Blood Rider [Alonia's Queenslayer #1]

3

"No, no! Don't move so stiffly!" Eli yelled at Teoh as she made an upwards cut towards him with her wooden sword. Teoh managed to block it, but so stiffly that the force of the impact made his sword reflect and hit him in the forehead.

He cursed under his breath as he clutched his head, loose strands of hair flowing down his face. Eli wiped some sweat from her brow as she sighed. Teoh didn't seem to even be trying.

It was a beautiful day outside. Spring was slowly ending and they were enjoying their possibly last crisp morning before the heat of summer set in. The sun lighted the trees around them, making them look ethereal and tranquil. While Eli enjoyed a good sparring session surrounded by such beauty, sparring with Teoh was not on her list of favourite things to do- mostly because he wasn't even trying. He kept getting distracted and ignoring Eli's advice, which made her even more annoyed and less willing to help.

"Teoh, use your brain, goof!" Eli said sharply, and Teoh eyed her angrily before simply sitting down onto the dew-covered grass, right next to his sword. His tunic was too big for him, making him look a lot thinner and weaker than he actually was.

"No! I don't want to spar now!" Teoh complained, and Eli sighed in defeat, letting her sword drop onto the ground with a thud.

Elan and Helios grinned at them from their makeshift bench, made of a fallen log they had dragged in the previous year. Elan was furiously scribbling something onto a piece of paper the whole morning and refused to tell them what it was. It was irking all of them, but they respected his privacy just enough as not to steal it from him with force. That would mostly end up in a brutal fight- Elan was twice as large as Eli and one punch from him was sure to knock her out.

"Come on, Elan, won't you tell us what you're doing?" Teoh begged over-dramatically as he sprawled onto the ground. Teoh was a pretty guy, and he was quite knowledgeable, which he claimed made up for his lack of fighting skills. Elan sighed as he straightened his back. He closed the ink bottle and set both the bottle and his quill onto the ground.

"I was writing a poem."

Everyone burst into hysterical laughter. Eli doubled over and found herself unable to stop, up until the ink bottle hit her in the temple and made her fall to the ground and shut up. Her pain made the others shut up, and Elan glared at them furiously as Eli clutched her head.

"Now you see how I feel!" Teoh told her, and Eli just sent him a dirty look.

"Come on now, Elan, you can't possibly be writing poems. Can you even read? It's about swords and bad rhymes, probably!" Teoh turned to Elan. Elan was red in the face and clutching his piece of paper with both hands.

"Of course I can! Do not mock my art!" he said angrily. Eli was still annoyed by the fact she was the one to get hit, but she had to admit she deserved it.

"Let us see it, then!" Eli said, her voice colder than she wanted it to be. Elan scowled at her.

"Show it to you, Eli? So you can make fun of me for the rest of my life?" he said furiously, standing up from the makeshift bench, piece of paper forgotten as it floated to the ground. Helios had already scooted towards the very edge of the bench, his eyes betraying shock and fear. Teoh also shut up and looked at Eli with a solemn expression. Eli's face was even redder than Elan's. As she opened her mouth to defend herself, she was interrupted by the arrival of Blaed.

The blonde boy dressed in expensive ornamental clothes was smirking from ear to ear, a slight stubble decorating his face. His size and skill matched Eli's, while both of them claimed to be better than the other. Whenever they sparred, they always came out even. According to Helios, they were equally mean, too.