Equinox

two

"Come on, Aspen!" Corvus shouts at me. "You are far too along in your training to be doing that."

I'm drenched in sweat under the beating sun. My legs are covered in dirt and there's blood crusted on my arms.

"It was a small mistake," I spit back while whipping my face off on the bottom of my t-shirt.

Corvus is now in front of me, ripping me a new one as everyone sits on the side watching. "You don't get mistakes out there," he threatens. "You practice how you perform, and we practice flawlessly here. Any mistakes outside of this house means you're dead. You were lucky enough to get out of that cell, but could you do that again?"

He walks away from me. My temper boils over the pot, and red seeps into my vision. I growl out of frustration and start throwing spells at him. Mostly disarming spells, because I knew better than to cause harm to Corvus, but I was just so damn angry.

"How dare you!" I bellow at him. "You have no right to say anything of the sort. I don't care what your sob story is."

Corvus stops in his tracks and slowly turns to face me once more. "You don't have the right to be the only victim in this house." He warns. "In case you've forgotten, let me remind you; this is a safe house. That means everyone is here for safety, because they've experienced horrors any normal person couldn't even imagine." Corvus is now inches away from me, speaking directly to me face to where his breath moves my loose hair. "No one here is more broken than the other, so stop acting like you're the only one broken."

I just ground my teeth, having nothing to retort.

"Now, back to your spot. We're going again," he orders. "Zabini, give the girl some blades."

Blaise hops up from his spot on the grass and pulls a few daggers from his chest holster. He carefully walks over to me and hands me the blades.

"Use that anger to nail him," he says quietly to me before walking back to the others.

I steel my legs and hold a blade in each hand, staring down at Corvus, who's a safe distance from me. He drops his weapons and pulls the sleeves of his cotton shirt to his elbows.

"Make your move," Corvus calls to me and starts stepping to the side. I follow his lead and start stepping the same way so we're both circling each other.

I start taking small steps in, closing the circle. His arms are out, caging himself in preparation to defend whatever move I make. Once I'm close enough, I throw the first blade at his shoulder, which he dodges. I use his movement to close the rest of the way in. Swiping the blade at his upper chest to divert his attention. Once I know he's mainly focusing on shielding his torso, I swing my foot around the back of his leg to break him at his knee.

He loses a bit of his balance and I use that to jump behind him. I slip the blade to press against his neck as I use my other hand to push his shoulder down. With a thudding sound, his knees are on the ground.

Before I have a full second to feel accomplished, he reaches behind me to press my body against his back. Then his other hand snaps the blade from my wrist. In a quick moment, I'm flipped over him and on my back coughing.

My own hand is still grasping the handle of the blade, but now the cold iron is pointed at my face. I don't know how he managed it, but he's now kneeling over me in complete control.

I'm panting for air, and he appears the slightest of overworked. Not even a drop of sweat in sight. Then here I am, ridden with embarrassment. Corvus served me verbally and physically in the span of five minutes.

"This is why we don't make mistakes here," he tells me. "All I had to do was say a few hurtful things to get in your head, and that got you out of this fight."