Fearless (A Mulan Retelling)

Chapter Twelve

The time between her arrival and the time official training began flew by, much to Iris's surprise. It had gone well enough --as well as it could with her circumstances. Sleeping in leather surely wasn't as comfortable as a nightgown, but it was doable, even if it made her look over-cautious. She'd had her bleeding, but she'd been able to mask it... thankfully without Kayde's herbal help. For now, at least.

There was training as well. General Zayn had not lying when he told her that he would see her. He now spoke in person to her group, which was only about thirty rogues strong.

"Sadly, as far as the new rogues are concerned, there are only three groups of you that are all about this size. But, as far as the bright side goes, that will give me more one on one time with each and every one of you. So, I expect nothing less than your very best. I will let you know that even though what you are doing for your family and your country is nothing less than honorable, it does involve risking your life. You may very well die. I will not sugar coat it. With that being said, I will add that the better you get... the better chance you have at staying alive. So I expect you to train on your own time as well, whether it be before you go to bed, before the sun rises..." Iris could've sworn his eyes flicked over at her for a second, "Or just whenever you find the time to fit it in. You're only cheating yourself if you don't. And know that I do not want a single one of you to die for any reason..." He cut off his speech for a few moments, "so... don't."

The speech scared Iris a little bit, but she knew would train her very hardest.

The general then asked if everyone was ready to begin. He paid no attention to any of the answers, however, because not two seconds later, he instructed everyone to unsheathe their daggers. When Iris did, she hunkered down into the all-too-familiar position she had already been taught.

Four weeks of practice with her blades had made her far more comfortable with what she was doing. She learned defensive tactics mainly from Kayde and offensive strategy and attack from Kelgar. Both were very impressed by how much improvement she'd made in such little time.

She was not the best, she knew, but she felt a little inkling of confidence in her skill. Especially since Kayde had told her how with practice, she might could one day be a better rogue than a good bit of men, due to the simple fact that she was a woman. Lighter in weight, and not to mention more flexible, she had a lot of potential.

It also helped that she trained for hours and hours each day.

Everyone in her group began warming up, which seemed to include a few swings of the blades and a few tumbles. None of them were awful, but none of them were what she'd witnessed in her rogue cabin.

----

After a few days of training with Zayn and the group, Iris noticed that what she was doing began feeling less and less like fighting. In fact, she felt instead as if she were performing an eloquent dance. She began to almost enjoy the feeling of her swift feet moving rapidly about. Eventually, though, her betters would win against her.

Still, she took comfort that she could at least hold them off for a few minutes with both her defense and attacks.

Iris also noticed her body getting stronger. Every day, prior to Kayde's instruction, she would exercise it by running and climbing. Her running was average to begin with, so it didn't take as much of a toll on her as the climbing. She still nearly fell out of every tree she tried to scale, yes, but she was getting better at it with every one she climbed.

She watched as the general made his way from man to man... doing what Kelgar had first done: tested their abilities. As she watched him, she kept track of how he moved.