Chapter 422: Room to Turn

Glitch came to Jin with his head lowered. Jin put a hand against his warm jaw and checked the scraped plates along his side.

"We got through," he told him.

The drake leaned into his palm. Jin stood there for another breath before following the attendant toward the clinic.

Jin watched Lucian’s quarterfinal from the rail beside the clinic bay, with a cold pack against his forearm. His beasts were in the care stalls behind him. Every so often he glanced back, though the handler had promised to call if she needed him.

Seed 2 was Daren Holt, a broad, fair-haired fourth-year. Both he and his Middle-Gold Ironmane Lion were Rank 2, 4-Star. The lion’s bristling mane lifted as it watched Kite circle.

Holt raised his left forearm when Lucian approached. A pale frontal guard formed, met the checked end of the stave, then disappeared as Holt stepped away. He let it fall between exchanges instead of keeping it raised.

The lion took the space he left. A short rush forced Lucian sideways; Holt advanced behind it, ready to renew the guard wherever Kite threatened him.

Within a few minutes, their pressure had carried Lucian toward the north-western corner. He had only a couple of steps behind him in either direction.

Jin tightened his hand on the rail.

Don’t go back again.

Kite had already tried approaching from the front. The lion tucked its chin and presented its thick mane, making her break away rather than strike where it could reach her.

This time she circled lower, behind its shoulder. As the lion stepped toward Lucian, she struck the exposed outer hindquarter with a measured, crackling blow and climbed clear.

The lion swung around to meet her. Its turn opened a narrow space beside the line.

Lucian used Stormstep to pass through it. He checked his speed in the open lane and recovered facing the fight, stave already between himself and Holt.

Jin exhaled. Lucian had space again.

Holt changed his position. Instead of following directly behind the lion, he moved beside its rear flank, close enough to guard Kite’s next approach. When she stooped, the pale shield appeared across her line. She turned away, and Holt released it as the lion resumed its advance.

Lucian tried to exploit that release. Holt caught his approach with the practice blade in his other hand, then stepped behind the lion before Lucian could press further.

For several exchanges, neither gained much. Lucian gave ground to a rush, recovered, and threatened Holt before the partnership could settle. Kite changed her approach, sometimes drawing the guard without committing to the strike.

The lion caught Lucian’s stave between its forepaws during one checked attack. He had to wrench it clear and spend Stormstep escaping the next lunge. When he stopped, his shoulders were rising and falling much faster.

Holt saw it too. He began advancing harder, letting the lion’s short rushes drive Lucian toward the southern edge.

Jin wanted to call something. There was nothing useful he could tell his friend from here, and he kept his mouth shut.

Lucian yielded along the boundary rather than straight toward it. Holt followed, moving parallel to the line with the lion a little ahead. The next frontal guard flickered into place as Kite approached his shoulder.

She broke off. Lucian checked his own advance too, making Holt hold the guarded position for a moment before releasing it.

Then Lucian stepped toward the lion’s open side.

It lunged to meet him. He gave ground just far enough to draw that commitment, and Kite dropped toward its exposed flank again. Holt turned to cover the bird, raising a fresh guard beside his beast.

The lion was still recovering its forward stride. It couldn’t turn back toward Lucian as quickly this time.

Stormstep carried him through the gap beside it, toward Holt’s unguarded side. He arrived low, with his stave angled across the arm that held the practice weapon. Holt turned to meet him, but that also turned his frontal guard away from Kite.

Kite checked her descent instead of striking through the tamer. The lion wheeled toward her, leaving Holt to recover his position alone.

Lucian kept the stave across Holt’s weapon and stepped onto the route inward. Holt could push him away, but first he needed room to square his stance. He took one lateral step toward the boundary, then tried to pivot around Lucian’s stave.

Lucian followed the pivot rather than wrestling against Holt’s full strength. A second step put Holt’s rear foot on the red band. He tried to bring the guard across, but Lucian was too close for that turn to clear the crossed weapons cleanly.

Holt stepped out to regain room. His whole body passed beyond the line.

The flag rose. Lucian broke contact before the referee had finished calling the result.

Jin shouted, startling himself. Behind him, Flicker answered from her stall, and he turned to find her watching him with her crest lifted.

"He did it," he told her, unnecessarily.

Seed 3 beat seed 8 in the last match of the afternoon. That left four names. Lucian would face the third seed; Jin had the first.

Neither place was theirs yet.

By evening, students from outside the practical groups were stopping near the clinic to ask about the results. Jin heard his name, then references to Highmarch and the lizard in the old recording. He also heard Lucian’s name and people describing how Kite had helped him escape the corner.

One boy started to ask Jin how he had beaten the basilisk, then noticed the cold pack and stepped aside to let him through.

"After the checks," Jin said. He was pleased they wanted to know. He was also too tired to explain the whole fight standing in a doorway.

Crowe caught him farther down the corridor.

"You made Dray commit before you turned," he said. "Much better than counting on her to keep the rhythm you expected."

Jin nodded. His first fall still felt embarrassingly clear in his memory.

"Vale’s recovery out of the corner was good work too," Crowe added. "Both of you, see to your beasts before you start planning another fight."

Lucian was waiting outside Kite’s bay with a cup of water. Jin sat beside him and watched a handler carry fresh dressings into Glitch’s stall.

"I thought you were out at the start," Lucian said.

"So did I. Glitch got me room."

Lucian glanced toward Kite’s door. "I had one step left in that corner. Maybe two, if I wanted to fall over the line backward."

"You came out facing them."

"I remembered that part." Lucian drank at last. "Nearly forgot to breathe afterward."

Jin laughed, then leaned back carefully against the wall. They listened to Glitch shifting on his mat and Kite objecting to her wing examination.

"One more each," Lucian said.

Jin looked at him. "One more."

He wanted to say they would manage it. But the first and third seeds still stood between them and the realm.

Instead, he asked, "Have they finished checking her?"

"Nearly. She keeps trying to leave with the towel."

The handler brought their cards a little later. Bruises and superficial wounds, with rest and another check required before heavier work. Jin read Glitch’s note twice before putting it away.