A Glint of Shadoewynne: Book 1 of the Shadoewynne Series Page 13

  Kait asked several more questions about what kind of training I had, both magical and physical. I had never had either, other than I knew how to throw a punch without breaking my thumb. By the time I had answered his few questions, Janelle was back. Travis had texted his aunt, so she knew we were coming.

  On the way out to the car, David caught my arm and held me back from the group.

  “I still think you can trust him. I didn’t get any indication that he was lying or holding anything back. I think he even told you what he was holding back before.”

  I rubbed my eyes. “Okay. Did you get any other impressions that I should know about?”

  “Only that Kait was very upset when your father cut him out of his life. More than he indicated. Not only did he consider your father a close friend, it seems to be wrapped up in his sense of duty as well. He wasn’t lying when he told Travis that he considers your family as the true royals. From what I could pick up, his loyalty now is to you.”

  I nodded. I didn’t want to think about that part. If I ignored it, it would just go away, right? We caught back up to everyone.

  “I want to go change into something better to spar in. I’ll be right back.” I ran upstairs and quickly changed into loose pants and a light t-shirt, as well as a sports bra. I was too well-endowed to be able to do any kind of physical activity without a supportive bra. I also took a minute to compose myself, trying to lock the feelings that were running rampant away in my mind. I couldn’t give in to the almost overwhelming urge to simply collapse in a sobbing puddle on the floor. Pulling up my figurative big girl panties, I took a deep breath and headed back downstairs.

  We all piled in the cars. I rode with Travis and Kait, while David, Janelle and Sarah rode together. The ride to Travis’ house was quiet. My mind was still running in circles, and who knew what was going through Travis and Kait’s heads.

  We turned onto the long drive that led to Travis’ house. He stopped, letting Janelle’s car pull ahead. Turning to me, he said, “All of this has drawn my Dad’s attention, and he is going to come in from Shadoewynne to meet you. Don’t be intimidated by him, and don’t let him get to you, okay? He is full Shadoewynne, just like Kaitsja and Sibhre, so he is different from what you are used to.”

  I swallowed hard. It seemed really bad if Travis was warning me ahead of time. After all, he had let Kait be a surprise. “Why are you warning me?”

  Travis rubbed a hand across the back of his neck and looked away. “It’s just… I don’t want my dad to scare you off.”

  I scoffed. “After all of this, how bad can he be?”

  Travis turned to me and laughed. “I suppose. Are you ready for this?”

  I smiled as big as I could at him. “Bring it on.”

  Chapter 14

  We exited the vehicles and walked across the asphalt driveway to Travis’ house. It had only been a week, so it looked mostly the same. There were still little bits of paint balls on the porch. The only thing missing was the equipment. I stopped for a minute to reflect on how different my life was now. Who knew a simple day of paintball would have changed my life so drastically? I still can’t make up my mind, sometimes I wish I hadn’t gone, and other times, I’m thankful I did go.

  Okay, so wishing I hadn’t gone wasn’t completely fair. It sounded like this all would have caught up with me at some point. If I hadn’t gone, Travis and David wouldn’t have been there to support me, but I felt bad that they had been drug into this as well. I had to remember that they did not have to help. They were helping me out of the kindness of their hearts, and I couldn’t be more grateful. I had totally upturned their lives, and it didn’t seem to bother either of them. Tears started welling in my eyes as I thought about it. I was getting annoyed at all these tears. I had never been a cryer, and it felt like I had done nothing but for the last week. Not wanting anyone to see the tears, I quickly brushed them away, and followed after David into Travis’ house. We went downstairs, into a huge room outfitted with a bunch of stuff that looked very impressive. It looked very much like a professional gym, with a mirrored wall, free-weights and a bunch of machines that I had no names for. The center of the room had a giant mat on the floor that looked somewhat soft.

  There were punchy things on the wall that I had seen people on TV wear on their hands, as well as small baskets of what looked like flour, and one of those big bags that hang from the ceiling. I was sure I would be getting a crash course in all this soon. I was more than a little overwhelmed. Positive my eyes were bugging out of my head, I stopped in the doorway. As I looked around the room, I began to feel overwhelmed and entirely out of my element. My breath started coming faster and faster, as panic began to eat away at my brain. Soon the room began to spin. Putting my back to the doorframe, I slid down it. It wasn’t until I was sitting on my butt, with my forehead resting my knees, that the rest of them, who had entered the room before me, noticed that I was having trouble. Black spots were swimming in my vision as I tried desperately to control my breathing.

  David ran back over to me. “Sugar, what’s wrong?”

  I gasped. “I just... I just… I just… can’t.” I was panting. Travis brought me a chair and lifted me into it. The sheer strength that involved stunned me and was almost enough to bring me out of what I assumed was a panic attack, although I had never had one before. Travis put a hand to the back of my neck and guided my head down between my knees. He rubbed my back as the blackness started receding, and it seemed like I could finally catch my breath again. David came over and started running his fingers lightly across my back as well.

  I don’t know how long I sat that way, with both of them silently giving me support. Yet again, I was breaking down in front of them. I stomped on that thought. I could not judge myself on this week. I knew I was capable of handling way more than this. I had done it at a younger age, and I could do it again. I locked that thought away too. I wasn’t going to think about those times again.

  “Sorry, Guys. I’m good now.” I sat back up and pulled my hair back from my face. Kait was watching me, with sympathy on his face. That surprised me. He didn’t seem like the type.

  “If you need to, we can do this another day.” Kait’s voice was kind.

  “Nope, we are going to do this. I need to do this. Besides, I can feel my magic, and I don’t think it will let me wait.” While I had been trying to catch my breath, I had realized part of the overwhelming feeling was that I felt like I was filled to the brim with magic. It was pulling at me, begging to be released. I don’t know how I knew it was magic, or that it was begging to be released, but those were the words my brain put to the feeling.

  Kait laughed. “That doesn’t surprise me. From what you said, your magic has waited a long time, and without it being used, it probably built up inside you.”

  “But I thought Dad never used his magic? How did he prevent this?” The longer I waited, the more uncomfortable the feeling was. I waved a hand in front of me. “Never mind. Can we start the training with magic?”

  “Sure. First, close your eyes and hold out your hands. Picture pulling water from the air to form a ball of water in your hands, spinning around.”

  I did as he asked. Soon, my lap was soaking wet. I opened my eyes and sighed. “What happened?”

  “You lost it. You had a ball, then it disintegrated and landed on your legs.” Kait smiled, and I glanced around the room. Everyone else had left us, thank God. He continued, “That was very good for a first try. Do it again, but this time, try to pull the moisture from your pants.”

  I gaped at him. If I could do this, I could dry my hair in no time. I smiled, thinking how much I liked this power! “Okay!” He looked at me like I was crazy, since he had no idea why I was so happy now. It made me giggle a bit as I closed my eyes and concentrated. The denim of my jeans quickly dried out, and I opened my eyes to see a lazily spinning ball of water above my outstretched hand. I shouted, and the ball exploded, going everywhere. At least this time, the volume of water s
tayed the same, so the room wasn’t entirely soaked.

  A full-on belly laugh from Kait surprised me. He was bent almost double as he tried to stop laughing. I didn’t get it, so I just waited. “That was great! You have an intuitive control. Most full-bloods do, but some half-breeds struggle with it.”

  I bristled at the half-breed comment, but he didn’t seem to mean it derogatorily. After a second, I decided to call him on it anyway. “Half-breed?” I made sure he could tell by my voice how it made me feel.

  He waved his hand, as if to bat away my anger. “Yes, half-breed. I don’t mean it in a bad way, but you better get used to the term. There is no such thing as political correctness in Shadoewynne. Most will not look down on you, but some will. You can’t let it get to you.”

  I scoffed. “You act like I will be spending time there, which I don’t plan to do. I want to learn to protect myself so I can continue my life here, as normal as possible.”

  “Suit yourself, but I don’t think that will be possible, Princess.”

  My heart almost stopped, and my voice was cold as I said, “You better mean that as an endearment, and not as a title.” I barely knew him, but an endearment would be much better than if he was using it a a title.

  He bowed a little. “It’s both. You are a princess. Again, get used to it.”

  I was going to throw something at him. He must have sensed it because he put his hands up. “Forget it. Let’s continue our work with your powers. Pull the water from where you threw it around the room and put it in this bucket.” He set a red bucket in front of me. I had no idea where he found it. After I did as he asked, he dumped it out in the small bathroom they had down here and made me do it again and again and again, until I was sick of it.

  “Can we move on now?” I was whining, and realized it, but couldn’t bring myself to care. I didn’t feel like my power was filling me to the brim now. Now it was barely there.

  Kait waved his hands at me again. “Good, your power is to a more normal level now. Let’s move on to fighting.”

  I sighed and stood up. A weariness I hadn’t been aware of before began pulling on my limbs, making my arms feel like they weighed a million pounds. “I don’t know if I can do this.”

  “Don’t worry, using magic uses energy, just like working out, so you are bound to be a little tired. It’ll pass soon enough.” Kait’s back was to me as he pulled items off the wall. He turned around with a bunch of stuff in his hands. He set some down, and started holding things up and telling me what they were and what they were for. “These are hand wraps, they protect your wrists when punching. These are training gloves, which we will start with, but move away from. These are punch mitts, they are for me. That,” He pointed at the big bag hanging from the ceiling, “is the heavy bag. You will move up to that.” He proceeded to show me how to wrap my hands and put on the gloves. “As a girl, punching is not the best for protection. You simply will not have the power in a straight punch to incapacitate a determined attacker. You need to go for vulnerable areas, nose, throat, kidneys, solar plexus and balls. Shadoewynne anatomy is close enough to human that you can go for the same areas. If you go for the nose, an open palm in an upward motion is the best.” He demonstrated. “A punch to the front of the neck is the next best spot.” Again, he demonstrated. “Either of these can kill, if you hit the right place with enough strength. I highly doubt that you have the strength to kill anyone, though. The next best place after that is the solar plexus. Hit that with enough strength, and your opponent won’t be able to catch their breath.” He showed me where to hit. “The kidneys and groin are the last ditch attempt. Hits to them are painful, but may not incapacitate your opponent. Your main goal is to get them to let you go so you can run. Hit, kick, scratch. Go for the eyes. Got it?”

  I nodded. He had me throw what felt like a few thousand punches, mainly with my right arm, to make sure I knew what I was doing, and could get the most out of my limited strength. It was only once he was satisfied that he let me take a break. Sighing, he said, “For your first time, you did well. However, we will need to focus most of your defensive training on your magic. You do not have the time to take up strength training, which is what you will need to truly be a threat, and, your adversaries will have their own magic to call on, which makes conventional fighting almost useless. Let’s take a short break, and go eat, then we can move on to magic.”

  I had only thought I was tired before. Now, my eyelids seemed like they had weights on them, and I could barely keep them open. On the way upstairs, I had to hold on to the bannister to keep from stumbling back down the stairs. It took almost everything I had to lift my foot for each step. I sat down at the table in the kitchen and laid my head down while Janelle reheated a bowl of chili for me.

  “Thank you, Janelle. I can’t express how grateful I am to you and Sarah, for opening your homes to me.” My voice was barely there as my eyes slid closed. A few seconds later, Janelle was tapping my arm.

  “Sweetie, you need to eat before you take a nap.”

  I mechanically ate, barely even tasting it. In no time, I had finished the bowl, and the warmth in my stomach made it even harder to stay awake. Janelle wrapped her arms around me and led me off to a side room, where a comfy couch sat in front of a fireplace with a modest fire going. As I laid down, she put a blanket over me, and said, “I’ll come wake you up in an hour or so.”

  Her words barely registered as I drifted off to sleep. I awoke on my own about an hour later, according to my watch, completely famished again, and feeling much better. I went on the hunt, looking for someone who could help me find a snack. I found them all around the kitchen table, including a man I didn’t recognize, joking around with Kait. The new person looked so much like Travis, it had to be his father. I paused in the shadows just outside the door, to watch them. Everyone in the room seemed comfortable with each other, with an ease that showed they had been acquaintances a long time. Travis had probably known Kait almost his whole life, so there was an easy familiarity between them. It made me feel like an outsider, which was a feeling I was accustomed to. Aware that I only felt that way due to my own insecurities, I took a deep breath and walked into the room.

  The way that David and Travis’ faces lit up when they saw me swept away my anxiety, and made my body warm. I blushed and looked at the ground as I sat down next to Travis. He shoulder-bumped me, a huge smile on his face.

  “You have bed-head, but you look much better than you did before you slept. How are you feeling?”

  My hand flew to my braid and started fixing it, as I answered. “Much better now. Considering I only slept an hour, I feel great! Completely refreshed!”

  David tapped my arm. “Are you ready for more training?”

  Ugh. “No, I need to eat. I’m starving. Did I eat before I went to sleep?”

  They all snickered. Travis answered, “Yes, you ate a bowl of chili.”

  I ran my tongue over my teeth. That explained the odd flavor in my mouth. “Is there any more?”

  Janelle came back in the room, laughing. “I figured you would be hungry. Here is another bowl.”

  I scarfed down the bowl. It was excellent chili, and I am sure I finished the bowl in record time. “Thanks, Janelle, that was awesome. I don’t think I thanked you earlier. I really appreciate all that you have done for me, not just today.” I gestured around to everyone. “That goes for all of you, too. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

  The unfamiliar man stood up and held out his hand. “I am Ornstied, Travis’ father. It’s nice to meet you. I have heard quite a bit about you, from David, Travis and Kait. They are all impressed by how you are taking this unsettling upheaval to your life.”

  I shook his hand. So far, he didn’t seem as bad as Travis had made him out to be. “It’s nice to meet you, your highness.”

  He laughed. “Please, call me Orn. I get enough of that ‘your highness’ crap from work. So, tell me, how are you feeling about all this?”


  “I don’t really know. It’s so unbelievable, I keep thinking I am going to wake up and this will all have been a dream.” I scrubbed my face with my hand.

  “I understand that. When I met Travis’ mother, she had a hard time believing me until I took her to Shadoewynne.” He snapped his fingers and looked at Travis, “I know, son, you should take her to see the rainbow lake. She will understand how wonderful it is once she sees some of it’s beauty.”

  Travis was mostly behind his father, so I’m sure he didn’t see the eye roll Travis directed at him. “Maybe later, Dad. I don’t think it’s a good idea to go traipsing around Shadoewynne right now where the Svikari can find her.”

  His dad looked crestfallen. “You’re right, son. I didn’t think.” He was quiet for a moment. “I saw some of your training earlier with Kait. It looks like you are getting the hand of things pretty quickly. He’ll have you ready to defend yourself in a diffy, and then you’ll be able to see all that Shadoewynne has to offer. “

  In a diffy? What was that? When he said it, Travis had put his face in his hands, and shook his head. “Dad, it’s in a jiffy, with a J, and hang of things, not hand of things.” To me, he said, “Dad tries to use human phrases when he’s here, and he always messes them up.”

  “Not always. I have hips, I am on it.”

  I stifled a giggle, and glanced first at Travis, then at Orn, who winked at me. I had to stifle another giggle. He was doing it on purpose to bug Travis.

  “Ummmm. Okay. I really don’t know what to do with that.” I was baffled. This is not at all how Travis had described his father. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought he was human.

  He seemed to see how uncomfortable I was, so he moved his attention to David. “I thought you were going to come stay with us over the summer to learn more about Shadoewynne. You are not going to be much help to Travis when he takes the throne if you don’t know anything about the place or the cultures there.”