"Very well," he decided with a visible effort to calm himself, rising to his feet and coiling one of his whips as he spoke. "There are five kittens in this box. You are to spin them lightly into the air and watch them VERY closely. Make sure not to hurt them. I’ll be back in a while. I need to check on the Stunts."
With that, he strode out of the shed and grabbed his second whip from the ground near the entrance. Honmour picked up one kitten by the scruff of its neck and suspended it in front of his face, staring at it intently as if some ancient code were written on its fur, but the creature only yawned innocently. Talen sat with elbows on his knees, his chin suspended in his hands, gazing at the kitten drinking milk.
Kaltor reached into the box and pulled the smallest kitten from the tangled mess of fur and discontented cries. The creature stretched luxuriously, its claws extending and retracting with the motion. Unsure what they were looking for, he tossed it into the air as Taneth had done, amplifying his sight as the animal spun.
He watched the cat’s tongue loll out of its mouth as it twisted through the air. Its fur shifted in the light breeze as it fell. Its eyes managed to find the ground despite its obviously disorienting situation. Its claws extended in anticipation a few inches before impact, steadying its landing. It joined its companion at the center of the blanket, partaking of the milk bowl as well.
They repeated the exercise for the next hour, until Kaltor’s eyes ached from prolonged amplification. Honmour and Talen suffered similar fates, prodding the kittens occasionally as they struggled to lap up the last of the milk, one even climbing into the toppled milk bottle next to the bowl and getting stuck within it, unable to turn around or back out.
I hope Master Taneth doesn’t bring the Stunts along when he returns, Kaltor hoped. This is more than a little humiliating. The King’s rising generation of assassins playing with kittens. An entire bottle of milk gone and we’re still totally lost.
"At the moment, all I’ve learned is that Master Taneth’s lessons are a lot like that milk bottle," Honmour groaned, rolling his eyes sarcastically. "We’ve gotten trapped in the glass rules of this exercise with no way to find what we’re after, and no way out."
They all sighed in defeat.
Master Taneth returned, carrying a large pillow this time. Something snapped inside Kaltor. "Oh, for the love of the Gods!" he grumbled. "We going to get a massage, next? I feel like a noble woman with her pets, blankets, and pillows. How is that supposed to be a part of Battleborn training?"
Honmour and Talen’s faces went white at Kaltor’s rebellious tone. Taneth’s eye brows rose inquisitively. "Haven’t figured it out, have you?" He tossed the pillow over. Kaltor caught it easily, wondering what kind of secret lay within its folds, and then realized too late why his friends were both scrambling aside.
Master Taneth smashed into Kaltor, hard. The air rushed from his lungs as his teacher’s shoulder collided into his diaphragm. Varadour power rushed through his extremities instinctively, amplifying his strength, but Taneth already had his arm and shoulder locked up in a vicious hold. Kittens scampered away in surprise as Kaltor sailed into the air and gracelessly collided with the boxes on the opposite side of the room.
Taneth advanced, pushing and kicking boxes aside as he strode forward. Anger boiling through his veins, a humiliated Kaltor caught hold of a wooden box and hurled it at his trainer’s face with a violent burst of strength. Even the war veteran Taneth couldn’t dodge the blow entirely. It smashed into his shoulder, lifting him a few feet into the air.
Something shifted in the master’s extremities, and his torso spun as he landed easily on his feet, dagger drawn from a hidden sheath. Honmour and Talen’s jaws dropped in surprise. The display of agility proved so impressive that even Kaltor’s flaring temper didn’t last long in the wake of his surprise.
"Any Varadour can land on his feet if he twists that way," Master Taneth explained coldly. "Some of you, even as Stunts, have a knack for landing awkwardly and still rolling to your feet. This is far faster."
Sheathing the dagger in his boot, he kept his stern gaze boring into Kaltor’s eyes, driving the lesson home. "Those cats can teach you to ALWAYS land on your feet. Only a Battleborn has the innate agility to pull it off from any height—even only a few feet up. It can save you precious seconds and help keep you in charge of the situation. You’re opponent will charge in thinking you’re on your back and disoriented, and that’s when you gut him."
Returning to the disheveled blankets and toppled boxes, Master Taneth put the training demonstration back together. In a few moments they recovered all five of the kittens and took time to watch them all spin through the air, the kittens adjusting their angles of approach and twisting so that they always landed on their feet. As they flipped each cat and discussed how they could do the same thing, a feeling of dread welled up in Kaltor.
Maker’s might! He realized. We’re going to be jumping from somewhere high next!
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Fifteen years after Keevan Stratagar's disappearance as an infant, Keevan carves out a living among the Children of the Sky, a race forgotten by the known world. Among their kind, command of the elements is the surest way to riches, influence and respect. Which is why young Keevan, a wiry Outlander with no elemental gifts at all, spent his childhood dismissed by the powerful and feared by the ignorant.
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S. B. Sebrick was raised in Vancouver, Washington where he currently studies nursing. He has published short stories in 2005 and 2006 of Clark College’s annual ‘Phoenix’ Anthology. He recently finished the ‘Dire’, the last of the ‘Assassin’s Rising’ novels, coming out in March of 2014. He often posts updates and teasers about the rest of his works from his website at www.sbsebrick.com
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Assassin’s Rising Series
Decoy
Dismay
Defiant
Desolate
Dire
Deliverance
Related Short Stories
Fate of the Child
Betrayal
Other Short Stories
Revenge to Redemption
Binding Trial
Battle for Dominance
Lucian’s Trial
Outcast of the Flame
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 8
Chapter 16
Chapter 25
Sample Chapter of ‘Deluge’
Sample Chapter of ‘Dismay’
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Decoy (Assassin's Rising Book 1) Page 32
