Silver Blade [on hold]

Arrived

We soon find out we're not alone. Camps one and two have been freed as well. Now, we're all meshed together in one large group again.

We follow Silver Blade in a sort of wonderstruck daze, like he might shimmer out of existence if we get too close or too far.

He's alive. I can't believe it. How is it possible that a person executed by electric shock is calmly leading a batch of prisoners?

Suddenly, he disappears.

People gasp. Then the leaves just ahead rustle and he looks back at us from them.

"Welcome," he says, "to Linnea."

He gently pushes a large, full branch aside and we all see a glimpse of a huge camp in a hidden clearing. It's cleverly hidden.

"This is our base," he informs us quietly, seeming to look at each one of us right in the eye. "So it would be appreciated not to turn it in. I have no mercy for traitors."

I think he looks straight at me in that moment, and my blood chills.

After a pause, he motions us all to follow him inside, and we do. A few kind people hold the branch aside for everyone.

Inside the clearing, everything is barely illuminated by torches and moonlight. The small flames are few and far between. This makes sense. They wouldn't want smoke to alert anyone to their presence.

Silver Blade tells us to stand in a circle around him.

"Cool, it's a new recruit day," says a boy about my age as we follow our instructions.

For a second, I think he's a fellow prisoner, but then I see his silver bandana and notice that the way he's talking sounds like he's been through several "new recruit days".

"You know how it is, Seth," Silver Blade says. "It's just me and the recruits for now."

"All right, Captain. See you in the morning, then." Seth salutes him and walks away, whistling.

There's an awkward silence. Well, it's awkward for us, at least. Silver Blade's face is again impassive. This makes it much more startling when a long, silver sword suddenly appears in his hands.

"I normally duel with someone every night." He touches the sharp tip with one hand and runs it down the side. "Today, I will choose from you, as I do with all new recruits." His hand falls to his side and another silver sword appears in it. Then he scans the crowd.

He meets my gaze, and I take a step back on instinct. I want to distance myself as much as possible from his eyes. Gleaming. Predatory. Unnatural.

Unfortunately, this singles me out.

"You," he says, the syllable cutting through the silence like a knife. "Catch."

He tosses me one of his swords, and I manage to catch it without fumbling, right on the grip, which immediately molds to my hand. He nods, raising his other one in a fighting stance.

"It's okay," he says with a grin that suggests exactly the opposite. "I'll go easy on you."

And then he attacks.

I can't think.

At the very last second, I duck. Unfortunately, this is not a good move, because he swiftly changes the stroke to aim down. The only reason I didn't die was because when I ducked, my hands, and therefore my sword, went up to my head on instinct and somehow blocked his weapon.

I jump out of my position and try to dodge right. I see the blade shifting so that it comes at me from the right, so I dodge left, and it moves so now it's coming from the left. I'm running out of time and I feel like a tree with chainsaws coming at me from all sides.