Flashback ( PDFDrive )

‘what if.’ There’s simply what happened and who lived.”
“I’m . . . not sure my brain can work like that,” Sophie admitted.
“Mine doesn’t either,” Tarina admitted. “At least not anymore.
That’s why the bulk of my army’s ranks are Stage Twos. Those at my
stage think too much. Makes us useful for specialized missions like
this, but less so for major combat. Battles are surprisingly mindless.”
Sophie had no idea how to respond to that.
“We’re wasting your training time,” Sandor realized. “You should
be learning to throw a dagger.”
“What’s the point, if I’m supposed to hold on to it?” Sophie
countered.
“You’re supposed to hold on to your last weapon,” Sandor corrected.
“And even then, there may be moments when it’s better to let it go.
Either way, throwing is still a vital, lifesaving skill to acquire. If you’re
looking for absolutes or clear black-and-white rules, you won’t find
them on a battlefield. It’s moment by moment. The best you can do is
give yourself as many defenses as possible.”
He pointed to the target. “Aim for between the eyes.”
“Are you going to give me any pointers?” Sophie asked.
“It’s all in the wrist,” he told her, which wasn’t necessarily helpful.
Sophie did her best—but she quickly discovered that daggers were
much trickier than goblin throwing stars. The slightest error and the
weapon didn’t just miss the place she’d been aiming for—it bounced
harmlessly off the dummy.
Aiming with her left arm was also more challenging than she
would’ve expected, and she completely overcompensated on her first
several throws. But by the time her lesson was finished, she’d found a