Eden-South (14 page)

“We should go,” Elisa pointed out, trying to
change the subject. “We don’t want to be late, or my father will
have all our heads.”

All the men stood around in a large circle,
lining the training area. About a hundred of them were there; the
rest were at posts around the city. The men there were the ones
still doing their training, which meant they ranged between fifteen
and eighteen years old. Wolf and Logan were on their last year of
training, before they would be officially considered the King’s
men. Most of the guys there looked big and confident, all except
Aiden, who stood awkwardly beside Elisa. He could feel the curious
eyes on him, but he tried to ignore them, focusing on what the
Captain was saying.

“Today we are doing hand-to-hand combat with
partners,” he shouted. “I want to see the combinations we’ve gone
over numerous times, and I don’t want to see any of you holding
back. Everyone will wear protection, just in case there are any
accidents,” he explained, his eyes finding Aiden’s curiously. Aiden
wondered if he had heard about the incident yesterday, and was
surprised to see him looking completely normal. Aiden cleared his
throat and avoided the look the best he could. “Find your partner
and get suited up; let’s not waste my time today, boys.”

“Do you want to be partners?” Elisa asked,
turning toward him.

“Partners? With you?” He swallowed hard.
Fighting a girl was not what he had planned. She looked
offended.

“Is that a problem?” she asked
defensively.

“No,” he answered quickly. “I just … didn’t
think you fought boys …” As soon as the words came out, he knew he
had pissed her off even more.

“Well, seeing as there are no other girls
here, I don’t really have a choice. Not to mention, when we’re in a
war, the other side won’t pair me up with a woman just to make it
fair.”

“Of course. I’m sorry—I didn’t mean to
offend you!”

Wolf walked up, laughing. “Don’t worry,
newbie. It doesn’t take much with this one.”

“Elisa,” they heard the Captain shout. He
walked over to the threesome with a determined stride. “I want you
to go and practice your targets. Aiden will be paired up with
Felix.” He motioned toward another boy, who stood alone.

“My targets again?” She sighed. Aiden stood
holding his breath, not imagining ever speaking back to the Captain
the way she did.

“Yes, again,” he instructed through clenched
teeth. “You’re our best archer, let’s keep it that way. Aiden, go
get suited up and stand with Felix. Wolf, get back to your
partner!”

“Yes, sir,” Aiden and Wolf both replied
simultaneously.

As Aiden strapped on the leather pads that
were laid out for him, he tried to keep his breathing slow. He had
never done this, except for yesterday with Logan, and Logan had
taken it easy on him. The Captain had strictly instructed everyone
to not take it easy on anyone, and this boy Felix didn’t know that
Aiden was completely new at this.

“Aiden,” he heard the Captain’s voice from
behind him.

“Sir?” He turned around, straightening
up.

“I heard you got quite the nasty hit
yesterday—you seem to be okay now?” It was a question. So he had
noticed.

Aiden cleared his throat. “Yes, sir. It
would appear that I heal quite fast.” The Captain nodded his head
thoughtfully.

“Interesting,” was all he said, before
walking back into the middle of the training grounds. Aiden
finished getting suited up before walking over to his new
partner.

“Hey,” he said as he walked up to the other
boy. As he got closer, he saw the boy was probably the same age as
Aiden, and looked just as scared.
He must be new,
Aiden
thought hopefully. Felix was the same height as him, but a bit
bulkier. His hair was cut short to his head, and was a mixture of
red and brown. He had tiny green eyes, and freckles along his
nose.

“Hello,” Felix replied in a husky voice.

“I’m Aiden,” he said, offering his hand.

“Felix,” he replied, shaking hands with
Aiden. “You new?”

“Yeah, you?”

“I’ve been here about a month,” he
explained. “I’m still pretty new compared to some of the other men
here.”

“Well, this is only my third day here in the
city, and my first for training, so I’m sure you’re a lot better
than me.” Aiden smiled.

“I guess we’ll see,” Felix said, smiling
back. Aiden decided he could like this boy: he didn’t seem cocky,
and he was friendly enough to him.

The Captain was yelling for everyone to get
into rows, facing their partner. Aiden and Felix fell into line
beside Wolf and Logan. Logan looked over and smiled at him.
“Remember all the pointers I gave you,” he whispered across the
space separating them.

“Logan!” the Captain yelled. “Shut up when I
am talking, or I will shut you up myself.” Logan closed his mouth
instantly, but Aiden could see the sides of his mouth twitching
from his desire to smile. Wolf also seemed to be struggling. “All
right, you useless bunch, let’s get started.”

Aiden held the shield in front of him, and
the axe in the other hand. He kept reminding himself that he
couldn’t just block, he also had to attack his opponent. Both hands
had to be working, he told himself. Although when someone else was
running at you, it was hard to keep that in mind. The mechanics of
fighting were easy enough to understand—block the hits from the
other person, and hit them instead. Once you’re in the situation,
however, the mechanics seemed to get fuzzy, and Aiden found himself
struggling just to stay on his feet. Felix was a good fighter; the
month he had been there showed through. Aiden was holding his own,
though, which he couldn’t help but feel proud about. He already
felt stronger than he had yesterday with Logan.
Is that even
possible?
he wondered. Despite the numerous pairs fighting
around them, Aiden could feel the Captain’s eyes only on him. He
was watching to see what Aiden could do on his own, and Aiden
didn’t want to disappoint.

Felix ran at him with a high blow, the short
curved sword he held coming down fast at Aiden’s head. Lunging
forward, Aiden held the shield high above his head, blocking the
blow that was headed for his skull, and swung the axe around,
hitting Felix in the open area at his ribs with the blunt side of
the axe. It was left unguarded during his own attack. Felix fell
over in pain, holding his side and gasping for air. Aiden had
knocked the breath right out of him.

Kneeling down beside him, Aiden started to
apologize immediately. “I didn’t mean to hit you so hard, Felix,”
he was saying as the Captain walked up to them.

“What are you apologizing for, boy?” he
barked. “This is combat—you’re supposed to hit your opponent.
Felix, get up and start again.” Felix nodded his head, holding the
side that had been hit as he stood back up.

“I’m so sorry,” Aiden whispered again as
they took their fighting stances.

“No worries, Aiden.” He smiled, although
Aiden could tell he was still in pain. “As the Captain said, it is
the point of the exercise.”

Aiden nodded his head, and they ran at each
other once more, falling back into the same movements as before.
This time, Felix came at him with a blow to the side that Aiden was
too slow to block. The pain reverberated through his whole ribcage,
causing him to curse out loud. Everyone turned to look at him in
surprise.

“What was that?” Wolf laughed. His face
heated as he realized the “F-word” wasn’t something they used in
Eden.

“Sorry,” he breathed, trying to avoid
everyone’s looks. “Just a … saying I picked up from home.”

“All right, boys,” the Captain interrupted.
“Everyone take a break for lunch. Aiden,” he shouted. Aiden jumped
in surprise. “You stay with me.” Aiden nodded his head, looking
back at Felix.

“Sorry,” Felix said, thinking that Aiden was
in trouble. Everyone walked over and took off the gear, heading
back toward the main hall for lunch. Aiden walked over to the
Captain, who stood by the entrance in the only shade in the
place.

“Not bad, son,” he said as Aiden approached.
“I expected you to be worse. I mean, you’re definitely not the
best—your technique is crap, and you clearly have trouble bearing
the weight of the tools—but you’re not hopeless. How is your side?”
he asked curiously.

“Sore,” Aiden replied honestly.

“Hmm, let me know how it is in the morning.
Now, let us get some practice in before the others come back.”
Aiden nodded his head, inwardly crying as he realized he wouldn’t
be allowed to leave for lunch. The Captain was probably bent on
working him hard, knowing that they didn’t have very much time to
get him to the level he needed to be.

“You look like crap,” Logan said, his mouth
full of food.

“I feel like crap,” Aiden complained.

“What was the Captain doing with you all
day?”

“Perfecting my craft,” Aiden replied,
repeating the same words the Captain had been saying to him all
day. They had spent hours together going over every move Aiden
made. The Captain fixed his stance, his hold, the positions of his
hands, the position of his head, everything from his head to his
toes. He scrutinized everything Aiden did, correcting him every
five seconds. By the end of the day, however, Aiden actually felt
like he was getting it. The speed with which he was picking it up
surprised even him. The Captain seemed pleasantly surprised as
well, which made Aiden very happy. He still wasn’t where he needed
to be, but he was slowly getting there.

Every muscle in his body hurt, though: it
felt like he had just spent the day in a gym lifting weights. The
Captain assured him that it would get easier, and that he’d just
have to push past the stiffness for the first bit. Aiden couldn’t
help but wonder how long exactly “a bit” was.

“Well, the Captain might have had you all
day today, but you’re mine tomorrow!” Wolf said, laughing
evilly.

“What? Why?” Aiden asked, slightly alarmed.
The Captain hadn’t mentioned anything about Wolf today.

“You might be coming along on ground, my
boy, but the real test is how you do on a horse.” Wolf smiled.
Aiden gulped, looking over at the smirk that covered Logan’s face
too.

“A horse?” he choked. Aiden hated horses.
Not that he didn’t find them to be pretty creatures, but they were
huge and scary, and very capable of breaking his bones. The thought
of riding one made him want to puke.

“You need to learn to ride, and the best
person to teach you is Wolf,” Logan said.

“Better get rested up, newbie. Tomorrow is
going to be an even longer day!” Wolf slapped him on the back.
Aiden knew that Wolf had been from the Riders in the west, so it
made sense they would have him teach him. As far as Aiden
understood, the Riders rode horses like it was second nature to
them. Diana had told him that they rode from the age of one, a
requirement amongst their people. If Wolf had been sent to be in
the King’s army, then he must have been the best Rider of them all.
Aiden knew he’d be in good hands, but that did little to ease his
mind. The picture of a large horse, and him flying through the air,
occupied his mind for the rest of the night until he fell asleep.
Even in his dreams he was riding a horse, and being thrown into
trees, only to wake up gasping in fright.

“Fuck me,” he whispered, rolling over and
covering his head with his pillow.

CHAPTER SEVEN

The morning sun filled his room, awakening
him to the new day. That day’s events hit him again, and he moaned
in despair. The thought of him riding a horse was almost comical,
if he wasn’t positive he’d break his neck doing so.

“Are we up, sunshine?” Wolf asked, poking
his head in the door.

“Yes,” Aiden moaned. Wolf laughed, walking
into the room. “I’ve never ridden a horse, you know, so please take
it easy with me.”

Sitting down on the edge of his bed, Wolf
looked at Aiden questioningly. “Tell me,” he started. “How is it
that a boy from a small village outside the city has never ridden a
horse?”

Aiden looked around nervously. Elisa wasn’t
there to save him this time, and he was a terrible liar. “Um, well,
I just always preferred to walk.”

“Sure.” Wolf nodded, unconvinced. “I don’t
know what it is with you, but I know there’s something, and I
will
find out what it is.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” Aiden said,
trying to look innocent.

“Come on, newbie. Let’s get this over
with.”

Aiden got up and dressed himself in the
riding pants and shirt they had given him the night before. He had
also, thankfully, been able to shower before dinner last night. The
“showers” here were pretty much what he had expected: wooden stalls
with a bucket of water that dropped on you when you pulled a
string. No massaging heads or hot water. It cleaned him up at
least, so he was thankful. He was beginning to smell quite bad
before then.

They walked down to the front door, entering
the street amongst the bustle of people walking around.

“Where are we going?” Aiden asked, assuming
they’d be heading to the training area. Instead, Wolf started to
lead away from the dormitory, toward another street across the
lane.

“Outside,” Wolf called back over his
shoulder.

Aiden sped up so he was walking beside him.
“I figured we’d be outside,” he replied. “I just thought we’d be in
the dorm grounds.”

Wolf laughed. “Not outside like out of the
building, you fool. I don’t think you’re that daft. I mean outside
the city, beyond the walls. There is more room there to ride a
horse, and you’ll need a lot of room.” He continued to smile as
they walked. Aiden could just imagine what he was thinking. He was
probably picturing how bad Aiden was bound to be—he certainly was
thinking that.