Forever Fae

Chapter 16 - Calista

We reached the field and set up the targets for dagger practice, which happened to be what I was excellent at. I'd won a lot of treasures by challenging the other warriors to contests. Most of them thought it would be easy to beat me since they believed I had no real practice. I showed them though, and I won their respect as a fighter.

Merrick and I both stretched to get our bodies ready. I promised him an ass kicking, and that was exactly what he was going to get.

"All right, Princess, it's time for the dagger throw." He sat back and watched me, maybe a little too intensely, as I bent down to grab my daggers. While bending down, I silently sent Merrick a warning.

"You better not be staring at my ass. I have two daggers here and I'm not afraid to use them. I'm sure your body could make do with one less appendage."

Merrick guffawed.

"To get to that appendage I would have to drop my pants. Is that what you wish? I would be more than happy to oblige."

He grabbed the waist of his shorts and started to slide them down. Pointing one of my daggers at him, I yelled for him to stop.

"No, I was kidding! Don't you dare drop those shorts. If you do, I'll use this blade and I don't think you'll be laughing then."

He backed away and lifted his shorts ... smart man. With a dagger in each hand, I turned to look at the targets. I threw them at the same time and smiled when I hit them both straight in the middle. The targets were placed fifty feet down the field and I nailed them.

"Damn, you're good. Now, this time do it with your eyes closed," Merrick commanded.

Grabbing two more daggers, I lined up with the other two targets. Closing my eyes, I could picture them in my mind. I released a slow breath and counted to three in my mind. One ... two ... three ... throw. I opened my eyes and what do you know? Bullseye, both times.

"I seriously can't get over how amazing you are at that," he uttered. Silently he added, "You're amazing at everything."

"I know I am," I said, brushing off my shoulders. To change the subject, I picked up my long sword and pointed it at him.

"Pick up your sword, guardian, and let's see what you've got."

He picked his sword up and circled around me. We continued like that for about a minute; I knew he'd never attack first, so I gave him an evil grin and charged. He dodged my attack and we continued this dance for a while. When he started running toward me, I decided to bring my magic into the mix. At the last minute, I used the wind to help me jump in the air and over him. I landed behind him, kicking his feet out from under him where he landed flat on his face. Stifling a laugh, I placed my hand over my mouth.

I turned around so I could laugh, but I froze in place when a fireball hit me in the back. Did he just do what I think he did? Turning around slowly, I gave him a surprised look which then turned menacing. His eyes widened when he realized what was coming next. If he wanted a fireball match, I'd give him one.

One after the other, I threw fireballs at him. He dodged and hid while throwing some back at me, some hitting and some missing. With an affinity to fire, the wielder of it could determine how lethal they wanted their fire to be. Merrick and I just used a slight amount of heat with ours so nothing in our fireballs could hurt the other.

Merrick put his hands up in defeat and yelled, "I forfeit!"

With a grin on my face, I met him back in the middle of the field. "I knew you would give up, but you started it in the first place."

"I know, I know, and it was my mistake. I can't believe you made me land on my face like that. It almost broke my nose."

Narrowing my eyes, I stared pointedly at his nose. "Breaking it probably would have helped it. It looks kind of crooked," I teased, laughing so hard my vision started going blurry with tears.