Hard Trials (Book Five of the Into the Fray series)

Chapter One

Three Weeks Prior

"Ow!"

"Try again."

Armitage shook his hand a moment, sucking on his knuckle. Feeling mildly childish, he glowered at Ben. Ben narrowed his eyes in response, raising his practice bo.

"I said, try again."

They were both shirtless and sweaty. It was a warm day, made hotter by their physical activity. Armitage was pretty sure the last time he had sweat this much was during his hard training in the Naval Academy. He wanted a break; his legs and arms burned from the exertion.

"But--"

Ben pounced. Armitage, startled, drew up his bo at the last possible moment, barely missing getting a stick to the face. He spun out of the way, and his sloppy form earned him a swift hit on the back. He shouted in shock; he was going to have a nasty welt there.

"Dead," Ben panted. The annoyance in his voice was evident. "Had that been a lightsaber, I would have split you in half."

Armitage threw down the practice weapon. "I told you," he nearly whines, "I'm not good at close combat!"

Ben extended his hand and clenched it into a fist, speaking through his teeth. "And you asked me to help you with that, but you're not listening!"

"I am too!"

Ben threw down his own weapon. "No, you're not! If you were I wouldn't have landed four lethal hits on you in the past hour!"

"This is hard!"

"This is hard," Ben repeated in a mocking tone. "That's all I've heard from you all day. This is hard, this is har--"

Bellowing, Armitage ran forward and rammed his shoulder into Ben's stomach. Surprised and completely caught off guard, Ben lost his balance and fell on his back, Armitage on top of him. Ben flipped him over. The pair wrestled for a while, trying to get the upper hand. Soon the frustration from them both had worn away, and they started laughing, tussling back and forth on the ground.

Rey was watching everything from beneath a tree not that far away. Smirking, she leaned against the trunk. Rey heard footsteps approaching. Reaching out with the Force, she knew the person was friendly.

Finn came and stood beside her, looking at the pair on the ground that were screaming and laughing. "That's something I never thought I'd see in a million years."

Rey continued watching them. "What--them wrestling playfully, them as a couple, or them laughing like that?"

"All of the above, honestly."

Rey pushed off the tree with her shoulder, standing up straight. "I think it's the laughter that gets me. I never thought I would hear either of them laugh."

Ben and Armitage stopped their quarrel. Armitage got to his feet first, holding out his hand to Ben. Ben took it, allowing Armitage to pull him up. They picked up their practice weapons. Ben slung his arm around Armitage's shoulders and the two walked off toward the showers.

"They're kind of cute together," Finn said, watching them leave. "In a disturbing, unbelievable sort of way."

Rey looked up at Finn and grinned. "Still scared of them?"

Finn wrapped an arm around her waist. "Oh completely petrified." Finn kissed her quickly. "I keep expecting for one of them to murder me in my sleep."

Rey tossed her head back and laughed. They then walked toward the cafeteria building.

"Mind if we join you?" someone asked a while later.