Of Flowing Blood and Piercing Bones

"Your master wasn't right about vials. My master taught me that preparation is the key to victory and part of preparing is having a large supply of blood." He stood up from the table and went to the back room. As expected he found his chest and brought back out to the table. "Every twelve weeks I draw as much blood as possible from my body as can be replaced in twelve weeks." Alden opened the chest to reveal the large jugs of blood held within. Thanks to that I have four times as much blood as what's in my body. Do you know how valuable that is? Especially for someone who can't control another person's blood yet. That is a resource that will become very valuable on the battlefield."

He shut the chest and took it back to his bed before returning. "I know you may not like it, but I will ask you to begin to fill your own containers of blood soon. More blood means more power the way I was taught. And there is no fear in vials. The first time she made me bleed, she bled as much out of me as she without killing me. It was a horrible feeling. She said it was to prove how taxing using blood can be. She got her point across very well I think." Alden stood up and unbuckled his belt and wrapped it around the chair with his cloak. "This sword has tasted blood. Many times. I found that my powers are not always useful in some situations where a sword is very handy. I'm not sure of your proficiency and speed with your powers, but I recommend a piece of steel with some kind of edge if you don't have one. It also makes you look more intimidating."

 

Alden was amazed that she had appeared to control a small amount of his blood. He thought he was among the most skilled at his age but even he couldn't do that. A look of slight awe took on his face as Ivory left for the bathroom to change. There was a click and Alden decided that he could change out here before she got out. After taking his chest back to his bed he pulled out a different pair of pants and small dagger that he quickly slipped under his pillow. His dirty court clothes he threw to the ground by his boots as he put on the new pair of pants.

He took a seat back at the table and grabbed a handful of grapes and began to think. How had she done that with his blood? Obviously this girl had better control of her powers than he did, but to what degree was that true? Just how much stronger was this girl than he was. He finished his handful of grapes and sighed. Court had exhausted him and now he had to figure out Ivory's powers and trickery. The young woman fascinated him already, in more ways than one, but her powers concerned him more than anything at this moment in time.

 

Seeing that he wouldn't get any more conversation out of the girl tonight, Alden went to his own bed. It was the most comfortable bed he had slept in in many years. He pulled the blankets up and rolled onto his left side. The remaining candles went dark as he pulled blood from them, and plunged the room in almost total darkness. After rolling onto his back, he put his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. Images of war played out behind his closed eyes as he drifted off to sleep.

That night dreamed of his master draining his blood for the first time. He didn't consider it a nightmare but it wasn't exactly a super pleasant dream either. After that his dreams went to various times he had with his master and the first time he had seen her kill a man. She had blinded him with her own blood before cutting the poor man's wrists and watching him bleed out. She was fascinated with bleeding and the amount of blood the body could hold. It would've been morbid if she hadn't been Blood Born.

 

Alden awoke to a large amount of water being poured on his face. Before he could really react though, the culprit was already locked in the bathroom and beyond his reach. He was changing into practical clothing, not as suited for court as his clothes had been yesterday, when Ivory emerged from the bath. "You know damn well what happened to me," he replied through the fabric of his green tunic. When he was finally fully dressed he strode to the table and put his sword back around his waist and threw on his cloak. He grabbed an apple from the table as he went to stand by Ivory. "We had best not leave the good Duchess waiting for us too long. I don't want to make us look bad. And next time, simply calling my name will be enough to wake me up. My face is wet and so is my bed and that is just uncomfortable to sleep on and even more tedious to clean. Let's go then."

 

"We can only dream of such things," Alden replied to the girl. He heard Menolia shout a command at them to run fifty laps. It was a lot of laps, but he'd done more before. He let his cloak drop to the ground before launching into a steady, distance eating, pace. The laps soon started to melt to his practiced pace. The only difficult part of the run was his sword dragging his left side down, but it was more annoying than any actual difficulty. After catching up to the Duchess he began to talk to her. "You're pretty fit. It's good that you're here leading your people through these drills. More respect from them to you, especially if you're in the lead."

He remained by the Duchess' side for the rest of the run and finished his 50th lap right behind her. "So when do we start the combat practice. I know you're fit, but how well do you know how to use a blade and your talents?" Alden returned to his cloak and put it back on before speaking again. "I would very much like to spare with you and Ivory before the day is out. If you could have that arranged for me I would truly greatly appreciate that."

 

Alden forced the blood to emerge from the vials hidden in his cloak and into a ball that hovered over his head. He removed his cloak with his left hand and drew his sword with the right. "Let's begin," he said. He threw his cloak into Menolia's face and lunged to his right while the orb of blood over his head turned into hundreds of droplets aimed at striking the Duchess from every angle. Usually he would try to go for someone's eyes, but that usually left them permanently blind and it would not do to have a blind Duchess leading an army to war. He hoped that the instant of blindness from throwing his cloak would give him an edge and this conflict quickly, but he doubted it. She was obviously skilled but he didn't know how skilled. He brought his sword down as the blood shot towards the Duchess.

 

"I had better stop holding back then huh?" Alden grunted through the pain of being stabbed. He used the blood from his wound to attack the bone around his feet, eventually using the blood to break the bone down and free himself. The bleeding in his arm stopped as he took his stance to attack again. He charged and unleashed a flurry of strikes against his target while using his blood to saturate the ground and turn it into mud to cause the Duchess to slip and fall.

 

The pain from the bite was staggering but Alden knew what had to do. He wrapped his arms around the Duchess, locking her in place, and threw himself forward. He landed on top of her and knocked the wind out of her. With Ivory's presence he felt he couldn't trust his own blood's attacks to land and he had lost his sword when he had been bitten, but seeing no other option, he forced his blood onto his hand and touched the Duchess' neck. The blood flowed from his hand and wrapped around her neck, tightening just enough to let her know it was there. "Checkmate Duchess," he grunted out. He knew he had total control over this small amount of blood, his will over his own blood must surely be able to out do any power Ivory could exert.

 

"It is," Alden half moaned as he rolled off the Duchess. "Much better than what I thought you would be able to do. The army is in good hands." He gritted his teeth and swallowed before continuing to speak. "You know, getting stabbed isn't exactly super pleasant so if someone could call a healer over here that would be great."

As he waited for a healer he stood up and recollected all of his blood and put them back into the vials in his cloak and retrieved his blade. He sheathed it just as the healer arrived and started to work on his wounds. Seeing as they weren't very serious the healer finished quickly. "You're going to leave me with some interesting scars after that bout Menolia. You're a rather tenacious fighter too. I really wasn't expecting that bite. It's a pretty unorthodox tactic, but it works and that's what really matters."

 

"You trained under Rasa?" Alden asked wide-eyed. "That must have been some adventure. I guess that means you learned how to mix blood too? You'll have to show it to me some time. My mentor, Gretchen, was a devil too. She controls blood on a massive scale, absolutely massive scale. There are no executioners in Helfid except for her. She collects blood. All kinds of blood. She would take me bandit hunting with her just so she could get her hands on more of the stuff. She has barrels of blood stored under her house. It's terrifyingly beautiful. She told me that once I learn control the blood of others as well as I can control my own, all that blood will belong to me. She'll give me the city and her blood. Do you know what I could do with all that blood?" Alden's eyes looked distant as he looked towards his future. He could become one of the most powerful Sanguine in history with that amount of blood.

"I was called away before she was going to begin instructing me on how to control the blood of others. I was a little annoyed with it, but I couldn't ignore the call. She's sending a book that should teach me some of the basics of it here soon. It might actually be arriving today along with some of my own men." Suddenly remembering them, he turned to Menolia and spoke again. "That's right, I forgot to mention yesterday that I should have around fifty or so men coming here. I've fought bandits with them before and they are very good at guerrilla tactics which is why I am asking to be put in charge of scouting for the main force and any and all harassment of enemy supply lines."