AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The Skaag laughed. “You gonna poke holes in me with your pretty sword, gargoyle?”
“I’ll skin you like the animal you are and wear your hide like a trophy if I ever see you near him again. If you everlookat him…”
“Hey, relax, stone man. We were just doing what you paid us to do.”
Sand scraped underfoot. The air sliced in two as another blade came free, followed by a dull, wet thud. A Skaag’s body crashed into the sand next to mine with a pained grunt.
“Leave it!” Nisang snarled. “Pull it out and he’ll bleed to death far faster than you can get him to a healer, which is exactly where you two should take him. Now!”
The Skaags sprang into a flurry of action, grabbing their fallen comrade and dragging him from the field, but not before hissing out a warning to Nisang. “You’ll regret this when Morlash hears, stone man. You wait!”
I listened to the sound of their footsteps retreating, every breath painful as I forced it through swollen nostrils. Blood coated my tongue. I carefully ran my tongue over my teeth, surprised to find they were all there.
“Gods, Nevahn,” Nisang whispered.
My aching fingers closed around the dagger I’d stolen from the Skaag I fell on early in the fight.
When Nisang dropped to his knees next to me, I brandished it and brought the sharpened tip of the blade against his throat. His eyes flared wide, and he froze as blue sparks raced down the blade, conjured from nothing.
“Your turn to learn a lesson,” I snarled through bloodstained teeth. “You’re not the first bully who wanted to take something from me. I might not have stone wings or shadow magic, but I do know how to take a beating and get back up.”
I lowered the blade. A line of crimson dripped from his throat.
I stood and spat blood before wiping more from my nose. Nisang remained where he was as I stomped away.
“Nevahn!”
I glared over my shoulder. “What?”
Nisang pushed to his feet. His brow creased with worry as he glanced at the dagger in my fist. “What were those sparks? Was that…magic?”
“I’m just a weak human, remember? I don’t have magic.”
I stormed away, headed for the command tent. Cian was over at the forge talking to Xeltec, so at least he wouldn’t see me with my face covered in blood and mud. Maybe, if I was lucky, Hellion would be taking a nap.
The main room of the command tent was empty. I went straight to the pitcher of water in the corner, poured some of it in the bowl, and splashed it on my face until the water was bright red with blood. Then I dumped it out and started again, cleaning the blood from my mouth and under my nose. At least the armor had done its job and protected me.
But what happened with the dagger?I eyed the weapon sitting on the stand next to the wash basin before looking down at my hand, opening and closing my fist. An overwhelming feeling had taken hold, the flash of flint against steel. Nisang’s betrayal had cut deep. I knew he didn’t like me, but for him to pay Morlash’s goons to beat me was a low blow.
“Goddex, Nevahn! What happened?” Hellion rushed over, pulling a white cloth out of nowhere to start mopping up the blood.
“Nothing,” I lied. “Just training with Nisang.”
They frowned. “Nisang did this? Tell me he looks worse.”
I winced. “I managed to win a single round, at least.”Even if I did have to use a dirty trick. Nisang was the one who’d been preaching all morning about the price of losing.
“You should be proud. Nisang is a capable warrior.”
I pushed their hands away. “He hates me.”
They sighed. “I wouldn’t say that. Nisang is just overprotective of Cian. You can’t blame him. He was raised to be that way.”
“Cian doesn’t need near as much protecting as everyone seems to think he does. He has magic and a big sword.” I trudged over to a nearby chair and sat with a wince. I wasn’t sure which part of me was more sore, my face or my ass.
“Magic and a big sword don’t solve everything.”
“They solve a lot,” I replied. My eyes fell on the dagger I’d left sitting by the wash basin. There wasn’t anything special about it. It was just a random dagger. Skaags weren’t important enough to be carrying around enchanted weapons.
