by M E Wolf
Alexandra was also getting ravenously hungry and decided to slowly come out of her meditation. Many times she tried to get up, but realized that she was not ready to when her legs and arms would not work. She gradually put feeling back into her arms and legs as she slowly came out of her meditation. After many unsuccessful tries to get up, she finally was able to sit up.
She saw Jentus by the fire that he had made while she was still deep in her meditation. When she stood, her legs were a little shaky and she would have fallen back down, but for the tree that she had rested her hand on. Alexandra waited a few moments and then tried to walk again. It was slow going at first, but she eventually made it to Jentus’ side. Once there, Jentus spoke,
“I don’t know how you did it, but I don’t see any bruises on you. I know that I had to hit you real hard because I still have the bruises on my hands. In fact you look stronger than when we first had started this training. Where are you from? What are you? You cannot tell me that you are of this planet.” Jentus was looking at her strangely, like he was puzzled and confused about something concerning her. There was also a hint of fear in his eyes.
Alexandra looked at Jentus for a moment just as confused and distraught as he appeared to be or maybe even more. She did not understand why he was acting this way because she only knew the village that she was brought up in, except for the fact that she came out of an egg and was a Dochani but she had blurted that out to him already.
Of course she knew that she was different from everyone else. That of course would be really strange, very strange indeed for him to realize that she was not Sevlin. Looking up at Jentus’ sad eyes she decided to speak knowing that he would not believe her,
“Jentus, I was born, or came from an egg, in a village far from here on this planet. Why would you think me so different that I would be from another planet, even if true? What makes you think that I am from another planet? If I am from another planet, which one am I from? Besides, do I look any different than anyone else that you have seen?” Alexandra waited for his response.
She really did want to know how much he really knew about the Dochani and that she was one. Mostly, she wanted to play out this conversation with him. He looked at her and then spoke,
“You have this healing thing that no one I know has, and I know a lot of people. I know that I am not that old, but it seems strange for someone your age to be so talented at what I have been teaching you and we have only been in the first day of your training. Before I was assigned to your training, I was told that your spots were not real but tattooed onto your skin.
“They do not look tattooed onto you to me. In fact they are as real as a birthmark. I think that your spots were latent and just did not show before the tattoo man started putting tattoos on you. After all he did say that he did not have to do much to bring them out and in fact never once had to use any dye to bring out the colours, which means that they were already there.
“Even though I don’t trust the dirty old man, he was telling the truth about this. And now those dots are a very prominent feature of your appearance. A legend of the L’art’o tells of a story that a Dochani came to us L’art’o and passed on some knowledge to us of other worlds, one of which was where they were from.
“The world that this Dochani came from was in turmoil and at war with some other world that was mentioned. It was said that our world would be under attack in the far future. There is some twenty odd years left in the prophecy, but with all prophesies they may not be realized when we think that they should be.
“It is our custom to have female outsiders to be branded, and tattooed with dots in order to represent the Dochani visitor. That is the reason for your harsh tests at the beginning and the almost royal treatment that you receive now.
“I believe that you are not just a representative of the Dochani, but a real Dochani. What I am now going to tell you may shock you, but it must be done. You must know what a Dochani is capable of doing, at least what we know of the abilities of a Dochani.
“This information that I give you will help you survive in this or another hostile world. I will tell you of the known weaknesses that some Dochani have and how to defend against those who know these weaknesses. Only some Dochani have these weaknesses and most that do, do not know that they do. The not knowing is what makes a weakness a weakness.
“They, the Dochani, come from a far away planet that is more hostile than this because of the many wars that have taken place there. Many races have fought and lost against the Dochani, but those victories came with a great price. Their planet has been bombarded with so many things that it is almost dead, but for one thing.
“That thing is the heart of the planet and the heart of the planet is made of some ethereal material that cannot be destroyed, so conditions just get worse. The Dochani that came here told us that their planet would heal itself only if the wars stop for a while.
“She said that it needed at least two thousand years of rest, a rest that will be long in coming. The wars are probably still going on to this day and they were going on throughout the existence of their planet. Their planet, as far as the Dochani knew, was around for over three hundred thousand years, which happened to be how long the Dochani were in existence on the planet.
“To us L’art’o the Dochani are a strange race of people. They are not born but hatched from eggs. The eggs can lay dormant for thousands of years under the sand. When discovered and left above ground they will hatch within two months to nine years.
“Once hatched they must be cared for like any other baby as far as I know because some of what I tell you as I said before is passed from generation to generation of L’art’o and thus could have changed from the first telling from the Dochani lady that was here before.
“They look normal to everyone until they gain their spots. I don’t know what age that this takes place, but I do know that you have passed that age and that is why you have the spots.
“The Dochani that was here said that it takes time to gain the spots, so that a Dochani child is protected until she can use her abilities to defend herself. This morning I noticed that the tattooed spots on your body were faded and I had to squint to see them clearly.
“Now your spots are very vivid and I could make them out, even if I was over a thousand paces from you. You must be careful from this point on because your abilities will not be controllable at the beginning. Control will come with discipline and practice.
“About their weaknesses, there are many so I will tell you about the three fatal weaknesses. You may or may not have these, but more than seventy percent of the Dochani exhibit these weaknesses. Less than ten percent of the Dochani exhibit any of the other weaknesses.
“The first fatal weakness is their reaction to water, unfortunately you won’t find out if you have it until after you gain your spots. Water takes away all of a Dochani’s abilities and strength for a time and leaves them defenseless.
“If it happened in front of an enemy, it would be devastating because you would be powerless to stop them from killing you. The second weakness is worse than the first. There was an element out there on some planet that had changed one of their people as said by the Dochani that was here.
“It brought great intelligence to them, but at a great cost to the bearer of that intelligence. The Dochani that came into contact with the substance went mad or insane, which is what the term is known to us as. Here the insane are known as crazy fools that babble about things that are beyond our comprehension.
“The Dochani actually understood these nuts that were on our planet because what they said was true. My ancestors, of whom were to have met this Dochani, said that she was a woman of great beauty that surpassed the beauty of all those that they had seen before.
“Her name was Kenjin and those of the L’art’o called her Mandy. So, this Mandy told us many things about the Dochani. My ancestors said that she left from here to warn others of the impending danger. She never came back to this place and
so we started our tradition to honour her.
“The third fatal weakness is worse than the second. If silver touches a Dochani’s flesh, meaning breaks the skin, it is like a poison that has no cure. Within a few days the Dochani will be very ill or dead. It is rare that one survives a blow from a weapon crafted from silver, but Mandy said that some have done just that.
“Those that have survived, survive with defects that somehow magnify their powers and abilities. The Dochani have much strength that is still not fully understood. Some of those strengths can be weaknesses if they are not careful. There are ten main abilities that the Dochani have.
“They heal at an alarming rate, their intelligence is beyond that of the Sevlin, they learn faster, some can travel to other planets, they are stronger, they can naturally live longer than a thousand years, great agility, great endurance, great speed and great natural fighting ability.
“There is only one thing and that is that most Dochani do not realize their potential and are killed long before their four or five hundredth year. That is most of what I know about the Dochani. At least it is what I remember from the basic schooling that all L’art’o must go through. After we eat we have to get back to your training because it will be the key to your survival.”
Jentus put some food on a plate, and handed it to Alexandra.
CHAPTER FORTY EIGHT
She wondered when he had the time to hunt for rabbit because the rabbit on the plate was fresh. Alexandra enjoyed the roasted rabbit, wild onions and the variant of wild mushrooms that was on the plate. Wiping the meat juices from her mouth with the back of her hand, she spoke while continuing to chew her food,
“Do you know anymore stuff about the Dochani?”
Jentus looked up as he shoved another piece of the rabbit into his mouth,
“The best people to ask about your origins are your parents. All that I know about them has been told to you. Orlghar the high elder of our tribe knows the most, but I don’t know if he will give you an audience. He might make an exception after I explain to him that you are a true Dochani.”
Alexandra still did not understand how she was a Dochani, other than what was passed from her ancestors from her mother’s line. She did not know who her father was. The information that Jentus had told her already about the Dochani was overwhelming. It was hard to picture living over a thousand years and worse yet that she came from an egg, although she knew that was true already.
Knowing something did not make it any easier to grasp or understand. She wondered how long her egg lay dormant before her friend’s parents’ parents’ had come across it and if there were other eggs that were her siblings. These things would take time to get used to. After finishing what was on her plate she handed it to Jentus and he asked her if she wanted more. She was still hungry so she accepted the second plate of food.
Surprised at her hunger and appetite she finished her fourth helping and decided to have no more, even though she was still hungry. Both of them talked for a bit while they waited for the food to settle in their stomachs. Fifteen minutes went by, and Jentus was the first to get up,
“We must continue with your training. The day is not over yet and there is still a lot of time left to train. You must be patient with me because now that I know that you are Dochani the training will get more difficult.
“Of course that includes the enchanted forest that is a must for your survival. After these next six months are over you will have to keep up your training on your own. Doing this should improve your skills. You must also explore your Dochani abilities as well.
“I should probably not say that time is of the essence since you have the ability to live so long but anyone or anything can shorten that life span, so it has been said. Now let’s get to your strength training, then running in the enchanted forest, your basic combat and your meditation.”
Jentus looked very serious when he was talking to her and Alexandra knew that he would be like a drill sergeant for the rest of her hunter training.
Jentus explained to her about sets and reps. Sets, as he explained it, are the amount of times a unit of repetitions of an exercise is repeated. His example was if she did six push-ups, rested then did six more push-ups she would have done two sets of six reps. He told her this so that she would understand when he told her to do a certain amount of sets and reps.
He made her do ten sets of six reps in push-ups, ten sets of eight reps in crunches, ten sets of five reps in leg raises and made her climb up and down the tree twenty times. She was tired, but knew that he was not finished with her. Alexandra expected him to send her into the enchanted forest, but he moved her into the basic combat instead.
It was the longest hour that she had ever endured in her life or at least it seemed to be. Jentus sent many punches and kicks at her that would have stopped any normal person. To her there was no difference between her and anyone else on Sevle. Near the end of the hour she began to wonder if Jentus ever took a breath while he fought.
He had the courage and strength of a lion and the speed of some wild cat that her friends always had warned her about. She felt tired, but knew that Jentus would no longer let her use it as an excuse and besides even if her bruises were temporary they still hurt something fierce. When she figured out that they were done basic combat training, Jentus told her that he would be teaching her basic strikes.
Meaning that he would teach her how to punch, use her elbow, use her knee and some basic kicks. The morning exercises paled in comparison to what she had to go through this afternoon. At least she would have a good night’s sleep. Jentus began his instruction,
“You make a fist in the same manner as when you are blocking. When punching, you do not frantically flail your arms about. In striking your opponent everything you do must be planned out carefully.
“I will train you to plan your strikes spontaneously. This is so that your opponent will be set off balance. It makes a difference in your stance, but that will be covered after three months when you are used to the basics of combat.
“Now let’s start the basic punches. For now we will focus on the straight punch, the right cross, the left cross and the uppercut. The straight punch is the easiest to learn, so we will start with that.
“For the straight punch you will have to extend your arm forward in a straight line putting weight on your front leg. This will allow for more power to be transferred to your punch, just leaning on your back leg will reduce the power of your opponent’s strike.
“It is not good to hit with the whole fist because of the nature of the punch. You do this with other punches, but with this one you hit with only the first two knuckles. These two knuckles will cause more damage than the usual four because you have the same power focused onto a smaller area. The straight punch is usually thrown as a jab to throw off your opponent.
“Some others believe a jab is to be thrown into the air about the face. This is wrong, and a clumsy way of fighting. From my experience every punch should count, including your jab.
“In a fight everything counts and that jab that makes contact with your opponent instead of hanging out in the wind for him to grab a hold of could off balance him. Now, try to hit me with a straight punch. Remember to maintain your blocking.”
At first the straight punch felt very awkward to Alexandra. It was definitely different than blocking. Every once in a while Jentus would correct the positioning of her legs and the execution of her straight punch. She lost count after she passed the several dozen punches mark for each closed fist and even more blocks.
Jentus continued to hit her very hard and in turn she tried to hit him as hard as she could, but the harder she tried the worse she became. He kept telling her that she should not force the punches, but let them flow and they would come. An hour of straight punches being exchanged back and forth from Alexandra and Jentus started the lesson on punching. Jentus called a halt and continued with his instructions,
“Now, for the right cross and the left cross.
The right cross is executed with the right hand hitting the left side of your opponent’s body or head and the left cross is executed with the left hand hitting the right side of your opponent’s body or head. It is a powerful punch that is usually used against your opponent’s ribs or jaw.
“It adds to the effectiveness of the straight punch, as it allows adequate time for it to be executed providing the cross is landed with the utmost accuracy. To perform this punch the arm is slightly bent at the elbow and the power of the upper body is transferred to the fist as it hits your opponent.
“Transferring the power of the upper body to the fist is not an easy task and takes unending patience to learn. I have not quite mastered it yet. Power is transferred to the fist by twisting the upper body back and then forward to deliver a powerful punch.
“Done properly even the smallest and weakest fighter can fell the biggest and strongest of fighters. Now, let’s try out the right and left cross. Remember to continue to throw your straight punches and block my punches. A lot of times blocking can decide the fate of the battle.”
Alexandra tried to transfer power to her crosses, but always took too long and got hit far more times than she wanted to. She attempted to throw a right cross without transferring the upper body’s power to it and it just glanced off of Jentus’ jaw with no apparent effect. Considering the way she struck Jentus and the fact that he was taking more time than usual to respond to her attack, Alexandra threw a left cross followed by a straight punch.
Catching him on the jaw with the cross and on the tip of his nose with the straight punch, Jentus went crashing to the ground. Afraid of what she had done to him she stood still where she was. After a few minutes he shook the dizziness out of his head and slowly stood up. Alexandra was relieved that he was okay. Moments later he spoke while rubbing his chin,