War God for Hire- Gladiator David Burke (bookreader TXT) 📖

into the side of her head. He felt bone crack under the blow, but knew that the flesh mages could heal her up. Besides, she had given him no choice.

“Well done, my boy. I wasn’t sure if you had it in you to finish an opponent. Just remember, Lash won’t surrender any more than Kierra would and there are worse foes you will have to face if you want to reach the top of the arena. It isn’t like it was in my time. Now, if you aren’t at least part monster, you don’t have a chance,” Saber said.

Chapter 23 - Girls

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Night

The rest of the training went by fairly uneventfully. Kyle had expected Kierra to be angry with him but if anything, she just seemed to want to avoid him. He could get that. No one liked to be reminded of being beaten. He was glad that Selma was able to heal her completely, though.

While they were both tasked with running an obstacle course that had the trainers swinging weapons hanging on long ropes, he could hear Saber yelling, “Watch your balance. You can only be as fast as you can control.”

After the first run through, Saber had looked at both of them. Kierra was staring at the ground as though the sand were the most interesting thing in the world. “Each step you take in a battle is as important as the swing of your weapon. If you aren’t balanced, then you can’t react. If you can’t react, you die.

“Lash is gonna try to keep you off balance. Kierra, you might be able to match her speed, but you never will, Kyle. That just means that you have to be even more precise with your movement. If you extend a step too far, you will be off balance and vulnerable to Lash tripping you up with her whip.”

“So, move more deliberately? But you’ve been preaching about the importance of speed,” Kyle asked.

“Of course, speed is important, but you can’t compete with her speed, so now is not about helping you grow. For this, you need to lean into your strengths. Which, in your case, is brute force. Just keep your actions smaller and more direct, so she can’t sweep you or redirect your force,” Saber replied.

“He will do fine; he is built like a rock,” Kierra declared with enthusiasm.

Kyle couldn’t help but laugh as he looked at her. “Is that a compliment?”

She shook her head nervously, almost as though she were surprised at the way she had spoken. She looked at the ground again and Kyle noticed her tail wagging as she said, “You are so strange,” then she looked at Saber and said, “I’m ready to go again.”

Kierra’s conduct had been different enough toward him that he was worried she had some deeper injury.

During a water break in the training, he pulled Nyda off to the side.

She stared at the pitcher of water in her hands as she said, “I can’t stop working. They will beat me if they see.”

Kyle felt some resonance between them. It hadn’t been there before. It was as though the core inside of him that he associated with Krig was vibrating in time with some part of her. It brought to mind what Hilde had said, but he couldn’t worry about that right now. “Just act like you are pouring me more water. I will take the blame if anyone notices.”

“Uh… they won’t hurt a valuable fighter, but I’m just a service slave. They are threatening to make me a pleasure slave,” Nyda said.

“I need you to do something for me,” Kyle whispered.

“I owe you my life. I already offered you what a man likes best.” Nyda blushed as she spoke.

“Not all men are the same. Some won’t take advantage of an unwilling woman just because she believes she owes a debt. But you can do something that would be important to me.”

“Okay, I will try my best,” came her reply.

“I can’t leave the arena, so the next time you are near the infirmary, I need you to ask Selma if Kierra was fully healed or if there was any lasting damage.”

“The lycan? Why does that matter?” Nyda asked, clearly confused.

“I hit her very hard, and I, well… It’s just important to me. Will you do this for me? I would consider us even then,” Kyle said.

“Favors don’t repay a debt such as mine. But perhaps… Yes, I will try. I am not sure if the flesh mage will answer me though,” she said pensively.

“Just tell Selma that I will help her translate more pages of the book if she answers you. She will know what I mean,” Kyle said with his confidence returning.

“I will do this for you. If only…” Nyda started to speak but then caught herself and clammed up.

“If only what?” Kyle asked. He noticed that the slave overseer was walking in their direction.

“No, I’m sorry. It was presumptuous,” Nyda said quickly. Before he could stop her, she walked away.

Kyle just shook his head and stood up, ready to get back to training. Women were confusing. Practice was universal. It was something he could throw himself into and know that he would get back what he put into it.

An hour later, Saber insisted that they return to their cells to rest up before the fights. Kyle had wanted to keep going but, as usual, once the head trainer made up his mind, that was the way it was. Thinking about it, it was probably a good idea. Besides, they sent some great food along, so he would have plenty of protein before the match. Not that he was sure his body actually needed protein, at least it would taste good.

Shortly after returning to his cell, he heard footsteps above and then saw Nyda’s beautiful face lean in through the bars. “The head flesh mage says that she is fully healed and there was no lasting damage. She wondered why you worried about it, but I simply told