Welcome To My Dark Side

Chapter 6 A Training Session And A Half

Some people arrived at the stables to feed the horses early that morning. They had seen Lyria fast asleep in the hayloft and decided to give her a scare. The noise of a gun going off startled not only Lyria but it had also spooked the horses, who were now kicking their doors in, trying to get out. Frightened, she cautiously crawled over the ledge of the hayloft. When she peered over the edge, she saw everyone looking up at her now laughing. "W..wh.. what is going on?" She stuttered, still a little nervous since the horses weren't normally scared so easily. "We thought it was about time that the baby got up." They sneered. "Ha ha ha. Very funny." She said sarcastically, climbing down the ladder. The laughter only increased after she said that. Ignoring them, Lyria brushed the hay off her uniform and left the stables in order to find the person who had the key to her room.

After having spoken to many people in the tavern during breakfast, Lyria had discovered that Officer Vimir had been given the key by Lord Patrick. Leaving the tavern, she found him outside gathering a group of soldiers. "Good Morning Officer Vimir." She said as she approached them. She assumed he was getting everyone ready for the parade that happened every morning. He ignored her greetings and simply asked if she wanted to join in his training session. "I am sorry but I am a little behind with my jobs and I only wanted to ask you for the key to my room because I want to change out of these clothes after the parade." She informed him. "Parade? What parade? You know that no one ever bothers turning up. Now do you want to take part in my training session or not?" Asked Fractureverse Vimir. Lyria was really confused by what he had just said. He hadn't answered her question. Maybe everyone was playing some kind of big coordinated prank on her, although she had no idea why they would do this. Perhaps if she briefly went along with it and joined his training session then he might give her the key. "Yes I will join in but I have to make sure that I don't forget about my other priorities." Lyria said, having no idea what she had just signed up to.

"Keep your hand steady!" Was the order Lyria got when she held her sword out in front of her. Her hand was shaking terribly as she was scared of having another round where she was effectively a punching bag. Fractureverse Vimir's 'training session' was essentially where the weaker soldiers were paired up with the stronger ones to be used as training dummies. It was rather unfortunate for Lyria that she happened to be one of the weaker ones. "Ar.. aren't you supposed to be teaching us so we can improve?" She muttered under her breath and threw her sword on the ground in defeat. Although she didn't often train with the other soldiers, because Lady Azura was mostly responsible for her training, she had never taken part in a training session that had been taught in such a way.

"Are you going to stand around and question me or are you going to fight?" Fractureverse Vimir yelled at her. Lyria remained silent. "Pick up your sword now or I'll have someone to get you to clean all the barracks with a toothbrush!" He shouted threateningly. Even though Lyria was covered in cuts and bruises, she was scared that he was actually serious about this and grabbed her blade off the floor, getting back into a fighting stance. She would be more careful next time when accepting Officer Vimir's training offers.

After Lyria finished the training session, still just about in one piece, she went to rest for a bit by having some lunch. She was none the wiser as to who had the key. Whilst searching for the person she needed, she came across Fractureverse Hilda yelling at some soldiers who looked like they had just arrived in Dreadfort. "I'll have you'll doing drill for this!" Shouted Fractureverse Hilda. Lyria went over to where Fractureverse Hilda was standing to ask her what the problem was because it was most unusual for her to be so harsh. "They couldn't even perform a simple task of guarding some supplies that were meant to be transported to the front lines. The supply carts were destroyed by a single wither saboteur who simply set them on fire." Fractureverse Hilda explained to Lyria. "I think you are being a little unfair to them. I doubt anyone else could have done any better under the same circumstances." Said Lyria. "When does fair ever come into anything? You can now join them for drill. You can all thank the captain for prolonging the session so that it will now take all afternoon." She shouted now facing the troops. They all moaned in response and were angry with Lyria for trying to say something to intervene.

Lyria was concerned that she would not be able to complete her assignments, especially when she thought that Lady Azura was missing and so she should probably be taking on more responsibilities. She hadn't done any of her jobs since she had returned and was beginning to feel very guilty. Fractureverse Hilda had brought everyone into a formation and made everyone start marching. "Commander, can I leave half way through because I still need to do my assignments?" Lyria asked the commander in the hope that she would understand. "No!" Fractureverse Hilda snapped back. "But Commander if I don't get my..." Lyria argued before she was interrupted. "Silence in the ranks!" She barked which prevented Lyria from saying anymore.

Fractureverse Hilda forced them all to march quite some distance away from the town to a large clearing in the forest that was still inside the castle walls. After a few hours of practicing drill, Fractureverse Hilda had already made several people do push-ups or run quite a few laps around the opening of the forest. Anyone who put a foot wrong would have to do this. The whole thing was more like a strict sports coach training a bunch of out of control teenagers, rather than a commander being in charge of a group of professional soldiers. The soldiers showed a complete lack of respect by ignoring orders or by messing around and in turn Fractureverse Hilda did not listen to any of their requests to rest.

Already tired after this morning, Lyria was even more exhausted having accidentally ended up in yet another energy demanding activity. She was gradually becoming out of sink with everyone else's timings. When the commander ordered the squadron to turn left so that they would be facing her once more, Lyria turned just after the rest of the soldiers. To make matters worse she slipped on the snow and bumped into the person standing next to her causing a chain reaction in the tightly packed formation. Her mistake might have gone unnoticed had this not happened.

Unimpressed that Lyria's mistake had affected the entire squad, Fractureverse Hilda grabbed hold of her and dragged her out of her position. "Captain Lyria you are to do 100 push-ups before you can rejoin the squadron for lacking behind with your timings. This wouldn't have happened if you had been paying attention and listening properly." She said crossly. "But Commander I was listening. I am just very tired and my jobs still need..." Lyria explained before she was cut off. "No buts and it's your fault why you are here in the first place." Interrupted Fractureverse Hilda.

At this point Lyria bit her tongue not wanting to make things worse for herself. She got down onto the floor to start doing push-ups. Lyria struggled doing push-ups at the best of times but she was beyond exhausted and failed to do one when her arms gave out and she collapsed face first into the snow. Fractureverse Hilda watched her try several more times with each attempt being as unsuccessful as the last.  The unruly soldiers started laughing. "Why don't we make this more interesting? Captain Lyria only has to complete 5 but the rest of you have to march on the spot until she does." Fractureverse Hilda said which soon silenced them. Much to everyone's annoyance, it had taken Lyria ages to complete 5 push-ups and it was now early evening.

Fractureverse Hilda was now satisfied and she was in a good mood even though everyone else clearly wasn't. She had decided to have them all march back towards the town before she dismissed them. As they were marching back, Lyria decided that now was probably the best time to ask Commander Hilda if she had the key. " Commander, do you have the key to my room?" She asked as nicely as she could. "No and no talking in the ranks! How many times do I have to tell you that!" Fractureverse Hilda said sternly. No one else was brave enough to dare to speak. Lyria kept her mouth shut after that as they marched back in silence.