Chapter 10 #3
I’m nearly speechless. Nearly. But now that I know I have a sort of link to Allen, and having seen how useful my powers were in that cave, I’m increasingly sure that I didn’t land on Team Gold by accident.
And I’d give anything to be able to finally say that I’m good at something. Which Mace just did.
‘That’s one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me,’ I say.
‘Yup. That’s high praise, coming from Mace,’ Allen says.
‘I’m not looking for his approval,’ I bristle. I’m such a liar.
‘In any case,’ Mace barrels through, ‘I suggest we test a few things out.’
‘Allen already did,’ I say.
‘No,’ Mace says. ‘No machines, ARTs or useless charts. We’ll test this the old-fashioned way.’
‘What do you mean?’
Mace stretches out his hand. ‘I’ll look at those protocols that Allen downloaded. But until then, I have a few ideas where we can start. Will you train with me tonight?’
Mace drags me to a clearing, not far from the camp, and even if it’s late and it’s a bit cold outside, I have to admit that I’m pretty floored by this thoughtful side of Mace.
I mean, of course, it’s in his best interest for me to pull my own weight during this mission, but my heart can’t help itself and does a stupid flip in my chest because Mace is offering to help me with training my powers.
‘How are we going to do this?’ I ask when Mace stops in the middle of the clearing.
‘Just raise your shield.’ He stands a few feet away from me and easily conjures a sword with his own magic.
I’m thoroughly distracted by loud munching sounds.
Further to our left side, Julian is leaning against a tree, his ankles crossed, and he’s tearing into an apple. ‘Just thought I’d come and watch the show,’ he says, and I roll my eyes.
‘Whatever.’
Xandra is still on watch and Allen stayed back at the tent because he probably understood that I don’t want more witnesses if I’m about to make a complete fool of myself, but this level of emotional sophistication is way beyond Julian.
So I decide to just get on with it and raise my shield the way I usually do, and before I can even wonder about what will happen, Mace has already struck.
His sword doesn’t glide off my dome, like it does with the fighting holograms that Stella conjures, but embeds itself into my shield.
The point of contact glows a pale lilac, rippling outwards in waves of colour.
I feel a disturbance in the force-field that I’m holding up, like a dull shove.
Mace widens his stance, the muscles in his arms tightening, the cords in his neck taut from the effort.
‘Are you stuck? Should I get the shield down?’ I offer.
‘No,’ Mace says through gritted teeth. ‘I’m trying to figure out what this feels like. The points where my sword touches your shield. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever felt. And I’m trying to see if I can pierce through.’
He bends forward, applying more strength, and I feel that shove at the core of my power.
‘Can you send more magic into your shield?’ he asks, and I do as he says.
His sword also becomes brighter, and the glow where the blade touches the shield becomes almost too luminous to watch.
The waves of power ripple harder into the dome and it’s as if he’s shoving power not exactly against me, but also not alongside me.
I can feel the steady stream of it, the push and the pull, making my very bones vibrate and my teeth clatter in my mouth.
The surge of power between us rises and rises, and his powerful arms tremble, as do my own, and the brightness explodes in glittering sparks that fly through the clearing.
‘Drop it, Ellie, drop it,’ Mace shouts, and the moment I do so, he makes his sword vanish, too, stumbling half a step forward.
We’re both breathing hard, watching each other in shock. A single bead of sweat trickles down along Mace’s temple and his skin glows from the exertion. Or are those the remnants of our magic?
‘What was that?’ I ask. ‘What happened? Does this happen every time you cross swords with other Warriors?’
Mace shakes his head slowly. ‘Your power, Ellie. It’s like nothing I’ve felt before.
When we started feeding more magic to it, it was like – I don’t know – like I couldn’t wrench my sword back either, like that point of contact was growing into something different that felt neither like your magic, nor mine. I’m not sure I can explain it.’
There’s something like wonder in his eyes and by Mars, I want to hold on to that so badly. But of course, Julian ruins it. He steps forward, discarding his apple core into the underbrush. ‘Let me try, too.’
Mace narrows his eyes at him, but Julian is oblivious, or pretends to be, when he conjures his sword. ‘Why should you have all the fun?’ he says.
‘Whatever,’ I say – my default response when it comes to Julian.
I raise my shield and he slashes at it with a grin, only to be thrown back a dozen feet, directly into a tree, the moment that his sword touches my dome. He howls in pain and narrowly misses impaling himself on his own sword before he makes it vanish.
‘Shit,’ I say, dropping my shield and running towards him. Mace is already there, a hand outstretched to help him get up.
‘Are you okay?’
‘What the fuck was that?’ Julian says, rubbing the back of his head.
‘That was what you get for being an idiot,’ Mace says. ‘Why weren’t you more careful? Why did you have to swing so hard? What if your sword had gone through her shield, and you’d hurt her?’ Mace claps him hard over the ear and Julian winces.
‘What the fuck? You just rattled my brain,’ he whines. ‘Again.’
‘What brain?’ Mace mutters.
‘Do I need to get the healing device?’ I say.
Julian rises slowly to his feet, as if testing that they’ll hold him up. ‘No, but if you’re bent on giving me a thorough physical examination, I won’t say no to that.’
Mace claps him over the ears again. ‘Stop flirting with her.’
Julian yelps again. ‘You stop doing that. And why should I?’
‘Because she doesn’t like it,’ I reply.
‘Because she’s Allen’s,’ Mace says at the same time.
I snort. ‘You and your stupid ideas. I am not. Get that into your thick head.’ I stomp back to my position. ‘He’s my friend. That’s all there is to it.’
Mace huffs.
I turn on him, completely pissed off. There’s nothing I can say, apparently, that would dissuade Mace from the idea that I’m building a Pairing Link with Allen. So I do what I always do – get over it – and focus on the training.
I raise my shield. ‘Now. Should we give it another go?’