Song of Phoenix and Ink by Margherita Scialla

Author:Margherita Scialla [Scialla, Margherita]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Margherita Scialla

17

The training had been a bad idea.

Nadzia was aware she wasn’t athletic but hadn’t imagined for a minute she was in such bad shape.

Xayvion had come to wake her at dawn and she already felt traumatized due to getting up that early. He tried to build up her stamina with long runs, which almost gave her a heart attack. They did basic exercises like push-ups and sit-ups, then went over the self-defense training he had started explaining to her during their journey. Her whole body ached and she felt her muscles tensing up at every movement.

They continued until afternoon, then he helped her with archery training.

“If you’re going to take part in the war, it’d be better to do so from a distance, hence the need for you to focus on archery,” he explained. “Of course, I’ll teach you how to use a sword, too, but you're unlikely to become good enough to hold your ground on the battlefield in the short time we have to train, so we need something safer for you, too.”

He said it casually, but Nadzia felt like tearing up. It might have been her aching muscles, but she was fairly certain it was because she felt moved by his words. He wasn’t telling her not to fight. He was teaching her a way she could fight alongside them without risking her life as much as they would be risking theirs.

“How would that even work?” She asked. “We don’t know where the battle will be.”

“You don’t think it will happen the same way it did in your original plot?”

She bit back a smile at how casually he talked about her story, as if he actually believed it now.

“In the original plot the battle took place in one of the fields somewhere between Phexion and Lake Naraka, but so many things have changed already so we can’t be sure that it will go the same way.” She sighed. “I’m not even sure what will happen now. Malkiya has already summoned Cael and attacked the soldiers, which was supposed to happen a lot later on, and be an immediate trigger for the war. Instead, here we are still sleeping in our beds a week later, without any sign of where he is or what he’s up to. Something’s not right, and I’m not sure if it’s gonna turn the odds in our favor or not.”

“You don’t need to worry,” Xayvion reassured her. “We’ve already prepared much more than we were supposed to. We have the elves on our side and we’re making new weapons. That's more than what was originally planned, isn’t it?”

“Well, that’s true…” she started, hesitantly, “but what if Malkiya has found a way to be stronger, just like we did?”

Xayvion’s eyes were kind and fierce at the same time. “We’re protecting our homes and the people we care about. We won’t lose.”

She wanted to believe him, she really did. But now that she wasn’t directing events, nothing that happened was in her control anymore. She was inside the story and couldn’t be sure they were going to win.

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