by Morgan, SL
His answering smile was not as bright. “Did you rest well?”
“I did. Thank you for bringing me back to my room; sorry I fell asleep on you.”
“There is no need to apologize. You needed the rest.” His mood seemed odd. This wasn’t the loving, compassionate Levi she had grown used to. This was an instructor, and taking his instruction lightly was not going to be an option.
He led her over to the middle of the room.
“Reece, the purpose of the training today is to prepare your mind to never surrender, no matter the situation. Tomorrow we may come into a situation where it feels that I cannot help you. It will be imperative that you do not panic under such circumstances. I will need you to be fearless until I can get to you. You must understand; you will not have the physical strength to overpower your captors. Therefore, our focus today is to teach you to rely on your mental strength instead. You must want to fight, even though you know you are not strong enough physically. Your mind is the most powerful thing you have, and until we can teach you how to use its power properly, your body’s natural tendency will most likely be either to freeze, or to run. Either one will put your captors at a great advantage. If you can resist the natural urge to panic, and instead put forth your best fight, it will give me time to get to you.”
With that, he started the training.
After what seemed to be about an hour of jumping rope, running in place, and other various calisthenics to bring up her heart rate, and stretch and warm her muscles, Levi picked up a pair of strike pads, much like the ones she remembered from her self-defense class. “Let us work on your form with a few strikes against these.”
“I think I throw a pretty good punch, so be prepared. I don’t want to hurt you,” she teased.
He reacted with a look of annoyance. “Just strike the pads, Reece, I will adjust your form if I see need for improvement.”
Not in the mood for joking, then. All right. She threw a couple of punches, got into her rhythm, and Levi stopped her to adjust her form. It happened over and over. Annoyingly, his face gave no indication of whether she was doing better, or worse.
After the striking drills, he brought her over to a large punching bag in the corner of the room. First he showed her the kicking form he wanted her to use on the bag, then he allowed her to begin throwing her kicks against it.
She was tiring, and fatigue made her irritable. Levi was not helping. He began raising his voice, and constantly stopping her to correct her approach to the bag. She never lashed back at him, although she wanted to. Instead, she pushed harder.
Levi never once stopped to allow her to rest. When she thought he actually would, he pushed her into a more rigorous drill. The only rest she got was the short time it took to take a sip of water before he brought her back to the center of the room.
“We will go through a series of motions that I want you to defend yourself against. I want you to give yourself over to your mind. Let the element of surprise take you, and then see how you can react with it.”
They practiced many different self-defense moves. Levi taught her how to avoid being attacked, and how to escape from various holds. He taught her how to twist away from someone coming up from behind; actually, she had trouble with that one. Over and over she tried, but Levi corrected her every time. When she finally mastered it, she felt triumphant.
Levi showed no reaction. She decided to give him an opportunity to give her the positive input she deserved. “Wow! I finally got it! I didn’t know I could do that!”
He stared at her sternly. “The only way to know if you can actually do the move is to be in a situation in which you are forced to use it.”
She looked at him incredulously. Her voice began to rise with frustration. “What are you talking about? You showed me the move; we ran the drill, and I got away from the bad guy. All I’m saying is that I learned something new.”
His eyes narrowed, staring down at her. He looked annoyed. Well, she could do annoyed, too. “Whatever,” she said. “What are we doing next anyway? Let’s just move on.”
“Stay here.” He answered her flatly.
Reece stood and waited. She closed her eyes, trying to enjoy the break. Gradually, the dark behind her eyelids seemed to deepen and she felt calmer. She thought about sitting down.
Suddenly, she was grabbed and trapped. She knew immediately it was Levi. Now was her chance to show him what she’d learned. Using the moves he had taught her, she began to twist out of his grip. Her eyes flew open—to total darkness. She could see nothing. Panic set in, darkness consumed her, and she couldn’t remember the steps she needed. Her heart beat loudly in her ears. She had to—had to!—prove to Levi that she could do this.
The angrier and more frustrated she became, the less skill she seemed to have. She began to cry out of frustration and anger. Levi had been right; she really hadn’t learned the move thoroughly. They had worked for hours, and she thought she had learned something, but she really hadn’t. The thought sapped her will to fight and her ability to think.
She tried to focus and fight against her tired body’s screaming that she had reached her limits. Levi growled instructions in her ear, and his arms tightened around her more. She fought to try and listen to his commands, but she felt herself weakening further. Completely drained, she stopped fighting his strength.
Levi held her tighter. “Are you going to give up, Reece? Fight back!”
“Stop. You win.”
“NO!” he shouted. “You must find your way out of this!”
She started to panic. She was afraid of this new Levi. She searched for air but couldn’t find it. “Levi, STOP! I can’t breathe!”
He released her, and she collapsed to the ground taking deep breaths. All of this work was for nothing, she thought, defeated. She lay there, her body weak, and trembling from exhaustion. She knew she could not pull herself to her legs to stand if she wanted to. She was extremely fatigued, with nothing left. She became angry that she panicked, and forced her body to recover itself.
When the lights to the room came back on, she saw Levi’s back as he exited the building. She closed her eyes again, more upset with herself than ever. She could only imagine what he was thinking. She sat up and tried not to think. A short rest, and then she would pull herself to her feet and head to the house, alone.
A few minutes later, Levi returned with Samuel by his side. Samuel gave Reece a concerned look, and went to stand in the back of the room.
Levi went to Reece and knelt down, bringing himself to her level. “Reece, let us get you back to the house. You’ve pushed yourself beyond exhaustion. This will not work. Forgive me; I pushed you hard for nothing.”
His words were not what she wanted to hear. “What? That’s it?”
He answered her firmly. “We will have to find another way. I will have a Pemdai warrior travel with us tomorrow. This was too much, and too fast, for you. You are from Earth, and your mind is not capable of handling the stress that we Pemdai can. I am sorry.”
She felt her body become instantly numb in response to the insult. Then the numbness was replaced by adrenaline, giving her a second wind. She stared angrily at Levi, and spoke slowly and firmly. “I am not finished, Levi. I just needed a break.”
If she hadn’t been so angry, she would have flinched at his dark expression. “Reece, you cannot do this. It’s over.”
Heat rushed through her. Her anger took over and brought fuel to every muscle in her body. She used this newfound strength to restrain herself from slapping Levi’s rigid face. She glared at him, but his expression didn’t change. It only made her angrier. “Do not tell me what I can or can’t do,” she growled, in a voice she hadn’t known she owned.
Levi stood up, not taking his eyes from hers. “Get up.” He squared himself back into a position she recognized. She squared up to him, her body begging for a chance to counter whatever he came at her with. When he advanced her, she countered the approach perfectly, without even thinking.<
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From out of nowhere, Samuel captured her from the side. She spun away. As soon as she escaped that attack, another came from the other side. She couldn’t break free from this one, but she never stopped fighting. The attacker released her, and she was instantly attacked from another direction. Her mind stayed focused and intent.
With every hit, she fought with everything she had in her, until the attacker pulled back, or she was able to remove him. She wasn’t perfectly successful; the men were too strong, and more than once she found herself helpless. She did not master the skills Levi had taught her, but she did exactly what he wanted her to do; she fought without considering to surrender. She could not make out the faces of her attackers, not even Levi’s. She only knew that her life was in danger, and she fully gave herself over to the fighting instincts she had not known she possessed. She never gave up, and never once panicked.
Reece did not know how long this went on. Amazingly, she did not feel tired. Adrenaline pumped through her body, and she felt nothing, only power. Finally, there were no more attacks. She stood in the middle of the room out of breath, waiting, just in case. Her legs weren’t shaking as they had earlier; she enjoyed the power she felt running through her.
When her eyes focused, she found Levi standing across from her, smiling broadly. Samuel stood at his side, and two other men walked over to join them. She let out a breath as Levi came to her and wrapped his arms around her.
Feeling her muscles begin to loosen and relax, she collapsed happily against him. Her heartbeat and breathing slowed.
“I believe we may have just unleashed our next greatest Pemdai warrior. It’s over, my love; now, let us calm you down a bit.”
She pulled back, looking up at him. “You planned that all along, didn’t you?”
He smiled apologetically. “I will tell you, it was a lot harder than I expected to watch you transform into a raging lioness. Any attacker coming at you unexpectedly will be shocked when they meet with your newfound talents. I am beyond impressed. You have done extremely well today.”
She smiled up at him. Samuel and the two other men walked over to them, and expressed their opinions about how well she did before leaving the room.
“Who were those guys with Samuel?” She asked Levi.
“They are Guardians; they were here today to assist in your training. I needed a couple of other men to add to the chaos while you were being attacked.”
Levi was a completely different man from earlier, his expression was more pleasant.
He looked down at her. “Let us get you cleaned up and attended to so you’ll be able to walk in the morning. We have a special drink for recovery; it will keep the soreness away from your muscles.”
Reece laughed. “I didn’t even think about that.”
As they left the building, Reece noticed the skies had darkened. She looked up at Levi, amazed, “How long have we been training?”
He grinned. “You were able to withstand all of that for twelve hours.”
“What? Wow!”
“But,” he said, “I need you to understand what you really accomplished today.”
“Okay?”
He smiled. “It is for your protection that I say this to you, so please do not take this the wrong way. You did exceedingly well for someone who has spent only one day in training. This training was to help you stay calm in the event you are overpowered, and I cannot get to you in time. The men who were helping with this exercise were given limits, and told what Samuel and I needed to achieve. You did impress me, but you cannot take on a skilled Ciatron guard, and hope to defeat him.” He stopped just before ascending the steps up to the Palace, and turned to face her. He reached down, and caressed her cheek with the back of his hand. “Do you understand?”
“Levi, I’m not going to do anything crazy. I saw the way you fought those guys in the park that day you saved me, and I watched how quickly you move. I know if I practiced every day for the rest of my life, I wouldn’t come close to that. I’m not going to try and be your sidekick tomorrow, I promise.”
He laughed. “Thank you, love. I don’t need anything else to worry about.”
“Well, quit worrying. I’m not that crazy. What I am, is starving; I really need to get cleaned up.”
His eyes sparkled and he bent to kiss her. “Let’s get you to your room, and I will return in an hour to escort you to dinner.”
Chapter 26
Dinner that night seemed to be another test of Reece’s abilities; although, this time, the test was how long she could manage to stay awake. She did extremely well up until the point that she was seated at the table, and everyone began talking. Reece struggled to respond to the conversation. Levi looked at her more than once with concern, but when he saw her cover up a yawn, his face relaxed and he grinned. Glad I’m amusing him, Reece thought. She couldn’t blame him, though; she knew she must have looked like a half-conscious zombie. If she closed her eyes, she’d probably wake up with her face in her plate.
After dinner, Reece said her goodnights, and then placed her arm in Levi’s, and he escorted her to her room.
“I feel as though I should carry you to your room, as I did the other night.” He chuckled.
Reece mumbled a response. She couldn’t remember ever being this tired. After he left, she collapsed into bed after quickly slipping into her long, silky night gown.
The next afternoon, Reece was making final preparations for her return to Earth. Levi had secretly retrieved a comfortable pair of jeans and a warm hooded sweatshirt from her apartment for their return. Jasmeen handed her the outfit, and arched her eyebrow with reproach.
Reece laughed, and embraced her. “Oh, Jasmeen, don’t worry; if everything goes as planned, I’ll be back and in an extravagant gown sooner than you think!”
Jasmeen returned the hug. “You’re right, and I’d be worried, but I know you’re in excellent care.”
Reece had just finished changing into her jeans and sweatshirt when Allestaine and Elizabeth arrived to escort her outside to where the men were waiting. She quickly pulled her shoes on, and went to her sitting room. Allestaine and Elizabeth looked as beautiful as always—a pictorial reminder of the life Reece could not wait to return to, if she would return at all. Will we be successful? She felt her nerves beginning to take over, and fear setting in from everything they were about to face. Reece exhaled and hoped Allestaine did not see the anxiety that she was currently battling.
Allestaine smiled sympathetically, and she embraced Reece. “Let us not be so distressed. You will return to us safe and sound. Our brave men will not allow anything to happen to you, Reece.”
She withdrew and placed her hands on Reece’s shoulders. She stared directly into her eyes as she spoke confidently. “There are no goodbyes today.” She smiled brightly. “You must know that my husband and son will take care of you. I have no doubt of that. All our love goes with you.”
Reece could say nothing; she nodded in return.
“Reece, my mother is correct. You must trust that Levi and my father would never let anything happen to you, or you would not be returning to Earth with them.” Elizabeth softly added. She walked over and embraced Reece, “You will be back with all of us before you know it.”
Reece smiled at Elizabeth, seeing the strength and confidence in her eyes, she felt somewhat relieved. Therefore, she drew her strength from Allestaine and Elizabeth as they walked down the halls and out to the courtyard.
When they stepped outside, Reece caught her breath at the size of the crowd. Family and servants, some of whom Reece had never seen before, stood waiting; among them were Nathanial and Madeleine. Nathanial was to remain at the Palace to stand in Navarre’s place, serving as a symbol of strength until their Emperor returned.
Beyond family and servants, there were close to thirty men with horses; some mounted, and some still bidding their loved ones goodbye. The horses were dressed as if for a parade, in red blankets embroidered with gold arrows on them. She touched
her bracelet, which bore the same arrow in the patterns. The horses also had matching fabrics that covered their faces, with three red billowy feathers that stood out from the top of the horses’ heads. It was a magnificent sight to behold.
All the men were dressed in black. She searched for Levi, and found him talking with Navarre and Samuel. Like the others, he wore all black, the same attire she had seen in the picture in Navarre’s office. He wore the tall black boots, the leather gloves, and the red-lined cloak, with as comfortable an air as he had worn a business suit on Earth. He looked tall and imposing, and then he looked over at her and smiled.
Levi and Navarre walked toward Lady Allestaine and Reece. Navarre’s clothes were identical, but with silver arrows instead of gold. Braided ribbons of silver draped down along one shoulder, matching the silver lining and trim of his cape.
For the first time, Reece wished that Jasmeen would have dressed her for whatever occasion this was. She felt completely ridiculous standing there in jeans.
Levi approached his mother, and she kissed his cheek. “I’m proud of you. Do well.”
Reece followed Levi out through the lined-up horses. “Levi,” she whispered, “I feel like an idiot. Why is everyone, including the horses, more dressed up than I am?”
He looked at her and grinned. “Of all the questions you could ask... But, indeed, you look like quite the little Earth dweller now, don’t you?” He unfastened his cloak, and took it off to wrap it around her. “It will keep you warm on the journey.”
The importance of this departure began to sink in. “Levi?” She asked as he was checking Areion’s girth. “What’s with all the dress up? Are we having a parade?”
He smoothed the blanket and turned to her. “It’s a gesture. The people of Pemdas are sending their Emperor away in the hope that he will return home with their husbands and sons. We’re in a bad way, Reece. My father is leading the last of the Guardian’s army out to free the captives, avenge the dead, and restore hope. All this”—Areion lowered his head to nuzzle him, and Levi flicked the plumes on his headstall—”brings confidence to the people.”