The Shadow Kingdom

Chapter 9 - On The Job

The next few weeks, I throw myself into training. When Diana is out hunting down whomever it is that she's here to kill, I spend hours alone in Adrian's exercise room. My hands blister, my muscles ache, and my knuckles bleed, but I do not back down. Whenever the pain gets too great, Adrian heals me, and I start all over again.

Every mark and bruise is a tally of my improvement. Spellbinder skills are just like any other kind of skills; they become sharper the more you use them. Advanced earthmovers can morph the ground beneath them into golems, stone soldiers who fight for them, or transform pieces of their own body into iron or diamond in order to protect themselves from an attack. An advanced aircaster like Adrian can summon lightning storms and tornadoes, turning Mother Nature into a weapon. A well-trained spellbinder army could easily take on a human force fifty times its size.

I am still unable to leave the building without an escort. Adrian assures me that his apartment is a fortress, both physically and politically. If the Ashcrofts launch a direct attack against this place, they would not only be attacking me, they would be attacking him. Such an act would be a declaration of war against House Shang, and there is no way William Ashcroft would risk such a thing just to keep me quiet.

I enter the six-digit code to the sub-basement, and the magnetic lock deactivates. Diana's collection is vastly greater than anything a gun store has to offer. I began my training with the Sig-9 handgun but have since moved on to something heavier.

I set up the targets in the shooting range, take the H&K G36 assault rifle out of the locker, and insert a full magazine. With the bull's-eye lined up in the iron sights, I fire off one round on semi-automatic. The target flutters in the air, and I smile to myself when I almost get a perfect shot.

I fire off round after round until I hear the door open. "You're really taking this whole 'warrior princess' thing seriously, huh?" Diana says.

"You're one to talk. Your dad's a king, and you're a ninja badass. I think the term applies to you literally."

Diana gives me an irate look as if I hit a nerve. "He's not my real dad, and I'm not a princess."

"Neither am I. I'm the cast-off, bastard daughter, remember? You and I have a lot in common."

Diana smirks. "Come, I have something special in mind for you today."

"What is it?"

"I'm going to give you some on-the-job training. We're going to kill someone."

My legs freeze, and I stare at Diana incredulously. I do want her to teach me what she knows, but I never thought I would actually use any of it.

Diana notices my hesitation. "Do you want to know what our world is really like?" She asks. "Do you want to be prepared to do what is necessary when someone tries to kill you?"

I swallow nervously but nod my head.

"Then come with me."

She leads me to the parking lot, and we get inside her car. She drives to the other side of the island towards my old apartment. The car stops in front of Saffron Imperial. "What are we doing here?" I ask.

"The guy I'm here to kill, his name is Stefan Santos. He's the patriarch of House Santos, one of House Ortega's vassals. He's in charge of their drug operation in New York City. They use this art gallery as a front in order to launder money."

"You have got to be shitting me! I sold a painting at this place once."

Diana grins at me in amusement. "Small world."