CHAPTER 11
“Wasted breath, hastened death.”
Ren’ai stood before him, gulping hard breath, trying to slow it. Cheeks red from effort, her body shook in short jerks from her shoulders down to bare feet. She did not know how Lieten could ask much more of her.
He watched her and said nothing.
She listened to the clack of his staff upon the arena’s cold rock, echoing through the vast cavern where he had brought her to train. He stepped around her, behind her. She dared not turn to face him. The clacking fell in rhythm, calming, hypnotic. It scared her to death.
The clacking stopped. The wood thrashed across her back. “Again.”
Ren’ai moved into a deep stance. Her hands shifted, first toward her then away in measured sway. She stepped forward, hip turned, kick up.
Lieten nabbed her ankle mid-kick, nearly sent her body spinning, but she held firm. “Higher.” He released her.
She curled in her leg and landed a foot back on the ground. She twisted to the side, throwing out a flat hand.
He blocked her strike. Her hand hit a firm arm. “Higher. The knife goes to the throat not the rib.” He pushed her hand to her side and pulled it out with a swiftness not her own. She could only release her own control, let him move her. “Here.” He scraped her soft fingertips across a rugged throat. Fingers burned across flesh and stubble, felt as if the skin had left them. Placing a hand upon her waist, he shifted her hip, forcing backward steps. “Attack and back. Lay your sure blow, and then let them come to you.” Lieten released her, took a backward step then another. “Again.”
Ren’ai moved into a deep stance. Her hands shifted, first toward her then away in measured sway. She stepped forward, hip turned, kick up.
Lieten thrust a hand forward as if he might grab her. He did not. The kick fell higher into the air.
Ren’ai held it, waiting to hear. Had she done better? Had she done well?
“Faster,” He smacked her leg with a quick whack of his staff.
She dared not flinch. She curled her leg in, twisting to the side; she threw her knife hand out.
“Back. Back.” He stepped toward her.
Ren’ai took one step back, another, holding her left hand just at her chest and the other out.
“Again. Faster. Higher.”
She started again. Moving faster at his command. Kicking up and coming back into stance. Knife out, back, back.
“Faster.”
She started again.
“Get that kick up. Start over.”
Ren’ai began again, moving faster.
“Reckless. Do it right.” The staff whipped across her back.
Ren’ai did not like reckless. She would not cut a timber all crooked and splintered. She tightened her strikes as she started again.
“Faster. Light steps. Don’t touch the ground.”
Ren’ai moved her body faster.
“Higher. Harder.”
Ren’ai fought through the motions again and again with a body beseeching her for rest. But she did not speak it. She moved faster. She struck hard as he called her to move.
“Wasted breath, hastened death.”
She slowed her breathing, moving her body on at his bidding.
“Back, back.”
Ren’ai stepped back, pulling her hands up.
“Block.” A staff hit her arm. The sound of wood against bone cracked through the arena. The pain of it shook her senses. Then again as he twisted the staff down hit her thigh.
She released an unintentional cry.
“Tighten up.” He took a step back. “Start again.”
She moved into her deep stance, kicked, twisted, knife, back, back.
He smacked her again. She braced and held firm once then twice. “Attack and back. They come to you. If your strike is true, an enemy offended will quickly lash out. This is the time to defeat him.” He took a step back. “Again.” He watched her, putting her every movement to the test. Weighing her efforts, scrutinizing the motions under a look she could not understand.
“Get that kick higher. Should have let the swamp have you. You’re worthless. You and your good for nothing sister.”
Rage filled her, but she held her tongue. She added it to her strength. She thought of her father and mother, cut down as they were. She knew her purpose. Why she endured. She had to be strong, stronger. It was the only way. The only way she might hope to one day punish him for taking everything from her. Ordering her father’s death. Sending those, dare she call them, soldiers to dispatch them. Ren’ai moved through the motions again ever buried in her thoughts. He stopped her kick. Drug her leg over to the side, with her other hopping with the motion to keep up.
He released her and she fell. He looked down to her little more than a wounded animal. “What were you thinking just then? What drove your action? What steadied your strike?”
No shame framed her face. “Revenge.”
Lieten lifted firm shoulders, threw his hands out, and then walked away from her.
She curled her legs up beneath her, feeling the raising welts across her body, praying for no more pain.
“Over here.” He called out to her.
She fought with her aching spirit to rise. Walking forward, she stood before him, a child looking up into those unforgiving eyes.
“Have a seat.”
Joy rose within her. It was over. She knew it. Rest at last. She sat upon the rock, pulling her knees to her chin.
Lieten dragged a large grain sack from the shadows. “Legs apart.”
She looked at him.
“Now.” His voice hung in the arena, bounced across the walls.
She complied as she had quickly learned to be the best course of action.
He reached into the sack, pulling one wooden block and then another. And another. Placing one at the inside one ankle and lining them across until he met the other. Her back against the wall, she moaned as he started pushing blocks into the middle, pushing her ankles further apart.
Her hips ached, pain sharp and sure, as she forced in yet another block when she thought certainly she bear no more. She cried out. “I can’t take it.” Tears welling in her eyes, raced down her cheeks though she tried to stop them.
He leaned over her, taking her face into his hands, smashing her cheeks between them. “Sometimes we must carry more than we can bear. It is how we grow stronger. This is not my way. I am only a part of it. Nakali, Kerr, Ivar, Grenal, all of those who fight for him. It is Pin Hi. A way of shifting motions. You must learn it if you are to protect the Healer. Become his guard.”
Ren’ai choked back a tear. “Guard?”
“Yes. It is Jabari’s wish that we train you to this end. This must drive you. You will live it every day. Pin Hi will become a part of you and you a part of Pin Hi. But Pin Hi and vengeance cannot dwell in one abode. You must choose. We cannot choose for you. We train guards to protect the Healer, not assassins as you might aspire to be.” He pressed harder into her cheeks. “Understand, Nai?”
She watched dark eyes as they looked down upon her. She could see relentless austerity there but she could see that he cared. In that moment she vowed that she would never cry again. She nodded.
“Good.” Lieten stepped back from her, judging for a moment as if deciding whether to add another brick. “Stay here until I come back for you. If you move I will drag you out to the swamp and be done with it, I swear it by the gods departed. Don’t you move.”
“I won’t move, Lieten.” She held back a sob.
He left her there, and she could only hope to find herself soon with Nakali. Diverting FlameChasers she found a much less trying task. Deep in the Jagged Caverns, she could not say if it were late morning or dusk had begun to pour out darkness upon the land. She could only hope for the latter. Along with a scrap of food in her belly, and a long night of sleep.