Among The Wolves

Stipulations

I sat up in the cell, having felt like I breathed a breath of fresh air and drank a cool drink of water. Everything felt so good. I moved my arms around and stretched my legs, no achiness! Rubbing my skin, I was elated to discover that the perpetual clamminess was gone as well. However, a thing that made me frown was that there seemed to be a small twinge in my bones. Something I could not describe. With a shrug of my shoulders, I rolled it out of my mind. I felt immensely better, and nothing would damper that. To my surprise, my ankle was already unlocked, and from where I sat, I could see that the doors were open.

Trying to hold my frayed clothes together, I stood up and walked out of the room. Attached to the second door was a note:

Training starts at 6:30. There will be five laps for every minute you are late. -Wey’Don

A smile spread upon my lips. Wey’Don was back to his normal self.

I turned and looked. The hallway was quiet and dark still, only a lamp lit it. As I walked past our bedroom, I spotted Lins, still deep in slumber, on her bed. The stroll ended in the living room where the grandfather clock told me it was just eight minutes past six in the morning. I quickly made my way back to the bedroom and changed my clothes. I knelt by Lins’ bed and brushed her hair out of her eyes. She stretched and looked at me, sleepily. Speaking quietly, I told her that I was going to be going to the sandbox with Wey’Don and she could join us whenever she was ready. Lins nodded and closed her eyes, falling back to sleep.

As expected Wey’Don was at the overflow base waiting for me. He jumped down from the bleachers, looking eager to get his blood pumping. “Alright! Let's do thirty laps!”

“Nope!” I eyed him impishly. “You said five laps for every minute I was late. Well, I’m six minutes early, so if you subtract five laps per minute, then that means that I don’t have to do laps today.”

“Ha! Nice one, Vae’Lee. I will give it to you. “ Wey’Don wiggled his eyebrows. “Sixty push-ups for out-smarting your trainer!”

I frowned, “That’s not fair. I should get a reward, not a punishment.”

“You have to get the mind of a warrior. Haven’t you heard of that famous adage? ‘To train is to reward oneself.”

My expression flatlined, “You made that up.”

“So what if I did, I am your trainer. Let's go! Let's go! On your belly, those push-ups are not going to do themselves!”

I rolled my eyes and got down into the sand. It was going to be an agonizing morning.

After an hour rolled by, Lins joined us, and she occupied herself with the sand until Wey’Don was content with the torment he put me through. We all went to the central dining hall and ate breakfast. When satisfied, I was drug back to the sandbox to practice flexing and balancing. While it was not as much cardio as the earlier exercises, I was still worn out, and my motivation was zipped.

I stood on a beam, counting how long I could manage on one leg. “Six, seven, eight, ni-aaaahh! OOOF!” I winced when my rump smarted.

Wey’Don jumped on the balance beam with one leg and squatted down, still on one  leg. “You need to relax and be as loose as a worm. If you are tense like a stick, it will be harder to keep central. And stop counting, just be calm and listen.” He closed his eyes and spread his arms out. He made it seem like it was as easy as staying in bed in the morning.