“Good luck,” he said to all of us.
“Don’t start the fight without us, Commander,” Nira teased from her horse.
“That’s a reprimand I wouldn’t dream of,” Kingston chuckled, and patted his hand against my horse’s flank. “Safe travels.”
I nodded, and since there was nothing left to say, I kicked my heels back. We started at a trot toward the woods, and even though we didn’t know what was ahead of us, whether we’d find a dragon or I’d even be able to control one before it killed us, I didn’t want our journey to the mountains to be one of tension and wondering and silence. “Rhien,” I called, passing a glance over my shoulder so she could see the playfulness on my face, “I saw you retiring last night, with company, down a hall that wasn’t yours.”
Even though I heard Rhien laugh, Ava clicked her tongue and scolded, “You said you wouldn’t tease her about it.”
“Not teasing,” I chuckled, “simply making an observation.”
“I know what you’re thinking,” Rhien accused, “and if you truly must know, Celeste sleeps in the barracks.”
“Shame,” Nira said from the back of our line, and I nodded my agreement because there was no privacy in the barracks, and I supposed Rhien hadn’t gotten a long goodbye from her dance partner after all.
“Indeed,” Rhien said, but there was something of a smile in her voice even though she’d tried to sound disappointed, and after a long pause, she laughed, “we made good use of the empty infirmary though.”
I snorted as Ava burst into laughter behind me, and from Nira at the rear there was a series of proud claps. I had no idea what to say now—Rhien had shut me right up—and so, still laughing, I kicked my heels back to pick up our pace. I let out a shrill whistle as we quickened to a canter, knowing that if Haunt weren’t already sulking along in the foliage then she’d catch up. And we were off to try and find ourselves a dragon.
Chapter 22
Ava spun around, swinging her longsword with the movement, and I managed to lift mine just in time to meet the metal with metal. “Left,” she called, immediately taking it hard around the other way. I countered the leftward blow. “Point,” she said, bringing her elbows into her side and stabbing straight ahead. Instead of countering, I spark jumped backward to avoid it, but we both knew it wasn’t a calculated defensive move. It was instinct and fear. Fighting with a sword wasn’t comfortable for me, and I resorted to dodging at every first sign of danger. Regardless, Ava didn’t correct me about it. “You did well, let’s go again.”
Nira and Rhien were sitting nearby, talking and rationing out our breakfast, while Haunt lay a short distance away from them, sleeping in a beam of morning sun that had broken through the tree cover. We’d been traveling for over a week now, and though we were deep in the mountains of the Amalgam Plains—so deep that we hadn’t seen any signs of civilization for at least four days—we’d yet to see anything indicating we were at all near to finding a dragon. No swift shadows in the sky. No large footprints on the earth. Nothing burned, or broken, or bitten.
“Ava,” I sighed, motioning with my sword, “I’m not suited for this.” The last few days that she’d brought up further preparing me for war, she’d been so patient with me, no matter how much I lacked the skill. In turn, her patience had made me a more patient study, but I still felt a twinge of frustration every time I did something wrong. I tried, I truly did, but… “None of this feels natural.”
“Hazlitt won’t care whether you’re suited for it or not,” Ava replied, with a building concern in her eyes that made an appearance every time she could feel I wanted to quit a lesson. “Say you face him alone, and your manipulation magic counters all of his, what’ll he do?”
Knowing what she wanted to hear, I murmured, “Draw his sword.”
“He may even draw it straight away, and use it as a distraction to throw you off,” she added. “To give him openings to use his magic. You need this.” She beckoned with her hand. “Swing at me as hard as you can.” I hesitated for a moment before charging at her, lifting my sword and bringing it down at her diagonally. She made a smooth motion with her own weapon, using my momentum to knock my swing off course, so the point of my sword hit the ground instead. “You need to deflect, like that. Hazlitt is too large and strong for you to counter all his blows, and constantly dodging will only tire you. Deflect and you’ll tire him, and eventually you’ll have the opening for an attack.”
It felt hopeless, but it was clear that this was important to her, so I nodded to try again. She started slowly, easing me through the motions of each swing and giving me time to run through the unfamiliarity of deflecting. I still slipped. Often. I cut left or right or jumped backward to dodge, and blocked instead of using her momentum to redirect. However, she knew that I knew what I was supposed to be doing, so she never corrected me or became frustrated, even though I could see the urgency in her eyes every time I did something wrong. She was worried. And I was still unprepared.
We practiced long enough that eventually I risked growing impatient or short-tempered should I suffer failing any longer. The next time she swung at me, I spark jumped behind her, wrapping my arms around her shoulders. “Got you.”
And I could tell that she knew I was done. “That’s cheating,” she accused with a smile in her voice.
“There won’t be any rules when I’m fighting Hazlitt.” I leaned over her from behind to kiss her on the cheek. “Fair is fair.”
“Oh?” she asked, turning around when I let her go. “Going to kiss him to death, are you?”
I squinted, cocking my head in consideration. “Think that would work?”
I was glad when that earned a genuine laugh. “We’ll practice more tomorrow?” she asked, sheathing her longsword, and we started for where Nira and Rhien were sitting. Though I nodded, we both knew it wouldn’t do much good. “Rhien,” Ava prompted as I sat down, and she nodded toward where we’d been practicing, “would you like to try?”
“If it were allowed, I would like that very much,” Rhien answered as she handed me a plate of food, and then she extended one to Ava too. “But my faction forbids me from wielding a weapon against a person.”
Ava sat down beside me to eat her breakfast, and I asked, “Would you have been allowed to apprentice with the blacksmith?”
“Making a weapon is not the same as using one,” Rhien said, tugging her mouth to one side and adding, “though I’m sure at least one of the masters would’ve felt differently.”
“What was it like?” Ava asked, leaning forward with interest while she swallowed down a bite of food. “Living at a monastery?”
“Simple,” Rhien answered, her lips curling with a reminiscent smile. “Peaceful, and quiet. My favorite place to study was in the eastern garden—the sun warmed the grass and it overlooked the countryside. Everything glowed in the morning.” The smile faded, and she glanced down at the food in her lap, tracing the edge of the tin plate with her finger for a moment before saying, “Quite a shock, I’m sure you can imagine, to look out one morning and see soldiers from another kingdom on the hill.”
“I don’t need to imagine,” Nira agreed with a sympathetic smile. Ava and I shared a look, one full of guilt, and though my gaze dropped, it wasn’t before I saw the hint of tears collecting in Ava’s eyes. “Don’t start that, you two,” Nira scolded, catching the exchange. “If either of us blamed either of you,” she gestured toward Rhien, “then we wouldn’t be here now, would we?” And Rhien nodded her agreement. “None of us started this war, but we’re damn well going to end it.” Rhien nodded again, and I was glad to see that Ava’s eyes were dry as she mirrored the action.