Deceptively Royal

Chapter 7

    Days went by, without gathering a single piece of information on the locket's history. Many books from the library were outdated and half of the information was no longer suitable for my needs. I accidentally fell asleep a couple times while reading a thick book called 'A Guide to the History of Alstroemeria'.

I woke up to the sound of Ria slamming a book onto the table. "Hi Ria," I said sheepishly. "What do you know about the history of the locket?" She reached for a weathered book and showed me the contents. The pages were a musty brown with plastered pictures of pirates. She silently pointed to a picture of a young girl proudly holding up a sword. I gasped realizing that the girl was Captain Vannah.

Ria begins explaining "The Whispering Serpent first belonged to Vannah's father: Reks Acheron. He was a world-renowned captain and was the best because he was the worst of every pirate that has ever existed. He had no problem stealing anything that was within sight and one day he found a trove of treasure. In it was the golden locket, he had spent his life dedicated to searching for the artifact hidden on Alstroemeria and suddenly he had found a way there. Reks gifted the locket to Vannah for safe keeping." She smiles remembering "Vannah was proud to have the honour and was super over-protective of the locket. She wouldn't tell anyone about the locket unless she had already deemed you trustworthy. Soon enough, the ship was attacked, and the locket was stolen. The crew was knocked out, so Vannah didn't find out until it was too late."

Suddenly Sophie comes bursting into the library and Ria shushes her with a stern look. "So sorry," Sophie whispers.
"Thank you for the history lesson Ria, I really appreciate it!" I say, rushing out of the library I curiously ask "What are you so excited ab---?" Sophie does not even give me the chance to finish my question and rushes to respond, "I arranged for you and Vannah to have some one-on-one combat training." My eyes light up with horror, before realizing that is probably rude. I force myself to make a pleasant face and lie through my teeth "That's exciting, when will combat training be?" "
Right now," She says with a wink. "Don't be nervous, just be yourself."

Don't be nervous? How can I not be nervous when I am having combat training with the girl who hates me? Oh, did I mention I might also have a crush on her? Yup, this is going to go great. Lucky me.

Vannah decides to quiz me before we can officially begin our training. "If someone were about to punch you, what position would your hand be in?" I make a fist with my hand and show it to her. "Not quite, you're close though. Never tuck your thumb under your fingers, always keep them outside the fist." She demonstrates with her hand. "Trust me with this, otherwise you'll break a couple fingers. And we need our hands a lot more then we think we do."

Vannah walks closer and my stomach drops-this must the butterflies everyone is always talking about. She carefully positions my fist correctly and allows me to practice on a wooden mannequin. I spend time punching the mannequin and every few seconds, Vannah gives me some fighting pointers.

"Well, I think you're ready to start practicing with a live target."
"That's great, who is going to be the target?" I ask like the clueless idiot I am.
She smirks "You see anyone else here?"
Vannah fires off a pistol and my training begins. She punches her hand and I duck to block the shot. Next up is my turn, I hesitate trying to get my fist into the correct position and then throw a punch. The fight goes on for a couple minutes, with a crowd slowing forming. A few cheers come each time I take a punch, but majority of the crew is rooting for Vannah.

Makes sense, I embarrassed Vannah in front of the whole ship, they all want to know that she's actually capable of her duties.

In the end thinking too much turns out to be my downfall. Vannah throws a punch, and I don't have enough time to block it. Her fist directly hits my face.

All at once the sounds around me become fuzzy and my vision begins to blur. I realize how dizzy I am, at the exact moment I begin to fall.