Page 21 of Secrets of Graves and Gold

While we rode this morning, the big man said something about teaching the others more combat skills. Making sure they’re prepared for whatever we might face on the road.

I didn’t realize he meant me too.

I hesitate, reluctant to leave off my current occupation. Many humans seem to be fond of smacking and stabbing each other. It didn’t appeal to me when it was the ones they call scourge sorcerers jostling each other around, and I’m not eager to be a part of any similar games with this bunch.

A few paces away from me, Ivy lifts her head by the buried firepit where we’re roasting a couple of rabbits that Stavros caught in snares overnight. The earthen cover over the flames ensures that no smoke escapes to give away our location.

It’s an old army trick, he said. Fascinating.

Ivy is exempt from his training, but I think that’s only because she doesn’t need it. It was also fascinating watching the deftness of the knife in her hand as she skinned the rabbits. The shifting of her fingers against the handle, the way the sunlight glinted off the blade…

“That’s right,” she says, her clear voice cutting through my reverie. “The scourge sorcerers put you in place as a guard—did they train you at all for the position first?”

I don’t like thinking about the first couple of weeks as I learned to operate the body that felt like a heavy cage around me at the time.

My mind skims through the memories. “They made sure I could move and speak well enough to pass as a regular human. I think we were supposed to rely on strength rather than skill when they called on us to attack.”

Alek considers me with a gleam of interest in his eyes. His blotchy face is fascinating too, so different from any other complexion I’ve seen.

He doesn’t seem to like it, though. Ivy swatted me this morning when I must have been studying the interplay of color and texture for too long.

“What about the supernatural power the other daimon used in their clay bodies?” he asks. “It looked as if they were summoning bolts of lightning from their hands. Can you do that?”

I look down at my pale hands beneath the strand of flowers draped across them. Callouses are forming from gripping my horse’s reins. I’m lucky the creature seems to like me, or I’m not sure I could have stayed on it.

“I don’t know,” I admit. “I never have before. I never tried.”

Stavros waves his sword. “Well, come on. We’d better find out before you fling it around at the wrong time or place. And Casimir could use a break.”

The courtesan makes a sound of protest, but then he starts to cough. With a disgruntled noise, Ivy gets up and yanks him over to sit near the fire. “You should be taking it easy.”

Casimir wipes his nose on a scrap of fabric he’s turned into a handkerchief. “I might need more than my fists if we encounter a whole army of daimon.”

“You won’t be fighting any which way if you’re too stuffed up to breathe.”

Stavros is still watching me with the evaluating look that makes my skin prickle. I can’t tell whether he’s happy that I might be able to help or studying me like a potential enemy.

But Ivy glances over at me too with an expectant air. All of the others are working at being better protectors.

How can I ask for her help and not offer my own in return in as many ways as possible?

I get to my feet and bind the last of the stems as I cross the field. “First, for you,” I say, setting the ring of flowers on Ivy’s head like a crown. A renewed grin springs to my lips. “The colors look wonderful against your hair!”

“Oh.” Ivy touches the garland tentatively, a faint blush coloring her cheeks. “Um, thank you.”

As Casimir chuckles, I force myself to walk toward Stavros and Alek next. A niggling sensation runs down my back with the awareness that I’m leaving Ivy farther behind.

It’s because of her that I’m here. I should stay close to her.

I want to understand her and all the little, unusual things about her that helped me snap out of the scourge sorcerers’ control.

But the other men who hover around her seem to think she’s theirs. That it’s up to them to protect her and watch over her.

Maybe if I swing around a blade to their satisfaction, they’ll start to see that I can look after her too. That I have just as much right to follow her on her quest as they do.

When I’m a few paces away, Stavros motions for me to stop. “Stay there and watch. I’ll run through the exercises with Aleksi first, but you’ll give them a try afterward.”

The other man pauses and gives Stavros a lopsided smile. “You know, you could simply call me Alek at this point. Almost everyone does other than the professors. I think being on the run together puts us on a slightly less formal level.”

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