74. Clash of Stone and Steel
Clash of Stone and Steel
Samhail
They had lunch in Seatherny, and then Jasper’s portal master sent them straight to the army training camp in Hiraeth so Samhail could check on the progress of their troops.
The clang of steel instantly met Samhail’s ears as they stepped through to the camp outside Solandis, and his body automatically tensed, then relaxed as he confirmed the sound was training and not real battle. Once he was sure of that, he actually found the noise rather soothing.
He glanced at Talyn and saw she was almost smiling. He furrowed his brow as something occurred to him.
“Where did you learn to fight?” he asked her as they walked toward the training field. “I don’t imagine that’s something they taught you at the house of pleasure.”
She gave a small laugh. “You might be surprised how useful wrestling moves could be there,” she said, then laughed again as Samhail stopped walking to stare at her. “I’m kidding. Mostly. But no, I learned to fight the same way these men are learning, by training in a war camp.”
He frowned at her as they started walking again. “I didn’t realize Rowe’s war camps accepted women,” he said. “We only just started a few years ago here in Thasia.”
“Strictly speaking, they don’t accept women,” she said, “but then strictly speaking, I wasn’t a woman when I trained in one.”
“You signed up as a boy,” he concluded.
“I learned some of my stealthier skills on the streets, but to get started, I spent a year training in the camp after my sister died. The grounds were on the outskirts of the city, but we had a horse, so I rode out one day to watch the men and boys train. That’s how I met Rob.”
“Rob?” he asked. He didn’t like the turn her story had taken.
“Rob was about a year older than me at the time. I’d just turned fifteen, and he was sixteen.
That was the age Rowe expected young men to begin their training, and he’d just started at the camp.
He noticed me watching that first day and approached me later.
I thought he might hurt me, but he gave me some food he’d saved from his lunch instead.
He thought I was some homeless urchin who’d walked all the way out there. ”
The tension in Samhail’s spine eased a bit to hear the boy had been kind. He liked to think he would’ve done the same if he’d been in that situation, but, in truth, he probably wouldn’t have noticed a young girl watching him train.
He’d been much older than sixteen when he’d entered the training camp Bressen’s father oversaw, and he’d been entirely too full of himself to pay attention to things like that.
Bressen had been the one to take him down a peg or two.
Samhail had underestimated the lord’s son, thinking him to be a pampered brat, but Bressen’s combat preparation had started early, and he’d come to the camp already well-trained.
Samhail had the size advantage in their first sparring match, but underestimating Bressen had cost him early on in the fight, as the small scar just under his jawline attested.
He’d made the healer leave it there as a reminder not to take himself too seriously, although it had still taken him several decades for the message to really sink in.
“This Rob taught you to fight?” Samhail asked.
“Sometimes,” she said. “At first, we became friends. I watched him train, then when he was done for the day, we’d spend time together.
He’d walk me through what he learned. Eventually it wasn’t enough.
I’d shown him my powers by then, and I told him I wanted to join the army.
He tried to talk me out of it, but I showed up the next day as a boy and signed up.
Rowe has been unstable since Sandrian lost the war against Thasia, and at the time they needed all the fighters they could get, so they didn’t look very hard at the forged documents I presented.
Hells, I probably could’ve just walked onto the training field that day without any paperwork at all, and they would’ve taken me. ”
“And your mother had no idea you were doing this?” he asked as they stopped at the edge of the training field to watch the men practice.
She shook her head. “My mother was grieving Julia. She spent more and more time working at the pleasure house. I only saw her in the evenings when I went there for my own lessons.”
Samhail’s body went rigid. “Your lessons?”
“They were mostly lessons in etiquette and seduction, like how to move my body to entice someone.” She shrugged. “Ultimately they came in handy when I became an assassin.”
“So you didn’t have to…,” he started to ask, but trailed off.
“I was made to watch the other courtesans,” she said, “although thankfully not my mother. I only started more ‘hands on’ training just before I became The Raptor.”
“Hands on?” he prompted, unable to stop himself. He had to know.
“How to pleasure someone with my hands and mouth,” she clarified.
He closed his eyes. “You were only fifteen?”
“I’d just turned sixteen by then. The madame was planning to auction off my virginity to the highest bidder in a few weeks. As it turned out, I gave it to Rob the day before he was sent out with the army to quell a rebellion in the Murthland province.”
Samhail loosed a deep breath. At the start of her story, he’d been dreading the idea she might’ve given her virginity to this boy, yet now it was a relief to know she had. It was infinitely preferable to having some rich lord two or three times her age take it from her.
“How was it?” he asked.
She gave a short laugh. “About as good as it can be between two teenage virgins trying to figure out what fits where. I’d seen a lot of people have sex by then, but that didn’t mean I knew what I was doing.”
He chuckled. “That sounds about right.”
She looked at him. “Was your first time that awkward?”
“It was awkward in an entirely different way,” he said. “My two older siblings, Soldier and Sadira, took me to a pleasure house and paid a courtesan to introduce me to the joys of sex. I was fourteen.”
He looked over at her when he was met with silence and found she was staring at him with her mouth open.
“Fourteen?” she said, aghast. “The courtesan actually agreed to deflower a fourteen-year old?”
Samhail gave a half shrug. “I doubt she knew how young I was. I was a very large fourteen-year old, and it’s common for gargoyles to start having sex fairly young. It’s cultural.”
She stared at him for several more seconds. “So how was it?” she finally asked.
He shrugged again. “I suppose I should be grateful they paid for a courtesan rather than a regular prostitute. The woman knew what she was doing. I’m pretty sure I blacked out at least once or twice while she was…uh, servicing me.”
Talyn’s brows shot up, and he gave her a half smile.
“What happened with you and Rob when he returned?” he asked.
Her face fell, and he knew immediately what the answer was.
“He didn’t make it back,” she said quietly. “From what I heard when his unit returned, he fell the first day of fighting. It was quick at least. A sword through his neck.”
“I’m sorry.”
She shook her head. “I didn’t have time to dwell on it. I’d been tracking a man I thought might’ve killed Julia by then, so I mourned for Rob later.” She sighed. “As it turns out, I killed the wrong person.”
He didn’t know what to say to that, so they stood watching the training in silence.
“You have them training with spears instead of swords,” she said.
He hesitated, not sure he should tell her about what they suspected was coming, but he couldn’t see the harm.
“Cyra saw a vision of an army of symbionts. The men do train with shortswords as well, but we felt it was important for them to learn to fight with spears since it will give them a longer reach. They need to be able to stay away from the symbionts’ claws as long as possible.”
Samhail looked at her and found she was staring at him again.
“An army of symbionts?” she asked in horror, and he nodded.
Talyn shook her head in disbelief and looked back at the men.
“They’re not nearly ready to face an army of those things,” she said.
“Maybe you can help me train them until Bressen returns,” Samhail suggested. “I’m sure they’d benefit from working with you.”
“You keep trying to turn me into a trainer,” she said with a smile. “In my experience, though, men aren’t typically receptive to letting a woman tell them how to fight.”
“These men will be when I get done with them,” he said.
She side-eyed him. “You think threats will make a difference?”
Samhail paused, then grinned. “No, they need to see you in action.”
She raised a brow, but Samhail put his fingers to his lips and made a loud, high-pitched whistle that echoed around the yard. Instantly all the fighting stopped as the men gave him their attention.
“What are you doing?” Talyn asked under her breath.
“Good work, men,” Samhail said, stepping forward. “You’ve all been training hard, and I’d like to see what you’ve learned by putting you up against one of the best fighters I’ve ever had the misfortune to face.”
He gestured to Talyn, and her eyes went wide.
It didn’t surprise Samhail to hear soft laughter ripple over the field from the men, but it did annoy him. This is exactly why he had to do this.
“This is Talyn of Avril,” he went on. “She’s nearly killed me at least twice, and she’s agreed to work with you for the next few weeks.”
Talyn made a noise of protest, but it was lost as half the men laughed harder while the other half looked between each other, no longer sure if Samhail was joking or not. In their defense, had Talyn been a man, they still might not have believed she’d almost killed him.
Samhail put a hand on Talyn’s back and pressed her forward so she was in front of him. Then he stepped away.
“A gold piece to the first man who can land a hit on her,” he said.
A murmur went up from the men as Talyn snapped around to look at him incredulously.
“What?” she cried.
Samhail only addressed the men again.