“I’ve watched you train with Commander Joslyn before,” Udolf added when Linna stayed silent. “You’re going to be able to best her before too much longer.”
“That’s not true,” Linna said immediately. “The Commander is a true Mizana, a master.”
“Maybe, but you’re very good. I bet you don’t even realize how good you are. And your speed! She might possess experience that you lack, but you’re faster than the Commander.”
Linna reddened. She knew she was quicker than the Commander; even the Commander herself had said so. But reaction time alone didn’t mean Linna would ever be better than the Commander.
Udolf lowered his voice conspiratorially. “That’s the real reason all the soldiers treat you like they do. If they ever faced you in single combat, you would best them handily. Every single one of them. And they know it. Men never like it when they meet a woman stronger than they are, so they compensate by trying to intimidate her. That’s what they’re trying to do when they whistle or jeer.”
They dropped their empty plates into the dishwasher’s tub and walked back through the mess hall. This time, Linna stole a few glances at the soldiers sitting at the rough tables. Was Udolf right? Did they treat her the way they did, not because she was a Terintan girl in palace blacks, but because they knew she was a better fighter?
What would they say if they knew she’d been the one to kill the assassin in castle Tergos, and that it hadn’t been a mountain man who’d snuck in that night, but a fellow soldier?
Linna and Udolf stepped out of the mess tent and back into the sun. “So why don’t you try to intimidate me, then?”
Udolf grinned. “Because I have the shadow arts and you don’t. In my own way, I’m still stronger than you are. Otherwise, I’d probably be intimidated, too.”
Udolf turned to face her, scrutinizing her with those pale blue eyes of his a little too thoroughly for Linna’s comfort. Once again, she had the uncomfortable feeling that he might be sweet on her.
“Brother Rennus is looking for someone else to carry out the mission to Bawold,” Udolf said, “but he already knows he won’t be able to find anyone better than you.”
He waited for Linna to say something, but Linna knew what the Commander would do in a situation like this: She would hold her tongue.
When she didn’t answer, Udolf flashed a friendly smile. “I need to get back to Brother Rennus. But think about what I said. Oh – and the next time one of the soldiers says something to you, meet his eyes and give him the kind of stare your Commander would give. He’ll look away. And he’ll avoid you in the future. Trust me.”
Linna stood there for a moment, watching him go. She felt unsettled, and as she always did when she felt unsettled, she itched to do the dance. She had already gone through all thirty-seven movements twice that morning. But perhaps an afternoon training session was in order. When the Commander was still with them, they sometimes sparred in the afternoons. Linna hadn’t sparred at all in the weeks since the Commander left them.
“Outta the way, nomad,” growled a voice behind her. A soldier leaving the mess hall intentionally bumped her shoulder as he walked past, forcing Linna to stumble forward a step. Frustrated, she glared at his back. And when he looked back at her, she didn’t look away. She held his gaze, like Udolf said to do. He hesitated a moment, then sneered and stomped off.
Linna felt a small thrill of victory, and she smiled to herself as she headed back up the hill towards the Empress’s tent. Captain Akella was back on her boulder again, staring off into the distance at nothing in particular.
Linna slowed her stroll, stopping a few feet from the boulder.
Akella turned her head. “Hello again, little seagull.”
“Hello, Captain Akella.”
Akella waited for Linna to say something more, but Linna wasn’t sure what she wanted to say. Well, that wasn’t quite true. She did know what she wanted to say, but part of her was afraid to say it.
“You need something?” Akella asked. “Or are you just here to imitate your Commander some more?”
“I don’t imitate the Commander.”
Akella chuckled. “Of course you don’t, little seagull.” She turned away.
“I don’t.”
“That’s good.” Akella didn’t face Linna this time as she spoke. “Because I think the Commander has the personality of a dried-up turnip. Whereas you actually have some spark.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Just what I said. You’re more interesting than the woman you idolize. Maybe you’ll realize it one day.”
Linna didn’t know what to think about that, or what to say in response. The Commander probably wouldn’t say anything, so she –
Wait. She did imitate the Commander sometimes, didn’t she?
“What did the boy want?” Akella asked.
“The – Udolf?” Linna asked, coming back to the present.
“If that’s his name. The sorcerer boy who was lying in wait for you down by the mess tent. What did he want?”
“Lying in wait?”
“Yes,” Akella said, with the kind of patient tone one reserved for especially slow children. “He used his magic to hide beside the entrance until you arrived, then conveniently appeared just at the moment when you showed up.”
“His teacher wanted him to practice his illusions.” Linna narrowed her eyes. “But how did you know he appeared the moment I got there? Were you spying on me?”
Akella turned her palms skyward. “I have little to do. My eyes might have tracked you down the hill. Regardless – what did the boy who was merely ‘practicing his illusions’ and not actually setting an ambush for you want?”
“Nothing. He was just returning Brother Rennus’s tray to the mess hall, like I was for the Empress.”
“I’m sure that explains why he was lying in wait for you.”
“He wasn’t lying in wait.” Linna decided not to mention the way Udolf might be sweet on her, or the fact that he had brought back up the already discarded plan for her to sneak into Bawold to poison the mountain men. Such statements would only encourage Akella’s paranoia. Linna crossed her arms against her chest. “I came back to say I wanted to train in the mornings with you after all, but if all you’re going to do is make fun of me and treat me like – like I’m nothing but a naïve and innocent teenager, then never mind.”
Akella’s answering grin – broad, gap-toothed, and full of mischief – was so maddening that Linna wanted to throw something at her. “You see that, little seagull? That is why you are more interesting than the Commander will ever be.”
“Why? Because I said I’ll train with you?”
“Yes.”
“Do you want to train in the mornings or not?”
“I do,” Akella said. Her grin shrank, but it didn’t disappear entirely. “Dawn tomorrow. Outside the eastern barrier to take advantage of the light.”
“Outside the eastern barrier? The camp barriers are always heavily guarded by patrols. They’re going to be suspicious if they see me going out that early. And they’ll probably report it to the Empress.”
The grin grew again. “Then I suppose your first lesson will be how to sneak past a patrol, won’t it? There’s a copse of trees that will block any nosy soldier’s view of us, and beyond that an open field. I’ll meet you there.”