Chapter Ten

Training

Thursday morning passed by almost painfully slow. So slow in fact, that I dozed on one of the benches and wasn't disturbed for a half-hour. And even then, it was only because one of the girls had gotten so bored, she started to dust the shelves.
It was right about when I woke up that George came in. He walked to Solom and talked to him about who knows what, then came to where I was sitting.
"So, I've been thinking. Why don't I take you to the meadow and we'll have a round about of me teachin' ya a little about the rouge. Teachin' you how to fight, and what not."
"George, you know I can't. I have to stay her and work." I said, sort of disappointed.
"No, ya don't. I just talked to Solom, and he said things are so slow today that you 'might as well have fun with your young life,' as he put it." He smiled.
I looked surprised, I'm sure, "Really?" I looked at Solom. He nodded and put his finger to his lips to tell me to be quiet. I'm sure he did it because he didn't want a bunch of angry women asking why only I got a day off and they didn't. I nodded my thanks, and followed George up to his room. I wasn't sure why he went that way but I followed him anyway.
"I thought we were going to go to the meadow?" I asked, quite confused at the time.
"We are, but Solom asked me to leave through a different way other then the door. So, lesson one: escaping through a window, or hole in the roof, as it is." He gestured to the ceiling.
I remembered the door thing in the ceiling that Alanna went through when she told him that she was a girl. The memory brought a grin to my face which turned into giggling.
"What is so funny?" He was laughing because I was laughing. "Go on, tell me before I have to force it outta ya."
I stopped giggling and looked at him mischievously. "I was just thinking about what happened the day Alanna told you about herself." The smile was wiped off his face in the blink of an eye and was replaced by a similar look that he wore when Elenni told me the story of him riding his dog, Rocky. I wasn't about to stop the embarrassment just yet; besides, that's what sisters are for, right?
"I also remember that before you knew she was a girl, you didn't mind her seeing how you slept, (nude) but after, you acted just as Jon did when he found out, modest."
His face flushed and he cleared his throat to change the topic. "Now enough of that. You have some learning to do. Find the hole in the ceiling. Remember, a good rogue always finds another way out, just in case things go ill."
"But I can't see it."
"So try something other then sight." He lay down on his bed, using his arms as a pillow.
I looked around. I found a staff in a corner and went to go grab it. By the time it was in my hands, George was already interested in what I was going to do. I took the staff and raised it over my head and poked at the ceiling. After a few jabs, I looked at him and pertly said, "Hey, I'm not using sight; I'm using touch."
"Well, if that's what you're going to do, don't make so much noise. You're only going to have a few minutes or even seconds at times to find a way out. Make your jabs count. And keep it quiet!"
I thought about what he had said. I started to think where the most covenant place would be. A place where it would be pretty accessible.
I looked around. A fairly large book case caught my eye. It had a chair and a table next to it. Perfect.
I walked to the table and stood on the chair. I took the staff and poked at the ceiling above it. Sure enough, there it was, and I could see light beams shot out of the crack I had made.
"Good, now," George said, "how are you going to get out?" He stood up and came to the table.
"Easy," I said, "Watch this." I stepped on to the table and tried to get on top of the bookcase. Once I was on it, I pushed the cover off and emerged onto the fresh air and on the roof. George followed.
"Lesson one: complete." He held his left hand out like he was holding a notebook, and his right had and imaginary quill pen marking a large cheek mark on the invisible note pad. "Next lesson: how to get off of a roof."
Well, I couldn't just jump off because I would have probably have killed my self or at least broken something. I looked around, laying my body on the roof and hanging my head over the edge to see if there was something to climb down.
I was searching for a way down for about five minutes before George finally said, "That's taking to long. If someone was in pursuit of you, they would have had you five minutes ago. Let me show you how to do it." He got up from where he had sat down and dusted off his butt then looked right and left and decided to go right. Yes, he jumped to the next roof top.
"What are you doing? I can't do that!" I said.
"Do it anyway." He paused, then sheepishly smiled, "Unless your afraid. Your not afraid, are you?…Your afraid, aren't you? You are. You're afraid." He accused.
"I am not! I'm not afraid of… of this!" I said defensively.
"Then do it."
"Fine, I will."
"Fine!"

"Fine!" And with that I ran and jumped. It wasn't a very graceful landing, though.
"There, see. You can do it. Now get up. You haven't finished your task."
"What do you mean? I jumped and now I'm hurt and I still have more to do to just finish this part?"
"Hey, I never said this would be easy, so suck it up." Right then I felt like a wimp and knew I had to suck it up and show no pain. He jumped to the next roof. I followed. Fell. Got back up, and kept going.
"So, will we be jumping from roof to roof for ever or will it end?" I asked.
"You have to find something to jump on to. A hay pile or get to a one story roof and jump from there."
I was starting to get filled with adventure. "Fine then," I smiled playfully, "I'll race ya." I shot off of to the next roof. I knew I had caught him off guard, and thus, had a head start. Unfortunately, he was still close behind.
After about five or so buildings, I looked behind me to see where he was; on my tail. But that was a bad move. When I turned around I saw that the roofs suddenly dropped, but I couldn't stop by the time I saw it. I jumped anyway.
I was the luckiest woman today, because I just missed the horse waste and went right into a hay pile. George looked down at me and asked if I was okay. When I moaned, he burst out into hysterics. An angry farmer came to me and started yelling about who knew what in a strange accent interrupted every so often by words of another language. He shooed me out and George met me down. (How he got down, I don't know.)
He was still laughing when I was out and dusting the hay off my cloths. When he recovered, he started to pick hay out of my hair that so happened to be down today. (I still find a few pieces every once and a while.)
"That will do for now, Gwen. Let's go to the meadow now." He started to walk forward a little and then turned to me, "And thanks for the laugh. I'll be sure to tell everyone at the Dove about it, okay." He smiles again.
I gasped, "You wouldn't."
"Oh, yes I would, and I will." I started to chase after him, but he ran. Now that I think about it, we were acting like little children. He would hide behind a cart or some poor unsuspecting old lady and I'd have to get around it to get to him. It was like that all the way to the meadow.
When we finally got to the meadow, both out of breath (me more then him), he said he would teach me how to wrestle.
"But I can't," I didn't want to admit that I couldn't wrestle. "I, uh, I'm wearing a dress and it wouldn't be proper. You understand."
"I've already thought of that." He went to a near by tree and pulled out a small bag with some britches and a tunic in it. "Besides, who would really care? So here, take these and put them on behind a tree or something. And here is a belt to keep your tunic down." He handed me the belt and turned around. He started to take off his vest and I walked behind the tree where he had produced the bag from and started to change.
The tunic itself was plain brown and the britches were a lighter brown. I felt...you guessed it, brown. And I looked like a turd. There was an off-white shirt in the bag but it was to hot to wear it.
When I came out from behind the tree, there stood two men. George was one of them, and the other was Atreyu. When they looked up, a snicker escaped from both of their lips.
"What's so funny, hum?" I questioned. I didn't think there was anything wrong. I knew I put it on right. I wasn't stupid. "Come on guys, tell me. If I did something stupid, tell me."
"There is nothing wrong, persay." George spoke up. "It's just, I have never seen a woman wear britches, and I don't think Atreyu over here has either, have ya buddy?"
"Nope, this is the first time." He said, trying to control his laughter.
This was annoying. "Well, think what you want, but where I come from, most women wear pants and short sleeved shirts all the time." They looked at me quizzically. "They wear britches and a shirt that comes to a little past the belly button."
"That's not right! That's very improper! Where do you come from?" Atreyu asked.
"Far away." I answered. I had already figured I won't give a name...ever. I'll say it's very far away and pirates kidnapped me and took me far from my home. After a year I escaped with some provisions but some other people took me from the cost and knocked me unconscious when I refused to walk whith them anymore. I was left in the meadow for some reason. (Yes, I stole Aly's pirates story, so what) It could happen… and it does.
"And who is your king?" he asked.
"We don't have a king. We have a democracy."
Before he had any time to ask anymore questions, George said, "Well, we need to start, Gwen. Atreyu, you're welcome to join us. I'm going to teach Gwen how to wrestle." We walked away from the trees and to a shallow pit of grass. Atreyu followed and sat down to watch. I felt I would be so embarrassed when he would see me fall or when he figures out that I can't throw a punch.
George first came to me and situated my footing and put my arms in a 'punching mode'. He took my left arm and put in wrist up by my hip and moved my right straightforward, wrist down. Then he alternated my arms, making my left arm twist and my arms were opposite of what they were before. ( yes, I felt like Alanna when she started training with Liam Ironarm)
"That's how your punches should be. Now do it again." I did it. "Now faster." I did it again. He kept me doing it until my arms hurt. Then he made me punch his hands.
"Come on weakling, think of something that pisses you off." The first thing I thought of was a girl at my old school who was always rude and inconsiderate. She hated me and I couldn't figure out why she hated me. All I was thinking about was how she turned most of my friends (who obviously weren't my real friends) against me. Only one friend out of ten backed me up. Luckily for me, she had friends in high places. And the thought of my liar of an ex-boyfriend. You don't even want to know about him. Just know he is a lying son of a—he is the son and heir of a mongrel bitch.
The next thing I thought about was when my real father died when I was nine and no one bothered to tell me that he was going to die until two days after his death. You see, he was a truck driver carrying gasoline and diesel fuel. Something happened on the freeway and the fuel caught fire and he suffered from sever burns before he died. I still consider him a hero though, because he brought the flaming truck away from the busy freeway to save everyone around him instead of bailing out and just saving himself.
It wasn't long after I started thinking of my father that George pulled his hands away and started rubbing them.
"I said 'think of something that pisses you off', not ' go ahead and hit my hands so hard that I wont ever be able to hold a woman again'." I knew he was thinking of Alanna because I was.
"Sorry, but I know a lot of things that make me mad." I looked at my own hands that looked like they were going to bleed.
"Let's teach you how to kick now. Just don't think of whatever you were thinking of before, please."
"I wont." I smiled. We continued until five-ish. I learned how to punch, kick, roll, and dodge punches. Still have to work on that one.
Soon, we all decided that we were hungry. We figured we would all go to Elenni's to eat.
When we got there, we could smell a chicken roasting and I saw a pie on the windowsill. (How old fashioned. Or new fashioned. Or ...uh...ow headache.)
When we walked in, we were greeted by Elenni. "Hello Georgie. (Hehe, 'Georgie') Hello Gwen. Are you feeling okay?"
"No, I hurt all over." I groaned.
"That's okay. I'm sure Mother Cooper has some kind of muscle relaxer." Atreyu said with a smile on his face as he saw Elenni. "Hello mother."
She walked to him and gave him a hug. "Hello Leo, good to see you." (LEO?)
"Leo? I thought your name was Atraiou." I was shocked.
"That's my adopted name for the rogue. My real name is Leo." He said.
I had nothing to say to that. George had explained that Atreyu's (Leo's?) mother had left when he was eight to get away from his abusive alcoholic father. When she left, he too ran away. He ended up in Elenni's care after she found him half dead on the streets. She took care of him, and gave him to her best friend Kuri Taylor. She adopted him and he became best friends to George. After a while, he joined the rogue.
We all had dinner and the men stayed for a while, but I was so tired I almost fell asleep in my food. I just went to my room and slept. ( Did I mention that we got the whole amazon down from the rafters. AKA- the vines hanging down from the rafters. AKA-things that try to kill me. AKA- murders.) I woke in the middle of the night though and started writing, and I'm tired now so, good night.

( In the next chapter, things get dirty, and i'm not talking about Christina Agualra Dirrty.)