A
flash of movement caught her attention. Next to the stables in the small
courtyard, Ren danced with his sword. That was the only way she could describe
his fluid, graceful movements as he glided around the small space. Relieved to
see he’d recovered from their ordeal and fascinated by his technique, Ina
grabbed the poker from the fire and clumsily followed his moves. Despite
feeling embarrassed at her lack of skill, she followed the more straightforward
combinations. If I can’t work my magic, it would be helpful to know a trick
or two.
Ina
had never trained in combat, as her mother and great aunt wanted her to comport
herself as a lady, and by the time she started university, enough people had
belittled her inability to work any branch of Order magic that all confidence
to try it was gone. The few attacks the witch could manage, she had learned
from her mercenary friends in the tavern. Not that she would ever start a
tavern brawl—not on purpose at least—but after getting caught up in two fights
in Gruff’s place, Janik, the bloody idiot, taught her how to disable any drunk
man who saw a woman as an easy target. Ina pictured her former associate as she
thrust the poker forward, pleased at how satisfying it felt.
‘Die!’
she shouted, preparing to kill the wardrobe when the door snapped open, and Ren
charged into the room.
Despite
his laboured breathing and heavy perspiration, the warrior’s eyes were focused
as he looked around the small room, sword drawn and ready to strike the enemy.
As he noticed Ina, alone, her poker pointed towards the wardrobe, he stepped
closer and turned to the potential danger.
‘Ina?
Move back. I’ll deal with this,’ Ren said slowly.
‘But
Ren—’ she tried to say, but he raised his hand to silence her.
‘Step
away from the wardrobe,’ he said, crossing the small room, not a single plank
creaking beneath his feet.
Ina
rolled her eyes and stepped aside. The warrior yanked the door open, revealing
an empty interior and a few spiders running away from the sudden light. Still,
it wasn’t good enough. Ren poked and prodded the back panel before he turned
around to Ina.
‘My
lady, who was attacking you?’ he asked, and despite the calm tone of his voice,
Ina noticed how on edge he was.
‘Why
does everyone always assume someone’s trying to kill me?’ She could not resist
but answer his question with one of her own.
Ren
just raised his eyebrow. ‘I saw through the window you were stabbing something
and heard a commotion in your room, and you shouted, “Die!” when I was running
up here. Care to tell me who was it and where they are now?’
Putting
it like that, Ren had a point, and now it was her turn to explain. Pink shades
of embarrassment blossomed on her cheeks as she started. ‘My magic is gone, for
now. I can’t even start a fire, and I don’t know how long it will take to get
it back. I saw you practising, and I wanted to learn.’ Ina tried to hide the
poker behind her back. ‘That was what you saw in the window, and I may have
tripped over the furniture a few times.’
Ren
blinked several times, looking at her with disbelief. ‘You’re trying to tell me
you practised Jian kata… with a poker?’ Something broke in him, and the warrior
doubled over, laughing. He struggled to calm down, and gasping between bouts of
laughing intertwined with cough, Ren stuttered, ‘But why, my lady?’
Ina
huffed with exasperation. She was proud of her new moves, but Ren seemed to
find it a joke. ‘I wanted to learn how to defend myself when my magic is
depleted or blocked. I would like to know other ways to fight instead of always
relying on magic and my Chaos. Right now, even a simpleton with enough strength
could take me down. I don’t like it, Ren.’
Ren
approached and reached behind her, taking the poker from her hand. ‘I will
teach you, if you’d like.’ His eyes were smiling, and he behaved as if teaching
her couldn’t make him happier.
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