Lord Of The Rings | The War Between Races | X-Reader

Chapter 13

Relgin launches himself at you once more and you try your best to move out of the way in time but you are too slow. Relgin is too fast for you and you move too slowly. He rams into your left shoulder and you can't help but wince in pain, your brain panicked. Relgin takes a step back after his effective blow and picks up his axe, identical to yours.
     
"FIGHT BACK!" He yells to you and you can't help but think of him as a bully. You cradle your left shoulder.

It hurts so much to move and you feel as if it has been dislocated. You look at Relgin, wounded.

"I-I'm try-" You begin, but soon Relgin is attacking again. You shift your weight on your right foot thinking within seconds of what you are going to do to counter.
    
Your instinct takes over and you run to the right, as Relgin comes in to take out your other shoulder.

You close your eyes tight and wait for the impact, but it does not come. Taking another step, you hold your axe with your injured right hand.

Now fully looking up again, you see Relgin come forward with his axe to clash and rub against yours.

You drop your axe, and lose your balance before falling to the ground.

You can hear Rathna laugh a little, then quiet down. Relgin trips over you and you quickly stand up into your best defensive stance.
   
You stare at Relgin as he manages to get on his knees. As you watch, you hear someone slowly begin to clap, a tired clap with no effort.

"Wow. You're like a depressing elephant." Rathna murmurs. You look at her anxiously, agitated by her remark.
   
Soon Relgin is back on his feet, ready to swing at you again. "Continue." Rathna says.

"Come on (Y/N)! Strike him!" You look at Rathna then back at Relgin, missing your opportunity. "Don't look at me! Look at him!" She yells as your axes clink against each other.

Your arm becomes sore and your shoulder feels more and more tight as you continue to hold on.
   
Rathna continues to coach you. "(Y/N)! Are you even trying?" She asks and you step back from Relgin before he can take another angle for his advantage.

"I am!" You say wincing as you look at your shoulder. It's hanging down lower than your right shoulder and you feel yourself become overwhelmed of feeling shocked.

"It's just.. I can't do this anymore! I'm injured! This isn't a fair fight!"

After your remark, you can feel an angry uprising enter Rathna and you gulp, but sill hold your ground.
    
"No fight will be fair. Your opponent may be stronger, you may be injured. In a real battle of war, NO fight is even." She calls out a little angry. "Now let me look at your shoulder."

She walks over to you, examining you shoulder while Relgin walks over to a weapons stand to place his axe neatly next to another identical to his.

He walks to the entrance, close to where you and Rathna are standing before he says, "I have some important things to do and prepare Rathna, wish I could stay longer."

"Thank your Relgin, you may go." She says, as she looks away from your shoulder at him. He leaves, and soon Rathna is touching your shoulder.

"OWWW!" You cry out, "Stop, stop that really hurts!"

"Quit moving." She says, as she feels your bones and joints.

What had gotten into Rathna? She was your mother! Caring, sweet, and protective!? Why was she acting this way? It didn't make sense to you because now she was acting cold, as if she was a teacher and you were her student. Nothing more.

You scream so loudly as Rathna pulls your arm lateral to your torso, putting her foot into your side. With one quick movement she shoves it back into to place.

You wince so badly, you topple over to the ground, and Rathna barely catches her balance.

You lay there, moaning. "All better?" She asks, worried. "Argh.." You say, then sit up, feeling your shoulder.
      
It felt loose, free, and mobile. You smile at this. "Wow. That actually worked!"

Rathna began to laugh. "It actually worked?!" You rub your head, a little confused.

"I didn't know if it would work, that was my first time actually doing that!"

Your eyes widened. "So that could have made it worse?! What were you thinking?" You say a little scared.
     
Rathna smiles at you. "I'm just kidding, I did it for Thor-" She pauses her face expression goes dull. "-vol."
"What?"

"It's just.." she began. "It doesn't matter. Let's get back to training." "Oh. Okay." You say, your expression matching hers.
      
"Here." Rathna says as she throws you a stick. You catch it, confused. "This isn't a weapon." You say as your eyebrows knit together in confusion.

"It will be for now. I saw your fight against Relgin. You were pathetic."

"WOAH! Hey!" You reply a little hurt.

"This will be your weapon. Now listen up!" She waves her stick at you and you mimic her. "This is the defensive stance, not what you were doing earlier."

You giver her a remorseful glance and she smirks. "I thought it was pretty good."

"Well what you were doing, I'd say that's a vulnerable stance. You opened yourself up too much. That's good if you're going to attack in the next few seconds. But they way your match was going, I'd say you were not going to last very long."

"Well I wasn't! It's not like I've been a warrior all my life thank you very much!" You say defensively. "Besides, I've been working in the mines all my life! Whose fault was that!"

"Focus!" Rathna only replies, and she moves onto another stance.

"Offensive." She instructs, "The proper one." You copy her. Your legs matching perfectly.

Easy.

"Straighten your arm." Rathna rolls her eyes. You look at your arms and legs. Your knees are bent, and your right foot leads in front of your feet as they both are spread apart in a mannerly way.

You look at Rathna's formation, hers more exact. You straighten your arm out, allowing now creases in your elbow.

"Good." She says, in a plain tone, not even smiling. "Alright. Now faster!"

You follow her as she yells out the positions. "Defensive! Offensive! Okay now retreating!" You follow her trying your best. In the end, Rathna does not look pleased.

She shakes her head, smacking her hand on her forehead. The sound echoes in the large room. You sigh and Rathna looks at you a little concerned.

"At the rate you're learning, you'll get this down in a week!"  You roll your eyes and Rathna mumbles something under her breath that you're barely able to pick up. "We don't have a week."
    
What was she talking about? Who is "we"? You question. You see Rathna pace the room hard at thought.
     
"(Y/N), were you actually trying?" She says after a while and you nod.

"Of course I was trying! You think I wasn't?" You say it so sarcastically and annoyed. Rathna looks at you dully.

"Okay.." Rathna says. "Then we have a long way ahead of us." She says exhaustedly. And you sigh once more.

I guess this is better than working in the mines..