Page 102 of A Tribute of Fire

“Point for Artemisia!”

One more point to go and this would be over.

Artemisia lifted her staff over her head, indicating her next move, and I raised my staff to meet hers, wood smacking into wood. Then she dropped it low, intending to hit my exposed left side.

But I met her staff there, too.

Her eyes widened slightly, surprised.

It let me know that I had pushed things too far. It was time to let her win.

She again raised her staff, but her body told me that she was going low with her feet. And she did exactly what I thought she would, using her weapon as a distraction while she swept me to the ground. As I fell I turned slightly to my left so that my shoulder would take the brunt, lessening the impact on my chest. It made it so that the wind wasn’t knocked from my lungs.

Artemisia could have easily tapped me with her staff and won the point, but instead she threw it to the side and was on top of me, a knife pressed up against my throat.

“What are you playing at?” she demanded, and I felt a drop of blood trailing down my neck. Her tunic slipped slightly and I saw the edges of a reddish-brown tattoo.

“I don’t know what you mean.” Did I sound convincing? Or like I was tormenting her?

The tip of her knife dug deeper into my throat. “I beat you, Locrian. I will always beat you.”

We’ll see. The words were on the edge of my tongue, but I didn’t get a chance to say them as Antiope had grabbed Artemisia by the back of her practice tunic and was hauling her off me.

“Enough!” she yelled. “You know better than to pull an unauthorized weapon on one of your sisters! If you do another stunt like that again, I will ban you from the gymnasium for an entire month. Go outside and run ten laps around the complex.”

Artemisia gave Antiope a look of pure hatred but did as she was commanded. The battle master offered me her hand and helped me to my feet.

“You did extremely well for a beginner,” she said. “You have excellent instincts, which we can easily build from. You have the potential to be one of the best fighters here.”

I tried not to preen under her compliments but feared I was failing to stay humble.

She went over the mistakes I’d made, outlining what I should have done instead. I already knew all of it, but I nodded and listened as we walked back to my adelphia. Another priestess took over the main matches in the center ring and some women watched, while others had returned to their own smaller rings to continue sparring.

Zalira and Suri were fighting again, resuming the battle that had been interrupted earlier. Antiope had a running commentary on what they were doing, pointing out their strengths and weaknesses and what she thought they should have done better.

I noticed that Zalira was stronger and technically more skilled, but that Suri was relentless. She didn’t want to give up, even when she’d lost a point.

“I’ve had to yell at that one more than once to get her to stop,” Antiope said in an indulgent tone, like she enjoyed that part of Suri’s personality.

Zalira won all three rounds but not for lack of Suri trying. Maia said that Io and Ahyana were up next.

It was easy to see how uncomfortable all of this made Io. Ahyana even went easy on her, despite Antiope barking at her to not do so.

“Are you going to hold back when you face a real enemy?” Antiope yelled. “Hit her, Ahyana! And Io, defend yourself!”

Io had tears in her eyes and it took everything in me not to interfere. While Io understood the techniques, there was no will or want to fight. She simply wasn’t built for it.

Fortunately, Ahyana scored all three points quickly.

I was put into the ring with Zalira, and Antiope talked me through the battle, telling me how to stand, what to watch for. This all felt so comfortable and familiar but, at the same time, strange and different. She was teaching me offensive fighting and correcting my stance. It was easy to pick up as it was similar to the things I’d already learned.

At the end of the training session, we had a quick lunch break in the dining hall. I felt completely energized and ravenous and Zalira teased me about the amount of food I was eating. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt so hungry.

After lunch we went to our afternoon class, along with the other acolytes who had been there for three years or less. It was in the same big room where I’d met with Maia earlier that morning.

“We have to sit up front because Io wants to be the favorite,” Ahyana told me in a loud whisper that had Io mock glaring at her.

“It’s so we can hear better,” she corrected.

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