34. Sage

CHAPTER 34

Sage

The archery test finished with three of the fae, Mikel, and Ambrose hitting the mark in the center in a fraction of the time I'd taken, then we were all ushered away from the archery range to a flat area that had a large circle carved into the rocky ground. Beside the circle someone had laid out a variety of practice weapons from short swords, long daggers, large two-handed swords, and even a couple of battleaxes.

Lord Quill called the name of one of the humans who'd done poorly on the archery test. He'd also been in the group that had finished the running trail after me but hadn't been the man who'd arrived last. He was told to select a practice weapon and step into the ring.

Lord Rider stepped in to fight him and the man, a skinny man who's breathing had sounded a little like Sawyer's when he'd staggered off the running trail, froze. His eyes widened and his blade, a thin longsword that was actually a good fit for his size and strength, started to tremble.

"No head, no hands, first one to three touches," Lord Quill said.

"Begin," Talon called out, and the skinny novice jumped as if he'd been bitten.

Lord Rider slowly moved to the right, studying his opponent, but it was clear the novice had no combat training at all. He didn't move with Lord Rider to keep his weapon between them, only followed the large fae with his eyes, and his stance was all wrong, his feet too close together. A moderately strong push and he'd lose his balance.

Lord Rider stepped in and did a slow, tentative tap to the man's shoulder, surprising me. I would have thought he'd have done a full aggressive attack on everyone. He could easily overpower most of the novices here, certainly all of the humans, but then that wouldn't give him a good assessment of this novice's skills. And if I really thought about it, he'd been kind and gentle with me in the garden, which made me wonder if his gruff, angry demeanor was an act or not.

The skinny novice jerked away from Lord Rider's attack, not even trying to get his blade up to block, tripped, and landed on his butt, making a few of the fae and the experienced humans chuckle.

"I've seen enough," Lord Rider said as he stepped away from his opponent. "Next."

The next few novices, all humans, varied between weak and highly skilled, and after the first few, I realized, Lord Quill was mixing up the skill levels, so Lord Rider wasn't fighting too many highly skilled fighters in a row.

With the humans who clearly had no experience, Lord Rider always started with the tentative swing to the shoulder — switching it up between left and right. For those who demonstrated more experience in how they stood, held their weapons, and moved those initial few steps, his attacks were faster and more varied.

I watched how he moved, trying to determine any weakness, but as expected, he was never off balance and his guard was always there to block. He'd even been able to block when Durand jabbed in then twisted his wrist and slid the tip of his blade over Lord Rider's toward his chest in a move that wasn't easy to do with a heavy longsword. The move had made Lord Rider's eyes widen with a hint of surprise and then crinkle at the corners with pleasure for a second before his stoic, gruff expression returned.

Then Lord Quill called the first fae novice. The man was just as big and bulky as Lord Rider and moved with the same dangerous grace.

They slowly circled in an attempt to gage each other's skill level then the novice lunged in, the movement fast and fluid. Lord Rider blocked, and they exchanged a flurry of powerful blows and blocks, demonstrating just how much Lord Rider had been holding back with the humans, even Durand.

I'd never seen anything like it. They were both so powerful and fast. None of the men at Herstind had been able to fight like that, not even Pylos or Edred, and for a moment I couldn't understand why the fae bothered to work with us humans at all. But then if they didn't, defending the Gray would fall entirely on them and, because the Black Guard was half human half fae, it was clear they didn't want that.

Still, how many fae guardsmen looked down on us weaker humans? I hadn't noticed that kind of divide during the morning or midday meal, but then I'd only really noticed the looks everyone had been giving me.

But then Mikel's name was called, and he gave a showing almost as good as the fae novice with powerful strikes and quick movements. He even managed to get two points on Lord Rider before the Lord Commander had gotten his three points and won the fight.

The assessment went on like that, good then bad, moderately skilled then fae.

One of the younger, inexperienced novices mumbled about all the fae being so good and another replied, "They chose serving the Black Guard, so they know they're going to need to know how to fight and prepare for it."

"They volunteer?" another novice asked.

"We humans should do that as well," Mikel said as the novice in the ring tripped over his own feet and fell. "It's stupid to just send anyone."

"Embarrassing too," Durand added. "The fae must think we're useless sending men who don't know how to hold a sword and runts who are stupid."

"Next," Lord Rider growled as the novice he'd just defeated picked himself and his sword off the ground and hurried out of the ring.

"Ambrose," Lord Quill called out and Ambrose hopped up from his seat on the ground, grabbed a practice sword and stepped into the ring.

Like all the other fights, Lord Rider started circling him, judging his hold on his weapon and his movement before lunging in with an attack.

Ambrose parried and countered, and it was clear that just like Mikel and Durand that Ambrose hadn't lied about his past experience. He wasn't on the same level as the fae or Mikel, but he was still good. He wouldn't have been pinned to the ground by a shadow monster. His first swings would have struck true not just cut off spikes. Of course, he wouldn't have been stupid enough to use the fae ring after dark.

He got a point on Lord Rider before their fight was done and stepped out of the ring with a smug grin that Mikel, Duran, and the other experienced humans returned.

Then my name was called, and Lord Rider slid his dark, verging-on-angry glare at me.

My heart leaped into my throat, and I headed to the collection of practice weapons and took the time to choose the lightest of the shorter swords, making the other whisper and laugh at the attention I was paying to the weapons. But my arms and chest still hurt, and they were only going to get worse, which meant if I didn't want to embarrass myself by not being able to hold up my weapon for the entire fight, I needed the lightest weapon possible.

Lord Rider's eyes narrowed as I stepped into the ring and took a fighting stance, his expression reminding me of the look Edred had given me when I'd blocked his strike at Sawyer, making my pulse pound harder.

The Lord Commander had held back with the other humans, but would he hold back with me? Did he feel the same way the others did about my mistake last night and was he going to take this opportunity to give me a lesson like Edred used to?

If I was smart, I'd take the beating and let him vent his frustration like I'd done with Edred. Except with Edred, I hadn't been able to fight back. I'd had to pretend I didn't know how to fight to avoid a worse punishment.

But here, I could actually fight. I didn't have a hope of winning, but maybe I could get in a touch before Lord Rider beat me down.

The thought sent a thrill of excitement rushing through me. I could fight. I could actually fight and not worry about the repercussions. I could test my skill, learn more, learn enough that if I survived this mess and didn't end up in prison for the rest of my life, I might actually be able to become a legendary swordmaiden.

Lord Rider started circling and I followed, keeping my weapon between us and my stance balanced, my body thrumming with sudden exhilaration.

One good touch. That was my goal.

Except from the look in his eyes, I doubted Lord Rider was going to treat me like the other inexperienced novices so I couldn't expect a tentative swing at my shoulder — which would have been the ideal moment to get my touch since he wouldn't know how fast or skilled I was and I'd be able to catch him off guard. That meant I was going to have to look for another opening and the sooner the better since as soon as Lord Rider got into the fight, I'd be beaten down and that would be the end of it.

His front foot shifted, announcing his swing a fraction of a second before his sword swept out to my right shoulder. The swing was painfully slow, shocking me, and added to that rush of excitement. I didn't know why he'd decided I didn't know how to fight at all when I'd said I had some experience, but it meant I actually had a chance of scoring a point. I had to seize the opportunity. If he was going to give me the opening, I'd take it.

I ducked under his blade and sliced at his chest in one quick fluid motion like the previous armsmaster had taught me. But Lord Rider snapped his blade down, blocking my strike, and I realized it was a trap to lull me into a sense of false confidence.

The hard impact of our blades connecting threatened my grip, and I twisted out of the way of his counter jab, knowing if I made contact with his blade again so soon, I'd lose my grip on my weapon. But Lord Rider didn't give me time to catch my breath and regroup like he had with the other humans. He pressed his attack, forcing me to scramble back to get out of the way of his flurry of strokes.

"Almost at the edge," Talon called out, and even though it hadn't been said, I knew I'd lose the fight if I left the ring.

Lord Rider swung at my shoulder with a force that would probably break bone if it made contact and certainly tear my blade from my grip if I blocked. I dove under the strike, rolling back toward the center of the ring then twisted back to him and lunged. It was a reckless move but if I didn't at least try to fight back he'd have me running around the ring until I was out of breath. And damn it! I was going to score my point.

He blocked my lunge, countered with another hard swing to my shoulder and I bolted behind him, somehow managing — by a miracle no doubt — to slide the tip of my blade against his hip before he jerked out of the way and almost batted my blade out of my hands.

"Touch, Sawyer," Talon called out as I rushed out of Lord Rider's reach and turned back to face him.

My chest and arms and hell, my whole body, throbbed with the exertion of the last two days and I fought to get my breathing under control, while Lord Rider, even after having fought all but a few of the novices already, didn't even look winded.

Behind him, the other novices stared at me, shocked, and I realized that I, the runt — a girl — had actually managed to score a touch on the Lord Commander of the Black Guard.

The thought sent a swell of pride and rush of excitement surging through me until I realized scoring a point on Lord Rider didn't make sense because he was so much better and faster and stronger than me.

He'd let me get the touch in, which confused me even more and that joy turned sour. I wanted to earn that touch fair and square. I didn't want him taking pity on me because I was small. Except if he was taking pity on me, why was he coming after me like he wanted to punish me?

Lord Rider snarled and came at me again with another flurry of strikes. I leaped back, trying to keep the distance between us, but he moved faster, stepped into range and gave me no time to duck or dive out of the way. His heavy sword swept down toward my head even though that was an illegal strike, and I heaved my blade up to block the strike, squeezing the grip in both hands to hold onto my weapon.

But the impact twisted me to the side and tore the sword from my hands, sending the weapon clattering over the rocky ground.

Lord Rider lunged and snapped the edge of his practice weapon against my side. The hit was firm, but not hard. He'd pulled his stroke at the last second, but the edge hit my massive, still-fresh bruise from yesterday's beating and shot agony through my chest.

I clenched my jaw against my scream of pain but couldn't stop myself from falling to my knees and clutching my side. Tears pricked my eyes and I fought to hold them back. I was not going to give them the satisfaction of seeing me cry, no matter how much that had hurt.

"Jeez, can't even take a hit," Mikel sneered.

"Next," Lord Rider barked, making my cheeks heat in shame. He wasn't even going to bother fighting me to three touches. One touch and I was out like the novices who didn't know how to fight.

But I did know how to fight and I wanted to keep going. Needed to. I needed to score my point fair and square. It didn't matter that my body throbbed in agony and that I didn't stand a chance against Lord Rider. I was going to score a damned touch.

Except that wasn't the point of why I was here.

Why did I have to keep reminding myself of that?

Bide my time until Sawyer was safe. They were going to find out eventually I was a girl. Being obstinate and demanding Lord Rider wear me down and beat me up wasn't the way to blend in with the other novices.

"Come on, move it," Rider growled at me, making me flinch with the memory of Edred's beatings. "I want this done before the seventh bell rings."

"Yes—" I bit the inside of my cheek, stopping my lord from coming out, grabbed my practice weapon, and scrambled out of the ring.