Spellbinders Secret

Intimate Incidents

The next few weeks flew by so quickly, I didn't know where they'd gone. Slowly, I watched Callum become the man I always knew he could be. He was smarter, stronger, reserved, patient and kind. He excelled in all his classes, in spite of his earlier set backs, and even made good progress in our fighting lessons. A little bit too much progress.

"Alright, that was good Callum, really good. Try it again!" I call out to him. We both assume our fighting stances and circle each other, waiting for our opponent to move or falter. One of the first things I taught him was to look for a weakness, a possible distraction, and exploit it.

Suddenly, Callum breaks into a sprint, his fast legs eating up the distance in no time. I remain still and calm, like a rock anchored into place against a raging sea. Still, Callum runs at me, not showing any signs of slowing down. At the last minute, I kick him and move out of the way. He stumbles to the ground, but gets back onto his feet in a matter of milliseconds.

This time, Callum attacks. His fist lunges towards me. I block it with my forearm, and aim a kick in his direction. Quickly he ducks and springs back into place. A blur of kicks, punches and blocks follows, until something unexpected happens.

Callum knocks me over.

I tumble to the ground, shocked. As I fall, instinct takes over, and I use Callum's own shock to his advantage. My foot kicks out in a desperate attempt to take him down with me. A second later, my body lands on the grass, followed by the jarring impact of Callum's body falling on top of mine.

For a few moments, nobody moves. We're to surprised to even breathe, let alone speak. I heave a shaky breath as my thoughts turn to Callum. Unconsciously, I look him up and down and see his warm chest pressed against me. His hands are on my waist, gripping me tightly, as though he refuses to let me go. Finally, I look into his eyes and gasp, because he's looking right back at me. I take in his hazel eyes and find myself thinking about how beautiful they are.

Callum searches my face for something, a sign or clue to continue, but what? And why? Slowly, hesitantly, Callum leans in, closing the distance between us. He's so close that I can feel his gentle breaths on my cheek, and his racing heart under my fingertips. He closes his eyes and-

I wriggle out of his grasp and sit upright. Callum pulls away and looks at the ground, completely ignoring me. He almost appears... disappointed, for some reason, as though he'd just caught something elusive and it had gotten away. I stare at him, my confused mind trying to make sense of his actions, but failing miserably. What was that just then? What would've happened if I hadn't pulled away? Do I even want to know? Eventually, I stand and pull my dagger out of its sheath. Wordlessly, I walk over to where he's still silently sitting and present it to him.

"You've earned it. I'll teach you how to use it later on, but for now, if I can't save you, I'm confident that you can save yourself," I tell him, feeling proud. All thoughts of what had just happened fly out of our heads as Callum smiles and accepts the dagger.

"Thanks. You have no idea how much that means to me," Callum says quietly, taking the weapon out of my hand and holding it in his own. He regards the metal blade with curiosity and tests its weight in his grasp. I smile at his interest, as I've seen it before in the eyes of children who've never held a weapon before. I know how he must be feeling now, I know how one piece of cold, hard steel can make you feel powerful, and I know that he needs to realise he's not invincible because of a glorified knife. But right now, I'll let him have his fun.

***

"Am I doing this right?" Callum asks as a deformed whip made out of red hot flames writhes uneasily in his hands. I bite my lip and conjure my own fire whip. It coils into a pile at me feet, glowing like embers from a hearth.