The Talented
Authors: J.R. McGinnity
Tags: #female action hero, #sword sorcery epic, #magic abilities
J.R. McGinnity
THE
TALENTED
Copyright © 2012 by J.R.
McGinnity and Green Dale Publishing
jrmcginnity.com
Published by Green Dale
Publishing
Printed in the United States
of America
All rights reserved. This
book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any
manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the
author or publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a
book review.
This book is a work of
fiction. Names, characters, and events are a product of the
author’s imagination and any resemblance to any person, living or
dead, is coincidental.
Cover Design by Kyle
Clemins
J.R. McGinnity
THE
TALENTED
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ONE
Adrienne wound her way
through the back streets and alleys of Kyrog, taking a shortcut to
the captain’s office. Her leather boots kicked up the dust that
even hundreds of feet could not pack down as the drought scorching
the plains stretched late into the season. Some of the alleys
smelled of refuse that had yet to be cleared, but they were quicker
and less crowded than the main streets. Adrienne was more worried
about running late for her meeting with Captain Garrett than
unpleasant smells.
She turned right, in the
direction that would take her back to the main street and the
captain’s quarters, and was surprised to find Lieutenant Nissen
coming toward her.
“
Lieutenant,” Adrienne
said, snapping to attention with her left hand resting on the hilt
of her sword.
“
Adrienne.” The smooth
voice would have been pleasant had it not been accompanied by those
cold green eyes. His gaze ran over Adrienne’s leather-clad body,
lingering on her breasts and the flare of her hips. “What are you
doing, sneaking around the back of the officers’ hall?”
“
I’m on my way to meet with
the captain,” she said.
Nissen smirked. His
combination of light skin and green eyes was rare this far south of
the Almetian border. The man should have been attractive, but
whenever Adrienne saw him she got a creeping feeling along her skin
and wanted nothing more than to get away.
“
I need to go, Lieutenant.
I’m running late.” She tried to duck around him, but Nissen moved
to block her.
“
Surely you can spare a few
minutes,” he said. “I want to talk to you.”
“
Perhaps later.” Adrienne
tried once again to get around Nissen, and was once again
blocked.
“
Join me for dinner,” he
said, moving closer to her, crowding her against the back wall of
one of the buildings. “We can talk then.” His hand traveled to her
waist, resting on the flare of her hip. “Or we can do…other
things.”
Adrienne reached
reflexively for her sword, but his body was blocking the move, and
it stopped her just long enough for her to come to her senses and
remind herself that he was a superior officer.
“
No,” Adrienne said,
slipping to the right. “I can’t.”
Nissen’s other hand came
up to block her escape, and he moved closer so that his body was
pressed against her. He bent and put his mouth next to her ear. “I
think you can.”
Adrienne froze. Over the
years, other soldiers had made occasional passes at her, but never
had an officer done so. With another soldier, Adrienne would have
blown him off or forcibly ended the encounter. Once, when she had
been in her early teens, a soldier had followed her to the river
where she was bathing. She had left him gasping on the banks,
clawing at the windpipe she had very nearly ruined. Despite being
the only female soldier currently serving in the camp of over two
thousand, she had never worried that she would start a fight she
couldn’t finish.
But she wouldn’t fight
Lieutenant Nissen and risk being expelled from Kyrog.
“
Lieutenant Nissen,
please,” Adrienne said, careful to make her voice sound respectful
rather than pleading, “I’m supposed to meet with Captain
Garrett.”
“
You’ll have more fun with
me,” Nissen promised, nuzzling her neck. When she tried to break
free, his hand on her waist tightened painfully and he gripped the
arm that tried to push him away. “Now, now, Adrienne, don’t fight
me.” His mouth moved to hers, and she brought her knee up
reflexively.
Experience had Nissen
twisting so that her knee connected with his muscular thigh instead
of the more vulnerable area she had been aiming for. He made a
tutting sound against her lips. “Bad girl,” he said. “I’ll have to
teach you some respect.”He grabbed her other arm when she began to
struggle in earnest, pinning it above her head, but pulled back
abruptly at the sound of feet hitting the dusty ground behind
him.
“
What in the flaming Abyss
is going on here?”
Adrienne looked to her left
and saw Ricco standing there. He was built like a
pago
tree, not much
taller than Adrienne but with a thick body and limbs. He could move
deceptively fast despite his apparent bulk, and the rage on his
dark face made him look every bit as lethal as she knew him to
be.
Adrienne was very glad
that the savage expression that flashed across Ricco’s dark face
was not directed at her.
“
Rydaeg and I were having a
discussion. A private discussion.” Nissen’s smile was tight, and he
moved slowly away from Adrienne. “We’ll continue this later,” he
told Adrienne before leaving the alley.
“
Are you all right?” Ricco
asked. She could see the effort it took for him not to yell or go
after Nissen.
“
I’m fine,” she snapped,
but her voice wavered, and she realized that her hands were
shaking.
“
Ade—”
Adrienne crossed her arms
in a move meant to hide her traitorous hands. Ricco’s anger came
back as he caught what she was doing. “What did he do?”
“
Nothing,” she said, but
the look in his eyes, so unexpectedly gentle and concerned, was too
much for her to resist. She couldn’t help the words that spilled
from her as she told Ricco about everything Lieutenant Nissen had
said and done.
She had barely reached the
end of her story when Ricco started heading in the direction the
lieutenant had gone. “I’ll kill him,” Ricco growled.
Adrienne quickly stepped
in front of her friend, blocking his way. “Ricco, no.”
“
I can make you move,”
Ricco said, reaching out to grab her by the arms.
“
Try it,” Adrienne said,
but her voice lacked heat, and it wasn’t the customary bad temper
that he saw in her eyes.
She was more than merely
shaken by the encounter with Nissen, and Ricco’s hands moved up to
rest on her shoulders. The weight was comforting, not threatening
as Nissen’s touch had been. “If I can’t kill him, at least report
this to Captain Garrett. He would never stand for what Nissen
did.”
Adrienne knew that was
true, just as she knew that she could never go to the captain. She
had worked hard to build up a reputation that she could take care
of herself, and she couldn’t have a man—even the captain—solving
her problems. “You know I can’t do that.”
Ricco looked pained. “Ade,
you can’t expect me to just let this go.”
“
I can handle it,” Adrienne
said, lifting a reassuring hand to his forearm. The nickname Ricco
had given her soon after he had come to the camp reminded her of
everything they had shared in their years of friendship, and some
of the tension left her.
Finally he nodded and let
his hands fall back to his sides. “I came looking for you because
Captain Garrett was wondering where you were.”
Adrienne had almost
forgotten about her meeting with the captain. “I have to go see
him,” Adrienne said.
Ricco forced a smile.
“Go.”
Adrienne turned to leave,
then looked back over her shoulder at her closest friend, the only
real friend she could remember having. “Thank you.”
••••••
Adrienne took a breath
before entering the building that housed the captain’s office. She
announced herself to the page, who turned and knocked sharply on
the captain’s door. “Adrienne Rydaeg has arrived, sir.”
“
Send her in.”
The captain was sitting
behind his desk when Adrienne entered. His stern face, weathered
and marred by a thick scar just under his right eye, was not
smiling. “You’re late.”
“
I’m sorry,” Adrienne
said.
Captain Garrett glanced
down at the pile of paperwork on his desk, then back up at
Adrienne. “Now that you’re here, I have an assignment for
you.”
Adrienne stood straight
and alert, her hands folded behind her back, and Captain Garrett
studied her carefully with his gray eyes, as if considering her
uncharacteristic lack of curiosity about the assignment.
“
Is everything okay?” he
asked.
Adrienne nodded again.
“Everything is fine,” she assured him. “What was it you
wanted?”
Adrienne noticed the
captain’s doubtful look, but whatever his thoughts he put them
aside and continued. “There’s a new recruit here, from Roua,” he
told her.
“
I spoke with the soldier
from Roua earlier,” Adrienne said.
“
Not Freder,” Captain
Garrett said. “A young recruit. Jeral Rosch. I want you to test him
and ascertain his skill level.”
“
Will he be in the Pen?”
Adrienne asked.
“
I expect he is. I want you
to spar with him, then report back to me on his performance. He’s
come to Kyrog because we train the best, and the captain at Roua
thought he showed promise. We need to know where to start with
him.”
“
Yes, sir.”
Adrienne saluted and left
in pursuit of Jeral Rosch, forcing herself to block out what had
happened with Nissen so that she could focus her full attention
where it belonged. On her job.
She found Rosch in the
small training yard dubbed the Pen due to its tight position
between three neighboring buildings. Rosch was leaning up against
one of those buildings, talking to another Yearling whom Adrienne
vaguely recognized. Their swords were propped up against the wall
beside them, and both seemed completely unaware of her
presence.
“
Rosch.” Her voice cut
through their quiet conversation like a knife and caused the young
man to jump and spin around.
“
You’re Adrienne Rydaeg.”
Though her reputation preceded her, the young soldier seemed more
eager than nervous to face her.
“
Yes.”
“
I’ve heard about you from
others who have come to Kyrog to train. They say you’re
good.”
“
I am,” she said simply.
“I’m here to determine your skill level.”
Rosch grinned. “I’ve been
training at Roua for two years. One of the lieutenants recommended
that I come here, and my captain—”
“
We’ll spar. No
weapons.”
He looked over to where
his sword rested. “I guess I’m ready, then.”
Adrienne unbelted her own
sword and set it on the ground. She moved into the center of the
pen, feeling the crunch of dried grass beneath her feet, and Rosch
followed. He had a height advantage of more than a foot, and his
fighting stance was confident as he faced her.