Spycraft Academy by B. Miles (sites to read books for free .txt) 📗

at Delcan, who'd been whispering to his group and ignoring their instructor as she shouted rules at them.

Delcan stiffened up and his eyes were riveted on Hilda.

"Stand up and get over here!"

At least the idiot had enough sense to move quickly without offering their instructor any complaint.

Hilda waited until he was standing in front of her before she grasped the boy by his shoulders. He didn't flinch.

"Hmm..." She pinched his chin between her fingers and made him look right, then left, then straight. She squeezed his upper arms then circled him slowly, poking between his shoulder blades, popping him behind the knee with her foot, prodding and nudging at him and looking for something that Sam couldn't possibly guess.

She nodded to herself and said. "You'll do."

Delcan was facing away from the group while Hilda stood beside him and gave the group a grave frown. All of a sudden, quick as a viper, her hand lashed out and a loud smack echoed through the chamber. Delcan did move then.

He startled and howled, grabbing his ass and spinning on his heel. His teeth were bared at their instructor, and she bared hers back.

For a moment, Sam thought Delcan was going to tell her off, but to his surprise, the other boy's beastly expression gradually dropped until he was standing there very calmly.

"Ha! Very good!" Hilda thumped him on the back. "I like you. You are scrawny and insignificant, but not as scrawny as the rest of the litter, yes? I will call you Torjan."

"My name is De—"

"You may have your name back when you've earned it. Go on then, go pick a weapon." She nudged him away and looked at the rest of them, her voice no longer wrathful, but instead, almost excited. "Now! Who will fight Torjan to the death, hmm?!"

Drina nudged Sam and he shook his head.

Then Mattie poked his arm and whispered, "Do it, chicken. He's a right asshole."

"No way. You see how big that guy is? He's castle-trained, he'll whip me up and down this arena."

"Do it." Mattie poked him again. "Chicken."

"Oh, come on." Sam rolled his eyes. "How old are you, five? I'm not going to—"

Mattie smiled sweetly at him before both of her hands shot out. She shoved him so hard that he fell on his side, his legs unfolding and kicking out in the process.

"You!" Hilda pointed at Sam and dread filled his stomach. "You are a good, brave boy. You may have the honors of participating in our first duel!"

Sam glared at Mattie and she stared the other way, refusing to meet his penetrating gaze. How could she do that? Was she trying to humiliate him in front of literally the whole class? What did she gain from this?

"Go on, Sam." Drina shoed him away and that impish smile was on her mouth. She had something to do with this. She talked Mattie into doing it, somehow, for some reason.

If he could pass off the opportunity to someone else, he would. However, now everybody was looking at him and it was a bit late for that. He slowly got to his feet.

On the other side of the arena, near the weapon rack, Delcan was already testing the weight of a large sword.

Sam looked at Hilda, who was crossing her arms and darting her eyes pointedly toward the weapons. He took a breath, steeled his nerves, and made his way to the wall of death. Best case scenario? Delcan whooped him into next week and the rest of the class singled him out as the weak link. Worst case? The instructor thought he was the weak link and reported his performance as 'poor,' dropping his chances of advancing.

He didn't look at Delcan as he passed the other boy. Delcan did look at him, though. He sneered at Sam and muttered a sarcastic 'good luck.' Sam knew he should have looked away when Delcan eyed him earlier, now the largest guy in the class was going to put Sam 'in his place,' as the nobles so loved to do.

When Sam arrived at the weapon rack, the sharp blades all but blurred together. He couldn't mess this up. He was counting on doing his best in all of his classes to maximize the chance of making it to next year; he wasn't going to let a poor performance on the first day ruin that.

But what was he going to do?

His eyes dashed from the knives to the swords. It would be better to counter Delcan's moves with something of equal length and weight. But he'd never held a sword in his life. He was better with a knife, but he wasn't as good as Mattie. He was at a disadvantage here. He relied on his magic, that's all he had when there was a problem. His magic and a good brain that worked well under pressure.

So why wasn't that brain working now? It was too late to back out now, the others would really single him out if he did. Damn Mattie and Drina to the second throne of hell.

In the end, he chose two hand-axes. They had a familiar length compared to his knife, but the added benefit of a curved blade meant Delcan's sword would slide right off...if he managed to block it. He didn't know the first thing about parrying a sword.

Sam hefted the weapons in his hands. He took a deep breath, turned around, and walked slowly to the middle of the arena. They were only a few yards away from the rest of the group, still sitting in the sand. He could feel the stifling weight of a hundred eyes on him.

"Ah! A good choice!" Hilda clapped once and the sounds rolled across the sand like a crash. "Yes, yes, very smart. As my great-grandmere would say, two things to kill people with is better than one!"

Hilda made a circle in the air and spit to the right. "Torlesh rest your soul, honored elder."

Delcan hefted his sword on his shoulder and scanned