Chosen (The Warrior Chronicles, 1) (24 page)

“No, s’am,” they answered in chorus.

“Please take a moment to notice how large the men are who accompanied me.” They did. “They made no sound and probably left no trace of their passing. Xavier, how does that correlate to yesterday’s excuse?”

“They are larger, or as big as me, and ther
efore I have no leg to stand on,” Xavier answered dutifully.

“Precisely. Gracas
—you salute me again and I will use that hand to painfully put your face in the mud. Yes?”

“Yes, s’am.”

“Why is it that when you have a sword in your hand, you are light footed, but when you walk naturally you leave a heavy tread? Are you worried the ground will disappear unless you stomp on it?”

“No, s’am.”

“You will spend half of tonight and half of tomorrow night practicing in the dark. Take a sword with you. In the morning you will take me along your trail and point out places you performed a misstep. Yes?”

“Yes, s’am.”

“I am glad to hear you cleverly disguising your distaste for that punishment. Okay, Sterling is making his way in our direction. We need to change locations. Xavier, you will have Leilius at your back. Leilius, count the infractions, but cover them up. Gracas, you lead Marc—excellent work, by the way, Marc. It seems you finally realize this training is useful. Or maybe that you’ve come to grips with the fact that you will someday have to be in the field.”

Mark pouted.
“The doctor said that the next time you follow us and jump out to yell ‘boo’ he’ll no longer train me. Since that is always your punishment, because you know the doctor hates surprises, I figure I should stop messing up.”

“Too bad. I love scaring you two
. Fair enough. Rachie, you are doing well. You can follow the group of your choice. My team will follow the other. Yes?”

“Yes, s’am.”

“Good. Off you go. And hurry, Sterling is moving fast this time.”

They all looked at Xavier, who looked at Lucius. Who looked at the Captain. Who nodded.

As all the boys took off, Cayan fell in beside Shanti. “Sam?”

“Do you not realize how much longer that chain of command takes?”
she asked, noticing Lucius falling in behind them.

“If I were giving the orders, there would be no reason to check in,” the Captain said with a pompous air.

“But you’re not giving the orders.”

“You’re welcome.”

Shanti pushed down the irrational urge to punch him in the throat. “S’am is a mix between sir and ma’am. It was the only title Leilius could get right more than once.”

“How often does Commander Sterling try to find you?”

“Nearly every day. I used to change the times we met to keep him away, but it turned into a sort of game, and it is great practice, so I changed the times of our practice to his idle times.”

“Has he ever found you?”

“Not so far.”

“Has he asked
to watch your training outright?”

Shanti snickered.
“Nope. He took it upon himself to snoop. Then he realized we were on to him, so he did it to prove a point, I think. He was exuding determination for a solid week. Now I think he is playing the same game. He wants to best us. We want to keep besting him. A merry chase it has become.”

“He doesn’t mean you harm?”

“No, I don’t think so. He is intrigued, is my best guess. And like I said, now it’s a game.”

“Commander Sterling doesn’t play games.”

Shanti shot him a sideward glance. “Maybe you just don’t know the ones that turn him on.”

“Is he the one that turned you down, then?”
His tone was light, but the air got heavy. Shanti could tell Cayan was trying to hold his power at bay. He wanted to reach out and find out for himself, since he was a nosey bastard, but it seemed he also wanted to start controlling his
Gift.
Restraint was a very good thing with him.

“No, but thanks for reminding me about that. I hate having unanswered questions.”

The sound was not quite a growl, but it was close. It seemed the Captain hated mysteries. Men were incredible gossips!

They met up with the boys again. Shanti congratulated them on doing better, then put them to work. Knife throwing was first. It was a handy skill to have no matter the overall discipline. If a baker needed to escape in a hurry, and saw someone coming through the door, throw the knife and run. It was an easy item to carry on one’s person
; you didn’t have to be close to use it effectively, and one throw could kill with a small amount of exertion. The boys worked hard at it, and Shanti helped them in each stage of their training. Only Xavier and Gracas were able to hit revolving and rotating targets effectively, but the rest were definitely coming along.

Next was archery
. Rachie was excused, as was Leilius. They were crap. There was no point in wasting anybody’s time. Instead, those two worked on creating traps that could be left behind on a trail, intended to ensnare their victim, or simply kill or chop something off. Lucius and the Captain were extremely interested in that discipline.

“Your people did this often?” Cayan asked, memorizing the construction of one particular
ly gruesome contraption.

“Not often, no. I have, though. I have been hunted for the past year. Leaving these in my wake has…well, I’m still alive, so…”

“They work.”

“Very well.”

Cayan straightened up and put his hands on his hips, analyzing her. “But anyone could fall victim. Civilians.”

“Yes, which is why you only leave it when your life depends on it.
Okay, boys, take it down.”

His mind brushed hers again.
“You’ve had some close calls.”

“Very.” Shanti turned away from those probing eyes.

“All right—“ What she recognized as Sterling’s brain pattern was winding closer. They were taking too long. They had about half an hour before he would find them. Bloody good tracker.

“Time for your disciplines. Let’s push ourselves this time. Rachie, you are fighting with Lucius. No weapons. Give him hell. Leilius, I want you to see how close you can get to Sterling before he recognizes you. If he spots you, throw the fake knife and run like hell. If he chases you… well, I guess you’ll see how fast you are because you’ll surely get in trouble. Marc, watch Lucius like a hawk. He is one of us now. If he pushes too hard or gets hurt in any way, you are responsible
—I can run very fast, so attempted escape will not help. Gracas, grab the real sword. You are with me. Xavier, try your size against the Captain. I have a feeling he’ll wipe that stupid smile off your face. Or he’ll make that face less handsome, and Miss Baker’s daughter won’t like you anymore.”

The other boys chortled with laughter.
Red filled Xavier’s cheeks.

“Al
l right, get gone.”

Shanti took a moment to watch as
Xavier walked up to the Captain very slowly, analyzing. Trying to figure out the way the Captain’s body worked. Trying to work out the best method of attack. He didn’t get long. Cayan was experienced, and battle didn’t allow slow, analytical thought. He lunged, movement so fast it was almost blurry. Xavier parried and retreated immediately, backpedaling in surprise.

Cayan slowed down for the younger man, picking a pace faster and more aggressive than Xavier was used to, but within his reach. Xavier saw this, blew out a breath that probably emptied his ego balloon, and got to work.

Well done, Captain.

Shanti connected with Lucius’
mind, not trusting the medic-in-training to recognize the warning signs. She felt the spicy touch of Cayan doing the same thing. The bugger learned way too fast. But maybe that was a good thing now?

She still wasn’t sure.

All of a sudden, a blur of metal whisked by her face. Gracas had turned on. The kid was like a switch. On or off, no warm up, no half way. He barely knew how his body worked, but the small control he did have was thrilling. Someday he might surpass Shanti with his skill in weaponry.

Someday.

The clang of metal rang through the clearing as Shanti’s sword rushed into the fray. Shanti couldn’t help a smile as they got to work.

  Twenty minutes and a solid sweat in, Shanti was on the attack, attempting to teach Gracas never to retreat straight back. That he should angle to one side or the other, trying to figure out how to turn a retreat into an attack. He was learning, but slowly. He’d fallen over every rock and stump in the clearing.

As they f
ought, Shanti and Cayan paid attention to each other so they didn’t direct their fighters into one another. Suddenly Marc yelled, “Enough!”

In a flash of an eye she had dis
armed Gracas and was at Lucius’ side, evaluating.

“I’m fine for now,” Lucius said, breathing fast but not overly taxed. Shanti would have let him go a little longer.

Cayan had thrown Xavier across the clearing and was walking over with a stern expression. He looked at Marc. “Report.”

The color drained out of Marc’s face. Hi
s body bowed and his face tilted toward the ground. Scrubbing at his nail, he muttered, “He is fine for now, yes, but his state has been weakening exponentially. He would injure himself before realizing he’d passed the line. It’s wise to stop him now, or at least dramatically slow his exertion.”

Shanti shook her head. “Too many unknown words.”

Marc peeked up from under his lashes. “It’s like eating fast when really hungry. You eat too fast for your stomach to process how full it is. Before you know it you are too full and feel sick. If you get nearly full, then slow way down, you’ll stop just as you hit the full line.”

“Ah.”

Cayan raised his eyebrows at Marc.

“She understands food analogies best,” Marc explained.

“Well,” Shanti said, taking stock of Sterling. He was now heading toward the west, which would not intersect with their practice. “Sterling—“

“Commander Sterling
,” Cayan interjected with a warning in his voice.

Shanti turned her face to the Captain,
met his stern gaze, and then turned back. “Sterling is either chasing Leilius, or taking him to a whipping post. We are good to stop for today. Thank the Captain for beating the stuffing out of Xavier.”

Everyone clapped.

“Give a nod to Marc, who actually gave an order based on his profession, to a superior officer, in front of
the
superior officer, and still had enough
fornicas
to insist.”

Nods all around.

“
Hoenista
.”

Everyone did a slight bow and started wandering back toward the inner city. Except Cayan. He stood where he was, watching Shanti. Lucius, unsure, waited with him.

Shanti, finished talking with Gracas about ways to practice, noticed the scrutiny, and furrowed her brow. “What?”

Cayan waited for everyone to disappear before saying, “I need a favor.”

The dungeon smelled
like urine and fecal matter. Sanders stood against the wall, trying not to inhale through his nose, eyeing the two recently captured prisoners occupying the cells. The large, dumb, lumbering Mugdock paced and swore, threatening the guards with pain and retribution, banging at the bars and kicking at the ground. The other, a foreigner, sat peacefully, watching his surroundings with calculating eyes.

It was the foreigner
who gave Sanders pause. The slight man sat as peacefully as could be, not at all worried about possible torture. Almost as if he had the upper hand.

Delusion, that was.
If left up to the prison guards, the torture would’ve started, asking questions of the stranger’s involvement in this land. None of Sanders’ men liked anomalies in general, and certainly not anomalies in league with their sworn enemy.

Speaking of the sworn enemy, that filthy Mugdock was the reason for the incredible stink. It was like a farm animal that stayed out of the rain. It almost singed the nostrils it was so potent.

Did they not have the ability to smell? How could they stand themselves?

The Mugdock
would’ve been tortured for a different reason—for revenge of comrades lost, of ancestors stolen, and material goods destroyed. Pretty simple, but the two Peoples had a long history.

Sanders, of course, would just as soon kill them both and be done with it. He didn’t have the stomach for torture. Nor the patience, if he was being honest. A clean, fast death was the way to go. It’s what he’d want for himself, and what he would give to someone else.

Wasn’t his show, though. He was just the grunt. And, unfortunately, in charge of the prison. And that was only because the men listened to him where they wouldn’t Sterling or Daniels. The Captain didn’t want these prisoners roughed up just yet, and Sanders was the man keeping everyone at bay.