Of Sorcery and Snow Read Online Free PDF

off balance. I hooked my foot around the leg he stood on, pressed my left arm into his chest, and shoved. He fell back.
    I had him! I pressed forward, pinning him to the ground, and I spun my sword around to its regular grip, pointing it at his throat, triumphant—
    The proctor rang the gong before I managed to get my blade in the kill position. I looked down. Hansel held a small knife, its point a half inch from my belly button.
    I lost. After all that training, all that work, all the favors I owed Chase, I still lost.
    â€œHe had a concealed weapon!” Chase shouted at the proctor as I stood up, scowling. “Doesn’t that disqualify him?”
    â€œThey’re allowed,” the proctor replied. “It’s in the rule book.”
    â€œHansel wrote the rules. He’s the one who told us the rules, and he conveniently left this one out,” Chase replied. I clearly wasn’t the only one who thought Hansel had cheated.
    â€œYour enemies won’t tell you when they hide weapons either.” The old sword master got to his feet. He was moving a lot more slowly than he had before. Slamming into the stones had hurt him. Good. Served him right for bullying his students for so long.
    â€œIn a real tournament, he’d have to forfeit to Rory,” Chase grumbled.
    â€œIn a real tournament, Hansel wouldn’t be fighting every single dueler himself,” the proctor pointed out. “You’re up, Chase.”
    My friend leaped up, sword unsheathed, looking pretty intent on avenging my honor. I turned away, but Hansel clapped me on the shoulder.
    I raised my chin. If he mocked me now, I didn’t think I could control my temper.
    â€œYou did really well, Rory,” Hansel said, smiling. “You would have had me if you hadn’t taken the time to change your grip. Next time, assume your opponent has something else up their sleeve. Don’t let your guard down when it looks like it’s all over.”
    Hansel was being nice ? I was so stunned that I forgot to move. Chase had to nudge me off the arena so he could have his turn. “Thanks for bruising him up. I can use that,” he whispered to me as I hopped down to the grass.
    I sheathed my sword and sighed.
    It was a lot easier to lose when I thought Hansel would make fun of me. Now, it was like he was teaching me. I didn’t need anyone to tell me that I still had a lot to learn.
    Lena hugged me. “That was amazing .”
    â€œYes, I’ve never seen you move that fast unless the sword’s magic was helping you,” Melodie added, but her mind was obviously someplace else. “I’ll see you later. I have to go back to Lena’s workshop. Touchy spell in progress. Portable wish. Thirty-second attempt, and it’s looking very promising. Good thing too, because the Director won’t give us any more Water of Life to use for experiments.” She signaled to her dummy chauffeur, and they started weaving their way through the crowd.
    The Zipes triplets hurried over.
    â€œThat was just you ?” said Kevin, clearly shocked. “Not the sword?”
    I scowled. He made it sound like I was cheating, not Hansel. The sword’s magic only kicked in when I was protecting someone.
    â€œNobody’s ever knocked Hansel down like that,” Connor said.
    â€œI still lost,” I reminded them.
    The proctor’s gong rang again, and Chase flipped over his opponent’s head and aimed a slash at the sword master’s shoulder. Hansel was almost too slow to dodge.
    â€œWhy are you so upset, Rory?” Lena asked. “ Nobody beats Hansel. Give Chase another minute, and he’ll lose too.”
    â€œI heard that, Lena!” Chase blocked a high strike from Hansel’s broadsword. “You suck at the cheerleader thing.”
    Lena looked guilty. “Sorry! Go, Chase!”
    I didn’t want to say what I was thinking—if I couldn’t beat a stupid sword