Total pages in book: 161
Estimated words: 162269 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 811(@200wpm)___ 649(@250wpm)___ 541(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 162269 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 811(@200wpm)___ 649(@250wpm)___ 541(@300wpm)
Both girls assumed expressions of mutiny.
“I’m afraid I haven’t practiced near as much as Silence,” I said to Serena, who was standing at my other side.
By “near as much,” I meant “not at all.” But I did not share this.
“Mm,” was all Serena said on a dip of her chin across the courtyard.
She then headed toward Silence.
I looked across the courtyard and saw Chu move from where he was there, standing by Kyril.
“If you’d step to the edge, Silence,” Serena requested as she walked past her, heading to the large, upright target some feet away, where all of Silence’s five daggers were very close to the middle circle.
She pulled the daggers out, and without preamble, started running about the courtyard.
As, without warning, Chu started throwing stones at her.
They were not large, they were not small, and he darted about as he did it while Serena bobbed, weaved, ducked, rolled, was sometimes hit by the stones, and intermingled with this, she threw the daggers at the target from a variety of positions. Side arm. From resting on her knee. Even one of them she let fly while flat on her back.
When she was done, all but one had hit the center circle.
She turned to a wide-eyed Silence who was standing beside a frowning Jorie.
“Was it necessary for you to show off to diminish the excellent display my little sister treated us to?” Jorie demanded of Serena tetchily.
“I wasn’t showing off, I was making a point,” Serena replied to Jorie then looked to Silence. “It does not take away from your practice or that you have honed your skill admirably,” she stated. “But in battle, you do not stand alone, throwing at a target. Perhaps in future, you can practice with some distractions.”
“If you think I’m throwing stones at my queen while she tosses daggers, you’ve lost your mind,” Kyril called.
Everyone laughed, and even Serena smiled.
But her attention went back to Silence.
“Though I would say, this is not what you should be practicing. This…”
She suddenly started sprinting toward Silence, and Jorie moved to round his sister in order to put himself between her and the approaching Nadirii warrior.
But just as suddenly, Serena leaped in the air, twisting at the waist, doing this flinging out her arm.
A fizzing line the color of lilacs shot from her hand, and in a sizzle as the line scored across it, the target was shorn into two parts, the top teetering for a moment before it fell to the ground.
Serena came out of her leap with her eyes on Silence.
And she finished, “Is what you should be practicing.” She looked to me. “And you.” Her eyes moved to Ha-Lah. “And you.” She returned to Silence. “You were exceptional in the Battle of the Veil. Consider what you could do if you honed your skill.”
“I have heard you and Silence helped in extraordinary ways with the winning of that battle,” Ha-Lah muttered out of the side of her mouth. “Well done.”
“Thank you, sorella,” I replied. “But in the doing, I nearly depleted my magic. I now must take potions day and evening. Potions that Elena has tried to mask the taste with mint and rose, but they are still most vile. I also must meditate every day over a card Elena draws for me to help replenish it,” I told her. “This, she prescribes me to do, for at least an hour. I have found, through the doing of it, I am not much skilled at sitting still.”
Ha-Lah turned her head and grinned at me. “I suspect it was worth it.”
I grinned back. “It bloody was.”
“I’m not sure they should be depleting their power,” Elena, also across the courtyard from us, called to her sister.
“And I am not certain my little sister will be close enough to another battle to throw her fire bombs,” Jorie declared, having heard the tales told over a dinner of an evening, and even when he did, not liking them (and it should be said, many tales were told on both sides, including the fact that not only Silence, but Ha-Lah too, was Mer). But after he said this, he instantly looked down to Silence with a gentle expression on his face and stated, “Though from what I have heard, they were most remarkable, and your aim was exceptional.”
“I’m a powerful witch, Jorie. But Serena is correct. I should sharpen my skills,” Silence told her brother.
“You are a wee witch, Silence.” He lifted one of his big hands and held out his forefinger and thumb about an inch apart.
Silence’s head ticked as her eyes dropped to his fingers.
“Oh dear,” Ha-Lah whispered.
I pressed my lips together.
Jorie dropped his hand. “And as such, you should be protected from matters such as these.”
“I need to do my bit,” Silence replied.
“You have done your bit,” Jorie retorted. “Now let others do their bits.”