“Obviously,” Kel answered, drawing a pair of daggers.
I heard the telltale beginnings of battlefield chanting and smirked. The runes along the length of my sword flashed in unison, and I closed the distance between us in a headlong charge. My bullrush caught her off guard, and her dodge was too slow to avoid a rising slash to her side. I let out a whoop of triumph and pumped my fist in the air. “That’s the best that Mora’s Hamlet has to offer?”
“You cheated!” she accused, rubbing her ribs.
“I’m sure that argument will go over well with the man that kills you in the field because you were too busy chanting,” I teased.
She growled under her breath and shook her head, but failed to offer a comeback. “Again,” she barked, waving me away. As I walked back to my position, I heard her chanting again and knew my surprise opening wouldn’t work again.
We clashed four more times, and each time I found myself on the losing end. Her daggers moved with a speed I had never encountered before and always redirected my strikes with an unbelievable level of ease. Our last bout ended with her knee on my chest, holding me against the ground with a dagger at my throat. I shouted in frustration and threw my sword away, tapping her boot in surrender.
“You’re not bad for a country boy,” she smirked, her shoulder-length black hair dangling down into my face. Hopping to her feet, she extended a hand down to help me up, which I begrudgingly accepted. “It’s nice to meet you, Elden.”
Despite my surface level frustration at losing, I felt a deep tingle of excitement at the prospect of training with the woman who had so thoroughly bested me. “It’s nice to meet you, Kel,” I replied, brushing the dirt from my back.
“Seems we’ll be working together for a while.”
“Seems that way.”
“For your sake, I hope you’re a quick study,” she laughed, clapping me on the shoulder before heading back to where we had left Jarut. “You’ve got a lot to learn.”
---
I woke up with a gasp and threw myself forward, which immediately brought my already aching forehead into contact with a wooden crate. The sudden commotion was met with a chorus of surprised yells, and I fell backwards into Lia’s waiting arms. She lowered my head gently back into her lap as I fought to focus my mind and vision. “Ow,” I said eventually, rubbing my forehead.
“Oh, thank the Primes you’re okay!” Marin exclaimed, peering down at me from the crate I had headbutted. “I was so scared when Lia brought you back unconscious.”
“That is unfortunately a much more common occurrence than you might think,” I chuckled dryly. “Thanks for the concern, though. I feel like shit, but I’ll be fine.” I let my head loll back against Lia’s stomach. “How long was I out?”
“Only a few minutes,” she answered, pushing a stray lock of hair out of my face. “We just crossed through the second gate in Lybesa.”
The statement puzzled me for a moment, and I realized with some dismay that I hadn’t planned any further ahead than breaching the Mountain Gate. “That’s...good. Did they give you any trouble?”
Marin shook her head. “I told them we had just passed through the gate when everything exploded, and they let us through without any hassle. They were a lot more concerned with a potential invasion from Kaldan than what we had in our wagon.”
“Small blessings,” I mused. “Where are we going now?”
“Marten’s driving again,” she replied, turning to stare through the cloth barrier between us and the driver's bench, “but I’m not exactly sure where to. He said he didn’t want to wait around for the Kaldan army to come find us, so we’re doing some night travel.”
“That’s good,” I nodded, sending a dull throb of pain through my head. With Lia’s help, I moved up into a sitting position, which gave me line of sight across the wagon to where Hana sat. “Are you alright, Hana?”
She gave me a quick nod. “Yes, we’re all perfectly fine,” she answered. “It was difficult to stay hidden inside while everyone else was taking such a risk for us. We managed to peek outside after Marin told us we were through the gate…” she trailed off, averting her eyes and fidgeting her hands nervously in her lap.
My head was too thick with fog to pull any meaning from the gestures, so I slumped back into Lia’s lap with a smile and closed my eyes. “I’m glad everybody is safe.” As my bodily aches began to register in my mind once again, I pulled on my mana to quiet them and noted with relief that the energy responded without delay. “I think I’ll sleep well tonight.”
Lia giggled. “You can sleep for as long as you’d like. I think you’ve earned it.”
I shook my head. “No, no. Wake me up at dawn, if I’m still asleep by then. I don’t want to miss our trip through a foreign country, right?”
“Right,” she agreed, patting my head as I repositioned myself for sleep.
“Lux,” Marin started with sudden urgency, “thank you for saving me. Again. When I saw all of the soldiers on the wall, I couldn’t imagine us getting through...but we did.”
I flashed a sleepy smile. “Thank you for your bravery. We couldn’t have made it through without you, either.” My consciousness immediately began to fade into sleep, and the last thing I heard was Lia’s laugh as Marin spun away in a huff and moved across the wagon to sit with Hana.
---
Lia roused me with a gentle shake at first light, and I awoke with a much calmer head. The wagon, now empty apart from the two of us, was stopped. “Good morning,” Lia greeted me, lifting my head to plant a kiss on my forehead. “How’re you feeling?”
Unsure of the answer myself, I did a quick scan of my body and was pleasantly surprised to
