Chapter Seven

Mina’s back hit the ground and her breath left her all at once. She winced and stared up at William. He stood over her, his legs bent slightly and his hands help in fists in front of his face. Bruises and shallow cuts covered her entire body and there wasn’t a single place that didn’t ache.

These sparring matches she’d started with William and Renault were crazy. They didn’t go easy on her and told her that for the moment she wasn’t allowed to use her abilities. After all, she needed to learn that she couldn’t always rely on the fire to help her.

She knew it was true, but it wouldn’t be that many cases where it would be the case. The orc from that last encampment had been an exception to that. In the two year she’d been hunting orcs it had only happened five times. She’d managed to survive all three encounters. It was through sheer luck, sure, but that wasn’t the point. The point was that she’d survived.

William held his hand out to her and she took it. He pulled her to her feet, grabbed her arm and in one smooth motion he kicked her feet out from under her and she was on her back again with his heavy foot on her chest.

“The spar wasn’t over. You shouldn’t trust who you’re fighting against, even if you consider them a friend or companion.” William removed his boot. “We’ll call the spar over here.”

He held his hand out once more and Mina eyed it warily before she stood by herself, wincing at the soreness in her muscles. Between walking all day and then two hours of sparring after, she was exhausted. This had been going on for a four days now, she wanted a break.

“We should pause training tomorrow.” William crossed his arms. “We’ll reach the village tomorrow, and we will all need to be rested in case of trouble. It’s also good to give your muscles a day to relax when you’re not used to a lot of exercise.”

“Aye, I’ll be plenty rested. Barely been breaking a sweat. The wench though…” Renault lounged against a tree, a long piece of grass sticking out of his mouth as he chewed on it.

Thank gods I need the break…more than a day would be nice though. She nodded to William and turned to glare at Renault. Why was he always making lewd comments.

What he said wasn’t necessarily lewd, but the way he said it made it sound like it was. Almost everything that came out of his mouth was related to something perverse in one way or another.

Mina walked over and sat across the fire from Renault and leaned back on her arms, but leaned forward when they started to tremble. She closed her eyes and let the heat soak into her skin.

Three rabbits were set over the fire with the swordsman turning them ever so often. The skin was beginning to blacken and crackle.

“I’ll secure the perimeter,” William said.

Mina opened her eyes and looked at the large man and nodded. She watched him walk off and then turned to look at the fire. She took the opportunity to further study Renault.

His hat sat on the ground next to him and eyes eyes were closed. He seemed to be enjoying the heat of the flames.

Small wrinkles were present at the corner of his eyes, a thin scar intersected the end of his left eyebrow and trailed off towards his ear. HIs lips were narrow and he had a sharp, narrow jawline with high cheekbones and a decently sized nose. It didn’t really detract from his face though.

Her eyes trailed to his neck, following the line of his tunic. From what she could see of his chest, he had a light spattering of dark hair. She didn’t need to see beneath his clothes to know that there were muscles. You didn’t live the life he did without gaining them, and with the way he could move? He was as fluid as water and precise as a viper. Only someone that was in shape and confident of their abilities could pull that off.

His hands had long, calloused fingers. More thin scars covered each of the individual digits and the larger part of his hands and wrists.

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“Like what you see, wench?”

Her gaze shot back up to his face. His eyes were open and his brow was arched, that irritating smirk on his face.

She scowled, she could feel her face starting to heat up from being caught.

“I wasn’t admiring you, I was simply observing.” Her words sounded false and hollow, even to her own ears.

“Is that so?” His grey eyes filled with mischief. “Is that why your gaze lingered on me chest and then ventured further down?”

“I was looking at your hands!” Her face heated up further at the implication.

“Sure you were.” He laughed and winked at her.

Mina picked up a small stick and threw it at him. It soared through the fire and impacted him in the middle of the forehead.

That fucking smirk never left his mouth as he picked the twig up from his lap and casually flicked it back at her. It hit her in the middle of the throat before she had time to react to his actions. Her hand went up to her throat and she blinked at him.

“That was good aim, if it had been a dagger, I’d be dead. You project too much though. You don’t need to move your entire arm.”

She scowled and crossed her arms. “I thought we were done with training? I don’t want any more lessons.”

“Stop acting like a child. It’s not a lesson, just some friendly advice. Not my fault if you don’t want to hear it. It could save your fine ass someday.”

“My what?” Why did he insist on taking something that could be a fine conversation and turn it sexual?

“Your life?”

“That is not what you said.” She really should have just ran with that. She liked these little interactions though…to a point.

“Aye, I said your fine ass. It’s a nice ass too, all things considered. It’s just too bad that the wench it’s attached to is a wee bit of a cunt.” Renault shrugged and turned the rabbits again.

She sputtered. “Excuse me? A cunt? Who the fuck gave you the right to call me that?”

“The fact that I can beat your ass and you can’t touch mine?” The smirk turned into a full-blown grin. “Though, if you ask nicely, I might let you touch it.”

She snorted. “No thanks, you’d like that far too much.”

“Aye, but so would you.” He winked at her.

Her entire spine tingled as his words washed over her.

“Perimeter is secure,” William said as he approached.

Mina let out a relieved sigh. She wasn’t sure how she would have responded there. Thank the gods for giant men in armor.

William looked between the two of them. “Is everything okay?”

“Yup,” Mina sighed. She kept her eyes from looking towards Renault.

“Aye, we’re quite alright, aren’t we wench?”

She could hear the smirk in his voice.

“Go fuck yourself,” she said.

“That’s not a bad idea, I’ve not been able to since we left. Care to help?”

“Absolutely not! Why did you even think that was something to ask?” She whirled around to look at him, her eyes wide.

“Alright, alright. I’ll go do it meself then.” He stood and walked off, laughing.

There was a metallic thud next to her. William didn’t look at her, just kept his face turned to the fire. “Are you okay Miss Mina?”

“Fine.” She frowned and glanced at him. “Sorry, that…I shouldn’t have used that tone on you. You didn’t do anything. He’s just…irritating sometimes.”

She was enjoying the back and forth though, but sometimes it just felt like it was a bit much. Renault could easily take too things to far.

“I can see that.” William nodded. “I think…he may be doing it as a defense mechanism, much like you do.”

Am I that easy to see through?

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. He’s selfish and only does thing for himself,” she said. She crossed her arms and snorted.

“If you say so, Miss Mina.” William stood and placed some more kindling on the fire.

“You disagree?” She asked.

“I do. I don’t think he’d be here if he only did things for himself.” William sat back down.

“He’s only here because I promised to pay him.”

“You say that, but what are the chances you’ll actually be able to do that?” William tilted his head back.

“...What are you implying?”

“You could have stayed in the city and gotten jobs to get money, but you didn’t. Are you planning on looking for jobs at the village tomorrow or are you just going to go after the orcs and then move on?”

Mina paused. He had a point. While she needed money, it had never been a top priority for her. She could get most of what she needed from the land.

“I…” She sighed. “You have a point, I guess.”

Didn’t make Renault any less irritating though.