Secret Worlds (298 page)

The final wall held the most curiosity for me. Besides the door near the corner, the wall was filled with weapons of all types and sizes. Underneath the display sat rows of chairs in the same wooden color with deep burgundy cushions in the seats.

“Wait right there.” Enid pointed to the spot I stood and removed the hood from his head. Eyes of captivating blue stared at me with a sadness that glowed beneath them. I was surprised by his long blond hair, pulled back and tied low. I half expected him to be bald or look more like Marren. His nose was shorter than Marren’s and rounded at the tip, not pointed. His lips were more square-shaped than round, and his cheeks sat high under his eyes. His thick eyebrows curved a little too round but didn’t take away from his attractiveness. I found him handsome, but not astonishingly so.

I nodded as he walked to the display of weapons and pull down a short sword. He brought the beauty over, holding it out to me like a lavish gift.

I took the sword, handling with care, and inspected the craftsmanship. The sword was much lighter than expected. The blade curved out on both sides then returned at the tip. The length matched the span from my waist to my knee, and green fabric and brown leather strips wrapped around the hilt. The cap on the end had a beautiful light blue crystal clutched tight by silver fingers.

Out of the corner of my eyes, Enid pulled his sword from its sheath. My eyes met his with a question that dissolved into a challenge.

“Let’s see what you’ve got.” His lips pulled back, revealing white rows of teeth in perfect alignment.

I smiled in return with the anticipation of a duel. “You’ve asked for it.”

“We shall see,” he retorted.

I held the sword in front of me, taking my stance as he took his. When he stepped to his right, I matched his movement, keeping eye contact with him. For several paces, we moved like this. Neither of us wanted to make the first move.

Realizing we could go on like this forever, I lunged first. He defrayed my attack and took an immediate counter. I dodged. The thrill of the exercise energized me, making me feel good again. Almost whole.

Soon we danced to an orchestra of clashing steel and shuffling footsteps. The more we fought, the more energized I became. Then Enid increased the skill level. He moved faster than me and nearly disarmed me more times than I cared to count.

On a turn, something bright caught my eye. The gleam stung and forced me to squeeze my eyes close. At that moment, Enid swept my feet from underneath me. My fall caused me to release my sword, sliding out to my side just out of reach. I moved to grab it, but the tip of his sword pointed at the base my throat. I lost.

“Not bad,” he said, sounding pleased. “It takes skill to hold up as long as you did. Who taught you to fight, if you don’t mind my asking?”

He removed his sword, giving me leave to stand. The question opened a wound I would have rather just kept shut and let heal.

“The man responsible for the Balai coming after me in the first place.” I clenched my hands in an effort to hold back the tears. The tips of my nails dug into my skin.

“That wasn’t his fault,” Marren said, walking up behind me.

I turned, startled by his appearance. “Are you always so quiet?”

“Yes,” he answered in a matter-of-fact manner.

I shook my head and rolled my eyes. “How was it not his fault?”

“He was set up.” He walked to a sword, pulled the hilt, and then inspected the blade by spinning it in his hands. All the while remaining nonchalant.

“By who? How do you know this?” I asked with insistence.

“I would think that after my conversation with you last night you would have figured out that I have been following you.”

“Ah, well, I also recall that you refused to answer any of my questions, and I still don’t understand how you know about the set up.”

His eyes rested on me, taking in everything they could. I almost felt exposed with the way he stared, as though he could glimpse right to my soul. Before I could say something about that, he said, “Pick up your sword.”

He pointed to mine with the tip of his.

I hesitated, wanting to question his seriousness but thought better of it as I walked over to my sword. The excitement in me almost burst. I was about to take some of my frustrations out on him, and I wouldn’t hold back. By the time I turned around with my sword in hand, he had already advanced on me. The element of surprise was very much his strong suit. I fought him off the best I could. But he was fast—incredibly fast. Too fast to be human. But I didn’t have time to think about that while deflecting each swing of his sword with my own.

“Breathe,” he instructed, nearly purring the word.

I let out a breath, not realizing that I had been holding it the entire time.

Our swords clanked against each other, hitting hard. Thrill, excitement, and, strangely, a heated, powerful passion ignited within my center. I couldn’t help the way my body felt to move faster than I’d ever moved before. I twisted and dodged his attacks while he did the same to mine. Moving together in perfect unison.

Just as I fell into the rhythm of our dance, he spun so he stood behind me. He held his blade to my throat with one hand and gripped my wrist that held my sword with the other. His body pressed against mine, hard as stone. A pulsating rush ran through my veins.

“Don’t think, just do,” he whispered into my ears, sending tingles down my spine with the warmth of his breath, increasing the rush.

“How can you not be out of breath?” I spoke through gritted teeth, still holding a hate for Marren, despite what this dual did to me. I rammed my elbow into his side, forcing him to release me.

“Many years of practice.” His words came out with little effort, along with another attack that disarmed me.

My sword slid across the floor, spinning several rotations before settling with its point in our direction. The crisp slice of his blade on my neck brought my attention back to him. I glared into Marren’s eyes only to have the scowl dissipate as own reflection stared back at me. I lowered my gaze, submitting to my second defeat.

Marren lowered his sword as Enid walked up to take it and then stepped closer to me, pulling up a part of my hood and lifting the hair from my neck with a gentle graze of his hand to reveal the cut. The touch lingering long after his hand was gone. My heart flipped.

Stupid heart
.

His brow furrowed as he placed a cloth against the cut with one hand and his other on the lower part of my back, holding me against him. He put enough pressure on my neck that I had to grab a hold of his arm to prevent myself from falling over. The warmth in his skin was surprisingly soothing.

“Sorry,” he said low.

“I’ve had worse, trust me.” I worked to control my breathing through the stinging of the cut, the pressure he had placed on it, and the fact that he stood against me and that didn’t bother me. I rather enjoyed the closeness, much to my dismay. My mind started to spin with the conflict. I forced my focus to other things, resisting meeting his gaze again for fear of losing myself completely.

“You shouldn’t keep yourself so guarded,” he said. His voice so soft it brought a nervous chuckle out of me. I was losing my mind. I enjoyed standing against his body, having his warmth seep into my skin too much. I couldn’t resist staring into his eyes any longer. Confusion flashed across his face. Had I done something to upset him?

He removed the cloth from my neck. The need for me to keep ahold of him dissipated, but I didn’t want to let go. It wasn’t until he started to back away that I followed his lead by releasing my grip on him.

“At least the bleeding stopped.” His words matched his expression of confusion. He walked to my sword, picked it up then brought it to me. “She’s yours.”

He smiled a blazing, heart racing smile. One I couldn’t help but return with one of my own. I took the sword, unworthy of such a beautiful gift thought grateful nonetheless.

“Thank you.” My gratitude came out meek and sounding like a question.

“Enid can take you to the blacksmith to have the nicks forged out and then you can sharpen the blade to your liking.” He paused as though to consider his next words. “You are a wonderful fighter. I’m surprisingly impressed.”

He smiled again, more to himself. As he walked away from me, a flood of heat rushed my cheeks.

“I will take you to the blacksmith now,” Enid said, walking toward the door.

“Okay,” I replied as I slowly stepped behind him.

***

The weather had turned pleasant. The cold was only noticed in the slight, lazy breezes blowing by. We stepped along the road in front of the marble palace. The front seemed like a normal mansion made of marble with pillars holding up the roof to the half circle porch. The trees were as thick in the front as they were in the back, but the land remained even in the front whereas large hills rose and fell toward the mountains in the back.

It would be impossible to know the place stood in that spot, but also incredibly easy to forge a strike against it. The trees provided the perfect cover for anyone seeking to start trouble, despite the place being secluded and peaceful. Although, an attack seemed unlikely.

Enid walked silently next to me. His sword swayed in rhythm to his steps. The metal cap on the handle glinted in the sunlight. There was more to him than met the eye, and I wanted to learn about my new found friend.

“What does A’lainn mean?”

“It means a thing of beauty in my native language. A compliment.” He twisted at his waist toward me with a grin pulling at his lips.

“There’s nothing beautiful about me,” I muttered, flattered and embarrassed at the same time. If he only knew what happened, perhaps he wouldn’t feel so willing to dote compliments on me.

“No? You have the most wonderful shade of brown hair, the color of cinnamon, and when the sun shines on you, you glow. I think that is quite beautiful. Your fair skin and brown eyes are also very beautiful. A rare combination nowadays and said to be a symbol of beauty. So, tell me, what makes you think you are otherwise?”

I had to answer his question. It seemed only fair, but I didn’t want to share my nightmare, the thing that scarred me. However, I could give him a little of what he may already be aware of. “I guess because of the way people treat me. The names they call me. I’ve never had a reason to see the beauty in myself.”

He said, “It’s also what I used to call my daughter. You both look alike.”

“What happened to her?”

“She and my wife were killed, a long time ago.” Though the pain in his voice seemed as though they were killed just yesterday. Guilt forced a lump into my throat.

“Enid…I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” His words were free from pain. “It was a long time ago. Shortly after their deaths, Marren found me and gave me a new purpose in life. It’s an honor defending him.”

I became incredibly curious about that bit of information and quite interested as to what I had been brought into the middle of. “Defending him? From what?”

He glanced at me, then back to the road. “I’m sure you already understand a certain reputation follows Marren which tends to bring him more trouble than he cares to deal with. You should realize he’s quite the opposite.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Uh huh. Was that the point of the duels?”

“That was to gauge your ability to wield a sword.”

“Why is that important?”

He ignored me.

“If you’re impressed with my ability to wield a sword, just wait till you see what I can do with a bow.” It was meant to be bitter and sarcastic.

“Marren will be pleased to learn of more abilities.”

I had enough of the coy banter and needed some real information. I stopped in the middle of the road. “Okay, that’s enough.”

Enid paused in his walking to turn and face me. “Is there a problem?”

“Yes. I’m spinning my mind trying to figure out what is going on here, and for the life of me, I can’t! As soon as I get one theory down, another one completely replaces it. Why is my ability to fight such an important need?”

“Your questions are best kept for Marren.”

“Wonderful!” I threw my hands up into the air and stompped forward.

The top of a small stone house came into view just as we climbed the crest of a hill. Straw and twigs made up the roof. Behind it, just a short jaunt away, another small hut stood with black smoke billowing from the chimney. The sound of a rhythmic
clank-tink
floated on the air.

“Raden,” Enid called out, “we have need of your service.”

In response, a short man with a long beard and hair pulled back, strutted out from the smoking building. His skin and clothing were covered in a fine black dust. I nearly gasped when I realized he appeared exactly like the dwarf statue in the ballroom—only not made of stone, wearing armor, or wielding an axe.

“Ne’er seen a dwarf before, have ye?” His bright green eyes twinkled under the layers of soot covering his face.

I shook my head and stammered, “N-no, sorry, I thought the stories were all myths.”

“No worries, lass. Ye will soon discover things about the world ye live in the books didn’t cover.” He winked at me and held out his arms for the sword. I handed it to him and then he turned and started for the small building he stepped out of. From there, I discerned his hair was not only covered in black soot but was black. I gaped.

“Marren would like for you to bring it back once you are done. Don’t sharpen it. A’lainn wants to do that.”

The dwarf paused long enough to turn around and say, “It’ll be a while. Ye really dented the girl.”

“Why is the sword considered a girl?” I asked Enid.

He shrugged with his arms crossed over his chest. “Everything has an essence. That one seems to like being handled like a woman…”

Enid began walking along the road back toward Marren’s marble palace.

“Is that so?” I asked sarcastically. “How exactly does a woman like to be held? Because, I have yet to meet one who likes to be smacked against another repeatedly.”

He continued without a word. I followed behind, more slowly, taking as much time as stubbornly possible.