Training Night

[Kestrel (DELETED 7310)]

Kestrel Marten slowed his truck down as he approached the turn off. He was on the road heading east out of Harper Rock, the one that ran parallel the Algonquin River as it flowed out of town. Trees stood telltale watch on either side of the two lane black top. He slowed as he approached what he knew would be an unpaved dirt trail coming up on his left. Anyone who didn't know it was there would probably miss it, and even f they did, they'd be hard pressed to drive down the half mile stretch of overgrowth if they weren't behind the wheel of something comparable to Kestrel's Jeep Renegade.

It was ironic, he thought, as the trees closed in on him, frequently brushing the top of the Jeep with low hanging branches, how many horror movies he had seen where a dark forest at night was the preferred setting for all the worst monsters and spirits and axe murderers to be found. Little did people realize that, for most humans, in the nighttime the woods was probably the safest place to be. Barring any of the more mundane ways of getting killed, like, say, getting eaten by a bear. But at least you could pretty much guarantee there would be no vampires.

God, vampires! He couldn't believe he was actually having random every day thoughts with vampires in them. A year ago he thought that vampires were just something teenage girls obsessed over. Thank god Aisha had never been into those Twilight books. He would have given her so much grief. Which of course, is a big brother's prerogative. Thinking of Aisha made him smile for a moment. They had had a great time talking today. It had almost been like old times, before the Lupus had destroyed her health. Except of course for the fact that she had been confined to a hospital bed the whole time during their visit. The smile quickly faded. Kestrel felt terrible about having to tell his dying sister that it could be a week (maybe two) before he could see her again. She had taken it in stride, but he knew her. She had been strong for him. The minute he was out of the room, she was probably crying her eyes out.

What could he do? The hospital bills were piling up. He had been working overtime at the construction company. There was some talk of promoting him to foreman, but it was always just talk. Things weren't great for the construction business in Harper Rock. Other than road maintenance and the occasional renovation of an existing building, there was very little demand for his employer's services. Harper Rock was like a city frozen in time. No new buildings, roads, highways, etc. were being built, and Mayor Bancroft seemed to be doing nothing to attract some of the outside economic growth that the city needed so desperately. Kestrel worried that if he didn't get the foreman job soon, he might end up being one of the schlubs who ended up would get laid off with the recession. And then what would happen to Aisha? There had been some talk of logging companies coming to Harper Rock, but Kestrel would have no part of that even if they did. See, the woods were important. The woods were where the fae lived.

Kestrel was one of the few people (well, humans) who lived in Harper Rock who knew about the existence of vampires and their natural enemies, the fae. He was one of the few people who knew that vampires were biting, and sometimes killing, people all over Harper Rock, and that the safest place to be at night was not in the city, but in the forest; where the fae kept the vampires at bay. Thankfully, though the fae were vicious antagonists of vampires, they seemed to have little to no interest in humans, and rarely showed themselves to the human race at all. Of course, because of this, Kestrel had no real proof that the fae actually existed. Any knowledge he had of them was according to Simon.

Simon Trask was the reason that Kes knew as much as he did about the supernatural dealings in Harper Rock. Simon was a sorcerer (another term that Kestrel never thought he would be using outside of making a reference to one of the Disney movies he used to watch with Aisha). The night Kes met Simon, Simon literally saved him from a vampire attack. Kestrel had been working late into the night with a crew doing some street maintenance. When the foreman called an end to the work around three a.m. Kes volunteered to help clean up the site. Thus he was the only one there when the manhole shifted open, and something that looked like a man climbed out. Looked like a man, but wasn't, for it moved far faster than any man Kes had ever seen. It sprung on him like an animal, and when it opened its mouth, Kestrel caught a brief glimpse of long glistening fangs, before they were buried in his neck. Kestrel knew he was going to die, right then and there, at the hands of this thing he had never imagined could exist outside of a horror movie.

And then something even more incredible happened. Kestrel felt a hot wind, and a split second later, the vampire was pulled off him. A strange man Kes had never seen before was stalking towards the creature, with no fear present in his oddly unmatched eyes, one blue and one green. The man was in his fifties, tall and thin, with a shock of pale blonde hair on his head. He chanted strange words as he advanced on the vampire. With a snarl, the monster leapt at the stranger, fangs bared. However, when they struck their intended mark, the stranger's neck, they caused no damage, but seemed to deflect harmlessly. The sorcerer grabbed the vampire with a free hand, and the creature screamed in pain and collapsed to the ground. It was at that moment that Kestrel became aware of the what the man carried in his other hand, a long and wicked looking sword. With one deft stroke, the blade separated the vampire's head from its body, and the confrontation was over. Kestrel had no idea what to expect when the man, satisfied with his kill, turned to confront the scared construction worker. He half expected to be this strange warrior's next victim. Instead, this stranger spoke words that Kestrel would never forget; words which would change the path of his destiny from that moment forward: "My name is Simon Trask, and you have been chosen."

As Kestrel pulled the Jeep up to the edge of a clearing marked by a ring of torches, he rubbed his neck unconsciously. The wound had healed almost instantaneously the minute Simon had knocked the vampire off of him, and yet Kestrel could never forget that sense of violation, of having been at the mercy of a creature that wanted to suck the life out of him. He jumped down from the Jeep and pulled a satchel out of the back. Unrolling it, he pulled out a sword very similar to the one Simon had wielded that day. The same one in fact that he now kept at his side, as he stood in the middle of the clearing, watching Kes. "You're late," he said in his sharp British accent as Kes walked up to him. Simon was never one to mince words. Kes had learned this the hard way. But like a skilled drill sergeant, Simon had pushed Kes in the last couple months to do things he never would have thought in a million years that he was capable of.

"A wizard is never late. Nor is he early. He arrives exactly when he means to." Kes smirked. As little as a month ago, he would have earned himself a swat with the flat of Simon's blade for being, as Simon called it, "cheeky." But Kestrel knew he was finally starting to earn the older sorcerer's respect. Enough so that he could count on the fact that he was more likely to risk a tongue lashing than a beating for being a smart-*** these days. A tongue lashing which Simon was only to happy to deliver now. "Don't quote that pot-smoking old idiot me. Wizard my arse. You sound like one of those convention attending simpletons who reek of b.o. and poor life choices. Now are you here to train, or play movie quote-a-long?" It was a rhetorical question, as Simon proved by drawing his sword in one smooth motion. Kestrel readied his blade as well. He was no match for the old master, but he was getting better. "You're a wizard Harry!" he chuckled as he parried one of Simon's strikes. A second later he realized very quickly that the sorcerer was no longer in the mood for games. With a carefully placed thrust, Simon disarmed his young opponent. He simultaneously swung his foot, tangling Kes's legs and leaving him sprawling on his *** in the dirt. When he looked up, Simon's blade was at his throat.

"You are a fool, Kestrel Marten. A witty fool yes, but a witty fool is still a dead fool. Now if you are quite finished with this sophomoric humor, let's begin in earnest." Kes's face flushed with anger and embarrassment. How could Simon understand? He had already worked his usual twelve hour shift today, and then, visiting Aisha, it was always so hard to see her like that. He just needed to laugh, to blow off some steam. But he know what Simon's reaction would be: "Nobody cares, Mr. Marten." And he was absolutely right. Simon had saved his life. He was teaching him amazing things! After the sword play would come the meditation. Kes was learning how to align his chi, a basic tenet for a sorcerer, and the source of all of their extraordinary abilities. Someday, he would be as powerful a sorcerer as Simon was. But when the day came when he was the one confronting vampires in the dead of night, it would only be himself that he would be able to rely on. The world didn't care, because the world couldn't know the truth: that vampires were out there, and sorcerers like Simon and himself were the some of the last defense against them.

With a grunt, Kes rose to his feet. He bowed his head. "My apologies, master. It won't happen again." Simon's glower softened ever so slightly. He got that twinkle in his eye, the blue one, that was the closest Kes ever saw him come to laughing. "Of course it will happen again, Kestrel Marten. But if it happens again tonight, I'll box your ears." And with that, Kestrel's training continued...