The Pearl Of Vynes - Chapter 24 Going Head To Head

The sounds of feet scraping the ground and the slamming of wood on wood woke Alice from her sleep. Tane and Miles were already packing the cart away and attaching the horse. Rousing herself from her rude awakening Alice rubbed her eyes clear of sleep.

“Hop in the back, you can rest on the way” Miles said signalling to Alice the soft parts of the cart. Alice grabbed her bedroll and dragged herself over to the cart. Falling into the soft parts and napping. Tane finished tying the horse to the cart while Miles hopped into the driver’s seat, Tane jumping and causing the cart to rock from the weight. Miles snapped the reins

“Stand up” Miles told Alice, complying she stood up. Miles walked around her looking at her, looking for something that Alice was unsure about. She walked over to the cart and put away her bowl and spoon. Miles started drawing a circle in the dirt around Alice and he stood in front of her.

for visiting.

Miles gave a hard shove and Alice fell over backwards, tumbling backward in the dirt.

“Stand up” Miles commanded. Alice brushed the dirt off her and got up again, walking back up to him. Miles pushed her again, Alice was sent to the ground with a loud thud.

“You need to hold your legs further apart, you need to take a punch before you can throw one” Alice got up again, spreading her legs and preparing for the coming shove. Miles threw his hands into her shoulders, as she braced against the push. Being pushed back Alice stayed on her feet, she smiled and unbraced but Miles shoved her to the ground again.

“Just because you stop one doesn’t mean another isn’t coming, now up again.” Miles said pulling her up from the dirt. The went on as the two of them faced in the basics of fighting, the campfire crackling as they circled around fighting and struggling with each other. After a time both of them sat on the ground, panting from the exertion they had.

“We’ll continue tomorrow morning, night” Miles said as he rolled over and started to nap instantly. Breathing heavily after sparring with Miles Alice didn’t complain and fell asleep instantly as she fell on to the bedroll. I faded voice woke her but she could barely make out what it said, opening her eyes she was surrounded by a deep blue again, that shimmering orb hovering above her again. In front of her floated a large orb that looked like it had lost its shine, a chip lay on the smooth surface of the orb and barely had any colour left. A shimmer of fiery rainbow glinted off the object, a voice in the distance spoke to her “Find the pearl, return it to its rightful place” as Alice reached to grab the orb it floated away from her and her vision faded to black. The feeling of her face being poked brought Alice out of her sleep, cracking open an eye she saw Miles crouching over her, a finger out stretched into her cheek.

“Oii, time for morning practice” Miles said. Alice rose up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Watching Miles as he wandered around the camp site, bending down and picking up a stick and giving it a few swings. Walking back over to her he held the stick out to her.

“Hold this, you’re gonna try and hit me” Miles said.

“But I don’t want to hurt you” Alice responded, Miles laughed at that.

“If you can hurt me then I think you’re more than ready to join the Brave’s Guild”

Getting up, Alice gave the stick a few swing. Pretending she was holding a sword and ready to hit Miles. Raising her arm she swung down heavily at Miles, he dodged to the side and gave a slight push to her back planting her face first into the dirt.

“What was that about hurting me?” Miles said with grin across his face.

“Oh be quiet” Alice huffed as she got back onto her feet. Holding the stick in both hands she swung again but Miles rushed forward and kicked her legs out from under her. Alice went straight into the dirt again, spitting pieces of clay and roots her face had started getting used to digging up the earth.

“Today’s lesson is going to be teaching you martial arts, while we’re in the city weapons are certainly going to attract attention from the guards and can keep you safe even in the most narrow of spaces” Miles lectured, putting a hand out for Alice to get up. Alice gripped his hand and pulled him down hard, making face plant into the earth as well.

“I guess I’ll learn then” Alice said as she patted herself down.

Miles laughed as he rose up from the ground. He walked over to Alice and started moving her body in position.

“It’s important to understand that fighting is all about defeating your enemy any way possible, but often the best is using your opponent’s stength against them. Of course this will only work against humaniods and many demi humans can often out match people in strength and speed but you pick and choose your battles wisely. Now let’s go a few rounds then” He said swinging a fist at her and she barely blocking in time.

“Good, keep that up and you might survive today’s training” he said as he crouched and tried to sweep Alice from underneath her. Alice was starting to catch on quick and most of the morning was spent sparring again but with fists clenched this time. In the end Alice ending making friends with the dirt more despite her best efforts and as she lay on the ground Miles started packing up the last of the camp into the cart.

“Hop in the back, you can rest there” Miles signalled to her. Groaning Alice got into the back trying to make the stiff bags comfrotable for her as her muscles and bones ached from the fighting.

“Just to let you know, we’ll be picking up again as soon as we make camp for the night” Miles said, but noticed that Alice had already gone to sleep. Cracking the reins, the wheels of cart started rolling along the road as the horse slowly trotted along.

“You know it had gotten a little lonely while we travelled by ourselves, isn’t that right Pal?” The horse nickered in response and Miles laughed.

“I wonder if the they’re still gonna be happy to see me when we get back” Miles mumled to himself. Alice was off dreaming, but this time she didn’t find herself in a peaceful blue but the middle of a battle. It seemed like a battle but it felt more like a bloodbath, although she could see armies running around her and fighting it was intermittingly broken with loud rumblings as whole sections of the earth crumbled and was scooped away. Staring above Alice could see large rumbling giants, four to be exact. Gigantic wouldn’t be accurate to Alice, they towered above the earth as they fought. Lightning and cyclones generating from the strength of their blows, Alice felt she should be terrified but she felt impassionate about the swathes of death before her. As she continued to watch, a bolt of lightning struck down from the heavens and hit her dead on. Alice woke with a start, sweating from the fear she only just started to experience from her dream. Miles looked back from his driver seat to see her awake.

“You feeling alright? You were tossing and turning in the back for a while there” Miles remarked.

“It was just a bad dream”

“You’ve been having a lot of those lately huh?” Miles pondered. Alice sat close to the fire to warm herself up from the chill she had gotten from her recent nightmare. After Miles unpacked the cart he walked over to Alice, tapping on her shoulder.

“Time for practice again” Miles announced, Alice got up from the ground and they both started sparring again. Although she was still constantly on the ground from Miles’ moves but she was definitely getting better Miles thought to himself. Alice was lying on the ground panting hard, her body felt tired and utterly brusied from fighting Miles. Despite his apperance Miles had seemingly fought countless battles and it was slowly dawning on her that he a lot more to explain about himself. Looking up from the ground she saw Miles taken off his shirt and the image surprised her. He didn’t have an ounce of fat on him despite all the sitting around, lean muscles that would ripple and stay taut underneath the skin. But what caught her attention more was the scars that traced his body, or was it a tattoo. It was hard to tell the difference but the it was in the shape of a laughing moon, holding a grin of not only danger but intrigue. Miles put his shirt back on and she could barely tell that he was even dangerous at all, lying down by the fire he started dinner for the both of them. Crawling over to the campfire Alice made herself comfortable as she could on the bedroll as her legs and arms could barely move. Miles placed some of the cooked food in front of her, the smell of cooked vegetables and bread made her stomach growl. With huge effort she grabbed the bowl and shovelled food down.

“Sparring definitely builds an appetite huh?” Miles noted. Alice only nodded in response as she continued to eat.

“Sorry to push you so hard, put with the capital so close I’m afraid to leave you defenseless out there” Alice looked at him questioningly.

“We’re going to drop by the Brave’s Guild tommorow, and its going to be rough and tumble as soon as you walk in. You’d be lucky to walk out after joining without people throwing a few punches or a few spells”

“There are wizards there?”

“Well it would be more accurate to call them spell casters but there is one wizard but I don’t think you’d be able to bump into him anytime soon. He’s always locked away in a tower elsewhere in the city”

“How do you know so much about them?”

“All in good time” Miles waved dismissing her concern.

“But you will tell me?” Alice said questioningly.

“Of course”

“And that tattoo on your back?” Miles froze for a second then relaxed again, laughing nervously.

“So you saw huh? It’s a bit complicated but I’d appreciate if you didn’t pry into it, a man has to have some secrets” Miles winked at her. Tired from her sparring Alice fell to sleep almost immediately. Her dreams started again, and almost violently Alice was thrown back into battle. A tower presence of fire and heat stood titancally over her, setting the land ablaze and life growing immediately afterwards, with the tree beginning to rot as soon as it had fully grown. As it shrank an orb emerged from its roots and glowed with a fierce intensity, fire and rainbow glowed within the orb but then the earth began to fill with water. Swallowing the orb up and underneath the sea. Slowly opening her eyes Alice was back at the campfire but this time Miles was staring at her intently while sitting down.

“You had a dream again?” Miles asked.

“Yes” Alice said quietly. Miles moved over to her and placed his palm on her forehead. Alice felt a tingle and warmth from the spot as Miles closed his eyes. Suddenly Alice could see brief flashbacks of her dream, even from the previous nights as well.

“Hmm, I see. Looks like someone has been trying to mess with us a little bit. Give me a moment I need to grab something” Miles reached over and grabbed his blue bag, opening it up and rummaging around Miles finally withdrew a small slip of paper with a pattern on it.

“This should do it” Miles walked back over to Alice, still a little sleepy from waking up earlier. “This might feel a little uncomfortable so don’t pay to much notice to it” Miles said placing the slip of paper on Alice’s arm. An intense heat and mild discomfort filled her arm as the pattern glowed. Eventually it stopped leaving a mark on her arm.

“It’s only temporary but this should let you sleep again” Miles said patting her arm. Alice looked over the now inscribed pattern on her arm, it had a splayed flower like shape but it seemed filled with small intricate circles indicating magic. Alice’s arm had stopped the uncomfortable feeling but she definitely felt better. Patting her on the head Miles made his way back to his bag and went back to sleep. Slowly Alice also drifted back to sleep too, not dreaming of anything at all.