Akella grinned. “Really? Then why haven’t they yet? In fact, why haven’t any of the camp’s soldiers found it yet – why haven’t you found it?”
Linna opened and closed her mouth like a fish on a hook.
Akella spread her hands. “I told you already, little seagull. I’ve been a smuggler since I was your age. I guarantee you that every walled city in the Empire has at least one tunnel going under its walls for people like me.”
“Port Lorsin doesn’t,” Linna said, seeming to recover herself. “The Empress’s father cracked down on smuggling because of the rise in white cactus getting into the city. He filled in all the tunnels.”
Akella laughed. “Don’t be so sure all the tunnels were filled in.”
Linna eyed the short sword resting against the tree stump. “You have a sword,” she said, apparently ready to change the subject.
“I do.”
“Should I ask from where?”
“Probably not. But did you really want a sparring partner without a sword?”
Linna’s eyes darted away, and Akella chuckled. There it was – the part of the girl that was already half-pirate but didn’t want to admit it. Try as she might to be the Empress’s obedient little servant, she’d much rather sneak out of the camp and spar with Akella, stolen sword and all, than sit around waiting for the Empress to wake up so she could fetch the woman’s tea.
Akella bent to pick up the sword, subtly scraping her hand along the tree stump as she did, so that a few rough bits of bark broke off into her palm.
She straightened, sword in the hand that didn’t hold the bark. “Ready?”
Linna reached for the hilt of her own sword. “What are the ru–”
Akella flung her handful of bark into Linna’s face, then lunged forward before the girl could recover. She placed the tip of the short sword beneath Linna’s chin.
“The rules,” Akella said, “are not to actually kill each other. But each stroke that would lead to a kill in a real fight, like this one, is worth one point.” She withdrew her sword point. “So far, I have one point, and you have –”
Linna’s own sword whistled through the air. Akella hadn’t even seen her draw it. She took a hasty step back, off-balance. Linna immediately closed the gap. A dagger seemed to materialize from nowhere in her left hand. She crossed it against the base of her own sword and caught Akella’s in the X between the two blades. Akella saw what was coming but couldn’t react fast enough to stop it from happening. With one deft twist of her wrists, Linna wrenched Akella’s sword from her hands, and in the next instant, the X formed by her dagger and sword rested on either side of Akella’s throat.
“And I also have one point.” Linna’s grin was far too smug for Akella’s taste.
“So you do,” Akella admitted.
Linna, still wearing the annoyingly self-satisfied smile, took a step backward and lowered her weapons. She re-sheathed her dagger while Akella squatted to pick up the fallen short sword. “That move with the crossed blades? It’s called rising eagle, and the Commander says it –”
Akella shot out a foot, hooking it behind Linna’s ankle. She bent her knee, and Linna tumbled forward. Akella moved to pounce, but the girl was too fast. Linna turned her fall into a diving roll, slashing at Akella’s calves in a way that surely would’ve required a Wise Man’s stitches if the blade had connected. But Akella jumped over the blade, landing on Linna’s far side and kicking hard. The blow struck Linna’s ribs, and the girl grunted in surprise or pain or both. Her hips bucked like she was going to leap to her feet, but Akella wouldn’t let her. She leaped, throwing her body weight onto Linna so that they both crashed back to the ground. Akella tossed her own sword well out of reach, then used both hands to pin Linna’s sword arm to the ground. The girl’s free hand reached for the dagger hilt.
“Oh, no you don’t,” Akella panted, and used a knee to clamp Linna’s arm to her side.
Linna wriggled, trying to throw Akella off, but Akella outweighed the girl by at least twenty pounds. She squeezed her thighs, rendering Linna immobile.
“Do you yield?”
“This isn’t – this isn’t sparring!” Linna gasped.
“Do you yield?” Akella repeated.
“It’s not sparring!”
“It’s not? None of your Commander’s elegant moves will matter if a bigger opponent knocks you to the ground and pins you there, and you don’t know how to get out of it,” Akella said.
“I can fight on the ground,” Linna insisted. “But I thought we were practicing swordplay.”
“We’re practicing fighting,” Akella corrected. “And sometimes fights end up on the ground, even if they start on one’s feet with swords.”
Linna squirmed again, trying to free the hand Akella had locked with her knee.
“Didn’t you say you could fight on the ground, little seagull?”
Linna’s face was bright red and furious. Akella laughed – but a spray of spittle against her own face cut her laugh suddenly short. The shock of it distracted her for only a moment, but a moment was all Linna needed. She rolled Akella off of her, hopping to her feet and scuttling out of the way before Akella could grab an ankle or a foot and pull her back down.
Bless Preyla, the girl was fast.
But Linna had left her sword on the ground when she’d broken free. Fatal mistake. Akella reached for it, fingers scrabbling against the earth until they finally found the hilt.
Linna had her dagger back in her hand. “This is worth another point, right?”
Still lying on her back, Akella slashed at Linna’s thighs, changing her angle at the last moment so that the flat of the blade instead of its edge slapped against the inside of one of the girl’s thighs.
Linna stopped and looked down, face shocked.
“No,” Akella said, sitting up. She laid Linna’s sword across her knees. “That was worth one point. I just severed your femoral artery. You’ll bleed out in a few minutes, unless you can find a friend to stop the bleeding or a sorcerer to knit your body back together.” She tossed the sword at Linna, who caught its hilt reflexively. “Ready to go again?”
They fought three more times, with Akella defeating Linna twice more before Linna finally outsmarted her on their fourth and final round. Thirty minutes later, they snuck past three guards and one patrol and headed back towards the Empress’s grand tent at the center of the complex.
Linna stared at her feet as they trudged up the hill, brow furrowed.
“What’s eating you now?” Akella asked.
Linna looked up, then down again. “I’m trying to decide what bothers me more – the fact that you beat me three times in a row or the fact that we just made our way back into camp without being seen.”
“It’s not that surprising we weren’t seen. Most Imperial soldiers are lazy drunkards, in my experience,” Akella said. “But if it makes you feel any better, they’re looking for a mountain man raiding party, not the Adessian and the Terintan girl they grudgingly accept as belonging here.”
Linna chewed her bottom lip. Her eyes were far away. “Mountain men don’t pose a true threat to the Empress. The assassins, though …”
Akella dropped a hand on Linna’s shoulder. “You worry too much, little seagull. The Commander wouldn’t have left camp if she didn’t trust you and the Fesulian – what’s the woman’s name again?”
“Ammanta.”
“Right – Ammanta. She wouldn’t have left if she didn’t already know that you and Ammanta were up to the task of protecting your Empress.” She gave Linna’s shoulder a little shake and grinned. “And besides, training with me each morning will make you an even better fighter.”
“It will make me a dirty fighter,” Linna grumbled, but for once she returned Akella’s grin with a small one of her own. The little half-pirate had enjoyed their session despite herself.
Akella only laughed. They’d reached the outer ring of guards stationed around the Empress’s tent. One of them cast a sidelong glance at Akella that was none too friendly.
“Speaking of the Empress, you should go check on her,” Akella said, stopping. “She might require a foot massage.”
The girl rolled her eyes. She hesitated, then asked, “Same time tomorrow morning?”
Akella chuckled. “I thought you’d never ask, little seagull.”
“I wish you wouldn’t call me that.”
“I know.”
“So will you stop?”
Akella shrugged. “We’ll see.”
She threw Linna a jaunty mock salute and turned down the hill towards the mess tent. Best to go now, while most of the camp was just waking up.