Grimacing, I bent down and slowly, carefully, pulled out a protruding shard from my boot.
“No more sheltered training!” Sir Piers roared over the thunder. “All of you want Combat—no, don’t you dare shake your head at me, Karl! Anybody who says they came here for anything else is a lying coward. You want a black robe, then prove it! I don’t want to see a single one of you stopping unless every bone in your body is broken! If you are waiting in line, you had better be jogging in place, or giving me crunches!”
The class groaned, and I hastily jumped up to begin running in place. This was insanity. I had no idea how I would complete the course two more times.
When I finished climbing the rope, my hands were raw, and my arms were shaking. While the rain felt good on my sweltering skin, it had made the climb especially slippery, and now I had a hefty rope burn to show for the effort.
I made my way over to the next station: the tightrope. The hail was getting bigger, and it felt as though someone were pelting me with tiny rocks. The ground was turning to slush, and my clothes were soaked through.
The rope’s length wasn’t a far distance to cross really, maybe ten feet at most, and no more than a foot or two above the ground. But I wasn’t exactly known for my balance, and now with the rainstorm and my slippery boots, I was especially wary.
“Hurry up,” Jake, one of the two stocky brothers from the prince’s following, growled at me. He shoved me closer, and I swallowed.
Taking a deep breath, I forced myself to take one solid step at a time.
At first everything was fine. I was gingerly making my way across, inching one foot in front of the other slowly. Then the wind picked up and I instantly lost balance. My foot started to slide. I twisted my body awkwardly to accommodate the lost footing.
Somehow, I managed to keep my position on the rope.
I quickly crossed the remaining distance and then hopped to the ground.
The first-years after me charged the rope. As I was walking away I could hear the boy who had shoved me struggling to balance. A second later Jake yelped. Ha.
My glee was short-lived. I had barely taken a step forward when the sound of whipping air alerted me to a danger at my left.
I ducked, only just in time to avoid one of the assisting mage’s magically-steered throwing knives. It was as if someone had read my thoughts. I guiltily made my way to the final station, resolving not to rejoice at any more of my fellow students’ misery.
I picked up a staff and turned to face a swallow-faced manservant. This one looked very thin and wispy, and he clutched his weapon awkwardly. But, like my previous sparring partner, his lack of skill was well-matched for my fatigue.
I made the first move. Feigning a downward swoop and attacking from the left instead, I caught my partner off-guard and managed to place a satisfying hit.
My partner glared at me, no doubt angry at his new bruise, and he lunged at me with vengeance. I hastily put up a defense and deflected his oncoming blows. It was a short three minutes, but it was tiring just the same.
By the time I had started my final sparring session I was at the point of collapse. I was panting so heavily that I was unable to keep my staff level, let alone lead the attack.
As luck would have it, I ended up partnered with the same disgruntled servant as the last two rounds. He had grown confident in my increasingly weak defense, and he seemed determined to take it out once and for all. I had a feeling most of constable’s team was doing the same— seizing the opportunity to take vengeance on all the first-years who had made their lives difficult, even if our only crime was inhabiting the Academy.
“What’s the matter, first-year?” my opponent crooned. He was spinning the staff in his hands as he circled me, looking for an opening.
I refused to respond and focused all of my senses on the pole in his hand.
“Too good for me, are you?” The man lunged left.
My arms shook from the impact and I gritted my teeth. Two more minutes, Ryiah, I promised, two minutes, and then this is all over.
Smack!
My ribcage stung with the sudden impact. I doubled over, cursing my stupidity. I’d stopped paying attention for a second, and the manservant had delivered an especially hard blow to my ribs.
“Don’t know why you first-years bother,” the small man taunted. “It’s the same every year, and yet you still come here thinking you are different.” He positioned himself to strike left again, and I braced myself, too tired to read into the telltale signs that he was feigning the movement.
Wait…
Too late I saw where he intended his staff to land. With all the strength I could muster,I cast out an image of the block I was too slow to carry out. It was the same technique I had been practicing with Ella, but I had never tried it in class.
The loud clap of wood-on-wood resounded in my ears. I gave way to a small sigh of relief. It had worked.