Belligerent (Vicara) by B.N. Mauldin Read Free Book Online Page B

of us soon enough.”
    “Will you be joining us?” Eva asked hesitantly. Out of all of them, Mackenzie was grieving the most. Normally, she and Clarisse made a point of attending every one of the pit games, even if they were not fighting that day. But lately Mackenzie had taken to locking herself in her room to study. They had all been throwing themselves into their specialties lately, but Mackenzie's obsession was driving her to a new level of isolation.
    “I'm not the type of leader to ask something of my team that I wouldn't do myself,” Mackenzie replied with no heat to her words, but Eva knew she spoke from her heart. “I'll be on the sands as well. We'll have a quick tea today, rest for a half hour, then head out. None of the other teams should be out there.”
    Mackenzie left the room, supposedly to go inform the others of her decision and Eva stood there for a few moments not wanting to hear the reactions.
    “You think she realizes that it's raining?” Clarisse asked, leaning into the room from the doorway.
    “I don't think she cares.”
    “True,” Clarisse murmured. She lightly tapped the toe of one rocking horse shoe against the floor and looked expectantly at Eva.
    “Did you and Aria hear all the plans?”
    “I heard. Aria doesn't make it a habit to eavesdrop,” Clarisse replied.
    Eva smiled and reached over to affectionately stroke the girl’s hair. “Go finish setting up tea and be sure to change into your armor right after. If you're late again, she'll tell me to order you to run laps.”
    Clarisse turned to head towards the kitchen, her tutu bouncing with every step with the grumblings about laps growing more explicit as she disappeared into the hallway.
    Slightly more than ninety minutes later, after an extremely rushed tea, the rain had stopped and the seven of them were gathered out on the training grounds. After leading everyone through the warm up drills, Eva began to call out their assignments for that day.
    “Aria and Clarisse spar first. The rest of you work solo for now. I'll call the switch.”
    She stood to the side and watched as Clarisse and Aria circled each other. As usual the two girls couldn’t resist bantering. Witty remarks flew back and forth from the two as swiftly as Clarisse's two tessen fans flicked out in an attempt to block Aria's whip. They were too good at predicting each other's moves and could dodge most attacks the other threw. There was rarely a serious injury when the two went against each other. The lack of wounds didn't mean it was any less fascinating to watch how they moved against each other. When they sparred, it was like observing a dance where the two worked as partners rather than opponents.
    Clarisse moved to the offense and rushed toward Aria. Her fans were closed to inflict injury by blunt force rather than opened to cause a distraction. In a new move that Eva had never before seen, she cracked the whip past Clarisse's body and caused it to wrap back around, encircling one of Clarisse's delicate wrists.
    Aria grinned widely. “Looks like you're all tied up.”
    Eva watched while holding her breath, wondering if for once there would be an actual victor between the two. Instead of giving in, Clarisse used her ensnared hand to grab hold of the whip.
    “Luckily, I have some experience with that,” Clarisse said as she pressed the tessen on the line and then twirled, using her entire body to jerk on the whip. Frowning, Eva had doubts about the move. Clarisse was petite and lithe, and while many tiny fighters could be powerful, she was the type to use speed and distraction to her advantage.
    The force wasn't enough to pull Aria off balance, but it was sufficient to effectively stop the whip's attack. As a result, Clarisse was able to easily free her wrist. The two stood apart and the whip’s line pulled taut. Each held an end of the whip with their eyes locked on each other as if daring the other one to move. Clarisse gave in first, no surprise to