The Last Hunter: Collected Edition (Antarktos Saga #1-5)

“Be merciful,” I say.

“Nah,” she says, her smile widening. “That’s your thing. Besides, I haven’t practiced on a moving target in a while.” Her laughter chases me down the hallway, but an hour later I learn that she wasn’t joking.





23



The first rock that hits my leg feels like a hard punch. Justin would call it a Charley Horse. I’m not sure why. Never did look that up. But it hurts and slows me down. I’m just glad Em is throwing rocks instead of knives. Still, she could hold back a little.

One hundred five.

But I guess that would defy the point. I’m not training for the circus, I’m training for battle, in a makeshift ice arena hidden from view by what appear to be naturally formed walls of ice. You’d have to be standing on the edge to see us inside. A month ago, the fight we’re now simulating was real, and I lost. If not for Em seeing my shock of blond hair and deflecting Tobias’s arrow, I’d be dead.

One hundred ten.

Might be now, too, if Tobias hadn’t replaced the razor sharp metal barbs at the tips of his arrows with cloth-wrapped stones. When the first of those strikes my shoulder, I shout in pain, wondering if something is broken or dislocated. But I can still move the limb.

One hundred fifteen.

Tobias has forbidden me from using my powers for the first two minutes of the fight. Sometimes I’ll need to face enemies even when I’m tired and beaten, he said. Makes sense, I suppose, but I was tired and beaten when I got out of bed this morning.

As a hunter I should be able to dodge some of their attacks, but both have remarkable aim and seem to sense where I’m going to move next. I wonder if this is Tobias’s way of also teaching me what I am without my powers—not much. An average hunter. A useless—

One hundred twenty!

The arrow headed for my gut shoots wide as a gust of wind pulses in front of me.

A storm forms above us. It’s an easy thing to do and doesn’t tax my body or mind. All the elements were already there, ready to form on their own. I just gave them a nudge, and asked them to be harsh.

The temperature drops. I can’t feel it myself, but I see Tobias and Em react to it for a moment. The chill will sap their energy just as using my unnatural abilities steals mine. This is just the first phase of my counter attack.

But my opponents don’t let up. The stones and blunt arrows keep coming. And with each deflected shot, I feel my energy wane. So I try something new. Rather than focus on countering each individual attack, I pull the wind down, and around me. The effort is tiring, but not nearly as much as my previous efforts. A cyclone forms around my body, obscuring me from view and deflecting every single stone and arrow they throw at it. For the moment, I’m safe.

I hear Em shout a battle cry.

But that’s all. I just hear her. My defense has blinded me as well.

Her face bursts through the wall of spinning snow, her hands reaching out for me. But then she’s gone, yanked away and thrown by the wind. I hear her shout out in pain.

The cyclone bursts.

The wind stops.

And I turn around, looking for Em, terrified that I’ve hurt her. “Em, are you okay?”

A fist answers my question.

I stagger back, blood dripping from my nose.

I see a stone flying toward me, and I manage to deflect it with a gust of wind.

“You can’t be distracted by worries or concerns while in battle,” Tobias says.

I channel a long gust of wind behind me, knowing that Tobias is going to shoot me, but not knowing when or where. The arrow zips past my shoulder and buries itself in the snow. But the effort has worn me out. I’ve lost my advantage.

Or have I?

I’m surrounded by stone and arrows.

They’re larger and heavier than snowflakes, but the principle is the same. I’ve trained for this. I can do it.

I leap away, using the wind to put some distance between Em and me. She’s a brutal close-combat fighter, which is why she prefers the knives. And why I prefer to be far away.

I glance to Tobias. He’s reaching back for another arrow. Em’s taking aim with her stones.

Let them come, I think. I’ve been thinking defensively so far. It’s time to turn things around, literally. The effort might exhaust me, but I want to win this fight.

Em and Tobias time their next strikes so that rock and arrow will arrive simultaneously, forcing me to dodge one, but not the other.

I dodge neither.

Instead, I stand my ground, thrust my hands out toward the projectiles and with matching bursts of wind, force them back the way they came.

Tobias reacts quickly, rolling to the side as his own arrow passes over him.