Yeah right, he'll go easy on me.
I decided to back up at this point, my arm was fatiguing rapidly. Just when I was about to Holdan blocked and prepared an attack from above.
My forearms were burning now, I knew that his blow would knock the sword from my grip . . . it wouldn't feel too good either.
With a final effort I dug my feet into the ground and twisted my left arm in front of me to steady the blade above my head for a block. Out of very bad habit I closed my eyes and waited for the clash. . . .
~ ~ ~
Chapter 8
Short-lived
IT CAME, BUT MY sword was still in place, my arm felt no weight.
Blinking my eyes clear, I looked up through strands of hair.
First there was my sword. Then, as expected, Holdan's sword. The strange part was another blade, blocking Holdan's from mine. My gaze moved across the sparkling metal to a strong hand, a solid, outstretched, arm. Hard shoulders, clenched jaw, dark hair. My heart began to speed uncontrollably. I was almost grateful that the steady eyes weren't fixed on me.
“Going a little hard on her for a beginner, don't you think, Holdan?” He said it with all the haughty exuberance I remembered, and I had to bite my lip to keep from smiling.
Holdan, to my surprise, looked utterly annoyed at the comment. It was not something I expected of his character . . . but the oddity didn't occupy my thoughts for long. What did was a sudden self-consciousness, and, feeling like an idiot still standing there with my sword above my head, I stepped back a bit and let the blade fall to my side.
The two boys did the same as Holdan spoke. “Jaden . . . you're back.” He smiled fakely. “I was just starting to get used to you being gone.”
Jaden kept his face straight. “It must have been very hard for you.”
Holdan snickered. “So, how did things go?”
Jaden shrugged slightly. He still hadn't looked at me or acknowledged my presence in any way at all . . . it only made my blood rush hotter. “It went alright,” he answered.
Silence followed. I tried very, very hard not to stare at Jaden the entire time, but considering that I could picture his exact, outfit, pose, and facial expression with my eyes closed, I must have been failing miserably.
Holdan moved towards me, pulling my attention. “Well,” he started, “it was nice seeing you, Jaden, but we're a little busy right now.”
My stomach twisted at the words. I tried to hide my anxiousness as I glanced back at the brown-haired boy.
“Actually, I think I'll take it from here,” he stated flatly, staring down now as his hands fiddled with the edge of his sword. Holdan looked like he was about to object, but Jaden continued. “Master Boron needs you at the gate.”
Holdan narrowed his eyes. “If you're making this up I'll—” Jaden glanced up at him and he instantly recanted. “Fine.”
After a moment he turned to me and smiled. “I'll see you later, Evelyn.”
I felt a little bad for him as I waved. “See ya.”
After watching him disappear through the trees, I turned my gaze back slowly.
I was all-too unprepared for the dark eyes staring back at me. My breath caught. I tried quickly to think of something to say. It all sounded stupid. Thoughts of Derrith talking about the boy now standing in front of me being the most powerful offense artisan came to mind, momentarily bringing me back to my senses.
Remember, Evelyn, you already acted like a weirdo before. Try not to bug him this time.
Although I felt in control of my actions, my body was still rushing violently . . . somehow he seemed quite content just to stand there, staring. I had to look away.
After what felt like an hour of awkward silence, he finally spoke. “Are you ready?”
I looked up. “Ready for what?”
He moved forward, sword in hand. “Sparring of course . . . I did promise I'd take over.”
He smirked now and my body turned to mush. I hadn't seen him in so long and I'd been so worried about him . . . I suddenly felt the strongest urge to run over and hug him.
And he wants to spar?
Instantly, I reprimanded myself and tried to look normal. I don't think it worked. Even apart from my face, when I lifted up the sword it was trembling slightly. “Okay, then,” I managed.
He watched for a moment then dropped his sword, eyeing me carefully.
I checked myself, sure that I must be doing something wrong, but found nothing.
When I looked back at him he was, if I wasn't mistaken, confused. I had never seen him look confused before, but it still fit his character. Somehow he made confused appear calm. Controlled.
Flawless.
My face started to redden with his stare.
“What?” I asked, still playing indifference.
His eyes narrowed further. “‘Okay.’? That's it?”
I waited, now joining him in confusion.
He walked closer. “No arguing? No yelling?”
My face went freshly red and I looked at the ground. I heard him move closer then saw a wrist wave below me.
“No cuffing?”
I looked back up. The confusion was gone, he was giving me his half-smile now.
I moved back. “Look, Jaden, about that. . . . I'm really sorry for yelling at you, and . . . the other thing. It was way out of line.”
He was getting thrown again. Somehow I couldn't resist his silent urge to explain further.
“What I mean is. . . . You had every right to be annoyed with me when I came here, angry even.” I looked out towards the trees, becoming more ardent as I spoke. “And what I said in the study, about you needing to be nicer to me, that was just ridiculous. I was lucky to even have you speaking to me, let alone babysitting. I mean, here I am, some nobody, and you are like practically the most important person—” my eyes landed back on him. His face was calm “. . . here.”
After a minute his mouth curved up to a cocky smile. I guess he wasn't so confused anymore.
I gulped.
“I have to give it to you,” he said, my heart thumping freshly at the sound of his voice, “you're not—”
Before he could finish a body came crashing into me from the side. At first I wasn't sure what it was. But as arms wrapped around me in a hug, a mess of light hair covered my view and I knew immediately it was Ikovos.
As he squeezed me tightly all the worries of the past days seemed to dissipate, and I slowly relaxed into his hold. Eventually though, I did remember that Jaden was still there. It made me feel more than a little awkward until Ikovos released, grabbing onto my shoulders instead.
“How have you been?” he asked breathlessly. “I've been worried sick about you.”
I looked down, sufficiently embarrassed. “I'm fine.”
He smiled then, I had forgotten how brilliant it was. I was almost disappointed when he let go of my shoulders to look at Jaden. “How did you get here already? I thought you had to go see Master Thoran.”
Jaden waved a nonchalant hand. “He was out. I was going to look for him when I ran into her.”
Great, I'm just a her now.
Ikovos eyed him oddly for a moment. I couldn't figure out what it meant. Then, so quickly I had to blink, his eyes were back on me with a wide smile.
“Hey, why are you out here anyways?” he asked, then chuckled, “I know it's not to enjoy the sun.”
I joined him. “No. I was training.”
He looked curious. “Oh? With who?”
I cleared my throat, glancing quickly over at Jaden. As expected, he did look a little upset. For whatever reason Holdan and him didn't seem to like each other much.
I looked back to Ikovos. “Holdan.” I answered, somewhat uncomfortably.
Ikovos burst out laughing as soon as I said it. Only stopping to question me. “Really?”
I nodded and he started again.
Jaden still didn't appear too happy, but at least he knew what was up. Once again I was the one left out of the loop.
/>
I sighed before Ikovos turned to Jaden. “Wait . . . was he still here when you came?”
Jaden gave him a look to kill and Ikovos barely managed to stifle another laugh.
“So how was he, Evelyn?” Ikovos asked, turning back to me.
My face went from one confused look to the next. “Hunh?”
“Holdan,” he clarified. “Was he a good teacher?”
“Oh,” I mumbled. “Ah . . . yeah. He was very nice, and I learned a lot I think.” I tried to keep it short for Jaden's sake.
Ikovos smiled, if I wasn't mistaken from enjoyment over the other boy’s grief.
“Sorry,” he said, reading my mind again. “We just got back and I'm already using you to torture Jaden.”
He said it with a wicked smile, but my face barely had a chance to go red before his features darkened. He stepped closer. “I'm so sorry we didn't come back on time, Evelyn . . . that must have been terrible.”
Feeling instantly overcome with emotion, I forced myself to respond the opposite, waving a hand. “No. It's fine. I barely noticed.”
He wasn't buying it. “Well . . .” he began, “Jaden started explaining what happened already, right?”
In that moment I felt both awkward and validated. Each made me want to look at Jaden. The first to check his reaction, and the second to point at finger at him and declare that I wasn't crazy and he should have said something about being late.
Neither happened. Without seeing his expression, I smiled sweetly and turned to Ikovos.
“He was just about to tell me when you came,” I said.
Ikovos looked surprised for a second, then grinned. “And he apologized?”
I nodded without hesitation. “Profusely.”
Obviously he was pleased. “Really?” He said it rhetorically, but I nodded anyways.
When I spared a glance at Jaden he was studying me tersely. I hoped he wasn't upset considering that I'd fibbed so that he wouldn't get mad at me.
Looking away he cleared his throat. “Well, I've got to go find Master Thoran, so I'll see you guys later.”
Ikovos glared over at him. “Yeah right, we just got back and you're like one of the only people Evelyn knows. I think you can go to lunch with us.”
I didn't get a chance to see Jaden's reaction . . . I was too busy choking and coughing uncontrollably. Man, that boy can say anything.
By the time I'd regained my composure they were both staring at me, suspicious, curious, skeptical. For no reason at all in that moment I felt irrevocable elated that they were back. Of course this was quickly followed with my face flushing red. I grasped my throat fakely.
“Sorry,” I swallowed, “something caught in my throat.”
They looked back at each other with barely an acknowledgment of my explanation. Jaden spoke first.
“Alright. I'll meet you there in a few minutes.”
With that he let his eyes linger on me, smirking devilishly, no doubt over my rant from before, then walked off into the trees.
I noticed at his departure I could breathe again. That was nice. I didn't dwell on the thought though, turning instead to Ikovos with newfound bravery. He was smiling of course, but it vanished when I narrowed my eyes at him playfully.
“You are in big trouble,” I stated.
His features widened. “What? Why?”
I tapped a finger to my chin. “Let's see, where do I begin. Hmm, I could start with the part where you went off somewhere that I knew was dangerous and then didn't show up for days, leaving me here to think you were dead or worse.”
He tried to interrupt, but I stopped him.
“Or the fact that I had to practically lie to Cornelius to keep you guys out of trouble.”
I paused as he made a face that was somewhere between a wince and a smile.
“Or how about having to hear about you and Jaden from someone I barely knew.”
He looked confused. “About me and Jaden what?”
“Oh, I don't know, just like being the most powerful artisans here. Besides the Masters,” I corrected quickly. “And like all . . . uber-important and stuff.”
After a few seconds of silence, probably to make sure that I was finished, he scratched the back of his head. “You know, some of the boys actually say we're better than the Master's.” One corner of his mouth went up and I tried to hold my narrowing gaze, but almost instantly it fell to a weak smile.
I tried to force a frown. “I'm serious, Ikovos.”
He smirked. “I can tell. And here I thought you would be all closed off again when I got back.”
I blushed thoroughly. “Well . . . that was the plan until you started with the super-nice thing. I guess I'm just a wimp.”
His smirk turned smug. “I don't know, you did a pretty good job of it around Jaden.”
My body tensed instantly. “Aren't we supposed to be eating now?” I asked, avoiding his eyes.
From my peripheral vision I could see him shaking his head. It prompted me to spring into step.
“Let's go,” I said, walking out of the rink.
He laughed openly now. After a moment I heard him run up behind me.
“I know a better way,” he informed me, before grabbing my hand and pulling me off towards the right.
He can't have known, then, how the small gesture affected me. I wasn't even sure that I did . . . but it was enough to make me forget ever being mad at him. In fact, for a while, it was enough to make me forget just about everything.
I was vaguely aware that we had entered the lodge through an unfamiliar door and were now moving through a maze of corridors. Things looked different though. The halls were narrower, in many places divided by railings instead of walls, and often below and above you could see more walkways. . . . It was all very confusing, and it didn't help that Ikovos was pulling me through rather quickly. Every once in a while he would glance back at me with a smile, but the walk was surprisingly quiet.
Somehow we ended up in the kitchen. Ikovos released my hand when he saw Sophie waving ahead.
“Ikovos, you're back,” she said gleefully as he ran up to give her a hug.
“Yes, just.”
I slid up carefully beside them.
Sophie's eyes went grave. “Have you seen Thoran yet?” she asked.
Ikovos rolled his head around. “Ah . . . maybe.”
She eyed him.
“Well, Jaden did. And it was really him who started it.” He elbowed me. “Isn't that right, Evelyn?”
I stuttered trying to think of an answer that would please Ikovos without getting Jaden in trouble. Somehow the truth got lost in the decision between the two. Either way Sophie saved me the trouble.
“Don't you dare use her to get you out of this,” she said, wrapping an arm around me playfully.
Ikovos grinned, then raised his hands in surrender. “Whoa. I'm not brave enough to take on two girls at once.” He said it so sarcastically that Sophie reached for her rolling pin and swatted it at his head.
He ducked easily, then backed up towards the tables nodding to me. “Lunch time.”
I couldn't help but giggle and, after checking back at Sophie to receive the okay, I followed him over.
The cafeteria was already starting to fill up with lunch-hour activity. As Ikovos swerved through the tables I quickly realized that walking with him attracted even more attention than walking with Thoran. He didn't seem to notice, of course, and finally chose an empty table near a large window.
As I sat across from him I tried to ignore the quick glances. Still, all things considered, the boys were exceptionally polite about it.
Pulling my attention back, Ikovos casually passed me a plate then reached for his own food.
“So, what else did you do?” He took a bite. “I mean besides train with Holdan.”
I smirked. “Well, I ate and I spent some time in the study . . . I helped Sophie in the kitchen a couple times.”
“Yes,” said a voice above me, “I've been hearing a
lot about that.”
I didn't need to look to tell who it was, but I did anyways. To be honest I hadn't actually expected him to show up, let alone on time, and I couldn't help but feel privileged as the slim figure slid in beside me.
“What about it?” asked Ikovos.
It took me a moment to catch up with the conversation. They never re-clarified anything.
Jaden reached for some food before speaking. “You don't want to hear all the descriptions I've received. Suffice to say, high opinion of her pastry making abilities is unanimous.” He finished casually, very blasé. But Ikovos beamed.
I smiled back once, then looked away from the table shyly . . . it didn't help much. I thought me and Ikovos had been getting an awkward amount of attention, but now that Jaden had joined the other boys were staring and speaking freely.
I turned, almost panicked, back to Jaden and Ikovos, but they were just eating regularly. If they were aware of the attention, they didn't show it.
“Evelyn!” called a voice from a few tables away. “There you are.” It was Trevor and following close behind him were my other breakfast buddies: the two whose names I kept forgetting that sat on either side of Trevor, and Nathan.
To my slight horror they all came towards the table. Nate took the space between me and Jaden, who was looking at all of them incredulously as they sat.
“Good afternoon, Evelyn,” said Trevor.
“Hi!” shouted Nathan much too loud beside me.
I smiled at both. “Hey, guys. How was your morning?”
“Good,” they responded in unison. Trevor continued.
“I guess I don't have to ask you how yours went.” He eyed Ikovos and Jaden significantly and winked.
I about fainted, hoping that the two boys hadn't seen it. . . . From the grin on Ikovos’s face and the slight corner of a smirk on Jaden's, it seemed I had had no such luck.
Nathan continued my torture, supposedly whispering in my ear, only it was loud enough that everyone could hear. “What he means is, you must be happy since you get to sit with Master Jaden and Master Ikovos.”
It was all I could do at this point to smile sweetly. “Yes, I got that. Thank you, Nathan.”
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