The Oracle's Prophecy

3

Available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Oracles-Prophecy-Pathfinder-Book-ebook/dp/B087WQG2CH/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Alex+Leopold&qid=1590008917&sr=8-1

www.alexjleopold.com

"Keep your head up, Cooper! Don't let her corner you, Riley!"

On the grounds of a lost civilization lake house, by a rocky outcrop that looked out onto the water, they'd marked out a confined grid between two uprooted great oaks.

Panting heavily, their training clothes stained with dirt and soaked through with sweat, the twins were close to exhaustion. Yet their mentor, a bear-human blend named Acadia, didn't let up. If anything seeing them so physically spent only made him push them harder.

Nearby, their father stood watching. Yet, they'd find no sympathy from him. With his hands clasped behind his back and his face as impassive and unemotional as the mountains behind him, he rarely spoke a world. Leaving it to the grizzly to train them how he saw fit.

"Hey ladies, you're starting to bore me." He boomed and pelted them with acorns scooped from the ground.

"Stop that!" Riley complained when one of them hit her on the jaw. "They hurt, you know."

"Would you prefer I motivated you with my bow instead?"

"I almost lost a foot the last time you did that." Cooper grumbled as she cut down with her sword.

"The arrow barely grazed you." He replied dismissively but his eyes twinkled with mischief.

"I couldn't walk for a week!"

Taking her eye off her sister to glare at him, Cooper left her body exposed and Riley jabbed her hard between the ribs with her fighting-staff.

"Not so hard!" She winced loudly, rubbing the spot where she'd been struck as she mouthed obscenities.

"It'd sting more if she'd cut you with the real thing." The grizzly reminded her idly. When they trained they only fought with wooden equivalents of their weapons.

"Really? Are you sure?" Cooper replied with salty contempt.

"Do you want me to show you?" Acadia asked holding up his hand so she could see the tips of his retractable claws.

She bit her lip cause she knew he'd do it.

"No."

"Good. Then let's go again. And this time concentrate! I don't know what's wrong with you this morning, Coop."

That had to be a lie, thought Riley as she once again squared up to her sister. Acadia had to know that today of all days they'd be distracted, and that Cooper would be the worse of the two. She'd been talking about nothing else but this day for over a month.

"Begin." Acadia grunted.

Armed with a sword no longer than her arm, Cooper immediately lunged for Riley, cutting and thrusting forward. When Riley used her fighting staff to parry both blows meticulously, Cooper lunged for her again, believing – as she always did – that she could create a weakness through sheer force of will.

Riley fought more conservatively. Always retreating and parrying blows, always waiting for her opponent to tire and present a weakness for her to exploit. It came when Cooper once again lost focus and Riley used the opening to crack her staff against her sister's knuckles.

"Sorry." She said as she watched Cooper suck on her fingers.

"I don't need your pity." She seethed with unexpected venom.