Excerpt: Book 2

From The Blade Dancer (first book in the trilogy being written by Twilite and ArrowHead.) I am working on Book 2 and ArrowHead is working on Book 3

From Chapter 1

The moon’s light shone down on the beach, giving it an eerie blue dreamlike quality. The blade, moon-kissed, shined silver as it cut through the ocean breeze. Kallias slowly spun in graceful circles. The dance of the blade was more of an art than training. He moved slowly and with purpose.
Dealla watched the stranger fight the invisible with flowing movements. Her curiosity peeked as she hid in the stand of trees, dying to get a closer look as sparks of light glinted from the sword in the man's hands. Only fear of that sword kept her in check.
What was he doing here? And where were the others? No man came along this beach alone. There must be a longship somewhere.
She shuddered not from the cold. It was time to move, but which way? Where were the others?
That the man was a traveler, should have been obvious, as his gear sat upon beached driftwood. He danced shirtless, his eyes closed as he spun about. The moonlight gave his taunt torso a porcelain touch as his muscles moved beneath his skin. He paused a moment then continued, peeking an eye open as he kept his gaze along the tree line.
Dealla flinched. He hesitated facing her direction. Did he see her? No, no, he couldn't have. She slipped form and continued to watch. He was beautiful. She saw his pack on the driftwood, but it held no meaning for her. She crouched low hoping the animal could escape detection better. It was risky being in the first form and not knowing where the others were. She would have to go looking.
Dealla, the serlcat, crept along the tree edge, remaining in the shadows. She repeatedly glanced out at the man as she neared him where the stand of trees jutted out towards the beach. Here she would be able to see behind the rock formations to the long breakers on the other side. If the boat was there she could easily duck back through the trees to her makeshift home in the thicket.
His breathing quickened a bit from the exercise. He took a final huff and sheathed the exotic shaped long sword in its black scabbard. Hearing a sound, he glanced warily at the tree line. After passing it off as an animal in lands unknown to him, Kallias returned his attention to his situation. He sat on the driftwood as he faced the sea and its star-sprinkled horizon. The sun would be up soon. He donned his light leather cuirass as he caught the shadow of the sneaking form lurking about.
She froze again not fifteen feet from the rocks where they met the trees and where the trees were thinnest. He stared right at her. Did he see? Would he call his companions and go for the hunt? She had been hunted before. She knew his kind, kill first ask later. Oh but he was beautiful, and she had been too long without companionship of her own. Where were the others? Her body tensed. Her mind told her, "leave, sprint, run," but she could not turn her eyes from him as he clothed himself.
He stared hard in her direction seeing nothing but then went about his business. He looked not her way again, but knew of or perhaps felt her presence more than seeing it. In a non-hostile tone, his voice a broken accent but that of the common tongue, he uttered, "come out, whomever you are. I am but alone. I can defend myself if need be however, stalker."
Her ears turned forward at his words. Was it true? Humans also lied. She turned her ears, listening for the betrayal of footfall. She heard only the night creatures she was accustomed to. She would have to test him as cat, for if he lied it would be quickest to escape all but a bullet. The last that nicked her came from what the man cursed as his blunderbuss. Still, they were not accurate enough nor quick enough to get her in this form. She decided. Slowly, half crouched, she slinked out of the dark of the trees and paused a few feet from her escape route. She stood waiting.
He squinted into the darkness. Giving a nervous laugh, he said, "a big cat?" He thought quickly. "Good, then I will not have to eat this dried jerky alone," Kallias said as he dug around in his gear for a hunk of the cured, spiced meat. He broke it up into chunks and threw a piece into the distance towards the strange cat.
She flinched as he threw something her way. She sniffed at the seasoned meat cautiously not taking her eyes from him nor relenting the vigilance of her ears. He had not thrown it too close. Was it a trick? Where were the others? Was he really alone? She crept forward stretching her belly to the sand.
He kept his gaze upon the feline, the sun now crowning over the water's edge. The soft golden glow gave his eyes more detail of the beast. It was like the panthers of his home but there was a beauty to this cat. Its sleek gray coat splotched with black circle markings. Why did this cat watch him? Why did it come out to his command? He wondered about the intelligence of the creature. Kallias sat as calmly as he could, watching and waiting.
She sniffed again at the meat and hesitated letting her ears do their work once more before committing herself. Satisfied there was no one coming she delicately lifted the jerky from the sand and ate it. It was not a large piece, and she wasn't particularly hungry. Was it a good trust offering? She eyed him again and his pack. This time standing straight legged. Her ears continued to move. Even as her front legs straightened to an elegant pose as if showing some regality, her hind legs bent. So from head to long, slightly curled tail, she sloped. Viewed from the side she formed a glinted triangle of cat against the sand.
Kallias stared at the beast as its coat shone a shiny gray-steel color like that of his blade. Neither his fear nor his curiosity quite gone. "You're a dangerous beauty, much like my sword". He offered a smile as he calmly slung his pack over his shoulder. "I must go now, my furry friend," he said as he slowly arose. His knee-high black leather boots creaked as he stood.
The movements indicated he was about to leave her. A different fear suddenly engulfed her and fought with the one for safety. She stood toe forward, her ears towards him now in attention. He cannot leave now. Wait. She could not call to him or speak in this form. But the panic was not overwhelming to her survival instinct. And remaining in form until she could get to know him was vital to that. What to do? She took a few steps.
He looked both ways up and down the lonely coast that seemed to stretch forever. He deftly walked through the soft sand as if the foreigner had been at home. He decided to head south. He threw a backwards glance over his shoulder at the cat. Why does it seem to want to follow? What does it want? He wondered this as he walked along the shore.
In her panic as he walked off, she raced at him full run as a cat would at its prey.
Startled as he heard her full gallop, he quickly turned with a fluid movement, drawing his sword. Is this it? Would he have to kill such a majestic beast to save his hide?
As the shine of steel reached her eyes, Dealla slid to a halt kicking sand up at the man. Her hind legs slid in under her front and her tail whipped forward as she managed to stop her movement a whisker's distance from the keen edge of his blade. She froze, her head and ears drawn back, fear in her eyes.
In a moment of realization she jumped to the side and ran a few steps away then turned back to him. Again she took up the attentive posture.
He rested his blade on his right shoulder as she took to a safe distance. "Try that again and it'll be your last." He eyed the cat warily but with curiosity.
She let her tail twitch, hoping he would understand that as acknowledgement. Why was she drawn to this one? Was it because he was the first to be alone? She knew why she was alone. Why was he?
She gave little thought to the nest she had made for herself in the thicket. It was only one of countless resting places she had made and abandoned in her efforts of survival.
He tapped the blade idly upon his shoulder. Kallias watched the cat with a questioning gaze before turning and heading southwards again. The thud of a falling tree and a guttural language he had never heard before quickly caught his attention. Before he could even ask himself what that was, a large, downed stump came flying at him from the forest edge followed by a thunderous, monstrous laugh. He stood in a moment of frozen time.