10 #2
There is everything on it. Leather-clad bows, knives, long, narrow swords, sturdy spears, a couple of nasty maces, and I don’t even know the names of the rest. Something like a woodcutter’s axe protrudes from the smooth table, but I dismiss it entirely.
I wouldn’t even be able to lift it. The sword seems like a good idea – I’ve always wanted to learn fencing.
I had a few attempts, but it hurt too much when they swung it at me during the first few hours.
After the third lesson, I didn’t go anymore.
And the bow? I could be like Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games .
It suits me and would mean I can shoot everyone from a distance. But only if I’m able to string it.
Before I grab the bow, my eyes spot a dagger. A simple brown handle holds the azure blade. Although I could keep an opponent at a distance with the bow, demons move through the walls. I need something light; something close to the body.
I pick up the dagger. No more declaring madness. No more psychiatry.
“I choose this.”
I turn to Darya, surprising even myself with how determined I am.
The lips of the Kraldem curl into a wolfish grin.
“Excellent.” He nods. “Let’s get to it.”
He points to one of the targets.
“Hit it.”
I glance at him with big eyes.
“Just like that?”
“Just like that.”
I have no idea what to do. I look at Darya, who patiently leans against the stone table, arms crossed.
His sinewy shoulders tense under the leather vest that reaches to his elbows.
A smile lurks at the corner of his lips, and his eyes flicker over me several times.
Maybe I’m mistaken, but his gaze lingers for a moment at my hips.
My skin tingles and a blush rises on my face.
I turn away and take a deep breath. Clutching the knife, I throw it.
The blade hits the ground between me and the target.
Raising my eyebrows, I pat my thigh and, biting my lower lip, look at the Kraldem. He can barely contain his laughter.
“You really have never handled a weapon before?”
“I’m a child of the twenty-first century. We don’t solve our conflicts like this, and we don’t have to fight demons. You and I both know that if I really have to fight someone, I’m going to wind up dead.”
“Don’t write yourself off so quickly,” he says, tilting his head towards the dagger. “Pick it up!”
I do as I’m told, and the Demon King appears next to me. Carefully, he angles me towards the target, gently pulling me into him. I meld into his hard chest. My heart makes its way through my throat, and it takes me all my strength not to simply collapse into his arms.
The demon’s long finger rests on mine, pressing it on the knife. With his other hand, he gently strokes my forearm, then holds my elbow delicately, as if I were a porcelain doll, ready to shatter at the slightest twitch.
“Let’s start with something simple,” he says behind my ear, causing shivers to run down my spine. I close my thighs together. “A straight throw. The index finger guides. You run it along the blade before you release it. It’s important to point where you aim. The movement should be continuous.”
I want to concentrate, but his cool lips touch the soft part behind my ear.
“I’ll show you.” He releases me, and I can breathe again. Gracefully, he grabs the blade and throws it firmly. The dagger arrives at the center of the target quickly, deadly, precisely.
“And don’t stand like a column. Bend your knees!”
I blink but do as he says. I trace my finger along the blade, following it all the way to the tip. Then I throw it. The knife lands in the ground again, barely closer than before. I look at Darya.
“What are you waiting for?” he asks, bored. “It won’t teach itself.”
The whole afternoon goes like this: I try to hit the target, but even if I succeed, the blade doesn’t want to embed. The fighting spirit slowly leaves me, and I am tired. I won’t be able to kill monsters. Why is Darya even bothering with me?
When the dagger bounces back from the target for the umpteenth time, nearly landing back at my feet, Darya sighs.
“This will be harder than I thought.”
“You don’t say!” I reply irritably, picking the knife off the ground. “I can’t aim well.”
“That’s not the main problem,” the Kraldem says. “You lack stamina. You were tired after the first two throws. And yes, you aim terribly.”
I furrow my forehead. I hate being weak. And Darya took away from me the only thing that helps me not to be!
“Your girlfriend was right,” I say, stepping closer. Suddenly, I’m very interested in how he'll respond to this, and I scrutinize the small features of his face.
“If you want Léthé to be right, feel free to do it this way, but then you’ll die.”
Something snaps inside me. I don’t want to be here, I’m so tired. He forced me into this. He took away my medication. I need my medication. My throat is dry and I hunger for it. My head begins to throb, anger rises in my throat. A dark cloud is gathering at the edge of my field of vision.
“You should kill me right here, right now,” I hiss between my teeth. Come on, Darya, bite. See how useless I am without the pills? Muscles tense, I look at the demon, but he just gazes calmly.
I need that fucking medicine.
“Why don’t you just stab me with that shitty knife instead?” I shout at Darya, who raises his eyebrow. Come on, come on, give up, asshole! “See what I’m capable of? Nothing! Whatever you want to use me for, you shouldn’t have taken me!”
The Kraldem picks up a dagger from the table and balances it on his finger while speaking to me.
“I don’t intend to kill you.”
“Darya,” I say, the mere use of his name producing those silver streaks in his eyes. “Without my medication, I can’t do anything, I can’t function. Give me it and then find yourself another sucker!”
Darya stops spinning the blade, focusing his entire attention on me.
“Give me those fucking pills!” I yell at him, feeling the dark clouds coming closer. My head throbs stronger, and my arm trembles. “I can’t fight. And I don’t want to. You can’t force me into this!”
Darya slowly puts the knife on the table. He doesn’t take his eyes off me.
“Why won’t you answer me? I won’t do anything for you until you give me my medication!”
Darya narrows his eyes.
“I won’t fight,” I continue shouting. “I won’t play your game unless you give those pills to me! I don’t care what you think about my destiny, I’m not going to run through those two doors I saw…”
“What did you say?” Darya’s voice blows away the black fog like a cold wind.
“Uh,” I start uncertainly, as my anger evaporates with a wave of his hand. “It’s like the Mirror of Destiny or something. Nárs said that—”
“You saw two doors,” Darya states, interrupting me.
“Yes.”
The Kraldem stares stiffly, then his porcelain face trembles and laughter bursts out.
“Right when I was about to lose my faith in you,” he says, with a shake of his head.
He strides up to me before I have time to step back. He pulls me towards him, holding my face in his hands.
“How could I choose differently,” he begins, placing his forehead against mine, “when you are the perfect answer to everything?”
His claws tickle my skin, and the air crumbles between us. I forget everything I threw at him earlier. Darya holds onto me as if he never wants to let go, and sweet warmth arises between my legs. I need to close my thighs as I inhale his scent, reminiscent of the damp crystals and earth of a cave.
“Be mine!” He squeezes me, and my heart beats faster. He opens his eyes and looks deeply into mine, as if enchanting me. His breath caresses my lips. He wants to devour me.
“Dar—” I begin, but his thumb closes my lips.
“Shhh,” he hushes, and his sharp fangs emerge, approaching my neck.
They brush my skin, and I stand on tiptoe.
A cold yet warm current captures me, as if my body cannot decide how to feel.
I don’t understand why I can’t fight, why I don’t want to fight.
He presses against me, wrapping my waist with his sharp claws.
I’m afraid I’ll break, but I still don’t move.
His kiss on my neck is so soft I dare not even swallow.
I close my eyes and slowly tilt my head back, giving free passage to his lips. I want to escape. But I still yield.
His lips are about to touch mine when a loud bang is followed by a giant blue figure arriving next to us.
Darya’s eyes widen, the madness in his gray eyes extinguishes, but his gaze seems so full of satisfaction that I’d like to slap him.
The Kraldem straightens up, his arms falling from my body, leaving behind a cold breeze. The blue creature next to us seems visibly embarrassed.
“Yes, Kripot?” Darya asks.
“You summoned me… Kraldem, to…” The big guy speaks as if this were his first, pain-filled sentence in life.
“Ah, yes, of course,” Darya says with a wave, then turns to me with his arrogant smile. “We’re done here, anyway.”
His words hit me like he had thrown one of the daggers.
“Lotte, from now on, you practice with Kripot every day, until I decide you’re ready for something more.” He tilts his head thoughtfully. “We only lose when we believe the lie.”
His voice is indifferent. Nothing shows that he could have devoured me a moment ago.
“You know what to do,” he says to Kripot, and with a puff of black smoke, his magnificent wings appear.
“Wait!” I reach out to him because, now that I’ve come to my senses, I want to ask him what seeing two doors in the mirror meant to him. However, the Demon King flies away without another word.
He’s so fast that a moment later he is only a tiny speck under the sunny, blue sky.
I look down at Kripot. He stares back at me. His face is expressionless. Suddenly, fear seizes me that I’m once again left alone with an unknown creature. He can’t harm me, I reassure myself. He can’t harm me.
But I know that’s not entirely true.