Shadow Thief

5- Plans

Squadron five, as Theo called us, had something like a dormitory. We had a single common room where we could all talk or whatever, a girl's room and a boys room. The girls room had two bunk beds and two dressers. I'd have to get Theo to let me go get my stuff.

They told me the two bottom bunks were taken which I thought was crazy. I mean, who wouldn't want the top bunk? The two beds were on opposite sides of the room. I took the top bunk of the one by the door.

I was burrowed under layers of blankets when I heard the click of the door opening.

"Shadow!" I recognized the voice as the girl called Mercy.

I peeked my head over the edge of the mattress and looked down at her. It's been about an hour since my little show and I haven't talked to a single person. I've been laying in my new bed, trying to sleep. Emphasis on trying.

"Shadow! I know you're in here!"

"I'm up here."

She jumped and glared at me.

"Get your ass back to the training center, Theo wants you to watch us work." Under her breath, I heard her mumble, "God knows why." And she was gone.

You know what? Scratch what I said earlier. She may look like my Mercy but that little piece of shit isn't anything like my sweet and kind and caring Mercy.

I jumped off the bed, not bothering to waste time on the wooden latter. I felt incredibly light yet bare without my daggers. I felt unprotected without their cold comfort. However, like I said earlier, I could kill someone with anything.

I followed the trail I remembered from earlier. It was a two minute walk with one left turn and then I'd reach the door. I was welcomed with the comforting sound of crashing weapons and the screams of fallen soldiers. Okay, I'm getting ahead of myself. The only noises people were making were yelling and grunting.

I easily picked out my redheaded flirt, my two dagger users, my archer, and my Pooh Bear. Theo was sitting along the sidelines by the door, watching and cheering. I felt like I shouldn't have been as surprised as I was. Within the half a day that I've known him I haven't seen him handle one weapon or do anything incredibly physical for that matter.

He smiled and stood when he saw me, wiping dirt of his pants.

"Do you ever fight?" I walked towards him. "I mean, seriously, have you ever gotten in a real fight? Can you even use weapons?"

"For your information I can use a sword decently well. Where's your ID?"

I looked down to see that my ID wasn't pinned to my shirt. Right, I remember taking it off in the room when I tried sleeping

"Left it on my bed."

"You're useless."

"That's not true, if I was useless I wouldn't be here. Anyways, stop avoiding the subject. I wanna see your skill with a sword."

"Me?"

"No, the other person I'm talking to. Yes you, dumbass. Go pick a sword."

He jogged off and came back holding a long sword. His grip was firm, from what I've seen so far, and he had enough strength to lift it was ease. Even I'd had a hard time fighting easily with something that big. That wasn't saying much, though. I preferred to use my agility over raw strength.

"Now what?"

"You're gonna spar me."

"Why you!?"

"Well, I am the one who's gonna be teaching you. It'll be useless if I don't experience your capabilities firsthand."

"Why're you using big words?"

"I'm with the government now, might as well sound like it. Sometimes at least. Now, stop chastising your master, get in the ring."

The ring he chose was a white platform that was lifted a foot off the ground. It was a circle about ten feet in diameter and made of solid, smooth stone. I rubbed my foot against the ground, testing the friction. It was relatively smooth, which I could use to my advantage.

"You're not gonna use a weapon?"

"Nah, I've got enough people around here who don't trust me. If I start swinging a weapon at one of the trainees, it'd only be worse. Whenever you're ready, Pooh Bear."

He gave me a scowl and charged. Within a matter of two seconds, I had a sword coming at my right side. I easily back stepped, avoiding the dulled weapon.

"You're not gonna hit me with moves like that!"

He didn't reply as he continued attacking. His sword came again, aiming for my feet now. I jumped but not much. When I landed, he was already taking aim at my head. I ducked. I wanted to see how he fought from a closer range so I charged. My right fist came out, landing a blow to his stomach.

He gave a mangled cough but didn't give up. His foot shot out, trying to trip me. It worked, for the most part. I stumbled for a second but used the momentum of the fall to make some distance. I was back on me feet before he had the chance to attack.

"You know, under normal circumstances you'd be dead."

"Well then it's a good thing you're on our side."

"I wouldn't go that far. If anything I'd say were just...united under a single cause."

"And what cause is that?"

"This god forsaken government. Now get to it Pooh Bear, we don't have all day."

He charged, again. The sword swung on my left this time. My right hand shot out and caught the full blade. If it was normal, I could've lost a finger or even a hand. I held the blade firmly, not letting him move it.

"You're pretty good at long range. Your close range, however, sucks. I wouldn't worry too much about it for now, especially with a sword that size. We'll get to working in that later."

I let go of the sword and looked at my hand. I already had a red mark that I'm sure would form into a bruise. I tested each of my fingers, touching them to my thumb, but they were fine. I was right about what I said at first, he had the strength to send that sword flying. With me attached to it.

A tug at my shirt sleeve caught my attention. Little Mila was looking up at me with big deer eyes.

"Can you help me next?"

I smiled and nodded, reminding myself to be kind to her. No sarcasm for the little one. She led me to the archery targets and told me to wait there.

If I had to guess, I'd say the targets were about twenty feet away, a good distance for practice. I noticed that my dagger from earlier was gone, but the whole was still there. Nice job, Shadow.

Mila came back carrying a long bow and a few arrows.

"Shoot," I told her, jamming my thumb in the direction of the multi-colored targets. With a small smile, she notched the bow and fired rather quickly. The arrow hit the outer ring of the target.

Frowning, I took the bow from her. I had a decent idea of how to train her, but I'd have to throw kindness out the door.

"You're not allowed to shoot a bow until further notice. For now, train with a short staff."

She looked pissed but went off anyway. Sighing, I threw the bow on the ground. It was much too long for someone her height. I could tell it was much too heavy for her as well. She could hurt herself if she kept using it.

Sighing, I walked over to Theo. He was giving me a disappointed look.

"You think you can get me a trip into town?" I asked. "I need to get some stuff done."

"Probably. You'd need an escort, however."

"Fine, fine." And with that, I went off to draw the blueprints.