The Knife's Edge

Chapter Ten

RENMAI

Wind whipped his cloak alive, and strands of hair lashed his face. Kail stared over the cliff’s edge. He watched the two men.

They stood talking twenty paces apart. The boy practically trembled with excitement. As his fingers flitted at his side, the cloaked man froze, marveling at the odd and familiar gesture. The boy moved, and took a stance. The difference in his posture was far too subtle for anyone else to recognize or understand.

“Sa Hira...” Kail whispered. A smirk creased his lips when the old man spoke.

Kail extended his hand, curling his fingers into a cup. He focused on the hermit’s mouth. With a scooping gesture, as if carving out a handful of air, he caught the breath before the hermit’s lips and grappled it towards him. Words took shape as if whispered in his ear.

“No, my boy. Standing as surely as a wolf in the brush is just lounging. A Renmai Stance. I never thought I would see it.”

“So he’s more than just a hermit,” Kail mused. Suddenly, a call echoed through the woods, barely audible. It was far too muted for the two below, especially under the water’s roar, but he heard. His eyes shifted and muscles tightened like steel ropes. A hand was on his plain leather scabbard. They’re close.

Kail knelt. With one hand he stripped away layers of moss at his feet, and put his palm to the ground. The dirt was soft and wet. He waited until the cry resounded again, and this time, he chased it, smacking his palm to the ground. Upon impact, his senses rushed into the ground and he was toppling over the ledge, tumbling down the face of the falls, flowing with the racing torrent. He escaped the sucking rush of water and flew into the woods. He weaved through the trees with his second sight. Shadows rushed towards him, while others shrieked, shirking away as if his presence was poison.

The cry ricocheted and he followed it. But the sound was dying quickly. He could almost see it like a thin wisp in the air, receding into the woods. Kail flew faster, pushing harder to catch it. Finally, the sound stopped. He was still charging forward, rushing to catch it when he saw the trap. He knew he was caught, unable to slow his headlong dash, and a huge blade from around the last tree rushed towards his face. Its gleaming edge pierced the tip of his ethereal form. There was nothing he could do. Without a second thought, he severed the cord between his two selves.

He rushed back into his stationary body, eyes snapping wide as if ice water had drenched his skin. Immediately, he vomited to one side, and wiped his mouth with the back of his gloved hand. A mounting feeling of insanity, of his mind shredding into two parts, rose to the surface. Forcefully, he shoved it down. Snapping the thread between forms was dangerous, at best, and even he didn’t know the full extent of it. He felt something, and glanced down at his muscled forearm to see a tremor ripple beneath his flesh.

Calmly, Kail stood. The boy will die first, he thought emotionless, withdrawing into himself as he turned. His cloak snapped and whipped with purpose.