Blades rang against each other in the late afternoon sun as Kailynn blocked a dagger thrust aimed at her stomach with her own dagger that she held in her left hand. She leaned back to avoid the razor edge of a sword swinging at her throat. A wisp of her hair floated down to the ground. Kailynn watched it fall to the ground.
She aimed her gaze at the swordsman as piercing as an arrow. "You... you cut my hair!"
"I'll cut more than that sweetheart if you let me get that close again."
Kailynn felt the anger rising in her and it swept over her completely. She gritted her teeth and drew another dagger from her wide leather belt that held two more knives and her light grey pants up.
"Don't call me that!" She advanced on the swordsman, weaving the blades around her body, spinning them in her hands. "I told you I don't like that."
Alac grinned, a real smile. "So? Let's see what the last few weeks have taught you sweetheart."
"I'm serious!" Kailynn lunged dagger point first with her right hand. Alac casually batted it away letting her momentum carry her past him. Using the flat of his sword he lightly smacked her ass as it went by.
"You keep losing your footing sweetheart." He gestured with his sword to his own feet. "Come on, this is basic day one stuff. Quit losing your temper and giving the win away."
She gritted her teeth harder and gripped the hilts of her weapons with white knuckles. Alac looked her over, sighed and sheathed his sword. "You won't win a war with anger. You will lose and people will die. A hundred Annie's will be murdered in their beds or worse."
At the mention of her friends name, Kailynn felt like she was going to burst into flames of rage. "Don't talk about her!" She ran forward, her face distorted with anger. "Draw your sword, we aren't done."
"You are." Alac returned coolly, watching her with his ever alert eyes. He shoved his hands in his pockets. "You have already lost. You couldn't touch a decent swordsman right now if you tried."
A roar of rage erupted from Kailynn. She ran at Alac, dagger raised. Alac stood there with his hands in his pockets. As she reached him and swiped the blade edge at his chest, he reached out with the speed of lighting grabbing her wrists. He wrenched her right causing her to gasp in pain and drop that dagger as he pinned her hand behind her. Her left wrist he twisted so that the knife was against her own throat as he pressed his body against hers pinning the blade edge to her skin drawing a thin line of blood. She wanted to struggle but her pinned wrist behind her kept her pressed to Alac.
He put his face right in front of hers.
"You. Will. Die. If you keep this up, you will get killed within the first month. Then what will your friend have died for?" A tear slid down Kailynn's cheek as she stared vengefully into Alac's grey-green eyes. The color of a storming sea and just as deep and dangerous. "Do you hear me?"
Kailynn nodded, the razor sharp edge lightly scraping the skin of her neck. Alac held pinned against him but took the dagger from her hand. She pushed against his chest with her now free hand but he held her still as his left hand felt around her belt and removed the rest of her weapons. She started to push harder but he lowered his face to hers again as the tears now poured down her face.
"They may call you Lady, but you are just a scared servant girl. Aren't you?" His tone was low as his eyes searched hers. "Aren't you??"
Kailynn's back stiffened. "I am a Princess of the Ash King's line!"
"Because some noblewoman told you so? Look at you, if you were really royalty you would have more control over yourself. Not shaking and crying over some dead servant girl."
Kailynn slapped him in the face, hard. Her tears stopped as she glared at him. "Don't you ever talk about her again!"
"What about the hundreds of innocent servant girls, daughters, mothers that you are dooming every time you lose your composure? Do you mourn them too? Find that royal spine sweetheart."
"Let. Go. Now." Kailynn moved her face closer to his, their lips nearly touching. "Now, Alac."
He released her but neither of them stepped back.
"Do. Not. Ever touch me again." Her tone was as cold as the ice in the North Kingdom.
Alac smirked at her. "Or what? You will cry at me?"
Kailynn raised her hand to slap him again. He caught her wrist, leaned in and kissed her. His lips were warm and soft. Kailynn wanted to struggle or step back, but there was something wild in his kiss that she found herself leaning into. A rush of warm energy flooded into her as she parted her lips to allow his tongue into her mouth. She stepped into his embrace as his arms slid around her. Their tongues intertwined as his hand slid up and gripped the back of her head by the hair. She moaned quietly, wanting more. He broke the spell by pulling her head back as they made eye contact, both of them breathing slightly harder.
She slowly raised her hand to his chest and gently pushed them apart. His arms dropped to his sides, as his eyes searched hers for answers as to what just happened.
"I'm sorry." Alac's voice was husky. Kailynn had never heard him apologize in the three weeks that they had been training together. He wheeled on his heel and started to walk away.
"Wait!"
Alac paused without turning around.
"Why?"
"I wanted you to feel something other than anger or pain."
"That's it?"
"Yes."
Kailynn felt a strange sensation in her chest. Not rage or sadness. Longing. Longing to be held, cared for and kissed. To be loved. Why did she feel this way? Why of all people would it be him??
"You may go Deathdealer."
He nodded without turning around or uttering a word. Before he could continue walking away, a rider thundered into the small makeshift training area. "I've a letter for Ser Joseph from the North."
Alac strode up to the rider. "I'm his son, I will take it to him."
The rider handed down the letter with a curious glance at Kailynn in her light grey training uniform. Her braid had come undone during her training and her moment with Alac. She stood a figure of beauty surrounded by the deepening evening with the sun's final rays lighting up her face. If there was ever a moment she looked regal, this was it.
Alac followed the rider's stare and stood turning the letter over and over in his hands, watching as she stood there in the twilight crowned with the fire jewels of the sunset playing in her dark hair.
"By the Line..." the rider breathed out.
Alac started out of his reverie. "Go on rider!" He slapped the horse and it tore off down the path to the central road.
Kailynn cleared her throat. "What does it say?"
Alac tore his eyes away from her and broke open the seal to read the letter. His face dropped as he read. He crushed the letter in his hands, looking toward the sliver of red orange sun as it sunk behind the hills.
"Well??"
Alac coughed. "It says that The Bard and Lady Beaufort never arrived to the court of the King of the North and are presumed lost. They fell from the road into a chasm. The King's North Guard have not been able to locate their bodies."
Kailynn's heart leapt. "So they may not be dead??"
"According to the letter, the area is infested with bears and the North Guard found large quantities of blood under the snow."
Kailynn felt the world spin. "So now what do we do?"
Alac looked her in the eye with those stormy sea green eyes. "I'll go look for their bodies and to speak with the King of the North."
"I'm going."
Alac opened his mouth to argue, but she silenced him with a raised hand. "You clearly do not believe I am the Ash Princess, so how can you convince the North King? Also, Sera was... is my friend and I will help look for her."
Alac closed his mouth and nodded.
Kailynn started gathering her weapons from the ground. "We leave in two hours. Be ready."