I wasn't interested if their name didn’t begin with an N and end in exi.
“Damien, could I speak to you for a minute?”
He nodded, “Give me a moment to get Chris started and I’ll be right with you.”
The guy, Chris, smirked at me and gave Damien his full attention. Damien finished up and motioned for me to follow him. He headed to the armory, stopping at the entrance to talk to the guard on duty, “We’re going to get him kitted out for his first battle.”
The guard nodded his head and resumed scanning the yard. I didn’t know what his ability was, but it must have been impressive to be put in charge of keeping these powerful Aurathions in line. I wondered if I could aggravate him enough to use it
“Snap out of it, boy, and quit wasting my time,” Damien grumbled, having called my name several times.
“Yes, Your Excellency,” I smirked and made a rude gesture behind Damien’s back.
The guard didn’t smile at all. He merely rolled his eyes at my behavior—tough crowd.
“What did you want to talk to me about?” Damien asked as he walked over to a row of long swords.
“I was wondering if you could help me with my bow skills. I assume you know I’ll be in the arena in a couple of days, and along-range weapon may be useful.” I hit him with my puppy-dog eyes.
He scratched his head and faked confusion, “Why not ask your partner? Taylor is excellent with that weapon, and I know she would be more than happy to help.” The asshole smirked. It was, apparently, obvious to everyone that she’d be overjoyed to help me.
Now it was my turn for an eye roll, “I don’t want to encourage her. We spend enough time together and she’s got her training to worry about.”
“Fine. But I’m only doing it because, for some reason, Hayes has taken a personal interest in you.” He turned and walked over to the wall, which displayed a selection of bows. Damien grabbed a black one with silver designs covering its surface and handed it to me.
“This one should be a good fit. Let’s head to the target area so I can critique your skills and see what we need to work on.”
We exited the building. I turned and flipped off the guard for absolutely no reason other than to provoke him into revealing his ability. He frowned and narrowed his eyes, but offered no other response. I knew I shouldn’t antagonize him, but I’d never been accused of making wise choices and my curiosity got the better of me.
I could hear Reverie: “Nathan, you good-looking god of a man, please don’t aggravate the puny guard. When he keels over in fear, you’ll feel terrible.”
“Leave Justice alone, he could kick your ass with one hand behind his back, and you damn sure don’t want him to use his ability.” Damien scolded, never even turning his head to look in my direction. Maybe one of his abilities was having eyes in the back of his head.
Taylor was already there, drawing her bow back, but she stopped when we approached. “Hey Nathan, I can help you if Damien has other things to do.”
You had to admire her in a way. Having the balls to keep trying when it was obvious, I wasn’t interested. On second thought, maybe she didn’t understand social cues. Not everyone was blessed with the ability to read a room like I was.
Before Damien could screw me over, I said, “No that’s okay. He’s already here and has been doing it a lot longer than you.” Taylor frowned at me and nodded her head. I knew I sounded like an asshole, but enough was enough. If I were shitty enough, maybe she would focus on somebody else.
“Come on, Mr. Irresistible. Let’s get started.” Damien motioned me to follow him.
We walked down several rows until we found an unused lane. Damien showed me the stance and explained draw length and draw strength. There were no sights on this bow, but given my situation, that would be useless and too time-consuming. Damien had me hold the bow, correct my footing, and go through the stance several times. He then had me draw it back to feel the draw weight.
Next, we spent thirty minutes reviewing how to nock my arrow and deciding whether I was more comfortable using the side-face anchor or the under-chin anchor method. I drew the string back several times, and Damien corrected my stance for what felt like the millionth time. Then, we started going over everything again from the beginning.
“Damn, dude, I’ll have to lift my balls to wipe my ass by the time we finish this lesson.” I bitched. My arms were getting tired, and I was ready to shoot this damn thing already.
I was slapped so hard on the back of my head that my whole body rocked forward, and I almost fell. Completely taken by surprise, my instincts kicked in. I pivoted quickly and held outmy hand in a defensive gesture. The bigger surprise was flames shooting out of my palms.
Hayes threw himself to the side, “What the FUCK?!”
What the fuck, was right!
Chapter 2
Nathan
The fire stopped almost immediately after it began.
