Wings of Tavea (22 page)

“Because it is the easiest charm to undo and everybody knows how to undo it. It would be useless in battle. But in training it’s perfect.” Crossing his arms in front of him, he almost smiled. “And I said it wouldn’t kill you, I didn’t say it wouldn’t hurt. How much combat training have you had?”

Kiora thought about it. She had learned how to use her magic, and she had been in a few battles. But training? “None.”

Alcander’s right eye twitched. “I should have expected that would be your answer.”

His irritation made her blood boil. “That’s right,” Kiora snapped. “Because I don’t know anything about anything!”

Any bit of amusement Kiora had noticed from him earlier fled. His eyes narrowed in an icy gaze. “Let’s train.” He shouted directions as he crossed the room. “We start in the largest ring. You may go anywhere in the ring, but you may not leave the ring.” He spun to face her. “Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“You may take the first shot.”

She hesitated.

His hand flicked out, shooting a bolt of magic straight at her. She barely had to time to gasp before it hit her square in the chest and sent her flying across the room. Luckily for her head, she landed before she slammed into the wall of the cave. Unluckily for her, her behind was throbbing. She moaned, dropping her head back.

“Don’t hesitate,” he yelled.

Glaring at him, Kiora shouted back, “You said I could go first.”

“Lesson one: Don’t trust evil. Be on your guard no matter what they say.”

In one movement she pushed off the ground and shot a white bolt of magic at him. Alcander flipped himself up and over, looking more like a bird than a person, his white hair flowing behind him as he nimbly avoided her magic. He landed silently on his feet.

Her jaw hung open. “How did you—”

Instead of answering he threw more magic. She put up a shield and the magic bounced off it.

“
Never
try to have a conversation during a fight,” he scolded.

“Why not?” she yelled, shooting magic back at him. “I can multitask, can’t you?”

She thought she heard him laugh but she couldn’t be sure—she was too busy diving away from another flare of magic. Unfortunately, her dive left her legs exposed and his magic sizzled against the enchantment he had placed over her. It kept his shot from burning a hole through her leg, but it still hurt. She swore, rolling to her feet.

“You want to talk? Let’s talk then,” Alcander shouted.

She threw another bolt of magic, stronger than the first, and again he jumped over like it was nothing.

“Is it true you grew up without evil?” he asked, throwing a bit of magic that nipped her arm and spun her in a circle.

She tried to rub her throbbing arm as they circled around the ring, eyes glued on each other. “It’s true.”

“No evil at all?”

“Why is that so hard to believe?”

He laughed. “Because evil is reality. There is no facet of my world not impregnated with it.” He whipped out his wrist.

An invisible current swept her feet out from under her. She came down hard on the rock, cracking her head. She moaned, gripping the back of her head.

“Get up!” he demanded. “If you stay down, they will kill you.”

She scrambled to her feet, trying to ignore the pounding in her head. She threw more magic. He didn’t even have to jump this time; he simply stepped out of the way.

“Come on, Kiora, think! You keep doing the same things over and over again.” He began walking again and she moved in the opposite direction, still circling. “Have you ever been lied to?” he asked.

“Recently?” But the answer in her head was:
About everything!

“No, before. Did your people lie?”

“No.”

“Cheat?”

“No?” Her brain raced to think how she could catch him off guard.

“I can’t imagine.”

“And I—” an idea flashed in, “can’t imagine living as you have.” She sent a bolt flying right were she had every time. He jumped to avoid it. Grinning, she extended her other hand, releasing more magic right into his flight path. She saw his eyes widen, but there was no stopping the inevitable. The magic collided with him a good ten feet in the air, changing the trajectory of his body. He flew end-over-end out of the circle and into the wall.

Kiora was torn. Her instinct was to rush to him and apologize for hurting him. But at the same time, she was a little proud of what she had done.

Alcander was against the wall, gasping for air.

“Are you okay?” she asked, taking a step towards him.

“Fine,” he gasped, holding out his hand to stop her. “That . . . was . . . good.” It looked like she had knocked the air out of him.

The pride left, and she felt awful. “Sorry.”

“Don’t
ever
be sorry.” His eyes glinted.

Something Malena and Eleana had told her when she was first learning of evil flashed into her mind. They had told her one of her greatest gifts would be the pain she felt at others’ pain, and her kind heart. It made a little more sense now. “I will always be sorry,” Kiora whispered.

Alcander rose to his feet. “Come on, next circle.”

They stepped into the next circle, smaller than the first.

“Do you know how to do anything besides a full shield?” he asked.

“No, I thought there was only one kind of shield.”

“No, you do a full-body shield which is great, except for when anything behind you attacks. Small hand shields allow you freedom of movement.” He put both hands out, palms flat. She tensed, ready for a surprise attack. He smiled in approval. “Good girl. Now watch.”

Two shields the size of dinner plates flared out of his palms. “The closer you get to your enemy, the less room you have to maneuver and the more important it is that you stay flexible.” Stepping back he looked at her. “I want you to fire off as many shots as you can, as fast as you can.”

Kiora did as he asked. She took the first shot at his face. His hand moved so quickly it was a blur, the shield blocking the magic. She shot at his feet. He didn’t bother to block it but leapt over it. She took shots at his mid-section, arm, head, knee. Every shot was nimbly blocked.

She stopped. “I don’t understand why it is better than a full shield.”

He dropped his two mini shields. “Put up your shield.”

Kiora pushed it forward. He began firing rapid shots at her. Every one bounced off the shield, leaving a shower of green sparks behind. The more he hit, the more residue flowed down her shield, obliterating her vision. She could barely see as he launched his gravity-defying body over the top of her. He fired off the first shot before he even landed, hitting her right between the shoulder blades. She stumbled forward and felt another blow slam into her lower back as his feet hit the floor. She landed face first on the rock, scraping against it as she slid forward.

“That’s why,” Alcander said.

Her face against the cold stone flashed her back to her time with the Shifters, training with Eleana on wind. Kiora started laughing, her shoulders shaking into the floor.

“What’s so funny?” Alcander demanded.

“I was just thinking how furious Emane would be right now,” Kiora said, pushing herself up with a grin. She ran her hand over her cheek and held it out. Not a lot of blood, but she was bleeding. “He would not appreciate your method of training.”

“He is overprotective, isn’t he?”

“I don’t know,” she said, wiping the blood on her pants. “But protective? Yes, he is.”

“My methods create results.” Dropping his head to the side, he coyly asked, “What do
you
think of my training?”

She put her hand on her hips, evaluating him. “My brain thinks it is exactly what I need. My body hates your guts.”

“That,” Alcander looked her up and down with that same glint in his eye, “is too bad.”

Her heart took an extra beat, realizing the conversation had just taken an unexpected turn. “What does that mean?” she demanded.

His eyes became even more intense, his lids lowering. “You know what I mean.”

She shifted, crossing her arms in front of herself. “You’re the one who told me I was weird looking.” Nervously, she reached up to check for more blood. Her fingers came back dry. Swallowing, she refolded her arms.

He took a step closer to her. “No, I said you were different looking, that I had never seen anything like you.” His blue eyes threatened to suck Kiora straight into them. “I never said you’re weird looking.”

Her mouth went very dry and her palms began to sweat.
What was going on?
He took another step forward with a confidence that, to be honest, made her angry. Did he think she would just stand there while he walked over and kissed her? She flicked her wrist. Her magic collided with his stomach, knocking him off his feet.

Clearing her throat, she said, “Never let your guard down, Alcander.”

He gave her a look that suggested her little stunt had made her all the more endearing. He leaped to his feet. “Next circle,” he demanded.

She walked into the smaller circle. It was getting tight. This was the last one before the ridiculously tiny one at the center.

“Why did you run off after the battle?” he asked.

“I thought we weren’t supposed to talk while we fought,” she said, tucking a few stray hairs behind her ears. She didn’t want to talk about that.

“I thought you could multitask.”

The magic started firing as the conversation continued.

“You wouldn’t understand,” she said, diving to avoid a shot.

“If you’re going to dive out of the way, at least throw a shield,” he chastised. “Try me.”

She threw magic at his feet, forcing him to jump. “It hurts me to hurt others.” That was the simplest way she could think to explain it. She threw a piece of magic she hadn’t known she could do. The magic started small at her hand but fanned out quickly. Alcander was forced to put up a full shield to deal with it.

“Nice,” he said, complimenting her shot. “So what, you were hurting. Do you think I enjoy killing?”

“It’s not like that,” she insisted, putting up the hand shields to catch his close-range shots. She couldn’t move as fast as he could and a shot caught her in the knee.

“Move faster,” he instructed. “If it’s not like that, then explain.”

She blocked two more shots. “I don’t know anything different than what I feel. I have always been like this. But from what I have been told, and from what I have seen watching others—” She sent two shots in rapid succession, one high and one low. He blocked the high one but missed the low one. It clipped his legs out from under him. “Take the worst day of your entire life, multiply it by a thousand, and you might understand how I feel.”

Alcander went very still, his palms pressed against the ground.

Kiora sensed she had hit a nerve. “What?”

He stood abruptly. “Time for a break.” He walked more stiffly than normal out of the room.

She stood for a bit, listening to his footsteps disappear, then decided to follow him. She sidestepped through the tunnel and walked outside to find Alcander sitting with his back against the rock wall looking out over the canyon. He looked like a statue that had been carved and left to stand guard. His face was so perfect—it was disconcerting. The angles were so precise, so clean. His ears barely poked out from the side of his wispy hair, making him look very alert. The sadness she felt from him was tangible. Normally he was very good at keeping his emotions hidden. But the wall was clearly down at the moment, allowing her to feel a piece of what he was feeling.

“What was it?” she asked gently, sitting as close to him as she dared. “The worst day of your life?”

Alcander huffed, his eyes not moving.

“That bad, huh?” She pulled her knees up, wrapping her arms around them. They both sat there for a long time, arms-length apart, looking silently out.

Kiora focused on the sliver of light poking its way through the top of the canyon to prevent her eyes from wandering to him. There was something so different about him. He was closed to her, yet she felt like she had known him forever. His coldness was something she needed to understand.

“I didn’t always live here, as you know.” He stopped talking as abruptly as he had begun. Resting her chin on her knees, she patiently waited for more. “I lived in the castle with my family until I was ten.”

“How old are you now?”

He smiled a genuine, soft smile. “Older than you. Eighty.”

Kiora almost choked. “Eighty!”

“Magic keeps us young, surely you know that?” He glanced at her. “It will keep you young as well.”

She frowned; she hadn’t thought about that. “Does the rest of your family live here?” she asked. “Your mother?”

A dark shadow passed over his face. “No.”

Hesitantly she reached out, putting her hand on the crook of his elbow. “What happened to them?”

He looked lazily at her hand. “I am surprised Emane can stand you touching him. You pour off magic.”

She jerked her hand away.

“It’s all right, it doesn’t hurt. I just find it interesting, that’s all.”

Kiora ran her fingers over the uneven rock beneath her, feeling every bump and crevice. “Your family?”

“You just don’t let things go, do you?” He sighed. Relaxing against the rock, he stretched his legs out in front of him. “They are dead.”

“I’m sorry.”

He glanced at her sideways. “I blamed you for a long time, so I suppose it’s only fair that you be sorry.”

“Me? ” Kiora frowned. “You didn’t even know me.”

“You’re the Solus, the chosen one, the protector of good, the savior of the Taveans, light bringer, earth restorer. The names go on if you would like me to continue.”

“Please, don’t,” she moaned grabbing her head. She was getting ill just listening to them.

“I heard stories about what you would do, how you would save us all . . . .” He paused, “amongst other things.”

Her head jerked up. There was something amiss in his voice. But he moved on before she could put her finger on it.

“I was told that evil would never be allowed to take over because you would come.” He released a deep sigh, embedded with years of sadness. “I grew up in the last Tavean stronghold. My parents would put me to bed with fairytales of how safe we were because of you.” He snorted. “Little did they know you weren’t even born yet. I would go to bed at night, safe and secure with dreams of the Solus watching over me.” His jaw tightened. “Then the evil came. The gates fell. The guards were slaughtered. My father went out to fight while my mother stayed with me and my four sisters. We expected the attackers would be Shifters.” He shook his head slowly. “But they weren’t. The attackers were our fellow Taveans.”