A few days after fighting, I was outside for a lesson in the same thing.
Which is loosely translated as a "let's-see-how-beat-up-Zara-can-get" lesson.
I was honestly just happy to be outside again. The fighting lessons had been few and far between, and they were the only way I was able to go outdoors. Between the until-noon times I cleaned the castle and the rain which plagued the castle grounds for a week, going outside became a very rare and virtually impossible feat.
So, when I finally had the chance to feel the sunshine hit me, I didn't think twice about asking for a lesson. Trying to fight off Beast was more of me dodging out of the way and praying he'd keep his word. I would've lost a fight with the vespers too, Vadik's knife or no Vadik's knife.
"Lizavyeta!"
I jumped and glared up at Kvirfrom my sitting position on the ground. "What?"
He crossed his arms over his chest. "Oh, I'm sorry. I must have just imagined that you said you wanted a lesson today. Never mind then. Let's go inside."
I rolled my eyes. "I was just enjoying the sunshine for a second. Get over it."
"Mhm." Beast pointed up at the sky, which was covered in dark clouds. "I see that sunshine you were enjoying so much. Wow, it's nice!"
It wouldn't go well if you slap him now. Just wait until he starts showing you some weird move or something. You can mess it up and blame it on that.
I counted to ten before I started to move, just to aggravate Kvir. Slowly, (and I mean slowly) I rose to my feet.
"So, what are we doing today?" I pulled my arm behind me, feeling the stretch in my shoulders.
His eyes twinkled as he dug through one of his pockets, fishing for something. When he finally grasped it, the skin around his eyes crinkled in a smile and he pulled the thing out with a flourish.
It was a knife.
"Here," he said, holding the hilt toward me. "Take. Use."
Already have one.
Still, I took it. "Well, unless you want me to stab you again, I doubt I'll be using it."
He rolled his eyes. "Come here."
The grass crunched beneath me as I walked two feet to Kvir and stood, knife in hand. "Now what?"
He twirled his fingers. "Give me the knife and turn around."
What was the point of giving me the knife in the first place if you're just going to take it away again!
I thrust the knife out--which he took-- and turned around, slapping my hands against my thighs. His clothes rustled with his movement behind me. My heart sped up. What's he doing?
A long hand touched my shoulder lightly. A shiver ran up my spine.
"We're doing headlocks today," Kvir chirped brightly.
And he proceeded to wrap his arm around my neck and squeeze.
The pressure of his arm against my windpipe disturbed me for a second, but only for a second. My brain went into overdrive, trying to remember what to do in that situation.
I stomped his foot.
He let go of my neck fairly quickly. "Don't do that!"
"Whaddaya think I'm going to do if someone chokes me? Give 'em a prize? Just be glad I stomped your foot and didn't aim higher!"
Kvir sighed in exasperation. "Normal people wait to be told what to do."
I nodded. "Exactly. Normal people."
"Just--okay." Kvir took a deep breath. "If I were to have a knife in my hand, and with the other put you in a headlock, what would you do?"
"Stomp on your foot."
He slapped his hand against his forehead. "No, Lizaveta--"
I grimaced. "Zara."
He repeated himself again, this time louder. "No, Lizaveta. First of all, try to take the knife away from me. Come here. "
When I didn't move, he walked up toward me and stood behind at my back. "I'm not going to chokehold you yet, but just take the knife away."
After a few minutes, I succeeded in doing that.
"Good," he said. "Do you know how to get out of headlocks?"
I smirked. Stomp on your foot.
My mouth opened to say just that, but Kvir cut me off with a wave of his hand. "Don't say 'stomp on your foot.'"
I closed my mouth and shook my head.
So, again, after minutes of me being yanked backward by my neck, I finally got the move down to get out of headlocks.
"You feel like putting it all together?" he asked.
My heart sped up. Something was bothering me about the move he was trying to teach me, but I couldn't place it.
Instead of saying 'no,' I nodded my head. "Sure. Let's do it."
Kvir wirled his fingers around in the air. "Turn around."
Heart hammering, I turned, waiting for his arm to squeeze around my neck. And it did. He pressed into my voicebox and held me up to him, so much so that I was pressed against his chest. The knife--which was supposed to be at Kvir's side--had the flat part pressed against my side.
Something clicked in my head. I knew why the move was bothering me.
"Kvir, stop," I choked. Don't think about it, Zara.
He didn't let go, only squeezed tighter. "That's not what works to get out of a headlock, Lizavyeta."
"Let go!"
He didn't let go.
"Kv--"
It was just a momentary flash. The brown grass below me turned to wood. The trees turned to flames that waved around like an ocean. The arm clad in black that pulled at my neck turned much smaller, hairy, and white.
It was like I could smell the guy that choked me.
The dagger he held pressed lightly into my side, stopping me from running away.
But I knew what to do.
With my left hand, I grabbed the hilt of the dagger and yanked downwards, feeling it slip from the man's grasp. I brought my right foot down like a ton of bricks onto the guy's foot, stomping it to pancake. I whirled around and stabbed at his neck, feeling the knife sink deeply into soft flesh. He gasped.
I looked up, wanting to see the light leave the man's eyes--no--I wanted to see him die with his face uncovered.
But it didn't happen.
The eyes that I feared so much only stared back at me in shock. The mask that covered my mother's killer's head didn't move.
We stared at each other through the flames.
This isn't right. I was just with--
"Zara?"
The flames around me fluttered away. The wooden floor turned to grass. Trees reappeared, and the sky turned gray once again--but this time not from smoke. This time it was rainclouds.
Oh no.
My breaths came out faster and faster. "I didn't..."
Slowly, I lifted my head to look up. Kvir stared at me in shock, a hand pressed against his neck where--
Where I stabbed him.
Oh.
He held the knife in place, making sure the point didn't tip up. His shoulders were rigid and the rest of his body stiff with pain. His ruby eyes flashed at me, then back at the knife.
There is no blood coming from his neck, and he's still breathing, so I guess that's a plus.
If you can call getting stabbed in the neck a plus.
"Help--help me with this," he whispered.
I think my heart skipped a beat. "What?"
"You put it in there, take it out!"
Stupid.
I walked up and grabbed the hilt. This is going to hurt.
But, of course, my bright ideas and I didn't say that out loud.
Unsure of whether to go slowly or just yank it out all at once, I chose the quicker option.
Which was probably the wrong choice.
Kvir let out an earth-shaking roar after I yanked the blade from his neck. He glared at me with rage.
"Zara, what the--"
What followed was an unhalting string of words, some of which I recognized and some I didn't, but all were curses.
"Kvir, I'm sorry!" I shouted back to him. He had finally quieted down a second so I could speak. "What did you think, that I like stabbing you?"
His arms went into the air. "Yeah, seems like you do!"
Uh-uh. I'm not doing this again. "I told you to let go!"
Kvir went mysteriously silent all of the sudden. He crouched to the ground and grabbed his head with his hands.
"Kvir?" I stepped forward. His right hand shot up, telling me to stop. A low moan forced itself out from clenched teeth.
He's fighting it.
With deep breaths, he stood up. His eyes were a brighter red than usual, but everything else about his was normal.
"Do you know what a vesper is?"
"Say what?" Wow, jumping track a little, are we?
He looked at me like I was an idiot. "A vyecher. Surely you know what one is."
"Gah," I didn't answer his question. I was still reeling from the "hold-on-I'm-about-to-tear-you-to-sheds" to the "So-do-you-know-what-this-is" transition.
Kvir rolled his eyes and started to walk toward the castle. He twirled the cane (which he hadn't had anywhere near him the entire time we were outside) around and around.
"Wait!" I called, jogging to catch up. "What about vespers? I mean, yes, I know what they are, I've seen them."
He stopped so abruptly I almost ran into his back. "So you don't know what they are."
I sighed and looked up at the still-darkening sky. "No, I guess I don't."
Kvir plopped down on the ground. "Sit," he commanded.
I looked at the ground warily. Still, I sat.
"What do you think vespers are?"
I glanced at the forest. "I don't know," I answered. "People, I guess, because that's why we are in a war with them."
War. I had completely forgotten about the Vesper War since I was at the castle.
"No."
I turned my head so sharply that one of my curls flung itself into my eyes. I tucked it back. "What do you mean by that?"
He looked at me and spoke simply, "They aren't people. They are animals."
Confusion basically attacked me at that point. "But the war--"
"There is no war now," Kvir answered. "I stopped it when the king sent you to me."
"You--you stopped it?" I sputtered. What?
He just sat still, staring at me. He wasn't lying, that much was clear. But if what he said was true, then Joshua would've gone to fight for no reason. My father might not have been in the state he was when I left because Joshua would've been home. I wouldn't have even been at the castle because there was no war in the first place!
"I don't understand," I mustered out. "What do you mean you stopped it?"
He bowed his head and slowly got to his feet, using the disappearing/reappearing cane to help him up. "When you came to the castle, I called off my vespers. It was part of the deal I made with the king."
Confusion quickly turned to anger. "Your vespers! You had control over them the whole time! And how, pray tell," I paused for breath. "How did the king see an army when you said that they are animals?"
"Liizavyeta." Kvir grabbed my shoulder. "Go into the woods. Here," he reached into his pocket and pulled out the knife I stabbed him with earlier. "Take this."
I resisted the urge to stab him multiple times with the dagger he gave me. I closed my eyes instead. "What the heck are you talking about!"
There was no answer. My eyes flew open. Kvir was gone.
"I'm going to kill him."
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Discussion starter: What do you think a vesper is?