Verenda looked back to Master Kendo, who had nodded to him, then turned to face Canon, “sure,” he took a few steps back and held his staff out in a fighting stance. If anything, he could get that right.
Canon held his hand out, and less than a second later a royal blue staff appeared. Without wasting any time, Canon had started attacking, and Verenda was able to block a few attacks with his own staff until he found himself being kicked down to the ground.
Verenda sucked in all the air that was knocked out of him and got back to his feet, but when he went to grab his staff, Canon had slammed the end of his into Verenda’s gut.
Verenda bent over and had fallen to his knees while holding his stomach and tried to keep from crying out.
Canon sighed, “already Verenda? We barely even gotten started.”
Verenda finally started gathering his air again, but still hadn’t gotten up.
“Maybe,” Master Kendo began walking over to Verenda, “if Lord Verenda could get to training on time, then he wouldn’t miss out on learning our basic defenses.”
Verenda continued coughing until he could start breathing regularly again, then he grabbed his staff and slowly got to his feet with his head still down. He could tell that the other students were watching him now, and didn’t want to make eye contact with any of them.
“Now why don’t you two try that again? And this time, I want you to fight back, Verenda,” Master Kendo said. He stepped back and waited for the two boys to get ready.
Verenda got back into a fighting stance with his angry eyes focused on the smiling Canon. Canon didn’t even try to hide the fact that he was enjoying himself.
“Begin!” Master Kendo ordered.
Verenda was going to make the first attack, but Canon had already beat him to it and he found himself stuck in defense again. He wasn’t completely helpless though. Even though he weren’t as strong as Canon, he was a little faster and swiftly dodged a full on thrust of Canon’s staff.
Verenda slid to his right and used the few seconds he had to swing his staff at Canon, but he was quickly blocked and kicked back. Once he had started to lose his balance, Canon came full on and slammed his staff into Verenda’s chest, sending him to the ground on his back.
Verenda laid there for a moment and looked up at the white puffy clouds in the blue sky. He wished that he didn’t have to go through training. He just wasn’t strong enough, and he hadn’t made as much progress as the other student’s had.
Master Kendo sighed ad shook his head, “your father would be so disappointed if he were here. If you’re not able to train any further, then you can take your leave, Lord Verenda.”
Verenda still laid there and thought of Laren. ‘You’ll do great today’, that’s what she had told him, and he was doing the complete opposite. So much for impressing the master.
When Verenda had finally sat up, he spotted Laren walking cautiously to his aid. She must have noticed that he was in too much pain to continue, and came to help him get back to his chambers.
Master Kendo shook his head and went to help a different pair, while Canon went to talk to his friends, who were all eyeing the young servant. Verenda became alert when he saw Canon watching Laren come to help him, and hurried back to his feet.
“Laren, what are you doing?” Verenda asked while walking towards her, “you shouldn’t be out here,” he grabbed her wrist and began pulling her back to the entrance of the castle.
“I saw that you were hurt...” Laren explained.
“Yeah, but-” with a quick motion, and barely even processing what was happening, Verenda knocked a knife away with his staff that was aimed right at Laren, “who threw that?” Verenda stepped in front of Laren and looked around for the person that threw the knife, “well!?” he started heaving out of anger that someone had almost hurt his friend.
“I did,” Master Kendo said, turning to Verenda, “your father instructed me to do any means necessary that would get you to take training more serious.”
Verenda frowned, “Master Kendo, that couldn’t mean attack one of my servant’s! She could have been killed!”
Canon smiled, revealing his sharp canine teeth, “she’s a lowly servant, and replaceable my young prince,” he laughed, “no reason to feel so protective over that one.”
Master Kendo nodded, “you shouldn’t get so close to your servants. Surly your father has taught you that,” he looked from Canon to Verenda, “but I suppose that since you are, we can use her as a part of your training.”
Verenda tightened his grip on his staff. He was starting to feel hot all over, and he could have sworn that his blood was boiling as he thought of someone taking Laren’s life. Verenda growled at Master Kendo, also showing his long and sharp canine teeth on both sides of his mouth. He had inherited them from his mother, who was also a servant, and had died soon after giving birth.
Verenda held his staff out in front of him, pointing it towards his master in a defensive stance, “you won’t dare touch her,” he growled.
Laren rested her hand on his shoulder and could feel the heat building up on his skin, “Verenda...” she saw how all of the students were watching them now, and began to worry about her life. Laren had the power to protect herself, but any servant caught using it was put to death, so she had no choice but to depend on Verenda.
“Don’t worry. I won’t let them hurt you,” Verenda said in a confident tone. He wasn’t used to the excited feeling that he was experiencing, but he liked it, so he was going to use it to his advantage.
Master Kendo raised his chin, then brought his hand up so that his palm were facing himself, and soon after, a knife appeared.
“When I say run,” Verenda whispered, “you run- straight for the doors.”
“Ok,” Laren let her hand slide off of Verenda’s shoulder.
Verenda kept his eyes focused on his master, while also making sure that no one else made a move.
Without giving any notice, Master Kendo threw the knife at Verenda in full speed, and Verenda had knocked it away with his staff with barely any effort. What threw him off guard was the second knife that that was thrown at him, but he had blocked it just in time.
Laren stood behind him, waiting on her signal to run. She had noticed how Canon still had his eyes focused on her, and knew that Verenda would be fighting two people soon.
“Verenda-”
Verenda had blocked the last knife before grabbing Laren’s wrist and yanking her along as he made a run for it, “run!”
As they sprint for safety, Verenda blocked multiple knives that came more frequently, and faster with every throw. After one had sliced passed his left arm, he was no longer sure if Kendo wanted to kill him, or Laren anymore.
Laren looked back and saw Canon gaining on them fast. They were just about to reach the doors when Canon jumped into the air and released his royal blue wings, then landed on his feet right in front of them. Verenda slid to a stop and had completely forgotten about the flying knives when he noticed that Canon was wasting no time to attack.
Off of reflexes, Verenda had blocked one knife as he backed away from Canon, but he missed the second one, and was horrified by the sound of Laren’s pained scream.
“No,” Verenda turned and saw that she was only stabbed in her right thigh. When he looked up at her face, the sight of her tears had infuriated him, and his hot skin began feeling as if it were on fire.
Verenda snapped back to Canon and slammed his staff against the tall boy’s chest, then he pushed the injured Laren down to the ground, and out of the way.
Laren slid against the dirt while holding the knife that was still piercing her thigh, and cried out. She was now even more afraid for her life than she was before and didn’t know what to do. She knew that Verenda would do his best, but right now his best wasn’t good enough, and she might end up dead.
Verenda turned back to Canon, who had come at him again, and blocked every blow that was thrown at him. Master Kendo had even figured that he
should stop throwing knives, because the young lord was finally fighting the way that he needed to be.
Canon had thrown vicious blows with his staff, but each and every one of them had been blocked, and he was actually starting to regret making the prince angry. Verenda was only a half blood, but that’s what made him so much more powerful than the other students. His servant mother, along with the majority of servants and slaves, had an enormous amount of power that was even comparable to those born in the first kingdom.
Servants and slaves were discriminated against because of their immense power, and the only reason that they hadn’t overthrown the kingdom was because they were a minority. There was way less of their blue eyed kind, compared to the yellow eyed Davinion’s, so they were enslaved and made into everyday workers or servants.
The mixture of Verenda’s parents’ blood made it extremely difficult to tap into his powers, but the day that he does, he would be one of the most powerful Davinions alive.
Verenda blocked another attack from Canon with ease, then swung his staff against the side of his legs, and sent him straight to the ground. Canon landed on his back and ended up slamming the back of his head against the ground with a thud. He then looked up at the skinny boy that was staring down at him with his chest heaving, and sweat dripping as if he had just ran ten miles.
Verenda raised his staff over Canon’s head with his hand shaking as he debated on crushing his opponent’s skull. He didn’t know what had come over him, but he felt a strong need to kill Canon, and the sound of Laren’s cry made that decision a little easier to make.
Master Kendo had grabbed the staff right before it had smashed into Canon’s head, and Verenda turned to his master feeling confused. He had finally snapped out of his trance and turned away from Canon to help Laren, who had blood all over her thigh.
“Are you alright?” Verenda asked. He was on his way to tend to Laren’s leg when he suddenly got a very bad feeling in his gut. It was as if his senses were heightened, and he could feel a quick movement from behind.
With one quick movement, Verenda had jumped in front of Laren, and felt a dull impact against his back, but nothing serious. Whatever it was barely even pushed him, and he was so worried about Laren that he didn’t even care what it was.
Verenda had gotten from on top of Laren and then down on one knee, “are you okay?”
Laren bit her bottom lip and sat up while still holding the knife in her leg. She was too afraid to pull it out, because she knew that it would be painful, “my...” Laren looked up at Verenda, and only for a few seconds the pain went away, “wings...”
Verenda frowned, “your wings? But, you don’t even have wings.”
“No, your wings,” Laren reached out to touch one of them, but snatched her hand back when the pain in her leg had returned.
Master Kendo walked over to Verenda and Laren, and was amazed by the gold and black color of Verenda’s wings, “gold and black feathers,” he said, “Well, your certainly a half blood.”
Verenda slowly got back to his feet and felt his wings flap softly, but could also feel their strength, “I...did it...” he looked over his shoulder and was taken in by the beauty of them.
Canon got back to his feet after being knocked down to the ground by Verenda’s large wings, and dusted himself off, “ugly and filthy, like a half blood,” he spat.
Master Kendo handed Verenda his staff, then turned to Canon, “you should practice better sportsmanship, Canon.”
Verenda turned back to Laren and smiled, “let’s go and get your leg fixed up,” he reached down and helped her up with his new found strength, then led her back inside the castle.
On their way down the hall, Laren’s lips formed into a smile, “I told you that you would do great.”
Verenda nodded and tried to hide his blush, then wondered how he was going to get his wings to disappear again.
6016
It was a warm night under the stars of Devenaska, and the lightning bugs blinked their red and golden lights over the large plain, full of tall grass, making the sight a truly memorable one.
Fifteen year old Laren sat on the top of a small hill and gazed up at the green colored moon, never once noticing how Verenda was staring at her. He just loved how her glossy blue eyes looked in the moonlight and couldn’t help himself. The girl he grew up with turned out to be the most beautiful female he had ever seen.
Laren’s hair, now, stretched down her lower back, which was much longer than then her length as a child, and when his eyes traveled down to her chest, he noticed that she most certainly had grown there as well.
Laren had finally turned and caught him staring, “what?” she blushed, then sat up straight.
Verenda’s eyes moved back up to meet her gaze, and he gave her an innocent smile, “you’ve…grown.”
“You always say that,” Laren laughed.
“It’s true,” he turned back to the stars and understood why Laren had been so drawn to them. Nothing was more beautiful than Devenaska at night.
Laren had looked Verenda up and down, and noticed that he had certainly grown as well. He was a tall young man with a tight six pack, and lean arms and legs. After years of training, he had finally made it to the top of his class, and was also known as Master Kendo’s right hand man in battle, which he and his men were victorious each and every time.
Verenda felt as if he were being watched and turned back to Laren. A smile had slowly crept upon his lips, “you’re staring.”
“Oh,” Laren quickly turned away, “sorry.”
Laren and Verenda had grown closer than friends over the years, but were still pretty shy around each other in beautiful moments like this one.
“So,” Laren sighed, releasing all of her anxiety, “how is your father doing? Is he recovering well?”
Verenda’s smile faded a little at the thought of his sick father, “he’s alright. I believe that he’ll fully recover soon.”
The king had finally approved of Laren, and treated her as if she were family than as a servant, and although he hadn’t lifted her status to citizen, as Verenda had asked many times, she was grateful for his kindness.
“So, you’re not worried at all Verenda?” Laren looked at him with a worried expression.
“Nope,” Verenda lied and shrugged, “but let’s not talk about him right now,” he got to his feet and held his hand out to her, “come on.”
“To where?” Laren took his hand and was surprised to be pulled into his arms, then felt her feet being lifted from the ground, “Verenda, not again!”
Verenda laughed and had jumped high into the air, then he released his wings and held himself high above the ground for as long as he could. With him being only a half blood, it was hard for him to keep flight when using his wings, because his mother wasn’t even born with them.
“My kind aren’t meant to be in the air. It makes us sick!” Laren said looking over his arm and down at the ground, “we’re also afraid of h-” Verenda had shot straight back down for the ground, turning Laren’s sentence into an ear bleeding scream, “Verenda!”
Verenda used his wings as a cushion as he landed on the grass and rolled down the small hill while laughing the entire time. He had finally come to a stop when he reached the bottom, then was held down by Laren who had rolled on top of him.
Laren pushed herself from off of Verenda’s chest and planted her hand in the grass next to his head. She was breathing heavily with excitement as she stared down at his sun colored eyes, and had started to laugh, “You know I hate that.”
Verenda didn’t respond. He was too distracted by the fact that she was on top of him, and couldn’t seem to control himself anymore. He reached up and moved her long golden hair out of her face and behind her ear, “you are so beautiful. I swear that when I become king, you will be my queen.”
Laren couldn’t manage to get a smile on her face because of the wild butterflies flying around in her stomach, “umm...”
“I’
m sorry. I was thinking out loud-”
“No! No,” Laren laughed, “no, I like it. You can speak your mind.”
Verenda rested his hand on her cheek and rubbed his thumb against her soft skin, “I can’t wait to become king, so that I can make you my wife.”
Laren stared down at him and admired the beauty in his face, then a moment later she found herself leaning down to place a kiss on his lips. When she pulled away she gave a sweet smile, and wondered how Verenda would respond to her kiss.
Verenda’s eyes stayed fixated on hers as he tried to control his rapidly beating heart, then he lifted his head so that his lips could meet hers again, “I love you.”
“Love... No one has said that to me since I was given to you,” Laren said, “I like it.”
The two of them laughed together for a moment, then Laren rolled from on top of him and onto her back. They both stared up at the beautiful stars in silence...
“I love you too...”
6017
Verenda awakened to the bright sun shining into his room. The old servant, as usual, had come and whipped open the curtains, then got his clothes ready for the day.
“Ugh, close the curtains old lady!” Verenda covered his face with his arm.
“Good morning to you too, young lord,” old Haneelia said as she rushed to his closet to grab his staff, “it’s time to get up. Come, come, it’s a beautiful day.”
Verenda turned his head to the empty pillow next to him and sighed.
Haneelia shook her head at him, “still thinking about that servant girl...you’re a prince, you should worry about meeting a princess.”
Verenda sat up, “you know I’m not interested in that old woman.”
Haneelia stopped in the doorway, “well, you know that you have to move on some day. It’s been a year since she passed, and you’re such a handsome young man...”
Verenda gave her a gentle smile, “thank you, Haneelia.”
“Oh, you’re welcome,” the old woman smiled back, “now get up and get your day started!” she snapped, before she left the room and slammed the door behind her.
Angel's Blade: Power (Angel Series Book 1) Page 18
