Shy came back, a pole staff in her grip. “Figuring it out?”
Tayel lifted the baton so Shy could see the ball in the crevice.
“Good. The aether crystals intensify the magnetic effect, so it might take some getting used to. Why don’t you try tossing the ball into the woods?”
Tayel cocked her head. “How about because I don’t want to go pick it up afterwards? I’ve had enough of a workout this morning.”
Fehn appeared out of the trees and shuffled to them, hands in pockets.
“Just try it,” Shy said.
“Why?” Tayel asked.
“Because.” Anger lilted Shy’s voice with a thicker Sinosian accent than usual.
There was no point to not trying it if the only other option was to be berated. Tayel took a breath, lurched back, lunged forward, and threw the whole weight of her body behind the toss. The steel ball soared. It lost itself in the trees.
“What are we doing?” Fehn asked.
“You’re going to go find that ball,” Tayel told him.
“Like hell.”
“And squeeze,” Shy ordered.
Tayel tightened her grip on the leather handle. The ball crashed through the tree line toward her. She and Fehn screamed. She released the baton and covered herself with her arms, remembering how painful being hit with a rubber magball was. She didn’t want to know what the steel ball would do on contact. But all it did was fall to the grass and roll to the baton, not a concussion to be had.
“Alhyt, Red.” Fehn stood, keeping his eyes on the discarded baton and the ball next to it.
“It’s not going to bite you,” Shy said. “You’ll need to practice that one.”
“I guess.” Tayel picked up the baton and squeezed. The ball snapped back in its place, adding a comfortable weight to the end. She moved the baton — barely — with her thumb, letting it rock in her hand. “Okay, that wasn’t what I was expecting. What’s its range?”
“Far.”
“Psh.”
“Now that you’re acquainted, let’s have a go.” Shy plucked her staff out of where she’d stabbed it into the earth.
Tayel reeled. “Wait, what?”
“You need to learn how to fight. Might as well start now. We still have time before it’s safe to go back to camp.”
Checks in magball were one thing, but the raider was asking her to take a swing like it was some kind of sword.
“I’m not sure about this,” Tayel said.
“How many weapons do you have in that ship of yours?” Fehn asked.
Shy shrugged. “I packed for the worst. You’ll get your training in, too, don’t worry.”
“Just remember it will be harder to sneak back in if you break her legs.”
Tayel glared at him. “Hey.”
“I’m not going to break anything.” Shy gave her staff a spin and fell into an experienced-looking stance.
Tayel could see Shy as a hero — or maybe a villain — in a movie. She held herself up like a convincing warrior, and after the fierce magball match they’d had, Tayel figured that was probably true.
“You going to stand there or are you going to try and hit me?” Shy asked.
“You want me to hit you?” Tayel asked.
“I want you to try and hit me.”
Tayel bit the inside of her cheek to keep from snapping. Talk was cheap. She took a breath. Nervous butterflies made her chest light, but she forgot her fear for as long as it took to leap.
She swiped through the air where Shy had been a second before and hit the ground instead. Her arms wobbled with the impact. Shy landed a hit, and Tayel grimaced at the lash of pain in her shoulder. She stepped backward. Tried a swing from another angle. Still missed.
The polestaff whacked the back of her knee. She winced through the pain and swung ahead of the other woman’s movement, but the raider sidestepped out of the way. Tayel shuffled out of the polestaff’s range and mustered enough power to thrust the baton forward again. Shy jumped back.
“Close,” she said with a smirk.
She lifted the pole and brought it down hard. Tayel swung the baton skyward and the two weapons collided in a crunch that shook her whole body. Shy pulled back and swung the staff under Tayel’s ankles.
“Xite!” Tayel cried. Her butt collided with the grass. She dropped the baton, and held up her hands.
“Not bad,” Fehn said.
“Who’re you talking to?” Tayel huffed.
Shy extended her hand. “Probably me.”
Tayel stood without help. She dusted off her pants, trying to keep her breathing steady so it didn’t seem like she’d been beat as bad as she had.
“Still a sore loser?” Shy asked.
Tayel grunted, avoiding the woman’s stare.
“Listen. This was just to assess your current ability. You’ll have plenty more time to train. If you’re lucky, you might even get a hit in. Next I’ll have to find a weapon for Fehn.”
“I’ll take a gun, please,” he said.
“You realize shielding is a thing, right? Guns are great until the enemy has a velocity-reducing body shield, and then you’re done for.”
He eyed his open palm, clenching and un-clenching his fist a few times. “Maybe I’ll have a concealed melee weapon.”
“My, aren’t you just brimming with testosterone?” Shy rolled her eyes. “Let’s pack up for the day. I think we’ve done enough.”
At her instruction, Tayel stored the baton back in its case. Jace wouldn’t have done well with any of this: stealing, training, learning to fight. Shy probably would have made him practice using aether. No wonder he didn’t come along.
Tayel would have to convince him to join up once they’d accomplished all the dirty work. She’d have to find him first, though. He hadn’t made an appearance since the night Shy told them her plan to leave Elsha, but he was determined to stay in camp and wait for his parents, at least. That was enough to keep Tayel’s worry at bay. Sort of. She let Fehn and Shy walk ahead of her as they started back down the mountain.
Jace had never been this mad at Tayel before. It wasn’t like him. The worst fight they’d ever had was over a card game. They’d had a doubles match against two mutual friends and, while he hardly ever acted competitive, losing that game made him go over the deep end. They’d exchanged blame, argued the finer points of the rules, and disagreed on how important the card game was in the first place. He’d left, but an hour later he showed up at her apartment with a movie. They watched the whole thing from beginning to end without saying a word, and when it was over, they laughed the whole argument away. Tayel hoped they could look back on this one day and just laugh.
“I’ve thought of a way to get inside Castle Aishan, by the way,” Shy said.
“Why do we have to do that again?” Fehn asked.
“We need a Faster Than Light drive. We could technically leave without it and just rely on fuel, but it would become a longer trip. And if we had an emergency mid-travel, well, diverting would be an issue. Anyway, you both know they recruit people for the Elshan military at the docks?”
“Yeah,” Fehn said.
“I went to one of the recruiting announcements. The guards ask refugees who sign up to meet at their meal area in the evening, and then officials call out recruit names. The chosen are taken to the castle to be trained or sorted — it doesn’t matter. It’s a way in.”
Fehn’s shoulders tensed. “Wait. You want us to sign up for the military?”
“Only for the chance of being called to the castle. Signing up isn’t a problem; they just do a medical test at registration and then who they call is random. Whichever of us is selected can break in, steal an FTL drive, and get out.”
“You make it sound so easy,” Tayel murmured.