Prophecy's Promise (Prophecy of the Edges Book 1) by Lauren Amundson Read Free Book Online Page A

not cross his face. I wondered if he even saw those he fought or if he had entered some sort of trance.
    Meena entered the circle, bearing twin daggers nearly identical to my own, although not nearly as Mist-Fortified. The blades were barely longer than her forearm. The right one was slightly longer than the left and had one thick spike parallel to the blade near the hilt, useful if one wanted to trap the opponent’s blade.
    She blocked each thrust Altis hurled her direction, but she did not attempt an offense. One by one, those more daring lunged, and Altis took them out. No fancy or extraneous movements littered Altis’s form, but some of his opponents more than made up for it. One man twirled through the air while slashing backhanded as if to catch Altis unaware. While thrusting to the left at another combatant, Altis kicked the man in midair.
    The line began to dwindle, but Meena remained in the circle, marginally inconspicuous as she did not attack or draw attention. Altis had bigger more aggressive fish to fry. Once only six remained, Altis seemed to realize that Meena had been in the circle a very long time. He tried to provoke her, but the other five goaded him, forcing him to defend and then snuff out their annoying advances.
    Four remained, then three, then only Meena and one other, a youngish Warrior who had been in the circle almost as long as Meena. Both Altis and the other warrior turned their attention to Meena, now that she could no longer evade and hide. She deflected Altis’s long blade with her right dagger and simultaneously slashed with the left at the other Warrior, attempting to trap his rapier with the tooth of her blade-breaker. The blow with Altis’s long blade threw Meena’s right blade from her grasp, but she quickly threw her effort toward snaking her other blade around the young Warrior. He evaded and parried several quick attacks. Then Altis slashed, and Meena didn’t have the time to react. She was out. Then, in less time than I could blink, Altis had back-slashed and the other Warrior had lost as well.
    “Not bad.” I patted Meena on the back.
    “That was a bit dodgy,” one of the Warriors complained. “You shouldn’t be in the circle if you don’t intend to fight.”
    “Sometimes the best position is one that allows you to outlast your opponent. By the rules of the game, she beat you,” Altis remarked to the Weaver. Three attendants carrying a large bucket of water shuffled over to Altis. One handed him a glass. He dunked it in the water, and then dumped it over his head. He turned to Meena. “Good show, Ardile. We’ve got quite the pair of not-so-scholarly Scholars here.”
    “Thank you, Lead Initiate,” Meena bowed slightly, “I’ll work more on cultivating my Scholarly attitude.”
    Altis smirked and joined the gaggle of Warriors.
    Meena turned to her friend. “Sorry, Hailey. I know I said that we could duel, but I’m pretty wiped, and that took a bit longer than I was expecting. You want to head into town?”
    “After that quite amazing display, I’d be embarrassed to try, anyway.”
    We talked about mundane topics on our walk to wherever Meena was taking me. Whenever I tried to ask about our destination, she just smiled and said that it would ruin the surprise. As we walked, I had less of an idea of where we were heading. I had never been to this part of the city. The lanes were ancient and narrow, too narrow to admit carriages. Battered buildings pockmarked by broken bricks huddled in rows. Dirty children roamed in packs. People would eye Meena and give us a wide berth. The whole area stank of rotting meat and waste. I knew poverty existed, but I’d never seen it like this before. The building we entered was bluish-grey with a bright red door. “Red is the color of the guild,” Meena said as she pushed open the door.
    “What guild?” I asked, but Meena didn’t answer.
    The inside of the building was significantly more kept than the outside, but that