“Iknowthey are,” she says. “My father used to be a fisherman before he opened Kamtaur. Said he saw a man walk the plank and jump straight into the ocean because he took the cotton out of his ears. The zerenias pulled him under, and he was never seen again.”
“Horse shit,” Algar spits. “There’s no way they’re real! Sea creatures who eat men and steal their identities just to walk the lands? That’s a ridiculous tale! I should know. My father was a terribly underpaid assistant to a sea biologist. He told me all the stories about them weren’t true.”
“Well, maybe he didn’t go far enough,” Rynthea says. “You try riding the deep seas without cotton in your ears and tell me how ridiculous it is when they try to eat you.”
Algar snorts. Rynthea simply rolls her eyes at him before turning her attention to me. “Do you have that dagger on you?”
“No.” I point over my shoulder at the inn. “It’s in my rucksack.”
“Get it.Someonearound here has to show you how to use it.” She turns to stare Thane down. He must feel her heated gaze because he stops his practice to glare right back at her with a set jaw.
I jog off to get the dagger before they can start tearing into each other like always.
When I return, Rynthea leads the way to the other side of the field, putting some distance between us and the men. Placing her scythesword against a nearby boulder, she reaches for the handle of a dagger on her waist and grips it in hand.
“Show me your best defensive stance,” she instructs.
I grip the handle of my dagger and set my feet apart so they’re square with my shoulders. Then I bend my knees, sinking into a squat.
Rynthea suppresses a laugh as she watches me lift the dagger overhead. “Have you ever actually fought with a weapon before?”
“Is it that obvious?” I lower the dagger, and my shoulders follow in defeat. “I didn’t grow up needing to constantly defend myself like the rest of you. Please don’t make fun of me, Rynthea.”
She throws up an innocent hand. “I’m not making fun,” she says quickly, now bottling a laugh.
I narrow my eyes, trying to fight a smile, too. “But you want to.”
“I mean a little—but only because that stance was the saddest thing I’ve ever seen.”
“See!”
“But you should consider yourself lucky that you were able to hold on to your innocence,” she adds. “I started training during my third year.”
“Your third?Seriously?”
“Oh yeah. My father wanted me to know how to protect myself and Torjack, especially when Torjack got his diagnosis.” She looks toward the horizon, lost in thought. “My mother wasn’t fond of the idea of me holding knives and daggers at such a young age, but I loved it.”
“I can imagine.” I laugh. “Violence wasn’t really a thing in Ember Coast. My parents didn’t really know much about sword fighting, either. My father was a doctor and my mother a nurse. They taught me more about resuscitating and healing people than ripping them apart.”
“Hmm.” Rynthea gives that some thought. “Well, some of us are meant to hurt people while others are meant to mend them.” She shrugs. “Plus, had they not taught you those skills, you wouldn’t have been able to save my life in that swamp.”
She gives me a warm smile.
I return it.
“All right, first we need to adjust your posture and the way you handle the dagger.” Rynthea adjusts my arm so that it stays close to my body. Then she uses one of her hooves to push my feet apart and widen my stance—my right foot forward and left back as the anchor. “There are many ways you can use a dagger, but one of my favorites is like this…” She takes a generous step away from me and lunges with the blade. She jabs it forward, her arm protruding from her body quickly yet fiercely. “And if someone is coming at you from the side, you can do this.” She flips the hilt backward, so the tip of the blade faces the other way. With a rapid jerk of her hand, she stabs at the air. “Now you try.”
I attempt to imitate her demonstration but come a little too close to her arm. She steps out of the way just in time and cocks an eyebrow.
“Sorry.” I laugh nervously.
“No worries. Just try again.”
I give it another go, making sure not to get too close to her this time as I stab at the air.
“Better,” she commends. “You learn quickly.”
“Thanks. I’ve always been a pretty fast learner. It helps to adapt to my surroundings, you know?”
