The Legacy of Shadows. William Speir

Order wants me to lead, but I can’t do that and be in Georgia every week. I’d better alert the Order that I can’t accept any interventions until this training contract is completed.

      Jamie arrived home a few minutes before 6:00 that evening. Hunter’s car was parked in the garage when she pulled in. She called out his name when she entered the house, and she heard his voice coming from upstairs.

      She entered the bedroom and saw Hunter coming out of the bathroom. He had a towel around his waist and was drying his hair with another towel.

      “Welcome home.” He kissed her. She reached for the towel around his waist, but he intercepted her hand. “We don’t have time for that. Later.”

      Jamie nodded. “I’ll grab a quick shower.”

      “The bathroom’s all yours.”

      Jamie undressed as she entered the bathroom. In record time, she had showered and washed her hair. As she was drying off, she asked, “So what are we doing tonight?”

      “Dinner, dancing, and if you’re not too tired after that, I have other things in mind for us.”

      “I’m never too tired for that.”

      “I’ll hold you to that.”

      Jamie put on minimal makeup and put her hair up into a high ponytail since it was still damp. Then she put on a hunter green mini-dress and her brown suede leather boots that came above the knee. This was Hunter’s favorite outfit of hers, and he could barely take his eyes off her when she wore it. She wanted to keep him stimulated until they got back home.

      Hunter took her to her favorite restaurant and then to one of the trendy dance clubs that featured live music every night. The band was good, but Jamie didn’t really pay attention to the sounds or the people around them. All her attention was on Hunter. The longer they danced, the closer she got to him and the more seductive her dancing became, until it became evident that if she danced any longer it would attract unwanted attention.

      “You ready to get out of here?” Jamie whispered into Hunter’s ear.

      Hunter nodded enthusiastically. He led Jamie off the dance floor and out to the valet parking stand.

      He made impressive time getting home with no speeding tickets, and they were undressed before reaching the top of the stairs. It was nearly three hours later before they were both exhausted and satisfied. Jamie snuggled close to him as he pulled up the covers on their bed.

      “Thank you for tonight,” Jamie purred softly.

      “Anytime, Babe.” Hunter nuzzled her ear softly.

      In spite of the workout they had the night before, Jamie rose at her usual time Saturday morning and got ready to head for the dojo. Hunter rode with her. He spent most Saturdays at the dojo with Jamie, helping her open and close while he studied for his 2^nd degree black belt.

      There was a small crowd waiting for her when she arrived, and they all wanted to see her fight against multiple opponents like she did every Saturday morning.

      She unlocked the doors, turned on the lights, and motioned for the crowd to come inside. Then she removed her uniform and began warming up. When she finally turned toward the mats closest to the front window, she saw ten senior black belts and instructors waiting for her. They were wearing safety gear, and their headgear made it impossible for Jamie to identify her opponents.

      Tobias was there as one of the referees, with two other instructors helping him. Jamie noticed that one of the racks of wooden practice weapons had been brought from the weapons training room upstairs. This was unexpected. Jamie bowed to her opponents and to the referees, and then she took a ready stance, noting that none of her opponents held any weapons.

      That changed quickly.

      No sooner had the match begun than five of her opponents ran to the rack to secure weapons while the other five opponents kept her distracted. Then the five opponents with weapons attacked while the other five moved toward the rack to get their own weapons.

      Jamie was unarmed and fighting ten armed opponents. The crowd gasped, but Jamie knew what she was doing.

      When the first attacker lunged at her with his practice sword, she disarmed him and sent him flying with a sweep of his legs. She disarmed the second armed attacker a moment later. Armed with two practice swords, she attacked the other opponents with a relentless fervor.

      One of her attackers succeeded in knocking one of the swords from her hand with a long bo staff, but she simply dropped the other sword, grabbed the bo staff with both hands, and yanked it free. She maneuvered the bo staff at blinding speeds, knocking weapons from hands and striking her opponents in their torsos and shoulders while sweeping their legs.

      It didn’t take long for her opponents to begin withdrawing from the match. When only two opponents remained, Jamie retrieved her swords and moved around her opponents, who were also armed with two swords apiece.

      Her opponents attacked, and she defended herself with her two swords, looking for opportunities to disarm them. Using both swords, she lifted the swords of one opponent high above his head and kicked him in the stomach. He went flying across the mat and was forced to withdraw, giving Jamie an opening to focus all of her attention on the last opponent.

      Jamie tried to guess who the final opponent was. She could tell it was a woman, but the opponent’s protective gear covered her face. Jamie and her final opponent fought furiously until it was nearly impossible to see the practice swords as they moved through the air.

      Jamie managed to hit her opponent’s wrist, and one of the opponent’s swords went flying. Jamie pressed the attack, and soon her opponent was on her knees as Jamie continued to strike at blinding speeds. Then Jamie knocked her opponent’s remaining sword out of her hands, and Jamie brought both of her swords down on either side of her opponent’s neck.

      Her opponent signaled that she surrendered, and Jamie removed the swords and stepped back, bowing to her opponents.

      “Who are you?”

      Her opponent removed her proactive headgear and stood. Emily Anderson bowed and smiled at her daughter.

      “Mom?!” Jamie hugged her mother and the crowd applauded and cheered.

      Both mother and daughter were breathing heavily. Hunter brought both of them towels and bottles of water so they could cool off while the referees gathered the weapons and returned them to the rack.

      “That was a good match,” Emily said after wiping the sweat off her face and tucking her graying strawberry-blonde hair back behind her ear. “I thought I had you at one point.”

      Jamie glanced at her other opponents. “How did they talk you into being part of this today?”

      “Actually, I volunteered. I don’t get over here as often as I’d like, and I wanted to see if I still knew my way around a practice sword. Besides, it’s been ages since you and I have sparred. I guess I’ll never know what it feels like to beat a master.”

      “Well, you were a great teacher, Mom.”

      Emily smiled. “And you were the best student. Now you have students of your own.”

      Tom walked into the dojo. He saw Emily and Jamie sitting together and moved toward them.

      “Sorry I missed the match. Alasdair needed to meet with me. Who won?”

      “She did,” Emily said, gesturing at Jamie.

      “What a surprise.”

      “Any chance of getting together this week?” Tom asked Jamie.

      “What day were you thinking about? We start training at Fort Benning next Monday, and I have to get everything ready by Friday when my instructors arrive to help transport the equipment to the training center there.”

      Tom smiled when he heard Jamie mention Fort Benning. “Sounds like you’re swamped this