Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane - 2 by Suzanne Collins Read Free Book Online Page A

what I thought," said Gregor. "Hey, Luxa, weren't you going to show me that flip thing again?"

    "If you will excuse us, cousins," Luxa said.

    Luxa and Gregor turned and walked away. He caught her eye. The hurt was still evident on her face, but she gave him a smile. "Thank you, Gregor," she said softly.

    "They're idiots," he answered with a shrug. "Go ahead, Luxa, do one of those flip things.
    Do the fanciest, wildest one you can think of."

    Luxa paused for a moment, focused on a spot halfway across the field, and took off. She launched into a beautiful sequence of flips, ending with a move where she turned two full times in the air completely stretched out and landed on her feet. People applauded, but she just jogged back to Gregor as if she didn't notice. "Now you try," she said.

    "Just give me some space," Gregor said, swinging his arms as if to loosen up, and she laughed. Then Mareth called them all together to begin sword training. Howard and Stellovet had joined their group. Everyone chose a sword from a large cart that had been wheeled out onto the field. Gregor examined the weapons, unsure of what to do.

    "Here, Overlander, try this one," said Mareth. He picked up a sword, resting the bottom of the blade against the back of his wrist, and offered Gregor the hilt.

    Gregor's fingers closed around the handle, and he felt the weight of the sword in his hand, heavy at the hilt, light at the tip. He waved it a couple of times in the air, and it made a swishing sound.

    "How does it feel?" asked Mareth.

    "All right, I guess," said Gregor. It didn't feel like much of anything, really. He was sort of relieved. All that warrior stuff made him nervous. He didn't like fighting, and he was glad he didn't feel any different while holding the sword.

    Mareth divided up the rest of the group into pairs to practice drills. Then he took Gregor aside for his first sword-fighting lesson. The soldier showed him different attacks you could make with the blade, and different ways to defend those attacks. Gregor didn't really see the point in this, since it seemed unlikely he'd be fighting a human, but he guessed this was just basic stuff that everybody had to learn.

    After a while they broke to rest for a few minutes, and then Mareth announced it was time for cannon practice.

    "Cannon practice? We're going to shoot off cannons?" Gregor asked Luxa.

    "Oh, no, these are small cannons for sword practice. To help with speed and accuracy,"
    said Luxa. "You will see."

    Three small cannons were wheeled onto the field. Off to the side, Mareth set a barrel that was filled with waxy things about the size of a golf ball. "These are blood balls," Luxa said, holding one out on her palm.

    When Gregor took it, he could feel some sort of liquid sloshing around inside it. "It's filled with blood?" he asked, kind of grossed out.

    "No, only a red liquid to suggest blood. It makes it easier to see if one has made a hit or not," said Luxa.

    The three cannons were positioned in an arc and loaded up with five blood balls each.
    The Underlanders gathered in a circle outside the cannons.

    "So, who is brave enough to go first?" Mareth asked with a smile. "Why not you, Howard? I remember you did quite well the last time you visited."

    Howard took his position between the cannons. One faced him, one was on his right, the last on his left. Each was about twenty feet away. On Mareth's command, three Underlanders started to crank handles on the sides of the cannons. Blood balls began to rocket out of the barrels straight at Howard. He swung his sword back and forth, trying to cover his front and sides. Seven blood balls burst as his blade made contact with them. But another eight lay unharmed on the ground around him. The whole thing only took about ten seconds.

    "Well done, Howard! Well done," said Mareth, and Howard looked pleased with himself.

    "Was that good?" Gregor asked Luxa.

    She shrugged. "It was not bad" was as much praise as she could