Heir Of The Fallen Flame

Chapter 24: Master Liam Of The Meadow Mountain

The market square of Meadow City was loud enough to wake the dead.

Voices crashed into one another beneath rows of hanging banners and crooked wooden stalls. Merchants shouted over livestock while carts rolled through dusty streets and children darted between crowds carrying baskets too large for their arms.

Kael nearly got trampled three separate times before noon.

“This city hates walking men,” he muttered after narrowly avoiding another wagon wheel.

Lyra kept moving through the crowd without looking back. “The city hates slow men.”

“That cart almost killed me.”

Lyra rolled her eyes and ignored him. Ahead of them, Master Liam continued down the center road like the chaos parted for him out of fear alone.

The old man carried two enormous sacks of potatoes over one shoulder while another bundle of onions hung from the crooked wooden plank resting across his back. He walked with the posture of someone decades younger, despite his grey hair and weathered face.

Kael still could not understand what he had witnessed back at the market.

One moment, Liam had seemed helpless, about to be robbed.

The next, he had beaten more than four grown men unconscious with a plank of wood because one of them tried stealing from him.

Kael rubbed the back of his neck. “You trained under that man?”

Lyra’s expression remained painfully calm. “Master Zen dud.”

“That explains a lot actually.”

She glanced at him once. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“He trained Zen, Zen trained you. Same technique passed down.”

Lyra tilted her head in thought. This might just be the first bright idea Kael had had since they started this journey.

“I suppose so.” She said, “To think you want to be trained by him directly. You are no match for the ones before you."

Kael opened his mouth to argue but stopped when Liam suddenly halted ahead of them.

The old man stood completely still in the middle of the road.

Then he sighed. “You two are dreadful at hiding.”

Kael blinked. “We weren’t hiding.”

“I know.” Liam slowly turned around. “That is the dreadful part.”

Up close, the old man looked even stranger. His beard was uneven and tied into a rough knot beneath his chin. Several faded scars crossed the side of his neck while one cloudy eye remained half-shut like he could barely see from it.

Yet Kael immediately felt danger standing near him.

Liam’s gaze settled on Kael first. "You walk too heavily.”

Kael frowned. “What?”

“Every step announces your presence before your face does.” Liam pointed his plank at Kael’s boots. “A blind man could track you through snowless ground.”

Kael looked down, goodness has been leaving traces of himself since the very start?

“You knew we would follow you.” Lyra said calmly.

“Of course I did.” Liam adjusted the sacks on his shoulder. “Zen sends his strays only when he grows desperate.”

Kael blinked. “You know we're from Master Zen?”

Liam stared at him flatly. “Boy, I taught Zen before your father learned how to hold a spoon.” he glanced at Lyra, “By how soundless your feet sounds, I know only one man can teach that.”

Kael immediately straightened slightly.

The old man’s good eye narrowed.

“And there.” Liam pointed again. “You stiffen your shoulders whenever surprised.”

Kael frowned deeper. “Why does that matter?”

“Because it tells every enemy exactly what you feel before you act.”

Before Kael could respond, Liam swung the wooden plank.

Kael yelped. The strike came so suddenly he barely avoided getting hit directly in the face. The plank clipped his shoulder instead and pain exploded through his arm.

“What was that for?!”

“You saw it coming.” he said, almost amused by this.

“That still hurt!”

Kael stared at him in disbelief while Lyra looked painfully unsurprised.

Liam grunted. “If pain offends you, return home and become a baker.”

Kael rubbed his shoulder angrily. “I do not even bake.”

“That is fortunate for the bread.”

Lyra turned slightly away, trying to hold her laughter.

Kael narrowed his eyes. “Did… did you just insult me?”

“Yes.”

“Oh.”

Liam resumed walking without another word.

Kael stared after him. “He’s insane.”

“He grows kinder with age,” Lyra replied.

“That is kinder?”

“You should have met him ten years ago.”

Kael suddenly understood why Ronan constantly looked angry. Pelson learnt from this man and he passed it down to his son.

They followed Liam through the lower parts of Meadow City while the old man continued shopping like nothing unusual had happened.

He stopped at a butcher’s stall next.

“Too expensive,” Liam barked.

The butcher threw up his hands. “That is the lowest price!”

“You rob travelers worse than highway thieves.”

“You beat a man unconscious over cabbage this morning!”

“He touched my cabbage.”

Kael blinked slowly. The butcher sighed heavily and lowered the price anyway. Liam nodded once in approval before tossing another sack toward Kael without warning.

Kael barely caught it. “Oh come on.”

“Carry it.”

“It..”

Lyra kicked him in the shin before placing her hands over her lips to tell him to shut up.

Kael groaned under the weight while Lyra walked beside him carrying another bundle of onions without complaint.

“You could help me,” he muttered.

“You asked to train.”

“I did not know training involved vegetables.”

Liam spoke without turning around. “Everything is training.”

Kael muttered several things under his breath that were probably not respectful toward elders.

Unfortunately for him, Liam heard all of them. The old man suddenly stopped again and Kael nearly walked straight into him.

Liam turned slowly. “Say that louder.”

Kael immediately looked elsewhere. “I said these onions smell powerful.”

“Hm.”

Lyra’s mouth twitched, Kael is sure going to get into serious trouble with this old man.

“Are you mocking me?” Kael asked her, eyes narrowed.

“I am thinking of how quickly Liam might throw you off a mountain.”

Liam resumed walking again. The city slowly thinned behind them until stone roads gave way to steep dirt paths climbing into the hills beyond Meadow City.

By now Kael’s arms felt like they were dying. “How much farther?”

Liam answered instantly. “Too far for weak legs.”

Kael sighed painfully. “That old man enjoys suffering.”

“He is testing discipline,” Lyra corrected.

Kael stared at her. “Whose side are you on?”

Lyra cleared her throat and looked away. The climb became worse the higher they went.

Wind rolled through tall grass while distant mountain peaks cut across the horizon beneath pale afternoon clouds. Far below, Meadow City looked smaller now; smoke curling from bakeries.

Kael stumbled over a loose stone amd the sack nearly dragged him downhill with it.

Liam did not even turn around.

“Balance begins at the hips,” the old man called. “Your feet panic before your mind does.”

Kael blinked. “How did you even see that?!”

“I hear it.”

Lyra looked suspiciously entertained now. Eventually the path narrowed into rough stone steps carved directly into the hillsides.

Liam’s home stood near the edge of a cliff overlooking endless valleys below. It was smaller than Kael expected. He had expected the man to own a school of teaching but he clearly didn’t.

A simple wooden house built beside an enormous crooked tree whose roots wrapped around stone lanterns blackened with age. Wind chimes hung from the branches, rattling softly in the mountain breeze.

Nearby sat a training ground carved into the earth itself; it had wooden posts, broken weapons and deep cracks in stone.

Kael immediately noticed several swords buried halfway into tree trunks around the clearing.

“…What happened here?”

Liam glanced toward the field. “Students.”

Kael swallowed. That somehow felt worse. Liam finally dropped his sacks beside the house entrance with a heavy thud.

“Put them there.”

Kael nearly collapsed while lowering the potatoes.

“Heavens…” he muttered.

The old man finally turned fully toward them now. For the first time since meeting him, his expression lost some of its irritation. His gaze settled carefully on Kael.

Kael glanced behind him to be sure the old man was really staring at him.

“Show me your hands.” Liam said.

Kael hesitated. “Why?”

Lyra nudged him. He cleared his throat and slowly held them out. The old man stepped closer. His weathered fingers grabbed Kael’s wrist suddenly and turned the hand upward toward the fading sunlight.

Kael stiffened immediately as Liam’s eyes narrowed.

Tiny golden cracks pulsed weakly on the lines of Kael's palm before fading again. The old man released him slowly.

Liam exhaled through his nose. “Zen truly has lost his mind.”

Kael and Lyra exchanged looks, that didn't sound very reassuring.

“Is something the matter, Master?” Lyra asked.

The old man picked up his wooden plank again before pointing it directly at Kael’s chest.

“Carry the bags of potatoes to the kitchen. We make dinner and go to sleep.” The old man simply said and walked away.

Kael and Lyra stood there in silence, one more confused than the other. He glanced back at Lyra, eyes narrowed as though he might have misunderstood something.

“Potatoes?”

Lyra rolled up her sleeves and exhaled deeply. “You heard him right.”