“Well, that was not at all what I was expecting,” Slate said, standing inside of one of the buildings near the training field. He had his arms folded across his massive chest, and Nya stood a few feet away from him, trying to figure out what this building was used for while still paying attention to what the dragon king had to say.
From the looks of it, they were in some sort of a lounge. There were a lot of seats in this large room, a bookshelf with a few hundred titles, and a large container sitting on a counter with a bunch of glasses next to it. She wondered if this is where the people came to take a break from their training, but she wasn’t in a position to ask at the moment.
Returning her attention to Slate, she asked, “What were you expecting?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted with a shrug. “I guess… I was expecting him to hurt you a little and make you realize that you aren’t as tough as you think you are, and then he’d go back to training the troops, and you’d have to see that you are not ready to go looking for the gem at this point.”
“And now?” she asked, adjusting her stance so that she was mirroring his own, though her arms were folded across a chest not even half the size as his.
“And now… well, I definitely need someone else to finish training for the rest of the day. And… I don't know how to talk you out of going after the gem now.”
“Why do you need to talk me out of it?” she asked, taking a few steps forward as he hands rested on her hips. “Didn’t I just prove to you that I know what I’m doing? That we can do this?”
He took a deep breath and blew it out slowly, running a hand through his dark hair as he contemplated how to respond. He couldn’t just tell her no at this point, at least, Nya didn’t think he could. “I don’t know about all of that,” he said.
“What do you mean?” She was beginning to lose her patients. “Look, you asked me to show you that I could handle myself, and I did. Was that the best warrior you have?”
“Other than myself, yes,” he admitted, stroking his chin in thought.
“And I handled him pretty damn well, didn’t I?”
Slate nodded as if there were no words to say exactly how well she had handled Gator, a man about the same size as Slate, a man who clearly knew how to fight.
“So… what is there to think about? We need to go. It’s just a reconnaissance mission. It isn’t like we have to take on the entire Beelzanborg army tonight.”
Slate seemed to be listening to her, even though he was also deep in thought. Nya grew tired of trying to make him agree to something she thought had already been decided. She’d been under the impression that all she had to do was show him that she could handle herself on the battlefield, and they’d go. Now, he was hesitant again. If he didn’t agree to take her to Beelzanborg, soon, she’d lose her mind. She definitely couldn’t stand being cooped up in this mountaintop much longer. She needed the sun, the fresh air, the grass. Even the thought of being held captive here for an indefinite amount of time was enough to make her feel like she had ants crawling all over her skin.
“Let me… look at a few things,” Slate said by way of a compromise.
“Look at a few things?” Nya repeated. “Like what?”
“Like… maps. Military stuff,” he said dismissively, as if she were too stupid to understand what it took to prepare to go into battle.
“And don’t you think I should probably look at that stuff with you, since I’ll be going along?” she asked, tilting her head at him.
He sighed, as if she were exasperating. “I suppose so,” he said.
“Great. Then let’s get to it,” she said, assuming they were leaving. She took a few steps backward toward the door. “The quicker we get this ‘military stuff’ done, the sooner we can get on our merry way.”
Slate walked toward her, toward the door. “You need to understand, Princess, I’m not going into this without the proper amount of preparation, all right? I’m not just going to move forward with anything unless I’m confident in this plan, got it?”
Nya nodded. “Of course. I wouldn’t expect you to just rush into a situation that could cost us our lives.”
He scoffed at her as he opened the door. “No, you would never do anything like that,” he said.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Nya asked, stepping out onto the porch as Slate followed her and closed the door behind him.
“Nothing, nothing at all,” he replied with a shrug, heading down off of the porch.
Nya followed behind him. “If you’re talking about my attack on you, you should know I spent over a year planning that. And I didn’t get myself killed either, now did I?”
“Only because I chose not to kill you,” he said over his shoulder.
“What?” she asked, running to catch up to him. She grabbed him by the shirt sleeve. “Hey, you couldn’t have killed me! I could’ve killed you!”
Again, he laughed at her, a rich chuckle that infuriated her. “I hardly think so.”
“You think I couldn’t have chopped your dragon head right off if I’d wanted to?” she asked, letting go of him and struggling to keep up with his long legs without running.
“I know you couldn’t have, but believe me, I could’ve lit you on fire more than once.”
“Oh, whatever,” Nya said, kicking at a loose rock and nearly stubbing her toe on the ground. “You just can’t accept the fact that a tiny little girl could’ve whooped your ass.”
Slate shook his head. They were almost to the castle now, and she was relieved to think they might actually get to stop walking sometime soon as her side was starting to ache from trying to keep up. “You’ve got a lot to learn, little girl, if you think that’s true,” he said, clamoring up the porch steps.
Nya slowed behind him, catching the door before it swung shut on her. “We’ll see about that,” she muttered, thinking perhaps she’d made the wrong decision after all.