Meat

  Chapter Seven

  Part One

  Line took a light tap to her stomach, her block wasn’t good enough. But she did have other things on her mind right now, her concentration was all over the place. There was a tap on her side, she was usually good at defending and dodging. She took a step back, feigning retreat. Then suddenly lunged out and tapped Arasha’s jaw.

  Line and Arasha were currently sparing in the Monastery training grounds. They were trading taps back and forth, dodging and blocking all the while. Yet Arasha was definitely ahead in this round.

  Arasha backed down “Line, what’s wrong?”

  “nothing’s wrong”

  “that’s a lie”

  “Look, I’m just distracted”

  “Line? Distracted?”

  “Yes”

  “No, that’s impossible”

  “...”

  “What is it? What’s got our very own Inspector Line so distracted?”

  “...Someone...”

  Arasha raised an eyebrow “someone?” she said in a playful tone “who is this someone?”

  “I don’t want to spar with you anymore”

  If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

  Before Line could leave, Arasha took her arm and twisted her hip, flipping her to the ground “I'm sorry, Line. I won’t tease you anymore”

  “I would appreciate it. I already get enough teasing from Ali”

  Arasha held out her hand to help Line up “you know, I have a lot on my plate too”

  Line took Arasha’s hand and let herself be pulled up “I’ve been meaning to ask you about your new training. How’s it going?”

  “...it’s definitely a lot”

  “well if you need any help, I can always offer my services”

  Arasha smiled “thank you”

  “that reminds me. Where’s Divan? Don’t you usually spar with him?”

  Arasha sighed “ever since I’ve been with master, Divan has been avoiding me for some reason”

  “Is he alright?” it was weird for Line to ask that.

  “I truly do not know”

  “And what of the Blood Sage? Do you have any leads?”

  Arasha shook her head “no. But then again, master hasn’t let me look into it. I can tell you though that those runes did flare again”

  “they did?”

  “yes, and apparently they do that a lot”

  “Do you know when they started to flare?”

  “Master said around fifteen years”

  “specifically fifteen?”

  “yes”

  Fifteen years. It couldn’t be...?

  Arasha then flipped Line again. Line grunted as she hit the sand, but immediately spun on her back and kicked Arasha’s legs out from under her. Arasha also spun on her back, and almost gave Line a kick to the side of her jaw. Line retaliated by grabbing the leg that almost hit her, and pressed a foot against Arasha’s neck.

  Arasha rolled over Line, breaking the hold quickly. She then spun again and kicked Line lightly in her side. Line rolled and swiftly raised to her knees, and managed to block an incoming elbow. Line grabbed that arm, twisted around Arasha and pinned that arm to her back. But since she was now in this position, Line reached forward and locked Arasha in a choke hold.

  Arasha tried to break the hold, but couldn’t get a good handle anywhere. She had no choice but to tap out. Line let go, letting Arasha gasp in some air.

  “how are you so good at sparing? I’ve never seen you train with anyone” Arasha asked when she had her breathing under control.

  “I’m self-taught” that was mostly not a lie, but also mostly not the truth either. Line had never been given a choice in the matter.

  Monks began to make their way into the training grounds. Line wasn’t paying attention to the time, but when she looked up, she could see the beginning of day’s light peak through the darkened clouds.

  Line stood and gave a bow to Arasha. Without a word, Line left the training grounds.