The Belladonna

Chapter 26

"The powerful can become the powerless." - Harry and Bella

Isabella's POV:

Training was incredibly hard. I stayed at it all day yesterday and I'm going at it again today. I can't expect results automatically, of course, but I wish I could make progress a lot faster.

I could feel the sweat on my face as I lifted a brick from the ground with my left arm, feeling the muscles in my arm screaming at me and the wound burning. I let out a gasp and dropped the brick, it clanging on the deck as I held my arm to me with a wince. 

"That was better." Harry says and I let out a sigh. He says it's better but for some reason I don't believe him. If it was 'better', I'd be able to hold it for more than ten seconds. "Again." I say, reaching for the brick, but someone stops me.

I look up, seeing Shayla staring at me with a fixed expression. "If you keep doing that you're going to open your wound again. And we don't have a doctor this time." she says and I let out a sigh, standing up and wiping my brow.

"I can't stay this weak." I say and she rolls her eyes. "Weak? You really think that you're weak, Bella? You took out the entire French army with your wound open and bleeding. And now that it's healing, you think you're weak? I'm sorry, but I don't exactly get where you're going with that." she snaps and I frown.

"I need to use this arm whenever..." I trail off, seeing a flash of understanding cross her face while Harry just stares at us confused. "Bella, you're doing great. Most people would still be afraid to use their arm after an injury like that." Harry says and I let out a sigh.

Shayla, however, continues to stare at me until she shrugs her shoulders. "If you're going to train, don't start with the biggest object. You need your arm to fight and defend right?" she asks and I nod to her, seeing a sly grin on her face.

"Then get a sword." she says and I smile. She pats me on the arm before getting close to my ear, whispering so that Harry couldn't hear. "You'll do fine in the war, Bella. You're stronger than you give yourself credit for. Harry won't have to worry about you." she murmurs, patting my shoulder before strolling away, making me smile at her.

"What was that about?" Harry asks and I just shrug. "Just a little inside encouragement." I say and he shrugs. I pull out my sword and hold it in my left hand, gripping it tightly as I tried to move it back and forth. Just the simple actions made me cringe and I felt weak within minutes.

"Take a break. You've been at it all morning." Harry says worriedly, taking my sword from my hand and I sigh, nodding to him before wiping away all the sweat. It was extremely troublesome having this injury.

I walked over to the ledge, leaning against it as I stared out at the sea. 

I couldn't be weak. Not at a time like this when we're about to go to war with another pirate. Especially one who's already demonstrated his cruelty and violence. 

But I didn't want to bring up the war in front of Harry. It felt like it was too soon for me to say anything about it, and I didn't want him to get worse since he's beginning to do better. I'm so glad Shayla caught my drift so I didn't have to say anything.

"Here." 

The voice brought me out of my thoughts as I turned, seeing Niall giving me a smile as he held a plate of food and a glass of water out to me. A smile came to my face and I grabbed the plate and glass from him.

"Thank you." I say and he nods, joining me by the ledge and looking out at the sea with me as I replenished my energy. "This whole thing is pretty screwed up, isn't it?" he asks and I nod with a sigh.