“This would be a good place for an ambush,” he muttered just loud enough for the team to hear. “If I were them, I’d have something—”
Snow shivered and reformed itself on the left.
“Elementals!” Christine shouted, as if that was supposed to mean something.
Snow creatures were coming at them from three sides, while the team was hemmed in from the fourth by a sheer cliff face.
“What do I do?” he asked, looking at Christine, wanting to know what he should do.
The witches head swung his direction, and their eyes locked.
Altair inhaled sharply as he saw deep into her soul, past her defenses. She was unguarded then, her focus elsewhere, and what he saw was...wonderful.
Someone was talking, but for Altair, time was frozen.
She was beautiful. He’d never known just how gorgeous she was, but right then, right there, her hair swinging wildly, robes clinging just right, her eyes...dark and mysterious usually they had morphed into warm and inviting. He just wanted to reach up and touch her cheek.
They were buried under a pile of snow as the elementals hit them. The witches were paralyzed, waiting for Christine to snap orders, and when she didn’t, they lashed out on their own, disorganized. They lost.
The simulation ended, and Altair found himself back in the arena again.
“What was that?” Master Pinton snapped as she approached. “I thought you were the best of the best, and you let a bunch of snow elementals get the best of you? Next!” she turned away with disgust.
Altair bit his lip. “I’m sorry,” he said, feeling responsible for what had just happened.
“Stow it,” Christine snapped at him. “Next time just focus on your damn job. Stop screwing things up, okay? Just do it right next time!”
Altair nodded, refraining from speaking some more. Telling her that he hadn’t meant to screw up, that he wasn’t even sure what had come over him, that didn’t seem like it would help. She was upset, and he doubted it was entirely at him.
After all, she’d been staring at him too.
Biting his lip in irritation, Altair wandered off back to the start, determined that next time, he wouldn’t lose his concentration just before a battle.
Again, people had died because of him, even if it was just a practice. What if that happened in the real world? He needed to be in better control, just like Christine had said. Next time he was going to show her that he could do what was necessary, that he could focus and complete the mission. She would be proud of him.
He blinked at that thought.
Why do I care if she’s proud of me? I should be focused on the mission, nothing else.
Chapter Nine
Christine
THE SIMULATION DISAPPEARED as Master Pinton shut it down.
“That’s all for today. Next session is tomorrow at six. In the morning.” The Master’s eyes focused on Altair. “Don’t be late.”
Christine noted the flash of anger in his eyes. Good. After his performance today he should be angry. The damn dragon shifter had screwed up twice, all because he couldn’t stop looking to her for help and guidance.
Perhaps she couldn’t put the entire blame on him. After all, he didn’t know what any of the creatures were, or how to attack them. They couldn’t slow down just to bring him up to speed on the myriad creatures of the Abyss; there were simply too many of them. He would have to adapt and learn on the fly.
And so far, he was doing a poor job of it.
Not that he’s the only one who’s done a poor job today.
“I expect more out of you,” Master Pinton said as she came by. “Don’t let distractions bring the team down, Apprentice Sinnclare. Deal with them. Rise above them. Be better than...this.”
Then she was gone, leaving Christine. It wasn’t all her fault. None of the teams had done overly well today, though hers had done the worst. It was not the start she’d hoped for.
Although she’d had many ideas on how to integrate dragon and witch powers together while studying with Altair, in the real world it was proving to be much harder to implement. She had to somehow work Altair into the mix, while also forging a team from the rest of the witches, few of whom had ever worked together in a situation such as this.
It wasn’t going to be easy. At one point, after the snow elementals had overwhelmed her team, she’d begun to have doubts, to wonder if she was cut out for the leadership of the team.
“You look like you’re being hard on yourself.”
She looked up from her self-ruminations as Altair shuffled over to stand near her. “What makes you say that?”
“Slumped shoulders, inward looking stare, clenching and unclenching your fist.” The dragon shrugged. “I’ve seen it before,” he explained, declining to say where.
Christine shrugged. “I expect more out of myself,” she told him. “I came in here with the goal of leading this team. I still want to do that, but I didn’t realize just how much work it was going to be.”
“Being in charge is always harder than it looks. Some people are cut out for it, some are not,” he said wistfully.
She almost asked him what that was all about but declined. Right now, she wasn’t sure that talking to Altair was going to cheer her up. Working with him was supposed to be easy. Yet it wasn’t. It had been the closest thing to a nightmare.
“Thanks for the pep talk,” she said a bit more bitterly than intended.
“I was going to add that I think you are cut out for it,” he said respectfully, before falling into silence.
“Oh.” Now she just felt guilty. “Thank you, Altair, I appreciate that.”
“The others can see it too I’m sure,” he said. “If they can’t, they will in time. Don’t doubt yourself, you can do this.”
“Thanks.” She didn’t know what else to say.
“If there’s any way I can help, just let me know,” he said awkwardly.
“You can focus on the mission
