The Artifact of Dissium (Demona Book 2) by Megan A. Hepler Page A

watched the action. The three of them cheered as the two leather armor clad men parried back and forth.
     
    Demona recognized their movements were similar to what she had been taught by Kerrick not that long ago. She bit the inside of her cheek in an attempt to focus on something other than those painful memories. Soon, the men had tired and they cleared the field. Demona hopped over the fence and grabbed a practice sword from a barrel.
     
    Felix looked at her in surprise and hopped over the fence to join her. “Alright warrior princess, teach me a few moves.”
     
    “Are you going to fight?” Benen asked.
     
    “That’s the idea,” Felix said. After picking a sword of his own, he joined Demona in the center of the field. She stood in the position that Kerrick had once taught her. The memory again burned in her mind. She pushed the thought away. She had wanted to train with Felix and was excited to finally have that chance.
     
    “Don’t hurt her Felix,” Benen said. He shook a finger in Felix’s direction.
     
    Demona raised the practice sword and watched Felix mirror her position. “Pretty good.”
     
    “I trained with a staff remember,” Felix replied. He twirled the sword in his hands.
     
    Demona raised her eyebrow. “Impressive.”
     
    “Awesome!” Benen shook his fists in the air with excitement.
     
    Felix grinned, “Let’s see what you’ve got.”
     
    They slowly approached one another almost as if they were both afraid to be the first to attack. Demona took the chance of swinging her sword, but Felix blocked. Demona stepped backwards to decide on her next move, but Felix approached and swung his sword in her direction. This time she instinctively blocked.
     
    Felix grinned and made Demona momentarily falter with his playful look. Before she knew what was happening Felix’s sword was coming down on her, but she quickly recovered and blocked once more.
     
    “You’ve got great reflexes,” Felix said.
     
    “Okay, since you are obviously a natural at this, let’s take it up a step.”
     
    Demona swung at Felix and their swords clanged together. She sliced at him and he blocked. She blocked his advances and allowed herself to get lost in the motions. Felix’s sword struck lower and she jumped over the blade landing perfectly on her feet. She quickly struck at Felix, while he was marveling at her maneuvers.
     
    “Whoa!” Benen yelled from the sidelines.
     
    Felix rubbed the sore spot. “Oww! That hurt.”
     
    Demona smiled. “Poor baby.”
     
    Benen chuckled at their banter. “Yeah, big baby!”
     
    They resumed sparing and danced around the field. Felix managed to strike Demona’s side with his dulled wooden sword. Demona’s skin rippled with the impact. Her kataphraktos took on its metallic scaled texture to protect her from anymore harm. Benen and Felix both stared at her in amazement.
     
    “One of the perks I still have from being a TGHC field agent,” Demona said.
     
    “Amazing. That’s some perk,” Felix said.
     
    They slashed and parried at one another. Felix landed a few more blows, but Demona did the same. They were both panting before long and took a moment to catch their breath. Their eyes met and they smiled at one another.
     
    “Your staff training must have been really good, because I had trouble keeping up,” Demona said.
     
    Felix glanced at the sun. “We better get back to the Gleann Tower. Molony is expecting us.”
     
    “That was cool!” Benen said. He tugged on Felix’s shirt and looked up at him bashfully. “Will you teach me to fight?”
     
    “Sure kid, but you need to wait till you get a little bigger,” Felix said.
     
    Benen looked down disappointedly.
     
    Demona watched the guilt cross over Felix’s face for turning the young boy down.
     
    “You know, you can always start practicing on your own until then. If you look for a nice thick stick and hold it just above the end. Then, you can start practicing by hitting trees with