Chapter 13: Combat

With every passing week, the masters pushed us harder and harder.

Even though it was raining, Master Carleton ushered us back into the area and had us work with our wooden weapons.

Magic was powerful, but even though our enemies couldn’t perform magic, they had become very skilled at combat. We couldn’t fall behind.

I had already gotten used to the weapons. Sometimes, I even forgot they were strapped to my belt. They had become a part of me, and that was exactly what the master had wanted.

Today, we tried to knock the weapon out of our opponent’s hand before they did the same to us. Master Carleton walked around, observing and correcting. He might’ve seemed scary, but I could tell that he was only trying to push us to help us stay alive. That push made me want to give it my all. I wanted to get better. I wanted to show the academy that it was possible for me to work hard and to improve.

An hour into the lesson, the master gave us new instructions.

“Pick a pack and strap up. Help your partner,” Master Carleton shouted. A pile of bags appeared in the middle of the arena as soon as he finished speaking.

“You first,” Tanner said, picked up a black pack, and held it up for me.

I put my arms through the straps and tied the front strap over my chest. The thing weighed a ton.

“Okay. Now you.” I slowly leaned down and tried to pick up his pack without falling over. Once I managed to do it, he buckled up and shifted his weight until he was comfortable.

We picked up our pace and got back in line.

We’d only been at the academy for a few weeks, but we had already learned not to keep the master waiting. They were not patient people.

“If you practiced with a sword yesterday, pick up your dagger. If you fought with a dagger, grab your sword,” Carleton told us.

Even though it was cold, sweat poured out of every pore, and the pack seemed to grow larger and heavier with every move we made.

“First person to disarm their partner won’t have to run the five miles with the pack on,” the master said.

Tanner was a much better swordsman than he’d said. He was good at everything. The only thing he struggled with was potion making.

~I’m definitely going to lose this practice fight~, I thought.

Tanner hit me on the inside of my elbow and forced me to drop one of my daggers. His lips twisted into a snarky smile. “Get to running.”

“He said to disarm me. Not disarm me literally,” I said, and continued fighting, giving it my all with the remaining dagger.

After one swift move, my sword and the last remaining dagger clattered away. Tanner lost his weapons too.

“Damnit,” he grumbled. “What do we do now?”

Just as he asked the question, Master Carleton walked up to us. “What happened”?

“We both disarmed each other at the same time,” I explained. “It’s like we can predict each other’s movements.”

“Feisty, aren’t you?” He nodded over to me and smiled, but the smile was short-lived. “No weapons in hand means a nice, long run. Get going.”

We were exhausted, but complaining and pleading wouldn’t make him change his mind. So, we ran.

“Did you … come up … with a name yet?” Tanner struggled out as we ran side by side.

“Sure did.” My thick hair didn’t bother staying up in a ponytail and stuck to the back of my sweaty neck. My mouth was dry, and the pain in my calves and knees drove me crazy, but I tried not to show it because I knew that Master Carleton was watching.

“Will I have to beg, or will you just tell me?”

“I decided to go with Drake. Drake Aurora,” I said between dry coughs.

“Hunter will be pleased to hear that. So, does this mean you like Hunter, or you just liked the name he chose?”

“He is still engaged to your sister,” I reminded him. “You shouldn’t want him to like me.”

“That’s not up to me to decide.”

As we finished our run and came to a stop, I walked behind a huge oak tree and held on to its trunk, so I wouldn’t lose the contents of my stomach. “Aren’t you going to ask me what ~Drake~ means?” Tanner asked.

I shook my head and headed back to the arena. Another round of practice began. My arms throbbed more with each swing. My legs were numb. I was barely holding on, and the prince wasn’t doing any better.

“You know, for someone who just started learning how to fight, you’re doing pretty good,” Tanner admitted.

It felt like a pity compliment, but I took it anyway. “I’ve never fought before, but I didn’t sit on my butt back in Madison, eating biscuits and drinking tea either. Hard labor prepares your body for things like this.”

“Time for stretching. Girls on one side of the arena, boys on the other,” Master Carleton barked.

Hunter walked up to me once we were done. “Tanner told me you went with the name I chose,” he said.

I nodded.

“Why?”

I cleared my throat. “I liked Drake Aurora. Or I figured this would be my way of repaying that debt. Unless I got tired of picking and figured I’d just go with the next name I heard. I guess we’ll never know.”

I didn’t want to get snarky with him, but the fact that he was always in my business bothered me.

“~Drake Aurora~. It suits you.”

He pulled off his shirt. I tried not to look at his bare chest, but it sure wasn’t easy.

“I spent hours going through old books at the library, looking up different names and their meanings,” he confessed.

That took me by surprise. ~Did he really do all that, just to help me find a new name?~

I couldn’t help but soften a little. “What does ~Drake~ mean?”

“Dragon.”

“You named me after a dragon? Because I’m so scary and mean?”

He chuckled. “No, because I can see the fire in your eyes. I feel your warmth, and I can also tell that if anyone ever hurt you or your friends, they would get burned.”

“Aw, that’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard,” Celestria cooed behind me. I didn’t even realize that she’d been listening.

“I taught him everything I know,” Tanner said, and slung his arm over Celestria’s shoulders. Nearby, a gaggle of girls with Allyah at the forefront narrowed their eyes.

It was a good thing that my face was hot from running. Otherwise, everyone would’ve known that I was blushing.

My body ached. My head spun from what Hunter just said to me. The attention from the other people in the arena was too much to handle.

I was planning my escape, when a loud pop made everyone turn to the stands. Master Carleton had somehow traveled from the center of the arena to the top of the bleachers and was watching us intently.

“Who told you it’s time to take a break and socialize? Five more miles for all of you!”