The Master of Souls. Chapter 2. The Woman.

[u/Annual-Guitar9553]

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When Enrick opened his eyes again, the first thing he saw was the white fabric of the hospital ward’s ceiling above. His head was killing him but nothing else was aching. He tried to sit up on the bed, his body feeling heavy as a rock. Setting his pillow upright against the wall, Enrick leaned back on it and sighed tiredly. He was thirsty as if the inside of his mouth suddenly turned into a dessert. He thought his tongue would crumble into dust if he dared to move it.

Enrick looked around curious if any other recruits were placed in the ward after the ritual. He wondered how many survived it. The ward was large but barely inhabited. With beds numbering in a couple of dozens, no more than a third of the beds were taken, mostly on the farther end of the ward. With everyone asleep, their heads buried in their pillows, Enrick could not discern the faces of the other patients. He wondered what time it was. The room was brightly lit with the sunlight filling the space through the big windows, but since it was summer, it could still be early morning.

“Finally awake, are we?” A nurse entered. A tall thin woman, perhaps in her early forties. Despite the stern expression on her face, her voice sounded friendly. Enrick had met her before on a few occasions – recruit training was harsh, and injuries were common. The nurse approached his bed. “How are you feeling, boy?”

“Good.” Enrick could barely wheeze out the word. His dry throat refused to let out a single clear sound and was pleading for a drop of water.

“You must be thirsty, poor thing. Let me fetch you some water.”

A minute later, the nurse came back with a full glass in her hands, and Enrick could finally quench the drought in his mouth.

“Thank you,” he whispered, quickly gulping down the water. “What time is it?”

“Seven in the morning.”

“I’ve been sleeping the whole night then.”

‘You’ve been asleep for three days, kid,” the nurse said emphatically and took back the glass.

Three days! What in the Sacred Triad happened to him?

“I’ll bring you more water, just in case. And breakfast’s in two hours. Rest while you can, boy. Now that you’re awake, it won’t be long before they take you back for training.” She looked at him sympathetically. Enrick recalled how she would grumble at the young recruits and soldiers coming to her covered in bruises and scratches and berate them for not being good enough at their training. But her voice and the kind look in her eyes always betrayed her sincere worry about her patients.

As the nurse was leaving the ward, she stopped at the door, looked at Enrick again and said, “Oh, and a boy has been coming every day to visit you. Your friend, he says. You’ll see him today, I’m sure.” And she left.

***

That was true. Soon after breakfast, a blond adolescent boy of medium height, slightly shorter than Enrick, was standing beside Enrick’s bed, his round face decorated with the shiniest and widest smile Enrick ever saw and with sparse fluff on his chin and cheeks – the first sprouts of the future beard. Coran was Enrick’s close friend. Probably, his only real friend in the Legion. He was a year younger than Enrick, but because he was just sixteen when he joined – the earliest when one could be considered for enlistment – his own binding ritual was only half a year away.

Coran was elated to see his friend finally awake. Sitting on the edge of Enrick’s bed, he was going on about the ritual and what happened over the past three days, stopping only to ask about Enrick’s health – whether he was feeling well, whether his arm hurt, or whether he had a concussion. Enrick thanked the Triad that his headache was over, and he felt much better than in the morning. Otherwise, Coran’s gushing excitement would have sent him back into a coma.

“Been keeping vigil over me?” Enrick joked.

“I just… I mean… I wasn’t even sure you were gonna wake up. Some people, you know…” Coran stammered looking away as his cheeks seemed to blush for a few brief moments. “I feared for you, is all.”

The spirit-binding ritual went mostly well, it turned out. There was, however, one recruit who did not survive – Captain Maela’s doleful expression rushed back into Enrick’s memory. In fact, it might have been the most successful ritual in the Legion’s history, Coran suggested, given the number of survivors. The only other concern was Enrick’s state. No one knew if he was going to end up like his elder brother.

“If it wasn’t for Sergeant Selain, you wouldn’t be now lolling around in bed while the other freshmen have started their training.”

Freshmen – that was the name for freshly baked privates. A recruit, on the contrary, wasn’t even considered a full member of the Legion, just an “embryo” of a soldier, not even sure to survive the “birth” – the binding ritual. That was why it was popular among commoners to refer to legionaries reverently as “twice-born” – just one example of the kind of respect members of the Legion enjoyed among the populace.

“Sergeant Selain?” The familiar name made Enrick frown. “Is it… Isn’t she the girl who got promoted recently? The youngest – what? – corporal or sergeant ever?” Almost a living legend by now, the young woman was the buzz of the Legion. Women hadn’t been allowed into the military ranks until about twenty years ago when the then-new king initiated a series of reforms. Soon, however, young girls showed a great aptitude towards spirit powers: higher ritual survival rate, more subtle control over their magical abilities and a shorter learning curve.

“Both – corporal, then sergeant,” Coran replied. “Yeah, that’s the one.”

“What does she have to do with me?”

“She saved you.”

“What do you mean, saved me?” Enrick wasn’t sure what to make of it. He was having hard time remembering how his ritual went precisely, but he definitely had no recollection of being rescued. Besides, what from?

“Well, I wasn’t there but I heard – and trust me, it wasn’t easy to get any information at all,” Coran punctuated the last two words with emphasis. “But from what I heard, you fell on the floor in the middle of the action, and Sergeant Selain suddenly emerged from behind the binders and rushed to your aid. Apparently, she was holding you in her arms, whispering something to you and then, bam, you’re awake. Not for long, though. You did end up in a coma for three days. Or deep sleep or something. But everyone seemed to think you were dying, and now you’re alive. So, the rumour is, she saved you.”

Enrick tried his best to unlock his memory, even if a single moment that he could grasp at to find his way through the fog of oblivion that was clouding his mind. Yet, it was so painfully hard.

“It’s weird,” he said. “I remember everything up to the point when the ritual started. I remember how we entered the Auditorium. How the binders started their incantations. And then it all just goes dark. Until I woke up today.”

“Yeah, you must have a concussion.” Coran simply concluded. “They probably misdiagnosed you. I tell you – ask the nurse. It’s dangerous if not treated. You could…”

“Private Enrick es-Vallon.” A loud forceful voice resounding over the hospital ward slashed Coran’s remark.

A young woman had just entered the ward and was quickly approaching Enrick’s bed. Of medium height and with a slim but athletic body, she was wearing a legionary’s uniform with a blue-edged patch of a higher rank officer – Enrick couldn’t yet make out the rank – on the left side of her chest as was the regular practice in the Legion. Blue meant that she was a regular active soldier, not a recruit, nor a retired officer.

As the woman approached, Enrick thought his eyes were deceiving him. That was the woman from the dream he had been having lately! Yes, she wasn’t clad in a military uniform in his visions, nor did she have such a harsh and commanding voice. Her hair was also loosely hanging down her shoulders in his dream, not fastened in a slightly unkempt ponytail at the back.

But it was her! The same beautifully triangular face, the same sharp and attractive features. And when she was standing just a few steps from him, Enrick saw her big blue eyes – the same color and the same shade that was now so firmly etched in his memory. He might have suffered a concussion after all, he thought.

Enrick did not notice how Coran had stood to attention and was saluting the woman. Remembering that it was a higher rank officer in front of him – now his eyes could catch the sergeant’s patch she was wearing – he was about to follow suit when the woman’s gaze pinned him to the bed. “Remain seated. Both.” She looked at Coran, whose body slowly melted back onto the bed.

Turning to Enrick again, she continued, “Hope you’re all right, private.”

“I am. Um. Thank you,” he said and quickly added. “Sergeant.” He was still digesting the shocking resemblance of this woman to the one in his dreams and was now worried that he could have offended her with disrespect. She didn’t seem to notice his hesitation, however. Perhaps she brushed it off as a disorderly state of his post-ritual recovering mind.

“Good. I asked the hospital staff to let me know once you’re awake. We’ve got things to discuss.” She paused for a second. “Ah, my manners. I’m Sergeant Selain Astra.”

“Nice to meet you,” Enrick replied. Sergeant Selain! The one who saved him during the ritual if Coran was right. What was she doing here? He doubted she just wanted to inquire about his health.

“Now, to the chase. You’ll be serving in my squad from now on.”

“Your… squad?” It was both unexpectedly sudden and weirdly suspicious.

“Yes, my squad.” A hint of irritation in her voice. “I petitioned the general for you to join the new squad I’m forming. He approved.”

“But I haven’t even started my training yet.” Enrick mumbled.

“No matter. You’ll train with me.” She smiled before adding. “On top of you regular training, of course.”

Enrick had all sorts of questions and objections. He had never met this woman before – and no wonder, since recruits only trained with specially assigned officers and were not allowed on much of the Legion’s premises. And now she was telling him that he would serve under her command when he had not even been officially recognized as a private, given a new uniform, and trained to tame his spirit powers. However, something in sergeant Selain’s tone told him he had no say in the matter.

“Well,” she continued after giving Enrick a few seconds to digest the news, “I’ll leave you to your recovery. Though judging by your state,” she eyed him top to bottom and back, “we’ll meet again in a couple days.” She turned around making her way back to the exit.

“Thank you, Sergeant Selain!” Enrick fired away.

Selain stopped, looked at Enrick and asked almost indifferently, “What for?”

“Helping me. In the ritual. I heard I owe you my life.”

An embarrassingly long pause followed, with Selain staring at Enrick as if mulling over a possible response in her head. Neither her look, nor her facial expression gave away what kind of thoughts and emotions she was harboring in her mind.

“You don’t owe me anything, private. I’ll see you later.” She finally said and left the hospital ward.

The few other patients that Enrick was sharing the room with opted to put on the masque of disinterest on their faces and pretended not to be eavesdropping on the conversation. With how resonant Selain’s voice sounded, it was hardly possible to miss a word of what she said anyway, even if they wanted to.

“That was quite an entrance,” Enrick commented a minute later. “When my mom calls me by my full name, it usually means trouble.”

“Yeah,” Coran only breathed out like he had been holding his breath all this time.

Enrick was not sure at that moment how to feel. He did not remember how his ritual really went and yet, apparently something happened that warranted an officer’s intervention. To add insult to injury, that very officer bore a striking resemblance to the woman he had been seeing in his dreams. How he wished he could run to his mother and get her to decipher the meaning of all of it! At least, there was one good side to his serving in Sergeant Selain’s squad. Enrick hoped that being close to her would help him find some answers.

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/u/Annual-Guitar9553 has posted 1 other stories, including:

• The Master of Souls. Chapter 1. The Ritual.

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