The Vigilant

Chapter 5: Training

It wasn't a joke.

His arms ached. His legs ached. Body parts he hadn't realized he had ached.

All he wanted to do was lie down in the shade of the nearest tree. But after two weeks of training, he knew that wasn't an option.

Especially not today.

"Pest!" A tall, muscular, angry young woman marched towards him. His stomach turned, wondering what he had done to upset her this time.

Three days ago, Randolph had informed them that their final training instructor had arrived. Elizabet.

"They let girls join the Vigilant?" Pip asked.

"Yes, they do." A voice from behind him answered coldly.

He turned to see a stunningly beautiful woman dressed in the standard dark green short tunic, trousers, and leather boots of the Vigilant. She leaned on her quarterstaff and gazed at Pip with a fierceness that reminded him of the mountains of Duza; cold, merciless, and powerful.

"Trainees, meet Elizabet, best quarterstaff wielder in the Vigilant." Randolf introduced.

"Only those who want to be crippled call me Elizabet. I go by Bet." Her eyes didn't waver from Pip as she spoke, a crafty smile playing on her lips.

And so began Pip's days of torture.

She pushed them mercilessly, forcing some to collapse from exhaustion. She thrashed out at them with the ferocity of wildcat. Pip took the brunt of her viciousness.

Today they were practicing hand to hand combat. Pip had successfully pinned his opponent, a gangly, swallow faced boy, when Bet's voice distracted him.

"Pest!" she yelled again. Pip groaned at her name for him.

He rolled off his opponent and stood at attention.

"Yes, Elizabet?"

Her eyes flashed dangerously when he used her real name. But Pip refused to call her by her chosen name until she called him by his. They were locked in a clash of wills. Pip had yet to win a battle, but refused to give up the war.

"It seems my partner is in need of a switch." She announced. Pip glanced behind her. A blond-haired boy rocked back and forth on the ground, holding his leg. Poor kid.

"You." She barked at Pip's partner, who quickly scrambled to his feet.

"Y-yes, Bet." He stuttered. Bet had no problem reducing the future members of a feared spy organization to stammering, timid children.

"You're reassigned partners." His head bobbed up and down before he quickly jogged away from Bet to fight his new partner.

"Looks like it's you and me, Pest." She smiled. Beating up kids always improved her mood.

Pip positioned himself in a ready stance, hoping to come out of the fight with all his limbs intact.

"Ready to spend some time on the ground with your fellow snakes?" He heckled with false confidence.

She laughed. "We'll see, Pest."

Pip lunged forward, seemingly to throw a punch at her side. She moved to block him, but at the last moment he turned his momentum into a roll. He bounced up behind her, his leg already raised in a roundhouse kick. With dazzling speed, she dropped to a low crouch on the ground, one leg extended. Pip's kick grazed her hair. While still in a crouch, she spun on one foot, simultaneously swinging her extended leg in a quick arc around her. Her leg crashed into Pip's ankles and sent him on a short journey to the hard ground.