"Left!" Celaena swiftly turned to dodge a blow coming from the left... and promptly received a blow to her right arm.
"You said left!" she shouted angrily, rubbing her arm while continuing to shuffle in partnership with Arobynn.
"Your opponent won't tell you where he's going to strike," Arobynn said calmly, his steal eyes glinting in the morning sun, his pace unbroken.
Celaena scowled. Arobynn continued to circled her in a steady shuffle as he had for the past half hour, sweat just beginning to glisten on his forehead. Celaena, on the other hand, was completely drenched. She used the brief pause in blows to swipe streams of sweat off her own forehead and shove some pesky strands of golden hair that had escaped her braid behind her ears.
It had been just over a week since Celaena decided to become an assassin. So far it had been much less glamorous than her adventure books made it out to be. Although, she supposed, the assassins she had read about were already trained when they were off on adventures. She had barely started. In fact, she wasn't even sure if she had started. She hadn't touched a single weapon. The past week and half had been spent running, dodging, and blocking. She didn't feel any closer to being able to kill anyone than when she had first woken up in Arobynn's country manor. She only felt stiff and sore from the daily drills.
"Right!" Arobynn called. Celaena instinctively began to move right, but paused to check the direction of Arobynn's fist this time. She couldn't correct her movement quick enough to completely avoid the strike, but at least this time she was already moving in the direction of his fist, softening the blow. "Left!" Celaena's pause before choosing which direction to dodge was shorter this time. After three more directional commands from Arobynn, Celaena instinctively moved away from the direction he called. Her frustration began to wane as she felt more in control and sure of her movements.
"Left!" Arobynn called again. Celaena shifted right... into his oncoming blow. She left out a scream of frustration through gritted teeth. "You were getting comfortable," Arobynn chided, beads of sweat finally beginning to trail down his forehead. "Must I constantly repeat myself?"
Celaena's scowl only deepened. She would have bit back a retort if she had one, but physical exhaustion prevented the formation of any coherent thoughts. She panted through her nose and clenched teeth. Her breath felt coarse against her dry mouth and throat. She repeatedly made conscious efforts to tighten her fists as her hands desperately tried to relax. The burning in her thighs and calves was nearly unbearable. Nearly. Celaena took another shaky breath, and gave a small, curt nod to continue. Arobynn's face remained expressionless as he shuffled with no signs of slowing.
"Right!" Celaena took a moment to judge which fist was actually being thrown and moved right as well. The decision took too long to absorb much of the blow's momentum, but she was satisfied with making the correct call.
Celaena didn't managed to completely avoid any of the next fifteen or so punches, but she did begin to consistently shift in the correct direction, regardless of what Arobynn said. Finally, he ceased his infernal shuffling and declared the session over. Celaena also stopped. Without the tension from constant vigilance during training, her muscles finally took their chance to revolt. She swayed slightly before her knees gave out and she collapsed into the red dirt of the training area. Her back rose and fell in waves of shutters as her lungs demanded as much air as they could manage. Her thoughts were beyond anything except her physical condition, her gaze unfocused, staring simply in the direction head turned in her collapse.
Arobynn wiped his brow with a pristine white handkerchief produced from his back pocket. He stared mutely down at Celaena's exhausted form, perhaps waiting for her to raise issue with how hard he had driven her today. Even if she thought complaining would make her seem anything but ungrateful, she was beyond words. She shut her eyes. It was impossible to tell if Arobynn was impressed by the lack of complaining or disgusted with her exhaustion. He simply said, with utterly neutrality, "Lessons begin in half an hour. I suggest a bath before then. Maybe breakfast."
Celaena allowed herself one more moment on the ground before scrunching her eyes tight and heaving herself to her hands and knees. From there, she slowly righted herself. By the time she stood, swaying slightly, Arobynn had already vanished from the training grounds. She bit her lip against the trembling in her legs and made her way, slowly, back to her rooms.
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HI READERS (hopefully someone's reading this)! Sooooo it's obviously been a hella long time. I was trying to write out a whole big ass chapter, but it takes too long for me to think through. Instead, I'm going to do minis and hope you all stay interested. Updates will happen on Saturdays <3 <3
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Assassin in Training: A Celaena Sardothien Origin Story
Fanfiction"She wanted to give up. Kings could kill old men and little girls, destroy countries and magic. Why did she want to live in a world like this? But she did want to live. She might want to give up right now, but she did not want to die. She wanted to...
