Element. Flame of Elisar. Marie K. JETH

he thought for a moment and spat down giving his final conclusion, “Jerks!”

      I raised one eyebrow skeptically. I still remembered him giving quite a different opinion (to say the least of it) of me during the previous class.

      For a while, Yoos stayed in the role of a tyrant torturing his people even more, and then headed toward me.

      He was of average height, flat-bellied and shapely built, with dark short hair sprinkled gray on the temples, and light gray eyes that stood so brightly out against his bronze skin.

      The commander of the Karun guard was not young, over forty, actually. Yet, he was definitely in an excellent physical shape – kind of a tough wolf that had been around and had collected an honorary collection of scars on his half-battered skin. One of the scars ran through his chest from the left shoulder to the right side.

      When he came closer, I just handed him the efil.

      Yoos opened the flask with his teeth, spat out the cork, whispered the spell so I could barely hear it and closed his eyes. The ice in the bubble melted instantly, and the contents spilled onto the warrior’s palm. A couple of seconds later he looked at me again, frowned for some reason.

      “I’ll be right back, start without me,” he threw and headed to the Head building.

      I nodded silently and moved toward the assault course, the right side of which was my training area.

      As soon as Yoos disappeared into the building, all movement on the training ground

      stopped, as if time itself had stopped. The crowd breathed a sigh of relief through a few dozen of healthy men’s throats. Weapons fell onto the ground followed by the exhausted guards.

      But as I approached the poor squad, the blades on my belt caught their eyes, and the huge mass of human bodies on the ground seemed to come back to life. Then I heard a familiar voice right near me, “What is that you got there?”

      I lowered my eyes – Visar, breathing heavily, was getting up coming closer, as his eyes seemed to be glued to my waist.

      “Can I have a look?”

      “Sure, please,” I handed him one of the blades.

      He took it, looked from all the sides around, played throwing it from one hand to the other trying the balance, gave a closer look, and then his eyebrows jumped up.

      “Is that Star Ore?” he exclaimed. “Wow! There were a couple of carts robbed last week. Was it you?”

      The guy hooted with laughter pleased with his own joke. As for me, I just looked at him expressing total indifference and holding my arms folded, thus showing that it was not at all funny.

      “Where is Star Ore?” I could hear voices from behind. A few guys jumped up and were already next to me. I knew many of them pretty well.

      They had taken me as a friend rather soon, which came as no surprise – for over a month then we had been sweating side by side through the assault course and collecting all the bruises and cuts that were coming. I think Yoos was never bothered by the fact I was a girl.

      During that time, the guys had more than a few chances to witness my shame. They would often laugh and crack jokes, yet always in a friendly and somewhat kind way. They all remembered their own bruises and misfortunes after the first workouts, so nobody appeared arrogant. Besides, the guards often asked me to take messages to their families in Karun. And I tried to never refuse their requests. They, in turn, helped me through my training with their practical and timely advice.

      I have to admit, however, that not all of them viewed me as an associate. Some of them were flirting openly, and I even suspected that the entire squad had plunged into some hidden rivalry over my heart. It seemed that Soren was in the lead – he had already come twice to propose. He was clearly one of the leaders, always determined and persistent, and at some point I even felt respect for him.

      And now, he was darting adoring glances at me, which made me shiver. Should expect some matchmakers to come my home again!

      “Wow! Can I get a look?”

      “Hey, I want to see it, too. Don’t keep it too long, pass it over here”

      The blades went circulating from hand to hand, each time met with exclamations.

      “This is Truvle the blacksmith’s work! Look, here is the seal,” someone said. “It’s definitely him!”

      Now they all turned to me with their eyes full of respect.

      “Ricka, where did you get these?” Luz asked, holding up the weapon that finally fell into his hands, and not even trying to conceal his admiration.

      “Got from Truvle for birthday,” I smiled getting embarrassed for some reason.

      The crowd buzzed with approval, once again discussing the metal and the balancing that was unmatched.

      Truvle’s stuff was well known here, he made swords for all the commanders in the garrison, while youngsters could only dream of it.

      “Can’t even imagine how I’m going to fight you now! Compared to your blades we got tins,” another guard, Sith, said.

      The guys laughed, while someone even clapped me on the shoulder.

      “It’s not about the weapon that makes the warrior, but the skill!” Yoos’s voice sounded out of the blue right over our heads. “And I can’t remember ordering any rest! Daggers back to the girl! Everyone ready for training!” he shouted at the crowd that was dissolving rapidly.

      A second later, I stood completely alone, with my weapon pressed hard in my hands.

      “Okay, well… Well, show me what Truvle has conjured this time,” he said, coming closer.

      I unfastened the daggers and handed them to him… But already next instant I froze with my jaw dropping down to me feet. The old warrior was doing something that went far beyond my imagination! The blades were spinning in his strong much-practiced hands. They were sparkling in a movement that my eyes could barely catch, which turned the two silhouettes in the air into two spheres.

      “Good! Great!” exactly what we need. “He improved them to make just perfect,” he said approvingly.

      Snap! And the chain shot sending the claw deep into a log of wood on the ground near us. Then Yoos made an intangible movement and the blade slipped out of the wood that had been holding it so tightly a second ago.

      Yoos stepped away to the training area center and the chains spun around him producing various shapes and combinations of these in the air. They were wriggling obediently as if being just part of his body. And Yoos resembled an octopus with long moving tentacles.

      The whole squad, me included, was following that show in an ecstatic daze. Of course, the youngsters adored him because the commander was an expert in this military art, and no single cart had ever been sacked while he was on duty through all the years he had been serving! He was feared and respected by all – the guards, the local residents and – oddly enough – even robbers.

      Having played a little more with the chains, Yoos came up to me. “Well, fine, now put them in your bag. We will learn in a safer way, both for you and for the rest.”

      I automatically stuffed the weapon into my bag, and then, bewildered, looked at him. All the hopes I would be allowed some show-off time with the blades in my hands, melted away immediately.

      “Nort!” Yoos shouted so that I jumped up. “Bring me two whips from the stables, a couple of those we use for the horses.

      One of the guys rushed to the buildings nearby.

      “Whips? What the hell do I do with whips?!” I was indignant.

      “I still believe I may need you alive,” the warrior gave me a wink. “You will have to learn how to manage with a usual whip first, and then we go to your claws.”

      I did not even try to argue being perfectly aware that he was right.

      At that moment, Nort was already approaching us with two whips in his hand. I could