The Rise Of The Morningstar (Eng. Version)

Chapter 29 - Training

Chapter 29 – Training

The next few days passed quietly, even if they weren't really pleasant. After Maryse was sure that I was fine after my collapse in the training hall, we were finally able to start training. It had been an explicit request from the Inquisitor, which I didn't really like to comply with. I didn't want to show them my skills and talents. More than once I'd thought about fighting worse on purpose, thus hiding my skill from their greedy eyes. But that wasn't my style. A Morgenstern shouldn't degrade herself like that.

It turned out that Kadir Safar was our coach. He was the capricious of the two Safar brothers. Just the idea of being in the same room with him had made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up before the first training session. Not because I was afraid of him, but because I always expected a knife in my back. We had rubbed up the wrong way more than once in our last encounters and he had made it clear to me what he thought of me.

But it turned out I needn't have worried. Surprisingly, Kadir turned out to be a very patient man who didn't show any kind of emotion – negative or positive. Even if I was a bit suspicious at first, he must have received orders from above to treat me properly. And he did. Unlike the last time we met, he didn't utter a spiteful remark. In fact, he rarely spoke.

The first week of training had consisted of undergoing various tests. Sword fighting, knife throwing, even foreign languages. Kadir had wanted an overview of my abilities versus Jace and Adam to work with. It hadn't been as bad as I had imagined.

What had been awkward instead was the situation between me and Adam. After our argument we hadn't exchanged a word with each other. Our first encounter had been in the training room. However, we didn't have time to talk. But even if we had been alone, I would have made no move to make peace with him again. The anger in my stomach hadn't subsided after my mother's funeral. Every time I looked at him, I saw his beseeching dishonorable eyes in my head, and I felt sick.

My relationship with Jace hadn't improved either. The short ride from the Cemetery of the Disgraced back to the Lightwoods' home had been enough to freeze his features – and probably any emotions – back to ice. He had dismounted and given me his cold, impassive look, as if he had sat there in the snow for half an hour waiting for salvation.

I didn't know what was on today's training schedule when I entered the hall. Adam and Jace were already there. They sat next to each other on one of the exercise mats, but didn't speak. I rarely saw them communicate with each other. Actually, I would have expected that the two would get along better, considering that they had lived together at the Institute for some time. They greeted each other, but otherwise only spoke when something important needed to be discussed. Our little trip to my father's secret death cave had probably not welded them together. I couldn't blame them.

I nodded silently to both of them and sat a few feet away next to Jace as Malik trotted through the door. I rarely saw him slow down. He jogged or walked around most of the time. Almost simultaneously we saluted Malik. He stopped a few meters in front of us and the bright expression in his eyes told us that we were going to do something different today.

"Good morning, before we specialize in a combat area today, I will briefly share my summary of the last few days. It's not test results or anything, after all you didn't fight each other." It was true. The last few days had seemed like one big test. Either he had squeezed my knowledge out of me with the help of confused questions or I had had to fight him. Malik must have developed an initial assessment based on our strength in the training sessions.

"Clarissa was by far the best in all areas of training except close combat. Jace is her equal here," Malik said calmly while looking at us.

"What kind of close combat?" I asked before I could bite my tongue. It couldn't be that he was my equal. I had had much better training than him. However, his fighting style had already caught my eye at the Institute.