29 Opening Up

Even though he was in a bad mood, the Lightning Sword made Rayvad feel safe enough to agree that they could light a fire again after the rain stopped. Brightise could sense that he was feeling bold. He almost seemed to wish that a Fire Demon would notice their campfire and attack them. He was itching to try out the Lightning Sword on one of the creatures that had killed his brother.

He looked so wired-up that he could barely stand still for more than two seconds. When Clober fell asleep, Brightise couldn't stand it anymore.

"Fight me," she blurted out as the two of them sat by the fire in a charged silence.

"What?" he asked her, not sure if he had heard her right.

"Come on, fight me. You need to vent, and I can't stand to be around you the way you are. Your nervousness is contagious."

"You don't even know how to fight," he told her.

"So teach me a lesson."

Brightise stood up defiantly. Rayvad was still looking at her with indecision.

"We have to lay some ground rules," he told her as he got to his feet slowly.

"There's only one. Don't wake my sister!"

As soon as she finished speaking, Brightise raised her right foot and landed a kick on his stomach. Rayvad let out a pained sound.

"You..." He took a deep breath and then exhaled in anger. "I see how this is going to be."

Brightise grinned in challenge. "Good."

They both kicked off their shoes so they would make as little noise as possible and then started fighting. Brightise could tell that Rayvad was going easy on her. He didn't aim at her head or try to pull her hair, even though she had ruled neither of those things out. He only aimed calculated kicks at her back, stomach and legs. Brightise felt insulted.

"Is this how you would fight an Amazon?" she asked him mockingly.

In two swift moves, Rayvad had pinned her to the ground.

"You are no Amazon," he told her heartlessly.

"Yet."

Brightise had to squeeze the word out of her mouth as she fought for breath. Rayvad released her and got up, dusting off his hands and chest, as if he had just fought off a filthy raccoon.

"Your hair is a mess," he told her.

Brightise looked at her ruined braid with a shrug. "Who cares? I just lost my first fight. To you!"

Rayvad raised an eyebrow in response. "I am not a very easy opponent."

"Not a very humble one either," Brightise muttered under her breath.

Rayvad pretended that he had not heard her, but the small smile on his lips said otherwise. He and Brightise sat down by the fire again silently.

Brightise broke the silence after a few seconds. "Can I ask you something?"

"If I can't avoid it."

"Do you have a father?"

"Do I have a father?" Rayvad scoffed. "Is anyone born without having a father?"

Brightise flushed with embarrassment. "I mean, is he alive?"

Rayvad grimaced. "Sure. Yes, he is alive."

Brightise waited for him to elaborate, but he did not. "I gather that the two of you do not get along," she commented.

"That is an understatement," Rayvad answered in a low voice. After a few seconds, he added. "I do not like my father. He is..." He suddenly paused. "He is a lot like me, I guess."

Brightise could tell that it pained him to admit this, that he did know he was not someone easy to like.

"Syd was different," Rayvad said with a smile. "He could handle the two of us."

"He must have been a hero."

Brightise wished she could take that back. It was way too soon to be making jokes about a dead man, but the words had escaped her mouth before she could hold them back.

To her surprise, Rayvad didn't get angry. He just smiled nostalgically and looked at the fire with a blank expression.

"He was..."