Anik didn't take the bait; the force of Anik's blade stopping his strike made Ren stagger. He panted, putting some distance between them. This wasn't what he had expected, not at all. This was like fighting Berin when the older, larger man held nothing back. In contrast to how Ren felt, Anik barely looked like he was exerting himself. Raising his free hand, Anik waved Ren closer. “I said fight me!”

With a snarl, Ren charged. He wanted nothing more than to knock the cocky idiot on his ass and get the upper hand on him for once.

Anik blocked Ren's strikes with frustrating ease. Even in the defence, Ren felt like Anik was only playing with him. Letting Ren drive him back around the ring of grass until-

Steel slid against steel. Ren's arm twisted, pain shooting through the joints. A hard kick against his ankle threw him off balance and he landed hard on his back, nearly slamming his head into the ground.

He had closed his eyes as he landed, and when he opened them again, shining steel gleamed at his throat.

“That's enough,” Anik said, stepping back and inspecting the new notches in his blade. The ones in Ren's were deeper.

Ren pushed himself up, rubbing his sore wrist. Anik strode past him up the hill and Ren glared at his back, heat rising to his cheeks, the shame of humiliation mixing with bitter disappointment.

CHAPTER SIX

Anger, disappointment, and shame still curled in Ren's gut as he marched back to the camp and threw his sword on the ground, then changed his mind and picked it back up, sheathing it.

“Where did you learn to fight like that?” Ren demanded, looking Anik up and down.

Anik joined Ren by the burnt-out remnants of the fire, dragged his bag closer and searched through it. “My village,” he said. He gave up searching and grabbed the loaf of bread that Ren laid out instead, tearing off a chunk.

“Bullshit,” Ren said, staring him down. He snatched the rest of the loaf back from Anik before he could devour it entirely. “Who are you really?”

Anik paused and laughed, the sound muffled by all the bread he had stuffed in his mouth. He swallowed. “What, you think I must be some secret, powerful warrior prince of a mysterious, faraway nation for me to be able to beat you at sticks?” Anik smiled mockingly and shook his head, washing down the bread with water. “Maybe you should consider that you're just too far up your own ass to want to believe you just got it handed to you by a simple farm boy.”

Ren felt his face grow red and he opened his mouth to serve Anik a piece of his mind, but Anik cut him off.