The Shadow Wanderers

Chapter 26

Calista held a sword in her hand after weeks. The blade felt heavy but comforting at the same time. Claudia and Calista moved in circles in the ring, waiting for the other's attack.

They were in the woods, training in one of the rings where the soldiers tried their hands at the multiple fighting tactics. From sunrise to well after sunset, Calista could see the Vakenian and Liggenian soldiers training hard. When she looked at this side of the forest, only then she could tell it was preparation for a battleground. She could see Ransley, Arnos, and the other Serafiels training alongside the soldiers, some acting as their mentors. They trained using the portals, running in and out of them as fast as they could, trying to fight the nausea that comes with traveling through portals. They tried with all sorts of weapons; swords, blades, spears, arrows, and other weapons that looked deadly but Calista couldn't name them.

Something heavy fell on Calista's heart as she saw Naomi trying to aim her arrows straight. It wasn't Naomi's fight and she'd talked with her not to even think of partaking in any fight. But Naomi was adamant and wanted to be useful for something. She tried her hands out at a couple of weapons to tell which ones she was good at and what she'd be comfortable using. She'd tried blades first, but when she couldn't balance them in her hands and hit straight at her targets, she settled on the bows and arrows. It kept her mind and body occupied as she focused on her targets straight ahead, a soldier guiding her arms and teaching her how to aim.

Calista, however, knew she wanted to get back to the swords. She remembered training with Claudia in Vakenes, and she'd been improving every day. Now the long blades were back in her hands and they silenced her mind, making her focus only on the shimmer of her opponent's blade.

Claudia applauded her when she made the right leg movements and defended herself at just the right moment by crashing her sword with the other.

It had been two days since the hospital incident and her father hadn't shown any signs of waking up. Calista was getting anxious every hour she heard his breaths sitting by his side but he wouldn't open his eyes. It made her want to tear at Zayden's collar and drag him into the Forbidden Cliffs to get the Stormrage. If it was in her hands, she would gladly have gone alone to find Arik and ruin him with everything she had. But she knew she couldn't. She was a mortal. She didn't have it in her to face the demon. She knew she wouldn't last two seconds in front of him.

As Claudia and she took a break from their hour-long practice, Calista went to sit with Naomi who had already been taking rest. She saw Zayden appear in the training fields and look around for someone. She thought he'd been looking for her when their eyes met and he started walking toward them, but then he turned to Claudia and whispered something to her. She nodded and they both walked out of the fields towards the meadow.

Calista knew it was not paranoia when she could sense a tension in Zayden's shoulders. She didn't admit it to herself but she had started to read him—he fiddled with the ring on his finger when he was nervous, a line appeared on his forehead when he was anxious, he squared his shoulders a lot when he was tense, and she couldn't name the tiny flicker that appeared in his red irises when he looked directly at her.

And so, not being to fight that urge inside her to see what was going on, Calista tentatively followed them to the meadow, where she stood outside the curtain serving as an entrance. From the voices she could hear, it seemed as if Princess Aurora was there as well.

"My King, you can't let her—" came Claudia's voice.

Aurora sighed. "She's a mortal."

"I'm aware," Zayden said, his voice low but anxious. "We've got no other choice."

Calista could tell they'd been discussing her, but she thought they were discussing whether or not to let her fight if and when the battle against the demon begins. She, as a mortal, was the most vulnerable among them after all. It was another story if she wanted to fight alongside them, but at the same time, she could understand if they don't let her. They were fighting to protect the mortals, so the mortals partaking in the fight did not make sense. If she thought it wasn't Naomi's fight, it wasn't her own either.