“You want to be the greatest fighter in the world?” Wrenlow started to laugh. “You do know the world is kind of a big place. And I can’t imagine that you could find a way to be the greatest in the entire world. There are others who have innate magic. Think about the El’aras. They wouldn’t have any trouble with somebody like you.”
Gavin arched a brow at him. “I handled the El’aras.”
“I suppose you did,” he said. “Sometimes I forget about that.”
“We shouldn’t forget about that,” Gavin said.
“Have you tried calling her?”
“What makes you think that I will?”
“I saw the way that you are looking at her when she was here,” Wrenlow said. “I didn’t say anything to Jessica, if that’s your concern.”
“That’s not my concern.”
“Not while you are here. But eventually, won’t it be? She gave you the marker to get a hold of her.”
“She gave me the marker, but I haven’t used it.”
“You could,” he said.
“For what purpose?” Gavin rested his elbows on the table, looking at Wrenlow, holding his gaze. “What purpose would there be in me calling to the El’aras, and drawing them back here? They were here for some other reason, hiding the Shard, or to stay away from the rest of their people. I don’t even know. And I don’t even care. Just so long as they don’t give me a reason to go after them, I shouldn’t get caught up in it.”
“You shouldn’t?”
Gavin shook his head.
He tried to ignore the fact that Anna had claimed he was part El’aras. He didn’t know anything about his own past before he had trained with Tristan. That was the only thing that he could really remember. That and the fires that had claimed his parents.
He took a deep breath and got to his feet. “Come on,” he said to Wrenlow.
“Come on?”
“You wanted to fight.”
“Now? With you?”
“You have to fight with me to learn,” Gavin said.
“Are you going to hurt me?”
Gavin frowned. “Are you going to give me any reason to?”
“I just want to learn to protect myself.”
“There are a few different fighting styles that might be effective for that,” he started. “I can help you with them. But I have to warn you, I can be a painful instructor.”
“I believe it.” Wrenlow got up, and he set his pen down next to his book, and he glanced to the lantern before stepping into the cleared space in the Dragon. “How did you learn so many different fighting styles?”
“Tristan taught me most of them, but I’ve learned a few more since I left him.”
“How can you learn a fighting style so quickly?”
“Many different techniques borrow from each other,” Gavin said, shrugging. “And that makes it easy for you to connect the techniques. When you learn one, and discover its strengths, you can start to work on its weaknesses, as well. When you know enough different fighting styles, you can use the weaknesses of one style, augmented with the strength of another, and ideally, you become unstoppable.”
“The greatest fighter in the city.” Gavin lunged toward Wrenlow, who jumped back, laughing. “Fine. I will give you the greatest fighter in this part of the kingdom. How about that?”
He shook his head. “You know, I never wanted to be the greatest fighter before.”
“What did you want to be?”
Gavin frowned. What would I have wanted to be?
He hadn’t even given it much thought.
Before he had gone to Tristan, he had never wanted to be a fighter. He had never wanted to learn to fight. Then again, with as few memories as he had of that time, he didn’t know if he had always been destined to be a fighter. Maybe this was always going to be who he was. There was no denying the fact that he was skilled.
“I don’t know,” he said.
“I thought I was going to be a scribe,” Wrenlow said.
“You are a scribe.”
“I’m more than that,” he said.
“Most of the time,” Gavin said, laughing softly. He brought his hands up. “We’re going to start with the Jasap style. It is one that’s all about flow. It’s easier to learn, hard to master, but useful since very few people have seen it, and those who have are unlikely to attack you.”
“And this is one that Tristan taught you?”
“One of them.”
“Did you ever beat him?”
“I don’t know,” Gavin said, stepping back and taking his opening fighting stance.
“How is it that you don’t know?”
“I don’t know what was a test and what was not,” he said.
“Why not?”
“Because much of what he did to me was a test.” He stepped forward, nodding. “Now are you going to keep talking, or are you going to fight?”
“You don’t often talk about your past, so I was thinking maybe I would keep talking,” Wrenlow said, grinning.
“If you want to be even somewhat competent, you’re going to have to be able to stop this,” Gavin said, darting forward and striking outward.
Wrenlow stood fixed in place.
Gavin pulled back at the last possible second, grazing Wrenlow across the chest.
“You have to do a little bit better than that.”
“I didn’t know that was going to be the first attack,” Wrenlow said.
Gavin smiled tightly. Maybe he did need to work with Wrenlow, if only so that he could help him not be completely helpless if he were attacked. Gavin couldn’t afford to lose him. Not with everything else that they were doing, and with what was taking place in the city. He needed Wrenlow to be able to gather information. And it wouldn’t do for Wrenlow to get hurt in the process. He was a friend. Gavin didn’t have many of them, and couldn’t afford to lose one.
“I’m going to start a little slower with you this time,” Gavin said. “Watch where my hand goes.”
Wrenlow nodded. Gavin moved slowly, much more slowly than Tristan had ever been with him,
