The Upside Down Tale of a Warrior

Chapter 6

"Wake up! Wake up! Get a move on! Breakfast and training! Breakfast and training!" Someone keeps shouting and I shove a pillow over my head. I start to drift off again when someone barges into my tent.
    "What are you doing Eliza! You won't be able to get any food and you will be late for training if you don't get up and get ready now!" Renald shouts at me. I sit straight up and start scrambling for the training clothes I was given in my trunk. I shoo Renald out and change faster than I ever have in my life. Note-to-self, never ignore the shouting alarm clock ever again.
    I was out of the door in a minute flat and looked way better than I should have for someone who woke up in a hurry and got dressed in a minute. Renald looks at me over quickly and nods his head in approval. Then he suddenly takes off running and I race after him.
    Neither of us were breathing very hard by the time we got there. Then again I probably shouldn't be surprised, Renald is in the army after all and he does have to stay fit. I just enjoyed the gym too much.
    "Alright let's get inside quickly before all of the food is gone. I am surprised you didn't wake up right away, everyone learns quickly around here that if you are late you don't eat." I nod my head as we start walking inside.
    "I was just very tired I guess, I can't believe I ignored his bellowing, that is just so not like me," I talk quickly and by now the lie comes off so easily I start to believe it myself. He nods his head like this makes perfect sense and we both gather around one of the men slopping food on people's trays. I watch as one of the men serving gets the slop on one of the soldiers and they get into a fight.
Soon it gets bloody and someone yells at them, "Get back to work!" They cut it out immediately and the server wiped the blood off of his face before going back to throwing slop on people's plates.
"Hurry up boy! There are people waiting!" The server in front of me says and that is when i realized I had zoned out and there was already the strange slop stuff on my plate. I hurried away quickly and narrowly dodged Jameson's foot as he tried to trip me from his seat. He scowls as I continue on my way, searching for my friends. My eyes scanned the thousands of people and cookfires, looking for three completely opposite personalities sitting together. I soon see Leo waving furiously at me, beckoning me to join them at what had to be the 400th cookfire I had seen.
"You found us," Simon says like he was stating a simple fact and I nod my head.
"It is hard not to when Leo is over there jumping up and down like his butt was on fire," I say and everyone except Simon starts laughing. Though Simon does smile which I consider to be a win. We eat in relative peace while Leo and Renald chatter away. I waited until they were all done before I followed them to the river where they scrubbed their plates clean themselves. In case you were wondering, the so-called-food tasted like the dry oats that horses would eat.
I then followed my friends until we reached the huge training grounds in the center of the camp. There were wooden posts that looked like humans for target practice or swordsmanship practice. There were a few shabbily crafted rings. There were also numerous things that I didn't recognize.
"So, which category are you in," Leo says, and I jump up with a start. I place my hand on my heart.
"You nearly scared me to death," I say, "Sorry what was your question again?" Everyone chuckles again because they know I zoned out for the hundredth time.
"I asked which category you were training in, you know like swordsmanship, archery, horseback riding with a weapon, swordsmanship and hand-to-hand combat." I nod my head and try to decide which one I want to do.
"Umm... I am actually in swordsmanship and hand-to-hand combat." I said. After all, it included both of the things I am familiar with and pretty good at. Renald only looks mildly surprised.
"That is the hardest one. I am in just swordsmanship and Leo is in Archery. Simon is the only one in swordsmanship and hand-to-hand combat." Oh great, I think to myself, I chose the hardest ones and Mr. I-tolerate-you-and-I-hate-the-world is the only one of my friends in that class.
"Let's go," Simon says, "Master Yeong will be there soon and he doesn't like tardiness, as I am sure you know." I nod my head and jog after him to a larger circle than the rest. There were already a lot of people there and I was not pleased to see that Jameson was there also. Showing off his muscles to his friends.
"4 laps around the whole army campsite because your friend Legs over there was late," an old,wise bearded guy said. Everyone groaned and gave this guy called Legs a death stare. I then realized that everyone was already starting to run so I followed them.
It turns out that when Master Yeong said four laps around the whole army campsite he meant four laps around about 30,000 tents. I was in the middle of the pack and struggling to keep up as we neared the last stretch. I had run for miles and miles back home but this was something completely different. By the time we got back everyone was laying down and gasping for air. My legs felt like jelly and my lungs burned. I had built up my endurance for so long that I rarely felt these things anymore but I was feeling them now. It was like when I had sprinted my first 400 meter sprint in track.
"You alright there scrawny," Jameson taunts, "You look a bit tired, I bet you couldn't beat me in a fight this tired." I scoff and stand up straighter. At this point Jameson was grasping at straws. I had already caught my breath and my legs felt as sturdy as rocks. He was going to try to get me into another fight. If I throw the first punch the strict teacher will punish me for sure. He probably wants to beat me also so he would most likely use dirty tricks.
"You're awfully silent over there scrawny. What's wrong, are you scared, scrawny. You don't think you could beat me again do you?" At this point we had drawn a crowd and I was trying to control my anger. There was a group of kids around Jameson with nasty smirks on their faces. They were laughing at Jameson's stupid nickname for me.
"What is going on here?" The strict voice of my teacher made Jameson pause in his tracks. I on the other hand already knew he was here and had heard everything. I contained my victorious smile so I wouldn't end up in trouble also.
"N...no... nothing sir," Jameson stutters.
"Really? It looked like you were trying to provoke one of my students into a fight and they actually controlled their temper." Master Yeong raised one eyebrow at Jameson who tried to respond.
"But sir he... he started it. He gave me a broken nose." Jameson tries to come up with another excuse but is silenced when Master Yeong raises a hand.
"If this is about a lost fight then why don't you both get in the ring. This might also help me determine what we should do tomorrow in training." Jameson looks lost for words. I know why, with the teacher watching he can't cheat and now he is nervous about whether or not he can actually beat me. I couldn't help a small smile playing around my lips.
"Do you agree with this?" Master Yeong asks me.
"Yes I do." I reply in all seriousness now. I can't afford to be arrogant, arrogance gets you killed, I learned that the hard way.
"You may both enter the ring and the fight will start when the sun is at its peak." I could only guess that meant noon, when the sun was at its highest point and on its way down. I looked up at the sky and determined I had about five minutes to do something. Simon came up to me and looked at me like I was crazy. Which to be honest I probably was.
"You seriously want to go round two with this guy?" He asks me, looking extremely doubtful that I used legal moves last time. Which I did just to be clear.
"I did not use dirty tricks last time. Just too much training and one too many fights." Which was not a lie, back home some say I trained way too much for nothing and we had to move multiple times because of my fights at school. Simon nodded his head.
"So you know what his weaknesses are?" He asks me, still doubting I hadn't won by luck.
"He looks where he is going to hit, he is extremely overconfident, he will fight dirty when cornered, and he moves slowly. One punch might be able to knock me out if he is able to hit me. It will be easy to hit him if I use my speed to my advantage." I say it all so fluently and without hesitation and Simon looks completely shocked. He thought that me beating Jameson was just a fluke. I will admit that it hurt a bit, one of my only friends here thought that I was just faking it, that I won by sheer luck. I smile sweetly at him.
"You thought I was hopeless didn't you, you thought I won by sheer luck and that I have no skill because I don't have as much muscle as you." I was not questioning him. I was stating the facts.
"Fighters in the ring," Master Yeong says. I have a feeling that he doesn't need to shout for everyone to hear him. I smile one last time at Simon but we both know it was completely fake.
"Wish me luck, after all I have no skill so I will need it." I admit I was definitely feeling bitter as I stepped into the ring. As soon as both of my feet were planted in the ring everything outside faded away. I could feel the hard packed dirt under my feet. I could smell the sweat and blood that surrounded me. The sun beat against my face and my back and I watched as Jameson entered the ring. Everything seemed to fade into slow motion as I examined every weakness, every strength, and all previous injuries that still bothered him today. The familiar pounding of my heart as it pumped blood and the adrenaline filling my veins made me cherish this moment, right before the fight.
"Fight!" master Yeong calls and suddenly everything speeds up. I watched his foot move before his hand and I knew exactly where he would hit because he was looking at my face. I moved as quick as a rabbit and ducked his punch, jabbing him in the ribs. That made him double over in pain and I took the opportunity to knee him in the face before dancing away, just as he tried to throw a punch to my stomach. I laughed but kept completely in the zone. I kept hitting him, I knew I could finish the fight but I decided wearing him out was the best option.
He wore himself out quickly. As soon as I saw he was lagging and getting tired I decided to put the guys out of his misery and finish the fight. I threw a few punches in quick succession with as much power as I could muster. He was knocked out after the second one. As soon as he was down I stopped, respecting the fact it was not right to kick a man while he was down.
I backed up and looked straight at Simon and I saw the full respect finally shining in his eyes.
"That was remarkable," Master Yeong said, awe shining in his voice.
"I don't know a single man in this army with the patience or the respect to do what you just did. I admit I thought you were going down quickly because you didn't seem to have much muscle but you definitely made up for that." My teacher praises me. I looked around and could see the newfound respect shining in everyone's eyes and my only response was to shrug and step out of the ring.