SONGS AND TRAILS (Book 1)

CHAPTER 5

"Is that even legal?" Daya ranted.

Marietta said, "Well, a Valprei is allowed to be used for practice as long as a Master is around. Rule number one hundred and nine."

"Okay." Daya folded her arms. "So, what?"

Bella picked up her shoes from the rack. "My combat skills are fairly good... but I haven't used them for gods know how long." She then turned to look at them, "Can you guys teach me what you know?"

Daya blurted as fast as she could, "Of course, I will."

Mia added, "Me too."

Marietta said, "Well, I only know self-defense 'cause I'm female and I need to protect myself in situations. I've never actually had fighting lessons on Valpreiz, but I'll also share."

The girls looked at her and Daya said, "Okay. But we're going to have to work on your combat skills too. I hear Greyenvir can get really feral during second year, when we have our defense and combat training."

Marietta said, "Well... I am fit."

Mia shook her head. "No, no, no, darling. Fit doesn't cover fighting..."

Daya added, "I don't have to be fit to wrestle my brothers, I have to be clever."

Marietta said, "Well, I am clever."

"I don't mean mind-clever, I mean body-clever. To fight a beast, you have to move like one."

The rest of the girls turned to look at her. "How savage are your brothers?"

Daya sighed, "Well... savage enough to roll all of them plus me, down three flights of stairs and burn the house halfway down." She seemed lost to the thought of it for a second then turned to Bella, "Just look for other people to train you to... I mean, Rai seems good enough."

Mia said, "Rai is good in street fights that involve him making a run for it afterward before he's killed. But we'll take it, we know you just want to see him."

Daya smirked, "No, I want to kick his ass."

Mia rolled her eyes.

*

It was hard to infiltrate the combat training with her tight schedule. It made Arabella sleep really late and very tired. She even woke up more tired but she felt like she needed it. She needed to keep her body and mind tired not to let her daydreams kick in. They had started approaching the night when she lay awake. But now that her whole form was tired enough to pass out in the morning, she didn't have to worry about it.

Though she missed seeing her father's face in those daydreams, they were not good for her to be drawn into. Not good for her to stay too long or the Valpreiz would physically harm her inside and outside the dreams.

But this time, the dreams were the least of her worries. She needed to fight a Clove Beaver in a week to prove to Caldor she was worth staying in his class. She was nervous. She had not fought a Valprei for what seemed like ages. And she had gotten into many monstrous troubles during her time as a traveler but fighting a Valprei was not one of them. She needed to secure her position in Caldor's class for future purposes too. She was the only one in her Order now and she couldn't risk not having enough defense tactics to protect herself. Even though the people in her Order were good in their combat skills - so good that a single one of them could go to battle alone and come back victorious - they had died due to lack of more information on the Valpreiz.

Her father had taken it upon himself to research them and teach her every single theory there was. The dreams helped her remember but she could not always count on them. She needed new information and new combat skills, use of weaponry even. So, even if she would like nothing else but to stay away from Master Clint, she needed him.