Sentinel

Chapter 29 - Hostilities

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Chapter 29 - Hostilities

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Under the mid-morning sun in the streets of Alguarde, Skye raised an eyebrow at Luke, who put his hands into an ‘I surrender’ position as fast as he could manage.

“Look,” he said, backing away a step. “All I’m saying is that when you wield a sword the size of your leg as if it’s a well-balanced pickle, people are going to stare.”

“You’ve seen the way Andro handles his broadsword! Why am I any different?” asked Skye, throwing her arms up in mock exasperation.

Luke leapt to the side and grabbed Jesse by his cloak, yanking him to the edge of the street. A cart raced by, narrowly missing the younger Silverborn. With a meaningful look at Jesse, who now looked the picture of guilt with his hand inside the bread-bag, Luke turned back to Skye.

“Let’s face facts. You don’t particularly strike me as the type to go prancing before a mirror to admire your poise and absolute grace while wielding those swords of yours. So let me tell you this. When an elf that barely reaches my shoulder manages to dance circles around me with moves I’ve never dreamed of before, with a sword that gravity states should be physically impossible for her to hold nonetheless, the initiates are going to start talking.”

Skye suppressed a giggle, struggling to maintain a straight face as Luke adopted a dramatic pose. Jesse eyed them both nervously and tried to shrink into the sidewalk.

Luke brought a hand to the side of his mouth. “Hey, you, did you hear? The elf made our instructor look like a complete idiot for the fifth time this week! You think he’s maybe just bad or something?” he asked himself.

Switching his hand to the opposite side of his mouth, he continued in a breathy whisper. “Nah, I mean you seen the way she handles herself? I mean, Wrain himself had trouble fending her off, and--“

Skye punched Luke in the shoulder, cutting his dramatics off abruptly. She leered at him, hoping her smile wasn’t ruining the effect.

“As if. From the way you fight against them, they’d be brainless to think you were bad.” Skye flicked her hair from her shoulder and eyed Luke.

She waited until his shoulders came out of their self-deprecating slump before she added, “Besides -- it was only four times this week.”

That earned her a playful kick, which she danced away from with ease.

Luke growled. “You’ll be sorry, elfie. I have the entire day off today with Tayne and Wrain attending the council and Nissa taking over training for the day.” He took a bite out of Jesse’s offered bread roll. “Although, I do feel slightly useless. They’re in there, planning the Silverborn’s next move to free the land, save the innocent, outwitting the Advisor’s well-laid plans to chain us here and I’m out here playing babysitter. Not exactly the life changing stuff you’d expect from the Silverborn’s second in command.”

He looked down, searching the roll in his hands as if it held all the answers.

Skye nudged him. “Hey, what happens if we’re cornered by the people who are claiming I’m some kind of deity? I’d need someone reliable to pull me through the throngs of people, for deities know I can’t do it myself. There’s too many of them, they hang around in packs like they’re hunting me or something.”

Skye’s attempt at diverting the conversation was successful. Luke’s bread-staring competition switched back to the knowing, clever gaze she wanted. 

“Ah, but they do, my fair elfie. They’re the cult of the Sentinels, of course, and your arrival seems to them as if their deity has returned! And how could they find fault in their logic when you move with such grace and poise...”