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“Well, you see, those of us with arm shields aresky riders, which means we get to fly mighty Dragons. The ones without it areland riders. You know, they have horses, and other tiny animals. The easy stuff.” She waved dismissively, saying the words loud enough to reach the warrior teaching the group next to us.
“I heard that!” the man yelled, wearing only the gauntlet.
“Thank the Gods, because I meant you to!” she answered, throwing her hands in the air dramatically, then laughed when he narrowed his eyes at her, though humor colored his features. “I’m just kidding!” she added, batting her eyelashes at him with that sweetheart smile. When she looked at us again, she slightly shook her head. “I’m really not.Sky ridersare the shah,” she whispered.
“I heard that too!” They both laughed, showing the true comradery between them.
“I want to be a Dragon rider,” I blurted out, excitement getting the best of me as I remembered my experience last night. I was still shaken from it, in the best possible way. All I wanted was to be in the sky again with Vyper.
“Whoa, hold on there.” Harper’s eyes widened. “That is great to hear, and we will be glad to welcome you into the sky legion once the time comes. But first, you have to learn how to ride a Dragon. And before you can get to that, you need to be able to wield a spear and fight like one of us, which won’t occur until you can show me how strong you are.” Her right hand lifted before me. “Since you are so eager to get there, why don’t you punch my palm with every ounce of strength you have.”
My eyebrows wrinkled, looking at her then her hand. I didn’t like that at all. Hitting a woman in any way went against everything I had been taught. “I don’t want to hurt you,” I mumbled uncomfortably, and her bright smile returned.
“You won’t, I promise. I am far stronger than I look, but also…” She patted the guard on her shoulder, reminding me that the magic rushing through it would strengthen her arm and soften the blow.
Sighing, I lifted my fists like I was going to box, and took a deep breath, throwing the first hit. She didn’t even blink.
“I meant, hit me with everything you have.” The redhead gave me a pointed look.
“Okay.” I sighed, forcing my hand to comply so I could prove myself to them. Letting out a settling breath, I struck with my right hook, using all the strength I could muster—not that it was much, considering only two days ago I was half-dying in San Francisco.
My fist crashed against her palm, and the force visibly rippled along her arm, shaking the armor, and pushing Harper back several feet until she fell on her ass.
“Holy hell!” I breathed, horrified, and rushed to help her. “I’m sorry. I am so sorry.”
Harper blinked; disbelief clear in her features as her gaze bounced from me to her palm. Turning her fingers, she gasped, swiftly removing the guard that covered the back of her hand like it was a dead animal. My eyes went to the metal plaque where it fell. It was wrinkled, almost looking like a paper fan.
“Asher!” she yelled, wide eyed, and my blood became frigid cold.
How the fuck had I done that?
“Punch my palm,” the warrior she had joked around with ordered, and I shook my head. “Come on. I need to see if you can do it again.”
My eyes moved to the front, seeing Asher march towards us with Harper’s urgent call. The last thing I needed was to get in trouble because of a freak accident. Reluctantly, I squared off to him too, gathering all my strength, and struck.
Just like Harper, the guy was sent backwards from the impact, his back slamming against the cold ground. The shield on his hand folded crookedly, absorbing the brunt of the force. Gasps and murmurs surrounded us, and I glanced back to see Edward, Charlotte, and many more flabbergasted at what they had seen.
The other trainees came to watch us too.
“What the—”
Asher’s words halted when he took in the scene, and I turned to find him next to Harper and the other man, who now stood, showing him the damaged hand guards. Rolling his shoulders, Asher walked to me and squared off, rooting his body to the ground in a way that said a freaking train wouldn’t move him from there.
“Try again,” he ordered, his features becoming stern as he focused on using all of his core strength to anchor himself. “I want to see how strong you really are.”
“This is a bad idea…” I mumbled, bringing a smirk out of him.
“But those are the best kind. Hit me.”
The people behind me chuckled, although they did take an extra couple of steps back just in case.
Sighing, I lifted my fists again, concentrating on the strength I had channelled, even when I had no idea where it was originating. Boom. Asher staggered back, crashing against Harper and the other guy, though he did not fall.
“How…?” he began to ask, but even he was left speechless.
My head shook, baffled, just as something sliced through the air toward me.
“Catch!” Kingston roared from across the grounds, at the same time that a real blade spear flew towards me. He seemed pissed as he approached.
