Book 2 Chapter 5: Tassels

The next morning came and Vero felt the new aches from the day before. But Filtiarn still dragged him out of bed and they trained. Vero secretly wondered if his master enjoyed tormenting him and his muscles till he could hardly utter a complaint beyond ‘ow’.

By the fourth day, Filtiarn looked about in appreciation. There was a bit of crowd that also did their training near them, but it was easy to tell that they were just making sure not to waste their time as they observed the newcomers.

On the fifth day, they stopped as a sleek yowlume in white robes with a gold rope tied around their waist appraoched. Filtiarn stopped the drill and the two bowed in unison to the robed yowlume.

“Training with that sort of fervor even though you just arived. Well done…” the Yolwume hummed. Vero heard a youngness to the voice that he couldn’t quite place. “You’ve been invited to the second floor for further instruction. Go and meet your guides.”

Filtiarn bowed a bit deeper and Vero followed suit before turning and heading to the second floor. Vero noticed three tall stairs. This three step ascension was the only height difference between this floor and the next, but it was as if this was a silent barrier to the lower levels. Another white robed Yowlume handed them a golden tassle and instructed them to keep it about thier waist. If it got cut off, fell, or was lost, they would be kicked off the second floor.

Vero looked back to see some tassles on some of the lower members but they were obviosuly charred or damaged. Former ascendants. Vero looked back and saw the five guides approach them. Unlike before, Filtiarn did not bow. Vero noticed the Ulrika command him to attack the one on the right as soon as they were in striking distance and Vero took a deep breath. He needed to remain calm so he wouldn’t alert the guides to this attack. He mentally began to count until he knew the target was within striking distance. He rushed forward, and punched the guide’s head. He felt the guide block it and react as if he was dodging. Then he felt the guide was going for his tassel and he kicked at him to get his hip away from the man’s hands. Within an instance there was a crash as Vero was attacked by the other guides.

He remained calm, and avoided the tassel grabs as they came after him. Then he noticed Filtiarn was by his side and protecting him. The duo kept the five away from their tassel until a sixth Yowlume, far larger than any Vero had come across came up and stopped the skirmish. Vero remained cautious as the Yowlume came over until Filtiarn placed his hand on him. Vero recognized the signal and bowed with the Ulrika towards this Yowlume.

“Well done. You ingrates, get back to training. How can you expect to be taken seriously if these newcomers can see right through you like that!” The Yowlume ordered and the five guides tumbled over each other as they scrambled back into the grounds. Filtiarn stepped forwards. Vero noticed the flicking ears and wished the master wasn’t tyring to have two conversations right now.

“He is one of the younger guides of this area. Watch his movements and track his patterns. He will be the first we challenge to go to floor three,” Filtiarn instructed. Vero hoped he had interpreted the few words correctly while he listened to the Yowlume before him, as the guy give instruction where they should gather and when. He also pointed them to their next room. Filtiarn led the way and Vero watched the guide. He noted the slight limp the guy had in his right foot. It seemed like the pain was high in the leg from how he walked.

Filtiarn led them inside and Vero found the key worked on the new door. As he locked it behind him, Filtiarn sighed and then laughed.

“Alright, what’s so funny,” Vero folded his arms as he sat on the second bed.

“Well, master,” Filtiarn winked. “That was a sucsessful venture. You did well for being ‘sore’,” Filtiarn pointed out. The anxious energy that had kept him up drained as he realized they were safe for the moment.

“Mind explaining?” Vero asked as he laid down with a moan.

“Certainly. When the guides come, they will steal your tassel and kick you back down. They aren’t really guides, just the five most normal fighters of the second floor. I manged to snag two of their tassels today,” he said as he tossed Vero one. He motioned to the hip and Vero noticed that he now sported two tassels. He placed the other on his hip and then looked back at Filtiarn.

“And it looks like your sword caught another,” Filtiarn pointed out. Vero looked at his scababrd and noticed there was another beaten tassel wrapped and snagged on the sheath. He looked back at Filtiarn. The man had said to wear that sheath, despite that it snagged on most fabrics. Vero sighed at the complexity of the second floor. Was collecting tassels that important? Was there some limit you neded to reach for the challenge?

“Extra tassels. We’ll need about twenty more before we can take on the challenges,” Filtiarn mumbled. Vero instantly caught on. These were like weaknesses. If an opponent caught your weakness, you loose. Having extra meant your weakness was less of a deal and you could survive it if it was attacked. The teaching here certainly was interesting.

None of the new tassels were charred or destroeyed. Perhaps that was a token you got if you left, but it was disfigured so as not to be caught when you returned. A remidner of your mistakes. Vero closed his eyes as he listened to the master begin to explain how things worked here. The mess hall was the same place no matter what level you were on. Challengers often came from your same level, so they would need to prove themselves if they wanted to train in peace. In the next few days, the head instructor would give them their training regiment after a test, that is, if they could last that long.

It was a bit of a stretch to now have to keep track of approaching Yowlume while they trained as many prefered to go after knewcomers who would normally keep their guard down and be easy targets to collect tassels from. By the end of the next day, they had collected another five tassels and the sneak attacks had gotten far less frequent.

But that night would sport a new challenge. Guard duty. Despite having keys, most on the second floor had learned to pick locks. Newbies often had their lock picked but the advantage Vero and Filtiarn had was that they were in one room, together. Vero started realizing the wisdom in this master-servant relation that he had been stuck with. It meant they could get some semblance of sleep.

The number of picks had raked up through the night and they had an addition five tassels each. A grand total of eighteen from their first day. Vero was feeling satisifed and Filtiarn seemed to be enjoying this way more than he should. No doubt this had some bitter learning curves for the Ulrika and this time they were taking full advantage of the situation.

As they entered they enetered the mess hall sporting nine tassels each, it certianly drew some attention. The chefs gave them larger proportions, which Filtiarn said was part of their status, but not to get too comfy as when they ascend the next level, since these extra proportions would shrink. It made some return back to the second level with their tassels instead of the extra work with less food. But Filtiarn explained while proportiosn were smaller, they were more filling and after a day, you would find your body prefered the new food instead. Vero looked forward to it as the larger meals seemed to not be quite enough. Then again, the level of intensity had increased.

They ate, keeping track of potential challengers. As they left the mess hall, a dagger was trown at Vero and he instinctively ducked. Finally, a challenger. He reached for his sword but Filtiarn stopped him. Instead they walked past the would be challenger and headed to the training grounds.

“Hey you guys! You there!” the Yowlume barked at them. Vero watched Filtiarns ears and tail.

“Not near the kitchens,” Filtiarn said.

“Right. We want to stay in the good graces of the chef.”

Filtiarn looked back and winked at him before pulling a patch of cloth and covering one of his eyes with it. Vero looked at him quizically and asked about it with his ears. Filtiarn shook his head and signaled that their challenger was following them. Vero grumbled. This was too similar to the things he experienced in the capital. Unconciously he signaled with his tail for a servant to stop the Yolwume. Filtiarn paused and then turned around, a glare and a growl coming forth.

“Leave the master alone,” He growled as he quickly dashed over with dagger drawn. Vero froze and turned to watch. He tried to keep an amused expression, but he inwardly groaned. He just ordered the Ulrika like a servant. He dearly hoped he would be allowed to sleep tonight.

Filtiarn took the challenger apart and in the end had snagged two of his tassles. As he came up to Vero he handed him one and the challenger scoffed.

“So that’s how it is, using your lackies as cover!”

Vero frowned as his hackels began to rise. He wondered how a pup like this guy could manage to get into the second floor with this sort of attitude. Within seconds he was at the Yowlume’s throat with a drawn sword. The guy yelepd and flinched into the weapon. Vero watched the blood on the side gather as he stared at the idiot before him.

“Not another word out of you,” Vero said sternly. He breifly eyed the remaining tassles and kept his weapon brandished. A few were watching them and he felt a set of eyes staring at him. He reached over and grabbed all but one tassle.

“This will teach you a lesson to keep that over grown mouth of yours quiet next time,” Vero said. He backed away for a few then sheathed his sword. The Yowlume before him was angry. As expected he tried to counter strike at Vero as soon as he began to turn his back. Vero however turned, grabbed the hand that held a dagger and slung him over him in a clean arc. He landed with a loud thud in front of Vero and dropped his dagger on impact. Vero growled.

“Try that agian and I will take that last tassle,” he warned.

“I, I yeild!” the Yowlume shrieked and Vero found it disgusting seeing how much fear the guy showed. He wondered if this is what Ylva had disliked when he was younger.

He released the guy’s hand and walked over him. As he neared Filtiarn he was handed the tassles and Filtiarn shifted uncomfortably before bowing to Vero. He certianly was playing the less powerful servant here and Vero smirked.

“Let’s return to my chambers old man. I’ve had enough of this,” Vero said confidently.

“Yes Mi’lord,” Filtiarn said with a gruff accent. As they turned towards the rooms Vero noticed quite a few challengers standing in their way. He yawned and turned, leaving this to Filtiarn.