Using my inborn speed, I ran up to her, stopping just before my chest contacted her nose. To her, it must have looked like a blur.
“What are you going to do now, Wildcat?” I asked in a low voice.
She looked up at me then over at the tree where both daggers were still embedded.
“I see what you mean.”
“Right.” I chuckled and went to get the knives, bringing one back to her and tucking the other into its sheath at my belt.
I didn’t want to take any risks in case she made an awkward move—which she most likely would—and I wouldn’t cut her if my life depended on it.
Crouching in a fighting stance, I said, “Now show me your form. How would you use that weapon if someone larger and stronger were right in front of you, coming at you?”
“Larger doesn’t always equal stronger, you know,” she said as we circled each other slowly. “Some of us have hidden strength.”
She didn’t have to tell me that. Raewyn was turning out to have a sort of power over me I’d never experienced before.
My response was a simple hand gesture, beckoning her forward with adare yougrin on my face.
Raewyn’s face crinkled in worry. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“I’m a powerful Elven warrior,” I teased. “A scrawny little human like you could never hurt me.”
Except to break my heart.
It was still feeling pretty fragile after seeing her cry and feeling her fall apart in my arms.
But my taunt provoked her as planned, and Raewyn made her move.
She lunged forward, knife extended, which threw her off balance. I simply tapped her on the back, and she went down with anoofsound.
“Are you alright?” Hopefully the fall hadn’t knocked the wind out of her.
Raewyn rolled over and got to her feet, crouching now in the way I was to lower her center of gravity. Her face was red.
“Good,” I murmured. “You’re learning.”
She wore a look of fierce determination as we began to circle again.
I loved it. Iwantedto see some fire in her. If I thought she was helpless, I wasn’t going to be able to leave her alone with two little girls.
Maybe teaching her these skills would make leaving easier when the time came.
Right. Keep dreaming there, friend.
This time when Raewyn jabbed, she was much steadier—and more accurate. I had to leap out of the way to avoid getting sliced.
I laughed out loud. “Youarea fast learner.”
But she was already coming at me again. It was time to teach her how arealopponent would react.
When she advanced and attempted a strike, I grabbed the wrist of her knife hand, immobilizing it. She dropped the weapon.
As far as I was concerned, the fight was over, but Raewyn surprised me by sweeping out her right foot and kicking the back of my left ankle. I went down on my back, and she pounced on top of me like the wildcat I sometimes accused her of being.
I couldn’t have been more shocked—or more pleased—by her level of determination to win.
Thiswas the kind of fighting spirit she’d need to survive alone in the world with two small girls in her care.
