I cleared my throat and avoided looking at any of them. “So, what are we going to train on today?”
“Three against one. All of us are going to train together so you get used to defending against more than one attacker. David, Travis and I will attack you, and you will have to stop us.”
I felt the blood drain from my face, and I’m sure it went white because Kait chuckled and David came around the table to hug me, before saying, “Don’t worry, we will be using protective spells so the attacks will just slide off.”
Kait chimed in. “I know what I’m doing and I haven’t had a fatal injury during training yet. Eat up, you’ll need your energy.”
Sullenly, I started eating. I knew better than to argue.
Once we were done, and the dishes were in the dishwasher, we all bundled up and headed out to the training grounds. I was grateful for the waterproof shoes and coat Janelle had bought for me last week. The grounds may be warded, but it was cold and wet on the way to them.
Kait explained what he wanted from us as he set the protective spells on everyone. My main goal was to avoid being hit, and to hit them. Their goal was to hit me, and not each other, while dodging or blocking my attacks. Super simple, right?
After about an hour, I was ready to drop. I had gotten hit a couple of times, but as promised, the attacks just bounced off. The worst was when Travis sent a tornado at me and it picked me up and flung me a few feet. I managed to land on my feet, so I wasn’t hurt, but it startled me. Kait had to call a halt for a minute while I gathered my wits from where they had been flung as well.
We were taking a short break when a small, foot-long dragon appeared in the clearing with us. It flew up to us, landing in front of where I was sitting. The sun reflected off its dark-purple scales, causing a beautiful iridescence. I smiled as I watched it study the arena. After peering at me for a second, it hopped up and extended its leg. There was a fancy envelope tied there. I untied the string and patted its head. It looked at me one more time before flying away, burping a flame as it did. It was so freaking cute; I couldn’t help the girly squeal. “Oh my God, guys. That was so cute! I want one.”
Kait shook his head as he came over and took the envelope from me. “Those are venomous, Princess. You shouldn’t have touched it.”
“But, but it wanted me to! You saw it! It had to be trained! Does that mean I can’t have one?” I pouted at him.
“There are less dangerous varieties, Princess. We can discuss your choice in pets later. We are off topic. This letter is the important thing. It’s from the Svikari. They want to meet.”
My heart dropped. “No, I don’t want to. They can go to hell.”
Kait knelt in front of me. “We need to be cautious with this. It is signed by a person calling themselves the King of Svikari so, we probably don’t want to outright refuse them. Let’s think about this before we respond. It says they will send Gildroy back for the answer in an hour. I think that’s the dragons name.”
That was an awesome name for a dragon! I briefly wondered if I could steal it for when I got my dragon. Oh, or dragons! I could have a flock of them. What was a group of dragons called?
Kait snapped his fingers in front of my face. “Earth to Evalia! Come on, I can’t believe you’re daydreaming about owning dragons. This is serious. If you can’t keep your mind on what we are talking about, we will decide for you.”
“I’m sorry, I just got so excited at seeing a real dragon, I couldn’t help myself. What were you saying?”
He sighed and ran his hand over his face. “I was saying we need to set up a meeting at a location of our choice, allowing for a full bodyguard for you. If they don’t agree to our terms, we won’t do it.”
“This may surprise you, Kait, but, just this once, you can set up whatever you want. I trust you and I know you will do what is necessary to keep me safe.” The shock on his face was funny. I giggled. “Not to mention, he probably wants to meet in Shadoewynne, and since I know nothing about it, I wouldn’t be able to make an informed decision. I’m not stupid; I know when I can’t add anything to the discussion.”
Kait smiled. “I underestimated you, again. Sorry. So, I will make the arrangements for later this week, probably Friday. We will need to go to Shadoewynne early so I can set things up. I will call a meeting with you all when I have the details so everyone knows what to expect, okay?”
We all nodded, and Kait clapped his hands. “Alright, even more reason to keep training! Let’s go! Get off your asses, and back to it!”
Ugh. Kait was a slave driver. He had us continue until early afternoon, when he finally called a break for lunch. We wearily trekked back to the house, where Sarah had a hot meal waiting for us. I almost fell asleep in my soup, and a Christmas scent enveloped me as I was carried to my room.
It was dark due to the overcast skies when I woke up an hour or so later, and a light dusting of snow covered everything outside. It looked like the temperature had dropped, and a winter storm was coming in. I went searching for any of the guys I could find. I eventually found Travis and David in the man-cave watching Terminator. They were quoting the lines along with Arnold, with the worst fake accents possible, and
