First Draft: Chapter 25

On a cool morning one day before classes, Icarus and I decided to go down to the pond and try to skip stones across it. It was, in most respects, a complete waste of time, but it was one of those wastes of time I had grown so fond of since I quit FJC.
I don’t think the pond was on campus property in a technical sense, but it was so close to campus that it was always frequented by University students. In fact, it had gotten so much use by the students that the University eventually decided to help with the up keep of the lawn.
Not that there was really all that much to keep up. At some point in the past, probably before I was even born, someone had build stairs into the hill that lead down to the pond. All the University had to do was make sure it didn’t get overgrown with weeds. The grass was trimmed in a small area that led from the bottom step to the edge of the bank, but fortunately the maintenance ended there. The beauty of the place was preserved by allowing it to grow naturally. I suppose with all the attention the University gave to its own lawn, there wasn’t enough time to subjugate the pond as well.
Icarus and I wanted to avoid the crowds so we could enjoy the peace and tranquility of the place. We went down at nine, a time we knew that few University students would be awake. I had forgotten about FJC Cadets, who would be just finishing their training session at around nine.
I know, I know. How could I have possibly forgotten about FJC? Wasn’t I living every moment of my life in terror as a marked man? Not really. As I mentioned before, I tried to deal with the crisis by not thinking about it. My forgetfulness that morning made me a victim of my own success. Besides, it’s hard to think of anything serious when I’m around Icarus. I mean, the guy is one walking distraction from all of life’s problems, always kidding around and coming up with ridiculous philosophies about life.
The mist was rising off of the pond in the cold morning air, obscuring our view of the other side. Icarus skipped a stone across the surface of the water, but it became lost to our sight as soon as it entered the mist. He picked up another pebble. "Boy, we’re going to run out of these things if the mist keeps gobbling them up," he said.
"We might," I agreed. There really weren’t a lot of rocks around. The grass went all the way up to the bank of the pond.
"I’m going to have to start bringing my own stones," Icarus commented. "I bet I could get a whole bunch from around the science building."
"I bet you could," I replied. "If you wanted to go through all the trouble."
"It would be worth it I think," Icarus said as another stone disappeared in the mist. "There, look. I’m all out of stuff to throw." He thought for a moment. "Hey, we could go to the science building right now. We could go over there, fill our pockets with rocks, and be back here in a half-hour. How about it?"
"Nah."
"Oh come on man."
"Nah, that’s too much trouble. What do you say we just call it quits? We can come back here tomorrow."
I could tell Icarus was reluctant to leave. He was gazing longingly back at the pond as I was already turning towards the stairs. "You promise?"
When I turned around again to reassure him, a fluffy of movement blurred my vision. Seeming to appear miraculously from the mist, three Cadets leapt out at us. Icarus didn’t even get a chance to raise his fists before they sent his body tumbling into the pond.
My first instinct was to run forward and help Icarus, but three angry Cadets stood in my way. One of them held a big metal rod. I quickly looked around me, searching for a weapon of some kind. Nothing.
I moved backwards quickly, and they fell into the trap. One of them instinctively pursued me; the other two cautiously held their ground. Now that I had broken their ranks slightly, I lashed out at the one who had followed me. He must not have expected me to attack so quickly, for I caught him completely off-guard. I kicked him in the stomach, and when he doubled over, my fist smashed into his nose. By the time his friends rushed forward to help him, he was already on the ground. The two of them advanced towards me. Icarus, who had picked himself up, ran over and tackled one of them from behind. Icarus and this Cadet began wrestling on the ground.
The other one held a metal rod in his hand about a meter long. He raised his hand and tried to strike me with the rod, but I caught his wrist on the way down. I twisted his arm around, forcing him to drop the rod. I shoved him away, and kneeled down to pick up the rod. Then, as he ran towards me again, I jabbed on end of the rod into his stomach as I stood up. Grasping the rod with both hands, I struck him in the head with it. However, because I did not swing the rod, the full fury of the object was never unleashed.
Icarus, meanwhile, was finding himself little match for a fully trained FJC Cadet. In fact, his opponent was on top of him landing repeated punches on his chest. (Icarus was using his arms to shield his face). A well placed blow from the rod to the Cadet’s back was all it took to get him off of Icarus and on the ground moaning.
I gave Icarus a hand up. All of our opponents were, for now at least, lying on the ground. None of them were too badly hurt though. They might be up again at any moment.
I threw the rod into the pond. It disappeared as it spun into the mist, followed by a splashing sound. "Come on, let’s scram," I said to Icarus. A couple of the Cadets were already beginning to get up.
Icarus and I sprinted up the staircase. By the time we got to the top, Icarus was just about ready to collapse. I was feeling a bit winded, but I was still in excellent shape from FJC. "I need…to…sit down," Icarus panted out.
"Yeah, go ahead. I think we’re in the clear for—" I stopped in mid-sentence. Icarus was so tired he didn’t even notice. He just turned and went towards a tree he could sit under. I looked ahead, and saw my worst fears manifested. Orion was standing a few feet away.
Without either of us saying anything, we began walking towards each other. Orion had a serious expression on his face, but also a confident expression. Maybe even a trace of a confident smile was hidden away in his lips. His walk was certainly confident though. Every movement of his exuded confidence.
I was nervous as I approached him, but a lot had changed since we were kids. He was still big and strong, but I was big and strong too. And I was almost as tall as him now. Besides which I had beaten all the other Cadets who had come against me. I would probably beat him too.
We were right next to each other now, but he didn’t do anything. He just kept starring confidently, and that hint of a smile became more visible. It was as if he was daring me to hit him first.
I had already mentally envisioned a couple of well-placed punches sending Orion sprawling on the ground. But, when my right hand flew towards his head, Orion quickly deflected the blow with his arm. My left hand flew forward as well, but this Orion blocked with his other hand. Next, Orion’s knee struck my stomach.
I fell on the ground, more from the surprise of the blow then the force of it. Orion tried to kick me, but I moved quickly enough to avoid it. In the same motion, I swung my legs and struck the leg Orion was standing on while he kicked, hoping to knock him off balance. Orion didn’t move. It was like kicking a tree.
Icarus had, by this time, realized what was happening and ran over to help me out. He grabbed Orion in a stranglehold from behind. Orion, almost mechanically, as if shooing away a fly, shot his arm back in a rigid motion to strike whatever was behind him. Icarus was hit right in the face, and immediately let go of Orion and collapsed on the ground. Icarus had given me time enough to get to my feet though.
Orion and I eyed each other cautiously. We began circling around. He did not let the moment last though. He lunged at me with a punch. I managed to get out of the way in time and I struck Orion in the side. Orion swung his arm wildly and hit my head. I stumbled backwards. Before I could regain my footing he was upon me, and his first hit my chest. I thought all my bones were going to shatter, and I was knocked to the ground.
He kneeled down on top of me, pinning my chest to the ground with his knee. I squirmed around, trying to get out from under him, but to no avail. As I struggled to free myself, my hand felt along the ground for a weapon. I found a rock, slightly larger then the size of my fist, and I seized it. My intention was to smash the rock into Orion’s head, but he was too quick for me. He grabbed my wrist, pinning it to the ground. With his other hand, he began striking me several times. His blows were painful at such a close distance, but he didn’t get many hits in. I grabbed his neck and pushed upwards on it, cutting off his air supply. He was forced to stop hitting me and instead use his hand to pry my hand off of his throat. He now had both my wrists in his grip. I couldn’t strike at him, and he didn’t want to let go of me.
Instead, Orion began putting more pressure on my chest, shifting most of his weight to his knee. It became hard for me to breathe, and I started gasping for air. His face broke into a full smile as he watched me struggle for breath. I tried to use my legs to knock him off of me, but without success.
Next, I used a trick I had learned in FJC training. By turning both of my arms inward, against Orion’s thumbs, I forced him to let go of me. I acted fast before he could grab my wrists again, slamming my rock into Orion’s head. To my surprise, Orion barely reacted to the blow, and I had to hit him twice just to get him off of me.
As soon as Orion fell off of me, I scrambled to my feet. He stood up just as fast. I still clutched the rock tightly in my hand, and I swung at Orion, trying to strike him with it. He dodged the blow. I swung again. Orion stepped cleanly out of the way, then grabbed my arm. The next thing I knew he had thrown me over his shoulder, and I was sailing through the air.
I landed flat on my back. I must have dropped my rock somewhere in the surprise of being so abruptly thrown. I barely had time to get to my feet before Orion was striking at me again. My arm was able to deflect his first blow. He was able to jab me in the stomach with his second blow, but I took the hit well and stood my ground. His third hit I was able to block.
Then I decided to take the offensive. I struck at Orion repeatedly and rapidly. I was so angry and desperate that I didn’t think carefully about what I was doing and, to the best of my memory, Orion blocked every one of these attacks. Then, when I began to slow down, his fist made a lightening attack, and I was struck in the chest before I had time to react.
My body was so sore and I was so tired. My spirit grew faint at the prospect of Orion pummeling me more. So, in desperation, I lunged towards Orion and grabbed him. My hands gripped his shoulders tightly as I tried to push him over. I almost got him too. I think I surprised him with that move. But, just when I thought this giant might topple, he regained his balance by grabbing onto me. We wrestled briefly. Then—
"Okay, knock it off you two. This is a University Campus, not a war ground. People come here to learn." I felt several pairs of hands being laid on me, and saw several people grabbing Orion as well, and we were pulled apart. Some old man in a nice suit, obviously one of the University administrators, was yelling at us. "We have students walking to class here, and they have to watch you two trying to bash each other’s brain in? Not on my campus boys. I don’t know what this is about, and I don’t want to know, but if I catch either of you two fighting again, you’ll be subject to disciplinary action." The old man glared at us, then became frustrated that neither was responding. "Do I make myself clear?" he shouted.
"Yes sir," I answered.
"Yes sir," Orion sweetly replied, his voice so flowing and melodic. I could tell the old man liked him at once. Orion didn’t have a mark on him from the fight, despite having been hit in the head twice with a rock. He wasn’t even sweating that much. He looked like he was ready to go on a date.
I couldn’t see myself, but I knew I had taken a few blows and that it showed. I could feel it. My suspicions were confirmed by Icarus, who looked sympathetically at me once the administrator’s men had let me go. "Boy, you look terrible Jonny."
Icarus himself had a big black eye, so I just smiled in return. I think Icarus knew what I was thinking. "I’m going to have to stop hanging out with you Jonny. I didn’t realize it was so dangerous."


Clio ran into my arms as soon as I opened her door. I grimaced in pain as she hugged me tightly, but she didn’t even appear to notice. My chest was still tender after the repeated blows from Orion that morning. "I was so worried about you," she blurted out. "The whole campus was talking about you today."
"What were they saying?" I knew what the answer was going to be, but for some reason I asked anyway.
"You know. About the fight. Are you okay? I was thinking about you all day."
"I’m okay. You should see Orion though. He looks real beat-up." I was joking again, but she couldn’t tell. She had a confused expression on her face, and then just wiped it away.
"You don’t look that bad."
"No, now that I’ve changed out of my bloody shirt I don’t." I couldn’t resist making some macho comment like that as a reminder to her that I had been in an all out fight and had sustained honorable combat wounds.
Of course she overreacted. "Oh no! Oh let me see Jon!" Her voice was overly sympathetic, as if I might collapse dead any minute. She started lifting up my shirt and peering inside, looking for wounds.
I tugged my shirt back down again. "There’s nothing to see."
She persisted, lifting the shirt back up. "I want to see," she declared. I didn’t resist this time. Then, once the shirt was off, she could see the black and blue bruises that covered most of my chest. "It’s worse then I thought," she said in awe.
"It’s not that bad," I asserted.
"Well, I hope you cleaned yourself off properly."
"I did."
She peered closer at my skin. "No you didn’t. Look, there’s an open sore and you still have dirt by it."
Caught in my lie, I tried to joke my way out of it. "Well, if you want to get picky about it…"
She was not amused. "Wait there," she commanded. She left the room and went into the hallway, returning after a couple of minutes with soap and a bucket of cold water. I didn’t protest as she thoroughly washed out my wounds, even though the water was icy cold. I refused to let her dwell on it though. "I was so worried something like this would happen," she whined.
"Let’s talk about something else."
"Like what?"
"Anything."
She dabbed at my wounds in silence for a couple minutes, and then spoke up again. "Well, Hermes talked to my brother last night."
I laughed softly. "I knew he would. I’m just surprised it took him so long. What did you brother have to say."
"He’s doing it. He’s agreed to give Art Guild another try."
I nodded approvingly. "I think that’s the right choice. And, hopefully that will get Hermes off my back." I paused. "It had better anyway."
She looked up at me. "Well, he has what he wants now, right?"
I let out a sigh. "He’ll probably just find something else to bug me about."

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