Immortal Swordslinger 1 Read online

  The fury in Hamon’s eyes faded, and he stepped back, the intent to harm me gone. “There aren’t any more salamanders in the cave,” he explained. “The heart will have to replenish them.”

  “Of course. The heart of the Ember Cave will be working hard to give birth to new beasts. Not as hard as it should be, mind you. You initiates could have done a whole lot better. But I’m not talking about going back in there later, stupid.” Rutmonlir cracked Hamon upside the head playfully as he broke into laughter.

  The initiates hid their chuckles as Hamon rubbed his head. “Why don’t you explain yourself before calling me stupid?” He glowered at the other initiates, clearly annoyed that Rutmonlir had used him as a joke.

  “Here you go.” The tutor reached inside his jerkin, pulled out a glowing core, and tossed it to Hamon.

  “What’s this?” Hamon eyed it with suspicion.

  “Spare scorched salamander core,” Rutmonlir said.

  “I was meant to earn it myself.”

  “If you don’t want to learn Untamed Torch, you can always give it back.”

  Hamon clutched the core tight. “Thank you, master,” he said through gritted teeth.

  As I watched the exchange, I wondered whether Rutmonlir actually intended to do Hamon a favor. It seemed like accepting a spare salamander core was the last thing Hamon could have wanted, but he couldn’t refuse it, either. It was dishonorable not to accept such a gift from one of a higher guild status. I’d learned that much in my time in the Seven Realms. But it was also a massive hit to Hamon’s pride to not only lose against a ‘peasant’ like me, but also being gifted what he should have won.

  Rutmonlir had purposefully given Hamon the salamander core in the hopes that it would humble him; I could see that now. The only problem was that Hamon would never lose his pride. I’d met people like him before, and it was always the same. Stories would often show the arrogant bully turning from their ways and becoming a good person, but this wasn’t fiction. This was real, and people like Hamon didn’t change.

  “All right,” Rutmonlir said, “everyone pack up your lures, your cores, and your weapons. It’s time to head home.”

  As the others fell to talking among themselves, Hamon turned to glare at me.

  “You robbed me of my honor today,” he said. “I will have my revenge.”

  I chuckled under my breath. “Seriously? Are you establishing yourself as my rival or something?”

  “You cannot stand against the might of Clan Wysaro.”

  “You got something to say?” Vesma appeared at my shoulder and frowned at Hamon. “You want to threaten Ethan, then you’ll be answering to me.”

  “And me,” Kegohr said as he came to stand at my other side.

  “The half-breed and the jumped-up peasants,” Hamon sneered. “What a prospect. I can’t wait.”

  Chapter Ten

  The guild was strict about its routines. By the time the last evening gong sounded, we were all meant to be in bed and settling down to sleep. One of the masters would go around the dormitory, check that everyone was in their beds, then douse the lanterns. Soon, the halls would fill with the gentle, rhythmic breathing of dozens of initiates, punctuated by the deeper snoring that came from the likes of Kegohr.

  Usually, I drifted off easily despite the noise. Our training was tough and it left me physically exhausted, while my mind needed a rest from the rounds of lectures, tests, and guided meditations. Settling down beneath the sheets offered a welcome spell of relief.

  Still, I didn’t like to have my life defined by others. I could see the point of the rules and routines, but every rule had to be bent or broken occasionally. A week after the hunt in the Ember Cavern, I had one of those occasions.

  I lay in bed while the master did his rounds, counting bodies and putting out lights. To him, I must have looked like just another sleepy initiate—eyes closed, breathing deeply, restful on my cot. What he couldn’t see was that, underneath the sheets, I was fully clothed.

  The master finished his rounds and left the room. The latch on the door clicked as he closed it behind him.

  I rolled over onto my back and stared at the ceiling while I waited for the others to fall asleep. While I lay there, I considered all the things I’d learned since I came to this world. Augmentation was the most exciting part, of course. I could now channel the powers of wood and of fire, something that would have been unimaginable back in my world. Just by thinking about it, I could call forth a protective pillar of wood or a spray of increasingly deadly thorns. Since absorbing the scorched salamander cores I had also learned Untamed Torch, which let me summon balls of fire and hurl them at opponents. I’d destroyed a few straw targets, as well as chunks of the wall behind them, while working out how to shape and target those blasts. It was exhilarating to watch the effect, to realize how quickly I was mastering powers I’d never dreamed of six months before.

  But that wasn’t all. My previous martial arts training was proving invaluable in the combat side of our education. My strength and reflexes made it easy for me to come to grips with weapons—not just my own sword but clubs, staves, and bows. A graduate of the Radiant Dragon Guild was expected to be able to fight with anything from a dagger to a 16-foot pike, and I relished the challenge of trying each one in turn.

  Then, there were the lessons in politics, botany, history, and magical theory, all filling in gaps in my knowledge about the Seven Realms. I paid more attention than many of the others in those classes because I knew I needed them more than the rest. It was paying off, too, as I now had a far better grasp of this world than I had when I left Tolin’s temple. With a little bluffing, I could have passed for a local.

  By the time I’d run through all of that in my head, the dormitory was filled with the sound of snoring. Someone turned in their sleep, mumbled a few incoherent words, and then drifted off again.

  Time to get up. I had an appointment I really didn’t want to miss.

  I slid out from beneath the sheets and crept barefoot across the floor, sandals in my hand. I navigated by the few slender beams of moonlight breaking in around the shutters, but I could see almost nothing. I bumped into several of the chests laying at the ends of the beds and froze each time while I waited to see if I’d woken the owner. At last, I was near the door.

  “Going somewhere?” a voice whispered from the darkness.

  I looked around. Someone stood only a few feet away, his face illuminated by one of those beams of moonlight.

  Hamon.

  Frustration swept over me. Was I about to be ratted out by the biggest rodent in this place? That would ruin my plans for the night.

  Then, I noticed that he was wearing his tunic.

  “I’m going out,” I whispered. “You want to stop me?”

  “I could tell the masters,” Hamon hissed.

  “And explain to them why you’re also up and dressed?”

  He glared at me, and I glared right back.

  “I thought not,” I laid a hand on the door handle. “See you tomorrow, Hamon.”

  I slipped out of the door, put on my sandals, and headed off down the corridor. As I glanced back, I saw Hamon emerge, close the door behind him, and head off in the opposite direction.

  By the light of the moon and the few brands still left burning in the wall mounts, I made my way out of the main building, around the arena, and to a small door in the rear of the curtain walls. As promised, it had been left unlocked, and I was soon striding across the mountainside toward the shelter of a small forest.

  In the center of the wood was a clearing. There, a blanket had been laid out on the ground, with a pair of oil lanterns sitting on either side. Their light flickered across a bowl of cherries, a clay bottle, and a pair of wooden cups. But where was the person who had brought them?

  I crept closer, keeping up the quiet that had let me slip unnoticed from the guild. I still felt tension, but it came as a thrill, not the fear of getting caught. I was showing off and I knew it.
/>   “You’ll have to do better than that,” a voice whispered in my ear, “if you want to sneak up on me in the woods.”

  I turned to see Faryn standing at my shoulder, a playful smile on her lips.

  “Maybe I wasn’t trying to sneak up on you,” I objected.

  “And maybe I’m the one of us who traveled from another world,” she replied. “But neither of those things seems very likely.”

  She walked out into the clearing, and my eyes followed her as she went. I drank in her trim body, legs revealed by the slits in her robes, and hair cascading down her back. She looked over her shoulder and crooked a finger at me.

  “Come on,” she said. “I brought you a treat.”

  She sat down on the blanket, and I went to sit beside her. She picked up the jug and poured wine into each of the cups, then passed one to me. As our fingers touched, she paused, and I felt a thrill run through me. My mind filled with memories of her naked body, the feel of her riding me in the storeroom, the two of us crying out together in pure joy.

  “Silver River wine.” She let go of my cup and raised one for herself. “The finest the guild has to offer.”

  “Cheers.” I tapped my cup against hers.

  “Cheers?” She tilted her head to look at me quizzically.

  “It’s just something we say back home.”

  I took a sip. The wine was as delicious, crisp, and refreshing as a fine white from Earth.

  “How are the lessons going?” she asked.

  “Very well,” I said. “I particularly enjoy botany. The teacher is excellent.”

  She smiled at that. “Good pupils bring out the best in a teacher.”

  “It helps that she’s easy on the eye.”

  “I don’t think that’s how you’re meant to view your masters.”

  “Oh dear. In that case, I’ve probably been giving Rutmonlir the completely wrong idea.”

  “You and Rutmonlir, eh?” She raised an eyebrow. “That I’d like to see.”

  I shook my head. “He’s not really my type.”

  “You have a type?”

  “At the moment, it’s mature women with emerald eyes.”

  She laughed and held out the jug. “More wine?”

  I hadn’t even realized how quickly I was drinking, but the cup was empty. I leaned in closer so that she could pour. I relished the scent of her skin, like new life on a spring day.

  “Let’s test your botany skills.” She held out something in the palm of her hand. “What is this?”

  I took her hand in one of mine and tilted it to better catch the light. She was holding a seed, about as long as the width of my middle finger, one end pointed and the other flat. Silver-green veins ran along a dark brown shell.

  “Seed from a razor birch.” I cast my mind back across what she’d taught us. “Grows in low hills with plentiful water. The leaves can lacerate unwary travelers who try to push through a grove.”

  “Very good.” She turned her hand over, our palms pressing against each other.

  “You don’t happen to have any sap, do you? I wouldn’t mind having a healing potion up my sleeve.”

  “Sap?” Faryn tutted in a schoolmaster’s tone. “The sap is not used to make healing potions, young man.”

  “Sounds like Hamon should have listened in botany class,” I said.

  “Perhaps you should paid less attention to the teacher’s body and focused more on--” Faryn’s smile faltered. “Hamon had a healing potion?”

  “Yeah. He used it in the Ember Cavern.”

  “That is troubling. His father must have given it to him.”

  “He might have stolen it.”

  “Never. Hamon may be a foolish and arrogant man, but he would never cross Jiven Wysaro.”

  “Let’s forget Hamon,” I said. “I have you here, and I would rather not think about him for the rest of the night.”

  Her lips parted, and I thought she was going to move in for the kiss. But then, she sat back and withdrew her hand from mine.

  “This probably isn’t…” she began but let the words trail off. “That is to say, I’m here to help you learn, like Tolin asked me to.”

  “Learning can be about the body, not just the mind.”

  “It certainly can.” She jumped to her feet, stepped away from the blanket, and fell into a fighting stance. “Let’s see how your sparring is going.”

  The change from flirting to sparring would have been enough to give some men whiplash, but I wasn’t so easily thrown. I jumped to my feet and stood facing Faryn as I rolled my shoulders to warm up my muscles.

  “If I’d known there was going to be a test, I would have prepared,” I said.

  “You have to be ready for surprises.”

  Faryn sprang forward, leg extended in a kick at my chest. Still adjusting to the changed circumstances, my mind dulled by the wine and the exhaustion of the day, I was a little too slow in stepping aside. Her foot slammed into my shoulder, and I staggered back, losing a sandal as I went.

  I kicked off the other sandal after I regained my balance. “I thought people were all about honor here. Where’s the honor in a surprise attack?”

  “Tolin says that you’re here to save the world.” She pressed me back with a flurry of punches. “If you’re going to do that, then you have to be ready for anything.”

  I shifted from blocking and lashed out with my foot to try to knock her off balance. She jumped out of the way, then darted in again with her fists swinging.

  This time, I was ready, or thought I was. I caught her hand in mine and jerked her toward me, meaning to grapple her. But she leaned into it, ducked in under my arm, and twisted it around as she came up behind my back.

  As she twisted, the pain in my shoulder forced me to give way. I sank onto one knee and drew her lower with me. Her grip loosened on my arm, and I yanked it free. She grunted as I grabbed her forearm and pulled her over my shoulder.

  That move would have flung most people to the ground, but Faryn flowed straight through it as she cartwheeled over my head and landed on her feet. I rose and stood facing her while we sweated from exertion.

  “Isn’t this better than getting an early night?” She jabbed at my left.

  “So much better.” I blocked and then returned the punch twice as hard.

  Again, she was ready for me. As the momentum of my blow carried me forward, she stepped nimbly aside, seized my arm, and pushed on my shoulder. I staggered backward as she came at me with a fast-flowing series of attacks, a relentless barrage of punches and kicks. I barely had time to defend myself, never mind counterattack, and was driven back across the picnic blanket and toward the far side of the clearing.

  “I thought you were taking lessons.” She kept pushing her advantage while also pulling her blows. They weren’t hitting hard enough to leave a mark, but I still felt the sting of them, and of the indignity of being so badly outmatched. I wondered if it was the wine taking its toll, or if I had just misjudged how good of a fighter she was.

  At last, I saw my opening. In her eagerness to prove her point, she overstretched with one of her kicks. I grabbed hold of her leg, lashed out with my own, and knocked her other leg out from under her. She fell to the ground with a thud, and I stood over her with a foot on her chest.

  “Maybe I should take my fighting lessons from you,” I said. “If I want to get myself knocked on my arse.”

  She laughed and held out a hand. “Even after a hundred years, I still have something to learn. “Now, could you please help me up.”

  I took her hand and pulled her to her feet. We stood, hands clasped, our bodies inches from each other. Her chest was heaving, her brow dappled with sweat.

  “It’s good to get some exercise,” she said. “But I think we still need more.”

  I moved to take a step back, ready to fight again, and found myself pressed up against a tree. But instead of fighting, she reached up to take my head and draw it down toward hers before kissing me on the lips.

 
I wrapped my arms tightly around her as we lost ourselves in that kiss. I could feel her heart beating as our chests pressed together, the adrenaline still coursing through our bodies. Her fingers ran down my sides and to my belt.

  “I want you.” She untied my belt and let my robes fall open. “Right here, right now.”

  “So that’s what the blanket’s for.” I nodded toward the center of the clearing.

  “No,” she murmured. “Right here.”

  She turned the two of us around so that she was the one backed up against the tree. Then, she unfastened her own belt and let it fall to the ground. Her robes parted, and moonlight shone across pert breasts, smooth belly, and the soft mound below.

  I closed in and cupped a breast in one hand. My fingers teased at the nipple as I kissed her and pressed myself against her. With all the nimble dexterity she had shown in the fight, Faryn unfastened my trousers. I brought my hands around and grabbed the perfect curved flesh of her ass and lifted her. I straightened my back and held her up between me and the tree. She wrapped her legs around me and dragged me in closer, deeper.

  I kissed her on the lips, on the cheek, on the neck, on her pointed elven ears. The salty taste of sweat was on her skin, a reminder of how we had tangled in combat moments before. Despite our previous encounter,this tough, smart, beautiful woman wanted me—wanted me enough to break the rules of the guild so that we could snatch these secret moments.

  “Harder,” she said, her breath hot against my ear. “Faster.”

  I met her demands and was rewarded with her groans of pleasure. Her fingers raked my back, digging in tighter with each ecstatic sound. Her breath came faster, her body jerking urgently against mine, until she shuddered and let out a great cry of delight.

  “Oh, yes,” she said, her head slumping against my shoulder. “Oh, that’s good. But you’re still not done, are you?”

  I laughed. “I’ve still got a little way to go.”

  “Then, maybe we can use the blanket after all.”

  I drew out and let her lead me away from the tree. We cast off our robes as we went, so that we were both completely naked, our bodies brightly moonlit against the dark of the woods.