Lightning Hexagon - Chapter 1

Jamila Kaederan stepped back and lunged, panting heavily. Carlin's blunt practice sword countered hers easily and swung back to slice at her unprotected legs in the same stroke. She barely blocked him, half tripping in her haste to avoid being hit. Carl grinned. He was two years her elder, but nevertheless, he was never too old or too busy to spend time drilling her. He was determined that she would learn swordplay from him and him alone. Carl was good with a sword, although Jade could beat him in archery any day - the Kaederans were famous for their skill with a bow.

Her eyes flickered up toward the sun, now high in the sky. They'd been practicing out in the courtyard for an hour at the least, judging by the sun's movement. The brief glance was fatal to her guard. Carl's sword slipped under her guard and to her neck, the point hovering just below her left ear.

Jade sighed. "I yield."

Carl still held the sword up, expression darkening. Others might have been fooled, but Jade knew her best friend well. Well enough to know when he was fooling around, as he was now. His expression might be evil enough, but his eyes were filled with laughter.

"I give you. . . death," he proclaimed solemnly, sounding so melancholy that Jade bit her tongue to keep from bursting out laughing.

"Go ahead and kill me, you moron," she replied. "I doubt you've the guts to behead a chicken, let alone slaughter a lady."

His chin went up ridiculously high. "We Dark have no compassion, no respect for females. We kill all."

Jade tilted her head to one side, glaring at him challengingly through narrowed eyes. "We Light have no fear, no regard for our own safety. We risk all."

"Not true," he corrected her. "The Light are not so reckless as to risk all. And we risk our lives only when it's necessary. Never for vain glory. To do so would be selfish, because we'd be ignoring our loved ones' worry and anguish."

"When did 'you Light' become 'we Light'?" she teased.

He thought for a minute. "When you depicted the Light as an arrogant, selfish people."

"Oh, so now I'm selfish and arrogant as well as dead? How nice of you to say so." Her tone was offended, but she smiled as she spoke.

Carl withdrew the sword and tossed it aside in mock despair, shaking his head. Instantly, she slashed out at him with a triumphant "Ha!". Her sword met with empty air as he ducked and drove into her waist. They tumbled over on the grass, struggling for possession of the weapon. Carl, being heavier, eventually gained the sword and pinned her to the ground. He drove the sword downward, letting out a bloodcurling yell, but Jade twisted to one side and closed her hand over his own fingers on the hilt as the point lodged in the moist earth. The scene was perfect; each had his/her hand in a deathgrip over the hilt, both were striving to drive the point into each others' heart. . . the clearing had fallen dead quiet. Sweat dripped off both their noses as the silent combat went on.

"My, aren't we a happy couple here," a voice drawled suddenly.

Jade and Carl both looked up.

Kiernan Muir stared haughtily down at them, a smug grin plastered across his narrow face.

"Jade Kaederan and Carlin Vladimir, is it? Oh, lying together in the shadows, they were, yes. . . Tossing this way and that, and such noise they were making, too," he said softly, deepset eyes flickering from one to the other. "Mind if I join in your sport, Vladimir? Your playmate does have a rather attractive front."

"How dare you!!" Jade lunged for him, but Carl grabbed her arm.