Omen: 6, 9

  "Are you feeling lucky?" Jurot asked.

  "Not that kind of luck," Adam replied, gng aside to Jaygak. "What about you?"

  Jaygak shrugged her shoulders, staring down at her potato, the steam rising from the slit she had cut through. "Just fine."

  Adam inhaled deeply. Today was his st fight, and it was Jaygak’s st fight too. Adam and Adda were currently ued, just like Jurot and Kitool, and they were each tenders for first pce. Jaygak had lost twice, oo Adda, oo Adam. The King’s Sword’s daughter, Sir Roseia, had also lost twice, oo himself, oo Adda. If Jaygak mao beat Roseia, then she would mao gain, as the Grand Duchess had promised, sed pce.

  ‘Jaygak, please.’ Adam sighed. ‘What am I talking about? Jaygak’s going to win, and if she doesn’t, then it means her on wasn’t good enough to keep up with Roseia. She’s…’ Adam uood the maths behind Sir Roseia and Jaygak, and though he didn’t want to admit it, not only did the young dy have a better Defence, she also had a better offensive capabilities.

  ‘If only we were three Levels higher…’

  Adam approached the arena, the damp st of the snow oone filling his lungs, waking him up. His m bath had been tense, but thankfully hot enough to warm his bones during nightval. ‘The cold in the North really is different.’

  Adam and the others made their way to a se of seats, sitting among the crowd. Somehow, Adam, Jurot, and Kitool, each had their fights during the evening, whilst Jaygak’s was during the m.

  Jurot and Kitool didn’t o think about the Grand Duchess’ influence, si was great enough for them to assume it. To dispy some of the best fights during the evening retty normal for the masses, but the nobles preferred m fights, so typically the fights would be mixed. However, today, all the best fights were during the evening.

  “How much are you betting?” Adam asked.

  “A hundred gold,” Jurot replied, with Kitool nodding.

  “Only a hundred?” Lucy asked.

  “It is a good amount to bet,” Jurot said.

  “I’ll bet a huoo,” Lucy said, Mara bowing her head slightly.

  ‘How much should I bet?’ Adam thought. ‘I did lose two thousand gold.’

  ‘A hundred gold?’ the Marshal of East Port thought, reag up to scratch the side of his jaw. ‘The rich really live different lives.’ He, who also held hundreds of gold, still remembered the days of his youth.

  Jaygak sat within the cold room, along with the other arena’s fighters, each of different segments while their oppos remained elsewhere. She was gd she could be alone from the rest of the group. She held her bde tight in hand, feeling the great magic within. She uood the woman used a greater bde than her own, until Jaygak called freater magics within, and that her armour was magical, Greater, meaning their Defence was roughly simir.

  “Nervous?” Sir Rory asked, daring to approach the Iyrmen, who was deep in thought.

  “No,” Jaygak replied, unsure if she was telling the truth.

  “You defeated me,” Rory said. “I’m certain you’ll have a good showing.’

  Jaygak smiled. “A good showing, I have no doubt.” Jaygak rested her forearm between her hilt and waist. “I am going to p the top four whether I win or lose. My cousin will be delighted of the news, she’ll reach over to pat me, tell me that I did good. I already see my brother’s face light up upon hearing my pg, I’ll see the pride in his eyes. My sisters, they’re too young, but they’ll be swept away by the air around them.”

  Rory slowly nodded his head. “Is that why you fight?”

  “I am an Iyrman,” Jaygak replied, the only answer she could give to Rory. “If I win or lose, my cousins and my siblings will all hold only pride for me. My niece, Jirot…” Jaygak let out a long sigh. “If I lose, she will bully me for it.”

  Rory narrowed his eyes slightly. He had heard that the Iyr had a special retionship with its children, but to see the young Iyrman make such a face, he had no idea they adored their children so much. ‘War is ohing, but affe is another.’

  “I will not be able to retreat from her words if I lose,” Jaygak said, donning her helmet, while one of the workers stepped into the room.

  “Jaygak! You’re fighti!”

  “Then, for your own sake, win,” Rory said.

  Jaygak bowed her head and stepped out into her quadrant, raising her bde into the air. Her heart beat wildly, but soon she blocked out everything. She blocked out the cheering. She blocked out the jeering. She blocked out the throbbing within her ears. She even blocked out the presence of the King’s Sword’s daughter, who was so powerful, only the likes of Adam and an Adda wielding such a great bde, could defeat her.

  ‘I am Jay of the Gak family.’ She repeated the names of the Gaks who had gohrough misfortune, from Jogak and Gangak, those who held the same name as her father and grandaunt, to even the young woman who she had been named after.

  ‘Will I die for defeating her?’ Jaygak thought, a small smile upon her face. ‘It’s not a duel to the death, and…’ She thought of the trio whose eyes were no doubt glued to her.

  “Two thousand gold.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I said, two thousand gold,” Adam repeated. “Two thousand on our Jaygak.”

  “Two thousand?” the wnced between him and the Iyrmen, trying to recall if she was informed of a big better like Adam. There was a vague recolle, but she wasn’t sure.

  “Ohousand on Jaygak,” Jurot said.

  “Me too,” Kitool said.

  ‘I thought you said a hundred,’ Lucy thought. “I’ll keep with a hundred, since I shouldn’t go arouing too much.” Lucy could feel the awkwardness fill her. “Someone o teach your kids not to bet too much.”

  “I didn’t say anything.”

  “I could feel it.”

  Adam smiled slightly, before his eyes returned back to Jaygak, who stood frozen, while Sir Roseia also gathered herself. ‘e on, Jaygak. you imagi? Hoeople say something like that?’

  Jaygak refused to imagi. She was pletely focused in her meditation, before she finally donned her shield, and held her bde out towards Sir Roseia. ‘One swing. Just one swing.’

  A silence fell upon the air. A song broke the silence. A song of death as steel struck steel.

  Sir Roseia leapt forward to set the pace, with Jaygak upon the back foot, raising her shield, scratched aed throughout the tour, each mark holding its own story. Jaygak inhaled sharply, letting out soft breaths, cautious of the magical sword which brimmed with magiot just the great magic it held from its entment, but the great magic the woman had sworn into the bde, the thuhreatening to spill out. Thankfully the bde had only mao gnce off Jaygak’s shoulder and off of her shield.

  ‘One swing!’ Jaygak thought, swinging her bde forward. It was not a wild swing, not like those of the Rot family. The Gak’s family bde moved more effitly, like that staves of the Ool family.

  Deadly.

  Effit.

  Then, as an arrow let loose after being uension for too long, Jaygak rained down blow after blow, causing even Sir Roseia to step back with arm. She had rarely felt su explosive force before, as the glowing bde battered against her own, and even against her fists as Jaygak smmed her magical bde, almost like a hammer, against her.

  “I shouldn’t have uimated you,” Sir Roseia said, feeling the magic fade from her bde, before she ted once more, the light spinning around her bde once more, g with the young woman. As they tio csh, Roseia couldn’t find a blow against the Iyrman, while Jaygak could barely fend off the terrifying bde of the knight before her.

  The csh of steel ti within the air, the eyes of the crowd glued to the vicious fight, and fight in which many had bet upon the knight, and somehow, the Iyrman had mao force her to use all her might.

  This fight imprinted deep within their minds, as fights of the Iyrmen teo do, but this time it was not that of the Rot, Jin, or Kan family. This time, it was the bde of the Gaks.

  ‘One swing,’ Jaygak thought. ‘One swing at a time!’

  The thunder exploded against the woman’s stomach, rog through her entire body, the fsh of holy magics tearing through her. It was blow s, it would have knocked an Expert pletely unscious. Sir Roseia stepped forward, ready to follow the Iyrman’s tumbling body, but as she darted forward, her helmet struck Jaygak’s, as the young Iyrman, pnting her feet firmly into the earth, like the roots of a tree, smmed her head fainst the knight’s.

  “One swing,” Jaygak gasped, feeling the ache through her body.

  It had been many years ago, when she was still so small, not quite as small as her troublesome hat Gangak held the girl upon her p. She remembered the st of the smoke, the feeling of the warmth of the woman’s cheek against her own, and the rough, wrinkled hair running through her hair.

  ‘Step forward, Jaygak, and swing your bde.’

  ‘Walking?’ Jaygak had asked.

  ‘Do you know how to kill a dragon?’ Gangak had asked.

  ‘One swing at a time.’

  ‘That’s right. So step forward, and swing, one swing at a time, and you will win.’

  ‘I am too weak, mamo, too weak.’

  ‘You are an Iyrman, Jaygak. If you are weak, then you must take more steps, and you must swing your bde more.’

  ‘How much?’

  ‘More than a huimes.’

  ‘How much is that?’

  ‘More thaens.’

  ‘Okay, mamo. I will do it.’

  ‘Would you like a smoke of my pipe?’

  ‘You ot trick me, mamo! I am not allowed to.’

  ‘You are not allowed to hide my sword, but you always hide my sword too?’

  ‘I think mama is calling me,’ Jaygak had said, quickly trying to retreat away.

  Even all those years ago, she had felt the same as Taygak, that she was too weak.

  Now?

  She had defeated Sir Rory of the Golden Spears.

  She had defeated Sir Eliza of the Snow Storm.

  She had remained near ued, save for the two ridiculous figures. One, a Princess of the North, and the other a fool. Just like the Princess, this figure, the King’s Sword’s daughter, had the strength and the background to defeat Jaygak.

  Even so, Jaygak refused.

  She couldn’t step baot even as the thunder rumbled through her, causio spit up blood into her helmet.

  “One swing,” Jaygak panted.

  She stepped forward and swung oowards the stumbling knight.

  Her bde did not strike as hard as it had previously, but it struck with enough force to cause the knight to drop her bde. The magical sword Sir Roseia used slipped out of her grasp, g down beside her as she fell to the earth. In the North, it was nht to strike a figure who had been disarmed, nor one who had fallen and could still get up.

  Jaygak waited.

  And waited.

  Her body tensed up at the sound, like that of the thunderous explosion which threateo drop her, but it was not from the great magic of the knight, but the cheering of the crowd. Her entire body filled with aricity as her heavy arms exploded upwards into the air, the tears dropping down her cheeks. She couldn’t pick out the words from a particur young man, but it was fine, si was no doubt ge.

  “That’s our Jaygak! If Jaygak has ten thousand fans, I am among them! If Jaygak has one fan, it is me! If Jaygak has no fans, then I am dead! Fuck yeah!”

  It was a short while ter when Adam almost tackled Jaygak, embrag her tight. “Jaygak! You did it! You did it!”

  “Why are you so surprised?” Jaygak asked, wing as the pain within her body still rocked through her.

  “Damn it, Jaygak. Damn it!” Adam held her in a bear hung, swinging her from side to side, howling with ughter. “You did it, damn it!”

  “Let me go before I beat you,” Jaygak groaned, feeling the ache within her body flood through her. “You should prepare for your own fight.”

  “I’m prepared,” Adam said, finally dropping her, pg his hands on her shoulders. “Keep my seat warm, won’t you?”

  Jaygak smiled. She pushed him away lightly, befng towards Jurot and Kitool, who csped her forearm.

  “It was a good fight,” Jurot said, nodding his head.

  “Yes,” Jaygak replied, nodding her head back.

  “gratutions on your pg,” Kitool said, shaking her forearm, holding it for a moment longer.

  Jaygak smiled, holding a hint of sadness. “You o earn first pce too.”

  “Make sure you bet on each of us, alright? Ah, well, except me,” Adam said, w if it was right to bet on him, or if they could get away with it. “Make sure you bet for me too, alright?”

  “I’ll definitely bet on the victors,” Jaygak teased.

  LET'S GO, JAYGAK! LET'S GO!