Chapter 11 #2
He picked up the vest he'd put onto the ground.
“These will provide simulated increased resistance, since we can't train you in an actual storm. I will be pairing you up for this exercise, and you’ll continue training until you both can successfully wrestle your opponent into a choke hold. This’ll also help you gain grip strength, something you'll need an abundance of for the sail ropes. The individual lessons today with Instructor Garcien will take around twenty minutes per person. Yes, that means we’ll be out here for ten hours. I hope no one skipped breakfast.
“Take breaks between rounds, I don’t want to see any injuries today.
Those who finish the training early get to take a well-deserved break.
Spend the time how you please until we’re ready to head back.
Those who don't finish in time,” his eyes narrowed.
“Will have to grapple with me tomorrow, after regular training.”
There was a collective groan of indignation from everyone gathered. I participated.
“Don't try to throw a match either, I’ll know,” he warned. “To save you time, I’ll demonstrate two techniques you'll need to learn before we get started. There’re more ways to get someone in a choke hold than these, so use your imaginations.”
I didn't want my imagination inside the same four walls as him. I didn't want it on the same planet.
“I'll need to borrow a volunteer.”
He pointed straight at me.
All the delicious food I'd eaten for breakfast wriggled around brazenly in my stomach.
“Surely someone taller and larger would create a better demonstration for these techniques,” I argued.
Zevrial shook his head. “Not up for debate. We won’t be rucking during the demonstration. We’ll simply be showing the necessary positions and movements required to maneuver an opponent into a choke hold. It’ll be simpler to demonstrate on someone with less mass.”
Glowering at him changed nothing. I was still on the smaller side of all of the trainees, maybe the fifth shortest person present, and I doubted anyone in that lucky bunch would volunteer. I cast a beseeching look toward Sarina, who avoided my gaze.
Traitor.
Zevrial was easily a head taller than me, and fifty pounds or so heavier with pure muscle. He was built like a fighter, whereas I was built like a dancer. This was going to be unpleasant on a lot of different levels. Mainly for my pride, secondarily for my limbs and bones.
At least everyone else had front seats to a good show.
Sheer force of discipline allowed me to move forward until I was standing across from him, eyeing his hands warily.
Some primitive female part of me wanted those hands on me. It made no logical sense, and it was infuriating.
“Our first pose.” He leaned in, grabbing my arm and tugging it toward his chest while we faced opposite directions.
He pulled my hand toward the open gap in his shirt’s neckline.
Skin met skin. From this close, I could make out the barest curving edge of the glyph we shared. “I'll be demonstrating an arm grab.”
His heartbeat thumped under my hand, steady like a metronome. A quick glance to his face revealed nothing. It didn't make him feel any less like a threat. If anything, his ability to conceal his intentions made him more of one.
I tried tugging my arm back but he wrapped his other arm around mine. My breath hitched. His skin was deliciously warm.
Before I could react, he swept around behind me, using the limits of my arm's ability to extend backwards as an anchor to pin me in place while he wrapped his other arm around my neck.
And once again, his front was pressed entirely up against my backside.
Why was there suddenly not enough air?
His heart was racing against my spine. Then again, so was mine.
Wait a second, was his heart beating in time with mine? I tried to focus.
“—And by swinging ‘round behind an opponent, you can leverage their arm to get them into a choke hold.”
Sucking in a quick breath as he released me, I lost my concentration. He gave me a knowing look, and the tiniest grin.
“Our next demonstration will be a double leg takedown.”
Without even giving me a chance to level out my breathing, he rushed me. I darted to the side but he was faster. He grabbed me on either side of my thighs and lifted me off the ground. My eyes widened.
For two wild seconds I was airborne.
Gravity rearranged itself as I went down.
Oh shi—
My back hit the ground with a thud. I grunted on impact, momentarily stunned. Zevrial had managed to swing around behind me as I fell, his arm wedged underneath my head to absorb the shock. It was almost considerate.
Nah.
It was probably to prevent a concussion.
Before I could right myself again, Zevrial's other arm wrapped around my neck. His breath brushed across my ear. He smelled like rain and summer nights.
“You should take better care of yourself, Lisia,” he whispered, stiff stubble scraping against my jaw.
I laid there, too dazed to respond, as he held the pose for a few more taunting seconds before releasing me.
“These are a few ways you can upset the balance of your opponent to get them into disadvantageous positions.” The smug look he gave me stirred up a primal impulse to injure him. To bite. Instead, I gave him a withering look.
I was in more than one disadvantageous position.
Pushing myself back to my feet, I stepped back into the crowd and did my best to melt into the ground.
“Go ahead and organize yourselves roughly by height and weight, and I’ll start pairing you all.
” I hated that his voice brushed against me with the softness of a flower's petal, despite his rugged handling of me a minute ago.
I hated that I was still panting, and that I could still feel the press of him against my backside even though we were no longer touching.
And I really hated that I wanted to feel it again.
Sarina shifted from foot to foot, and I sympathized with some of her nervousness.
While she was easily the tiniest person here, and therefore the most likely to struggle with today's exercise, she had shown tremendous progress over the last few weeks thanks to some additional training we had been doing in the Fitness center.
I wasn't where I needed to be for the physical requirements we had to meet, either.
I'd already swallowed my share of humble pie for the day, but that didn't mean anyone else should have to suffer too.
I gave her a consolatory clap on the shoulder, “You've got this.”
She gave me a flat look, “Don't hold your breath.”
“Sarina.” I would recognize Zevrial’s smooth timbre anywhere. “You'll be doing the training with me today. We have an uneven number of people here, after all.”
She turned wide eyes to me, but I shrugged. “Better you than me.”
“Deserter,” she pouted.
“Just returning the favor.”
She hesitated, slowly making her way toward Zevrial.
I ended up paired with Rosa, who was nearly the same height as me. We both grabbed a heavy sack out of the wheelbarrow.
Putting it on felt like sinking ten inches into the ground. Moving was inhibited with the same sinking resistance I'd felt from trying to walk underwater in Lake Mirae.
“Do me a favor,” I requested as we moved to an unoccupied area. “If you try that crazy tackle move, make sure I don't crack my head open.”
Rosa laughed, a bright happy sound that reminded me of the first blossoms in spring.
We circled one another, looking for openings in the other's defenses.
Rosa thought she saw her chance and lunged, but I dodged. She stumbled, still in range for me though, so I made a grab for her neck. She slipped under me, rushing back a few feet.
It went on like this for us for at least an hour before Rosa managed to drag me into the arm grab maneuver.
Behind us, wrestling partners rested as people wandered back from being called away to their individual lessons.
Before I could manage to get Rosa into a choke hold, it was my turn to switch out. It was a nice respite after sweat-slicked grappling for the last ten years of my life.
Ambling down the path back toward where Instructor Garcien was, my curiosity piqued.
“Ah, Lisia,” she greeted as I arrived. Frowned, she looked me over. “Are you getting enough rest?”
I rubbed at my eyes, well aware of the dark circles under them from many late nights of additional training with Sarina. “Yeah, thanks.”
Her lips pursed, and she held out a strip of fabric, “Please wrap this around your eyes.”
I blinked at her for several seconds, caught off guard. “Um, alright.” I took the cloth and blindfolded myself.
“Wonderful. Now I'm going to be moving you around a bit, tell me if you get too dizzy.” Her weathered hands pressed into my shoulders, walking me for a short distance and then turning me in several circles.
“Remove the blindfold please.”
Blinking, I saw we'd moved off the trail, far enough from it that I could no longer see it no matter which direction I turned. We were in the middle of the bamboo thicket, nothing but us and the quiet crooning of insects.
“Which way is north?” Instructor Garcien asked, taking the fabric from my hands.
There was no moss anywhere in sight. Additionally, she'd chosen a particularly dense area of forest where the canopy of leaves blocked out most of the sunlight.
Her lesson from earlier in the day hadn't given us anything else that could help us navigate.
I moved toward an area where there was some dappled sunlight, to use the shadow tracking technique she'd demonstrated.
“Do not move from your spot,” she said. I halted.
Befuddled, I looked back at her. “Then...how am I supposed to determine which way is north?”
Instructor Garcien gave me a patient smile. “One of the most valuable skills you'll learn in Voyager training is how to reason out the solutions to problems for yourself, without us guiding you to them.”
“Then wouldn't I be able to reason out that the solution is to move into an area where there is enough sunlight to measure shadow lengths?”