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Liliana blocked his arm with hers, set her foot behind his ankle, and shoved.
The red wolf landed on his butt in the grass and leaves next to the goblin. Her arm blade was at his throat before he could even begin to fight.
His bright blue eyes widened nearly as much as they had in her vision of his death. “Lilly! Where the hell did you come from?”
Liliana felt an odd sort of thrill in her belly that the red wolf showed only surprise, no sign of fear, even though her blade was at his throat. He really did trust her. Was it a good thing or a bad thing that the Celtic wolf-kin no longer feared her in the least? She really wasn’t sure. But it wouldn’t help him survive. Pete needed a little fear.
He tried to get up, but she added a knee to his belly to shove him down on his back and cause him discomfort. “Hit the fruit now.”
He blinked at her in confusion for a moment, then his eyes flickered to the swinging target.
She nodded.
Pete hurled the knife awkwardly, at an uncomfortable angle. He missed. The heavy blanket backdrop kept the knife from getting lost on the forest floor.
“This isn’t exactly an ideal throwing position,” Pete said.
“When enemies come for you, any position you can hit them from is ideal.”
From the tree above them, a small choking sound became increasingly louder. At that moment, Siobhan erupted in full-fledged guffaws. She pointed at them and squealed with laughter. She laughed so hard tears ran down her cheeks, and Liliana worried she might fall out of the tree.
Liliana sighed and flicked her wrist to sheath her arm blade back in the natural pocket in her forearm. “You are not helping,” she told the little sprite. “Pete and Doctor Nudd must take training more seriously.”
Siobhan choked out, “Your faces!” before dissolving in giggles again.
The spider-kin turned back to Pete. “You must practice throwing from your back, while running, while falling, while off balance, while surprised. Your enemies will not wait while you take careful aim.”
She extended her hand to the wolf. Pete took it, and she helped him to his feet.
Doctor Nudd got to his feet on his own and brushed leaves off his thick sweater.
“Why are you here, Lilly?” Pete asked.
“I will train you.”
“Pardon me, madam.” Doctor Nudd said, “I am training this young wolf.” The tall goblin glared down at her small, slender form, probably intending to be intimidating. The goblin undoubtedly felt she was impinging on his territory. That, she understood. Lion-kin like her father and brothers tended to react the same.
In a single motion, Liliana stepped forward diagonally past the goblin’s position, placed her hip behind his thigh, and pushed with her arm across his chest, the main force on the opposite shoulder. He flipped over her hip and landed on his back in the grass again. Tall men were much easier to throw than short men or women, because of the higher center of balance.
Doctor Nudd snarled and shifted to his Fae form so that the teeth he showed her were yellow and pointed. His skin hardened and roughened like the bark of the trees around them. His lanky body filled out with lumpy muscles the density of oak hardwood and added a foot to his already impressive height. He leapt to his feet far faster than seemed possible based on the wrinkles around his eyes.
Liliana snapped her arm blades out. Each blade was a foot of curved, slender stone-hard bone that angled outward from her wrists in a position useful for both defense and offense, with an outer edge sharp enough to part falling silk.
The oak goblin swallowed. He brought his legs together and twisted his hips away from her instinctively. Then he put his hands up and shifted back to smoother human skin. “Perhaps we could simply discuss this.”
“No talking. Defend yourself.” Liliana slashed at him, deliberately missing.
Doctor Nudd flinched, arms up defensively. “I was under the impression that we had come to an accommodation of sorts, that we might even be considered friends.”
She slashed at him again. “You must learn to fight properly so you will not die.”
Doctor Nudd looked up at Siobhan, who had stopped laughing. “A little help, perhaps?”
The sprite shrugged. She waved her reassembled pistol. “What do you want me to do, shoot her?”
“Whoa, whoa, no one is shooting anyone here,” Pete said. “Lilly, what the hell are you doing?”
Liliana slashed at Doctor Nudd again. “Stop me, Celtic wolf. I could kill your friend.”
