A human seer and an elven prince have one thing in common: a missing sister.
Seraiah's dreams have a habit of coming true, but when all her dreams turn into nightmares, she fears for her sister's life. Each nightmare is a little different, but they...
Seraiah grunted as she hit the dirt again for what felt like the millionth time that day.
"Get up," Kestrel commanded.
Seraiah slowly climbed to her feet, not bothering to brush off the dirt. Every time she had to pick herself back up, it was a little harder than the last. Her body was screaming at her, but Kestrel wouldn't let up.
Before she could get her practice blade up, Kestrel flashed forward, and Seraiah was back in the dirt again.
"That's enough for today," Kestrel said, throwing her wooden blade to the side.
Seraiah loosed a breath. Those words were like music to her ears. She had known she would have a hard time learning how to fight, but she hadn't imagined it would be this difficult. Her body ached in places she hadn't known existed.
She picked herself out of the dirt and exited the training ring, handing off her practice sword to a waiting elf.
"You can take an hour rest," Kestrel said over her shoulder. "Then I want you back here, practicing your throwing."
"Fine," Seraiah said tiredly.
Out of all the things Kestrel was attempting to teach, the only one Seraiah seemed to be remotely decent at was dagger throwing. She even semi-enjoyed it. If she ever had to protect herself, she had better hope the attacker held still long enough for her to throw a dagger at it because she was hopeless at anything else.
Finding a bench in the shade of the stables, Seraiah sat down to rest a moment. She'd been training with Kestrel for almost two weeks now and still showed little improvement. Both of them were getting frustrated with her lack of progress, but Seraiah was even more frustrated that they were still here. It was well over the few days Kai had asked for to plan. She feared if they waited much longer, Sterling might not be in the Cave of Faces anymore. Then what were they meant to do?
Along with her physical training with Kestrel, Seraiah had been practicing calling her visions. She'd been just as unsuccessful. Things might be different if she had someone to learn from, but for this, she was on her own.
Seraiah stretched an arm over her chest, wincing at the soreness. Today, she decided, she would seek out Kai and ask what was taking so long.
She hadn't seen much of him since he'd ordered her into training with Kestrel. She'd still been annoyed with him, so the conversation hadn't lasted very long, and now she regretted not asking about his plans.
This is about Sterling, Seraiah reminded herself as she switched to stretching her other arm. Whatever complicated feelings she may have about Kai, she needed to put them aside and do what was best for the search. Finding Sterling was the only thing that mattered. She couldn't let anything else sway her focus.
She knew Kai often spent time in his study, so she would start there. After dinner tonight, she would find him and get some answers.
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