Lion of Zarall by E B Rose

Author:E B Rose [Rose, E B]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-06-11T22:00:00+00:00

12

LION

Hopper was one of King Leonis’s freeborn beasts.

He was more agile than would have been expected from someone his size. He was clever enough to use his appearance to mislead his opponents in battle, make them believe he was slow, then prove them fatally wrong. His little strategy didn’t work on beasts who were familiar with Hopper’s actual agility.

Lion was one of them.

He was wielding a Lor’Kas against Hopper’s battle axe. Both weapons were blunt. They were both wearing breeches that ended at their knees and nothing else.

Salty sweat trickled down Lion’s back, leaving a trail of fire behind them. Some of the welt marks had started bleeding again. The purple bags under Lion’s eyes were an indication of the quality of sleep he had last night, from tossing and turning with pain all night. His back was sore, yet he didn’t let it distract his movements.

If anything, the pain reminded him to keep his mind on his work.

The other beasts had formed a circle, sitting on the ground. Joharin was supervising the fight, while Badimar and the other two trainers stood behind, studying.

Joharin shouted instructions every now and then; “Where’s your bloody defence?” or “Don’t you see he’s bloody open?” or “You’re staying in his range for too long. Keep your bloody feet moving!”

‘Bloody’ was Joharin’s favourite word.

Favourite words. That could have been a potential conversation topic to discuss with Saradra tonight…

Except, she wasn’t going to be there when he returned tonight.

When Hopper lunged forward like a viper and swung his battle axe low, Lion barely had a chance to dodge back. Without losing any more ground, he countered immediately, forcing Hopper to retreat.

Hopper had a habit of staring at his opponent’s eyes. It was another one of his silly little strategies. He’d use it to intimidate his opponents. However, the technique rarely worked on purebreds since they didn’t participate in eye contact.

Another topic Saradra would have found interesting…

Lion had found Saradra asleep this morning when he’d woken up from his restless, half-conscious state that he couldn’t really call sleep. Not knowing what else to do, he’d dressed and left.

He’d left.

What else could he have done?

Being in that room with her, watching her peaceful face, knowing it could have been the last time he’d ever look at her, was a torture. He’d just wanted to get out of there before she’d opened those beautiful eyes and forced him to confront his helplessness.

Lion stared at Hopper’s eyes, and the freeborn beast blinked. The flash of rage he’d seen in Lion’s eyes made him flinch.

Lion charged at him with a furious howl. His lips were pulled back in a snarl; his face a twisted mask of death. Hopper stepped back, swinging his axe at Lion’s head. Lion raised his Lor’Kas sideways, parrying the strike. He hooked his weapon under the blade of the axe, pulled, twisted, and kicked Hopper’s wrist at the same time, disarming him.

Throwing both weapons to the side, Lion grabbed Hopper’s ears and buried his knee in his stomach.

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