Pernicious- True Evil

Chapter 14

The sound of the river was soothing to her sanity. At least she would know her way back if she needed to make a quick escape. Momentarily she paused and craned her neck to see a cluster of twisting trees that stood next to her. Each of the trees looked different from one another. Although they all had prickly black bark, their leaves came in an array of vibrant colors. One tree with blood red leaves stood next to another tree with lavender leaves, while the one next to that had leaves as white as snow.

Walking between the twisting branches, small creatures the size of her palm scurried up and down the bark. These odd animals had hooked wings which were attached to their legs. They used these to glide between the branches when they needed to go a further distance than they cared to walk. A clicking sound that ended in a whistle came out of their small round mouths as they communicated to one another.

"Okay, this is where we will do the first part of your training," Alek said. He pointed to one of the low hanging branches of a nearby tree as he shoved his knife into his pocket.

"What are we doing there?"

"I want you to grab onto that tree and hold yourself up."

"How?"

"Just hold onto it like you are about to do a pull up."

Why did he take her all the way out here to do this? There was nothing special about this area and they could have easily done this closer to camp.

Astra walked over to the branch and grabbed a hold of it. Her muscles shook as she strained to hold herself up.

"Okay, now I want you to swing your legs back and swing them forward," Alek instructed confidently.

She attempted to do as she was told but as she swung forward, her arms slipped from the branch and she tumbled to the ground, landing hard on her buttock. Wincing, she stood up and brushed the dirt from her legs.

"What now?"

"That's going to leave a bruise. Do it again."

For the next hour Alek demanded she continue this same exercise until he finally had new demands. He climbed onto the branch she was under and held out a knife. As he looked down from the tree, she realized that he was trying to peek down her shirt. Alek saw her notice and gave a twinkling smile.

"I want you to grab onto the branch again and catch the knife with your knees when I drop it from above you. When you catch it, I want you to curl your body up and touch your knees to the branch."

With hesitation, Astra agreed. She wanted to cover herself even more, so she repositioned her scarf so that the cloth was covering more than just her throat and she zipped up her jacket up as high as it would go. Damn her shirt for showing more than she was comfortable with.

Reaching up, she gripped onto the branch and adjusted her hands.

"You ready?" he asked.

"Yeah."

At first, she couldn't even catch the weapon but when she finally was able to, her muscles gave out and she dropped to the floor.

Alek shook his head and twisted the side of his mouth. "Well at least you caught it. But don't worry. I can see you're firming up in the right areas. You'll be just fine in no time."

Firming up? Her cheeks grew hot. This wasn't flattery to her, it was embarrassment. Astra wished she could go behind the nearest rock and disappear. She knew she was the weakest link but the last thing she wanted to hear was his thoughts on how her body was firming up, especially after she had caught him looking down her shirt.