Chapter 41
CHAPTER 41
A res couldn’t remember the last time he had had so much fun designing a training ground. So far, he had created three separate ones, starting easily enough and getting harder as he went. He was currently working with Shiloh and the super soldiers; he would see what Frederick and the two generals thought and would add to or take away as needed.
Oz, Saxon, and Demi were hard at work creating housing for families and new dragon and gargoyle buildings. They loved just being able to wave their hand and use magic. It also saved time, meaning buildings could take seconds rather than months.
The school and other buildings would come later.
“These should work well,” Julian commented, looking at the final training obstacle of the first easy section.
“I’m liking the mix of old school and modern,” Kyle said.
He was looking at one of the obstacles, the first one. It was a wooden structure, very old-school looking. You had to get from one side to the other: but there were wooden axes that swung like pendulums, a rope bridge with swinging balls to knock people off, a rope net to climb up, high balance beams that tilted up and down, monkey bars across a fire pit, and a rope swing to the finish.
Once that was completed, they moved onto the next part, where they had to fight their way across the training ground, past shifters and human guards. Once across, trainees entered a house to rescue hostages.
And this whole section was the easy one — the one to break people in gently for what was to come.
Frederick and the two generals walked up to the group.
“This looks interesting,” General Delinga remarked, perusing their work.
“Interesting and wooden,” General Gasgoyne added.
“Has it been tested yet?” Frederick asked, touching a wooden plinth.
“Not yet,” Ares said.
“I’m thinking the seven of us will try this first section. Ares can time us and the winner gets a prize,” Marius challenged, grinning.
“I’m up for it,” General Gasgoyne said. “Who’s going first?”
“Start alphabetically,” Shiloh said grinning.
“So that’ll be me first then,” General Gasgoyne said. “Just this first section here right?”
“Yep,” Ares answered.
“Okay, then.” He took off his weapons and laid them in front of Ares. “Shouldn’t be needing them for the moment. Wish me luck!” And with that, he climbed the steps to the first part: the swinging axe pendulums.
“I’ll start the timer when you take your first step off the platform,” Ares called out.
The general watched the swinging wooden axes for a moment and then jumped onto the first one, moving around so he could jump onto the next one. He did that for all seven of them and made it safely to the rope bridge with the swinging balls.
He heard the others cheering him on.
He carefully navigated the bridge, but misjudged one of the balls. It hit him hard on the shoulder and he fell, but he luckily caught himself on the rope. The general groaned quietly to himself, that ball was hard, but now it looked like the balls were speeding up. He managed to stand and ran full tilt to the next platform, leaping onto it before he fell off the rope.
“I’m impressed he didn’t fall off just then,” General Delinga commented.
Frederick winced. “Those balls look solid.”
“They are,” Ares replied.
They watched the general jump onto the netting and start climbing up, thinking how simple it was. That was until spiders started scurrying down the net.
General Gasgoyne didn’t have a fear of spiders but this many converging on him had him moving faster. He made it to the top and shook himself off, shouting, “Ares, you suck!”
Ares just laughed.
“That’s just nasty,” Frederick commented.
“Least we can be ready for it now,” Shiloh said.
“You really don’t think it’ll be the same for everyone, do you?” Ares asked, grinning evilly before turning back to watch the general on the high balance beams.
“I think I’m scared.” Kyle followed the progress with wide eyes just as the general jumped onto the highest balance beam — which quickly tilted downwards.
The general used the downward momentum to jump, reaching a hand out and gripping the first monkey bar,
“Oh, nice move,” Julian said, alternating between watching and taking notes.
General Gasgoyne had jumped over the rest of the beams, directly to the monkey bars.
“How the hell did he manage that?” Shiloh asked in shock.
“No idea, but I’m so trying that,” Marius said.
As the general swung across the monkey bars, the fire below shot upwards. Only by moving quickly did he not get burned. He jumped onto the platform and ran for the swing rope that would take him to the finish. Finally, he dropped onto the platform and grinned and waved at the others.
He climbed down and walked over to join them. “That was tough.” He looked at Ares. “How long?”
“Four minutes twenty seconds.”
The general flopped down on the ground. “Is that all? It felt like hours.”
“Frederick, I believe you are lucky number two,” Ares said happily.
“Oh good, Freddie. I’m in time to see you have a go,” Battle said, joining them. He had finished training and was walking the pack lands when he saw the group and decided to come over.
Frederick grinned at him.
“You’re having way too much fun, father,” Demi said, also stepping up.
“I really am, and just think this is the baby course, the easy one. Off you go, Frederick. Same as before: the timer will start when you touch the first swinging axe.”
Frederick grinned and walked up to the platform. He took a breath and started.
“Go Freddie, go Freddie!” Battle chanted.
Frederick was enjoying himself. He heard the others cheering for him and was sure he could easily beat the gargoyle general’s time – that is until he started climbing the net and snakes started slithering down the netting towards him. He used his arm to bat them away as he climbed, but the snakes slowed him down. He cursed Ares’s name. He finally made it to the end of the course and swung on the rope to reach the final platform, still cursing the god’s name.
He made it back to the group, panting. “How long?”
“Four minutes twenty seconds, same as the general,” Ares told him. “Mind you, I should add extra time for all the cursing of my name.”
Everyone laughed at that.
Frederick dropped down next to the general, exhausted.
Julian went next, then Kyle. Marius went after him, followed by General Delinga, and then finally Shiloh.
When it was done, the group was sat on the ground congratulating each other.
“So, we have four winners: Generals Gasgoyne and Delinga, Frederick, and Shiloh all at four minutes and twenty seconds. Kyle, Julian, and Marius came second with four minutes twenty-three seconds,” Ares announced.
“I can’t wait to see how we do on the next two obstacles,” Kyle said.
“I think Battle should have a go at this one, seeing as he’s here,” Frederick suggested with raised eyebrows.
Battle shook his head with his hands up, palms out. “I can wait.”
“Tough luck, Battle. You’re up now,” Ares said.
“You have to now, cuz. Ares, God of War has spoken,” Frederick chimed in happily.
Battle shook his head again, despite the smile on his face. “This pack is weird. What kind of pack has actual, real live gods in it?”
“This one,” Frederick replied with a laugh.
“Okay, I’m a brave wolf, I can do this,” Battle capitulated, walking up the steps to the first platform.
“Come on, Batty, you need to best our time … if you can!” Frederick taunted.
Battle shot him the bird over his shoulder and jumped onto the first wooden axe. He made it across all of them plus the rope bridge without stopping.
“I can’t believe he made that look easy,” General Gasgoyne gasped.
They watched him climb the netting, but he kept slipping, which made the others chuckle.
“I might have coated the netting in oil,” Ares explained with a laugh.
“Nice,” Frederick said, high-fiving the god.
Battle finally made it to the top and the first balance beam. Taking a leaf out of the gargoyle general’s moves, he used the downward momentum of the beam to leap onto the monkey bars. Unfortunately, he forgot that his hands were slick with oil and he fell into the fire, which quickly went out.
He heard laughter from the others, the loudest coming from Frederick. “You guys suck!” he shouted as he stood up, wiping his hand on his combat trousers.
He stomped over to the group and glared at Ares. “Oil, really?” he challenged, not at all fazed that he was glaring at a god.
“Whoops,” Ares laughed, and everyone, including Battle, joined in.
“Bad luck, cuz,” Frederick said, clapping him on the back while Battle enjoyed good-natured ribbing from the others.
“That looked like so much fun,” Henry said, popping up.
“It’s hard on the arms,” Kyle griped, massaging his muscles.
Ares looked at Henry. “Do you want a go, Henry?”
Henry looked at the course and nodded. “Please, but you don’t need to time me because I’ve never done anything like this before. I’ve not even climbed a rope net.”
“Just have a go. I can walk beside you on the ground and help if you want,” Julian offered.
“Isn’t that cheating?” Henry asked.
Everyone shook their heads.
“We do that with new recruits,” General Delinga told him.
Henry nodded. “Okay then, yes please.”
“You’ve got this, Henry,” Frederick cheered.
Henry grinned and walked up to the first platform. Now he was nervous.
“You’ll be fine, Henry. Did you watch how we all did it?” Julian asked him from the ground by the platform.
“I did,” Henry replied.
“Then just try and do the same things we did. Well, ignore Battle’s attempt, but just remember what the rest of us did.”
The others laughed and Battle fake grumbled.
Henry nodded. “Okay, here goes.” Henry jumped onto the first wooden axe and, moving round, kept his balance and managed to make it across to the rope bridge.
The cheering from the others helped spur him on. He couldn’t believe he had made it past the first obstacle. Now for the rope bridge.
“Watch the balls and see how they move, then run across the bridge, stopping when you need to,” Julian instructed him.
Henry nodded and did just that. He barely missed being hit by the last ball, but made it across to the next platform.
“Yay, Henry,” he heard them call, and clap him.
He started up the rope net. Who knew climbing it would be so hard? The pesky thing wasn’t stable. The only good thing was that no creatures tried to attack him and the netting wasn’t slippery.
He finally made it to the top and his arms were protesting, but he still had these high beams and monkey bars to go before he got to the rope swing.
Henry stepped onto the first balance beam and wobbled as it tipped downwards. He basically slid onto the next beam and managed the final one, getting to the platform.
This was the platform the soldiers had all skipped when leaping for the monkey bars, but he didn’t.
“You can do this, Henry, just move one hand at a time to the next bar, all the way across,” Julian encouraged him.
Henry grinned at him and leant forward, taking the first bar. This was much harder than the soldiers made it look. Thankfully, the fire below didn’t come near him. As he continued, his hand slipped off the bar and his heart pounded as he thought he was going to fall.
“Swing your arm and grab the bar, Henry! You’re so close to the end, you can do this,” Julian cheered.
Henry did just that and caught the next bar. Two more swings and he was on the penultimate platform. He shook his aching arms out and then ran and jumped for the swing rope. He caught it, but slipped down the rope, palms burning. Thankfully he fell onto the final platform.
He lay stunned on the platform for a moment, tired and sore — but he had done it. He heard the others cheering for him and slowly stood up before walking down the steps of the platform to join the others.
He got hugs from everyone, including Nick, who had shown up when Ares called him. Ares had actually called all the pack to come and watch. It was then Henry realised his pack mates were there watching him and had been cheering him on as well.
“I’m so proud of you, sweetheart,” Nick said, giving him a quick kiss.
“I can’t believe I did it.” He looked at Julian. “Thanks.”
Julian nodded.
“Henry you were amazing that looked like such hard work do your arms hurt I hope you didn’t get rope burn when you slid down the rope,” Tudor said in a rush.
Henry held his red hands out, showing he did, in fact, have rope burns on his hands.
Ares looked at his hands and touched his arm; Henry’s hands healed straight up.
“Thank you, Ares, and thank you for not having creatures on the rope net or making it slippery.”
Ares laughed. “I wouldn’t do that for your first time, that would have been mean.”
“You did it for our first time,” Battle pointed out sullenly.
Ares waved a dismissive hand. “You’re soldiers, enforcers, or sentinels. You’ve done courses like this before, Henry hadn’t.”
“I think this calls for a celebration,” Blake said. “How about a barbecue?