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“What?!” I yelped, startled. It felt closer to thirty minutes. “I guess time flies when someone is beating the shit out of you.”
A few chuckles escaped Asher. “You say the oddest things. Come on, let’s go have breakfast.”
“How does he move like that?” I asked, glancing towards the path Kingston had taken. “He just blurs before my eyes and I can’t learn like that. I need step-by-step directions.”
I wasn’t even kidding. I couldn’t decide if he was truly trying to help me or trying to kill me. One thing was for certain, he was a hell of a fighter, and I had far more respect for him now than when we began. It wasn’t hard to see why he was the leader of the warriors.
“Does he move like this?” Asher asked, and I barely had the chance to face him before he spun just as Kingston had, and the handle of his spear pressed against my neck.
“Yeah,” I croaked from the pressure of the wood against my Adam’s apple, coughing. “Like that.”
Chuckling, he pulled away, retracting the spear and hooking it to his belt again. “The thing about fighting, is that you need to fuel your attack with the least number of movements possible. That way, you take all of the effort out of just moving, and infuse it into actually striking your opponent.”
“What does that mean?”
“Well, normally people fight like this,” he began, reaching with his right hand to grip the weapon on his left hip. “One. Arm yourself.” He counted each movement, doing them in slow motion. “Two. Ready the weapon.” His arm thrust the spear downwards, extending it. “Three. Aim.” His arm lifted, pointing the spear. “Four. Focus your attack.” Jumping closer, he cancelled the distance to me. “Five. Strike.” He swung the weapon, stopping it mere inches from my neck.
“Wow. Five steps in one strike?”
He nodded. “Any skilled warrior will follow those steps, whether they have a spear or a sword. Not us. Watch closely.”
Walking backwards, he hooked his weapon in the holster clip and faced me. I didn’t realize until that moment that all of them wore it on the opposite side from their dominant hand. Wasn’t that counterproductive?
Asher reached for the spear, and as his upper torso untwisted from that movement, his arm lowered, extending the weapon to its full length. The movement transitioned into a spin when he jumped, using the same motion to create the momentum he needed until he landed in front of me, swinging the spear with the natural turn of his body and tapping the side of my neck.
Thank God he was doing it in slow motion with the wooden part, because at full force, that hit could have broken my neck.
“Two,” I gasped, amazed at their true skill. “That was basically two actions. Number one, the grabbing of your weapon. And two, jumping. Everything else happened in between with the natural spin of your body.” Like holy hell.
“You pay attention. Good.” He grinned, retracting the blade and returning it to the holster. “While our enemy is still aiming, we have already landed the killing blow. Now, at full speed.”
Before I could track his actions, he was already jumping, whirling so quickly he blurred before my eyes. His blade halted an inch from my jugular when he landed. His hand didn’t wobble. The grip didn’t falter. He just stopped, in full control of his body.
Damn.
“Teach me, oh, master.”
Asher laughed, stepping away. “Youwilllearn that, but not from me. And never call Kingston,master. He is the chief.” The warning caused his humor to fade.
“Why?” I asked, suddenly intrigued, and he glanced at me, confused.
“Because that is what he was forced to call his enslaver,” Asher answered as though I should have known that.
My blood ran cold as more of the picture formed in my mind, and I glanced around us, seeing everything with fresh eyes. The way they spoke before had kind of hinted at a past of oppression, but now it was clear. These people had all been slaves, and Evie was protecting them. Fighting for them. Yet, there was so much I didn’t understand, so many facts I was missing.
Was she the one to free them? Her family?
How were thousands of people freed, and how did they have a monarchy?
My heart ripped at the thought of a world where people were still forced into slavery. I didn’t need to ask how that happened. Regardless of what the full story was, the Warlock King was the answer.
“I’m sorry,” I offered, truly heartbroken, and I wasn’t sure why the thought affected me so deeply. “For a moment, I—”
“Forgot…” Asher finished, receiving a nod from me. “It’s happened to all of us. Sometimes it’s easy to lose yourself in the middle of this.” He gestured to the safe haven they had been able to create. “But we must never forget that there are brothers and sisters still trapped in the Hollow. We need to train, grow our forces, so that one day we can get them all back.”
Goosebumps rushed over my skin with both the ache in his voice and the determination engulfing them. “We will,” I vowed. I didn’t know how, but I would find a way to help them.
The ground suddenly trembled under our feet, and we turned to find the kids landing behind us. Draco whined, inching closer to me until his head was within my reach. With one look into his eyes, I realized that he had felt the pain tearing my heart for the people of this realm. There were so many things I didn’t know about this world, like how Dragons could feel our emotions, but in that moment, I was glad they did. With time, I would find out the rest.
