Chapter 10
Chapter ten
The Fall
Dappled sunlight plays across my closed eyelids, calling me from a dreamless sleep. I’m in my bedroll, its warmth a welcome refuge from the chilly morning air. As I sit up and stretch, I catch Dom glaring at me.
“Good morning to you, too.” I yawn.
Dom rolls his eyes and leans close. “You were supposed to take watch with Caius last night!”
“I did.” I rub the sleep from my eyes and try to focus my mind. I remember sitting silently by Caius for hours last night until…until I fell asleep. I groan, scrubbing a palm over my face. “Caius, you bastard,” I mutter.
“I prefer, cunning rake, or if you want to keep it formal, Captain.” Caius reappears with a trio of inconnu fish hanging from a line in his hand, each the length of his forearm, silver scales glinting in the early light.
“Caius, you were supposed to wake me!”
Without looking up from his work, Caius spears the fish with a sharpened stick, then stokes the fire. “You didn’t tell me you sleep like the dead. I tried to wake you, but when you wouldn’t so much as stir, I thought it best to stick you in your bed and let you sleep.”
Worry creases Dom’s brow. “Why didn’t you just let me take first shift?”
I roll my eyes. “Yes, because you and Caius get along so well. I didn’t want to wake up and find you dead.”
Dom stares at me.
“Just kidding, I know he wouldn’t kill you…I don’t think he would.” I glance over to Caius who is propping his catch up on a spit over the fire.
Caius looks up at me and grins. “No promises.”
“Caius!”
“Yes, brother dearest.” Cressida finally sits up, her bedroll still clutched tight around her pale face.
“Please behave. If I end up alone with you on this journey, I just might kill you myself. Besides, I think this one is interesting.” She looks at Dom with a hunger in her eyes that makes me shift uncomfortably between them.
Caius appears to be even less amused. The smirk falls from his face. “Fine. Get cleaned up and dressed. We break camp in twenty.” Captain Amarala is back to issuing orders, and I’m surprised at the disappointment that settles in my gut.
***
“Here,” Caius grabs my fist and places it in front of my face. “Protect your face. Again,” he barks the order to practice the blocks he instructed us in after breakfast.
“Before you learn to fight, you will learn to defend.” This time, he grabs my forearm and moves it up above my head. Cressida groans, and Caius whips around so fast his movements blur in my periphery.
“Do you have something to say?” he growls.
“This is boring, Caius. Can’t you teach us something useful?” Cressida whines.
A predatory grin spreads over Caius’ face. “It’s boring, is it?”
Caius moves so fast that Cressida doesn’t even have a chance to throw up one of the sloppy age-uke blocks she has been half-heartedly practicing.
Caius halts his fist just before her nose.
Again, he is a blur of speed as he halts each blow before he pummels his sister’s ribs.
This time, she tries a soto-uke, but fails.
Finally, Caius whips around behind her and wraps his arm around her neck.
I can tell from her stance that there is no pressure behind his grip, and Cressida looks more annoyed than frightened.
“You want to learn something useful?” Caius growls. “Break out of my hold.”
Cressida’s eyes flash with anger, and she claws at the leather bracer on Caius’ forearm. She thrashes and throws her bodyweight around, but Caius only tightens his hold on her.
Once exhaustion slows her movements, Caius asks, “Are you finished?”
“Are you going to teach me or just gloat?” Cressida snaps.
“If an opponent grabs you from behind, there are three things I want you to remember. First, stomp your boot down his shin into his instep. This should take him by surprise and loosen his grip. Next, if you can, double forward and slam your skull into his nose.”
Cressida hunches forward and slams her head back into Caius’ sternum.
Caius chuckles. “I said if you can.”
Cressida’s cheeks turn red, and her expression sours.
“Finally, draw your elbow forward and ram it behind you as hard as you can into the solar plexus.”
“You said three things. What are we supposed to do next?” Cressida challenges.
“Run like hell,” Caius’ voice drops low. “Now, show me.”
Cressida is a quick learner, moving through the motions Caius described with surprising accuracy. Though I can tell he’s going easy on her when he lets her break free and run into the brush with a manic laugh.
When I look back at Caius, I see a glimpse of a true smile that fades as soon as he catches me watching.
“Your turn,” Caius says.
“Yeah, Ollie,” Dom pulls me into a headlock and ruffles my hair. “Show me how you’d escape the big bad captain.” He says the last part just loud enough for me to hear, but the way Caius glares at him makes me think Dom wasn’t as quiet as I thought.
Caius storms over to us, the hard set of his jaw enough to kill the laughter in my throat. Dom releases me, squaring up with the captain.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you had joined the guard. If you know how, please instruct her.” Caius extends an arm in my direction.
“It will be more efficient if we all practice at the same time,” Dom counters.
“It will be more efficient if I don’t have to correct sloppy technique from poor instruction. If you’re finished, practice your stances.” Caius glares at Dom. Dom’s gaze shifts to me, an apology in the look. Then he relents, dropping into a fighting stance to cycle through his blocks.
Caius watches and appears to be satisfied with Dom’s performance.
“You better be practicing,” he calls out into the woods after Cressida.
“Make me,” Cressida’s voice drifts down from the canopy above, and I choke down a laugh.
I’m slammed back against hard planes. Caius’ thick forearm presses against my sternum as he whispers in my ear. “It will not be so funny when it is a feral beast that has you in its grip.”
His breath skates across my skin, raising the hairs on the back of my neck. My pulse races, and I hope I can muster enough anger in my voice to cover the treacherous pounding of my heart.
“I’m not certain I’m not already in the clutches of one,” I spit back at him.
Caius growls. “Then you’d better break free before I devour you.”
Heat spreads across my cheeks. I hate the way my body reacts to him.
I channel my anger into my movements, stomping down hard on his boot.
While I’m taller than Cressida, I’m still too short to smash my skull into Caius’ smug face, so I pull my arm forward and drive back with my elbow.
Caius grunts, and his grip slackens. I pry his hand away from my waist, grip his wrist, and pull him forward as I turn to ram my knee into his groin.
Caius catches my knee before I can land the blow.
Lifting me, he drives forward and pins me against a tree trunk.
Rough bark presses into the thin fabric of my tunic as I try to squirm away.
I shift to slamming my fists against Caius’ chest. With one hand, he grasps both of my wrists above my head, the other grips my hip, with his thigh pressed between mine, pinning me between him and the tree. He drops his face close to mine.
“I said, run.” His prasiolite eyes turn dark, anger flashing in their depths.
“Isn’t it better to fell my opponent?”
“But you didn’t, and now look where you are.”
I sigh, relaxing in his grip. He’s right. If he had actually meant to harm me, I would have missed my one opportunity to get away.
“Fine, Caius, you win—”
“I don’t want to win. I want you to listen—”
“That’s enough, Caius.” Dom grips Caius by the shoulder.
Caius releases my wrists and shoves Dom away. His grip loosens on my waist, but before he frees me, he whispers. “I promised to keep you safe. You will not put yourself in danger, understood?”
I swallow hard and nod. Satisfied with my response, Caius stalks away. My head spins, and I lean back against the trunk to catch my breath. What in the hells was that?
Dom grasps my shoulders gently. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine.” I offer a weak smile that does little to ease the tension.
“Let’s move out. We’ve already wasted too much time,” Caius shouts.
Cressida slides down from an overhead branch to help pack up the rest of camp. No one speaks again until our packs are secured, and we are moving.
“You will do one of two things while we are traveling today,” Caius announces.
“You will observe your surroundings, the sounds, the animals, the tracks, everything. You will pay attention because paying attention will keep you alive. If you must think of something, you will mentally rehearse your sequences from this morning. Training is just as much about the mind as it is about the body. Think through each movement with perfection. If you cannot follow this gentle method of training, I will lay you out like I did yesterday. Either way, you will learn. Understood?”
A trio of grumbles is the only response our party is willing to give. It’s evident that Captain Amarala isn’t used to such blatant disrespect, though he simply clenches his jaw and leads the way out of camp.
One day slips into the next, and our routine never varies.
Breakfast, break camp, train, walk…and walk and walk and walk.
The steps slip by endlessly. The forest stretches on forever.
I never imagined a world so expansive, as endless as the sky and stars and moons above.
A world that goes on in every direction.
The Below isn’t like this. There are walls, boundaries to everything.
Tunnels and caverns and stone dictate where you can go.
Cave-ins and mudslides make our world smaller.
In The Below the edges press in, the darkness waits to devour you whole.