Page 19 of A Fractured Song

“Magic,” he said simply. “I’ll teach you some basics of combat song, rather than trying to teach you to be a physical fighter. You can’t learn that all in a rush, anyway.”

“But you can learn combat song in one session?” Marieke asked skeptically.

He laughed. “Of course not. But I can tell you some basics, and you can keep working on it.”

“I’ll take it,” she said.

“I’m going to focus on one basic principle,” Kaine went on. “I think it could be very helpful to you if you find yourself in a physical fight. And it’s a concept you could keep working on without me, given you already have a graduate’s level of magical ability.”

Marieke nodded.

“It’s called the principle of strategic distraction,” Kaine said. “In concept, it’s quite simple. It basically means using your body to fight in a certain way—like swinging your fist for a punch—but using your magic in a different way—such as causing a protruding root to shift and trip your opponent. The other fighter is focused on defending against your punch, and doesn’t notice the moving root.”

“But surely they’d notice I was singing,” Marieke said, frowning.

“Of course,” Kaine acknowledged. “But most people, especially those with no training in combat song, will subconsciously assume that your song is connected to what they can see—that is, the swinging fist. They’ll think that you’re using magic to enhance the strength of your fist.”

“Which probably isn’t a bad idea in itself,” grinned Marieke, holding up that unimpressive part of her.

Kaine chuckled. “You could try that. But in your case, I think strategic distraction will be more, well, strategic.”

“I suppose to sell the misdirection, I’d have to be careful what words I used in my song,” she commented.

“Exactly.” Kaine seemed pleased at her comprehension. “If you graduated, I assume you’re proficient in basic masking skills?”

“Of course,” Marieke said.

As Kaine knew, all students at the Academy of Song were taught the skill of masking their magic use from observers byavoiding using any words in their song which gave the task away. It required training and practice to mask song, because although the words of a song weren’t actually the key to molding magic with it, simply telling the magic what to do with words was the easiest way when learning to control it.

“Good, because that’s important in making strategic distraction work,” Kaine said. “Really advanced combat singers will actually use masking offensively, but I won’t try to get that detailed.” He must have seen her confusion, because he explained, “They use words in their song that appear to tell the magic to do one thing while the power of their song directs the magic to do something completely different.”

“That would take a lot of concentration,” Marieke said. “I can’t even imagine having that much focus while physically fighting for my life.”

Kaine smiled. “Like any area of magic, it takes a lot of training and persistence to excel.”

“Well, I don’t need to excel,” Marieke said. “Just to survive.”

Taking her cue, Kaine moved from the theoretical to the practical part of her training. He very generously gave her two hours of his time, during which he taught her the basics of strategic distraction. Marieke understood the concept, at least. She wouldn’t master it to assessment level, but she might be able to keep practicing it once she left the capital.

“That was good,” Kaine said, watching critically as Marieke used her song to send a wind swirling through the training yard, blowing the punching bag out in the opposite direction from which she was pushing it with her arms. “It’s a very solid start.”

Marieke nodded in appreciation of the praise, letting her song peter out as she stepped back and wiped her brow with one sleeve.

“If I’m still in Ondford tomorrow, would I be allowed to use this training yard to practice more?” she asked.

“Absolutely,” said Kaine. “Come find me, and I’ll help you. If we have time, I’ll get you started on some collaborative combat.”

“Fighting in a team, you mean?” Marieke glanced around the yard, not eager to embarrass herself by joining forces with any of the experienced fighters currently training in the space.

“Specifically one aspect of it,” Kaine clarified. “Since you’re not a strong physical fighter—no offense—you might fight better in a team if you could focus on sharing your magic. As in, using it to give extra strength to the physical attack of another fighter.”

“Interesting,” said Marieke, her mind running through all the possible applications. “I have to say, I’m starting to think you were right. Every student should do combat for at least one semester. It’s fascinating, and there are so many ways to use combat song!”

“Hah!” Kaine raised a fist triumphantly, drawing curious looks from the closest pair of guards. “A convert. I knew with training from a master such as me, you’d come around.”

Marieke rolled her eyes, although she was grinning. “In my experience, boasting often hides inadequacy, or more specifically the fear of it being found out.”

Kaine was undaunted by this dig. “Not in my case,” he said. “My instructors all assured me I was the most promising student in my class. Usually when berating me for wasting my potential by not working hard enough.”

---