Rated T for Violence please read at your own discretion

Tenchu11 - Thank you :) and thank you for reading!

GarenKat Fangirl - Thank you for the review! It means a lot! I have my housemate to thank for helping me write this series! I hope you keep reading!

OceanBourne - Thanks so much for the review! I hope I slightly improved! And please don't feel obligated to review every chapter I write though I do thank you for giving me positive criticism :)


Chapter 3

"Leona, come on, wake up!" She felt a hand shake her roughly, but this only resulted in her groaning. She was tired, surely a few more seconds of sleep wouldn't hurt, but the voice was insistent.

"Leona!" His voice, this time, was more of a hiss. She groaned again and when she opened her eyes she was met with concerned grey ones, framed by golden strands of hair. She stared at him for a moment, wondering who this boy could be.

She blinked. "Theron?" Leona rubbed her eyes, wincing when she came in contact with the left side of her face where a nasty bruise resided. A slow throbbing pain followed which made her grunt.

"Leona." Her bunkmate pulled her out of bed and looked behind him like he was expecting somebody to whip something at his head. "Matron Dido has her stick with her today," he said and that was all the encouragement Leona needed to get up.

Matron Dido was kind, much kinder than any of the instructors, but she was still strict. She had introduced herself as their mother away from home and she was just that. She dressed their wounds, mainly Leona's, put them to bed and got them ready for the day.

She was an older woman, with wrinkles around her face, but she still had the tenacity of any Rakkor warrior. Her silver hair was usually tied into a knot behind her head and her eyes were sharp enough to pierce even the toughest warrior.

As she made her rounds she gently tapped the staff on her hand and surveyed each of the children. It made most of them squirm.

Theron had double-timed making his bed fearful of being lashed again. He had already been beaten by Matron Dido once for trying to take advantage of her kindness. That mistake had earned him four lashes and judging by the welts on his back, her beatings were much, much, harder than Captain Jagen's.

"Get up, trainees! Captain Jagen is waiting and, I'm telling you, he is not a man you want waiting!" She shouted over the creaking beds and groaning children. She kept walking around, her flowing blue robe gently dragging behind her, until she stopped in front of Leona.

She was done making her bed and was now massaging the left side of her face where she had been struck by none other than her instructor.

"How is your face today, Leona?" Matron asked, her eyes glancing only momentarily at Leona before looking back at all the other children around her. She snapped her fingers at one of them and clicked her tongue at another.

"It hurts a little more today." Leona admitted groggily. Matron quickly gripped her chin, with her free hand, and turned her head to inspect the bruise. Leona winced.

The punch had gotten her two things: one, a lesson in paying attention and two, an enormous bruise to the left of her face. And being that it was the first day of training it was both impressive and incredibly embarrassing to have scored the worst injury. She was lucky nothing was broken.

"You'll be fine," Matron concluded, after a thoughtful glance, and then released her face. After, Matron tapped Leona's waist with her staff which made both Leona and Theron straighten considerably. "How's the back, both of you?"

"F-fine!" Theron stammered, the other children snickered and Matron was quick to quiet them with a single look. She then looked at Leona.

"I'm also fine." Leona answered stiffly. She wasn't weak and she wasn't going to do anything to disprove that like whine about every injury she had or was going to have.

Matron eyed her for a moment and then nodded. "Alright then." And then turning to the children she shooed them out of the warm stone barracks and into the cold.

Leona shivered at the howling winds and clutched her arms as she faced the daunting mountain in front of her. She glanced at Theron, who gulped. When he looked over at her his brows were knotted in the center.

I don't think I'm ready today. His look said and all Leona could do was frown. He couldn't just go back; Matron would just beat him again.

"Breakfast after the climb today," Matron stated, though it sounded like she didn't quite approve of the decision. "Captain Jagen also told me that today's climb has a time constraint. Those who do not get to the top within the time constraint will not be receiving breakfast."

Everyone's head snapped back at Matron who had a wide smile on her face when they quietly groaned. "Don't groan at me like that, if you want to complain go to Captain Jagen."

No one uttered a sound after that. Anyone who complained to Captain was likely to be flung off the mountain – or worse. Leona didn't know what could be worse than that but she was sure Jagen was capable of it.

"You have an hour. I do suggest you get going." Matron crossed her arms and watched as they all began to scramble up the mountain. Leona glanced back at Theron, just behind her as she started to jog up the mountain.

Her legs felt slightly stronger after four days but she could still feel the intense burn in them as she grabbed every rock to propel her up. She glanced every so often to check on Theron who seemed to be falling more and more behind.

"Come on." Leona panted, motioning to him.

"I'm trying!" Theron gasped for air, quickly catching up to her. She didn't know how much time she had wasted waiting for her friend but as they got to the top she made sure Theron was behind her.

When they reached the top Astraia quickly pulled her from the edge and sat her down. Leona had only seconds to shoot her friend a tired look as he gasped for air.

"I thought I would have to eat two shares of breakfast today." Astraia smirked, handing her a bowl of soup and a roll of bread. Leona quickly received her bowl and hissed when her hands touched the bottom of it.

"Careful now, you still need your fingers." Astraia looked pointedly at the sides, where she should have been holding in the first place.

"I can't just jump up here, you know." Leona retorted, taking the plate correctly this time. "It takes longer than five seconds to get up here."

Astraia gave Leona a small challenging look. "Record time is twenty minutes. Maybe you can beat it one day."

Sure, if she had the longest legs in the world then it was a possibility, Leona thought as she dug into her food. No sooner than her first bite she noticed the others children who had not made it to the top in time. Leona paused and stared.

She felt her gut twist as she saw the different instructors dumping food off the mountain or eating it themselves. The children, on their knees, looked absolutely exhausted, their eyes hooded and sweat dripping from their hair.

One of the last children to make it was a girl, who looked significantly younger and smaller than Leona. She was seated on the ground, tears rolling down her face.

Her gut wretched as her instructor poured her bowl of soup out in front of her. The disbelief of how they were being treated was still hitting hard. Each time Leona had seen something different Astraia had reassured her that the instructor knew what they were doing, no matter how cruel it seemed.

Leona gripped her bowl tightly, so much that her fingers paled. And as tired as she was, Leona still got up quickly and walked over to the small girl.

"Want it?"

The girl whipped her head up, a clear glare on her flushed face. Leona's eyes widened. "I don't want your sympathy! I don't want your pity!" the girl hissed, slapping her hand away and turning back to her instructor, who was now turned to Leona.

"If you give her your food, she will never learn," he said, not unkindly, though Leona could still detect a warning in his voice. "Go back now, to Astraia. She's waiting for you."

Leona couldn't quite see what she would learn if the little girl starved. She would be more likely to faint than learn anything at all. But she sheepishly retreated anyway, back to Astraia who was, like he said, waiting for her.

"I knew you would do that." Astraia didn't look at her when she sat down next to her instructor. Leona picked at her food, questions buzzing in her mind. "You must learn quickly that right now you cannot afford to help anyone like that. It could harm them more than it could help."

She couldn't see it. If she didn't eat, how was she going to get through training? How was she going to get through her day? She could wait until lunch but if they did something like this again Leona doubted this small girl would make it in time.

Leona looked at Astraia for guidance but her instructor only quieted her and motioned to her food. "Just eat now, drills are promptly after breakfast."

No matter how she looked at it she couldn't see how this could be right. But she didn't argue; instead she did as she was told and finished her meal, listening to the crying girl sniffle. Leona didn't have time to ponder anymore because as she stood to adjust her tunic she saw Captain Jagen striding towards them.

It was as Astraia had told her. Drills were very promptly after breakfast with only a few minutes of briefing to let them digest.

"If you don't remember what day today is, then it will be a surprise for you. For those who do, I pray your instructors have taught you well enough to get you through the first week. If not, you have nine years to train up."

That was all he said before he started to push them through drills. Captain Jagen was hard on them, pushing their reps from fifty to sixty. Jumping jacks, lunges, leg lifts, squats, jumps, and marching drills seemed to last a whole lifetime.

Leona had thrown up in the middle of the drill, the soup she had drank heaving out in chunks and red soupy liquid from her mouth. The acid seared her throat as it came up but once she was finished she had only a second to wipe her mouth and keep going.

The children groaned around her and some of them even retched but none of them threw up, not like her, anyway.

They were permitted a five minute break when they were done but as Leona knelt down for some rest Jagen was already motioning them up and threatening them with beatings if they didn't listen.

The run. Leona absolutely hated everything about the run. How her feet pushed off the ground, how they would thud heavily back down, how cold hair stung her dry papery throat, she hated everything about it but she had to do it.

They ran around the cave twice, which was around twenty miles, Jagen told them, and Leona hated every minute and every inch of the run.

When they were done they were quickly sent back to their instructors. Leona was gasping for air and clawing for water when Astraia walked towards her easily breathing from the run.

One day, Leona told herself. One day she was going to run this as easily as they did and she would be laughing at the recruits. But today was not that day, she said to herself as she gulped down a skin of water.

"You're going to have to use the washroom like crazy in a few hours."

Leona furrowed her brows and burped loudly. Astraia laughed and so did the other children. It felt nice to have something cold and refreshing in her mouth since the last thing that had been in her mouth was her stomach contents.

Astraia led her inside the cave, and when they neared the middle Leona picked up the pace; she knew where their usual spot was. But Astraia stopped her in front of the ring.

"Whoa there, little rebel, where do you think you're going?"

Leona pointed to their fire pit and raised her brow, "Training."

Astraia's grin could have lit fires. But she didn't say much, she only held Leona in front of her and patted her shoulder. "You're in for a surprise, little rebel."

"It's Leona." She quickly corrected and watched as the other children gathered around. Then it suddenly dawned on her that today was sparring day. She had concentrated so much on the other things that she had almost forgotten.

Her shoulders must have tensed because Astraia patted them again. "You've realized, eh?" She chuckled. Leona fidgeted nervously and pressed her lips together as Captain Jagen took to the center of the ring. He clapped twice for attention and instantly everyone in the room gave it to him.

"Most of you seem to know, but some of you seem not to know-" he pointed a look at Leona, who furrowed her brow and frowned. She, at least, realized what today was. At least give her credit for that. "-that today is sparring day. Where I will pair you and somebody else and you will fight in this ring until one of you cannot."

Leona gulped.

That didn't sound great. She remembered the two women sparring the other day and remembered the bloody nose one of them got. Was that enough to make them stop fighting or were they supposed to fight until one of them was knocked unconscious? Both options were rather grim and they both made her flinch. But everyone else seemed to be rather excited and unfazed by Captain Jagen's words.

Jagen continued, "Maybe you will be paired with somebody stronger than you, bigger than you, faster than you, or perhaps smaller than you. The point to all of this is so that you will be trained to be able to win against any kind of opponent in front of you. Understand?"

"Yes, sir!" Leona shouted confidently but as she looked around her confidence quickly waned. She was probably considered one of the smaller children, most of them seemed bigger, if not taller than she was.

Astraia had always told her that her size and speed were advantages in a fight. But if they were as fast as she was, it wouldn't leave her with many options.

"First up!" Leona's ears perked up, her eyes shifting and her fingers fidgeting nervously, hoping her name would not be called. And when it wasn't, she breathed a sigh of relief. The first pair in the ring was two boys, evenly matched in size and height. The fight was a rather fast one as the two lobbed punches at each other until one couldn't get up again.

The second fight was the same but much slower, with more hesitance, and Captain Jagen had to threaten them to move along before he 'beat their asses'.

Leona's parents had told her the word 'asses' meant donkeys so the sentence didn't make much sense to her. They hadn't brought any of their asses with them.

When the third match rolled along Leona was sure she wasn't going to be chosen. Maybe Captain Jagen had let her off the hook for once and stopped picking on her for the day.

"Rebel-"

"It's Leona." She retorted for the umpteenth time to Astraia, but when she looked up at her instructor she became conscious of how deep the voice was. When she looked back at the ring, Jagen was looking at her with a look that held little amusement.

"- and the elder's favourite." He continued as if he hadn't been interrupted in the first place. Astraia quickly pushed her into the ring and when she entered, the boy was already standing there.

"Take too long and I'll beat both of you. We have a long line to go through today, don't waste my time." Jagen grunted, clearly referencing the fight from before which had taken much more than three minutes. After a pause Jagen pulled Leona and the boy closer together.

The boy was the one the village elder had been praising the other day. And even up close there was nothing pronounced about him. He stood just half a head taller than Leona. Brown hair and brown eyes to match, and a slightly split lip from training.

"My two favourite trainees," Jagen's tone was dry, indicating that they were probably anything but his favourite. "The elder favourite and the Rebel." he said, placing more emphasis on her dumb nickname.

"The match-"

Leona felt her gut knot and her heart heavily thud in her chest. Her breathing picked up so much that she wanted to choke when she saw the boy's gripped fists.

"-begins…"

She looked at him and saw his intense eyes glaring into hers. She evened her eyes and felt her jaw tighten. She had fought before, so there was no reason why this fight wouldn't be like the others. The only difference was that she had learned a few new moves to try. She would win; well, she hoped so anyway.

"…now!"


Author's Note

Thank you for reading! I hope this Chapter was worth the wait! I'd love to know what you think!

xxSC