“I don’t want to hurt you,” he said. He turned and began to walk away, when a snort as loud as an avalanche issued from Tomaz. The big man was openly smirking at him.
“How’s the arm?” the Prince said angrily. “You have any feeling back yet?”
“What’s the matter?” Leah asked. “Scared of a girl?”
“Girl? I don’t see any girls here, just you.”
There was a collective “ooo” from the gathered fighters around the ring, and several laughs. Leah rolled her eyes and made a rude gesture to them that made them laugh harder. She was smiling when she turned to face him again.
A thrill went through the Prince. She was excited. She wanted to fight him.
The Prince didn’t remember raising his sword, but suddenly he was holding it ready in both hands. Leah’s eyes flashed, and her sauntering step faltered. She was watching him carefully now. Her look of interest had not faded.
She drew both of her daggers, which gleamed cruelly in the bright light of the training arena skylight. She casually slipped two small blade guards into place.
“You really think you’re ready?” she asked. “Should I take it slowly for you?”
Another round of jeers came from the group around the ring, but the Prince ignored it.
“Call it, Tomaz,” he said.
“Go!” Tomaz cried immediately.
The Prince launched himself across the floor, sword flashing. She met him halfway, and in a slightly muffled ring of metal, daggers met sword.
They separated and circled each other, both moving to their right. The Prince no longer felt the icy coldness he’d felt with Tomaz. Leah always managed to provoke him, no matter what he did. Well, this would shut her up, once and for all.
He rushed forward, sword flashing from side to side, the weight of the valerium blade perfect for his fighting style. The girl dodged away, daggers flashing.
He spun to follow her, and this time managed to force her to engage. He swung for her head, a brutal blow that would have decapitated her in actual battle; but she ducked, and the sword sailed over her head. She stepped forward and thrust her daggers at his stomach and chest.
Using his momentum, he twisted away, and the daggers passed within inches of striking him.
The crowd gave out a yell, half cheers and half disappointed groans. The Prince tuned them out and retreated back across the arena, studying the girl. She shifted so that she was holding both daggers down by her sides, and eyed him too.
She was too fast for him, he knew that. He wouldn’t be able to beat her the way he’d beaten Tomaz. What she lacked was his reach and the weight of his blade.
He shifted into the Warrior sword style, blade held high, directly over his head, and stepped into the center of the practice arena, watching her circle.
She feinted left, then charged him, but before she could close the distance, he brought the sword down, and she only barely dodged to the side. But then she was in his face, and all thought of tactics disappeared as he simply strove to meet her twin daggers with his sword.
He didn’t know for how long they fought; it seemed like a moment somehow suspended in time. Their bodies spun and their weapons clashed, striking out again and again, neither able to land a blow. They were both panting now,gasping heavily, but still moving, unable to stop, caught up in the deadly dance, pushing each other and being pushed in return.
And then out of the corner of the Prince’s eye, he saw Lorna and Davydd come up next to Tomaz, and a thought passed through his mind.
It hit him like a lightning bolt, and suddenly everything was clear to him. He knew what the Prince of Oxen was doing, and he knew how he was getting so close to Vale. In his shock, he fumbled a simple parry and found Leah, breathing in gasping pants, with her dagger at his throat, her face an inch away from his.
There was a loud burst of sound, and the large crowd of gathered soldiers cheered Leah’s win. A number of Rogue and Ranger pairs swarmed the arena. One stopped to grasp the Prince’s hand; something was said to him, but he didn’t hear it. He was looking from Davydd to Lorna to Tomaz to Leah, back again to Davydd.
A tracking spell.
It was a Bloodmage trick, weaved into the making of Daemons. It was rare because it was only activated upon the Daemon’s destruction… and it required the sacrificial death of a Bloodmage to create the bond. But Bloodmages who had been moving through the mountain ranges of Roarke must have known that there was a way for Exiles to destroy Daemons. And if the Prince knew his brother Ramael, he didn’t doubt that the Prince of Oxen had forced a Bloodmage to submit to the torturous sacrifice on the off chance the Daemon would be fought and destroyed. If the group that the spell latched onto remained in close proximity, then the spell would allow the Bloodmages to track them from one edge of the world to the other… or through centuries-old enchantments, leading an invading army and a Prince of the Realm straight toward the city of Vale.
At that instant the crowd parted and there was Leah, beaming at the praise from those around her. She lifted her head, and their eyes met, and the Princerealized just how stunning she was when she smiled. It was as if the hard stony exterior she so often assumed was pulled away, leaving behind just a girl.
A rebel,said a voice in the back of his head.
And the Prince of Oxen was coming to kill her.
