Page 15 of The Daughter of the Scarred Elf

“We could keep going.” Kolfinna made to stand up, but her legs quivered and she plopped back down. The other fights wereslowly reaching their resolutions as well. A soldier to her left was lying on the ground breathing heavily, his uniform drenched with water while the soldier across from him was laughing. Another soldier to her right was pinned to the ground by an Enhancer. In the distance, Kolfinna could see Herja fighting a female soldier. Fire sputtered from her hands and cloaked her in brilliant violet flames.

“Wecould.” Inkeri stretched her arms and winced, her fingers going to the shoulder where Kolfinna had flung a particularly clunky piece of stone at her. “But we could also just rest for a few minutes.”

Kolfinna wiped her sweaty hands on her thighs and nodded. Resting sounded wonderful right about now. Especially since she was gulping in heavy mouthfuls of air and her muscles were quaking so badly she was sure they would break off her bones just like her stone attacks had crumbled on impact.

“Who’s the man at the front?” Kolfinna jerked her chin in the direction of the raven-haired man with the cloak made of glossy black feathers. He couldn’t have been older than thirty, but he looked like a man who had seen hell and come back.

Inkeri followed her gaze. “That’s Eluf Larrsen. He’s a rank above us and manages morning practice for our lot.”

“There are other lots?”

“Certainly. You didn’t think this was all our forces, right?” She waved to the hundred or so soldiers sparring with each other.

“I didn’t think too hard on it.”

“There are about four hundred of us here,” she said.

Four hundred. She had expected more soldiers to be manning the border, but maybe magic beasts didn’t incur the same threat as a bordering country did.

“Why does he look so …” Kolfinna struggled to find the word. Monotonous? Glum? Dark?

“He’s always like that.” She sipped her water. “His brother is the complete opposite.”

“You know his brother?”

“He’s a soldier with us. He’s part of our group.” Inkeri scanned the crowds. “He’s somewhere out there. I wouldn’t be surprised if he and Herja are duking it out right now. They’re both knuckleheads.”

“Herja was fighting a woman last I noticed.” Kolfinna caught sight of the redhead almost immediately. It was hard to miss her with the fiery explosion surrounding her in violets and blues. The only other person Kolfinna knew who used such powerful flames was Fenris. Herja was still fighting the woman and, by the looks of it, she was winning. “There.”

Inkeri followed her gaze. “Ah. She’s fighting Brenda.”

Brenda was also a fire elemental, and although her flames weren’t as colorful or powerful compared to Herja’s, she was still putting up a fight. Herja didn’t have room to relax; they both exchanged blasts of fire, their movements quick and their chest rising and falling in rhythm to their magic.

“Then Gunnar must be somewhere else.”

“Is Gunnar Eluf’s brother?”

“Oh, yes. Sorry, I should’ve mentioned that.”

Silence stretched between them.

“In case you didn’t notice,” Inkeri said, “people who are the same rank have to fight each other. Under normal circumstances, you can’t spar with someone that’s a different rank.”

Kolfinna hadn’t noticed that, but now that she mentioned it, each fighting pair had the same badge color. Grays against grays. Yellows against yellows. Purples against purples.

“That’s why I chose to fight you,” Inkeri continued. “I kind of wanted to see what level you’re at.”

“Ah. And what level is that?”

Inkeri shrugged. “I don’t know for sure. Maybe a yellow?”

A few minutes passed as Kolfinna breathed in the crisp, early morning air before Eluf’s voice rang out in the courtyard, commanding them to switch. Soon, everyone on her side of the courtyard began practicing mana control by themselves. Herja contained a giant fire, her forehead creased in concentration. Another soldier shot lightning up in the air in multiple successions. An ice elemental tried carving into his ice. Inkeri created pressurized air in the form of a ball; sweat dribbled down her forehead as she did it.

Kolfinna watched them all uncertainly. She had never practiced her mana manipulation like they were doing. She vaguely remembered Blár telling her that he had done something similar to what these soldiers were doing.

But before Kolfinna could figure out a way to do something similar, she spotted Joran waving at her. He stood a few feet away from her, the white badge on his breast pocket seeming out of place next to all the colorful ones surrounding them both. His dark gold hair was brushed neatly to the side, revealing his vibrant green eyes. They shifted from her to the other soldiers.

“Joran,” she said with a hint of surprise. By the looks of his uncrumpled, unstained uniform, he hadn’t been training with them. She was fairly certain he was the only “white rank” in this section of the fort.

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