Faery Born (Book One in the War Faery Trilogy) Read Online Free PDF

doing?’
    ‘Standing up for myself,’ I hissed back.
    Truth be told, I didn’t know what had gotten into me. All I knew was that I wanted to beat her so badly I could taste it. I could hear my blood thrumming through my veins but I felt strangely calm.
    ‘To the death?’ she asked.
    ‘Of course,’ I said, shrugging.
    Now before you freak out, let me explain. To the death didn’t mean that one of us was going to die. It meant that we didn’t want to score points for successful touches. We wanted to fight until one of us had the other in a position that would have resulted in their death, if not for the impotent nature of our weapons. It meant we wanted to fight hard and we wanted to fight dirty. It wasn’t something I normally looked forward to.
    We moved over to the fighting mat amongst a haze of students’ whispers. Isgranelda flexed her arms and rolled her shoulders. I gulped as I stared at her. I hadn’t noticed how muscly she was before.
    Henry rubbed his hands together and said, ‘Excellent. Fight hard and fight clean.’
    Yeah right.
    Looking for the easy kill, Isgranelda launched herself through the air. I dodged to the side, felt her blade whiz past my head, and then, as her momentum carried her past me, I kicked her in the back. She turned and launched another attack. I backed steadily away from her as I parried her blows.
    Left, left, right. Left, right, right. Left, right, left.
    On her next right, I dived towards her, rolling beneath her blade and sweeping her legs out from under her as I went past. I bounced lightly to my feet and waited for her to gain hers. She was fuming.
    ‘Don’t fight mad,’ Henry called out.
    She ignored him, letting out an almighty roar as she attacked. I caught her blade on mine and deflected it; turning slightly at the last second to kick her in the stomach while she was still off balance. She growled and swept her weapon through a flurry of motion.
    I moved in time with her, breathing steadily as I defended myself. It was as if she made every move a second after I had realised she was going to do it. She was working faster and faster, swinging and slashing while I weaved and parried. I felt like we were dancing to a tune that only we could hear.
    She made a desperate thrust at my neck and I slipped sideways and around to her back, bringing the tip of my weapon up towards her spine. Before I could claim the win, she whipped around, dodging to the side and bringing her blade low to strike my legs. Without thinking, I jumped into the air, flipping through a somersault to land back on my feet. A triumphant smile raced across her face – gone so fast I wondered if I had imagined it.
    I had let her take the lead for too long. It was my turn to attack. I flowed towards her, my blade whistling through the air. She blocked each of my moves. We parried and struck, dodging and weaving till our limbs were a blur. The triumphant smile back on her face, she met me blow for blow. I could feel new strength flowing into my muscles, new skill imbedding into my mind. But I didn’t stop to think about what was happening.
    She thrust toward my throat and I cartwheeled backwards, kicking her hard in the stomach as I went. She should have been recovering from that kick. She should have been too winded to speak, let alone move, but the moment I was upright I could feel the tip of her epee pressed against the side of my neck.
    I froze. How was that even possible? She had been in front of me and now she was behind. I heard her let out a low chuckle as she stroked the weapon down my throat. The rest of the class seemed as stunned as I was, silent as they stared at the two of us.
    Finally Henry broke the silence, his eyes slightly wide as he clapped his hands together and said, ‘Touché.’
    I pushed away from her and turned around. The smile was gone but her eyes shone triumphantly.
    ‘I don’t know how you did that,’ I said, ‘but it won’t work next time.’
    ‘Ahhhh.’ She leaned