Dance of Devils and Daylight

Dance of Devils and DaylightBook Two in the Legion of Thieves seriesIndiana RoseIndiana Rose Copyright © 2023 Indiana Rose Text Copyright © 2023 by INDIANA ROSE Cover Copyright © 2023 by INDIANA ROSE Cover Design by Saint Jupiter Designs All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. This novel is entirely a work of fiction. All characters, settings, and incidents described in the book are the work of the author’s imagination. Any similarity or resemblance to any persons, living or dead, or any events is entirely coincidental. ISBN 978-1-9911991-0-2 To everyone who’s ever felt unworthy, unwanted, or simply not quite enough.Hello. You are worthy. You are enough.And this one’s for you. AcknowledgmentsThank you to Ethan, my partner, for helping me achieve my dreams. Your patience, your enthusiasm, and your finances were greatly appreciated.Thank you to my friends who eagerly supported the making and distribution of Scars, and who have hounded me for book two. This book’s soul comes as much from you as it is from me.Thank you to every reader out there who took a chance on Scars and is here to continue the journey. You’ve made this author’s dreams come true. OneA sword slashed the air in front of Freya’s chest. She leaned back, narrowly avoiding the blow. The plank beneath her feet wobbled, threatening to send her flailing onto the mossy rocks below. She gasped and threw her arms out wide, making the twin blades curled in her fists spread like wings. Only, they would not catch her should she fall.“Steady now,” Henrick called from where he stood on the rocks down below. “Use your strength. Find your balance.”Freya gritted her teeth at her tutor’s words and squeezed her abdominal muscles in a bid to keep her balance. The plank settled, her toes uncurling in her boots.Across from her, at the other end of the plank, Hetty – her best friend and the only family she’d ever truly known – grinned.“Seems like this plank is going to win this fight for me,” she simpered, blue eyes alight with vigor. Like Freya, she was also armed, though her weapon of choice was a single broadsword, rather than two. Scarred leather pauldrons and gauntlets shielded her shoulders and forearms, buckled over a dark linen blouse and thick leather bodice. Her booted feet inched into an offensive stance, and she smirked at Freya.Freya scowled. Her shoulders burned from the weight of her swords, and sweat plastered her hair across her forehead, but she would not yield so easily. She darted forward before Hetty could make her next move, bringing her blades down swiftly. Silver steel arched down on Hetty.Their blades came together, metal whining on metal as they slid across one another.Hetty’s smile slipped. She receded a step.Now it was Freya’s turn to grin. Her feet barely left the plank as she moved, regaining the ground she had lost to Hetty’s prior offense. She swung her blades again. They cut through the air with a lethal whoosh whoosh.“Come on, Hetty,” Henrick shouted, peering up at the girls. “You’re losing ground. Stop defending and start attacking.”Freya twirled, making another advance. Her swords flashed out, a whirlwind of steel. One came down on Hetty’s blade, the other halting as it pressed against the leather bodice tied over the redhead’s ribs. Fast, but controlled.“Show off,” Hetty grumbled, flicking her sword to shove Freya’s blades away. She readjusted her grip on the hilt, her jaw set determinedly. Freya grinned again. “I told you, you should’ve learned to fight with two. It’s much easier.”“Only if you know how to use them,” Henrick corrected from below. “Otherwise, you’re just doubling the risk of cutting off your own head.”Hetty’s eyes narrowed combatively. “I’ll best you yet.”She shoved Freya’s swords away and lifted her own blade, carving crosses in the air between them.Freya leapt back. The plank rattled. She forgot about defending the strike and instead tried to focus on where she placed her feet. The rocks beneath her seemed sickeningly far down.The gleaming tip of Hetty’s sword pressed against the sternum of Freya’s own bodice.“Gah!” Freya’s blade slipped from her left hand. It clattered against the plank before plummeting to the rocks below.Henrick cursed and dived out of the way as the blade ricocheted against the boulder he’d been standing on. He scowled up at Freya.“I guess that makes us one for one.” Hetty laughed, her blue eyes shining in the afternoon light.Freya glowered and edged off the plank to safer ground. “If we’d been battling on the ground instead of on this treacherous plank, that never would have happened.”“You’ve always been a sore loser,” Hetty smirked, sheathing her sword.Henrick retrieved Freya’s blade and waved it in the air. “I think that’s enough training for one day.”The girls descended the steep banks of the empty riverbed they had been battling over. They slid down to Henrick, where he graciously handed Freya back her fallen sword.She glanced up at the long wooden plank that boarded the two riversides. From this angle, it didn’t look so high.“You both did good,” Henrick said, clasping his hands together in front of his buckskin tunic. He regarded them both with patient eyes, the skin around them tight with lines that crept into the hairline of his cropped gray hair.The younger brother of Mr. Tomlin – the man who had sheltered Freya and Hetty during their last night in Orlenea – Henrick was always hard to read. Unless he was scowling…which he mostly did when Freya accidentally sent her weapons flying his way.“But you both have many areas to improve. Freya,” he said, his schoolmaster’s gaze shifting to her. “You must learn to find your feet and overcome your fears.”Freya swallowed, wishing he’d chosen other words. She’d been told to find her feet once before…when warm hands had brushed against her legs, cleaning a gash on her knee.“And Hetty,” Henrick