Chapter 7- Training? You could call it that.
'We're going to start training now aren't we?' Belle itched excitedly. Art had called her down among the hammocks that some of the group preferred to sleep in. She felt small as she stood in front on him and his towering height was further emphasised by the fact that he had to bend so that he didn't touch the ceiling.
'Yes. We have precisely three days until we reach our destination or so I'm told, so we have to get you into shape by then. Or at least in a position to defend yourself.' The Weapons Master explained uncrossing his arms.
'So where do we start? With some weapon training or combat training or…' She gushed as she knew that was her weakest point and it was all rather exciting.
'Not exactly,' He grinned reaching behind him and brought out a wooden brush with thick brown bristles and a bucket. 'Come with me.' He gestured and Belle followed him above deck. She watched as he filled the bucket and then hunching over like an ape he ran back and forth, scrubbing the deck.
'You know that Salt cleaned a lot of this deck already. I don't think it needs another scrub.' She didn't see where this was going at all. There were no swords, twin blades, not even a dagger and she only had three days!
'Copy that movement exactly,' Art ordered ignoring her previous comment. 'Do the entire thing and come back to me when you're finished.' He explained before leaving her. Rabbit looked down at her from the helm with a knowing smile.
'What's this all about? What happened to training?' She called up to him shading her squinting eyes in the sun to see him properly.
'Sorry Leola I'm afraid Art never reveals his secrets. I'll have fun watching though.' Rabbit tinkered and he fixed the helm like they'd done to the other boat they arrived in so he could watch. Belle sighed but picked up the brush, soaked it in the bucket and taking up Art's stance tried to scrub the deck. She had only gone a few inches when the thick bristles resisted against the wood and she grounded to a halt; her knees scuffing on the wood. She pushed with all her strength and slowly but surely the brush moved but her muscles ached with the effort. Belle gritted her teeth and panted when she reached the other side.
'One down and oh I'd say at least twenty more to go?' Rabbit sung from his position above her.
'I appreciate your support thanks Rabbit.' She tutted sarcastically as she braced herself for another go. She'd half hoped that it would get gradually easier but she had no such luck.
Belle could hardly lift her arms when she'd finished and let them flop uselessly at her side. She straightened her aching back and groaned knowing that it would continue again tomorrow. Art was sleeping in his hammock when she found him. Typical. All that work and the man was catching forty winks. She tapped his arm that could hardly be called an arm as they felt as hard as rocks.
'Uh, Miss Leola?' A voice whispered from behind her. Belle turned to see Pepper scratching his arm awkwardly.
'What can I do for you Pepper?' She smiled warmly. Pepper still wasn't feeling right after Salt's stint with the alcohol. His speckled blonde hair was flat against his forehead and his face was still a sickly shade of white.
'I've got a message for you, from Art.' He began with a nodding gesture to the sleeping giant of a rogue.
'Pepper, he's right here surely he could just tell me himself?' She asked with a light laugh as she raised an eyebrow.
'He said you would say that...uh he also told me that he doesn't want to be disturbed. He always has this power nap before his early morning workout.' He tried to explain as if this was normal.
'He couldn't stay awake to tell me?' She scoffed, it wasn't as if he had done any hard work and she hadn't been that long had she?
'Apparently not. He said when you're done, you're to wring out his washing?' The young boy said hoping it made sense to her.
'W-What I got to wring out his washing? What has this got to do with training? Anyway I thought I was done for today…Did you have to do this kind of thing as well?' She asked wishful that it wasn't just her going through this odd routine.
'No, I had to crawl around in the sewers with me hands tied.' Pepper shrugged but with a reflective shudder. Suddenly Belle was glad that she only had to scrub the decks; it could have been much worse.
Underneath Art's hammock she found a basket of soaking wet clothes that were considerably more heavy when wet. She half carried half dragged the basket up the wooden steps and after asking Hawke to cover her shift in the nest she got to work, hanging the clothes on the rigging to dry afterwards. How she did it she didn't know but she wasn't going to give up either. She was a lioness after all and she would finish this if it was the last thing she would ever do.
Jefferson came out of his cabin for some much needed fresh air. He had been trying to formulate a plan for the palace defenses all day and now he was feeling weary and tired. He had heard that Leola had started her training and he hoped she was doing okay. He found his answer when he found her sleeping over a basket.
'What has Art done to you eh?' He whispered with a chuckle even though he knew she couldn't hear him. He looked around and saw that Rabbit had tied the helm for their course and everyone else had gone to sleep. 'Come on you.' He said bending down to pick her up. She flopped uselessly in his arms before clutching like a koala around his shoulders with a moan. Not wanting to wake up Hawke he carried her to his cabin and wrapped her in his blankets, before sitting down to look back over the maps once again.
'Are you ready for day two?' Belle opened her eyes to find Art looking down at her. She groaned as she wiped the sleepy crusts from her tired eyes and pulled the blankets over herself more tightly. Then her eyebrows furrowed... Why was she in Jefferson's cabin?
'I don't think I can get up.' She croaked, any movement that she made was painful.
'Nonsense!' Art gruffed lifting her out of the bed. 'Two laps around the ship and you'll feel as right as rain.' He grinned down at her with perfect array of teeth. She couldn't possibly be this cheery at this hour and with every bone creaking. Like her own knight in shining armour Hawke interrupted with a crust of bread that had nearly gone stale but was smothered with honey.
'She has to have breakfast first Art.' Hawke chirped to Art with a small nudge. The tough trainer eventually gave in and popped Belle back down onto the bed.
'I want you with me in ten minutes.' He finished with a pointed finger before leaving the room. Belle thanked Hawke profusely and they chatted lightly for a couple of minutes over the quick breakfast. The honey had softened the bread and it tasted better than she thought. She rushed for a quick freshen up before she went to see Art. Not going back on his word, he made her lap the ship three times instead of two he threatened her with. When she had finished Art was ready to begin some martial techniques.
'Brilliant some combat training!' Belle lightened. She was mistaken however; they never even touched each other. The exercise was purely movement. Learning how to hold the body and the basic technique stances of combat. No punches or kicks were involved. After several hours of that Art finally finished by instructing where and how to land a good kick and a punch.
'The nose is always a great way to stun your enemy, if it's a lad you're facing then aim a little lower.' He continued to talk and walk her through with slow motion tutorials which she dutifully followed. When he finally excused her for the day she felt refreshed and she wandered off in search for Jefferson before she climbed the rigging for her shift in the crows nest. She found him back in his quarters but this time it was his turn to sleep and she found him hanging over the side of the bed with his mouth open. She stifled a giggle when she heard him snore and left before she woke him up.
During her time in the nest she watched as Dragon appeared and she was surprised to find him slip easily through martial stances some of which she now recognised. Dragon however, finished with a two handed flurry of attacks; different than what she had seen before. She leaned over the wooden barrier and watched him with pure awe.
'I'll show you if you like.' He said not looking up. Everything about Dragon was refined, experienced and to an extent elegant. To learn something from him was too big an opportunity to pass up and she could even impress everyone else with her new found skill. Belle smiled at him in anser and climbed down nimbly to his side.
'Where did you learn something like that?' She inquired eager to learn more about his colourful past. Mulan had the same air of mystery and intrigue.
'Actually that one I created myself. I don't use it that often, only when it is truly needed. Would you like to learn?' He asked his formal manner had a hint of warmth and oddly some mischief as well. For what reason she didn't know but it hardly mattered.
'I would be honoured.' Belle replied with a confident nod.
Belle bit her lip as she surveyed the damage. Her third lesson with Art hadn't exactly gone well and splinters were now jutting out all over the deck.
'You're doing better than you think.' Art smiled at her not even breaking a sweat. Belle disagreed. The two jagged daggers had felt odd in her hands and it seemed to take forever to learn just how to hold them properly.
'I doubt that.' She moaned and let the daggers swing at her side. The whole team had come out to watch and the shouts of support had too quickly for Belle's liking, turned to silence. What she didn't know was that they had been putting secret bets on during the three days of training. Salt tried to impress Hawke by putting nearly all of his saved coin on newbie Leola to successfully defend herself in five moves. Now watching her depressive progress he highly doubted he would get his money back.
'Oh, I think you've learnt everything you need to know but you haven't the confidence to show me.' Art teased. 'Never have one of my students failed.'
'We've only had three days and you could hardly call that training. Is that all you need to be of any use?' She questioned. She couldn't believe that Art's 'students' could become good with weapons after only three days.
'Let's have a look shall we?' He said rolling his shoulders back with a click. Belle was wondering what he meant when suddenly he ran at her; blades twisting in complicated arcs deftly through his hands. Belle jumped into the stance she had been taught and waited for the attack. 'Good stance,' he shouted between roars. She held up the daggers to stop his from slicing her throat. His strength was overwhelming but he bounced back and came at her with another offense.
Salt urged her on from the side-lines counting the first block toward his total and he winked at Hawke a little more hopeful of his bet. Dragon stood behind them silently confident but his neutral expression gave nothing away. Meanwhile Belle had blocked another of Art's attacks but was quickly shadowed when Art slipped through her under practiced defenses and nicked her arm playfully.
'Focus, think about what I taught you. The scrubbing should have built up plenty of muscle to defend these attacks.' Art hollered at her.
'I'm trying!' She countered the sting of the cut on her arm distracting her. Art came at her again and she blocked two attacks in succession which she was awarded with a laugh from Art and the crew watching on. She saw that Art was dipping slightly as he came toward her again which made her quick to defend the lower part of her body. When she successfully defended his attack to her leg he looked impressed.
'Not bad for a rookie with three days training!' She heard Jefferson call out. Salt ruffled Pepper's hair in excitement as Belle defended her fourth move and as Art came in for a final attack he almost jumped for joy as he saw the concentration on her face.
'Leola is going to make me the richest man on this sodden boat.' He whispered greedily to himself. That was when she went for it. Belle hoped that Dragon was watching and wanted to make him proud as Art flung himself toward her. She opted for a new stance which Art stopped for a moment confused before carrying on. He used all his skill to rain a two flurried attack on her and she defended with the combined move that Dragon had shown her the previous night. She used the move in three consecutive goes making her total of defended moves a rounded ten. Art lowered his weapons open mouthed and Belle looked back for Dragon's approval. He nodded with a gradual wide smile appearing over his face. Salt ran across the deck and lifted Belle screaming with delight.
'You Leola have just made me a very happy man!' He whooped. 'Jefferson my winnings please.' He strutted putting her back down.
'Winnings? You guys bet on me?' Belle asked outraged but softened with the adrenaline of her win. Art patted her on the back and whispered a congratulations and asked her where she got that move from when Jefferson's laugh filled the ship.
'Sorry Salt but your bet doesn't stand.' He guffawed and Salt shouted in protest. 'It seems you were outbid on the number of moves Leola was going to defend.'
'I was the highest with five! Don't you kid me boss!' He replied moving toward him with determined purpose.
'Well Dragon here came to me this morning with a bet of ten. It looks like he gets the winnings…' Jefferson shrugged and winked at the losing man.
'Dragon! You pesky devil!' Art chuckled. 'One of your specialist moves is it?' He asked and Dragon managed a grin as the purse filled with coin was passed into his hand. Art turned to face Belle. 'You performed it pretty well kiddo.' He said and Belle found it strange to be called a kid but she supposed she was in comparison to him. The crew all left to grab a drink leaving a distraught Salt whimper on deck.
