Free Traitor by Nicole Conway Page A

understood why Jace hadn’t cared too much about how dirty he was this morning.
    When we were finished, we didn’t stop to rest. As soon as our shift was over, Jace led the way to the sparring room so we could train together. It was a decent sized room with skinny windows on three sides to let the cold, fresh air blow in—which felt amazing after working for so long. The ceiling was a lot higher, too, and there were an assortment of different training weapons hanging on the far wall.
    A few other men were already practicing. Some were sparring with swords, and others were grappling on the floor. Jace must have had something more intense in mind because he plucked a wooden scimitar that was a similar size and weight to mine off the wall and tossed it to me. Then he took two swords for himself and nodded toward one of the big sparring circles painted on the floor.
    I’ll admit, I was nervous. I had sparred against Felix and all the other avian students in my graduating class more times than I could count. I’d even sparred against Sile a time or two. But I had never once locked blades with Jace—not like this, anyway.
    He had a reputation for being especially brutal. I wasn’t sure what to expect from him when it came to style and technique. I’d never seen him really fight anyone.
    Our eyes met from across the sparring mat as the atmosphere between us changed abruptly. My instincts came alive, and all my senses snapped into focus. I forgot about how tired I was and I couldn’t feel how my back and arms were aching from working all morning.
    “You’ve learned to fight human enemies,” Jace said as he paced the outside of the circle, spinning both of the swords over his hands with effortless speed. “Fighting against gray elves is completely different. Like our dragons, we hope to never fight on the ground. But if that becomes necessary, you need to know what you’ll be up against.”
    I stepped into the sparring circle with my mind quiet and my breathing calm and steady. I never took my eyes off him. “And what is that, exactly?”
    “They’re smaller, faster, with reflexes that border on the supernatural. Their bones are as hard as metal, and their strength is impressive for their stature. They will hit you hard. And they will hit you often. Their strategy is to overwhelm you, to put you on the defensive immediately.” He stared me down like a wolf, powerful and likely to strike at any given moment. I could see that dead soldier’s look in his eyes. “But their weakness is their independence. For whatever reason, they don’t fight together as a unit.”
    I narrowed my own eyes and tightened my grip on my scimitar. “Shouldn’t we have learned this at the academy?”
    Jace stopped his pacing and he turned to face me with a humorless smirk on his lips. “Probably. But the ruling powers decided that the role of the academy is to produce as many effective riders as quickly as possible. Some things had to be cut from the curriculum in order to meet the demand of riders to replenish the ranks. And let’s face it, not all of you are cut out to put your sword and flame against a gray elf.”
    I sank slowly into a defensive stance and raised my scimitar as a signal; I was ready. “Let’s get on with it, then.”
    His dark eyes glittered with feral energy as he snapped his arms out wide, a sword in each hand. That was all the warning I got. Jace rushed me like a hurricane, striking with speed and precision I’d never experienced from anyone. Sure, Felix hit with incredible force, but his blows were slower and easier to predict. Sile was fast, but his aggression made him reckless and careless when it came to defensive maneuvers.
    Jace was as close to flawless as I imagined a fighter could be.
    We blurred through our best combat moves, testing each other at every potential weak point. It didn’t take Jace more than a minute to find one of mine. He feigned a strike, which I fell for like a complete dummy. In a