Falling [completed]

30

The sun was beaming through the window over Remmy's face.  She rolled over in attempt to shield her eyes, but the throbbing in her head halted her.  The pain in her stomach and head prevented her from returning to her slumber.  Remmy curled in the fetal position and tried to remember the events of last night. 

She remembered Aldric had taken her out, to relax before the preliminaries. 

"Oh shit!" 

Remmy crawled out of bed and into the shower, hoping the steam could wash away the torture of this morning.  She got out and wrapped a towel around her and slowly made her way to the closet.  There was a knock on the door and Remmy's head throbbed with each rap. 

"Hey girl, I called ahead an' told 'em ya were sick this mornin' an' was gonna be late.  I'll drive ya when yer ready." 

"Thanks." Remmy called out as she threw on some jeans and a t-shirt.

Remmy didn't have the comfort of being ashamed about the night before, her stomach was cramping and she felt she would hurl at any moment.  Mack hadn't said one word to her on the drive to the school.  She avoided his face, but knew that he was disappointed in her.  Guilt mixed in with the other pain she was feeling.  She was thankful when they arrived and got out quicker than she should have.  She grimaced and held her stomach, continuing to the door of the school.  She heard the squeak of metal as the truck door closed and glanced back to Mack walking up behind her. 

"What are you doing?"

"I wanna watch.  Payback after last night." 

Remmy closed her eyes and waited for Mack to catch up.  They soon picked up the pace to find the testing room empty of her peers.  The elder motioned for both of them to sit and Remmy picked the desk within closest walking distance.  Mack gave the elder a dirty look and took a spot on the wall.  There was no way Mack could fit into one of the desks.

Remmy's test was over almost every subject they had covered in the last week.  The only things that weren't on it was hand to hand and weaponry.  She hoped the hang over would fog her mind and answered the questions quickly.  It hadn't taken her long to finish the twenty page questionnaire, and she thought for sure someone else would get the better score.  She handed her test in and the elder sent them on to the field.

This was the part Remmy was dreading. The weaponry would be first.  They all had archery, then got to pick a weapon of their choosing and go one on one against an elder.  Then they would be sent to do hand to hand combat. 

Remmy was rather nervous about that part.  She had been training both at school and with Aldric and didn't want to let him down.  She also didn't want to get hurt and would have to defend herself.  The top two would be the team leaders for capture the flag, testing battlefield strategy. 

When they got to the field, Mack stopped off at the sidelines, forgoing the bleachers all together.  Remmy had gotten to school almost an hour past when the preliminaries started, and everyone had gone through archery and weaponry.  Remmy quickly started and picked up a bow.  She had no idea how well the others had done and settled herself to aim for mediocre.  She shot at the target with speed, letting the arrows whistle and imbedding inches from the intended goal.  She set the bow down and walked over to a weapons wall and picked a broad sword.

Before she could get a feel of the weight in her hand, and elder had swung at her.  Remmy quickly ducked, thankful for Aldric's training.  They battled on, with the elder striking and Remmy blocking and parrying.  All the movement was making Remmy sick.  She wanted the world to stop spinning around her, wanted to get on all fours and empty her churning stomach.  She tried her best to hold it down, but her stomach protested. 

Remmy attempted to get away from the elder attacking her, but to no avail.  Her stomach now controlled her and she threw up on the bottom of the elders cloak.  Remmy was in the heat of the moment and the elder was not.  Standing still from shock, a sword quickly came to the elders throat and the weapons challenge was over.

Remmy had no idea how she would get through the hand to hand.  She made her way over to the sidelines and met Mack.  She could tell he had been laughing and she was in no mood for anything else this morning.  He handed her a glass of water set up for the contestants and she swished around and tried to spit the taste out of her mouth.  She walked back to the field and heard Mack call out to her. 

"Hey girl, keep up thuh good work!"

Remmy's stomach had eased slightly but now she was irritated.  She had made a mistake and now she was paying for it. 

The hand to hand worked in a tier system.  If you were beat, you were done, if you won, you would move up to the next opponent.  Remmy didn't want to win, She had already won the weaponry challenge, but she didn't want to get a black eye either.

The hand to hand had already started, and there were only three kids left in the running.  One of the elders paired her up against a boy who was younger, and scrawny looking.  They both bowed and began to circle, waiting on the first move.  Remmy sized up her opponent and thought he would be easy to defend against, but after the kid made his first move, Remmy quickly discarded the thought.

The boy was fast.  His blow met Remmy in her side and the pain moved threw her like cracks in glass.  She would not make that mistake again.  She took a few steps and feinted, making the boy move to block.  Remmy switched up and pounded his open face.  She caught him in the eyebrow, now split and bleeding into his eye.  She could see the tears start to well up, but he held them at bay.  He moved again, sweeping her off her feet and she fell to the ground.  In seconds he had her pinned and was wailing into her face and sides.

She blocked the best she could, but his skinny arms found their way through.  Remmy began to panic,  she didn't want to feel the pain anymore.  Each blow resonated and echoed through her body, until she felt like her whole being was throbbing.  She focused away from the pain and let her mind flow into a singular path.  She held her breath, concentrating it with her pain.  She expelled her breath, the pain with it and forced it into the boy slamming her body with his fists.  He fell off of her screaming and curled into a fetal position.

The other fight had stopped and now everyone was staring at her.  She inhaled again and the pain came back.  She rolled over to all fours and got up slowly, feeling every blow.  One of the elders came and escorted her to a bench close by.  Remmy hadn't realized who it was until she spoke. 

"Using magic wasn't in the rules, it was very creative of you."  Hilda sat Remmy down and looked her over, checking the damage. 

The boy Remmy had beat sat a few feet away, getting the same treatment.  Remmy looked back at Hilda just in time to have some sort of dust blown on to her face.  It smelled of copper and dirt. 

"There, that should do it.  Should help out with your illness as well."  Hilda grinned at her and walked away. 

Remmy felt for the throbbing, for the pain in her body and found none.  She felt good as new, just a little sore in her muscles.  Remmy put her head in her hands.  She had won the hand to hand and the fight agains the elder.  She had two strikes against her out of five.  The last and final task was capture the flag.  She wished she had paid more attention to the other nine students in class.  She wanted to pick the worst of the worst to make sure her team didn't win.