Page 60 of An Empress of Air & Chaos

Her arms and legs worked quick and strong as she thundered towards the apparatus. She threw her hands out to feel the material of the vault, but she was above it. She soared into the air and her feet hit the ground. Bending her knees, she wobbled slightly and then stood up tall.

She turned to face Gideon. Pride burst from his face in a brilliant smile, his hands in a clapping position. She couldn’t help but laugh in shock.

“That was excellent!” Gideon shouted across the room.

Her eyes flickered to Torin briefly as she walked across the mats and she could have sworn she saw a slight smile form on his lips—but as quickly as it had formed, it was gone.

Gideon threw her a high five and smiled. “Again.”

For the rest of the early morning, she let Gideon guide her through the training he had prepared. He coached her in techniques to help her speed and agility. He demonstrated creative methods on how to duck and dive whilst in a small space. He corrected her form and pushed her to challenge her body. She tackled the ladders, her hands and arms burning in pain as he shouted for her to pull herself up and over the top.

Not quite there yet on the upper arm strength, were his words.

For a while, the training had distracted her from the never-ending thoughts and questions that plagued her mind. Emara found it peculiarly satisfying to train like a Hunter.

Of course, these were just the baby steps.

“Can I ask you a question?” she approached Gideon whilst they both drank from their water bottles.

“Sure, what’s on your mind?” Gideon replied.

“Women Hunters? Are they not a thing?” She drank from her bottle.

He looked down, considering carefully how to answer her question. “No, they are not. Only males carry the Hunting gene.”

“But surely, there are women born into Hunting families who can fight just as well as the men?”

“Yeah, probably.”

“But they are not allowed to fight?” she asked.

Gideon shook his head. “Nope, the girls usually take other magic genes—like the Witching gene.”

“And witches can’t learn how to fight? In this war against the Dark Army, surely you need everyone ready to fight. Can’t it be a girl’s choice to have both magic and combat in their remit?”

“I guess that’s something that you should take up with the prime.” He smiled gently whilst looking at the floor.

Well, of course she wasn’t going to do that.

“I have another question for you,” she said. “Since we are taking a quick break.”

He chuckled. “Ask away.”

“When the demon attacked us in Mossgrave, it—he had a normal face. It was human-like, but he wasn’t human. I knew he wasn’t human. Why is that?” She tilted her head slightly to look at him.

“Higher demons can take on any form. They can make themselves look as attractive as they want or as terrifying as they want.”

“How do you know that it is a demon? You know, the ones that show themselves as human-like, surely they could be walking among us and we wouldn’t know.” She shuddered.

“There are always tell-tale signs. I have been trained to find them, but some are obvious. It might be that they have different coloured eyes or that they have different shaped teeth. It is only a glamour, after all, hiding their real form with demon magic. Their true form is much more terrifying, but it’s how they go through kingdoms undetected, and then they change into a more destructive form if they want to.” He looked at Emara and shook the hair from his eyes. “Not all of them can transform themselves. Only powerful demons that are high-bred can do that.” He stopped for a second and took another gulp of water. Emara watched as his strong throat bobbed, taking the water down his gullet. “You can normally smell their stench, too,” he added. Emara couldn’t forget the smell that had violated her nose, almost choking on the revulsion of it. “That’s something your body just can’t ignore. Your senses are trying to tell you that there is danger, and you should always listen. A hunter’s senses can tell almost immediately if there is one within our radius.”

“When the demon attacked me—well, before he attacked me—he drank my blood.” Emara closed her eyes, feeling a cold sweat form on her palms.

Gideon let out a sound of revulsion. “Demons are predators. They tend to drink blood or eat humans and animals. But they don’t really need to do any of it. They don’t need food to survive.” He took a breath before continuing, “No one really understands why they do it.”

“Maybe they crave blood?” Emara added.

“Or maybe they are just pure evil,” Gideon replied.

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