Page 31 of Empire of Dark
Not that Damen considered it enemy territory for me. He’d never once had anyone try to take my augentrum steel from me.
Strapping the baldric holding my scabbard into place over my shoulder and my dagger to my calf, I ran back down the grand marble staircase and exited the castle from the side that led to the grounds.
In a jog, I started along the perimeter of the labyrinth, my shoulder brushing against the long line of evergreens on this outer path lined with cobblestones.
No old stumps, just pretty apple trees in full bloom.
It wasn’t until I passed the fourth guard of the crew positioned strategically at spots along the periphery of the grounds that I realized I had the answer staring at me.
The next guard I ran into I recognized.
“Jacob, hello.” I’d been introduced to Jacob as the second in charge of security here at the castle a few days after I’d arrived. To be second, he had to be good.
Dressed all in black—black suit, black shirt—despite the sun beating down on us, his hands were clasped behind his back. He looked at me, made eye contact without smiling, and nodded. Then his eyes shifted to scan the area behind me.
Hopping back and forth on my feet, I glanced over my shoulder, just in case I had missed some imminent danger coming to crush me. Like a missile or an asteroid. Nothing. This place was more secure than Fort Knox. The single lane roadway was the only way in.
The only movement behind me, a bird landing on a precarious twig that had escaped from the meticulously trimmed hedges of the maze.
I turned back to Jacob, giving him what I hoped was my most charismatic smile. “You’ve been trained to handle panthenites and malefics, haven’t you?” I pointed to the hilt of the sword I could see over his shoulder. “I can’t tell until I see the steel, but I’m guessing that is an augentrum sword you have? One that will kill our kind?”
His brow lifted at me. I could tell he didn’t want to talk to me. But then he opened his mouth, his voice gruff. “We all have them. And yes, I’ve been trained.”
“Then you won’t mind working with me?”
His chest lifted in a heavy sigh. “Working with you how?”
“Training with me? I am going clear out of my mind here with no physical activity, save for running up and down the stairs in the castle, and that got old a week ago.”
Alarm flashed in his warm blue eyes. Eyes that I imagined could turn deadly in a split second. “You would like to spar with me?”
“If you think you can handle me,” I baited him because usually security people were easily goaded when their skill was challenged.
His lips twitched in amusement. Yes, I was half his size, but if he was schooled properly, he knew that both panthenites and malefics took extreme measures to train both their women and men equally. Plus, Jacob had no idea what powers I possessed, and underestimating the enemy was the best way to get a sword sliced across your throat.
The amusement on his face faded. “Damen will kill me if I slice a single hair off your head.”
Goading was definitely the right move with this one. “You won’t get close enough to do so.”
“That so?”
I nodded. “This is just exercise for me. Come on, Jacob. You have the best spot here, a nice open little nook of grass for a few rounds. You won’t even be leaving your post.”
He looked around.
We were alone. One couldn’t even see the adjacent guards at their posts.
He glanced wary to me. “You sure you want to do this?”
“Try me.” I shrugged. “You can take it easy on me if you feel like I’m below your skill level. And I swear I won’t hurt you.”
His hand reached up over his shoulder and he pulled free his sword. I did the same.
My hands wrapped around the well-worn silver and alabaster hilt of my sword, also half the size of his. But mine was weighted perfectly for me, as all swords should be—created for the wielder. An extension of my very own arm.
We circled each other for long seconds, sizing each other up. He swung first, and a crushing blow came down at me in order to end this quickly.
Ambitious of him.