Fear exists only in the mind.
I don't remember where I heard that, but the saying had stuck with me forever. Fear was just an emotion; a natural response to perceived danger.
I told myself that over and over again as the man turned to look at me.
His eyes swept down to the blade in my hand, and the grip on his own tightened. He wasn't afraid of me. I could tell by the squareness of his shoulders. And it irritated me that I couldn't scare him the way he scared me.
For a long moment, he simply regarded me, cools eyes shining in the darkness. And then he spoke, and his voice sounded like the breeze sweeping through the trees on a quiet night.
"You might want to be careful with that," he said. "Few who wields a blade know how to use it."
"We'll see if you still feel that way after I
