Kathea

22. Struggle

Her arrow went clean through her prey's throat. She scarcely ever misses her target; Iliana wondered if her fear of starvation made her pick up years of training in a couple of months. After all, she really had to eat; her body's health was deteriorating from the lack of food.

After the hunting test was over, Earl assigned each of his warriors to train with Nagin weapons. Iliana was assigned to a brutal warrior named Keith. He was one of Earl's direct commanders, and was known to eat his enemy's hearts. He was also a rare mutation himself; his bright silver scales were adorned with black stripes.

Iliana often wondered if he forgot that she was human sometimes, or maybe he never did, and treated the Nagas with acrimony. Kathea usually trained near, she was assigned to Linus; the complete antithesis of Keith. He was charming and sweet; in addition to the weapon training, Linus was magic training Kathea. He is also a wielder, but Iliana never knew what his ability was; he never showed it even to Kathea.

"Attack!", commanded Keith in his guttering voice.

Oh he was clearly getting pissed, Iliana barley lifted her dagger and sloppily aimed at him. He came close enough for her to smell his rotten breath.

"One more mistake, and you're to be punished", he threatened. Iliana only nodded not daring to speak; he was really frightening her. With a shaky hand, she aimed at him again; it wasn't enough that she missed, but her stance was off. It was like he taught her nothing.

Iliana stood there, watching his eyes getting red-rimmed. Before he could make her do pushups, or run up the hill with buckets of water, she aimed again in attempt to fix her previous mistake.

She made the biggest mistake of all, she was open; to show her that, Keith lifted his tail and smacked her face. She fell right onto her knees, with her hands supporting her. 'I'm fine, I'm fine", she said to herself.

From the distance, she could feel Kathea's radiated energy wafting through the atmosphere. Her wind manipulation was getting better by day; she could only see her back and stretched out hands, keeping that posture to help her focus.

Iliana felt that there was an unnatural amount of saliva in her mouth, not to mention a hard substance. Then she felt the tang, it was blood. She opened her mouth, and watched as her blood drifted in the air; her molar, fell to the ground. Oh, she wanted to cry so badly.

The blood kept drifting on the magically spun air, and then reached its owner. Kathea's amber eyes snapped open. This was a scent she hoped she would never smell again. The day when Iliana was whipped, the day when they spoke with... She shook the thought away, and whirled towards Iliana.

She crossed the distance between her, and placed her hands on her shoulders; shaking her, she could see the bruise blooming on her left cheek, and the molar on the ground. She floundered into a standing position, and met Keith with a piercing stare.

"Your majesty", he cocked his head, "It will grow back, please worry no more"

She swaggered up towards him, and grabbed him by the collar.

"Human teeth, never grow back", she growled from between her teeth, her eyes where lined by a golden flame.

"My apologies", he replied.

"You hurt her again, and you are my knew fancy boots", she threatened. He nodded and backed away.

Kathea embraced her friend, and carried her to her hut. There she gave Iliana her medicinal herbs that stop bleeding to bite on. And watched her as she drifted to sleep.

Iliana slept for a whole day, and found Kathea sitting beside her like a proud cat. The fresh prey at her feet explained why.

"I'll cook for you ", she assured her friend, and pinched the wrong cheek.

"Ouch!", complained Iliana, as Kathea's calloused hands pinched her cheeks.

"Sorry! I'm sorry, I'll be careful next time.", she apologized as she carried the animal away.

Iliana stared blankly at her palm, and found them to be calloused as well. She could feel her thrumming power as she stood up, and carried her daggers, and left the tent. The daggers weight was light to her now. But she still fails at close range battles.

"No, no, no. You should rest", said Kathea as she skinned the animal.

"I'm fine, I guess I'll watch you work". Kathea smiled, and continued her work.

An hour later, Iliana's plate was filled with well grilled meat. Kathea felt satisfied just by watching her eat.

"About your training, I spoke with Earl", began Kathea. Iliana looked to were Earl was, speaking to one of his soldiers.

"He sure doesn't look happy", commented Iliana as she munched. Kathea laughed.

"You will be training with me from now on". Iliana didn't know if she should feel relieved, or a burden; but Kathea sure went through hell with that thick-headed Earl. She had no choice but to say yes.