AN: This one's all about back-story. It was fun to revise, because I'd originally wrote it to be serious, but now that I read over it, it has the potential to become like High King Fluffy, Er, Peter and Early Morning Battles in terms of humor. Okay, maybe not, but it's not illegal to dream occasionally, is it?
See Chapter Nine of Lioness Rising to understand it (for those of you who aren't already fans of mine. I do have fans, right?).
Gifted? Or Cursed? Yeah, Cursed. Definitely Cursed
Some days, I like fighting, but others, I don't.
This would be one of those days where I don't like fighting.
"So, when doing hand-to-hand combat, the number one rule is ALWAYS KEEP YOUR GUARD UP!" Oreius roared at me.
"What's the number one rule for kicking Centaur butt?" I muttered, blocking the Faun's blows. I saw the Faun – Calumnus, by name – try not to snicker. He failed. I'd been learning the basics all morning, hours of going through the motions. I wanted to fight.
Oreius must have seen the look in my eyes, the same eyes that had, somehow, changed color. They'd been green before, but now, one was blue-green, and the other was turning hazel. I'd dismissed it. This was Narnia, after all. There was no such thing as normal.
"Alright, Ride! Enough. I know you, and I know you want to fight. So, fight!" I complied.
The Faun swung his fist towards my head. I leaped back, and then flipped over, landing in a crouch.
What the heck?
I punched the Faun, hard, in the nose, expecting him to duck. He didn't. Instead, he dropped heavily to the ground. Instantly, I knelt at his side, searching his face for a sign of pain, or life, or anything. His eyes were blank, unseeing, unblinking. I grabbed his wrist with my fourteen-year-old hands, feeling for a pulse, finding nothing.
Nothing.
Nothing.
I had just killed a Faun.
With my bare hands.
I looked up, panicking. What had I done? What had happened to me?
Oreius was watching me with something in his eyes. Fear? Anger?
Reverence?
I got my answer when Oreius bowed, in Centaur fashion.
"All hail, Alexa, of the Killing Gift."
Crap.
I really, really didn't like fighting that day.
Fin.