Blind Success {Book 1 - Blinded Trilogy}

16 - A Remembered Past

"It has been said, 'time heals all wounds.' I do not agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind, protecting its sanity, covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens. But it is never gone." Rose Kennedy

So... Zachery is an interesting character. Mind you he seems to be looking a bit too much into me. It's like he's trying to see into my soul. Maybe he could! I didn't like the shiver that went up my spine when I thought about that, but I kinda figured that he would have said something about it... Right?

It was amazing. The structure we were working only needed a few things to finish it off. I have no idea how it was done so quickly but hey, I'm not complaining. The training arena caught my attention most of the time and what Zachery had said made some sense. While I wasn't up to letting my target get away alive, that doesn't mean that I can't practice techniques and everything. Maybe I'll do them at night though, while no one else is around.

Zachery and I had been saying little things about ourselves as we worked. He was the oldest of four kids but the only guy, so he was stuck with three younger sisters: Anna-Marie, Hope and Mirianna. He isn't much for fighting, more of a bookworm - almost the complete opposite of me. What's that saying about opposites attracting? Anyway, he still had yet to tell me who his parents are and I'm not sure why he was withholding that information. Maybe they had died and it hurt to talk about, maybe they didn't have the best of relationships, maybe he ran away from home. So many maybes. If Loki was here I'd just ask him to read his mind.

By the end of the day, I was covered in dust, grime and sweat. Not the best of combinations - unless you're a tomboy who doesn't mind it or someone with no sense of smell. I wanted to go and see Loki, soak in a bathtub to help relax the tension in my shoulders and back and I wanted to stay out and practice in private with the katanas. Sadly, I couldn't do all three things at once. "You coming?" I turned to face Zachery.

"No, I'm just going to do something here. Don't wait up." After a moment's hesitation, he left, waving at the entrance to the training area. I walked over to the rack of weapons. Maces, swords of all kinds and bows and arrows were all lined along them. Grabbing two katanas, I walk into the middle of the arena and close my eyes, the cool breeze as evening approached washing over me.

I thought back to the lessons that Natasha had reluctantly given me, not wanting to be bested by a young, blind girl. I felt myself moving in fluid movements, not once opening my eyes to see the actions as I reverted back to how it would have been had I been blind. Training my ears, I heard the rustle of leaves; the creak of the trees in the wind. I blinked my eyes open, looking around trying to find a piece of cloth or something to tie over my eyes. Grabbing my dagger from my belt, I tear off the bottom of my shirt, just enough to cover my eyes so I couldn't see.

Taking a deep breath, I resume the fighting stance that I held before. I let out all my pent up frustrations out in the movements with the katanas. I wasn't sure if whoever was trying to sneak up on me knew that I could hear them, but they were being rather noisy. I decided to ignore them, but still kept a close ear on the noise to determine if they were coming closer to me or keeping their distance.

I heard something crack from behind me and without a second thought, I threw a katana in the direction the noise came from. Standing still, I kept the blindfold on. I could hear whoever it was struggling to get the katana away from them. However the lovely chink sound it made, allowed me to visualize that it had become imbedded in the wall behind them. Cocking my head to the side, I used my other senses to try and pinpoint who it was. Definitely male, noticeable by the small, barely there curses that were streaming out of his mouth. He had a smell that someone who had been training for hours would have before washing off. Blinking behind the blindfold, I walk towards him. "You know for a warrior in training, you really need to work on sneaking up behind someone. I heard you as soon as you came in the door." I state lowly.