Interlude II

  By Other Means

  (A Few Hours Ago)

  (Leah “the Destroyer” Badiaz)

  Everyone was gathered around and talking about their upcoming matches. Despite it being nearly two years since her last professional bout, long enough for her to gain an Apprentice and teach her until she was ready to strike out on her own.

  While Leah had long ago hung up her gloves and trunks she did intend to eventually make a comeback for her Apprentice, a fact that seemed like today would be the day. This process was supposed to be a simple pass the torch, battle once or twice, until her Apprentice actually won their match and then slowly retire, maybe make one match for some last bit of retirement cash and finally call it a career.

  Truth be told, Leah’s old body was looking for any excuse not to go out today. Particularly with an unlicensed and unverified rookie healer at the helm, anything could happen. Yet after the first match, Red Reed was the first to note their abilities, a fact that was reluctantly confirmed by Johny Bloom, well Johny DiVoratore now. But their words meant little, as their wounds had been seemingly superficial at best, particularly with how young and inexperienced they both were. At their age, most injuries could be shrugged off with just a bit of dirt and water.

  It wasn’t until she Leah the complete look of shock on Matthias “The Mountain” Gravely’s face that she began to wonder.

  “You okay?” Leah found herself asking the normally gentle giant.

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” he replied, blinking a bit as If trying to realize where he was exactly.

  “You won right?” Leah found herself asking.

  “Yeah, he won, nearly ripped Slovak’s hand right off,” Polmean replied, as he had been watching from the rafters.

  “Slovak?” Leah had asked, then turned to see that Slovak was right there, waving about his arms wildly, as if nothing happened.

  “Yes?” Slovak responded, his ears good enough to hear the legend call for him, thus he turned to face her.

  “Come here, let me see your arms,” Leah demanded and like a good kid Slovak eagerly came over and showed both arms. Two arms that looked remarkably unremarkable, not even a blemish on them.

  “Look at that, nearly ripped off completely, bone hanging out wildly. I’m there screaming my head off, like it is a zombie coming out to eat me, then suddenly she appeared.”

  “It’s a she?” Matthias asked.

  “Yeah, trust me, she was pretty light and she was, right there on me after all,” Slovak stated while gesturing to his lap. “Also, when you are that close you can really tell, also she is a looker. Let me tell you –” he was about to continue but Leah soon cut him off.

  “Wait, so you did almost lose your hand?”

  “Oh yeah, my hand, my life. Lost pints of blood out there, we were covered in it,” Slovak said, gesturing to himself and the Matthias.

  “Then what happened?” Jade cut in, her voice clearly curious about this new development.

  “Then she smacked me, got me to stop screaming, then began healing my hand. At first, I followed her gaze and started twitching again. That’s when she grabbed me right here,” Slovak stated while pointing to his right cheek. “Then she held my gaze and all but dared me to look away. There I was staring into the two most beautiful pinkish purple eyes and I was a goner.”

  “A goner?” Jade asked.

  “Yeah, she had me right there. I was in love at first stare. Even when I could feel my bones popping back into place, she never looked away, never checked her work, just trusted the process. You’ve gotta respect that,” Slovak concluded.

  “Wait, if there was so much blood, where did it all go?” Leah finally asked.

  “That’s the thing, she must have some type of Blood Healing Skill or something, as she just poofed, and it was gone.” Slovak added.

  Leah was almost going to call him out on that, as she had never heard of a Skill that could make blood disappear. But that’s when Matthias cut in to help prove him right.

  “It’s true, if you look I made her keep the mark from where she slapped me,” Matthias added while pointing to the relatively small hand print on the giant of a man’s overly large face.

  “Wait, how did she manage to slap you in the face like that?” Leah asked, looking at the relatively small handprint and then at Matthias’s large size.

  “She made him kneel, and he did! Then she slapped him,” Slovak cut in.

  “Wait, she made you kneel? I thought the Healer’s weren’t supposed to talk?” Jade asked.

  “She didn’t, she just pointed at the ground, and I was glad I was still on the ground as I likely would have knelt as well. She was, angry,” Slovak replied.

  “She wasn’t angry,” Matthias corrected, “also she didn’t slap me, but rather grabbed my face, made me stare into her eyes and then waved her finger no.”

  “You let her?” Jade asked a bit incredulous at that.

  “Honestly, I was just so glad she managed to save Slovak’s life, let alone his hand that I felt her ire was well deserved. Also that had to have been taxing.”

  “Speaking of, when is the next competition?” Leah asked, suddenly realizing that it had been a few minutes since Slovak and Matthias came back.

  Then almost as if they had summoned a demon at that very moment, that is the moment when Salvatore came in from the announcer’s booth.

  “Hey Sal, are we late?” Leah asked.

  “No, we are on a ten-minute break, letting that healer get her wind back,” Salvatore, aka Sal, responded.

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  “So it’s true? What they are saying?” Leah asked.

  “If you mean that Mangling Mountain over here used a banned earth magic infused Skill to crush and nearly rip off the slowest of Slovak’s left hand here, then yes,” Sal responded, going over and checking out Slovak’s pristine left hand himself.

  “Holy shit, how does that feel?” Sal asked, grabbing and squeezing the writs in question.

  “It feels great, honestly, had I not seen it dangling right there with my own two eyes, I wouldn’t have thought it possible for it to be like this,” Slovak said while waving his hand around in what appeared to be a fanning motion. A flopping type motion that would not be possible if there were any lingering issues, particularly with how bad the trauma described was.

  “All right, well glad you are good, but I need to get back out there,” Sal said, patting Slovak on the back with a gentle pat.

  Seeing that he was about to leave, Leah felt a sudden indescribable need to join tonight’s program.

  “Hey Sal,” Leah called out, normally Salvatore would be too busy to even acknowledge such comments, but for her, Leah, a living legend, he would make time.

  “Yeah?”

  “Put us in,” Leah stated, gesturing to her Apprentice.

  “Wait you mean in?” An excited Jade asked, her accent coming through thick in the air.

  “Yeah,” Leah confirmed for both Jade and Sal.

  “Okay, I’ll put you in as the headliners,” Sal stated, realizing that Leah coming out of retirement would be a huge draw for the regulars.

  “No, next,” Leah demanded, suddenly curious about what this new healer with glowing magic eyes looked like.

  “Next?” Sal and Jade both cried out in unison.

  “Yeah, next,” Leah sated, getting up to get ready and go to the secondary spot. The spot that would take her past where the healer should be seated. It was the secondary path, as it was often the person that would most likely need healing to begin with that would go past this spot. This was both an homage to her protégé, saying she deserved this chance, and the fact that she truly wanted to get a good look at this Healer.

  As she got up to go, she saw Matthias and asked for any additional advice he could give about this healer.

  “Anything else I should know about this healer?”

  “Yeah, even if you aren’t injured, make sure she treats you,” Matthias offered, then to Leah’s surprise the large man lifted up his hobbled left leg and began kicking it, like he was doing standard exercises.

  After hearing that, Leah knew she definitely had to see exactly what this healer was all about.

  ***

  (Later that Night)

  (Anastasia Bloom)

  Anastasia found herself pacing in front of the large bay windows that overlooked the long driveway that connected the main road to her estate. A long looping affair that many might try to bypass by following a straight line, only to find their vehicle suddenly waist deep in a ditch or perfectly level bog. An old precautionary defensive structure that was meant to prevent invaders from charging forth and immediately scaling the Bloom estate.

  Knowing the layout of her yard, that her guards knew the treachery of even veering slightly off course, she knew that this window would give her the most time to see the expected carriage’s inevitable return.

  Logically, Anastasia knew that her Apprentice could be kicked out early. That her Skills might not be what the arena organizers were looking for, which was why she started looking out the window after the contest began an hour or so later. Then when the contest went on, she grew more comfortable and confident with the plan.

  Really the only concern that Anastasia had was the costs related to Mr. Yi, who had only been budgeted for two hours, and those funds came directly from Anastasia’s personal accounts. As it would take time for a fostered child to be declared as legitimately worthy by the other branches of the Bloom family. Branches that extended across the globe.

  Branches that were often as deadly as the enemies within the household that her Apprentice had somehow survived and thrived in, despite not receiving a scrap of support. It was the former family that also had Anastasia worried as she had it on good authority that a few members of the DiVoratore family would not only be in attendance, but that her own troublemaking great grandson would also be a contestant.

  Gah!

  Just thinking about Johny being there as a participant caused some of the frustration that Anastasia had been hiding to bubble forth and escape. He was so cruel and vindictive, he was also the reason why the house had a strict no pet policy, and that policy was not instituted due to allergies, but rather how the animals all went missing.

  Now that he was gone, the ban could possibly be released, but it was still too soon. At least, for Anastasia it was still too soon. When she had come across his little cemetery and seen signs that the ground of said cemetery had recently been altered in an attempt to manipulate the dead, she knew it was time for a change. Unfortunately, it took years for her to find a meaningful way to make that change possible.

  “I swear, if he has so much as touched one hair on her head—” Anastasia found herself muttering a curse out loud. A curse that if she so chose could be made real and given true power. Only after seeing that the system was ready to grant her said powers did she ultimately relent and avoid the topic altogether.

  “Madame, they are arriving,” Pierre called out, realizing that Anastasia likely missed the obvious entry while she was nervously pacing and cursing under her breath.

  “Thank you Pierre,” Anastasia called out as she quickly fixed her dress and proceeded to stand by the grand staircase. Where she waited, and waited Pierre, used to her eccentricities just stood behind the door and watched through the peephole as the carriage made its way to the front door. After it got here and dropped off Markan, Mr. Yi, and Catarine Mr. Stevens, the nighttime driver would take the carriage back and secure the horses in the barn.

  “They have arrived,” Pierre called out quietly, as he proceeded to stand behind the door, count to five and open the door.

  As soon as the door opened, an overly excited Markan was the first to enter, a certain bounce to his step. This was odd as Markan normally hated working the late shifts, but seemed more than enthused by what was happening, despite being two hours over when the scheduled event should have ended.

  “Did you all get lost on your way back?” Anastasia found herself asking, her fear being forced out in such a demanding way.

  Next to enter was a clearly bedraggled Catarine, who despite getting next to no sleep last night still looked mostly fresh if a little haggard. By comparison, Mr. Yi looked all together smug and content. Seeing his face, a sudden rise of bile filled Anastasia’s stomach as she knew she would not be able to afford two hours of overtime work. She even began to state that, but Mr. Yi, ever observant just waved his hand in a placating gesture.

  “Rest assured, that my fees for today and through the weekend will be waived,” Mr. Yi began.

  Shocked.

  Hearing that news, Anastasia just shook her head, not quite understanding what was happening. Though of the three newcomers Catarine was the first to speak.

  “Is it okay if I go to bed? I apparently will have a long day tomorrow.”

  Hearing her speak, Anastasia seemed confused for a moment, but just turned to Mr. Yi trying to understand what happened.

  “Yes, you have done well for a first day,” Mr. Yi replied, apparently interpreting the glance his way as Anastasia giving him permission to decide for the both of them.

  “Thank you,” Catarine asked, then as if remembering that she had her Bloom family marked healer’s robe just held it up for someone to take, as if they were her servants. Anastasia was about to tell her where she could put it, but Markan was the first to reply.

  “Give those here, I’ll make sure they are ready for tomorrow,” Markan exclaimed excitedly, as if it was his ultimate pleasure to do laundry. Now Anastasia was confused, and giving one last quick Intense Analyze of Catrine made sure that she did not have a single Mind Control related Skill or affinity for Psychic Magic. Both were still not present on her readout, meaning... Honestly, Anastasia didn’t know what it all meant.

  “Thank you, and good night,” Catarine noted after handing off the neatly folded robes. Robes that looked like they were the same exact condition when they were first handed out. With that last bit of pleasantries out of the way, Catarine turned left, but then looked confused for a moment, fortunately Pierre who had witnessed everything to this point seemed to understand the confusion.

  “Up the stairs, third door on the left-hand hallway,” Pierre stated while giving hand signals of where to go.

  “Thank you,” Catarine whispered and then with a slight blush of embarrassment on her cheeks began making her way where Pierre indicated.

  Yes, getting used to a new house must be confusing, Anastaisa mused to herself as everyone silently watched the girl make her way up the stairs.

  Shut-slam.

  Finally, only after the sound of a thick wooden door closing tightly did Anastasia turn to face everyone. Then finally after no one spoke up, she asked the obvious question.

  “Well?”

  “Well what?” Markan asked, clearly not getting not understanding what obvious meant.

  “Well, what happened? How did she do? Why are you so late, what is this about the rest of the week?” Anastasia began asking the most obvious questions to ask, and thought she could come up with more if given more time, but ultimately stopped there.

  “Well—” Markan began, but was cut off by the deep rich voice of Mr. Yi.

  “If I might begin, your Apprentice did not only you, but the entire Bloom household a great service. Going above and beyond. She has also proven to be using her time during the match to glance and gain key insights that is rare for one so young.”

  Hearing him, Anastasia was both surprised and a little proud of what she was hearing, particularly as it was coming from the normally stoic Mr. Yi. Mr. Yi who had trained multiple members of the Bloom household in various forms of weapons proficiency, which is why he charged such astronomically high prices. Which brought up another point that she wanted to clarify.

  “You indicated that you would be waiving your fee?” Anastasia pressed, while she could pay for today, she would much rather keep the large price for his services on hand.

  “Fees,” Mr. Yi replied, making sure to add extra emphasis on the plural of the word before continuing, “and yes. Suffice to say that my fees have been accounted for by other means.”

  “Other means?”

  “Yes,” was all Mr. Yi provided as an answer, fortunately for Anastasia Markan was right there.

  “What he means to say is that he got Catarine’s prize for being a fully qualified healer and a date.”

  “What?” Anastasia asked, wondering how her Apprentice could qualify for the fully qualified healer bonus pay. While her class was extremely powerful, particularly with the way she seemed to have broken the mold as it were, Anastasia still had not expected this as a result.

  “Yes, I’m almost jealous, as he got a date with Jade the Floral Assassin, honestly I didn’t know he had it in him either.” Markan responded, but apparently did not think to answer her real question at all

  “What?”

  “Don’t worry, I did one better, I got a date with Leah the Destroyer,” Markan replied.

  “Really, with Leah?” Pierre called out from behind as if these names meant anything.

  “Stop,” Anastasia called out and held up her hand in a halting gesture. Hearing her words, everyone paused to stare at her. For her part she wanted to throttle the two servants, even Mr. Yi was being particularly impossible right now. But she herself was tired and anxious from having to wait up half the night, which was why she decided to try to get the most important answer first.

  “Okay so to be clear, you do not need a payment for tonight and for the rest of the week?” Anastasia asked.

  “Correct,” Mr. Yi replied.

  “And when will your next training session with my Apprentice be?” Anastaisa asked, trying to figure out how long it would be before their next scheduled meeting.

  “Tomorrow.”

  “So just tomorrow?” Anastasia asked, thinking this would not be quite so bad.

  “Correct,” Mr. Yi nodded, then continued, “through the end of the weekend.”

  At that, Anastasia just glared at Mr. Yi trying to see if he was joking or not.

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