Spirit Animals: Life Of Tarik - Book 1

Training

It was a beautiful sunny day in the castle. Tarik stood in the Great Hall once again before it was time to train with his friends. He had already had breakfast, so he just had to wait for the training bell. He still couldn't believe what he saw in his dream, and at Trunswick. This was something he would never forget. Why did Lynk choose not to go into Trunswick? True, they would of been outnumbered, but something in Tarik's dream made him feel uneasy about the senior Greencloak. He hoped that Lynk would not be training with them today.

The sound of a bell rang out in the castle. The training bell, Tarik thought. As he made his way to the training room, his heart beat fast, he sent a silent prayer to the heavens hoping that Ricko would be training them. As he opened the door, his heart sank. Standing in the centre of the room was Lynk. Lishay and Dorian were checking out their weapons they had equipped when they joined as Tarik made his way to Lynk.
"Where's Ricko?" he asked, trying not to sound rude.
"He still needs time to recover from the bandit attack, I will be training you today", Lynk replied. Tarik gulped, he turned around to see Dorian and Lishay behind him, they didn't look happy either. A rumbling noise sounded from behind them. Tarik's heart dropped as he saw Lynk's mountain lion approach the group as calm as ever. Lishay summoned Zhosur, the white tiger glanced at the mountain lion, then turned his head to Lishay.
"It's okay, Zhosur. We're here to train", she said as she ran a hand through the big cat's fur. Dorian and Tarik summoned their spirit animals. Lumeo appeared in front of Tarik, and Dorian's owl flew onto his partner's shoulder.
"Today you will be learning combat skills with your spirit animals. This activity includes teamwork and good sport. I don't want to see any of you putting your team members or opponents down," Lynk's voice echoed in the room. As he spoke, three Greencloaks came into the room. Their spirit animals were dormant. A woman with long brown hair approached Lishay, another with black hair came to Dorian, and a man with tattoos and brown hair came to Tarik. It was the same man he met after he came back from Trunswick. He looked very young, possibly younger than twenty, Tarik couldn't tell.
"Hello again", said the man. "I am Finn".
"Hi, I'm Tarik", Tarik said while shaking the Greencloak's hand. 
"Recruits, please go to the weapons rack and choose your weapon", Lynk ordered. Tarik made his way to the rack and picked up a piece of rope. This isn't a weapon, he thought to himself. He watched as Dorian and Lishay picked out more strange objects from the rack. Lishay had picked up a large stick, and Dorian grabbed a spoon. As Lishay turned and looked at Tarik, she shrugged and laughed.
"These are very strange weapons", she joked.
"I know", Tarik agreed. The three of them had gone back to their opponents, waiting for more orders.
"When I say 'go', I want you to start fighting", said Lynk, his mountain lion sitting next to him proudly. "And don't forget to assist your allies if they need help".

Finn and the others drew their swords. How on Erdas was Tarik going to fight a man holding a sword with a piece of rope?
"Go!" commanded Lynk. In a few heartbeats, Finn came swinging at Tarik, the young recruit dodged the savage blows that Finn was dealing. With his rope, Tarik and Lumeo worked together, he ran so fast behind Finn that he didn't have time to react to Tarik's attack. Tarik had wrapped his rope around Finn's neck. Finn hesitated and stood up straight with Tarik on his back, Lumeo lunged forward at Finn and wriggled down his shirt. It was obvious this Greencloak was ticklish. Tarik kicked the man in the back, causing him to fall forward. Finn rolled over onto his back and pushed Tarik off of him, making him drop the rope. Tarik took a step back, ready for an attack. Lumeo was still in Finn's shirt, wriggling around. Finn reached up his shirt and threw Lumeo out. While the Greencloak was distracted with the otter, Tarik grabbed Finn's arm and pressed him to the wall, his sword high in the air. Finn kicked Tarik in his belly, the youngster didn't flinch, but he could taste his breakfast rising up his throat. Finn kicked again causing Tarik to fall backward. As he struggled to his feet, Finn pressed Tarik to the ground, banging the recruit's head on the floor. Out of the corner of Tarik's eye, he saw a glimpse of Zhosur pulling Finn off of him. Lishay sent her large stick crashing down onto Finn's chest. Lishay's opponent grabbed Tarik and held him high in the air by his neck. These Greencloaks are rough today, he thought. As he wriggled and squirmed, Lumeo bit into the Greencloak's arm, causing Tarik to drop to the floor.
"Stop!" Lynk's voice sounded across the room. Everyone paused. Dorian was struggling under his opponent. Did he get beaten up too? Lishay moved away from Finn, not saying a word. Tarik stayed on the floor, rubbing his forehead, groaning in pain. Finn kneeled down by Tarik's side and apologised. The recruit forgave him, but his head spun. The image of Finn started fading away. He was going to faint again. As he faded into darkness, the terrible dream of the fire came back to him again.