The Icicles

Chapter 21

"Haze," I start as I fill my mouth with the sweet potato soup, "You won't go to the actual battle, right?" she looks at me for a second studying my face.

"No, but I'll be right below you in the tunnels with any new recruits, and nurses if anyone gets hurt. After this, I'm going to a nurse training session so I can help heal," she says quickly as if ashamed. I see Logan's lips bubble with laughter, but he bites his lip staying quiet.

"You want to be a nurse?" I ask questionably. I've always known Hazel and she's never wanted to be a nurse. Not that it was an option for her in Rayfield. She shrugs,

"I don't know, but people will need help there, and I have nothing else to do, so..." I suddenly realize how useless Hazel must feel now, not a maid, or maid in training, not a girl in school. While we were off training and battling, she is sitting here with nothing to do. We stay quiet for a while after that, until Logan checks the clock and jumps.

"We have to go!" he exclaims as we break off for the training courts, leaving Hazel behind, alone, again.

When we get there so many soldiers are already gathered there. I would guess around 1000. When I asked for a few armies, I wasn't expecting this. Though it is good it's this big. Rayfield has a big army, though they never use it. There are no people to fight against. All they do is train. There was probably only a few thousand spread out around the country. Most would be near the borders looking for me, which is good for us. I see Maya up at the front waving us all forwards. As we push our way to the front, people stop to stare at me, the one who looks like Maya, the one who is just a small little girl.

At the front, Charlotte stares at me for a second before asking,

"Which would you like to go with, the blues, or the greens?" I honestly am not sure.

"I'll start with the blues, maybe move to the greens later," I say. I wanting to look strong, but most of the greens will be much stronger than I am. As Hunter, Logan and I make our way with the blues I wonder what this will be like. How hard could it be?

In a separate training court, one person stands up in front of all of us. He's tall and wears lots of badges. He could be the general, if he's what he looks like.

"This will be our first ever battle against another country. This other country only has browns and blues. That is why the greens have an advantage, but all of you must be stronger and faster than all of them. We will start with target training. Line up and choose a target!" he orders. I line up in between Hunter and Logan. Each is in a ready position both hands in front of them. Everyone else in the room is too. I put my hands forward, though one is uselessly covered in the white cloth, which I am hoping to get off tomorrow. The doctor said maybe if I rest it, but there isn't any time to rest it.

"On my count of 3 you will shoot at the target, if you don't knock it down, then take a seat, you can try again next round. Whenever we do it as a competition you always seem to work harder, so this is how it'll be. Now, one, two, three, shoot," he starts. I let the water rip through the air easily. It comes from my uninjured hand, though I could easily make it come from the air. It knocks down the target right on a bullseye, as almost everyone else's does. I hear maybe one groan, but mainly everyone stays in, "one, two three, shoot," he shouts again and again as I keep effortlessly hitting a bullseye and knocking the target down. I think we are around 10 targets in when water starts spraying at us. I dodge it ducking and jumping, and flipping, while still knocking down the targets. I see many sitting on benches behind me, but Logan, Hunter and I stay in. He stops counting now, letting us do it on our own accordance. I watch as one by one everyone fades out. Hunter goes out before Logan and I do. After all, ability isn't as important to his family as it is to mine. By the time Logan and everyone else gets out. I still feel not that challenged. It is me and some other guy left. We both keep dodging, and shooting, and dodging, and shooting. Over and over again. Eventually, there are no more targets for me, so I just show off making myself a little water seat out of thin air and sit watching as the other guy keeps dodging. When he gets out at one of the last ones I smile in satisfaction letting the water seat fade into the air.