Book 6: Chapter 23
Eleniah lounged on a bench against the far wall, watching Kay as he exerted himself. “Aren’t you pushing yourself a bit too hard? If you exhaust yourself training you aren’t going to be as useful in what’s to come.”
“I don’t think I am, no.” Kay replied, before triggering the training dummy with the gesture he’d told it to react to. The deep black stone golem took a massive step forward, slamming it’s foot down in a move that would have cracked a weaker floor and thrust forward with all four hands gripping it’s spear. Kay bent to the side, using the twin punch daggers he formed around his fists as guides to channel the weapon up and around him. When the golem had fully extended Kay spun and lashed out at it’s neck. When the “deathblow” hit the construct’s head it disengaged, stepping back and settling into a waiting position. The sequence took less time to finish than it did for Eleniah to eat one of the grapes she had in a bowl on the ground next to her bench.
“I feel like you’re doing too much,” She insisted, her tone countermanding how relaxed she was physically. “The closer we’ve been getting to having everything prepared to move the more worked up and tense you’ve been getting. What’s going on?”
Kay ran through two more exchanges with the training dummy while he thought about her question. He had the prize from the dungeon boss in the Isles starting every exchange with different weapons and attack patterns so that he had to react in a single moment to a completely unpredictable assault. He was training to get more levels in his Dual Daggers Wielder (Punch Daggers) Class but also to be prepared for any eventuality. Ambushes, surprise attacks, someone getting their body taken over, and more, there was no telling what the vampyr could spring at Kay and his people, and he needed to be ready.
After the golem reset again Kay sucked his weapons and armor back into his veins and went to sit next to Eleniah. They were in his private training area, one of his private training areas, the more time passed the more palatial his palace got and the more rooms and wings that were dug into the mountain, and it had nice furnishings that could also stand up to a little bit of roughhousing. No longer did anyone visiting or not sparring have to sit on the floor or on hard stone chairs, now there were divans and sofas available along with padded benches. Kay sat down on the edge of the bench Eleniah was laying on after moving some of her hair out of the way. Eleniah grabbed his leg and dragged him over before laying her head in his lap. Kay smiled slightly and dug one hand into her hair.
“You’re hair’s growing out.” He commented quietly.
“I like to let it get long every once in a while, although I don’t tend to keep it longer than this for very long. With my fighting style it’s a bit of a detriment to keep it long enough for someone to grab at it.” She twisted her body so that she was looking directly up at his face. “What’s going on?”
“Do you ever get the feeling of something bad looming on the horizon, like the edge of a storm cloud you can see peaking over the mountains, ready to sweep down on you?”
“Sure. I used to feel like that a lot right after I ran away from home and cut ties with my cousin. I was convinced she or one of her agents was lurking behind every corner, just waiting to drag me into something or trick me into doing what she wanted.”