Page 54 of Lies Within the Darkest Tower

The warmth in my chest chilled as the next group took their positions. This had three of the two experienced humans and a few fae and while they got close to the black mark in the center none of them hit it. Except that didn’t make me feel better. They all just raised their bows and fired without taking any time to center themselves and focus, making Lord Rider look at them with gruff satisfaction.

And I couldn’t figure out why that stung. I wasn’t supposed to be impressing Lord Rider or anyone else. I was just supposed to keep my head down until Sawyer was safe. But I’d made a perfect shot and he hadn’t even acknowledged it as good. Of course, he was right. Even if I’d had a bow last night, I wouldn’t have had achance of using it before those shadow monsters had come after me.

But knowing that still didn’t make it hurt less. I hadn’t done anything right since I’d come here, and while I should have been used to not being acknowledged and browbeaten, a small part of me had hoped it would be different. Here I wasn’t a woman. I was supposed to have value. But my fellow novices and probably most of the Guard thought I was an arrogant noble.

CHAPTER 34

Sage

The archery testfinished with three of the fae, Mikel, and Ambrose hitting the mark in the center in a fraction of the time I’d taken, then we were all ushered away from the archery range to a flat area that had a large circle carved into the rocky ground. Beside the circle someone had laid out a variety of practice weapons from short swords, long daggers, large two-handed swords, and even a couple of battleaxes.

Lord Quill called the name of one of the humans who’d done poorly on the archery test. He’d also been in the group that had finished the running trail after me but hadn’t been the man who’d arrived last. He was told to select a practice weapon and step into the ring.

Lord Rider stepped in to fight him and the man, a skinny man who’s breathing had sounded a little like Sawyer’s when he’d staggered off the running trail, froze. His eyes widened and his blade, a thin longsword that was actually a good fit for his size and strength, started to tremble.

“No head, no hands, first one to three touches,” Lord Quill said.

“Begin,” Talon called out, and the skinny novice jumped as if he’d been bitten.

Lord Rider slowly moved to the right, studying his opponent, but it was clear the novice had no combat training at all. He didn’t move with Lord Rider to keep his weapon between them, only followed the large fae with his eyes, and his stance was all wrong, his feet too close together. A moderately strong push and he’d lose his balance.

Lord Rider stepped in and did a slow, tentative tap to the man’s shoulder, surprising me. I would have thought he’d have done a full aggressive attack on everyone. He could easily overpower most of the novices here, certainly all of the humans, but then that wouldn’t give him a good assessment of this novice’s skills. And if I really thought about it, he’d been kind and gentle with me in the garden, which made me wonder if his gruff, angry demeanor was an act or not.

The skinny novice jerked away from Lord Rider’s attack, not even trying to get his blade up to block, tripped, and landed on his butt, making a few of the fae and the experienced humans chuckle.

“I’ve seen enough,” Lord Rider said as he stepped away from his opponent. “Next.”

The next few novices, all humans, varied between weak and highly skilled, and after the first few, I realized, Lord Quill was mixing up the skill levels, so Lord Rider wasn’t fighting too many highly skilled fighters in a row.

With the humans who clearly had no experience, Lord Rider always started with the tentative swing to the shoulder — switching it up between left and right. For those who demonstrated more experience in how they stood, held their weapons, and moved those initial few steps, his attacks were faster and more varied.

I watched how he moved, trying to determine any weakness, but as expected, he was never off balance and his guard was always there to block. He’d even been able to block when Durandjabbed in then twisted his wrist and slid the tip of his blade over Lord Rider’s toward his chest in a move that wasn’t easy to do with a heavy longsword. The move had made Lord Rider’s eyes widen with a hint of surprise and then crinkle at the corners with pleasure for a second before his stoic, gruff expression returned.

Then Lord Quill called the first fae novice. The man was just as big and bulky as Lord Rider and moved with the same dangerous grace.

They slowly circled in an attempt to gage each other’s skill level then the novice lunged in, the movement fast and fluid. Lord Rider blocked, and they exchanged a flurry of powerful blows and blocks, demonstrating just how much Lord Rider had been holding back with the humans, even Durand.

I’d never seen anything like it. They were both so powerful and fast. None of the men at Herstind had been able to fight like that, not even Pylos or Edred, and for a moment I couldn’t understand why the fae bothered to work with us humans at all. But then if they didn’t, defending the Gray would fall entirely on them and, because the Black Guard was half human half fae, it was clear they didn’t want that.

Still, how many fae guardsmen looked down on us weaker humans? I hadn’t noticed that kind of divide during the morning or midday meal, but then I’d only really noticed the looks everyone had been giving me.

But then Mikel’s name was called, and he gave a showing almost as good as the fae novice with powerful strikes and quick movements. He even managed to get two points on Lord Rider before the Lord Commander had gotten his three points and won the fight.

The assessment went on like that, good then bad, moderately skilled then fae.

One of the younger, inexperienced novices mumbled about all the fae being so good and another replied, “They choseserving the Black Guard, so they know they’re going to need to know how to fight and prepare for it.”

“They volunteer?” another novice asked.

“We humans should do that as well,” Mikel said as the novice in the ring tripped over his own feet and fell. “It’s stupid to just send anyone.”

“Embarrassing too,” Durand added. “The fae must think we’re useless sending men who don’t know how to hold a sword and runts who are stupid.”

“Next,” Lord Rider growled as the novice he’d just defeated picked himself and his sword off the ground and hurried out of the ring.

“Ambrose,” Lord Quill called out and Ambrose hopped up from his seat on the ground, grabbed a practice sword and stepped into the ring.

Like all the other fights, Lord Rider started circling him, judging his hold on his weapon and his movement before lunging in with an attack.

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