The Lost Heirs Vendetta

Chapter 26: The Arena

The arena was left the way I saw it last. Completely empty with rows of weapons lining the walls. Swords of all shapes and sizes hung there, some of them shiny and new and others older than me with scuffs and marks all over the metal.

There's only one thing different. Darian is standing off to the side, studying all of the swords with a very trained eye. Seeing him again put a ton of butterflies in my stomach. I force my feet to keep moving. To keep carrying me forward. Towards him.

I still can't believe what happened last night. I can't believe I really fell for the person I've hated for my whole life.

I've thought a lot about last night. How he kissed me first.

How long has he felt that way about me? I would guess probably very soon after arriving.

But, I kissed him back. I didn't push him away like I should have.

"Darian," Brock said, bringing me out of my thoughts, "how long have you been here for?"

Darian tore his eyes away from the swords along the walls and they landed right on me. I tried so hard not to make eye contact with him. But I did.

I wonder if he's thinking the same thing as me. That the kiss last night was a mistake. I should talk to him and say that I didn't actually mean to kiss him back. I need to tell him that I don't feel the same way. But not now. Now, I must focus on the task at hand, which at the moment, is training.

"I only got here a couple minutes ago," Darian responded, not taking his eyes off me.

"Good," Brock said.

Darian continued to look at me. I never took my eyes off him.

Brock very obnoxiously cleared his throat, clearly noting the tension between me and Darian. If he doesn't know what happened to us last night, then I bet he's definitely wondering what.

"Right, then," Darian said, "Aleah, we thought it would be a good idea to teach you the very basics of hand to hand combat."

"Why?" I asked, looking at Brock for an answer.

Darian responded instead. "In case things tonight don't go as planned, we thought it would be best."

I considered how long both of them have been training for. I know Brock has been training for most of his life so Darian probably has been as well. What will one day of training do for me?

"And how much do you think I'm gonna learn in one day?"

Darian sighs, understanding my point.

"As much as we can teach you."

I nod and wait for them to tell me what to do. Both of them look skeptical, I know I certainly would be in their situations as well.

The first thing we went over was punches. Of course, I knew the very basics, like not putting your thumb inside your other fingers. You have to keep it on the outside because if you actually land the hit, you'll most likely break your thumb.

"You're swinging your arms with it too much. Just strike right forward. It has to be super fast too so they won't even see it coming."

I punched the padded target a couple more times, trying my best to do what Darian is describing.

"Not to be annoying or anything," I say, "but what's the difference if my arm swings with it or not."

I know it was probably a really dumb question to them, but I was curious.

"Well, for one, you lose a lot of accuracy if you just swing your arm. You have no aim and no direction. Second, when you wind up with the swing, you're telling your opponent exactly when you're about to strike. They'll easily be able to dodge it and you'll just be swinging at air."