The Eden Series: The Complete Collection (45 page)

“Elisa!” Logan called out. Shielding her eyes from the sun, she saw him running up to her, his axe strapped to his back. He stopped just short of where she stood, a goofy grin on his face. “You look hilarious.”

“Shut up,” she replied, rolling her eyes. “So what exactly are we supposed to be doing out here?” They turned to watch the other men.

“I don’t know? Wait for instruction I guess?” he replied. A small tug on the back of her shirt startled her. Wolf stood behind them.

“Nice shirt,” he snickered.

“Ugh, shut-up! This was the only thing they gave me, and my other clothes are back on the boat I took to get here.” Both boys laughed at her. Ignoring them, she started off towards the middle of the training area. It was a squared off area, separated from the rest of the city. It looked like the men were starting to pair off for sparring. They used blunt weapons that hung on the far wall. You could still get hurt, but the most would be a bad bruise. The King’s army used their regular weapons. Her father said it was the only way to learn. If they thought the weapons couldn’t really hurt them, they’d get lazy. If there was an actual chance you could lose a limb, you were more likely to get out of the way quickly. It was definitely not the nicest way to learn, but certainly more effective.

“Which one of you is going to spar with me?” she asked, turning to look back at them. Both froze. She almost wanted to laugh at their stunned expressions, but decided to keep a straight face. “Well?” They looked at each other, then back to her.

“I’m not fighting you,” Logan stated.

She straightened. “Why not? We’ve sparred before!”

“Yeah, but now you look all tiny and frail in that enormous shirt. It’s like fighting a child!”

Wolf sucked in a breath, and said softly, “You did not just say th–”

“Did you just call me a child?” Elisa asked, interrupting Wolf. Her eyes narrowed on Logan as he shifted nervously.

“No! I just insinuated you
looked
like a child…not that you were…a…child…” He shut up, gulping audibly.

“You’re so dead,” Wolf muttered.

Elisa ignored him, and launched herself at Logan. They fell to the ground with force. He rolled her under him, trying to pin her arms, but she was ready for him. Twisting, she brought her elbow up to smash into his cheekbone. “Ow!” Logan cried out, inching away. With the extra room, she bent her legs, placing her knees between them, and then pushed off. Logan tumbled back onto his rear.

“Looks like a little girl can still beat you!” Elisa said, smiling proudly. Logan sat rubbing his cheek.

“Geez Elisa, you didn’t have to attack me like that,” he grumbled.

Wolf laughed. “I told you. You shouldn’t have said that.” He reached down to help her up. Her white shirt was now covered in dirt, but she didn’t care. When she glanced up, she saw that they had garnered a lot of attention with their antics. Every set of eyes was looking their way. She saw Wolf take notice too. “Come on you two. Let’s show these guys what we’re made of. Elisa I’ll spar with you. We’ll let Logan spar with someone a little easier.” Logan mumbled something back, but she didn’t hear him. Her eyes were glued on Wolf’s now retreating back. In some roundabout way Wolf had just complimented her! He actually thought she was a better fighter than Markus’ men! Feeling a million times better than she had when she first came out, Elisa headed towards the training weapons.

They sparred in groups, since their training area was small. While they waited for their turn, Elisa watched the other men. They were pretty good, but the blunt weapons definitely made them a little less cautious. She saw a number of men make mistakes. If her father was here he would have been down their throats.

When it was finally their turn, she stood across from Wolf, waiting for the Captain to direct them to start. Wolf had a short sword. Since a bow wasn’t very practical for hand-to-hand combat, Elisa had picked a halberd. It was one of her favourite weapons to use. The axe was dangerous, and the longer staff made it easier to attack her opponent while keeping a greater distance. All she had to do was keep Wolf away. It would make his short sword useless. She had also grabbed a dagger in case he got past the halberd.

“Begin!” the Captain shouted. Elisa backed up, putting some distance between them. Wolf smiled thinly. He lunged forward, but her axe swooped down before he could get close. He jumped back, narrowly missing being hit. They circled each other slowly. He faked left, before lunging towards her right side, but she was ready for this. She knew Wolf better than he thought, considering they had trained for years together. She spun the opposite direction so he wouldn’t get close, swinging the weapon high over her head and down, knocking his arm away. She saw him wince, but he didn’t cry out. He’d be bruised.

This went on for a while, until she finally managed to knock the sword out of his hand. She thought she heard a few laughs, but she ignored them. Soon the men here would realize she was just as much a warrior as they were. And if they didn’t believe it, she’d drill it into their heads – literally. Wolf cursed, but didn’t lose focus. He pulled out a dagger from his waistband. Elisa kept the halberd diagonal in front of her. He shifted from foot to foot, but didn’t move towards her. Tired of waiting, she swung out the end of the staff, taking a step forward, and hooking it behind his knees. As she did, Wolf grabbed it just under the axe head, and pulled her closer, while also pulling it free from her hands. They both fell to the ground.

Elisa quickly grabbed her dagger, but Wolf was on her before she could do anything with it. He pinned her shoulders to the ground while he sat on her stomach. All the breath rushed out of her under his weight. His blade was held steadily against her throat.

“You weigh a ton,” she gasped.

He smiled down at her. “Do you give up?” he asked. They were both breathing heavily.

“No,” she squeaked, trying to shift under him so she could bring her dagger up. It was useless. Blowing a strand of hair off her face with a huff, she stopped struggling. “Fine. You win. Now get off!”

Wolf smiled triumphantly. He hopped off, offering his hand to help her up. She grabbed it and was instantly on her feet. They were both caked in dirt and sweat. As they brushed off some of the dust from their clothing, she heard someone approach. Markus stood looking at them curiously.

“Hello,” she greeted with a polite smile.

“That was an interesting fight,” he commented. She didn’t understand what he meant exactly by “interesting”.

“Elisa is an excellent fighter,” Wolf said. Elisa turned in surprise. She was beginning to wonder if he was ill. That was two compliments in the same day!

“You didn’t seem to hold back at all,” Markus noted.

Wolf shrugged. “We’re taught not to. Elisa went through the same training as we did.”

Markus nodded and dropped the subject. “The next session will be held in the garden maze. This is a race. It measures your sense of direction. You and Elisa will be a team. Whoever gets to the middle first, wins. No weapons. No fighting. Just a clean race. Understood?”

“Yes,” they said together.

“Hurry and lineup at the entrance with the other teams.” He turned to leave, but stopped midway. “Oh, I almost forgot to mention. You’ll also be tied together,” he said with a smile. “Hands and wrists. You must still be attached by the time you reach the middle, or you’ll be disqualified. Both team members need to reach the end together. Have fun.”

When they got to the maze there was already a large group gathered. Logan walked up over with two strips of fabric in his hand as he approached.

“You want me to tie you up?” he asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

“You have serious problems,” Elisa replied dryly.

He laughed. “I know.” He proceeded to tie her left ankle to Wolf’s right, and the same for their wrists.

“Who are you partnered with?” Wolf asked him.

“Roberto…from the ally,” Logan answered. “He’s actually a nice guy. Has a lot of interesting stories.” He looked at Wolf pointedly. Something passed between them, but Elisa didn’t understand it. She wasn’t fooled. They were definitely up to something.

When he left, she turned to Wolf. “What did he mean by ‘interesting stories’?”

“No idea,” he answered quickly. She narrowed her eyes in suspicion, but he ignored her. “It’s Logan. He finds cow dung interesting.” Well that was true, she thought. They stopped talking as everyone lined up.

“Alright, first team to the middle wins,” the Captain shouted from the front. “Ready, and go!”

Now she realized why they tied you together. It was definitely not easy to move quickly when your leg was attached to another person. They argued almost the entire time. She would have left if she could, but unfortunately Wolf seemed driven to win. He pushed them forward into the seemingly impossible maze. Elisa didn’t know where they were. It felt like they would be stuck in the damn thing forever. With the sun on her head, and Wolf’s body close to hers, she began to grow tired and thirsty.

“I need to take a break,” she finally said.

“What?” Wolf sighed. “Now? We need to keep moving if we want to win. We haven’t seen another team in a while, we must be ahead.”

“Or, we could just be completely lost,” she countered.

Wolf stopped and looked at her indignantly. “I know exactly where we are, Elisa. There is no way I could get lost in here.”

“Oh? Why is that? Have you chased your little lover, Victoria I believe it was, around here?” Her mouth immediately clamped shut. She hadn’t meant to say that, but she was so tired and irritable. She didn’t have an ounce of patience left for Wolf’s ego.

His eyes turned cold. He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again, turning away from her for a moment. Elisa started to feel bad. Had she actually insulted him? Before she could apologize, he turned back around and explained.

“In the west we hunt in the forest by our homes. It might as well be a maze if you don’t know your way. I learned early on how to keep track of which direction I’m going from watching the sun. Riders don’t get lost.”

“Right,” she muttered, feeling rather stupid.

“Are you ready to keep going, or do you really want to sit?”

“No, let’s just keep going,” she sighed. He didn’t move. Elisa looked up at him as he searched her face. “What?”

“I’m trying to decide if we really should stop,” he answered.

“I said let’s keep going.”

“I know what you said. I also know you’d just say that to prove a point to me. I’m trying to figure out if you really do need a rest before we continue.”

“I’m fine, Wolf,” she assured him. “I just need some water, so the sooner we get out of here the better.”

“We’re almost there if it makes you feel any better.” She nodded her head but kept quiet. After another moment he seemed to decide, because they started moving again. It wasn’t long until they heard other voices. She looked back, but she couldn’t see anyone behind them. The maze was thick and dense, and there were so many twists and turns you never knew when someone would sneak up on you. It freaked her out a little. They hadn’t seen another team in what felt like forever. The voices were hushed. She realized that they were coming from up ahead, not behind them.

When they drew closer, Wolf silently motioned her to stop. They held their backs against the hedges, listening to voices coming from just around the corner. She could hear them clearly now. Both were familiar. Her eyes went to Wolf. He was concentrating too hard to notice her.

“This is unacceptable, Markus!” Antonio argued. “I don’t care who he is, he has disrespected my house by shamelessly seducing my wife. He should have been given over to me as soon as you had him!”

“You know I can’t do that,” Markus replied. He sounded bored and a bit annoyed.

“Why not? The High King will just think he got killed in some tavern brawl! Look at him! No one will think twice about a story like that. It would never get linked back to us.”

Elisa could feel the colour drain from her face. They were talking about killing Wolf. She instinctively linked her hand with the one of his she was attached to. He turned and looked at her with surprise.

“Stop,” Markus said firmly, bringing their attention back. Elisa strained closer. “I will not kill him just because your wife chose to be unfaithful.” Antonio started to argue, but Markus stopped him. “I mean it. Enough of this. The Captain’s daughter is here, and they are clearly close friends. Do you honestly think we could get away with a stupid plan like the one you just suggested? I will not jeopardize my relationship with the Capital over some revenge plot of yours. You will not touch the boy. End of discussion.”

“You will take his side over mine?” Antonio asked. Elisa could feel the anger in his voice.

“I am not choosing sides, Antonio. You are my oldest friend, and I will always support you. I just cannot support this. You will forget about the transgression and leave the boy alone. Go home. Fix things with your wife, and be happy.”

There was a tense silence between them. Elisa was holding her breath, terrified they would be found eavesdropping at any moment.

“This Rider comes here, to
my
city, disrespects
my
family and you can stand there and protect him?” Antonio spat out. “Yours is a betrayal I will not forget.” She heard movement as he must have left. Markus let out a long sigh. Unexpectedly, Wolf tugged at her arm forcing her to step around the hedge. Her focus instantly landed on Markus, who was looking down at his feet in thought. He must have heard them, because his head snapped up in surprise.

“Ah, so the Rider and the beautiful archer have won,” he said pleasantly. Elisa could hear the strain in his voice. She tried to keep her face neutral. She was still disgusted by what she heard. Markus hadn’t pointed out how wrong it would be to kill Wolf like his Chancellor had suggested, merely that it would look bad on him. What kind of man was Markus?

CHAPTER EIGHT

Elisa shut the door to her room behind her. She was exhausted and in desperate need of another bath. Markus let them leave after the rest of the teams eventually showed up. He had been quiet and reserved, very different than he had been when she first met him. She wondered if he felt bad for not giving in to his friend’s wishes. She hoped not. The last thing she needed was to get into a fight with the leader and Chancellor of the south. Over Wolf at that! Wolf had completely screwed up during his fun little vacation down here. She understood his need to get away, but this was ridiculous. One of the most powerful men in the south wanted to kill him, and yet he was completely unfazed. While Markus looked stressed the entire time they waited, Wolf laid back on the grass and took a nap. A nap! She would never understand him.