Chapter 44 #2
The movement is instant. As the kids start running in place, I do the same. At the next whistle, we stretch. Then we cycle through sets of push-ups, burpees, and star jumps. By the fourth round, my lungs are burning, and the pain in my heart starts to fade under all the other pain.
We run around the square, and although I’d like to say I do better than the others, given my legs are much longer than theirs, I most certainly do not.
I’m not at the very back of the pack, but I’m solidly in the middle.
Stevie, on the other hand, is a freaking spider, and Frances is even faster than her, both staying at the front of the pack.
Struggling to breathe, I watch as another squadron, this one made of only twenty or so people who are closer to my age, exit one of the buildings surrounding the square.
Fabia catches my gaze and nods at me as she walks behind Echo.
I don’t have the energy to nod back as I try to keep up with the little kids.
But it doesn’t matter how exhausted I become, I never find myself at the back of the pack.
Looking around, I notice all the names that were called earlier are in the middle with me.
The others shift up and down, some running slower, some faster, to keep us together.
Tears burn my eyes at the sense of community.
In Browston, despite all our rules about being kind and accepting, there’s nothing like this. We mix together. We invite each other to parties. We talk and laugh, but there is no solidarity in hardship. And it makes me realise that I might not be queen anymore, but Raza is my home.
Looking up, I blink away the tears.
We run another lap before we’re ordered to stop. Stevie gives a hug to one of the newbies, and her actions are quickly followed by the others.
“Good done,” a red-headed kid murmurs as he squeezes my knees.
I pat him on the head. “You too.”
He grins up at me, two teeth missing in his smile.
“Pair up! Arienna, you’re with me,” Gallagher says as he walks to the front.
I start to head for him, but my attention is caught by the older squadron as they break into groups. There is a second of calm.
Then knives, shurikens, and blasts of magic fly through the air in utter chaos. Fists connect with throats, feet with balls and shins. Metal blades glint in the sunlight, and my steps falter as I catch sight of Lief in amongst the crowd.
His eyes widen as Fabia’s sword slams into his groin.
His dick falls to the ground, severed in a way I can’t really wrap my head around.
I mean, he was stabbed in the front, so I would’ve expected it to be sliced in half down the middle, not off.
But there is no denying the full bloody dick between Lief’s feet.
I shudder on his behalf, then again when it flies through the air, flapping in its flaccidity, having been kicked by my bestie.
A shuriken pierces it mid-flight.
A woman knocks it towards the face of her opponent.
That person kicks it back at her, but she ducks, and a burst of magic hits it from the side.
The cock explodes.
“Arienna,” Gallagher snaps.
I hurry forwards. My eyes go back to the other group, but I can’t see Fabia, Lief, or any bits of his severed penis.
I expect Echo to blow her whistle, to stop them while she gets a healer to reattach his dick, but she never does.
A giggle rises up inside me. You go, Fabia.
A warmth blossoms over the pain as I realise everyone else in her group has her back.
Why couldn’t Richard have shown me this part of Raza? The love beneath the hate? The loyalty behind the violence?
Focusing on Gallagher, I listen as he talks us through what we will be doing next.
Half of us will be attacking in structured steps, the other half defending a certain way.
All morning we do different sequences, and after lunch, sitting outside as we watch Echo’s squadron continue to fight each other, we go over what we learned in the morning.
We stop at the next whistle. Standing in line with the others, my chest rises and falls with a comfortable pain.
Gallagher stands in front of us. “Make a circle,” he says and I move alongside Stevie, Nolan, and Frances as we all surround him.
“Squadron Phoenix, Squadron Griffin,” he commands.
Stevie ushers me forwards, coming with me, as do Nolan and Frances. Four other kids step out from the other side of the circle. We all join in the middle, and I smile at each of them.
“At the whistle, you fight. When your back hits the floor, you’re out. Last team standing gets an earlier tea.” Raising his fingers, he blows.
My eyes wide, I stand still in shock as two kids from the other team launch themselves at Stevie and Frances.
The other two run right at me. The blue-haired girl ducks low at her waist. Her friend jumps onto her back without missing a beat.
Launching into the air, she twists and kicks me in the face.
My head snapping to the side, I fall to the ground with a yelp.
“Don’t land on your back!” Nolan cries as he charges past me to punch the blue-haired girl in the face.
I try to scramble to my feet, but the face-kicking cherub jumps, flaps her wings, and knees me right under the chin. My eyes roll back in my head. I’m not sure what happens after that.
“You okay?” Gallagher asks as he holds a healing wand to my chin.
Working my jaw, I nod as I sit up. “Did we win?”
His eyes laugh as he shakes his head. “You weren’t out that long.”
“You call that a beating!” Frances screams behind him. I look over Gallagher’s shoulder to see her getting held by two members of the other team while the third –the same one who kicked me– punches her in the gut.
The fourth is fighting Stevie. “My mum hits harder than you!” she shouts as she takes a fist to her face.
“They’re so violent,” I whisper.
Nolan crouches beside me with a busted lip and an ugly bruise on his chin. As Gallagher starts to aim the wand at him, he shakes his head.
“I’ll bet you a gosberry Frances gets out of that,” he says to me.
“Don’t take that bet,” Gallagher cuts in before I can nod. “Frances is a masochist. She’s just getting warmed up.”
“Aw,” Nolan complains. “I could’ve got an extra gosberry tonight.”
“You eat as many as you do, and you’re going to turn bright red.”
Nolan shakes his head with all the confidence of a six year old. “I’m going to turn into Jace.”
Gallagher stands. “Train harder and you just might.”
As he moves away, I catch Frances’ eye. She grins even as another fist slams into her gut.
Snapping her foot out to the side, she kicks the girl holding her in the knee.
Her leg buckles, and as her enemy stumbles, Frances rips her arm free.
She spins towards the other kid holding her, ready to punch her in the face.
At the same time, her foot kicks out again, nailing Face-kicking Cherub in her stomach.
Her fist bludgeons the third one’s nose.
As he stumbles back, she drops low, then sweeps her leg into his.
He topples to the ground, hitting his back.
She continues her swing and lunges up to punch Face-kicking Cherub in the chin.
With her knocked out, she focuses back on the girl she kicked in the knee.
Her fists fly. The girl falls to the ground on her face, and Frances kicks her over onto her back. Looking at me, she waves.
Gallagher whistles once Stevie also gets her opponent on her back. Running at each other, the two girls embrace with a squeal before heading towards Nolan and me.
“You’re so old and useless,” Stevie chuckles as she slings a little fist into my hip. The blood on her knuckles is a tad discerning, but her smile chases my worry for her away.
“And you’re so small and vicious,” I say, rubbing her hair.
She grins under the praise, puffing out her chest.
Gallagher calls two more teams to fight, and as they deck it out, I turn to Stevie to ask her who’s who.
We’re Squadron Griffin – second only to Raven. As the evening wears on, the children around me talk about each person as they take to the circle, discussing their strengths and weaknesses. The Phoenix who kicked me in the face, sidles up to me.
“You’re really slow,” she says. “I kicked you twice and you just stood there. You should get more fast.”
Scoffing, I shake my head. “No, you’re just devilishly fast already.”
She stares up at me, then a slow smile fills her face as she giggles.
When the final whistle blows, I look over at the castle.
My king is somewhere in there, and it hurts being away from him. But as the vicious cherubs usher me into one of the barracks and Fabia comes over to slap me on the back, I know that this is exactly where I’m supposed to be.
At least until I get stronger.
Too strong for him to say I don’t belong here.
Because Raza, damn him, is my home.
Even without a crown, I am her queen.