Sly

Chapter Eighteen

Sly

I tasted dirt.

I was flat on my face and it took a minute to remember why I would taste dirt as my head spun from the impact. Dirk's face swam into view, hand extended to help me up and I remembered who's kick had just put me on the ground.

"That is not the proper way to avoid being knocked on your ass," he said smiling. 

The old rogue's lessons weren't taking as well as the knives had. When Dirk put a throwing knife in my hand? It was easy. This hand-to-hand stuff was just frustrating. But even the skills I'd developed with knives were almost exclusively for throwing and running. Being a scrawny kid from Swamp, I weighed half as much as pretty much any opponent. That's why Dirk was so insistent that I keep my fingers fast and learn how to squirm out of a hold.

"That was a little harder than necessary, don't you think?" I sat up, spitting the dust out of my mouth.

"Oh the old telling-your-opponent-to-go-easy-on-you tactic, yes that one works all the time. Don't know why I wasn't teaching it to you from the start." Dirk stuck out a hand and I scowled at it before taking it, letting him haul me on my feet once again.

It was two full hours of throwing and being thrown before Dirk was satisfied. In that time, a small audience had gathered in the backyard of the Snoring Dragon. Abe had taken a break in the lull of patrons to watch, and Bricker lazed under the shade of an empty stable to watch and nap. Even Jexa came near the end, leaning on the fence next to Abe to observe.

When Dirk finally called it, I flopped happily onto the ground, out of breath. Bricker tossed a waterskin from his shady spot, and I barely gave him a nod of thanks before guzzling down the contents.

"Good, now when you can throw Jexa reliably we'll have something," Dirk said with a smirk. Jexa at the fence snorted, and I looked at him flatly and received a full-bellied laugh in return.

"What's this about throwing Jexa?" Davery and Grahm walked into the backyard of the Inn, my brother's sharp eyes drifting to each present face.

"Hey Davery, come to watch me beat up your sister?" Dirk stood next to me, giving me a bit of shade, but not enough to make up for the particularly rough workout he'd just put me through. But since I was still out of breath, I settled for sticking my tongue out at him.

"Not today, I'm actually here with some news and for some planning if you would like to join us." Davery and Grahm continued down the cellar stairs, and it didn't take much for me to follow.

Abe shook his head, retreating back into the Dragon now that the show was over. Bricker hopped up from his shady spot to join Davery though.

"Nah, I've got business," Dirk said, waving us off.

"Me too, Jexa said. "I want to follow up on someone we helped a bit back."

"Alright, later," Davery called as we disappeared.

The cellar was blissfully cool as my brother took his usual seat and I sat next to him. We only had three chairs and Grahm gestured Bricker to take it.

"What's going on?" I asked. "Where did you go this morning?"

I eyed Graham, who spent so much of his time in the forest that I wondered what could have brought him all the way to Swamp district. The big redhead shrugged, not offering me anything.

"Anything I can do to help?" Bricker asked. Davery glanced at the lanky kid we had saved. He had expressed his desire to help a few times now, and I wondered when Davery was going to give him a proper chance.