At the end of the day, back on the stage, Sian took questions. A man raised his arm.
'Yes?'
'Would you mind giving us a demonstration? Of a decent fight. I can see how the throws would be helpful, but I’d really like to see what else you can do.' The crowd made loud murmurs of agreement.
Iggy stepped forward. 'I’d be happy to assist.'
The four of us exchanged glances. I gave a slight nod to Kassie, whose eyebrows shot up before she gave a tiny shrug, lips curving with a hint of a smile. Rumal and the other men, Yakov included, gave Iggy heated looks.
Well this should make them smile. I winked at Sian and Loi. Kassie stepped forward, making the traditional bow to Iggy. The room went silent. Iggy bowed and the rest of us stepped back, out of the way. There was an awkward moment where the two fighters just stared at one another.
Kassie bit her lip to stop from giggling. 'You’ll need to attack me.'
Iggy made a short grunt of acknowledgement then lunged at her. Not fast enough mate, she thought, dodging him. He lunged again, this time tackling her to the ground. A shocked murmur echoed through the room. She lifted her hips sharply, using the momentum to flick his hands forward, throwing him off balance. Then she jerked one knee up, grasping his wrist and collar and used his body weight to heft him over. Now on top of him, Kassie turned to the crowd. 'This is where I would have punched him hard in the throat,' she motioned her intent. Iggy, to his credit, didn’t flinch. 'Again?' She glanced at the stone-faced man beneath her thighs. He gave her a curt nod. Gracefully she lifted off him. They stood and faced each other again.
Iggy studied her for a moment then lunged, throwing a punch. Kassie used the momentum like she had done back on Earth, at that party before the spell, and threw him over her shoulder. Applause echoed through the room with most audience members smiling. They started again, this time Iggy attempted a hard high kick. She threw her arms up, crossing her wrists and caught his ankle, then shoved him backward so he fell. There were a few snickers from the audience then silence while everyone waited to see what he would do next. He staggered to his feet, his face an amusing mix of confusion and annoyance. Iggy charged forward, attempting to catch Kassie in a bear hug. She jumped, pushed off his thigh and caught his right arm with her legs, twisting and pulled herself backward. It wrenched Iggy off his feet, throwing him hard to the floor. All those watching gasped in astonishment.
Sian stepped forward, and God only knows how, managed to keep her face straight when she said, 'Now this is when knowing how to fall correctly is absolutely necessary. The Lieutenant fell a lot harder than we’d prefer.'
Kassie and Iggy stood, bowing politely to each other then Yakov stepped forward. 'May we have some appreciation for our teachers and volunteers,' his lips twitched as he spoke. The room erupted into noisy applause and loud exclamations. Everyone seemed far more excited about the new techniques now.
That evening at dinner Kassie was the center of attention with Rumal seated close to her, smiling proudly. After dinner we gathered in the library where Elena congratulated us on our success, a broad smile on her face when she turned to Kassie. 'I hear your training session was quite a success. I’m sorry to have missed it.' Everyone chuckled.
Yakov, who had joined us in the library, winked at Elena. 'It was fantastic, Ellie. I’ll show you some time.' She smiled warmly at him. Again I wondered if they were a couple. They seemed so natural together. How would that work? Elena would be at least, oh I don’t know, a couple of millennia older? That’d put a new spin on cradle snatcher. Alek squeezed my hand, distracting me.
Loi relaxed against Sabyn while they listened to Elena’s debriefing and new outline for the weeks leading up to the ball. 'We will continue to alternate days. Yakov and I feel you’ll be able to focus better if one day is devoted to physical activity, the other to mental. The last day of each week will be your free day. Try to get to bed early and I will see you at the Griffon quarters tomorrow, straight after breakfast.' With the debriefing finished, they all headed off.
Kassie and Rumal wandered to their favorite turret in the inner gate and Sian and Daron disappeared to visit Nesha.
Sabyn turned to Loi. 'Would you like to walk in the courtyard?'
Loi flashed him a smile and nodded; they did it each evening, she’d looked forward to it all day. Cat and Alek seemed happy to stay put. Both still wore an aura of absolute contentment and Audi snored in front of the fireplace.
When they settled into their favorite spot beneath a huge tree, Loi leaned back into Sabyn’s arms. 'What’s with Iggy, why does he have such a problem with us?'
'I don’t think it’s you girls personally, Iggy just seems to be of the opinion that women are to be seen and not heard.'
'What?' She twisted to stare into his face. 'Are you serious? Where did he come up with such a deluded idea? No one else here appears to be of that opinion.'
Sabyn smiled at the indignant look on her face. 'No, but from what I understand Iggy’s mother was submissive to his father, and his sisters were brought up in the same manner. Even Iggy’s wife is very dutiful. If that’s what you’ve been surrounded by for most of your life you’ll begin to consider it normal. There are some villages were men are considered subservient. As long as they don’t force their ideas on others and people choose to go there of their own free will, then it’s not considered an issue.'
Loi grudgingly conceded the sense in that. Still, she hated that some wouldn’t consider her their equal, even if she could beat them. Maybe once I master this whole Elemental thing people will take me seriously. Some creative ideas along those lines ran through her mind and she resisted the urge to giggle. Watch out Iggy, cross me and you’ll be sorry.
Sabyn watched in amusement while ideas flickered across her face. I wonder how different their world is if this seems strange to her, he thought. Iggy better watch himself around the four women, I suspect they’d enjoy shaking him up. He played with a strand of her ebony hair, twisting it out, admiring the silky length. It was a source of envy for more than one woman in the castle. She turned then looking up at him. His breath hitched in his throat. Those luminous eyes. Slipping a hand to the nape of her neck he pulled her close, trailing kisses down her cheekbone and pressed his forehead gently to hers. Her eyes darkened and he felt her flush, the skin under his fingers growing warm. Smiling into her topaz gaze, he wrapped his arms around her and caught her mouth with his.
Chapter Twenty Seven
When we arrived at the training circle the next day Elena explained her intentions for the session. 'Today I want to teach you all to create physical manifestations of your gifts.'
That surprised me, 'Won’t we use the energy the way it is?'
Elena shook her head. 'No. You’ll find it more useful in its physical state. The energy itself you can throw out in a wave, but I still feel you will find learning this just as useful.' We listened as she explained. Over the next few hours Elena coaxed us into creating our physical elements.
Elena watched Sian, delighted with her success. At first she’d used water from the nearby stream but once she had a feel for it and how her body responded, she’d figured out how to create the element from her energy. Elena watched as water gushed from Sian’s extended palm. It wasn’t strong yet and she knew the girls would be exhausted by tonight. More practice, she thought to herself, they’re going to be incredible.
Kassie frowned while she attempted to blow the leaves of the bush in front of her. It frustrated the heck out of her. Just when she’d felt she’d started to master the energy raising technique Elena taught them, now she was back at square one. She sighed and watched as her breath moved the leaves.
Urrgghh. Look how easy that is! It should be that easy. Rolling her shoulders then her head, she drew in a deep breath and let it out slow.
Relax. Try again.
Loi sat on the dirt near a tree. Her hands pressed to the ground, eyes closed, she allowed her energy to move down her arms into the earth.
Strands of her long hair tickled the back of her hands, her eyes snapped open in irritation. Thrusting the hair back over her shoulders she relaxed back into her original position, closed her eyes and took several deep, slow breaths. Her energy moved through the ground, brushing past tree roots, rocks, even a skeleton (not human, although she suspected it wouldn’t matter here). The earth beneath her felt alive, the sensation thrilling her. With her eyes closed she knew the precise location of all the trees and plants in the vicinity. She knew which ones needed more water and which were fine. As she brushed past their roots with her mind she suddenly realized she could hear them. Her eyes snapped open in shock when the delicate and resonate voices touched her mind in response to her energy.
Elena could hear the murmur of the trees around them, she spun, looking. There sat Loi with an astonished expression, hands pressed to the ground, her head cocked to one side while she listened.
'Well done, Loi,' she breathed, not wanting to break her attention. Loi gave her an absentminded smile as she continued to listen.
I’d managed to get the tips of my fingers to flame and worked at creating a ball of fire, like I had with my energy. Even though it was really the same thing it felt so much harder to do. I went back to my meditative breathing, practicing forming the ball in my mind. Extending my hands, eyes closed, I followed the energy down my arms and pushed the sphere out between my palms. FLARE! I shouted the word in my mind. Heat burst from my palms. I opened my eyes to see a sphere of fire, fed from fire that flowed from my palms.
Elena watched, pleased with Cat’s progress. The redhead’s eyes were wide while she watched the flaming ball she’d created. It was nearly time for them to leave, with reluctance, Elena spoke up. 'Please draw your energy back into yourselves. It will be time to leave shortly.' The expressions of surprise on the girls' faces amused her.
'Has it really been that long?' Kassie sounded bewildered.
'It has. You’ve all done exceptionally well for a day’s work. I am sure you must be tired and hungry by now.' The women drew their energy back and the humming noise finally left Elena’s mind. It was only audible to those who were gifted. She sighed in relief at its absence, after a while it gave her a headache. Elena released them from the circle she’d cast to drown out the noise while they practiced. Then they relaxed while they waited for Loushka and Tomiar.
Later that evening, while l lay in bed, I extended my hand and stared at it for a moment. At a thought my fingertips lit, the flames dancing like tapers. Kassie murmured in her sleep so I extinguished them, but a sense of wonder and delight swirled through me. Now this, I could see being useful in a fight. If I could learn to control it, it would be one hell of a weapon.
By the second week of our new training regime, improvements could be seen everywhere. The Majors became quite skilled at both throws and falls, and learned to adapt the throws to their own fighting styles. They looked forward to showing the members of the General Guard in their areas. We improved heaps at sword fighting, which meant the siesta we had after the sword fighting sessions was most appreciated.
Sian woke instantly from a deep sleep and realized Nnelg had leapt in. She rolled over quietly, spying the blue dragon sneaking toward the windowsill, his usual perch for when he woke them. She closed her eyes for a moment, focusing her energy then drew her arm out from under the covers.
Nnelg preened his tail for a moment then gazed mischievously over the sleeping girls. This was his favorite task of the day. Of course it did mean he’d get told off by Yakov and Elena again, but he didn’t think they minded that much. Otherwise they’d send someone else to do it. He shuffled his feet a little and rolled his shoulders back. He wanted to be able to get a good deep breath. Inhaling, Nnelg opened his mouth and—
Jets of fire and water shot straight at the little blue dragon. He screeched in fright. Diving off the windowsill, he leapt through space to his nest, tucked safe in one of the castles turrets.
A loud animal shriek, followed by hysterical laughter woke Kassie and Loi. They stared in astonishment at Cat and Sian, who rolled with laughter in their beds. 'What happened?' demanded Kassie.
Hiccupping with the effort to stop laughing, Sian explained. 'Nnelg snuck in to wake us up. Cat and I surprised him.'
She began to giggle again so Cat continued. 'We zapped his ass! You should have seen his face.'
That evening at dinner, Nnelg was subjected to plenty of ribbing after being caught out. The dragon put up with most of it then decided to head out to the courtyard with Audi in tow. The men and women retired to their favorite spots, while the rest of the court stayed up drinking, singing and having a good time.
'We should stay in the Great Hall one evening,' Alek suggested to Cat, curled up in his lap, very like her namesake.
Sleepily she responded, 'Why?'
He smiled down at her tired face. The girls had worked so hard these last couple of weeks. Cat was asleep before noticing the party atmosphere that continued into the evening. They always excused themselves after dessert, so had no idea what went on in the evenings. 'There’s dancing and singing most evenings about an hour after we leave. You would probably enjoy it.'
I tried to clear my head, attempting to pay attention to Alek. The afternoon’s training session with the Majors had been hard work, but they’d progressed so well. We’d decided to pair everyone off, allowing them to spend half an hour practicing hand-to-hand combat skills. At the end of the half hour they switched to another partner and so on until nearly dinner time. It had been an effective method and we’d decided to stick with it from now on. We could practice with individuals who weren’t sure, or who wanted to challenge themselves—and us.
'Dancing?' the thought of it wasn’t pleasant. My feet were killing me. Actually, my entire body ached; I’m so glad we’re practicing with our gifts tomorrow. Alek shifted in the seat. I moved to my usual spot, with my head on his chest under his chin, my legs draped over the side of the chair. He wrapped his arms around me, teasing me by rubbing his stubble on my neck. I squealed and struggled, trying to turn my head so he couldn’t reach.
Alek pulled back, grinning down at Cat, all flustered and red. She made the funniest noise when he did that to her. That and the indignant look on her face compelled him to do it. 'Do you mind,' she growled at him, green eyes narrowed with annoyance.
'Not at all, so what do you think? About the dancing?'
She sighed. 'Normally I’d say yes. I love dancing. But I’m so tired from the training that I can barely keep my eyes open in the evenings.'
He thought about it for a bit, stroking Cat’s hair as he mulled over possible solutions. I’ll ask Elena to make it a half day tomorrow, as it’s the day before the rest day, they’ll have time to catch up on their sleep.
Elena informed us of the change of plans when we arrived at the training site the next day. 'It’ll give you a chance to meet more of the castle inhabitants,' Elena said. 'You only really get to see them at the table. I have arranged for Ada to meet you at your room before dinner. She will create something suitable for you each to wear.'
'She can create something that quickly?' I asked, astonished.
'Oh she is exceptionally gifted,' Elena said with a smug smile. 'I am so glad to have discovered her before any of the other houses.'
She set to casting the circle then turned back to us. 'Today I want you to learn even more control over your gifts. We will practice creating an energy ball and moving it away from us. Then at a selected distance, I want you to expand it suddenly like an explosion. Unlike an explosion, however, I want you to control the energy while it expands so it slips over everything in its path without really touching it.'
We stared at her for a moment. Hmm. That sounds tricky.
'The reason I want you to learn this is because there will likely be a time when you need to use your powers without harming innocents around you. Practicing this exercise should teach you how to do this.'
It was a decent challenge, but the
more I worked at it, the more I could feel my energy expand. I began to sense the edges of it. It took a while to stop the heat. The rock I practiced on glowed red at first, but in the end it stayed cool when I blew fire from my palms over it. When we’d reached that stage, Elena called us to her. 'For your last exercise today I want you to practice on each other.' She laughed at the look of shock on our faces. 'It’s the easiest way to test it.'
Loi stood facing Cat, watching as she extended an energy ball toward her. Flames exploded around her with a whoosh and for a moment Loi couldn’t breathe. She opened her eyes, staring at the flames rushing around her. All her instincts screamed at her to move, but she held strong. It wasn’t like a normal campfire flame, she felt almost tempted to touch the molten, smooth looking flames. They look alive—I guess that makes sense, our energy is part of us.
I sweated like mad with the intense concentration I had to keep up. I knew, like all the other exercises, it’d get easier and easier but when there’s the possibility of endangering a loved one it felt a lot harder. I tried to relax a little.
'Warm, Cat. Warm!' Loi yelled, sounding understandably alarmed. I refocused, drawing the energy back slightly. Loi relaxed.
'Okay switch,' called Elena.
I waited patiently while Loi focused, curious to see what her energy felt like. It wasn’t really visible at first. I could just catch a glimpse of green out the corner of my eyes as the energy advanced. Then it began, a slow and very unpleasant sensation of being buried alive. I started to take short, sharp, breaths while I tried to control the panic that built within.
The Arrival: An Epic Fantasy Romance Page 28
