“This is amazing,” I said honestly, pulling him into a hug, which he returned easily.
“I’m glad you like them,” he replied, and we heard a knock at the already-open door.
“My apologies for the interruption, but the princess is needed at training,” Rowan said, eyeing the dagger on my lap.
“Don’t worry, I won’t hurt anyone with it,” I joked, and he almost smiled.
“I am more worried that you will injure yourself with it,” he quipped, and I laughed out loud. Had he just made a joke? Farran’s eyes were as wide as mine.
“Did he just make a joke?” he asked, echoing what I had been thinking, and Rowan turned walking away from us without a word.
“I think he did, right? Or was it an outright insult?” I asked.
“I can’t be sure,” he replied.
***
When we arrived at the training field, I saw that there were quite a few obstacles set up. I tried to make out what they were, but the other novices were already there and chorused a “Happy birthday!” before converging on me in a wave and blocking my view. I laughed happily at their welcome, feeling almost giddy.
“Here, I made you something,” Briony said as she attempted to hand me a small box.
“Oh, you didn’t have to do that!” I said nervously. The presents from Farran was one thing; this was different.
“Oh, relax, it’s just something small!” Briony rolled her eyes, pushing the box into my hands. I smiled tentatively at her before I opened it and saw a large wire-wrapped tigereye stone attached to a long chain.
“It’s beautiful. I love it!” I told her as I slipped it over my head.
“I’ve had that particular stone for years. I knew I was saving it for something!” She laughed. I pulled her to me in a hug, fighting off an odd mix of emotions as I did so.
“Tigereye is considered the bravery stone. It supports courage, self-confidence, optimism, and it empowers the will as well as brings good luck. Along with the obvious tiger connection, I figured you could use all of that as well . . .” she whispered, and I nodded with a laugh. A tiger lily, a tiger stone, tiger daggers . . . I was noticing a recurring theme, but I didn’t mind.
“I thought we could have a little fun today.” Silas slapped his big hands together in excitement as more guards began showing up. I spotted Adelaide with Rowan once more and stiffened before mentally chastising myself. I didn’t like their proximity, but I had no right to be angry over it. I tried to relax myself as I watched the newcomers make their way to us as well.
“Vivienne, this is Malachi, Tamora, and Tasmin.” He continued, pointing to them in turn. Malachi had features that looked chiseled out of stone, he wasn’t a lot taller than me, but his body was thick with muscle. His jawline was square, and he had deep-blue eyes framed by long dark lashes that I instantly envied. His dark hair was buzzed close to his head and there was a sneaky smile on his full lips. He blew a kiss my way, and I stiffened, unable to stop myself from blushing as I smiled timidly at him in return. Tamora shoved him off balance before smiling and nodding tentatively at me. She was thick with muscle as well and her dark hair was cut short and tucked behind her ears. Tasmin looked like a carbon copy of Tamora with much less muscle and much longer hair. I did a double take.
“Yes, we are twins,” Tasmin said with a rueful smile as Rowan and Adelaide joined the group. I looked the twins over again quickly and decided I had never seen two people who looked so much alike and so different at the same time.
“There are three others in our troupe, but they are on duty today and have to miss out on the fun,” Tamora grumbled rolling her eyes as if she would rather be on duty as well.
“Tamora is all work and no play,” Malachi whined. He drew my attention as he looked me over from head to toe before crossing the distance between us and reaching out to grab my necklace with his hand.
“Lovely,” he said with his eyes still on me.
“It was a gift from Briony,” I said, looking to her for help. She shrugged, looking instead to Rowan for his reaction.
“Do not even think it. She is much too young,” Rowan warned and Malachi laughed.
“Maybe for you. I am only a few years older than our lovely princess, and besides, twenty means she’s fair game for all!” he joked, clapping Tamora on the back, and I blushed again, which only made his smile grow. There was a spark of anger in my stomach at Malachi for pointing out my age difference to Rowan, and I didn’t want to dwell on why it mattered to me. I barely knew him—any of them, really. I needed to get myself together.
“Stop it, Malachi,” Silas barked, and to him Malachi listened. Luca placed himself firmly at my side and bumped my shoulder. I returned the gesture with a grin, happy to be making friends.
“OK, let’s get down to it!” Briony yipped with excitement in her voice.
“Yes, let’s begin the obstacle course!” Silas clapped, leading us to the opposite end of the field and the starting point.
The first obstacle was a series of walls that were meant to be scaled. One with ledges, one with a rope, and the last was just a curved ramp wall that had to be taken at a full run, so that you could jump up and hopefully grab the ledge, pulling yourself to the top. From there you crawled in what looked to be mud under a long fence pushed close to the ground. Past that was a thin and long log you had to keep your balance on as it moved freely, connected to poles allowing it to spin, at the end of which you had to jump onto a log turned up on its base. From there you had to jump from log to log, varying heights and distances, until you made it back down to the other side and safely back to the ground. Last but not least, there was a series of hurdles leading to a long jump over a pit of fire. No big deal. I gulped loudly, unable to stop myself.
“The two people who finish fastest get to pick teams in the tug of war,” said Silas happily. He was loving this. “Who wants to go first?”
“I’ll go,” said Finley, and we all stared, surprised at his confidence. He walked slowly to the starting line and abruptly vanished, and in his place was a giant hawk. Its wingspan was impressive as it flew easily over the course and landed at the end.
“Tada!” he said with a flourish when his original form replaced the hawk.
“That was awesome!” I exclaimed, unable to help myself. Everyone laughed at my expense, but I didn’t care. Finley was the first Shuni who had shown me his form. It was one thing to know that something was real, but to see it . . . wow!
“You haven’t seen anything yet, sweetheart.” Malachi grinned at my enthusiasm.
“That doesn’t count, does it?” Joel complained.
“No, it certainly doesn’t,” Silas replied. “Now get your butt back over to the starting line and get ready, boy,” he continued, and Finley groaned but complied. The obstacles proved to be much harder in human form, and he had a few hiccups but made it to the end once more. I watched as the rest of the novices went first and when it was my turn I was more than ready. Everyone had done well so far, with a few stumbles here and there. Some had problems with the ramp wall, and some had problems with balancing on the log. I felt confident that I was about to kick some major butt. These were the sorts of things I was taught as a child. Speed, agility, balance . . . I had learned all this in different forms multiple times over, and watching them had given me more than a few ideas of how to easily get through this course.
“You ready, Princess?” Silas asked, and I nodded, trying to act more humble than I was feeling at the moment. I could practically hear Master Liung in my head. “Always remain humble, for when you do not . . . your failure will come as no surprise to any but yourself.”
I centered myself at the starting line, tucking the necklace into my shirt and quickly entering the zone I found when training with Master Tatsu. All outside distraction slipped away, and when Silas yelled, “Go,” my entire body sprung forward like it had been coiled. I flew over the first wall with ease, jumping midway to a foot hold and using that leverage to cata
pult myself up and over the wall. I released a breath, dropping to the other side, and I grabbed the rope using my body as leverage to easily pull myself up and over, never stopping from one obstacle to the next. I ran up the ramp to the last wall, jumping as high as I could before grabbing the ledge and swinging myself to the top.
I felt exhilarated, as I always did when entering this state of mindfulness, and slid down the back side of the ramp quickly. I dove into the opening under the log fence, giving myself some extra push, and shimmied through the mud, not caring how much of a mess I would be afterward. In a stroke of genius, I turned on my back and pushed with my arms and legs as I used the top of the logs to propel myself faster through the tight space.
I slid out from under the logs quickly, jumping up and leaping onto the spinning log and running across it with ease. I had mapped out the easiest course through the jumping logs by watching all the others, and while it wasn’t exactly fair, I equated it to scouting. I sped through, making it easily to the ground.
I let out one last burst of speed as I made the hurdles and vaulted far over the pit landing in a crouch that would have done Master Tatsu proud. The outside world came rushing back as I let go of the transient state and smiled. I could have done that in my sleep. I turned and bowed low to the others as a joke, but when I saw the looks on their faces my smile quickly fell. After a moment of silence I felt the tension building in the air.
“My turn!” barked Malachi, running for the starting point. I joined the others who had ran the course, and they laughed, easing the tension I had been feeling.
“That was amazing!” Briony clapped and I shrugged.
“Look at them, they are champing at the bit to prove themselves!” Griffin snorted and I focused back in on Malachi. The others were already lining up. We rejoined them to watch from a better angle.
Malachi ran the course at full speed; you could tell this was no longer a simple contest to him or to any of them. They did not want to be showed up by a novice, and a princess at that. People kept underestimating me, and I tried not to feel smug watching them take their turns and give it all they had.
“That was very well done,” Rowan remarked as he walked by me to take his turn. I beamed, practically purring at the compliment. I heard a rough rumbling sound escape my throat and gasped. Had I actually just purred? Do tigers even do that? It didn’t sound like a purr. Rowan turned to me, eyes bright, frozen in place. I guess that answered my question for me. I slapped my hand to my face, mortified, and he turned, continuing on to take his place at the starting line. Briony patted me on the shoulder, and I tried to pretend nothing at all had happened.
When he began, we all stood in awe of the speed with which he split through the course. He moved so fast he almost blurred. There was no doubt who the winner was. All the girls let out a collective sigh, and the boys grumbled at his easy victory. Rowan was a sight to be seen as he sauntered slowly back toward us, covered in mud and his hair falling loose from its tie. I watched, unable to force myself to look away as he loosed his hair and pulled it to the nape of his neck again. His muscles bulging even with the slightest motion. Briony nudged me softly, and I blinked, finally bringing myself back to reality and looking away quickly.
“All right. It was close—with the exception of Rowan, that is—but the rest of you guards finished within milliseconds of one another.” Silas laughed, and I saw them puff their chests out in pride and almost started to pout. I thought I had them. Maybe Master Liung had been right about the humble thing after all . . .
“Too bad that even a second faster than that was our girl Vivienne!” He laughed and the novices cheered loudly. I stood straighter, a smile splitting my face at the collective groan that came from the guards. I met Rowan’s eyes and saw a smile on his lips. My heart almost stopped at the sight of a dimple appearing on his cheek. He was too beautiful. Luca swept me into a hug and the others followed suit, and I lost sight of Rowan for a moment. I was convinced that dimple would be imprinted on my mind forever. The next time I saw him, he was frowning.
“All right, Rowan, Vivienne . . . pick your teams.” I looked at all the novices and felt a sudden surge of emotion toward them. For the first time in my life, I had friends, real and true friends.
“I’ll take the novices, you take the guards?” I asked Rowan, and he agreed.
“If you want to hand it to us on a silver platter, so be it,” he rumbled, and I narrowed my eyes. We all lined up in the field and grabbed a side of the rope. Luca had given us a halfhearted pep talk before taking his place in the front of our line.
“Ready, set . . . go!” Silas yelled and within a matter of seconds my entire team was on the ground being pulled across the line. The guards laughed a little too hard at our expense, but I hadn’t really expected to win this one anyway. It was more of a show of solidarity than anything.
“Well, that was anticlimactic,” Silas grumbled, seeming disappointed in the unfair and quick fight. We helped each other to our feet, accepting the defeat. I was dusting off my clothes when Farran came running across the field. Everyone turned to see him, dressed to the nines in a fancy suit. He scoffed at the sight of us.
“No, no. This won’t do! We are going to have to scrub you from head to toe, Vivi! It looks as if you have been bathing in mud! Your party starts in an hour!” he complained, pulling me behind him. I turned, eyes wide at Briony and Luca, and they shook their heads. Not their party.
“Wait, what party?” I asked, and he winked.
“Oops, surprise!” He laughed, and I had no doubt that he had warned me on purpose.
“Come along then!” he insisted as he pulled me along after him.
Once I was up in my room and thoroughly clean, Farran conjured me into a giant and frilly ball gown. I gawked at the sight of it. Satin folds of pink fabric piled upon one another with no end in sight.
“You’re joking, right?”
“This is the gown the Six provided for you.” He tried and failed at hiding a grin.
“There is no way I am wearing this,” I whined in defiance.
“That’s what I thought you might say, so I took the liberty of getting you this.” He waved his hand and on my body was the complete opposite of what I had just been wearing.
Black and sleek, this dress hugged tightly to my curves. The neckline was high, covering to my throat where it connected behind my neck in a metal clasp. My back was mostly bare, showing more skin than I had ever dared in public. There was a slit that came just above my knee on the right side. I felt sexy, and that was new for me.
“The Six would like to introduce you to the public as soft and sweet. An innocent and young princess who can be molded into a queen. I have other ideas,” he said, retrieving my mother’s dagger and sheath from my desk and handing it to me.
“The public?” I asked as he turned to fix his hair in the mirror while I strapped the dagger to my thigh.
“Yes, you see, they have invited all to come and see our princess and celebrate her coming of age! They want to put on a real show, make the people love you and want to keep you safe . . . much like your father did when you were young. I don’t think this will work as well this time. Anyone can see that you aren’t a child . . . especially in that dress. I imagine that’s what you want though, isn’t it?” he quipped, and I smiled, nodding.
“I want to be taken seriously,” I said firmly, and his smile grew.
“Yes, I know you do. You are very much like my mother, your grandmother. She would have adored you. I can see the tigress behind your eyes more firmly each day, asserting herself now that the block is gone. Most Shuni go through this at the same time as puberty, unfortunately your tiger has been repressed long past that. You are going to have to tread lightly, Vivi. A caged tiger is not a happy one, and until you are finally able to shift and let her out, I imagine she’s going to get feisty,” he quipped, holding his hands out like claws and hissing. I laughed, but I knew he was right. I had been feeling the changes already.
“Hence the dress and the dagger?” I asked, gesturing to my attire.
“Yes, I want everyone to see that my little kitten has claws. Look, but don’t touch or you might lose a hand . . . that kind of thing,” he jested, and I laughed again.
“Sounds good to me, I like feeling fierce,” I replied honestly, looking into the mirror and arranging my hair into a braided bun. I looked myself over once more and felt great. This is who I am, I thought, and my eyes flashed bright blue in the mirror. My smiled widened.
“Come on, kitten, your party awaits.” Farran said taking my arm and leading the way.
***
When we entered the gardens, there were crowds of people gathered. A platform sat in the front, and music was being played by a local band. Tables were lining the side of the crowd and guests were being served bubbly drinks and a spread of finger sandwiches. The people were murmuring with excitement, dancing and eating.
“Vivi!” I heard Briony yell from across the crowd. I smiled and made my way over to her, Farran following along.
“Wow, you look amazing!” she said eyes wide at my dress. I did a little turn for her, feeling happy, and she clapped.
“Absolutely stunning,” Luca agreed from behind her, and I blushed when the others nodded in agreement. I saw they were wearing informal clothes, and I immediately felt overdressed. I looked around noticing that everyone was dressed normally. Their clothes were nice, but certainly not formal.
People started noticing me, and I felt the weight of their stares as the crowd slowly grew silent.
“Princess Vivienne?” A large man with tan, leathery skin pulled the cap off his head and bowed to me, inviting the others to follow suit. I gasped at the gesture and turned to Farran eyes wide. There were shocked and surprised murmurs going through the crowd. Had they not expected to see me at my own party?
“No, you don’t have to do that,” I intoned, touching the man’s shoulder, and he rose reaching out a hand to me. I shook it; his skin was rough and worn, the hands of a working man.
Out of the Mountain Page 9