Forewarned (BEING REWRITTEN)

Training to the Death

Woah, he was gonna kill it? I flashed a glance at the girl, who had now stopped screaming. I opened my mouth but nothing came out. It wasn't until I spotted the arrowhead that I could let out a short laugh. Instead of a sharp projectile, there was a plunger!

Fwip! He let it fly. The arrow wiggled in the air, soared, then SQUELCH! SQUEEK! The plunger made a sickening sound as it connected with the conifer scales and yanked him clear off the roost. He screamed all the way down like some weird Spongebob character before landing safely in the arms of heavy metal girl.

The Robin Hood plunger boy turned around, grinning face obviously expecting a huge reaction, but before the other cadets could give him one, the huge doors to the left of the gold dragon tapestry flew open. "ATTENTION!" The voice of a lion preceded a small, squat woman who stood with chest out and hands behind her back. Her green uniform glittered with an assortment of medals and a single patch adorned her left sleeve.

Immediately everyone was standing at attention. The speed at which they assembled into a cohesive line and assumed the stiff standing position of a soldier shocked me. I didn't realize that I was the only one standing awkwardly to the side until she approached me, her stern glance making me wish I could fade into the background permanently. My shoulders shrunk and my eyebrows raised. I was about ready to flee when she grabbed me by my biceps and physically positioned me beside the nearest cadet. "Chest out. Chin high." She grunted.

I was so scared it took me a full moment to realize what that meant. Then I quickly, and awkwardly obeyed. Caedmon hissed at her the whole time and even struck at her fingers, but she pulled them away quickly.

"Today we'll be focusing on strength training." She directed her attention to the rest standing there. I noticed all of them were staring straight ahead, and wasn't sure if I should be relieved or even more embarrassed. She strode to the front of the lot and swiveled on her heel to stare us down. She was a typical gym teacher with the typical gym teacher evil glare. Suddenly I wished I could forge another health slip from my "parents" to get out of this class, but I had an odd feeling that it wouldn't work.

She leaned forward onto her toes before barking out. "I'll split you into four groups. We'll have weight lifting in the Power corner, Planks and Curls to the left, Squats and Chairs to the back, and sprints behind me."

Wow, all of that sounded completely horrible. I looked for somewhere to hide as she split us up into groups and dictated the rules. "Now, let's warm up with ten laps! Go go go!"

I was okay at running. You had to be to be able to get away with the stuff I did. But ab workouts? Not so much. I was light. I was fast. But I wasn't strong. The rest of the kids here clearly took their health seriously. Even the girls had bigger biceps than I did. They didn't even break a sweat after ten laps and jumped straight into the rest of the training.

Minimum effort. There was enough people here, maybe I could pretend to be doing what I was supposed to be, then relax whenever the gym teacher's head was turned.

The plan would have worked well, except she seemed intent on making sure I wasn't slacking off. I'd relax to the floor after an intense plank and she'd scream a second later. I'd chill on the floor for curls a second too long and she was in my face yelling that I had the strength of a Mongolian earthworm and the brains of a putrid tasseled wobbegong... whatever the heck that is. Every time she blew the whistle to move on to the next workout she scribbled something down while looking directly at me. I wondered what she was writing.

It wasn't long when it felt like my body had just given up. I was breathing like a dying donkey, my muscles shaking and sweat just dripping from my body. It didn't help that I was wearing a sweatshirt, but I knew if I took it or the hoodie off I would be feeling the wrath of those overhead lights on my skin. I felt a wave of nausea from my gut, but if I stopped I knew I would be yelled at again. Some kids in my group were shooting me concerned glances, others were snickering, but all of them were doing a whole lot better than I was. Their breathing was controlled, their movements still full of the strength of youth that had so cruelly left me.