"Welcome to your first battle brief," Professor Devera says.
This is the only class held in the circular, tiered room that curves the entire end of the academic hall and one of only two rooms in the citadel capable of fitting every cadet. Every single one of the seats are filled, the seniors stand behind us, but we all fit. It's a big difference compared to our history classroom.
"In the past riders have seldom been called into service before graduation, and if they were, they were always third-years who'd spent time shadowing forward wings, but we expect you to graduate with the full knowledge of what you're up against. It's not about knowing where every wing is stationed, either," she says, making eye contact with the first-years." You need to understand the politics of our enemies, the strategies of defending our outposts from constant attack, and have a thorough knowledge of both recent and current battles. If you cannot grasp these basic topics, then you have no business on the back of a dragon."
"I thought dragons chose based on bravery" Ridoc whispers to me.
"Well I bet they're not too keen on having an idiot as a rider either" I respond.
"Fair point, but bad news for us," he says, pulling a face. I shove his shoulder to shut him up.
"This is the only class you will have every day, because it's the only class that will matter if you're called into service early. Because of that this class is taught every day and relies on the most current information, you will also answer to professor Markham, who deserves nothing but your utmost respect." she glares at us, challenging anyone to object. She's strict and I can tell, because Ridoc hasn't made any remarks.
The professor motions for the scribe to step forward who takes a pause before begining to speak.
...
During class we talk about the recent attack on the easternmost outpost bordered by Poromiel, which is usually out of range for the gryphons, but they managed to raid it when the wards faltered, and according to the professor this isn't the first time the wards have faltered. Something has to be wrong, because the wards shouldnt be faltering, its old magic, magic doesn't break. After the professor questions us,and some argument breaks out in our wing we're dismissed to go to our next class.
"We get to spar," I say in a sing song voice to Ridoc as we leave the classroom
"Thank gods for that because my brain is about to explode," he replies, gripping his hair and pulling on it.
...
We walk into the sparring gym, and I almost drop my mouth in shock. "Damn, it's huge."
"Ha, that's what she said," Ridoc laughs.
There are mats in the middle of the room and space on the side to stand and spectate, I look up and see a balcony overlooking the room.
The professor walks into the room and explains that this is an assessment, meaning no weapons, and preferably no killing each other. We'll be called out in pairs of two and spar until one of us is injured or taps out. The second one is not an option for me, not if I can help it. The professor takes note of our builds and size before he begins pairing us up with each other. The fights begin and excitement creeps its way up my spine.
" Aurelie and Ridoc," the professor calls out.
"Do me a favour and hold my shirt, don't want to get choked by it, that would be tragic," He says, taking off his shirt and shoving it into my hand, then practically skips out to the mat. Fucking idiot, I smile.
They begin to circle each other, sizing the other up, this goes on for about two more minutes and I'm about to tell Ridoc to just get to it, but before I can get the words out of my mouth the professor steps in.
"Stop circling each other like dance partners and attack!"
Ridoc launched towards Aurelie, but she ducks, sweeping out her leg and tripping him. He staggers but doesn't go down. He pivots quickly, palming a dagger in his hand.
"Ridoc no blades today remember!" I shout at him. He scowls at me but sheaths his blade just in time to block a right hook from his opponent.
"The brunette packs a punch," Rhiannon says, turning to me.
"Ridoc packs a pretty good one too," I say just in time to see him jab at Aurelie's ribs.
"Shit!" he says, taking a step back "I don't want to hurt you."
"Who says you hurt me?" the girl responds.
"Pulling your punches does her a disservice," Dain says moving to their mat "The cygnis on the northeast border aren't going to give her any quarter because she's a woman if she falls from her dragon behind enemy lines, Ridoc. They'll kill her all the same." That statement is the first smart thing I've heard him say.
"Let's go!" Aurelie shouts, beckoning Ridoc with her finger. She slips a jab from Ridoc then twists and lands a punch to his kidneys. That's gotta hurt. Ridoc charges Aurelie, taking her to the mat with brute force. She hooks her legs around his and somehow leverages him over until she's the one on top, landing punch after punch to the side of his face. Blood spatters the mat. Shit his face is going to be seriously fucked up after that. A tooth has to go flying before Professor Emetterio gets involved. Aurelie rolls off of Ridoc and stands, touching her fingers to her split lip and examining the blood, then offers her hand to help him up. He takes it. Ridoc walks up to me smiling and I notice he has all his teeth, at least it wasn't his tooth that went flying.
"What happened to being undefeatable?" I cock my brow at him as he takes his shirt back.
"Hey, I still have all my teeth," he snaps at me.
"Fair point, but I would take that as a loss, you were on the bottom,"
"Being bottom isn't the worst thing to ever happen," he says, winking at me. I roll my eyes at him, scoffing at his audacity. His confidence is as big as ever even after basically losing a fight.
Our conversation is interrupted by a scream rising up through the room. We look over to see another first-year in a headlock, he's a lot smaller than Barlowe. Just as I turn my attention away from them I hear a blood curdling crack rush through the room.
"Holy fuck."
"That's.....pretty gross" says Ridoc grimacing into his hand. Jack stands and drops the limp body to the ground looking proud of himself. He might be more insane than I thought.
"What did I say?!" Emetterio shouts, charging at Jack. "you broke his damned neck!"
"How was I supposed to know his neck was that weak?"Jack argues.
"Eyes forward," Emetterio orders, his tone softer than before." You don't have to get used to it, but you do have to function through it. You and you." he points to Rhiannon and another person and motions for them to get on the mat. He scans the room looking for another pair. "Pryor you go with Sariah,". Thank gods. I was getting bored just standing here.
"No knives Saeri, give 'em' here " Ridoc makes a grabbing motion.
"I wasn't planning to use them, you know that right?" I scowl, grabbing them from their hiding spots and hand them off to Ridoc.
"I never know with you actually," he states. I stick my tongue out at him and move over to the mat. Pryor. I'm almost the same height as him, but he's a little more built, but he also looks nervous as fuck.
"Uh, hi" he says as he steps on to the mat.
"Uh, hey?" I respond giving him a look, is he planning to talk his way out of this.
"Stop stalling Pryor," the professor shouts. He takes up a fighting stance, but his elbows are jutting out to the side. Maybe I can win this round. He steps out and takes a jab at me but it falls short, no need to even deflect it. I move to his left side and aim at his spleen. I feel the impact on my knuckles, and he stumbles back, losing his footing. Holy fuck this is the most anti-climactic spar I've ever had. He regains his footing and begins circling me looking for a place to strike, but he keeps hesitating and it's starting to piss me off. He decides to try an uppercut, but I hook my arm in his elbow and take him to the ground, I'm about to land a punch as he screams out.
"Yield,I yield."
I slump down to a seated position on top of him and look up at the professor. He sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose.
"Right, Pryor get out of here, Sariah you stay here," He looks around the room, his eyes stopping at a guy from another squad. "Liam get over here," He motions at a blonde, blue eyed, incredibly hot looking guy. My mouth might just start watering. He says something to his friend then makes his way over to my mat. No,no,nope. Not only does he look like a god I bet he fights well too. To put it short I'm fucked.
He steps on the other side of the mat offering me a smile before taking up a defensive pose. Well so much for winning. The second I take up the same stance he throws a jab across at me which I'm barely able to deflect. Twisting my self I aim to hit his chin but get blocked by his forearm. He turns to hit my side but I catch him behind his knee making him tumble to the mat. Maybe I won't lose. I convince myself letting the moment take over, but not even a second passes before he swipes his leg under me. Now I'm on the ground too. It's going to hurt from this point on. I quickly claw myself up into a seating position only to get pushed back down again. He's right there, on top of me staring down at me with his icy eyes.
"Yield?" he asks,offering me a chance to escape the beating about to ensue.
"No fucking way," I respond struggling underneath his grip. He shoots me an apologetic look before landing a punch to the right side of my face. As soon as he moves his arm back up a space opens up and I take the chance. I jut my palm up striking against his nose and drag myself out from underneath him, kicking with my legs using the second of his shock to my advantage. We sit across from each other staring for a moment before we move again. We both jump up to our feet and start throwing punch after punch, deflecting punch after punch. I'm hot and I'm sweaty. I have no idea how long we've been doing this for. I can only see him and feel this moment. The sweat dripping off my face, the throb of my right face, the pain in my knuckles, the odd feeling of butterflies in my stomach, and him, breathing.And I'm so fucking pissed off. I Rush at him throwing up a punch at his face hitting my mark only to be greeted by his fist jabbing into my chest not even a second later. I bend over as the air rushes out of my lungs, but use the position to lunge at his legs, bringing him down with me. I move on top of him and gasp for air ignoring the pressure in my lungs. I lift my fist up planning to land another punch at his face, but he grabs my arms pushing against me as I fight to make him let go.
"Truce!" Professor Emetterio shouts standing closer to us than he was at the start of our spar. Liam lets go of my wrist and they land on either side of his head. I don't want to truce, I want to win. I stare down challenging him to continue the fight, but he only moves me off of him ever so gently and stands up, then offers his hand to me.
"Next time we'll finish this, no truce. Only winner and loser," I snarl standing up ignoring his hand. I move, dragging my feet behind me still struggling to breath from his strike. Suddenly everything seems so quiet as I look around to see most of the other cadets finished up with their fights, and I'm going to assume they were watching us.
"Hey, that was awesome!" Ridoc says coming over to meet me.
"I didn't win," I seethe through my teeth, gazing back to where Liam now stands with his friends looking just as sweaty and tired as me. It's only now that I notice his rebellion relic crawling up his arm all the way to his neck.
"I mean yeah, but you kept him off for the most part and only got hit a few times," he says motioning to the bruises beginning to blossom on my face. "Sorrengails shoulder got fucked and they took her to the infimary" he changes the topic.
"Next time you won't only be using your fists but weapons will be permitted from here on out as the assessment is over, you're excused" Emetterio says from the balcony before walking out of view. First sparring session, over.
"You want any ice for that or do you want to get lunch?" Ridoc asks, studying my face.
"I'm fine, let's just get out of here," I look over to Liam one last time, make eye contact with him and send him a glare.