I swung the staff one way to throw her off guard before sweeping it under my arm and sending a jab into her stomach. It was a wasted move for she shuffled her feet sideways before bringing down her staff in one big movement.
They smashed together, the impact vibrated up my arm.
Nyah followed with a move that I’d not seen before. One moment our staffs were pressed together and in the next, she had spun hers around and pushed mine out of the way.
With lightning strike movements, she tapped the left side of my chest then the right. As I tried to guess her next move she changed again and thrust the butt of the staff into my ribs.
I jumped back, ignoring the new pain and brought my staff up.
“I thought I was attacking and you were defending,” I said breathlessly.
“Oops, got carried away.”
I could understand what Sulan had meant about Nyah giving the Commander a run for her coin. She was a natural fighter.
I attempted to attack until Sulan instructed everyone to swap positions. If that was what she was like defending, Goddess help me when it came to her attacking technique.
“I’ll go easier on you this time,” she added, stretching her arms.
“I’ll believe that when I see it.”
Nyah shot forward, her staff no more than an extension of her own body. She showed no sign of tiring whereas I was ready to collapse on the floor within the first round of her attacks.
I fought through the stabbing agony.
Again, and again, she brought down the end of her staff, smashing it into my ankles, arms, stomach and hands.
My muscles screamed as I whirled my staff around, trying to follow her movements and stop her advances.
At one point, I had to dip low and spin for her to miss. I turned back to face her, but was blinded when the opposite end of her staff smacked into the bottom of my chin.
My head jerked backwards and light burst behind my eyes. I dropped my staff and threw up my hands to cover my face.
I ran my tongue along my lip and winced when I tasted copper. I didn’t dare open my mouth in worry for it to spill onto the floor.
“Are you hurt?” Nyah lifted my face. Her expression soured when she noticed the swelling. My entire face was hot and stiff.
I tried to speak, but my words were lost between swollen lips and bloodied teeth.
“Let me take you to the Healer. I hear she is well skil—”
I shook my head viciously. I tried to say no, but could not get the words out.
“There is so much blood, Zacriah, you need to go.”
I tilted my head back and gargled, “No!”
“Fine, I get your point! At least let me help clean you up.” Nyah called over her shoulder to Sulan who I’m sure had already noticed, “Gotta take Zacriah out.”
“What have you done?” Sulan called back, a hint of humour in his voice.
“Urmmm…”
“Just make sure he doesn’t spill blood on my floor.”
Nyah raised a hand to him, “Leave it to me.”
Everyone watched Sulan open the door to let us leave, no more questions asked.
Nyah led me to a room down the corridor. I held my hand to my mouth, still tilted back to stop the flow of blood. The thought of swallowing it made me feel sick, so I just let it build up in my mouth.
The room she guided me to was no bigger than a glorified storage closest, empty apart from two benches on either side of the space and the single stone basin in the middle. Ripples of water reflected onto the ceiling and walls of the room, lit from the glowing basin. Nyah sat me down, pulled a piece of cream cloth from her pocket and submerged it into the water before ringing it out, droplets falling back into the pool like the chimes of a bell. First, she passed me a chalice and told me to spit out the blood. Satisfied that my mouth was empty, she placed the damp cloth to my lip and held it there.
“This should help with the swelling. Sulan showed us the room on our first day, it seems the water has some mild healing properties. Enough that you may not need to see a healer, all depending on how deep the cut in your mouth actually is.” I took the cloth from her, holding it to my lip.
I could tell she was sorry, it was written all over her face. “I got a bit carried away in there. You did well, considering. I’ve just had a lot more practice then you and—”
“You don’t need to apologize, or explain yourself,” I said, the swelling in my jaw relaxing just as Nyah had suggested it would. “But I think I deserve to know why you are so good. Especially since you nearly knocked my teeth out.”
Nyah lifted her legs so that they were crossed on top of the bench. “Growing up with competitive siblings has its perks. Dad felt it was important we all trained in hand to hand combat; he said it would even the playing field when my brothers and I fought.”
“And did it?”
“Oh yes, I bested them each time. That was before my brothers enrolled in the guard and left home. They’re twins, you see, did everything together, so when Dill mentioned he wanted to join the guard, Bellan also chose to leave with him.”
“Are they here, your brothers?” I asked, confused to why she had not mentioned them before.
She shook her head, her red locks falling over her face. “No, I thought they might be, but with the attacks I suppose they have been stationed somewhere else. It would’ve been nice to see them, it’s been almost five moons since they left.”
“Have you asked about them?”
“I have tried, but it seems no one is willing to give me any answers.” A shadow passed behind her eyes, the topic was a hard one for her. “But what about you, any siblings back home?”
“No, just me. I couldn’t imagine having siblings, seems like a lot of work.”
Nyah chuckled, and nodded. “Oh, it is! But it is also one of the most incredible things.”
I ran my tongue behind my lower lip, across the puckered cut that had already began to shrink in size. “It’s gone down, seems Sulan was right about the water.”
Nyah lifted a hand to my chin and pulled down my lip to inspect it. “You sure you’re going to be all right? I don’t want the Prince chasing me down for hurting you.”
I pinched my face at the mention of Hadrian. “Very funny.”
“I am, aren’t I!” She took the cloth from my face and moved for the basin. She hesitated over the water, “Can you hear th—”
There was the sound of pounding feet beyond the room. Nyah looked back to me then moved for the door to check. We both jumped as Sulan burst through before Nyah had a chance to open, his face pale.
“We have all been summoned by King Dalior, there has been another attack.”
HADRIAN PACED THE bottom of the dais, his face thunderous, fists clenched at his sides. King Dalior stood before him, addressing the room. We’d slipped in just before he had started to speak.