wall crushing into her brain. She never imagined anyone being able to hit so hard.

  The mastra opened her eyes once and the entire world spun violently. She closed them quickly...but Catty still saw Aly backing away.

  “Get up, Catty!” Requai shouted. “Do not dare end this on such an anticlimactic note!”

  The yelling made her head ache even more as she forced herself onto her hands and knees. She slumped onto her left elbow when she thought her brain was going to burst out of her cranium. The ringing in her ears subsided, so she heard Glani yell, “Four.”

  Catty hissed as she forced herself up. She was back on her feet when Glani hollered “Six,” and slapped herself in the face. After hopping up and down some on the count of eight, she got back into her stance. Glani stopped counting and Requai ran in to examine.

  “You are slightly concussed.”

  “So?” Catty popped her neck. “What be a mere headache?”

  Requai nodded and ran out of the “ring.” Catty blinked twice and her pupils went back to normal size. She heard Glani give the go ahead to carry on, and knew she made a mistake when Aly charged after her at full speed. She fired warning shots to keep her at bay, and one of the beams almost took Aly out.

  Catty was able to process everything more clearly now, thanks to the countdown, but she knew she needed to do something drastic to cool her opponent’s confidence.

  Aly wondered if the blow to Catty’s head did more brain damage than imagined after her opponent ran to her. She tossed one of her sticks up and bicycle-kicked it right for the mastra’s head. Catty slid underneath the projectile on her knees and pushed herself off the ground with two being shots launching her forward. Her knees smacked Aly in the chest and flipped her over twice before she fell flat on her face.

  Before Catty could drop an elbow on her, Aly spun around on her back and knocked the other mastra off her feet, spinning on the ground with her legs extended. With momentum still pushing her, Aly slapped Catty in the face with a heel before she rolled out of the spinning circle of doom. She then hopped up and threw a powerful roundhouse from the left. Her eyes went wide when Catty caught her leg.

  Catty smirked at the startled Aly before using her own weight to toss her over the shoulders. Aly kept her footing, however, and swatted at Catty with the remaining stick she had in hand. Catty caught the weapon in her palm before it could strike and tugged.

  Aly heard Requai and Glani gasp as they watched. She on the other hand, glared at her stolen weapon and hissed. Obviously not knowing what else to do with it, Catty flung the stick at her as hard as she could. Aly caught the weapon, and throw it back just as hard. It made a pop when it struck Catty’s forehead, causing her to stagger back a little before taking a knee.

  Glani had covered her face behind her hands, but took a peep between her fingers. “Truth’s Grace, this be brutal.”

  “Indeed.” Requai squirmed around like a Little One starting children’s garden. “And is it not grand? Who would think Catty would have such audacity as to attempt close-quarters with Aly, and actually manage?”

  Aly glanced at the other mastras to see if she could pursue Catty; she was still taking a knee. The Sungstra smiled when the mastras shooed her on, and picked up both weapons before strolling up to her opponent, ready to demand her surrender.

  Catty fired a single shot at her, without even aiming. It was a waste, being too obvious and moving too slow. Aly tilted her head to the right so the tiny beam could float by. Even then, however, Catty didn’t let her arm down.

  “Odd,” Glani said. “What does that one hope to do with her hand extended out as such?”

  As the two watched from the sideline, the tiny beam slowed down until it came to a complete halt, hovering in the air. With Aly still oblivious to the threat, her opponent chambered her arm back, summoning the ball of energy to return. Alarms shot all over Aly’s body, but the beam struck her in the back before she could move, shoving her forward. She fell into Catty’s charged uppercut, right underneath the chin.

  The sideliners went crazy with excitement as Aly elevated off the ground and crashed onto her back. Catty hopped back and flapped the sting out of her hand.

  “Ow ow ow ow ow!”

  Requai was squealing and shaking Glani by the shoulders as she hopped up and down. “Not possible! Truly, we be too young to do such things. Even most Young Ones have yet to – by Truth’s Grace, Glani. Count, fool!”

  “Huh? Oh, right. Count. Uh, one...”

  “Aly, I shall end you if you do not arise!”

  Aly sat up slowly, still shaken from the blow.

  Glani stopped counting and grabbed Requai’s cheeks, turning her face toward the fighting Goolians. “You are crazed! Surely you saw what Catty just did, yes?”

  “Precisely. Mainly Mature Aged Goolians can perform such an act.”

  “Thus the two of them could kill us both with ease! Why make foolish threats?”

  “That be beside the point.” Requai swatted Glani’s hands away and whistled. “Truly, this be grander than the time the two brawled throughout the entire village when we were little. Surely, it cannot end now. Come, Aly! Arise! You be at seven, by the way, Glani.”

  Aly wiggled her jaw and sat up. She spat out some blood before crawling to her feet. Glani stopped at nine before Requai went in to see how she was.

  “Nay, I am well,” she said before the mastra reached her.

  “Truly, you two be a stubborn pair.” Requai trotted back to the side.

  Aly sniffed and spat again after she picked up her weapons.

  Catty charged her hands again. “Shall this one like some more?”

  “I do not see the harm. You hit like a boy.”

  Catty fired two rounds at her, but Aly avoided them by somersaulting into a tree. Her opponent gave chase, hopping up the branches like a gymnast. Catty was on top of her in a matter of seconds, swinging and tossing a barrage of beams. The more she fired, however, the more frustrated she appeared to get.

  Aly took off on all fours, moving like she was born and raised in the region her entire life. Twigs and branches exploded behind her with each missing shot. Catty couldn’t control her aim as well w
hile moving, so she halted and fired from afar. Aly noticed her opponent’s position, and spun around. She grinned at the furious Catty, and ran to the left. Catty aimed ahead, just as she was supposed to, but Aly’s reaction time was still too fast.

  She caught Catty off guard when she skidded across a branch and came straight for her. She heard Catty swear as she kept firing and missing. Ten meters turned into two by what felt like the blink of an eye. Before her opponent could do anything about it, Aly lowered her shoulder, and rammed Catty into the back of the tree. Stunned, Catty couldn’t block the nine jabs thrown into her stomach in two seconds.

  Aly held the mastra up and leaned her back against the trunk when she slumped into her chest. She then pulled her hand back and swung for Catty’s nose. The other mastra, however, ducked, leaving Aly’s fist exploding the front part of the tree. She didn’t pay any mind to the splinters embedded in her knuckles as she kneed Catty in the face and tossed her off the branch. She didn’t expect Catty to grab her ankle, and bring her down with her either.

  Requai and Glani got stiff as green oak wood as the two wrestled and plummeted to the ground. The fall was too high, and the descent was faster with the extra person latched on.

  “I beg,” Glani whispered. “Recover. I beg.”

  With less than three stories of height separating them from the earth, Catty rolled Aly’s back over so she wouldn’t face the ground. She stretched out her hands as Aly wrapped her legs around her waist. Catty fired the largest beam she ever made, the blast knocking the two right back into the air for another four meters before they both crashed across from each other. Debris puffed into the air, and everything got quiet.

  Neither Aly nor Catty moved, their bodies stretched across the soil. Glani and Requai both ran in, one checking on Aly while the other examined Catty.

  Aly opened her eyes, the little sunlight protruding through the leaves blinding her as she turned her head. She took her time moving every limb to see if any were broken. Thanks to her counterpart’s quick thinking, all bones and cartilage in her ligaments were intact. However, it was only when Aly tried getting up that her side felt like it was on fire. She groaned and buried her face into the dirt.

  “I fear this one may have some broken ribs,” Glani said.

  Aly took light breaths, as each inhale ached. She looked across from her to see her opponent’s condition. Catty had a cut on the side of her face from falling through the branches. She looked down at her right arm and saw the distorted lump in it, indicating her broken ulna was trying to poke through the skin. The sight must have made her pain receptors kick in; she bit her teeth over her fist, probably so she wouldn’t scream too loudly.

  “Be eased,” Requai said. “I am not sure if this one should even move the arm.”

  Aly smiled when the other mastra stared back at her and got up on her own free will.

  Requai backed away. “Perhaps this has gone too far. I propose we call this a fair draw, yes?”

  Before Requai could say more, Aly got back on her feet as well. She bent over when she felt like she was getting stabbed in the side again, but still, she stood. Catty walked over to her.

  Requai flung her hands up in defeat. “Never the mind.”

  Glani didn’t say a word as she and Requai watched the two get back in position. Aly limped on one leg as she grabbed one of her weapons off the ground. Catty charged her one good hand and raised it perfectly at her opponent’s head.

  Aly knew the final moves from the two of them would determine the rest of her life. She wasn’t expecting her fate to hang in the balance like this, and that terrified look she gave Catty before the fight etched back onto her face.

  In the same manner, Catty was coming to her own set of conclusions. This wasn’t going to only set her combat status, but would also take away the underrated notion that she still got from some of her peers like Requai. She wouldn’t just be the field lord’s daughter anymore. No, she was going to be Cattalice the Younger, worthy combatant and proud bearer of the Cattalice name.

  The two moved like old people toward one another, step by step, meter by meter. Glani didn’t know if she could look at the tragedy the two put themselves in any longer. Either way, there Aly and Catty stood. Determined adversaries. Worthy rivals in the tribe.

  Blood coming from Aly’s mouth ran down her chin like drool. Catty’s nose ran and she wiped the blue away, leaving a mark over her lip from her dirty palm.

  Aly put her weapon down, got into a defensive stance, and extended her hand. “After you?”

  “Perhaps.” Catty uncharged her hand, got into a similar stance, and held out her good arm as well.

  Nine years ago, the two were taught a game that tested their reflexes: whoever slapped the other in the face first was the victor. Aly turned out to be the better, nearly every time. Catty, however, with every round, grew closer to the inevitable win. Regardless, that was then; this was now. In that likeness, the two froze when they touched wrists, waiting for the other to counter.

  The two locked eyes, neither of them willing to blink, fearful that the millisecond it took their eyes’ shutters to close would be the end to all the hopes and dreams they had carried up to this moment. Their breaths were in sink, muscles relaxed, the only troubles crossing their minds being who was going to go first. And then, when the other didn’t flinch, Aly and Catty swung their fists at the same time.

  The forest didn’t make a sound, as if nature itself gave reverence to the scene. Requai and Glani just stared, too dumbfounded to make any decent reaction, holding each other by the arms.

  She did it. Aly knew she had won, realizing her reach was farther, and the punch would catch Catty’s face before the other mastra could strike hers. For a brief moment, she imagined how surreal the swing was, how such a simple feat would make everything right in the world. She thought she was going to cry, joy already overwhelming her.

  She locked eyes on Catty’s fist, and a horror beyond reason overwhelmed her. Yes, she had calculated her blow with precision, but she didn’t account the ever-so-slight lean Catty made, just enough to get the vital extra milliseconds needed to get her hit in first. It happened. Maybe it would just be this one time, or maybe it had always been the case. Whichever it was, Catty was proving that she was the better fighter at the worst moment ever.

  Nay – too close – cannot – Aly didn’t finish her frantic thoughts. Reality rolled into the back of her head as Catty’s blow spun her in the other direction. The strike knocked her out before she even hit the ground, so she didn’t extend her arms as her body bounced and lay motionless in the dirt.

  “One.”

  Silence.

  “Two.”

  Silence.

  “Three.”

  Everything was black. She couldn’t tell if her eyes were open or not.

  “Four.”

  Arise

  “Five.”

  Arise

  “Six.”

  By Truth’s Grace, arise

  “Seven.”

  Do not do this, I beg

  “Eight”

  I beg, arise!

  “Nine.”

  Be damned! Get up! Truth’s Grace, do not do this to me! Get up! Aly was back on her legs, but only for a second. She fell into Catty’s right arm, and her friend helped her lie back down again.

  “Ten,” Glani finished. “Truth’s Grace. Cattalice, you have won.”

  “Catty...is fine.” Aly’s weight brought the exhausted mastra down as well. “And truly, I think I have just––”

  Pain

  The Sungstra’s pupils widened as she screamed. Catty thought Aly’s grip was going to rip the muscles out of her back.

  “Alytchai!” Requai hurried in and tried breaking the two up. “Nay! Calm yourself! It has ended!”

  She pulled the two away and got met with a jab in the eye. The blow knocked her on her back. Catty’s eyes widened as she watched the Sungstra’s hand charge a black aura. Aly walked up to Requai and raise
d her fists, towering over her.

  “Aly?” Glani whimpered.

  “Nay!” Catty dove in front of the still-dazed Requai and held her. “Aly, why do this?”

  Rage. That was all Catty saw in the other mastra’s eyes. The aura around Aly’s charged fist grew, so Catty lifted a hand, and aimed a charged beam. Its size expanded rapidly and met the Sungstra’s charged fist in both mass and power. It wasn’t going to be a mere light shove. No, Catty knew what needed to be done. If she fired, her best friend would be dead.

  “I beg, do not lead me to do this.” Catty locked her mark between Aly’s eyes and nose.

  The plea must have fallen on deaf ears, because Aly swung, ready to slash the two in half with her sorrow if she had to. Catty closed her eyes, and uttered two weak words to whatever was left of Aly, knowing they were probably going to be the very last thing she’d hear.

  “Forgive me.”

  * * *

  Before she knew what had hit her, Catty lunged in and wrapped her arms around Aly, making her drop to her knees.

  “Truly, this one be such a sore loser, yes?” Catty said, her body trembling as she rubbed Aly’s back. “You did not lose, Mastra, unless we all did.”

  Aly’s pupil dilation stopped. She leaned back, and tilted her head.

  “What?”

  “For months we were to fight alongside one another, and the moment we were the only ones left, we all tossed the well-being of others aside,” Catty said. “The tribe, Aly. This was to access how we value others, how we value the tribe. There be nothing beyond this.”

  Aly’s blinked her bright gray eyes. “Yet, truly, after all we have toiled through, this be the final lesson.” She slouched forward. “Pache. By Truth’s Grace, how lame shall this be!”

  Catty thumped Aly on the nose. “You only grow angry since I figured it out prior to you. I always knew I was the smarter between us.”

  Glani helped Requai get up, and Aly raised a brow. The two locked eyes with her and didn’t say a thing.

  “Why do you lot stare at me so cautiously?” Aly rubbed the side of her head, as if she was searching for a clue. “And just a moment. I feel as if I missed something, yes? I recall falling into Catty’s arms, and suddenly she is to be giving me a silly lecture.”