The Trial She Faces

Chapter 12

Eve looked at herself in the mirror. Curtis had removed the stiches a two days ago, leaving her with tender pink lines running down her cheek. It could have been worse though - the rouge could have killed her after all.

Today was the first day of her training. Out of the window of the room that she had been staying in she could see the sun beginning to rise. Realising she had to leave, she turned and hurried down the hallway to the front of the cabin. She stopped to take a few deep breathes attempting to calm herself before heading outside into the crisp air.

Curtis was already outside waiting for her.

'We are going to run up the mountain to warm up for starters. I'll come with you today but pay attention to the path we take because you will be running it yourself every day,' Curtis said before turning and jogging off uphill. Eve took off after him, having to churn her legs faster than a jog to keep up with his long strides.

For him, the movement looked graceful and effort less. Eve was sure if she could see herself in that moment, she would not be as impressed with her own form.

Her cold muscles groaned at the demand, but after a few minutes of following behind Curtis, Eve managed to settle into a steady rhythm. Together, they ascended up the mountain over the rocky terrain. A few times Eve stumbled, but Curtis never looked back.

After half an hour of this, Eve was not even sure they could classify what they were doing as running. It was more rock climbing up to the very peak of the mountain. The air was thinner and colder. The sharp sting in the air caused the dull ache in her face to intensify.

At this rate, Eve doubted how much further she would be able to go before she passed out. Less than two minutes? Less than one minute?

Thankfully, Curtis stopped just after that thought crossed her mind. Eve thanked the moon goddess as she crouched over leaning her hands against her knees.

'You did well to keep up,' Curtis said to her as he looked out over the expansive mountain range. Unable to find her voice to reply, Eve simply threw up a thumbs up in his general direction. She was more focused on moving air into her lungs.

'Take a minute break before we held back down. You'll want a clear head, so you don't end up snowballing the whole way back to the cabin,' Curtis said as he turned back around. Once again, Eve only managed to throw up a thumbs up to reply to Curtis.

Once she finally managed to look up, Eve had a moment to admire the view that stretched out in front of her. It was stunning. Beyond stunning.

The sun was still low on the horizon, but high enough that it seemed as though every tree was touched by the morning light. As a result, she could practically make out every shade of green down below.

Far in the distance she could see a twinkling lake in a clearing. She would bet anything that it was amazing up close.

After a few moments of admiration, Eve turned back around to face Curtis. With a simple nod confirming that she had recovered and was ready to continue, the two started their descent.

Curtis maintained the same speed as before, but it was now harder for Eve to keep up due to her exhaustion combined with the need for concentration in order to prevent herself from rolling down to the bottom. She did not particularly want to add more scars to her growing collection.

Despite all of her efforts, the distance between herself and Curtis kept growing and growing and growing.

Soon she was making her way back to the cabin based on her memories of the path they had taken on the way up, as Curtis' figure had well and truly disappeared from her view.

Slowing down slightly, she took a deep breathe through her nose trying to scent out the correct path to take. Following her nose, she was finally made her way back to the cabin where Curtis stood waiting for her as he took a long gulp from a water bottle.

Slowing to a stop, Eve tried to catch her breath as her chest heaved up and down with great effort. Her legs were burning and her whole body felt sluggish. She wished she had pushed more to be involved in training at her previous pack.

'Don't worry, you'll build up your stamina soon enough. Stand up now and come over here. We are going to go over some basic self-defence moves and then we are finished for the day,' Curtis said whilst gesturing for her to move.

Groaning in her head, Eve slowly followed Curtis over to a strong tree with a thick mat wrapped around it. It looked like it had been there for a long while, with various layers of duct tape being added to keep it in position. Curtis smacked his hand hard against the mat, causing a sound to echo through the surrounding area.

'Alright feet shoulder width apart - left foot in front. Yep, just like that,' Curtis nodded as Eve shuffled her feet into the correct position.

'Hold your hands up to cover your body and face. Make sure that you stay light on your feet. Put your weight through the balls of your feet.' Curtis instructed her as he circled around her, observing her form from all angles.

'When your punch, twist through your hips and shoulders putting all of your weight into it. Your small, so you are going to need to put everything into it if you are going to throw a punch. There is no opportunity to throw a second punch if you throw a weak first punch,' Curtis said.

He demonstrated the twisting movement with his own punch hitting the tree with a loud crack despite the padding around the tree. Eve nodded her understanding turning her head straight to face the tree.

After a few seconds of consideration, she threw her hand forward letting it snap forward to connect with the mat.

'Good. Again,' Curtis demanded.

She threw another punch out to hit the tree.

'Keep going until you have punched the tree two hundred times. Make sure you maintain the technique I have shown you. Keep your punches strong even if it hurts,' Curtis said before making his way over to the front steps of the cabin. There he sat down and began to take some more sips of his water.

Eve turned back to the tree and began the task she had been set.

One.

The impact echoed out.

Two.

Eve concentrated greatly on the twisting movement of her hips and shoulders.

Three.

This went on for probably about 10 minutes. At this point, Curtis instructed her to add a jab in front of the punch. She only had to do these one hundred times. By the time she was finished her knuckles were red with the top few layers of skin having been rubbed off.

However, when she looked down a sense of pride filled her at the marks that would probably fade by the end of the day.

'Well done. Come have some breakfast and clean up. We will train again tomorrow,' Curtis said as he stood from his position and headed through the front door.

Ya'll are lucky duckies, two updates in less than 24 hours what is happening right now? Don't get used to it, its only because I'm going to be away and will not have access to interenet for the next couple of days - do not fret I shall return. 

Quick shout out to @turtlesarebae for being such a big supporter and encouraging me.