Free Servant of the Serpent (Serpent's War Book 1) by Jason Halstead

and air in. He clutched it and rubbed and scratched, desperate for air. Corian rolled up on his side and opened his lips while curling in a ball. He tried striking himself, driving his fist into his belly and forcing the water out.
    “Well, dat’s sumfin,” Thork mused.
    Corian heard the troll and ignored him. The bastard was probably enjoying his torture. He had to breathe so he could get up and— He’d moved. Not only moved, he could feel his arms and legs. He could use them! He was healed and he hadn’t even known it. He’d felt the water rush through his body and heal him, even as it filled his lungs and paralyzed them.
    Or had it? His chest and throat had ached from the near-drowning earlier. Was it the magic healing him? Was he really imagining things? Was it his own fear of drowning that was killing him?
    Corian relaxed his throat instead of fighting it. He gasped and gagged, coughing as he breathed in and out. There was no water, just air and some drool. He gasped and looked up at the grinning troll.
    “Yous gonna do just fine,” Thork said.
    Corian heaved for breath and shook his head. “I’m still going to kill you.”
    The troll laughed loud enough to scare the sleeping birds from nearby trees.
     
     

Chapter 7
     
    “Turn the blade! No—don’t step back, you— Bah!”
    Allie stepped back and turned to place her hands on her hips. She was breathing hard and sweat plastered the tunic she wore to her skin. The padded jerkin her dad insisted she wear when training was on the ground nearby. It was too hot for it. “Grandpa, you can’t yell at me while I’m fighting. It’s distracting!”
    “Then do the right thing!” Bucknar snapped. “You’d have your young arse in a sling if your foe knew what he was doing.”
    “Hey!” Talwin, her younger training partner, said. Bucknar and Allie both ignored him.
    Allie plucked at the neckline of her tunic, peeling it away from her skin and fanning herself with air. Nonplussed by the way that Talwin’s eyes widened as he stared at her, she said, “I’m in the middle of a fight! If I try to think about what you’re saying and how I can do it, he’s going to hurt me.”
    Bucknar scowled and motioned with his hands. “Fine. Again. Talwin, show her no mercy, boy.”
    Talwin raised his wooden practice sword and waited for Allie to let go of her shirt and turn back to face him. Bucknar scowled and shook his head. Before he could rebuke the boy for not pressing an advantage, he lifted his sword-shaped stick overhead and jumped at her.
    Allie cried out in fear, causing Talwin to slow and look uncertain. He landed wrong, stealing his momentum and power, and then had his sword knocked from his hand by Allie’s stick. Allisandra swung back and slapped her sword against his side, earning a grunt from him. She drew it across as though disemboweling him and then she leapt back.
    “See, I’m a good fighter,” Allie said.
    “You’re a fool,” Bucknar snapped at Talwin.
    “She cheated!” Talwin cried while rubbing his side. “I thought she was hurt.”
    Bucknar waved him away. “Give me that stick,” he snapped.
    Talwin jogged over to his dropped practice sword and brought it to Bucknar. “She’s tricky,” Talwin warned.
    “You’re thinking like you’re a boy and she’s a girl,” Bucknar chided him.
    “I am! And she is!”
    “Not in a fight you isn’t,” the old man said. “Watch, boy, and learn what will keep you alive.”
    “Grandpa, come on—hey!” Allie jumped back as Bucknar’s sword swished through the air where her head had been. She jerked her sword up and settled into the stance her father had taught her.
    Bucknar advanced, knees bent and sword at the ready. He poked out at her a few times and then swung at her legs, forcing her to leap up and back. He followed her, keeping her off balance and listening to her hiss and grunt as she blocked or dodged his strikes. He stayed on the offensive, knocking her wooden sword aside time and