Chapter 40: By The Flames
Reynold just sat at the far end of the stone bleachers as he was trying to avoid the other cadets around him and especially Kael the rich kid. He brought down his eyes as he kept them fixed on the ground, and avoiding stern look kael was throwing him across the arena.
Not like Reynold was trying to hide or scared of Kael but he was trying to stay calm, especially after the incident that happened at the Pits.
The last time they had sparred, Kael made sure he stabbed Reynold with a small blade, who knows what else he would do today.
Dammit! Reynold clenched his hand tightly. He don’t know if he can actually keep his cool when Kael starts spitting nonsense.
"Listen up!" The professor’s voice suddenly cut through Reynold’s thought. She was standing in the center of the yard, with her hand behind her back. "Today is my final session with you on basic infantry sparring. Now that you all have been bonded to your dragons, you might start feeling the link anytime soon." She paused as her eyes scanned the entire yard. " Acter your monthly examinations, you all will start taking more advanced classes. You will learn to fly your dragons, to dive at six hundred knots, and to kill and fight from the sky."
A sound of excitement sounded in the yard, but it was quickly cut short.
"The monthly examination may start in the next forty-eight hours," The professor added.
Instead of excitement, the courtyard erupted in to panic. The first actual ranking of the first year cadets will be updated after the exam.
"Forty-eight hours? We have not even finished the manual on aerial maneuvers!" someone shouted.
"War does not give you a syllabus," The professor snapped. "NOw, back to the business of the day, we are not using the open circle today but the thicket." She pointed toward the western edge of the grounds. It was a different open field that was filled with wooden poles that was standing tall in the open field. The wooden pool as also more like a chunky like tree trunks.
It was like those maze built to hide your enemies and trip you up if you were not careful where you stepped.
"Find your partners," The professor commanded. Her eyes drifted toward Kael before it shifted to another student. "And I will be clear. The next person to draw real blade in my class and use them on their partner will not just be expelled but I will make sure i feed them to my dragon myself. Am I understood, Cadet Kael?"
Kael did not say anything but he just let out a mocking chuckle as his fingers traced the body of his wooden practice blade.
"Very well understood, Professor."
"Good!" The professor then shifted her eyes to her list. "Cadet Elias! Cadet Seraphina! Take the Thicket!"
The two students stepped into the maze of the poles.
"Begin!"
The professor blow the whistle making cadet Elias and Cadet Seraphina to take their stand.
"May the best win.." Elias chuckled as he rushed and hide behind one of the the maze instantly with his boots hitting the ground.
Seraphina gripped her practice blade, it was a bit heavy for her but she held it tightly. If she was a Magic user, sensing him would have been much easier so she had to rely on the vibration of the poles and the shifts as most fighters do.
Just then, a wooden blade whistled toward her ribs from the left side. Seraphina was quick to spun with her own sword as it met Elias with a bone-jarring sound. The clashing sound traveled up her arms.
Elias did not retreat instead he used his advantage size by leaning into the bind to pin Seraphina against a vertical beam.
"Too slow, Sera!" Elias barked as he grabbed a pole to hold himself up and then he swung his body back and forth like a bell and hit Seraphina with a powerful kick from his heavy leather boot.
Seraphina dropped to her knees as she bend and her boot skidded on the floor. She lost her balance and fell.
She groaned and used pushed herself upwards and leaped to catch a high crossbar and she used it as a support and drover her sword into the base of the pole Elias was reaching form. The wood made a sound and shifted.
The short instability caught Elias off guard as he dropped from above, aiming a crushing overhead strike, giving Seraphina the time to stepped inside his reach like the most dangerous place to be. She caught his sword arm at the wrist, using his own downward to redirect him.
Seraphina let out a roar as she shoved him into the poles. Before he could recover, she had the blunt tip of her wooden blade pressed firmly into his neck.
"I... submit," Elias groan in frustration as he raised his hand slightly.
"Yes Sera.." Some of the cadets clapped, making Seraphina to smile..
"Nice one Seraphina! Next, Jax and Mara! Clear the Thicket!"
Before the professor could even finishing calling out the names, they dived into the maze without a word, just the sound of their boots hitting the brush.
Reynold’s express was still blank. He was trying to come up with a lie so he can skip this fight but nothing.
Jax was very fast and he was moving like a snake between the poles. Mara was bigger than him and she also look strong. She was holding her wooden sword tightly before she let out a chuckle and then hit a pole with her sword.
Jax jumped out from behind the pole Mara hit.
He tried to hit Mara’s shoulder with his sword but Mara did not move away, instead she stepped forward and grabbed Jax’s arm with her hand, then, she slammed his body against a wooden beam.
THUD.
It was a loud and painful sound and Jax let out a low sound of pain.
Jax was not giving up yet. He used his feet to push hard against the beam he flew backward and hid in the back again.
He held his sword tight as he steady his breath before he ran at Mara again. He hit her many times, at her head, then her stomach, then head again but Mara blocked the three hits.
"Bullshit." Jax gritted his teeth and then hit Mara on her leg.
Mara felt the pain this time around as her leg bent for a second. But she did not give up either. She put all her weight on her leg and turned her body fast. And she swung her big sword in a wide circle.
CRACK!
It sounded like a tree breaking. Mara’s big sword hit Jax’s small sword. Jax’s sword snapped in two pieces and they flew to the ground.
Mara did not stop but she used her big boot to step on Jax’s foot so he could not move. She put her own broken wood sword against his neck. She was breathing hard and sweat fell from her face onto Jax’s chest.
"Give up," she said.
Jax looked at his broken sword on the ground and then looked up at her and smiled. There was blood on his teeth.
"I yield" Jax said. "But you have to treat me to dinner later.."
Mara let out a scoffed. "My pleasure.."
"Excellent," The professor said. "Next up. Reynold and—"
She suddenly stopped as she held her chest. The air in the courtyard changed as if the pressure in the air had suddenly tripled.
Reynold also felt the stabbing heat in his heart and he tried to take a breath, but it felt like he was inhaling molten lead.
"Professor?" Reynold managed to choke out.
The professor did not answer. Her hand was on her throat and her face was turning to a shade of purple. She tried to take a step but her knees failed her and she hit the ground.
Something was definitely not right. Reynold shifted his eyes away from the professor and then to other students to see them also falling.
In his left, Seraphina fell to her hands and knees and blood was coming out from her mouth and spilling to the ground. The boy next to her also collapsed while holding his chest as if his heart were trying to tear their way out of his ribs.
"What... is..." Reynold tried to speak, but his body vibrated like it was trying to reject something.
"NO! NO!"
Reynold fell and his as he cough. He looked down at his hands to see that they were covered in dark blood he had just coughed out blood.
Everyone around him was now screaming, follow by the sound of their bodies hitting the ground.
Dammit! The sight was of them vomiting blood and falling in unison was freaking terrifying.
Reynold gripped his chest, his fingers digging into his shirt as his body kept vibrating.
Right now, the field was filled with cadets and the Professor switching and their bodies rejecting their own life force.
The only sound was now the sound of gagging and the beating of hearts.
"No! I have to... get help" Reynold’s mind screamed through the pain. His eyes were trying to betray him but it kept fighting it.
"By the flames, I Will not die today." Reynold murmured again as he tried to stand, but his legs were weak. He collapsed to the ground.
"By the flames. Not today.." He spat, seeing the dark blood puddle expand beneath his face.
"By the flames! I will not die today.." He murmured again as he dug his fingernails into the ground. And with a growl sound, he dragged his body forward.
"By the flames! I will not die today.." He murmured again as he pushed himself, with his knee dragging on the rough ground.
He was crawling and a trail of blood was marking his path as he crawl.
"By the... flames...I... will... not die today." he wheezed, the words bubbling through the pain in his throat. "Not today..."
𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚
His vision started to blur and the world. He pushed off with one hand, his muscles screaming in pain and his lungs feeling like they were filled with boiling oil. He pushed himself again. His pale face were now filled with a mixture of cold sweat and blood.
He dragged himself into the open walkway, where the sunlight hit his eyes and he could now hear the sound of walking boots..
"Is that... the Starweaver boy?" A voice sounded..
"Gods, look at him!"
"What happened? Why is he covered in.."
Reynold looked up, his eyes to see a crowd of students gathering and their faces were filled with confusion. He tried to speak, but only a gurgle came out. With the last of his strength, he lifted his shaking and blood stained hand, pointing back toward the practice field.
"Save... them..." he murmured, the sound barely high. "Help..."
His arm lost their strength and they collapsed. His eyes flickered once, twice and then rolled back before his body went limp, his forehead hitting the cold ground as the world went black.
Author’s note
Hi Wyrmwood Readers! Just a head up, they might be the same gender relationship and other stuff between supporting characters starting from the next Chapter.
Thanks for giving my story a chance. I do appreciate.