by LeAnn Mason
“We’ll talk about this later,” Allya promised, eyes still narrowed, glaring. My eyes flitted around the room, trying to dodge her silent probes.
“Now that we have addressed the elephant in the room, how about you tell us exactly how you died, Firebird?”
Well, crap.
Once the guys had calmed down from learning that Nick had been the one to do the deed, they’d shooed me out the door with my friends with instructions to train, but not with the bear Shifter, who should probably fear for his own life right about then. We were gathering around a burgeoning bonfire once again, the flames reaching like fingers toward the darkening sky as if they wished to pluck the stars from its depths.
Our group had diminished to only the wolf Shifter couple and me. Mae had been called back to Rory’s side for dinner and a movie. And Nick? Well, Nick had been forbidden to train with me by the dwarfs as a stipulation of them agreeing to my being trained, though I’m sure he whole-heartedly agreed.
It looked like that coveted relationship I’d been so near was now further away than ever. I mean, how did a couple overcome the fact that one had killed the other? I wanted to think we could, that it wouldn’t matter. Because it wasn’t like he’d tried to murder me. Something had happened to craze his bear, and he’d lost control. I had to place some blame on myself for persisting in being so close to an out-of-control Shifter, after all, but I feared neither of us would forget the loss of control. The consequences. The pain and blood.
Could we move past it, or would fear and death always linger between us?
The fire popped, sending sparks and embers flying in every direction before being swallowed by the flame once more. The whole thing mesmerized me, held me captive. I could stare indefinitely at a fire. Watching the flames writhe, licking and curling around anything that dared enter its depths was somehow cathartic. Like my worries, too, would be consumed by the heat.
“All right, it’s time I got that story,” Allya’s cajoling only broke my stare when she bodily elbowed me.
My stance wavering with the nudge, I turned my attention away. “I’m sorry, what?” I blinked at her.
She tapped the hilt of my katana. It was gripped tightly in my hand, but I’d forgotten about it completely as I’d lost myself to the rhythm of the pyre. I pulled Birdie free of its sheath with only the hint of a metallic hiss that rang the length of the blade. Finally free from the confines of its saya, the metal glinted in the firelight. The flickering light accentuated the metalwork along the length of the sharp, curved edge. Where the blade was thinnest, sharpest, it was darker in little hollows.
“Well, look at the edge, the hamon, where the steel was tempered. See how the darker ridges give an almost feathered appearance?” I held the sword straight out from my side as if it were an extension of my arm, the tip higher than the belly or pommel. “Doesn’t it look like a wing?” Bringing it down, I sheathed the deadly metal and turned it to inspect the kashira and tsuka. “This here is obviously a bird head of some sort.” I shrugged, “so, yeah, I call her Birdie.”
“I see it. The craftsmanship is superb. The dwarfs made it?” I nodded, relieved that Jason at least didn’t think I was a total weirdo.
“I see it, and it’s freakin’ glorious.” Then Allya paused, and I knew there was a “but” coming. “But that’s exactly why I don’t get the name Birdie. She’s like a…”
Crossing my arms, Birdie’s kashira level with my shoulder as I raised a brow, waiting to hear just what cleverness came from the hybrid for the moment.
“Like a Thunder Wing, or something.”
Did crickets just start chirping? The fire popped and crackled as both Jason and I stood silent in the wake of Allya’s valiant effort.
“Thunder Wing?” Jason said, his voice catching part way through when he tried to drown the laugh I saw lighting his eyes and tilting the corners of his mouth.
“Something like that! I mean, come on, does she look more like a “Birdie”?” She flapped feebly. “Or a Thunder Wing?” Allya struck her best superhero pose to punctuate her words. The red cape strapped to her back even helped with that visualization.
“It is what it is, my friend. Best to get on board and call her by her name. She responds to it,” I said, nodding sagely and patting the sword affectionately.
Allya’s sarcastically delivered “funny” came at the same time Jason’s interest piqued “really?”.
“I’m serious.” I pulled Birdie loose again then laid her across Allya’s outstretched palms. “Say her name,” I demanded as I stood in the shadows before the fire’s light. Unmoving, she stared dubiously at me as if she expected I was messing with her. “Well, there’s only one way to know if I’m telling the truth, yeah?”
Goading was a surefire way to get the Scarlet Huntress to rear her head, making that fearless and defiant nature of hers pop to the fore. Give the girl a challenge, and watch her rise to meet it.
Narrowing skeptical amber eyes at the sculpted metal in her hands, Allya lifted her chin like she was preparing for a jab. “Birdie.” She spit; then she stared at it. I watched, waiting. I knew from experience that the sword's length would begin to heat slightly as if she were saying “hello.”
“Oh, wow, I feel her.” Allya breathed, bringing her hands closer to her face, the blade still laid atop. Her eyes roved before moving somewhere above the metal, wonder lighting her features. “She’s glowing. I’ve never seen a weapon with an aura before. It’s beautiful.” Allya couldn’t seem to tear her focus from Birdie.
“So does that mean she has your permission to keep calling it–”
“Her,” Allya interrupted her boyfriend without thought, still riveted to my katana. I was starting to wonder if she’d give it back or if I’d have to pry it away from her like a certain ring…
“Okay, her. Bianca will keep calling her Birdie, and you’ll not say anything about it?”
“Nope. I apologize for ever doubting your fierceness, Birdie,” Allya cooed, finally thrusting her hands toward me. Slightly. Like it was physically hard for her to relinquish the weapon.
I wrapped fingers around her tsuka, feeling heat imbue my palm, rotating until she was blade up, point angled low before pushing home. “She was made for my mother. In fact, the dwarfs were delivering it the day she was killed. If only they’d arrived a little sooner…” I trailed off, not wanting to let the memories bubble up.
CHAPTER 16
“W ell, tonight, let’s start with one of those bokken. We’ll come at you, you just… stop us,” Jason said it so matter of factly, but Allya’s huff of derisive laughter broke his calm. “What are you snarking at, Red?”
“I remember these lessons all too well. The poor girl is going to have some gnarly bruises from your stick.” She indicated the long, smooth-ish branch Jason gripped loosely as if it were a viper, not hiding her distaste for the device.
“Ah, but did you not learn to avoid it? Did you not learn to tune into your senses? Did you and Ebony not learn to work together and trust each other?” He raised questioning eyebrows at her, daring her to disagree.
With an eye-roll, she silently but begrudgingly relented. Satisfied, Jason returned his attention to me. “She protests, but I think it’s what brought us together. Maybe that’s what she really hates,” he whispered conspiratorially in my direction, throwing a wink to Allya when she again rolled her eyes.
“Ah, young love, ain’t it grand?” I chirped in a parody of sweetness. We needed to move on. Being in the middle of their barbs and smoldering looks was getting uncomfortable. I’d swear the jabs and sparring heated the pair, and I didn’t want to be around when they ignited, I mean… ew. “Teach me, Master,” I bowed low, presenting Birdie like a gift before me, head down.
“Ah, young padawan, I will teach you. You will become one of the most badass Mages ever to grace Grimm Hollow.”
“I’m pretty sure her being a legendary and mythical being of immortality already gains her that title, but yeah. You claim
that.” Allya was the queen of sarcasm. Now that was a talent I’d love to master. It came in so handy, especially when you wanted to push the world away, which I just might now that I knew a bit more about myself.
“All right. Tonight, we’ll work on blocking. The whole goal is going to be to keep Allya and me from landing any hits. You may use the bokken tonight.”
“We’re Shifters, so you probably won’t be able to match us in speed; the extra reach will be paramount. Do not lose your weapon.” Allya visibly switched from laid-back friend to the warrior maiden Scarlet Huntress in, like, two-point-five seconds flat. It was super impressive.
And kind of terrifying.
I now had two predators circling me, each with nearly matching amber-gold glowing eyes and smooth movements. “You aren’t both going to come at me at once, are you?” I worried, my eyes flitting between the two aggressors. “That’s too much to think about right now.” I was so screwed.
No sooner had I had the thought than Allya’s arm whipped out, tagging my bicep with a rough slap. It stung, but I could shrug it off. A whistle alerted me that Jason’s stick was moving, and I circled my shoulders, allowing me to rotate my wrists and bring my arms across my body, hands clutching the wooden sword they’d given me to defend myself.
Thwack!
“Holy Hell, that stings like a mother!” I sucked away from the pain blossoming along my thigh, hopping like I was bouncing on a crooked pogo stick. My hands had come to my right hip too slowly, the stick contacting enough force to buckle my leg on impact. Another strike hit my ribs while I was distracted.
“You cannot drop your guard or give in to your pain while you are in combat. It will cost you dearly, maybe even your life,” Jason, clearly channeling Hunter, advised sagely.
“Yes, Sensei.” Smartass was my go-to, what could I say? “You know it’s not fair that you are both circling me like I’m a downed deer, right?” It was exceedingly difficult to keep my eyes on both predators.
Another flash, Hunter’s wrist barely twitched, and pain slapped across my defending arm. I hadn’t rotated the bokken fast enough to take the hit. Growling, I tightened up. I was faster than this. I was better than this.
But you haven’t sparred with trained Sentinels. I reminded myself. Shifters to boot. I needed to catch up because failure was not an option when my attacker wasn’t wielding merely a stick. Except… hadn’t Allya killed someone with just that?
“Geez, I must be crazy to have agreed to this. There is no way I can keep up with you guys!” My point was made as I was struck three times, and from both directions, leaving the bokken slipping from fingers spasming with pain.
“I’m going to tell you exactly what I told Red here,” he said. “Close your eyes. Yep, good. Now, what do you hear? What do you feel? Smell? Any and all of these things can tune you in to your surroundings, into an attacker.” Eyes closed, but mind skeptical, I stood in the dark, waiting to feel the crack of the switch on some soft part of my tensed body. The crackling fire soothed me somewhat, and I felt the heat like an embrace. I could feel the flames as they writhed before me.
There! There was a dark shape, a nothingness before me, hiding the fire’s light from my mind, its warmth unable to caress my skin…
The void extended forward, and I reacted, flipping the wooden sword to act as a guard, keeping my arms and hands against my body to keep the target minimal. With my “blade” facing the presumed assailant in the nick of time, the wood reverberated in my hands. Its length pushing back into my torso with a resounding crack as his weapon met mine.
Eyes popping open with my excitement, I might have hopped around like a loon doing a fist pump or two with a bit of added length still tethered in one hand. With my sight returned, I realized my vision hadn’t been much impaired. I’d forgotten how connected I was to fire… somehow.
“Well done! See? I knew you had it in you,” Jason proclaimed like a proud parent.
“I especially loved the victory dance. I think it looked kinda like mine. I have to admit though, I was tempted to get one in while you celebrated.” Allya smirked and patted my shoulder as if to acknowledge her leniency. “So, what worked for you? I’d needed to learn to listen to, and tune into Ebony’s senses. You don’t have that.”
She wasn’t wrong. “The fire. I have a pretty good connection with the element. It’s not something I will always be able to draw from though.” That was the sad truth. What would happen when I didn’t have that insight?
“Good, then you have a base to build on. You can learn to trust your instincts. Learn what it feels like when you’re being stalked or threatened. I have complete faith in you, Little Mage. If this one can learn to be in harmony with a wild-born wolf,” he paused, hitching a thumb toward this one, earning himself a withering stare and messily delivered raspberry. I couldn’t help but laugh at the exchange. They were good together. “Okay, ready to go again?”
Twirling the bokken in a full circle, I nodded.
I could do this.
Hands at the ready, I kept the bokken vertically aligned with and tucked against my torso, waiting. Each step I took was deliberate, either sliding forward or sideways so that I never lost sight of my opponent. Allya had disappeared, sitting out this round, I assumed. One on one was infinitely easier to focus on, which is why I assumed they’d done it. Deciding maybe a different tack would intimidate my aggressor, I straightened my elbows, keeping my wrists straight and bringing the wood’s point into the base of my sightline as it and I stared down the lofty Shifter.
“A little more confident this go, huh?” He jeered, swiping half-heartedly at me as we hovered. My weapon didn’t waver. He tried again, this time to the side. I adjusted, bringing the length of the bokken across my body without opening myself up to a blow the “blade” would not be able to block.
Well, in concept, anyway. He pushed in, striking like a cobra, so fast I barely tracked it. I followed, my weapon’s trajectory moving to intercept.
It missed. He was able to make it in and jab my left arm, but in order to bring my blade into striking distance, I’d stepped my left foot behind my right, sliding almost completely out of harm’s way. The poke would be minimal while my answering strike landed at the juncture where his neck met his shoulder. Realizing he’d been struck, Jason, ridden hard by Hunter, reared back to escape a fatal blow… if the weapons had been real, anyway. My aim had been true so that when he stepped away, my weapon skated from the crook, down across his chest.
“Wow, now that was impressive,” he puffed, rubbing at his neck, at the juncture I’d struck. “That was clean and fast. Well done.”
I couldn’t help but preen under the praise. He looked up at me from under lowered lashes, a devious smirk plastered to his face immediately putting me on the defensive. “What’s the smirk about, Sensei?”
I had barely gotten the question out when I heard the charge. Padded feet rushed toward where I stood with weapon lowered in the fire’s light. No sooner had I turned, raising the blade, more in surprised reflex than practiced defense, did Ebony’s full weight smash into my front. We crashed to the cold dirt with a heavy thud, my hand opening to grab at the gigantic ball of dark fur pinning me to the ground with sharp, scary-as-hell teeth way too close to my face.
“Holy crap, what do I do? Is she going to eat me?” I squeaked at Jason in near panic from my spot in the dirt. I hadn’t met the wolf side of Allya yet. What if she didn’t like me?
“Well, I think it’s safe to say you still need work,” Jason quipped, smirk still firmly in place as he patted Ebony across her withers where I thought I noticed the fur to be tipped with brown at the ends. I’d never seen a more magnificent animal than the one currently deciding what my fate would be. A stilted breath later, the animal’s head lowered further, and I slammed my eyes shut. I didn’t want to inadvertently challenge her. She’d be staring right into my eyes if I returned the look.
I flinched when something warm and… wet slid across my cheek. My eyes
bursting open, I pushed the wolf off my body, no longer afraid she wanted to eat me. Being licked had flipped that particular switch for me.
“Ew, really?” She dove under my arms where they pushed at her, to reach me again. Spluttering, I turned my face away as Jason’s hearty laugh echoed around me in the night. “I can’t help but think you’re doing this against the will of our friend Allya. I can’t imagine she’d want to lick my face.” It was hard to get the jabs out while wrestling with a full-grown canine, head whipping back and forth to avoid the seeking tongue that lashed at my flesh, but I knew that Allya would fight to assert herself.
With a playful yip, the black wolf pushed off my torso, causing my lungs to expel all air with the move, turned on her haunches, and streaked back into the trees.
“I think you’re gonna hear about that soon,” Jason laughed, reaching out a hand to lift me from the forest floor where I lay, trying to clean my face of the canine slobber. “At least, you know they like you. Ebony’s fierce. Better a slobbery gift of affection than one with more… bite.”
“Damn, Sparky, you’re lucky I like you or I’d have to think of a clever way to make sure you didn’t squeal about Ebony’s embarrassing little display.” Allya’s reappearance cut off Jason’s quips. The devilish smirk never left his face even as the hybrid in question traipsed back toward where we still stood by the pyre.
“Don’t worry, Scarlet Huntress, your secret is safe with me,” I laughed. “For now.”
CHAPTER 17
“Y ou look a little… tired this morning,” Sasha worried, concern etched upon her kind features. Bright, leaf-green eyes, the shade of new growth in spring, took in the way I hitched my stride. My left shoulder dipped a bit, unconsciously curling toward my bruised ribs. My left arm bent at the elbow, also protecting my abused middle. “What happened?”