The Huntress

Chapter 26

Durin made a sudden movement toward me and I stepped to the side quickly. He had stopped after the sudden burst and I realized he had been testing my reflexes. He wanted to know my response time. I couldn't help but smile.

We were still for a few more moments before he came at me again, this time following through. I saw his large body moving closer and just when he was in arms reach, I stepped to the side. One of his hands caught my arm and I used it as leverage to take him down. He bounced back up almost immediately and we were once again staring at each other.

I went for a roundhouse kick, that if done right would take him down, but when my foot made contact with him, it once again stopped suddenly. I was left standing on one leg, hopping to keep my balance. My other leg was held high in the air, my foot right next to Durin's head. I knew what was going to happen. I felt my body turning in the air as he took me off my feet and had me on my back yet again.

I wanted to stop right then. There was really no use for a third round when Durin had clearly won the first two, but there was no way Ian was going to skip it.

I could already hear slight snickers from some of the people in the crowd around us. Others were just staring wide-eyed. A good chunk of them knew this was an unfair fight, but no one really cared, our group was all about unfair fights. I slowly got back up and clutched the stake in my hand tightly.

I felt my heart start to pick up as if it were a real fight. It was ridiculous for my body to act that way, but it had apparently associated anything that looked like a weapon with a hunt.

Durin made the first move and I once again easily dodged it, stepping to the side. I turned quickly and rushed his back, getting ready to plant the stake right where his heart was. Before my stake made contact though, he whirled around and caught my arm. He then twisted it to the side, and just like had happened during the assessment, he turned until I couldn't keep my grip on the piece of wood. It fell to the mat almost soundlessly and I was pushed backwards.

I started to get my footing under me, getting ready to dive after the stake when Durin's foot snaked behind and tripped me. I landed hard on my back and then I felt his weight pushing me down right before the applied pressure of his dull stake right over my heart.

Durin had killed me.

"And that's the end of the round," Ian said with a large grin. I didn't hear the rest of what he said as Durin slowly shifted his weight, getting off of me.

"You completely wrecked me," I said quietly as I felt every muscle screaming at me when I tried to sit up.

"Oh that was nothing babe, if you really want wrecked find me on your own time," Durin said with a wink before holding a hand out to help me up. My jaw dropped at how forward he was, and I felt a blush creep into my cheeks, thank goodness my face was already red from the sparring.

My hand was completely engulfed in his as he pulled me to my feet. I winced as the pain shot through my body, dulling once I was finally standing. He and I had been dismissed for the rest of the period so we started to go back to the locker rooms.

"How long have you been training?" Durin asked.

"Right around four years."

"Huh."

"What?"

"Nothing."

"That didn't sound like nothing," I said pointedly.

"It's just that you seem to be pretty far."

I was overcome by a burst of laughter. "That's funny. You just killed me, three times in fact, and yet you say I'm pretty far."

"Hey, I was trained since I was little, by a founding family no less. If I didn't have a perfect score that would really be something to talk about. You shouldn't have even been paired up with me."

"I know. Ian-Freemont is just pissed off at me."

"Wow, what did you do to have him set you up for public embarrassment and a good whooping?" Durin teased.

"I turned him down. Multiple times."

We stopped between the men's and women's locker rooms and Durin's brows rose.

"He's sort of had a thing for me for a while now. He tried kissing me the last time we hunted together. He tried flirting again yesterday and the day before. He just can't take a hint though, so he got back at me with you."

"Well Jaeger, he put you on my radar," he said jokingly.

"And what does being on your radar entail exactly, Durin?"

"Well, it involves my attention," he said as if that was something I would trip over myself to get. "And maybe even my help, that is if you'd like it to advance your skills. Maybe some one on one sessions outside of class."

His suggestive tone had me blushing again before I knew what was happening. He gave me a wink before turning.

"See you around Jaeger."

I mumbled a parting after him before turning and going into the women's locker room to change. What in the world what just happened? Had Durin been hitting on me, or had I just been looking too much into his words? It had definitely seemed like he had.

I groaned and headed back to my room until lunch. When I plopped on the bed, I saw the light flashing on my phone. I checked it, seeing a text from Jared.

Everything okay? Something felt a bit off, wasn't sure if it was you.

It freaked me out how he could feel these things, even if it was barely anything. Even if he didn't know for sure if they were connected to me, he somehow still felt when things were off. No doubt he had felt when I had been sparring with Durin. My anxiety had been through the roof the entire time, more so than when I was on a normal hunt.

Everything's fine. Just got beat up a bit. I hesitated before pressing the send button, wondering what I'd get in response to that one.

You WHAT?!

I couldn't stop the little laugh that bubbled up to the surface.

I'm fine. Honestly it was just a practice thing.

You're practicing getting beat up?

I realized that I hadn't told him exactly where I was or what I was doing. I hadn't sure how he'd react if I told him, and I still wasn't.

Long story. We'll talk about it when I get back.

Well that was a plus, I could still laugh at his words, and I still wanted to talk to him when I got back so apparently my settings hadn't yet been reverted back to 'Before Jared.'

I set my phone down when the bell rang and went to the cafeteria for lunch. Hopefully the rest of the day was much easier than what I had just gone through.

*************

So a little bit of Ian's retaliation there. And we have finally met a student who is also part of a founding family. Interesting. I wonder why he's a student instead of an instructor himself... Hmmmmm

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~Red