Soul Bound

Chapter 21

Eva paused, leaning a hand on the stone wall while she caught her breath. Her fingers were bleeding profusely, nails torn from hours of scraping against stone. Her limbs begged for a break after endless sprints of climbing the suspended rope and crawling through the narrow tunnel. She was so familiar with the first stretch of Big Bertha, she could do it blindfolded at this point.

The Leap of Faith, though? It was the bane of her fucking existence. She had gotten stronger, that much was obvious on the rope, but it still wasn't enough. She couldn't make the jump. She always missed it by a hair.

Since returning from Kain Castle, Annaliese had pushed Eva with the ferocity of a rampaging griffin. They hit the gym harder, went on strenuous runs through the canyon, rammed book after book down her throat until she could regurgitate every single word by heart.

All of it meant nothing if she couldn't make this damned jump. Anna wouldn't let her near Arkon's back if she couldn't jump far enough to cover his shoulder, which was apparently one of the aerial techniques she would have to master before she could practise combat manoeuvres. The Leap of Faith was the minimum length she would have to clear to perform the manoeuvre successfully.
Gritting her teeth, she slammed her fist into the wall, a flash of pain riding through her hand and up her arm.
You can do this. She had been telling herself that for weeks. One of these days it was going to have to be true.

Taking a deep breath, she stepped away from the wall and approached the ledge. The height used to scare her--more so than Plummet. If she fell here, she could seriously injure herself and put her training back. The wind whistled through this section of the canyon constantly, adding a new layer of difficulty while she was balancing on the various obstacles along the course.

She planted one foot in front of the other, and braced herself against the cliff wall. In a burst of speed, she pressed off the wall and leapt off the very edge.

Time seemed to slow down. Eva felt like she was in the air for hours, arms poised to push her further than she had ever gone before, legs primed to take the brunt of her landing.

And then everything was happening all at once. Her boots connected with the ledge, knees bending against the force, body rolling forward with the momentum.
She'd made the jump and completed the landing.

A rush of adrenaline filled her ears. For a beat, it was all she could hear. When it passed, Anna's victory cry echoed through the canyon.

I did it!

“Well done, Little One,” Arkon praised. His pride filled her entire soul and had her beaming like the sun in the middle of Summer.

“I told you this would be the run!” Anna cheered.

Eva left out the fact Anna had said the same thing every single run beforehand and let the excitement welling inside her block out anything that could take this moment away from her.

Once the pounding stopped in her ears, she heard laughter at the other end of the course. She rotated to see a squad of Knights--consisting of two pairs--on a popular running trail; though, their attire was a far cry from jogging gear. They were clad in battle armour and armed to their teeth.

“Hey, newbie!” a Knight called. “Still can’t fly your dragon yet?”

Another Knight giggled. “This is why we go through these tests before we get a dragon--some people just aren’t cut to fly.”

Eva gritted her teeth.

“Oi!” the Lead Knight called to her squad. The title was marked by the red band on her left arm, telling everyone that she was up for a promotion if she could lead her team to success. “Enough squabbling. Focus on your objective and let Private Greene focus on hers.”