Kill Someone, Save Another

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Henric Lee

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Wand
Black Walnut/ Maple Wand 12 3/4" Essence of Silver Thistle
All the way from the crystalline waters of the Lake, Henric strode over to the Forest at a mercilessly fast pace - probably amusing himself with Artemis's plight as she would try to follow him. As he entered the shaded woods, his stride instantly slowed so that the one who was following him could catch up. He cast his cloudy gray eyes up into the canopy of the forest and sighed; one leak, and one genuine emotion amongst all of those facades he put up around himself.
 
Art finally hopped to a halt and slumped to the ground. Now her other leg was aching. As grumpy as she was no, she was eager to know what he had to offer at this point. This wasn't a wild goose chase. She was getting something out of this - or else.

Her cheeks were pink with effort but still she stood up again and looked up at Henric. "Will you help me?" she finally asked, leaning against a tree in exhaustion. She didn't notice the trickle of blood winding its way down the back of her neck.
 
Henric blinked once, and then turned his head towards the direction of a thick clump of shrubbery and trees. Tilting his head inquisitively, he turned and glanced back to Artemis once more. "Wolf." He announced, making a 'shoo' motion with his hands; with a terrifying howl, a gigantic wolf burst out of the woods beside Henric. The boy stepped to the side, utilizing the reflexes he had shown her before, and brought one of his hands down upon the wolf's head with an earth-shattering crack!

As the wolf slumped to the ground in defeat, Henric gazed at Artemis as if suggesting she wasn't capable of such a feat. "Were you bleeding anywhere?"
 
Art stepped back in shock as a wolf darted out in front of them. Henric seemed to be entirely unsurprised and took it out completely in one blow as she watched. Artemis herself was more shocked that she hadn't heard it's approach. Something was making her mind fuzzy and she blinked heavily. Even so, she ignored his look to her and bent down to inspect the wolf. It was twitching feebly on the ground. "Ye could have killed it," she said softly as she placed a hand on its skull. The wolf could not even move, but a rumbling growl sounded from its chest. She looked up at Henric with unfocused but hard eyes.

"No I'm not bleeding anywhere, but this fellow here is." she wisely stepped back as the creature's paws began to move. With a sigh, she leaned down and picked up the enormous beast, setting it on its feet. The wolf turned with uneven steps and bared its teeth at her. "Ekvt Vbahkld!" Art shouted at it instinctively and slapped its rump. "Hite, hite!". Apparently it just wasn't worth taking on this angry little girl and the cold and wickedly strong boy, for the wolf took off into the undergrowth with its tail between its legs.

Art's nose twitched as she smelt blood. It wasn't the wolf's. Something cold was creeping down her spine that was very real and she forced herself to ignore it. This was an important opportunity to her and she would not pass it off.
 
"How do you train, if you can't take care of yourself?" Henric stated, as if it were all very obvious. Turning away from her, he trudged into the dense undergrowth of the forest and started to sort out one plant from the other. "There's a very basic rule in martial arts..." The pale boy was saying as he reached for a particularly dense looking plant and plucked out several large leaves from it. "And that is, rhetorically speaking here, mind." He inspected a red fern, and then promptly pulled it out of the earth. "The one rule you have to obey and remember."

Viciously pounding the fern into oblivion, he picked up the mush, broke a vine in two and spilled moisture over it, and then rubbed it all along the thick leaf's side. Holding out the thing to Artemis, he gestured at it and asked politely, "Would you like a herbal bandage?"
 
She looked at him, bemused, as he began to pick plants whilst talking. She responded to him for civility's sake of course, but she was still flabbergasted. "I don't train," she said as he plucked a few leaves from a thick, bushy sort of plants. "I hit people if they piss me off. When they go down, they stay down." She didn't say 'if'.

As he moved to a red fern she continued. "The only time I get hurt is when I'm looking after someone else, or even talking to someone else. It never happens when I'm alone." Artemis took the makeshift poultice and smiled at him. "Aye, thank 'ye." She looked around for a vine or some such, but seeing none she promptly pulled the hem from her dress. Art wrapped it around her ankle tightly which was starting to look a bit purple. Her head wound was nothing- yet.

"What's this one rule, then?"
 
Henric eyed her, catching her gaze and seeming to penetrate her eyes with his own piercing stare that unnerved so many. He watched her, to see if she would back away, or do anything of the like. Seemingly satisfied, he still kept eye contact with her as he announced quietly,

"For every person you save from their demise, another has to die for the life you protected."
 
There were many things she could have said at that moment, but none of them would be equal to the strength of those words. Now that Art thought about it, she hadn't at any point saved someone's life. She was mainly focused on saving her own skin. What she saved were troubled souls and those who were struggling within themselves. She understood that it was difficult for some people to deal with their inner demons, but she had no sympathy for those who were not strong on the outside. All but Sam, who laboured on under the pressure of both physical and mental strain. Art would bow to him one day in respect.

She did not look away as he caught her with his stare. Art was reminded of the many women making eyes at him and the way they fell under his gaze. She couldn't see anything of what they saw. It was just a wall, and infinitely black. Her own dark green eyes sparkled at the mystery of the thing.

"What have you to teach me,"
 
"Not much, for now." The boy announced, his tone of voice changing back to his usual, carefree, and blunt way of speech. He reached for the dangling vine, and held out a vial to it, filling the vial to the brim with the shimmering waters. Turning, Henric walked over to Artemis, and then showed her the vial in his neat grip. "Observe." He purred as he flicked the vial up in the air with a graceful motion, sending it spinning into the air; it performed a neat loop in the air, and then fell back into his grasp - not a drop of water had spilled.

Holding out the vial to Artemis, Henric announced, "Balance. Precision. Concentration. The keys to martial arts always lie in those things - if you can replicate the feat just now, then I'll tell you more. Hmmyes?" With that, he turned away from her and ventured deeper into the woods. "There's a lot more water to find if you spill that vial - which you will!"

He negelected to tell her it took most people several years to master that simple movement.
 
Impatient though she was, Artemis took the vial and looked at it. Henric had already ventured further by the time she looked back up and she limped after him in annoyance. Although she followed, he mind was on the vial. Her sharp goblin eyes had mapped his movements perfectly and she was sure that she could do the same. Why would I spill the water if I know how to perform the trick? thought Art in amusement. He continued to walk, so she decided to begin trying.

Balance. Precision. Concentration, she said in her mind. Utterly confident, Artemis focused on the vial and flicked. It was executed perfectly and mimicked Henric's every move of the time before. Art caught the vial- and felt the water splash down onto her head. "What on earth?" said Art out loud. Impossible...

She snuck a glance at Henric's back. What had he done that she hadn't? Calming herself, she limped back to refill the vial. Ten minutes later, she had given up pursuit of him entirely and seated herself on a rock. Droplets of water clung to her nose as she tried and failed over and over again. This was a ridiculous exercise! Art tossed the vial onto the ground in frustration. Alright, so blind physical movements hasn't helped, she told herself. Think, Art! Think. Perhaps she was missing something. You're not a Gryffindor, you're a Ravenclaw. She leaned over and picked up the now empty vial. Art stared at it for some time before she had an epiphany. Centrifugal force, Art. Use it. Or at least try.

A single drop of water was left in the almost empty vial. Art stood and refilled it, thinking all the while. Spontaneously she flicked her wrist, adding a little spin to the vial with her eyes locked onto it. Snap. Her hand whipped out the catch the vial and once again she shook water out of her eyes. Well stuff that, then, she thought before noticing what was left in the vial. A quarter of the water remained. Art peered into, slightly pleased. If you'd concentrated a bit more there may have been more in it. Even so, she smiled and got up to refill it again.
 
"In martial arts," The voice called carelessly from overhead; Henric Lee was walking on the forest canopy by hopping from branch to branch with ridiculous ease. "The most important rule is focus, if you lose your focus, you lose your stance, and if you lose your stance, you're dead." The pale boy held up one finger and announced, "Remember - For every person you save from their demise, another has to die for the life you protected." He gestured at the vial as he disappeared into the trees again. "Do not think - act. Treat the vial as a person, and the water as the blood you are spilling, what use is there if you save a corpse devoid of all his blood and soul?"
 
This time, Art did not jump when the boy appeared overhead again. First, she was getting used to him popping up in strange places and disappearing again. Secondly, she had heard him coming. She'd had enough of being left alone and so she followed him, starting from the roots up.

Art tucked the now refilled vial into the top breast pocket of her dress. It only sat in halfway and wobbled around loosely. She leapt and caught a hold of the bottom most branch and swung. Soon she was skittering from branch to branch like a squirrel, and she started after the Henric on nimble feet. This was becoming far more exhilarating than she had anticipated. When she finally lost sight of him, she stood up on a limb and looked down at vial. Not a drop had spilled. She nodded and pulled out the vial carefully between two fingers. Slowly her center of balance changed and she prepared to try again. All but her ears were focused on the one vial of water, which were twitching in search of life or danger. Artemis flicked the vial, and caught it.

Half the water came down onto her fingers this time and she sighed. Vial half empty, vial half full? Artemis asked herself. "How much blood can a person afford to lose?" she asked herself out loud. Well...you weren't entirely focused on the vial. But I can't stop listening out for danger at the time time, Can I not do both? That was the difficulty of the thing. Art shimmied down the tree to search for a new source of water. She refilled, then tried, refilled once again and was forced to try once more. Each time she returned up the tree as though to challenge herself. Slowly, the amount of water left in the vial was getting higher.
 
"Flexibility." The voice echoed out from amongst the trees.

Henric was nowhere to be seen, but what accompanied the voice were several spinning, blunt-edged knives that hurtled towards her at a leisurely pace. "To protect means to guard from certain obstacles..."
 
Artemis dropped the vial into her shirt pocket and turned towards the voice, but it was too late. One of the knives slashed by her wrist. Instinctively she rolled her arm and blocked it off so that it spun away and nicked her elbow. By that time she was flat on the branch and the other knives passed overhead.

She was slightly winded but she bent and the waist and bounced herself back onto the branch from her stomach in a gymnast's move. A little blood leaked from the shallow cut to her skin. Her eyes focsued on one spot in the bark and she pricked her eyes up like sonar, listening.
 
Hanging upside down like those scenes in horror movies, Henric Lee burst out of the trees like a ninja, leaves scattering down in leisurely descent as he appeared suddenly again with folded arms and a seductive smile. "Cut by blunt-edged knives - your skin must be very soft." He gestured towards her, "That's not suited for martial arts, you'll have to learn to be resilient." Flipping forward with great agility, he landed on a tree branch and started to leap from tree toe tree again at a monkey's pace. "Master your emotions - not the vial!"
 
Art rubbed at the hairline cut on her elbow as it leaked with blood. "I'm not delicate," she said to herself with a scowl as he watched him dart away into the trees again. Still balanced on the one tree limb, Art swung herself down to refill the vial once again. This was getting old very quickly, but she was not one to ignore good advice.

She sucked away her bewilderment and frustration and breathed it out again until there was nothing. As long as nothing distracted her again, she could get this right without incident. As soon as she got it right, then she would learn to master it even with incident. Soon the vial was filled once again. She would not fail this time.

Her green eyes flashed open and she flicked the vial into the air. Her center of gravity changed on the branch and the vial spun in the air. This time, only a drop was spilled. "Vhsard" cried Art in triumph. Apparently though, it wasn't enough just quite yet. She had knocked out people three times her size before, argued with centaurs and tamed a unicorn...but she could not get this right. "Alright, alright. No hysterics. Try again," Artemis told herself calmly. Back and forth, back and forth. It varied between one drop spilled and two, feeling the anger rise and fall at various times.
At some point, she moved past the point of frustration and on to some sort of focused tranquility. Without realising it, she caught caught the vial and not a drop was spilled. Mechanically she went to refill it before noticing that it was full to the brim. Narrowing her eyes in a private triumph, Artemis turned and tucked the the little container into her tiny dress pocket, waiting.

"I don't want to do it again, Henric!"
 
Drip.

The seemingly harmless drop of silver liquid fell from amongst the canopy of trees and hit the vial. Instantly, the waters seemed to freeze up; a crack appeared in the vial, and then it shattered with a great explosion. Amidst the sparkling blizzard of little broken glass shards, Henric gripped hold of her collar and swung her up onto the protective cover of the trees.

"Complacency leads to decadency. There is no perfection."
 
She was caught of guard, she had to admit. As soon as the liquid hit the vial, she let go on instinct, and he hand was peppered with glass. Art felt herself being hauled up into the leaves, and she had to clutch his shirt for balance in her surprise. The glass pieces hadn't left a mark on her calloused hands, but they could have and she knew it.

Artemis looked up at Henric with furrowed brows. "What am I to do when 'ye go away?" It wasn't a plea in the slightest. It was both a statement of fact and an honest question. He wouldn't swing around for days whilst she mastered the difficult, skill enhancing but otherwise entirely pointless vial catching exercise. Looking down, she realised that she was still holding his shirt, and she let go immediately. You're not a child, she told herself firmly. Though you may look like one- this is the reason you're trying to become more than what you are now.

Whilst she was waiting for an answer, her eyes were searching his pockets, trying to think of where he was keeping that silver liquid. She wanted to have a look at that stuff.
 
"Like many things, Martial Arts is best learned ... by yourself." Henric gazed into the sky as he spoke, "The teacher is only there to guide you." He turned to watch her intently; he knew without the slightest doubt that she would readily train as hard as he bid, but that wasn't the point of learning things like these. "Here, take this." Tossing her an intricate silver ring puzzle, he grasped hold of a branch, dropped her softly onto the tree, and leaped away, disappearing into the darkness, probably never to be seen again for the night.

In her hands was a circular puzzle made out of many rings linked to each other - a small red marble sat in the middle, unable to escape because of the many rings surrounding it. If one ring was moved, the others would converge to tighten the trap around the red marble. It seemed like an impossible challenge.
 
The woods had begun to grow dark, and Artemis decided that this was the more difficult puzzle to solve than the silver rings- or at least the most pressing. She shimmied down the tree for the last time, landing nimbly on two feet, only to collapse again onto her sore ankle. She swore colourfully and hitched up her dress so as to pick her way between fallen trees and patches of poison ivy.

Many skills Artemis had, but a sense of direction wasn't one of them. In the end, the forest had turned into an abyss and she was tired and in pain. Her light headed-ness had caught up with her and she slumped against a tree stump and fell asleep, puzzle still in hand.

An hour later, she woke up feeling terribly cold in every place but her face. For some reason, her face was hot and wet, and she lifted her hand to rub her eyes. Something furry was licking her face. Her eyes flashed open in alarm and she scrambled back, fists raised. It was the wolf from that morning, hungrily lapping at her skin as it turned the bottom of her dress to rags. Apparently it was still hungry as it advanced towards her with bared teeth, growling with all of its m- SMACK. "I'm not Henric, but I can still take 'ye down!" Artemis called after it as it hit the ground for the second time that day. This time she had no sympathy for it. Now that she was awake, it was time to move again.

Art had no strength to climb a tree this time as she collapsed into the pine needles at the edge of the forest. Hogwarts was still too far away and she buried her head into her knees and fell asleep once more, not to wake again for anything else. Still she held the silver puzzle.

END SCENE​
 
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