Chapter 7 #2
He moved to the center of the ring and crooked a finger at me.
I hefted the practice sword, learning the weight of it, trying to ignore the sight of him.
He was an imposing figure standing there, all in black, from the close-fitting shirt, with the sleeves rolled up to show his forearms, to the tight pants and tall boots broken in from all his training.
He stood relaxed, his sword held loosely in his hand, handling it with an ease that made it look like an extension of his arm.
I had to ignore the thumping in my chest, the dryness of my mouth, especially if I wanted to win. And I did. Or at least, I didn’t want to embarrass myself. If I was being honest, I knew there was no way I was going to win against him. But that didn’t mean I wouldn’t try.
Cautiously, I brought my sword upright and approached.
We circled each other, and I heard Cormac’s voice in my head.
Search for any weakness. Let them make the first attack.
You will learn the most in those first few seconds than you will in the rest of the fight.
But he clearly had the same thought because he simply waited, biding his time.
At this rate, we’d be here all day. I would have to do something.
He had the distance on me, given his height, but there was a possibility I was quicker.
I darted in, feinting to the right before reversing at the last second and going left. Our practice blades met with a clang and sparks flew. Breaking apart, we circled each other. Again, he waited until I made a move. I rushed in again with another flurry of strikes and counter strikes.
I was right! I was quicker than him. What I hadn’t counted on, though, was that he was a teleporter.
And right as I decided to attack, he disappeared.
I spun around in the nick of time to block his blade from an overhead shot.
But I had made a grave mistake. He was significantly stronger than me, and bearing down from above like he was, I was fighting both his strength and gravity.
I disengaged, letting him use his momentum to stumble forward, but he caught himself almost immediately.
As he attacked with a flurry of blows, I realized I was wrong.
There was no way I was quicker than him.
I could barely keep up, barely track his movements.
I took a wild stab and kicked out, luckily sweeping his legs out from under him.
He fell to the ground in a controlled movement.
I had no idea how he pulled the next move, but I found myself falling, landing on him heavily.
Without skipping a beat, he flipped us over so I was pinned under him.
I felt a blade at my throat, but I also had one at his. Stalemate.
I was breathing heavily but I couldn’t blame it all on the exercise. Griff’s hips were pinned to mine, our heads mere breaths apart. I wiggled involuntarily underneath him, watching as his eyes grew dark.
I heard clapping as Kaia strode over. “I haven’t seen Griff have a blade pulled on him for a long time.”
He flexed his hips down on mine, seemingly a reflex. We stared at each other for a moment more, before he let out a breath and rolled off me. I lay on the ground, willing my pulse to drop.
He stood fluidly, barely having broken a sweat, and extended a hand to haul me up.
I took it, the jolt coursing through my arm, leaving tingling in its wake.
All of the work I’d done to lower my pulse went out the window as he held my hand for a moment longer than necessary before slowly letting go.
I discreetly stepped to the side, putting some distance between our bodies.
“Next time, though,” Kaia continued, “don’t hold back on her. You do your princess no favors if you make it easy on her.”
That was him going easy? Well, shit.
“And to properly motivate you, if you go easy on her again, you’ll be facing off against me. It’s been some time since I’ve had the chance to wipe the floor with you, boy.”
He laughed, a surprisingly lighthearted sound from him. “Anytime you want, Kaia. Name the time and place. I’m ready for you.”
She approached me. “You did well today, girl. But we will make you better. Report back tomorrow morning. And every morning after that.”
Griff handed me a waterskin, a slight smile still playing on his lips as though he’d thoroughly enjoyed our bout. In all my years of sparring with Cormac, I’d never been this exhausted, both physically and mentally, after a fight. I was seriously going to have to adjust my expectations.
We walked along the side of the training yard and back up the steep stone stairs, Griff modifying his pace to match mine.
“You surprised me out there,” he said.
“I did?” I shoved hair that had escaped my braid out of my face, feeling the sticky sweat holding it down.
He held a door open for me. “In a good way, Princess. You’ve been taught significantly more than I thought.”
“Kaia didn’t seem to think so.”
He laughed outright. “The day Kaia is impressed by someone is the day hell freezes over.”
I grinned briefly at that before my smile faded. At his prodding stare, I mentioned, “I thought you’d be the one training me. Being my Champion and all.” Although I didn’t want him to think I was trying to monopolize his time.
“I would prefer it,” was his quiet answer, “but I have duties that take me away from the castle too frequently to be your main instructor. Besides, Kaia was one of the ones who trained me. You won’t find better than her.” He paused momentarily. “She’s been like a second mother to me.”
“Duties? Doing what?”
He was silent for so long I thought he wouldn’t answer me. Disappointed, I walked on, only for him to stop me with a gentle hand on my elbow. He glanced around, but the hallway was empty.
“As you’ve been told, the Veil is failing,” he said softly. “Holes keep being ripped through it, allowing hufen to enter this realm. I deal with them.”
I had a feeling there was a lot more to it than that. “How are holes being ripped through it?”
He sighed heavily, running a hand through his hair.
“If I knew, then I’d be able to solve this problem.
As it is, all I can do is dispose of the hufen before their darkness can spread and corrupt more.
” He glanced around us again and lowered his voice so that I had to lean in to hear him.
“Just know that there is a war coming, whether Zachariah believes it or not. And I need you to be ready.”
With those cryptic words, he ushered me on, his hand resting once again on my lower back.
Zachariah’s comments yesterday about Orlaith having limitless power to save the kingdom and restore the Veil had been bouncing around in my head.
I had no idea what he’d meant by that, but I figured I should try to find out.
Especially if I was the only one who could eliminate the danger to the kingdom.
So that afternoon, Finn and I began training my channels.
He was thrilled at the prospect of doing so, and even went so far as to pull out lesson plans that he’d made.
I was overdue, he told me, with most people having daily training in their power from when it first appeared, usually around puberty.
We met, unsurprisingly, in the library. The afternoon sun streamed down on us from the skylights, turning the oak table into a warm honey color.
The matching armchairs had lattice backs and surprisingly comfortable cushions.
There were a few other people scattered throughout the room, but they left us alone, concentrating on their own studies.
“Channels,” Finn started. “The first thing to know is everyone technically has all seven, but which ones you have access to are determined when you’re born.
We think there’s something hereditary to it, but there are also cases of children having channels that no one in their lineage has, so who knows.
Maybe the gods pick. The channels mature as we do, so they’re as open as they will ever be by the time we’re twelve or so. ”
“And it can never change? Someone who wanted to access more power couldn’t do anything to force them more open or something?” I asked.
Finn shuddered. “I don’t even want to think of the pain involved in trying to force a channel open. And it would take an insane sacrifice. No, people accept what they’re born with and learn to use it.
“Your thoughts are also important. Thoughts shape your power through the channel and make it work. No two people think the same and so no two people can do the same thing. Someone who has access to body and water may be able to heal blood sickness. Someone with a fire affinity may be a metal worker, or earth may be a gardener, coaxing the plants to fruit. Now you, my dear Lexie—” He pointed his quill at me, tickling my nose with the feather.
I laughed as I batted it away. “What am I, a cat?”