The Immortal Guardians: Book I

Chapter Nine

My hand healed in about two weeks. I was sure Ares had something to do with it. As soon as I got the okay from Nurse Gail, I was back to training with Byron. I hated him immediately. He didn't hesitate when it came to my training. He was a good teacher and I learned a lot from him but he liked to push me.

            "Come on Iris" Byron tantalized me. He was circling me slowly. "You can do better than that"

"I'm tired" I protested. I wiped my face. I was sweating profusely. "I haven't slept..i haven't finished my homework...."  I was behind on everything since I had burned my dominant hand.

Byron rolled his eyes. He didn't care about my complaining or whining.

"We have training with Rupert on Saturday" I groaned remembering.

"Oh shit" Ezra cussed.

"Language...Ezra" Dr. Nan called from the corner. He was walking around just watching. He very rarely came to our trainings.

"I forgot about Rupert" Ezra groaned. "Can we cancel" he asked Dr. Nan.

"No" he laughed at Ezra. "Come on....get going. You guys can end early if I see some training"

"Fuck" Ezra cussed under his breath.

"Mr. Miller" Dr. Nan warned him. "One more outburst, you will give me a two mile run"

"Sorry, sir" Ezra sighed.

We all looked exhausted. I had a horrible cut on my face, from my ear down to my chin. Byron didn't hold back with my training. He called it pushing-me-to-the-limits training. I was starting to hate him.

Byron twirled his blade around waiting for me to focus back on him.

"Give me a good fight and you can go" Byron negotiated. I gave him a dark look but I nodded.

I stepped back from him. I wiped my forehead with my arm and I tilted my body towards him.

I held out my sword in front of me.

"There we go" Byron nodded. I lunged towards him but he blocked me. I grabbed the blade with both hands trying to make him retreat from me. He pushed me backwards making me stumble. I fell on my hand hard.

"Damnit" I cringed. I got up with my other hand. I switched my blade to my other hand. I tried to rotate my wrist but I cringed. I was sure I had broken it.

It wasn't new for us. We were always breaking or spraining something. I held my arm behind me so Byron knew not to touch it.

"Broken wrist" Byron lifted an eyebrow.

I nodded not answering. He lunged towards me. I lifted my sword in defense. He brought down his sword, hard. My entire arm shook as I tried to resist against him.

He smiled briefly at me and he took a step back. I took a deep breath backing away from him. We circled each other. He lunged at me. The tip of his sword ripped my yoga pants.

"Seriously" I groaned. I was on my last few pairs. I was going to have to call my grandma.

"Where is your fencing gear" he lifted an eyebrow.

"You broke it" I snapped at him. I was still waiting for my new stuff to come in.

"Oh yeah" Byron laughed at himself. I didn't see anything amusing. I had gotten so pissed off that I had lunged at him. Not only had he kicked my butt but he had also shattered my plates for training. How that happened, I still had no idea.

He twirled the blade in one hand.

"Come on Burke...stop being a wimp" he grinned at me. I loved him in our history class. He was fun and easy going but in Swords he was a tyrant. He liked to show off his skills. He also liked to kick my butt.