Soul Bound

Chapter 17

This morning Annaliese took Eva to the sparring room. Eva was excited to show her what she could do. After years of sparring with Jacob, she had a few tricks up her sleeve. 

At least, that was what she thought--until they hit the mats and Anna whooped her ass back into last century. It was blatantly evident that her small town tricks didn't work against a trained professional. It had been a disheartening lesson, but Annaliese was merciful and gave her an A for effort.

She made a lesson plan with her observations on the mat, which consisted of combat theory and strategy, then practise, and a lot of working out in the gym down the hall. They picked out a lightstone that worked for Eva, one the size of her palm and lightweight, then weapons she wanted to specialise in. Naturally, she was drawn to a bow, but because it was only suitable for long range uses, Annaliese recommended a backup weapon. After testing out a few manoeuvres with a shortsword and a pair of daggers, Eva decided on the daggers. They were the length of her forearms, designed for speed and close-quarters. Right up her alley.

After sparring practice, Annaliese led her to the library where she grabbed as many books as her sore muscles would allow and piled them up beside her bed. Annaliese laughed at her choices--all of them were educational in some manner, ranging from philosophy, the history of Aboria, and politics. Eva was determined to learn as much as her brain would absorb, in desperate need of catching up. She didn't know what an ocean was before she met Grayson! Never again would she look like an ignorant fool in front of him. 

Seeming to find that boring and masochistic, Annaliese added a few of her favourite fiction novels to the mix. In case Eva wanted to take a break from her insanity. 

In the afternoon, they met up with Jacob and Grayson in one of the many meeting rooms on the upper floors to go over the details for their flight tomorrow.

It looked like they were going to spend most of the day flying before arriving in the capital, Lexxis. Apparently, they typically landed on the castle grounds, but since it was Eva's first time to the capital, King Renkon had arranged for a tour through the city. Both she and Arkon agreed it was a disguised power trip, especially when Annaliese added that the king's personal guard would be escorting them.

Annaliese, as usual, was gleaming with excitement over the whole thing, while Eva sat and nervously listened. It was a shame a trip to such a historical city would be ruined by a visit with the king. Instead of exploring the history of the place, she had to sit in a room with a bunch of rich snobs, talking about furniture--or whatever the wealthy talked about.

It's only for one night, she comforted herself. She just had to survive a night of snobbery then they could do what they liked in the city without a big showy royal guard following them. . .

"Got it? Eva?"

"Wha...?" She had fallen asleep. Oops. She lifted her head out of her arms to see Jacob glaring at her, while Grayson and Annaliese fought over which town was the best place to stop for lunch. "I'm exhausted, don't give me that look."

Training with Annaliese put a number on her body. Everything ached. She thought her days of hunting would have prepared her for the torture her mentor put her through, but it didn't come close. Annaliese demanded perfection and punished Eva for anything less than that.

Jacob rolled his eyes at her. "Until we reach the capital, you have to lay low. We don't want too many people knowing who you are."

"I mean, I'll be on Arkon. . . that's a big give away, isn't it?"

The look in his eyes told her she had missed more to the plan than he thought and he was none too pleased about it. "No. You haven't had any flight training yet. You're riding with Grayson. Eran is the biggest of our dragons, he can hold two humans for the duration of the trip. Arkon will be flying separately, higher in the clouds so no one can see him."