Mathieu (White Flame Trilogy) (45 page)

“It’s not his choice. Spar with me, love.” Solomon smiled. It wasn’t often that the blond was affectionate in public, but that didn’t matter at the moment.

Nodding, Mathieu give him a quick peck on the lips, then stepped away and pulled his hair back, sweeping it up, out of the way. What did he care if the others knew? They stepped away from each other, Mathieu taking an open stance, arms angled away from him with his feet slightly staggered. Solomon was the opposite of him, crouched slightly with his hands clawed, and fangs exposed.

“Come at me, baby.” Mathieu said.

Solomon gave a short bark of laughter before he took a series of quick steps towards the smaller male. His movements were like little sways, each footfall a zigzag, lessening the predictability of his next movements.

Mathieu watched
each advancement
, each small shift with close detail, body staying relaxed; he knew that if he tensed up, he’d be on his ass in a matter of seconds. As Solomon made a jab for his left side, he stepped out of the way, dropping his arm to catch the blond’s. Then he brought his other elbow under and forward into his boyfriend’s sternum, sending him reeling back. Smiling, Mathieu held his ground, aware that he couldn’t match the other in speed. It was a fact that Solomon often teased him with when they were doing anything, be it cooking or getting dressed.

The blond give him a measured look, sizing up the placement of his limbs and the way that he moved.
“Alright then.
Let’s try again.” He took two short steps,
then
did his Blink Step, aptly named for its ability to move the user faster than a human can track, allowing a slight advantage to be made in the blink of an eye.

But Mathieu was ready for it and he spun around, dropping to a crouch. He’d seen Solomon use this tactic on Mina in spars one time to many and knew where he would be. Mahtieu thrusts his arms between Solomon’s legs, throwing them apart and into the blond’s knees, knocking the other’s stance off and dropping him to the hard stone ground. Seizing his moment of opportunity, Mathieu pinned the other down by the wrists and waist, using his energy to shackle the man into the ground.

“And I believe this is my win.”

Solomon laughed boisterously, and relaxed in surrender. “Good job. First time you’ve beaten me.”

“What can I
say,
I had a moment of clarity.” Then he let the blond up, both getting to their feet.

“Again?”

“No, we need to stay sharp, rotating partners. Your asset is speed, which I’ve just proven I can beat.”

Solomon snorted at the statement, “At a grappling match, yes. With a weapon, you don’t know.”

Mathieu rolled his eyes. “Don’t be a twit. We need to all be adept at hand-to-hand first, because I don’t want us being defenseless if we lose our weapons. After this, we’ll tighten our skills with our weapons. Lenore said two more days and they’d all be done, so sometime after that, we’ll start. I told you, I have a plan.”

“A plan I wish you’d tell me, so that I can help.”

“You are helping, just by being here.” Mathieu brushed a hand over the blond’s chest before turning to face his father, giving him a cold look.

Solomon put a hand on his lower back. “He’s worried, that’s all.” The blond murmured against his ear.

“You figured it out, didn’t you?”

The blond nodded, “Yeah. I’d know a Roman anywhere. I knew you were a descendent when I saw your energy. It’s the gift of their line. He loves you; but that doesn’t mean that he has a say between us.”

“I agree.” Mathieu said with a smiled. “That’s why I wanted you close when the fighting starts. I’ll be able to focus better when I know that you’re alive.”

“Even if you were far from me, our bond would tell you I was safe. If something is strong enough, you will feel what I feel. It works the other way, too, in case you were wondering.”

He nodded. “Good. But you need to move on to your next spar.” Mathieu turned to the others, looking at who was fighting and who wasn’t. Jo quickly claimed Solomon for a fight, so he approached Lione. “Shall we?”

“Sure. Although, you took down Solomon pretty easily, so I don’t know if I stand much of a chance.” Lione gave a shy smile, and wind started to pull towards him, shifting the air pressure.

Mathieu chuckled, his energy spirally up from the ground, coming to meet his hand. It wrapped around his arm and hand, flowing like a barrier around him. “I think you’ll do just fine. Let’s dance.”

And this time, Lione was the stationary partner, using his wind scythes to hold Mathieu at bay.

Mathieu used the energy encasing his arm to deflect and absorb the wind, slowly making his way closer to the other. Whenever he was within reaching distance, Lione would raise his shield, preventing any physical contact. It took striking the barrier a few times and being thrown back before he started to notice some propertied about the protection Lione was using. There was a slight depression in the blades of glass for a split moment before they stood back up,
then
there was a soft flick of light.

“You bastard.”
Mathieu laughed out loud as he realized that Lione was using the wind to rub the air molecules together and create a moment of extremely strong static electricity in order to repulse incoming objects. And he had an idea around it. He built up a small amount of energy in his foot,
then
charged at the other. As the grass bent to accommodate the shield, he dug his foot in and used the energy he had stored up to stop himself; at the last second, he spun and allowed the static electricity to fade away before kicking Lione squarely in the chest and knocking him off balance.

The raven staggered, frowning. “How did you do that?”

“Simple. Static electricity doesn’t last long. It dissipates quickly, so by hesitating for that moment, I had the chance to strike while your guard was down.”

“Well son of a bitch. Guess I’ll have to do things a bit differently then, won’t I?” Lione's annoyance was plain on his face, but he shook it off and took up his stance again.

“Don’t be too upset, Lione. It’s a smart play, just don’t do it on glass.” Mathieu said seriously. Taking a few measured breaths, he stored up some energy and ran at the raven, fully ready to thwart his shielding method again, but as his foot came down to plant and spin, Lione threw a single blade of wind at his foot, causing him to lose focus and balance. He staggered back with a frustrated sound.

"So it seems we're at an impasse, there." Lione said softly,
then
started to advance, smaller vortexes forming around his hands, which he used to cast more wind scythes. He moves fluidly, like water over rocks, moving sideways to keep matched with Mathieu.

Growling slightly, Mathieu raised his arm to absorb the new onslaught of invisible blades, looking for a new weakness to exploit. And he found it. There was just the slightest drop in Lione’s shoulders, and consequently his guard, after he launched a dual attack, leaving him semi-open.

Mathieu wheeled back a few paces,
then
started running parallel to Lione. At a moment's notice, he curved his path towards the other and when he was less than five feet from his target, he jumped.

Lione automatically shot a double attack at him, but he arched backwards and avoided it, sailing over the raven's head like he was a high bar. And because Mathieu had judges it right, he was able to grab a hold of
Lione ‘s
arms with his legs as he flew by, pulling him into the air.

His hands struck the ground first, and he used all his strength to heft Lione over his body, then let go at the last second, his feet touch the ground as the raven flew another ten feet further. Mathieu stood to a round of applause from those who had been watching, and hunched over, panting. Jo ran passed Mathieu to his friend, checking that he was fine.

Elric, who has come out recently with all the others, went over, as well. Mathieu could hear them talking and Lione assuring them he was fine.

It took a few minutes, but his opponent got to his feet and crossed over to him, holding a hand out. "Good move. I didn't see it coming."

Mathieu shook it with a grin, "Thanks. I wasn't sure I had enough mass to get you off the ground. If I hadn't, the outcome would definitely have been different." He imitated falling over with a startled face.

They both plopped onto the ground while the new comers stretched, then approached others to spar. Aside from them, Erik, Enak, Elise, and Lione's mother Lilith sat out. Erik and Enak's lack of participation was the source of many grumbles, but until Ayame actually approached them, they were left alone.

"Hey, fight Akira and
I
." Ayame said to the pair, one hand on his hip.

Enak giggled, "We don't need practice. We'd squish you like a buggie."

"Then you won't mind doing it."

Erik put a hand on Enak's shoulder.
"Fine.
This won't take long."

Ayame left them to go tell his sister to prepare for a fight, Erik and his god not saying a word. The duo moved to an open area and waited until the siblings came to fight. Akira looked a bit nervous, but after a short conversion with her brother, she nodded an agreement.

The fight didn’t take long, and Erik had been right. Ayame and Akira hadn't even been able to mount an offensive. Enak had taken a few loping steps forward, arm swinging upward as jets of fire shot up from the ground, heading straight for Akira. Her brother had stepped in front of her to protect her, which had ultimately led to their downfall. Erik's hand twitched and what appeared to be black bubbles formed around the siblings. Black bubbles that moved in closer and exploded as they made contact, burning the two horribly. Ayame had wrapped his arms around his sister, trying to stop her from being hurt. Ayame took most of the damage, collapsing as soon as the attack stopped. Akira let out a wail, managing to keep her brother from hitting the ground.

Enak giggled again.
"Told you we didn't need practice."
Then he skipped over to Mathieu and sat beside him. "Aren't we impressive?" He asked with childish enthusiasm, seeking approval.

"You went a bit overboard." Mathieu tapped the boy god's forehead roughly. It had been an impressive display and put to rest any doubts he’d had about them needing to practice. However, they could have seriously hurt the
siblings. “We’re supposed to be trying to get stronger together, not hurt each other. You need to go apologize, Enak.”

Enak was oblivious to the fearful stares he and Erik were now getting as he pouted at Mathieu. “But I don’t want to…”

“It wasn’t an option. Do it.”

“…Fine!” Enak said, getting up and stomping his feet as he approached Ayame and Akira, who were being healed by Elric.

Mathieu sighed, and watched from afar as the boy god seemed to be apologizing to the siblings. It took a moment, but the tall raven nodded and Ayame punched Enak on the arm before giving a small smile. The three of them seemed okay as Enak touched Akira’s hand before hugging her. Turning away, Mathieu shook his head slightly at the three of them; then, he noticed that Lenore had broken off from the group, going to stand near the edge of the cliff.

She had a contemplative look on her face as she planted her feet, earth snaking up around her calves, sealing her in place. Lenore bent her knees slightly, arms at her sides with her palms facing downward. Very slowly she flipped her palms over and started to raise her hands, only bending at the elbows. The ground shook gently as it started to bubble up before her, hard black stone pilling upon itself until it stood just a head over her. Then her fingers started to make small, derisive movements. In time with Lenore's hands, the black stone began to take shape, first the big stuff: arms, torso, and legs; but then the smaller details too: hair, clothing, fingers. She was
halfway done when Mathieu realized she was carving a stone Nathan, standing on the edge of the cliff, watching them all.