“So, my body is a weapon?” I still didn’t fully grasp this.
“Well,” Amber said with a grimace. “Not yet.”
So, I spent the morning and even all of that afternoon learning this strange fighting style. Amber taught me and Silence helped. I was happy to be spending time with him again. And over the next week I learned more and began to integrate my avatar abilities into my fighting. I could walk up walls or jump swiftly at or away from an opponent. My jumping also meant I could do strange kicks and leap attacks, which even Amber and Silence had trouble avoiding. I could start to see how everything linked together. I was actually anxious for Ant and Jack to return so I could try some of my new moves on them.
But when they did return, they had bad news.
I was summoned up to the dome to meet with Ant, Maverick, Crane, and Amber.
“Tell her,” Maverick said sounding grim.
Ant spoke. “We passed through Grovner’s Green on our way home and heard tell of a strange woman seen around town. She matches the description of the mistweaver. She’s close, Legs. We don’t know what she’s planning, but with you not going out, she may be getting desperate enough to come in.”
Well blasted, bloody bones!
I nodded. “What does that mean?” I asked.
“Ant or Tusk will be by your side at all times, depending on who’s around. Perhaps both if everyone’s home. We’ll be keeping a vigilant eye out for trouble,” Maverick said in his no-questions tone. “I hear you’ve been doing well training with Amber. I want you to keep that up. You may not always have a weapon around to help you. Learn to use all your abilities. You may need them sooner than you’d like.”
And so, the next few weeks were a bit of a blur for me. I’d train morning, afternoon, and evening, with every member of the House. Ant was still a wall of muscle. I could hit him now, but did little damage. With Jack, surprisingly, I came to see the laziness in his style. He was just so quick that I don’t think he’d trained as hard as he could. I began to hit him more often as well. Silence was still a blur, but I was just about a match for him. Amber I hit occasionally, but still ended up on my back more often than I’d like. Tusk was a brawler and her punches hurt like the Bloody Pits, but I was faster and learned to avoid them quick enough. Fennec was about a match for me in speed and agility, with a hint of extra strength, but my avatar-based attacks worked on him nearly every time. Foggy… Foggy was infuriating. Amber was right, he was just naturally averse to being hit by anything. And he couldn’t really teach me his style; it was so erratic it suited only him. Princess and Sparrow both surprised me. Neither liked to be in a fight, but both could defend themselves exceedingly well. I practiced a lot with Sparrow to learn her “flighty” defensive style. I couldn’t mimic all of it, but I learned a few things. I didn’t get the chance to fight with Maverick or Crane; they were too busy trying to figure out the larger picture of what was going on.
Most nights I was exhausted and went to bed, bruised but instantly asleep.
So went the winter.
And, on a late winter day, when an unnatural fog billowed up around Hedgewild, we all knew this was it: the mistweaver was coming.
I had to hope, had to pray, that I was ready.
The entire crew was home and gathered around me, as gloomy day turned to blackest night.
Then the Mists began to seep in through the tiniest cracks in the house and fill all the rooms and corridors.
Shewas here.
Chapter 22
The night drew on.Alert and wary, we waited in the dome room. The fog which seeped into the house billowed up the stairs, but stopped — a wall of billowing grey — at the entrance to the dome.
“Hunh,” Maverick said bemused. “Apparently the dome isactuallywarded.”
It seemed so, since the fog came no farther into the room.
Everyone was surrounding me, ready.
But as the night lengthened, I could see the signs of fatigue start to show, after hours of taut alertness.
“Rest in shifts,” was Maverick’s command. He sat on the edge of his desk running a whetstone over the edge of his heavy-bladed arming sword, calm and serene. This seemed like a meditation for him.
Crane had a long straight cane she kept on her lap as she too sat calmly.
Ant, Fennec, Foggy, and Princess took the first rest.
And the night stretched deeper.
I was wearing thick wool pants and a wool top that came to mid-torso, a heavy cloak over my shoulders as well. I’d come to accept that using my abilities meant leaving my mid-section open. Also, to wall-walk I needed to keep my feet uncovered. I was glad for the thick carpeting, and the fires in the hearths which helped to keep us all warm.
Silence came to me, whispering, “can we talk?”
