Child of Blackwen (An Artemis Ravenwing Novel Book 1) (50 page)

I felt my body ache when I fell to the ground again. Netira crouched above me, with one thick twig against my neck and another poking into my chest. She moved only when I yielded.

“You’re learning, but not fast enough.” Netira sighed. “You’re over-thinking your attacks.”

“She does get distracted easily,” Jack teased as he leafed through another page of the tomes he’d brought along.

“I wouldn’t talk, Jack,” I grumbled. “When was the last time
you
sparred with anyone, anyways?”

“Verbally? Quite recently,” Jack replied. He laughed when I glared, and he marked a page before shutting it. “Very well, I accept your challenge.”

I threw him my own pair of thick wooden twigs, and he raised an eyebrow.

“What?” I asked, feigning innocence. “You thought I was asking you to spar with
me?
”

“Evil woman,” Jack muttered. “Be gentle with me, Netira.”

Netira chuckled. “You should know that whenever someone tells me that, I only hit them harder.”

I saw Jack gulp as she lunged toward him. I was impressed when he parried several of her blows. He even managed to dodge one of her attacks with a side step, and landed a hit to her back.

Jack beamed. “I told you I picked up a few things while staying at Talisa’s.”

Netira came at him again and knocked him off his feet. She pinned him to the ground just as she had done with me. I laughed and walked over to the two.

“Yes, so I’ve noticed,” I teased.

“Never take your attention off of your opponent,” Netira instructed as she helped Jack to his feet. “You’ll end up dead before you can fully develop into your mage gift.”

Jack stiffened at the mention of the mage gift. “I’m not sure I want to do that.”

“Karesu was the same way once,” Netira explained. She motioned for me to return for another spar. “Once he accepted his gift, he used it to bring much good into the world.”

“He worked for Arlina,” Jack reminded her.

“I did too, Jack,” Netira said. “I don’t excuse the evil I helped create. I did it because it brought me higher in Arlina’s ranks, therefore bringing me closer to her. Unfortunately, the best laid plans are the first to fail.”

“That’s the truth.”

Everyone turned and saw Shadow standing behind us, smiling while holding a pair of swords.

“Joining the festivities?” Netira asked.

“Naturally,” Shadow answered. “Someone has to make sure Artemis keeps up her swordplay. It’s best for one of her rank to learn as many weapon styles as possible.”

I wished I were back in the days when I didn’t know I came from nobility.

“Now
this
I have to see.” Jack returned to his spot from earlier. “I’ve wondered if you had improved in that area.”

Netira stepped aside and moved to sit beside Jack. “I’m sure Artemis is capable enough to wield a sword. She’s surprised me so far.”

“Remember when I said that she gets distracted easily?” Jack said. “That’ll happen more now.”

“I
can
hear you, you know,” I said, taking one of the swords Shadow held out.

“Don’t worry, Artemis.” Shadow took a stance. “Jack’s next.”

“Wait, what?” Jack sputtered. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that I will be teaching you swordplay as well,” Shadow explained. “I’d rather be safe than sorry. You should not rely solely on the magic you’ve just begun to control.”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to trust me with a sword!” Jack whined.

“Don’t be such a youngling,” Netira scolded. “I’ll teach you how to properly wield those daggers of yours as well.
I’d
feel safer that way.”

Jack hung his head in shame while the rest of us laughed. I took my own stance before the lesson with Shadow started. Inside I groaned, for now I knew he wasn’t going to hold back.

Talisa and Callypso circled the camp with the satchel Talisa brought from the safe house, and they dug little holes to hide the “special” herbs that would harm any who dared attack their camp. Talisa stopped once she heard someone approach, and she relaxed when it was only Shadow.

“Ah. I see the traps have been set already,” Shadow said, taking care to watch where he stepped.

“Where are the others?” Callypso asked, taking a seat by the fire.

“They went to find some water for us,” Shadow answered. “The sparring sessions lasted longer than we expected.”

“How is Artemis progressing?” Talisa inquired.

“She’s doing well…for a beginner,” Shadow replied. “The only time we’ll know for certain is when she goes into battle.” Shadow rubbed his brow, his green eyes showing fatigue. “Somehow I can’t help but feel that we will find trouble in Westyron, but we can’t put off the trip.”

Talisa sighed. “I know.”

“Did she spar with the sai?” Callypso inquired.

“No. She’s learning their fighting style from Netira, but Artemis has yet to actually fight with them.”

“That is wise then.” Callypso breathed a sigh of relief.

“You still believe they’re linked to Tamina?” Shadow asked.

“I
know
they are,” Callypso insisted. A cool breeze picked up, and both Shadow and Talisa watched her. “Apologies. I’m just…I’m a little anxious.”

“We all are,” Shadow said.

Talisa joined Callypso by the fire. She removed her dark blue pointed hat, and slowly plaited her long, white-streaked black hair.

“Shadow…” Talisa began. “Do you…you don’t think
he
is still in Westyron, right? After all these years, do you think he returned there?”

Shadow stiffened. “That
is
his home. Perhaps he is.”

“Who are you two talking about?” Callypso asked, puzzled.

Talisa stared into the fire, the glow of the embers shifting colors along her face. “We speak of Gavin. He is someone we once knew long ago.”

“From the sound of it, he was someone you both didn’t get along with,” Callypso deduced.

“Gavin is Artemis’ father,” Shadow elaborated. “Tamina and he had a rather…well, to put it simply, a hasty love affair that led to marriage and then—”

“And then everything fell apart,” Talisa cut him off. “To make a long story short, we only know that once he learned the truth behind the heritage of both Tamina and Artemis, he tried to kill them. Obviously, he failed. Shadow and I tried to explain to Tamina the kind of man he was before, but when you’re in love with someone…you care only what
you
think.”

“Oh goddesses…” Callypso gasped. “This man is still alive today?”

“He’ll have aged, as he is human,” Shadow said. “
If
he still lives, of course.”

“Don’t fool yourself, Shadow.” Talisa frowned. “Gavin is too stubborn to die.”

“You should tell Artemis,” Callypso urged. Talisa and Shadow were silent. “You can’t mean to be tight-lipped on the matter! Look what happened when both of you failed to mention Arlina to her! Ellewynth was destroyed because Arlina learned about her! Artemis should at least know the truth that her father could still be alive and in Westyron!”

“Artemis already has much on her mind,” Talisa explained. “Would you have the girl lose her focus at the discovery of one parent still being alive? He tried to kill her, Cally.”

Callypso glared. “If neither of you will tell her before the first of us take the evening watch, believe me when I say that
I
will inform her. Choose wisely.”

Talisa and Shadow watched as Callypso disappeared into the one tent Talisa brought as a precaution for ill weather.

“She is right, Talisa,” Shadow sighed. “We’ve kept enough from her already.”

“
You
were the one who emphasized how important it was to keep her ignorant of the truth,” Talisa reminded him. “For the sake of a clean slate, you said…for the sake of her sanity.”

“And it backfired,” Shadow recalled. “I won’t lose her, Talisa. Not over this.”

“Then I take it you’ll be the one who will tell her,” Talisa said, resigned.

Shadow nodded. “She has the right to know why I have the desire to end his life.”

“You should leave that part out,” Talisa suggested. “You can never win a woman’s heart by telling her how much you want to kill the man who helped create her.”

“Stranger things have happened,” Shadow snorted. “Nonetheless, she has a right to know.”

Talisa watched Shadow stand and face the now darkened forest; she assumed he was searching to see if the others were returning.

“Shadow, you didn’t even glare at me for making that comment,” Talisa said.

“Let’s just say I’ve given up denying the truth.”

She saw Shadow reach for the chain he kept hidden within his tunic. He held the silver band of birds holding a garnet within its center in his fingertips, a gift Talisa had given Artemis long ago.

“Will you ever give that back to her?” she asked.

Shadow let go of the ring. “I don’t think I can.”

I followed Netira and Jack with the gourds we brought for the journey, now all filled with water. Jack was complaining about how unfair it was that he had to train with Shadow, and I knew Netira was losing her patience with him. She glanced at me several times to help silence him, but I knew better.

Once Jack started, there was no shutting him up.

“I
don’t
need to learn swordplay!” Jack whined. “However, I
do
want to learn how to properly wield a dagger, as Netira says.”

Netira rolled her eyes. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea anymore. I just might end up killing you.”

Jack’s jaw was agape, and I pushed it together for him. “Relax. It’s a jest.”

“I wasn’t teasing,” Netira admitted. “I might end up killing him after all the whining just now.”

“I wasn’t—”

I covered Jack’s mouth. “I think he’ll appreciate the tutelage, and he will keep his mouth shut as a way of showing his appreciation.”

Jack glared at me as I moved my hand away. “But I hate silence.”

“You should learn the beauty of it sometime,” I teased. I rejoined Netira, who was walking faster just to escape the complaints.

Suddenly, she then stopped and held up a hand.

“What is it?”

“Shh!” she snapped.

I watched her dark brown irises shift to silver, and I understood something was amiss. Jack moved a hand to his back, and I saw a glint from the blade of a dagger. I reached for the sai in my boots and was met with the strange energy from the jewels. I shuddered as I felt the cold wisps of the energy seep into me.

Jack tapped my shoulder, breaking me out of the trance I was in.

“It begins,” Netira whispered as she pulled out a dagger that once belonged to Mother.

“Are they Arlina’s scouts?” Jack asked, also in a whisper.

Netira shook her head. “Their steps are lighter than a full-blood’s.”

“How many are there?” I questioned.

“I hear four…maybe five,” Netira said as she shut her eyes. “Elves. That’s the only explanation.”

“How in Avilyne’s hell did the hunting party find us so quickly?” Jack hissed.

“It’s a hunting party, Jack!” I snapped. “Did you really expect us to avoid them forever?”

“Shut up, both of you!” Netira ordered. Jack and I grew silent, and Netira took off her cloak to reveal her black, leathery wings. “Get back to the camp. Warn the others.”

“What about you?” Jack asked.

“I’m going to distract them.” Netira grinned. “I’ll try to lead them away from this path. I’ll return to the camp when I’m sure they’re no longer following me.”

“How are we supposed to know that they’ve all followed you and it’s safe for us to run?” Jack frowned.

“You’ll be able to hear them leave.” Netira rubbed her temples, annoyed. “Or at least Artemis will.”

Jack was about to speak, but I clamped my hand over his mouth again. “You will find us, right?” I now heard the same footsteps Netira mentioned. “And you’ll be careful?”

Netira nodded. “Artemis, I’m sure you know I can take care of myself.”

“Couldn’t hurt to ask.”

“Indeed. I’ll return when I can,” Netira said as she leaped into the air and took flight.

Jack and I took cover behind one of the trees, and I heard the footsteps quicken; I knew they had spotted Netira. I could hear the footsteps move farther away from us, and I motioned for Jack to follow me.