Chapter 11: Counting

They rode back into Greywater Keep at midnight with two rescued women, one wounded horse and no sign of Major Valerius.

The king's riders had already doubled the guard at the gate.

Theron put the seamstress and the stable hand in the guest rooms under the king's seal and set a Watch sergeant at each door.

Then he turned to Linnea in the empty yard.

"The training floor," he said. "Now."

"It's the middle of the night."

"The major knows you can hear his people. He will not send men to the door. He will send a blade where you cannot hear it."

"You can't hear a thought that hasn't happened yet."

"Then you'll learn to fight like someone who can't hear."

He walked away across the yard, and after a moment she followed.

The training floor lay under the east wall, a long stone room with a sand pit in the middle and a gallery above it.

One lantern burned by the door.

Theron hung his coat on a post and handed her a practice sword.

"Here, the rule is different," he said. "On the floor, a commander puts his hands on a recruit. That is how it is taught."

"I know the rule."

"Good. Guard."

She raised the blade.

He moved around her slowly, and then not slowly.

His hand closed on her elbow and lifted it.

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