“Honestly.I’msurprised he bought it.Musthave been because he doesn’t know me.Anyonewho did would have seen right through it.”
Iwaited forAvlynto laugh again, but instead, they just flattened their lips together.Theyrose and made for my door beforeIcould inquire.
“Youdid well today.I’llsee you in the morning for training.Beready.”
Ipulled off my formal attire andwas about to crawl into bed when something nagging sent me to mywashroom.Inside,Ifound that this room didn’t have a bathtub.Instead,Ifound a peculiar waterfall that emerged from the wall and would turn on and off with a valve.Thatdomineering asshole.
Chapter18
Tori
Thenext morning,Iawoke with a twist in my stomach that for once wasn’t helplessness, but anticipation.Ipulled my leather leggings and loose tunic on, but beforeIcould get out the door,Avlynhad arrived.Theyled me through the castle and, as always,Itried to memorize all the pathsIcould.ButAvlynled me deep into the castle, and without windowsIeventually lost my bearings.Weeventually emerged on the beach from a door on the lower level.
Wewere in the small cove bordered by the high sea cliffs on both sides that jutted out into the water, the castle formed the third wall further back from the ocean.Thesand here was black, just asIhad seen from the ship, and the ocean wind whipped my hair about.Isaw a few different cohorts of soldiers already lined up on the beach, starting their morning exercises.Avlynjogged over to them, andIscrambled to keep pace.Theyreached into a training rack and threw me a practice longsword.Ithought about making a comment about no more wooden weapons, butIcould feel the wary eyes of the soldiers on me, andIjust kept my mouth shut for once.
Luckily,Avlynwas a strict commander, and soonIwas sweating and working so hardIcouldn’t think about my discomfort.Wetrained harder on the beach than we had on the ship.Evenwith the cold sea breeze,Iwas drenched in sweat by the time we reached the first water break.Itplayed out much like my first time training with them, but this timeIanticipatedKaleos, and dodged his back-breaking slap.
Helaughed, “Readyfor our duel, little lady?”Iheard a few murmurs from the soldiers around me.Mystomach dropped, ashamed to admitIwouldn’t be allowed to.
“Nota bad idea,Kaleos, a little friendly bludgeoning might beat some of the sass out of her.”Avlynsmirked at me.Wasthis real?WasIreally going to be allowed to duel?Iwas too giddy to think of anything to say. “Soldiers, clear the ring,”Avlynshouted.
Itturns outthe ringwas just whatever patch of sand the warriors decided to all stand around.Theywere apprehensive, and unnervingly quiet as they surroundedKaleosand me.ButIhad to focus on my opponent, not anyone else.Kaleoswas half-fae, but he had clearly inherited his size from his fae ancestor.Evencompared to me, he was tall and basically a wall of studded muscle.Hewould have almost every advantage over me because of his size, butIhad to assumeIwas faster.
Hepulled off his shirt, to a few hoots from the crowd.Iraised an eyebrow to him, “Tryingto distract me?”
Hegave me that broad smile, “I’lltake any advantageIcan get.”Heraised his sword asIdid the same.Wegently tapped the edges together and stepped back, and then the duel began.
Atfirst, we just circled each other, butKaleoswasn’t shy and took the first strike.Iparried, but it was sloppy.Ithad been weeks now sinceIhad actually dueled with another person, and it had probably been years sinceIhad done so with a longsword.Kaleosdidn’t miss that and sent a flurry of strikes my way.Iblocked a few and spun to dodge the rest.Thesand here might have tripped others up, butIhad trained on beaches my whole life.
Ilunged at him, but he easily parried, our blades clashing in the air.Butas my lungs worked and muscles strained, the energy of the fight hit me, andIused it.Istruck again and again.Kaleoscountered, butIkept my pace and saw him begin to falter.Iworked to exploit this and managed to get inside his defense.Istruck a small blow, but his long reach and my weakness with my heavier sword slowed me too much, and he landed a heavy strike on my leg.Myknee buckled, and he swung down from overhead.Ibarely managed to block the crushing blow, but as he held our swords together firmly,Ikicked my leg out and swept him off his feet, at least partially.Ourblades both fell as we stumbled to get up.
“Fullof surprises,Princess.”
Wecircled each other again, but this timeIcould hear the gathered crowd engaging, as cheers came from around us.Someof my tension melted away, andIlunged again.Weclashed in an exchange of blows, matching each other well, andIfelt the crowd swell.Aswe moved,Isaw it, after each third blow, he would swing a bit too far, leaving the smallest opening.Hecame at me andIparried his sword away, and slashed down through the tiny opening.Isnagged his waist, and even with the practice swords dulled,Iknew it was painful.
“Afatal hit, victory to the princess,”Avlynyelled.
Thecheers from the crowd were quite rowdy now, butIdropped my sword and placed my hand onKaleos’ arm.Hehad moved both his hands to cover whereIhad struck him, andIsaw a faint hint of blood.
“Turnsout both my pride and my body are getting hurt today,” he smiled at me, butIfelt terrible.
“Kaleos,I’msorry, it’s been a while sinceIdueled,Ishould have pulled the strike.”
“What, this?It’snothing.Besides, it looks like my plan worked.”Ilooked where his eyes were focused, andIsaw the soldiers around us jostling each other as they came close.Manyof them proceeded to slap me on my back the wayKaleoshad and congratulated me on my win.Thetension from before slipped away.Avlynworked to get everyone back into the ranks for more practice, andIgraspedKaleos’ forearm, helping him to stand.Despitehis injury, he moved fluidly, and it hit me.
“Youdid that on purpose.Youleft that opening for me.”
Helet out a small laugh, “Onlya well-trained fighter would have seen it, and besides,Ifigured you hadn’t dueled in a while, it would be good to get your confidence back up.”Hissmile was so genuine it hurt my heart, “Don’tworry,Iwon’t make that mistake again.”Hegot to his feet and moved to head over to the racks with medical supplies.
“Thankyou.”
Hemust not have expected that from me, but he smiled again, “Welcomeback,Princess.”
* * *
Kaleosmight have thrownour first fight, but he certainly kept his word not to do it again.Ispent my days training with the cohort, but nowIdueled regularly.Kaleoscertainly proved that he was a great fighter, beating me almost a dozen times beforeIwas able to best him again.Butslowly, more and more of the soldiers dueled against me.There, my performance was more even, winning and losing in equal measure.
Asthe days passed,Igot more comfortable with the long sword, andIsaw my skills improving and my losses became fewer.ButIalmost didn’t care about that, because most daysInow spent lunch dining with the soldiers in the barracks, andIfound that even more enjoyable than the fighting.Theyhad gotten comfortable with me again, and we would eat and drink cheap beer and tell rowdy stories late into the afternoon until they were often called away for various patrols.
