Page 8 of Journey to the Elderoak
“You can watch, but you’re not fighting,” he ordered.
“Are you coming, princess?” Gisela yelled from the center of the ring where Pax was waiting, a look of blatant discomfort on his face as Ava and Casimir continued their argument.
“Give us a minute!” Casimir barked at her, not breaking his gaze from Ava.
“Why can’t I try?” she said. “You know Pax won’t hurt me. It’ll be good practice, especially since you’ve been teaching me moves like this.”
He stared down at her.
“You know I’m right,” she urged.
“You’re meeting the queens tomorrow. You need to rest. You spent almost the whole day training.”
“I’m so anxious about tomorrow, I can’t sleep anyway. It’ll help me work off some of my nerves.” She gave him a pleading look, pushing her bottom lip out just a little.
He narrowed his eyes, glancing at her lips. “What is that?”
“What?” she looked at him innocently.
“That look. Are you…pouting?”
“Nooo…I’m asking nicely. Please.”
“Fine,” he said as he jerked his head to the ring. “But don’t expect that to work again.”
She gave him a triumphant smile and could have sworn his lips twitched, suppressing his own amusement, before she turned and joined Pax on the mat.
Gisela addressed the crowd. “Since this is the princess’s first time, I’ll go over the rules,” she shouted. “No kicks or punches to the groin. No kicking or punching when your opponent is on the ground. No head-butting. No strikes using your knee or elbow. And no punching in the face since Ava is meeting the queens tomorrow.” She gave Ava a grin. “First one to keep their opponent on the ground for ten seconds or until their opponent taps out, wins.”
Ava glanced at Casimir, who had reclaimed his spot at the edge of the ring. He grabbed Pax’s arm and pulled him close, whispering something in his ear. Pax nodded, a flash of fear on his face, and took his stance back in front of Ava.
“What did he say?” she asked.
He stepped closer so no one else heard him. “He said if I hurt you, he’ll strip my rank and make me clean the dungeons with one arm because he’ll break the other.”
She looked at Casimir again, who was observing her so intensely she felt exposed beneath his stare.
Turning away, she whispered back to Pax, “As the princess, I technically outrank him, so I’ll make sure you don’t lose your title.”
He laughed and they backed away from each other, taking their fighting stances.
“Shirts off, you two,” called the captain.
“Ava—” Casimir started but was interrupted by Gisela.
“Other than leaving her pretty face alone,” Gisela said, clapping her hand on Casimir’s shoulder. “She gets no preferential treatment.”
Pax removed his shirt and tossed it on the ground, revealing his green skin. The orc was huge, bigger than Casimir, with rippling muscle. There was no way she’d last long in this fight.
Taking a deep breath, she looked at Casimir defiantly and didn’t break eye contact as she removed her tunic and tossed it aside. Her breasts were bound tightly, no different than wearing a sports bra, albeit a strapless one. Casimir’s pupils enlarged almost imperceptibly as his eyes flicked down and back up again, but he regained his composure and was back to looking irritated.
She smirked at him and looked back at Pax. “Don’t go easy on me.”
“Yeah right.”
“Alright, enough chit chat,” said Gisela. “Get on with it.”
The crowd cheered and Ava shook out her arms as Pax crouched and grinned at her.
