The Arrival (Birthright Trilogy #1) (48 page)

Whoa.

Elena watched, pleased at Cat’s progress. The red-head’s eyes were wide as she watched the flaming ball she’d created. It was nearly time for them to leave, and with reluctance, she spoke up, 'Please draw your energy back into yourselves, it will be time to leave shortly.'

The looks of surprise on the girls' faces amused her.

'Has it really been that long?' Kassie looked a little bewildered.

'It has. You’ve all done exceptionally well for a day‘s work. I am sure you must be tired and hungry by now.'

All the women drew their energy back, and the humming noise finally left Elena’s mind. It was only audible to those who were gifted. She sighed in relief at its absence. After a while it gave her a headache. Elena released them from the circle she’d cast to drown out the noise while they practiced. Then they relaxed as they waited for Loushka and Tomiar.

Later that evening while l lay in bed, I extended my hand and stared at it for a moment. At a thought, my fingertips lit, the flames dancing as though they were tapers. Kassie murmured in her sleep so I extinguished them, but a sense of wonder and delight swirled through me. Now this, I could see being useful in a fight. If I could learn to control it, it would be one hell of a weapon.

By the second week of our new training regime, improvements could be seen everywhere. The Majors became quite skilled at both throws, and falls, and learned to adapt the throws to their own fighting styles. They looked forward to show the members of the General Guard in their areas. We improved a lot at sword fighting, which meant the siesta we had after the sword fighting sessions was most appreciated.

Sian woke instantly from her deep sleep and realized it was due to Nnelg leaping in. She rolled over quietly and spied the blue dragon as he snuck to the windowsill, his usual perch for when he woke them. She closed her eyes for a moment, focused her energy, and drew her arm out from under the covers.

Nnelg preened his tail for a moment then gazed mischievously over the sleeping girls. This was his favorite task of the day. Of course, it did mean he’d get told off by Yakov and Elena again, but he didn’t think they minded that much. Otherwise they’d send someone else to do it. He shuffled his feet a little and rolled his shoulders back. He wanted to be able to get a good deep breath. Inhaling, Nnelg opened his mouth and—

Jets of fire and water shot straight at the little blue dragon, and he screeched in fright. Diving off the windowsill, he leapt through space to his nest, tucked safe in one of the castles turrets.

A loud animalistic shriek, followed by hysterical laughter woke Kassie and Loi, and they stared in astonishment at Cat and Sian, who were rolling with laughter in their beds.

'What happened?' demanded Kassie.

Hiccupping with the effort to stop laughing, Sian explained, 'Nnelg snuck in to wake us up and Cat and I surprised him.'

She began to giggle again so Cat continued.

'And we zapped his ass. You should have seen his face.'

That evening at dinner, Nnelg was subjected to plenty of ribbing after being caught out. The dragon put up with most of it, then decided to head out to the courtyard with Audi in tow. The men and women retired to their favorite spots, while the rest of the court stayed up drinking, singing, and having a good time.

'We should stay in the Great Hall one evening,' Alek suggested to Cat, curled up in his lap, very like her namesake.

Sleepily she responded, 'Why?'

He smiled down at her tired face. The girls had worked so hard these last couple of weeks. Cat had been asleep before noticing the party atmosphere that continued into the evening. They always excused themselves after dessert, so the girls had no idea what went on in the evenings.

'There’s dancing and singing most evenings about an hour after we leave. You would probably enjoy it.'

I tried to clear my head and attempted to pay attention to Alek. The afternoon’s training session with the Majors had been hard work, but they’d progressed so well. We’d decided to pair everyone off and allow them to spend half an hour practicing hand to hand combat skills. At the end of the half hour they switched to another partner, and so on until nearly dinner time. It had been an effective method, and the girls and I had decided to stick with it from now on. We could practice with individuals who weren’t sure, or who wanted to challenge themselves—and us.

'Dancing?' the thought of it wasn’t pleasant. My feet were killing me. Actually, my entire body ached.

I’m so glad we’re practicing with our gifts tomorrow.

Alek shifted in the seat and I moved to my usual spot, with my head on his chest, under his chin, and my legs draped over the side of the chair. He wrapped his arms around me and teased me by rubbing his stubble on my neck. I squealed and struggled, trying to turn my head so he couldn’t reach.

Alek pulled back and grinned down at Cat, all flustered and red. She made the funniest noise when he did that to her. That and the indignant look on her face compelled him to do it.

'Do you mind,' she growled at him, green eyes narrowed with annoyance.

'Not at all, so what do you think? About the dancing?'

She sighed, 'Normally I’d say yes. I love dancing, but I’m so tired from the training that by the evenings I can barely keep my eyes open.'

He thought about it for a bit and stroked Cat’s hair as he mulled over solutions.

I’ll ask Elena to make it a half day tomorrow, and as it’s the day before the
rest day they’ll have time to catch up on their sleep.

Elena informed us of the change of plans when we arrived at the training site the next day.

'It’ll give you a chance to meet more of the castle inhabitants,' Elena said. 'You only really get to see them at the table. I have arranged for Ada to meet you at your room before dinner, and she will create something suitable for you each to wear.'

'She can create something that quickly?' I was astonished.

'Oh, she is exceptionally gifted,' Elena said with a smug smile. 'I am so glad to have discovered her before any of the other houses.'

She set to casting the circle then turned back to us, 'Today I want you to learn even more control over your gifts. We will practice creating an energy ball and moving it away from us. Then, at a selected distance, I want you to expand it suddenly like an explosion. Unlike an explosion, however, I want you to control the energy as it expands so it slips over everything in its path without really touching it.'

We stared at her for a moment.

Hmm. That sounds tricky.

'The reason I want you to learn this, is there will likely be a time when you need to use your powers without harming innocents around you. Practicing this exercise should teach you this.'

It was a decent challenge, but the more I worked at it, the more I could feel my energy expand. I began to be able to feel the edges of it. It took a while to stop the heat. The rock I practiced on glowed red at first, but in the end I was able to leave it cool as I blew fire from my palms over it.

When we were at that stage, Elena called us to her.

'For your last exercise today, I want you to practice on each other.' She laughed at the look of shock on our faces. 'It’s the easiest way to test it.'

Loi stood facing Cat, as she watched her extend an energy ball toward her. Flames exploded around her with a whoosh, and for a moment Loi couldn’t breathe. She opened her eyes and stared at the flames as they rushed around her. All her instincts screamed at her to move, but she held herself strong. It wasn’t like a normal campfire flame; she was almost tempted to touch the molten flames.

They look alive—I guess that makes sense. Our energy is part of us.

I sweated like mad with the intense concentration I had to keep up. I was sure, like all the other exercises, it’d get easier and easier, but when there’s the possibility of endangering a loved one it feels a lot harder. I tried to relax a little.

'Warm, Cat. Warm!' Loi yelled, sounding understandably alarmed. I refocused and Loi relaxed as the heat disappeared again.

'Okay switch,' called Elena.

I was curious to see what Loi’s energy felt like, and waited patiently as she focused then began to extend it. It wasn’t really visible. I could just catch a glimpse of green out the corner of my eyes as the energy advanced. Then it began a slow and very unpleasant sensation of being buried alive. I began to take short, sharp, breaths while I tried to control the panic that built within.

Loi opened her eyes to see if Cat had noticed the energy yet, she could feel it had reached her. Cat’s eyes were wide, showing the whites, and her face was pale. She frowned, concerned by that look and focused on drawing the energy off her a little, so there was a gap between Cat and her energy. Immediately Cat relaxed, and her color returned to normal.

Across from them, Sian and Kassie practiced and Kassie stood amongst a strangely silent torrent of water. Being amongst Sian’s energy was almost peaceful, like stepping behind a waterfall. The only noise Kassie could hear was the sound of Sian and Loi using their gifts, though it wasn’t so much a sound as a sensation. It rather felt like when they were on Earth and there was a power cut, that strange sudden stillness. Kassie had began to hear it clearer and clearer with each session, and now could pick it up when Elena did something, though her sound was barely audible.

After Elena had closed the circle, Loi questioned her, 'How are we able to throw our energy out like that? Won’t we use it all up?'

Elena gave Loi a thoughtful look and motioned for them to sit.

'No you will not use it up, but there are some things you should be aware of. When you’re required to use your energy in a defensive manner, you must always make sure that you separate the energy you are throwing, or using, from the energy in your chest. If you keep it attached and flowing from the energy in your chest, then you could use too much and that will kill you.'

The women stared at her aghast.

'Why didn’t you tell us this sooner?' demanded Sian.

'Because it wasn’t necessary, you girls already do it very well, I have been watching you all quite closely to make sure,' Elena said. 'You can be assured there is no way I would let you progress until you had that correct.'

Kerak and Loushka landed just outside the training circle, and Alek and Rumal came over to collect them.

Ada was there when we arrived and Sian raced into the shower, so Ada wouldn’t have to wait much longer.

'What is the normal dress for a dance?' Sian stood still as Ada circled her with a measuring tape while she muttered to herself.

'What? Oh, well for the evenings it isn’t anything too grand, not like what I’m creating for you all for the Prince’s ball,' Ada said with a shy smile.