16
“Again,”
I barked at Rapp. He slashed a glare in my direction from his position on the torn dirt ground. A slick sheen of sweat coated both of us from the intense sparring we’d been doing for the past hour. Tension ate at my shoulders and neck sitting around Gyor Palace all day, speaking of nothing or repeating the same messages over and over again.
No, the Angels won’t be here in a week’s time. Yes, I have a fucking plan, that’s why males are showing up by the thousands and camped outside the walls of Uzhhorod. No, I will not allow your sniveling offspring an officer’s position he hasn’t earned.
The negative thoughts were starting to creep in, too much idle time away from the action allowing doubt to worm its way into my brain.
I needed to move.
So I came to the war camp and sought out Rapp and a few others to fight. Nothing calmed my racing thoughts like the heat of a match, and while in a training ring my life wasn’t on the line, I could pretend it was, at least for a moment. My focus remained steadfast on the task at hand, unbroken by courtesans, servants, or schemes.
Or by the pressure of protecting all the Demons from death. I may have been able to call upon the dead to do my bidding, but I couldn’t instill life in them again.
“Krax, you go with him,”
Rapp pointed at one of the young Százados leaning against the posts marking the ring.
“Yes, sir,”
he said to Rapp before jerking his tunic overhead and tossing it to the side.
He approached me with respect, even offering me a kneeling salute before rising and raising his fists. His thick jaw was set and his carmine eyes danced around, studying my movements.
I sidestepped, hands hanging low. But I wasn’t unguarded; it was a ploy to see how the young male would react to such an opponent. Wisely, he didn’t take the bait. Instead, he sidestepped too, nearly the same distance as me. The tense set of his shoulders gave away his nervousness, and when I feinted a punch, he jerked, sharp and quick.
Seeming to understand my test, he blew out a breath and circled, bouncing on his toes.
Then, I struck.
My fist flew straight past his ear, clipping the pointed edge, but the Százados was smart enough to throw a punch to my body while I was in close range. It didn’t hurt nearly as much as when Rapp struck me, but I’d taken more blows than I could count, and none of them truly phased me anymore. Retreating, I sliced a kick at his knee, but Krax dragged his leg out of the way.
Heart racing, sweat pounding out of my pores, I felt so fucking alive.
Without warning, I launched into a flurry of strikes, driving Krax backward as he was forced to defend his head. Once his arms were sufficiently high, I struck his stomach, forcing the air from his lungs.
With a grunt, he grabbed the back of my neck with both hands, trying to break my posture. Fighting against the downward pull, I snaked an arm between us and knocked one hand loose before wrapping it around the back of his head. Tied together, we struggled for control, hands slipping from neck to shoulder and back.
He landed one lucky knee to my side before I used his position against him. Our sweat slicked skin made it easy for me to snake my arm completely over his head, clasping my palms together and throwing him over my hip to the ground.
He thudded against the earth, air whooshing from his lungs, but I didn’t relent. Dirt flew in all directions as I dropped one knee to his stomach to pin him. As I raised my fist to strike, he bucked, sending me flying off of him. I managed to catch myself with my free hand and used my momentum to spin back around, facing off with him.
“You’ll have to do better than that,”
I taunted, chest heaving from the effort.
From our crouched positions on the ground, he lunged, trying to tackle me onto my back. But I anticipated the movement, moving to the side just in time to catch his arm and yank him to my chest.
Grabbing my own wrist, I held him there, tightening ever so slightly as he squirmed, trying to break my grip.
“Get your arm in, or you’re going to be choked!”
Rapp called out from the side.
Immediately, Krax stopped tugging down and starting shoving up. I let him try for a moment before I switched my arm position and stole his air.
He smacked me, telling me he surrendered.
“Aw, Krax, you totally had him,”
Rapp teased, laughing as the Százados rose, dusting himself off.
As I got to my feet, he dipped into a deep bow and then saluted me. “It was an honor, Halálhívó.”
“Try to breathe a little more so your muscles have air to move. It doesn’t help to be so tense,”
I told him. I wasn’t that much of an asshole that I wouldn’t give pointers where needed. After all, I was the leader of the entire army, and if I could prevent one of my soldiers from dying with a few recommendations, then it was my duty to do so.
Not that my temper hadn’t brought a few to the brink of death before.
“Thank you, Halálhívó,”
Krax said, bringing his fist to his forehead and saluting before returning to the post on which he had been leaning.
I returned my attention to Rapp. “Just because you told Krax to go doesn’t mean you are relieved from your duties. You’ve had your break. Let’s go.”
With a groan, he rose. “You’re never going to learn to relax, are you?”
“Centuries of friendship and you still haven’t figured that out?”
I replied, my tone lighter and teasing.
Rapp squared up with me, hunching his shoulders and tucking one fist close to his face. “I keep holding out hope.”
Rolling my eyes, I raised my hands, keeping them nice and loose as we tested each other. We’d sparred more times than I could count, and he was one of the few males with whom I did not have to hold back.
And right now, I wanted an all-out brawl.
Rapp seemed to sense this too, and he glanced at the crowd of onlookers watching their Hadvezér prepare to fight. “Should we show them how it’s done, Halálhívó?”
“Aye,”
I grunted, and then Rapp charged.
Strike for strike, we blocked, parried, swung, neither of us landing a clean shot despite our rapid pace. Blood burned through my veins, filling me with exactly what I wanted to feel—nothing.
Nothing mattered but the next move, the next counter, the next roll. While with Krax, I’d toyed with my food and had too much time to think about how I was accomplishing it, Rapp didn’t relent for a heartbeat. He hit me with a barrage of strikes, and I curled up, waiting for the end, then fired a hard hook as he retreated, clipping the side of his head and sending him stumbling.
Throwing up a kick, I caught him in the side, but then his arm snaked around my lower leg and tugged me closer. We’d sparred for centuries, and his next move was entirely predictable. The low kick to my bracing leg came as expected, so I hopped, grabbing his shoulders and throwing my weight back.
A manic laugh escaped him as we tumbled to the ground, but he didn’t go over my head like I had been aiming. Instead, he caught himself on the tips of his toes and pressed all his weight into me. “Don’t be so predictable, Halálhívó.”
“You trapped me. Seems you still have room to change, Hadvezér.”
Sarcasm threaded through my tone.
With a grunt, I shoved him up and over me, switching our position so my shoulder dug into his chest.
“Your fucking muscles,”
Rapp wheezed.
“You should work on yours,”
I commented, continuing to press.
“Can’t fly,”
he managed to get out, and I relented my pressure, rising to my feet.
Cocking my head at him, I said, “Let’s take the fight to the air then. We’ll see who wins.”
He rose, a smirk spreading across his pierced face. “I’ll take you up on that, Halálhívó.”
Calling on the well of shadows in my chest, I pulled my black, membranous wings out of my back, letting their bulk flex and settle while Rapp did the same.
Then, I bunched my legs and leaped into the air, dusting the onlookers with the powerful strokes of my wings. Cheers rang out regardless as heads tipped up to watch us battle under the cloudless blue sky.
Rapp’s smaller size provided him an edge in agility as we grabbed, struck, and swerved in a complicated dance. There was a reason Rapp headed our winged division—he was a damn good fighter in the air.
There was also a reason I led the entire Demon army.
Rapp backflipped to dodge me, and I paused, waiting until he was nearly upside down before snatching his ankles and tugging. His momentum carried me forward and around, while my bulk forced us into another subsequent spin.
“Ugh, fuck you, Rokath,”
Rapp said as I used my wings to ensure the tumble continued. The ground raced up beneath us.
“Are you yielding?”
I nearly grinned.
“Reaper, yes, now let go,”
he cursed, slashing his head to the side, eyes widening as he realized how far we’d fallen.
I obliged, wings snapping out, halting our descent mere feet from the ground.
Rapp did the same, and the two of us hovered while we clasped arms and slapped each other on the back.
“That was incredible!”
a male exclaimed, and then chatter and cheers broke out among the crowd.
We descended the final few feet to the ground, and a smattering of salutes greeted us. Banishing my wings, I said to Rapp, “I think I am sufficiently fatigued for the day.”
“I am for a week at least,”
he shot back, striding away to retrieve our discarded tunics.
I didn’t bother to put mine on, since it would have been nearly impossible with the sweat coating my inked skin. “I’ve got a few things to check on here before I return to Gyor,”
I commented, as we strode away from the training area, letting the seasoned recruits teach the new conscripts how to fight. Those that had already arrived would certainly have an advantage over the ones still traveling to Uzhhorod.
“Well you’ll have to see me before you leave, given that Grem and Zeec are in my tent,”
Rapp pointed out, using his tunic to dry his face and hair.
I grunted. “Just admit that you’ll miss me once I’m gone and the dogs are a lure to ensure I don’t disappear into the night, never to be seen again.”
“Never,”
he shot back.
We’d arrived at the main crossroads in the camp, where the cages for those caught breaking the army regulations waited, along with a central platform and a whipping post. The rules I’d instilled among the ranks were there for a reason, and I had an extremely low tolerance for disrespecting them. All the ranking officers beneath me knew it too, and should their negligence result in one of their reports disobeying my command, they were equally as liable for my wrath.
Clapping Rapp on the shoulder, I shoved him in the direction of his tent, while I strode toward the sprawling black one that served as the command center no matter where we were.
Throwing back the flaps, I found the first room empty, no one surrounding the map table with pieces like the ones in Xannirin’s study marking known movements. Pausing, I examined them, looking for any changes since our last meeting. I nearly broke a tooth when several large white stones were further south.
We have to get back out there.
With only a week or so until everyone converged in Uzhhorod, there wasn’t much I could do other than ensure training was underway for the conscripts and every male’s magic had been thoroughly assessed.
I fucking hated it. I was a male of action, and all this inaction was fraying my nerves. Though I understood the power of patience, especially when it came to a game of war.
Moving through to what I fondly referred to as the ‘bone room’ I found it empty. The semi-throne that waited there was made entirely of bones collected from fallen Angels. I’d had it constructed after the first major battle the Demons won, and every time the Angel’s leadership had wanted to convene, I ensured it was in this very space, where they saw me perched upon their deceased comrades, souls permanently trapped in this world along with their skeletal remains.
It was the greatest insult I could give the Goddess idolaters, resolute in their cause to exterminate the Demons.
Very few understood the illogicality of these males and females. They could not be reasoned with, and Xannirin and I could. While we might have mimicked their society to bring ours to heel, Xannirin, Kiira, and I faked the depths of our belief for the most part. The Angels, especially Koron Stadiel, did not.
Therefore, the sooner I could spike his head, the better off everyone in Keleti would be. Deeper I wound until I found the group I had been searching for. “Someone tell me how the fuck the Angels advanced so quickly.”