Land of the Hidden

Training

Ria woke early and headed downstairs to be met with Clodagh staring absent mindedly into the distance.
"Morning Clo," she said, rubbing her eyes groggily.
"Yes, good morning Ria."
Ria smiled and sat down on a big armchair. "So," she began "this is our house now?" Clodagh nodded
"Leading up to the war, this will be your home."
"How long have we got until the war?"
"We estimate two years, that is not a lot of time for people who can't even fight."
"Huh." Ria laughed "I guess we never thought we'd need it."

At around ten Louise then Jared surfaced. Tammika came in at half past ten and Raphael, as much as he would have liked to sleep until three was woken by Louise at midday. As soon as the were all awake Clodagh lead them into a slightly less grand room with tables and a mahogany floor. There was breakfast on the table and the five realised that they were ravenous. They tucked into the scrambled egg on toast, looking around the room as they did so. It was a big room, with a few bookshelves, there were swords on the walls which was rather intimidating but then again, they were expected to lead an army and it didn't get much scarier than that.

At one o'clock Clodagh lead them into a slightly padded room. Here she explained that this was where they would learn to fight. Here, they would have to fight 'solid hallucinations' starting off easy and getting harder as they got better. After they had mastered fistfights they would move on to swords and knives. Nervously, they each took a corner of the room Clodagh conjured up five people and it started. Ria swung a punch and it connected with a satisfying thwack to his face. Rias tactic, being a very angry person, was to imagine the person was someone who she disliked. Sometimes it was her horrible French teacher, sometimes the boy in her class Frederick with his annoying voice and infuriating need to argue everything anyone said but mostly it was Esmeralda. Because of her tactic Ria soon became one of the best at fighting, as her opponents got stronger everyday, so did she. Raphael had a similar tactic to Ria's only his imagination was not quite as vivid, however he fought incredibly well and was on the same level as Ria. Tammika and Jared both did capoeira so they had an idea of what to do. It was only Louise who couldn't quite master beating the crap out people. She didn't like fighting, she didn't like the prospect of a war and she didn't really like the hideout (that was what they had started calling where they were staying) but, like it or not she eventually tired of having her ass kicked by hallucinations every afternoon. Slowly, she started to put more effort in and within a month she had reluctantly caught up with Jared and Tammika.

Late one night, Ria pulled out Esmeralda's diary to see if she could still read it, to her delight, she could.
She started at the very beginning:
To my dearest Esmé, write your troubles and adventures in here. In the hope that one day we will see each other again, farewell
-John
On the next page was the first entry:
For my sixteenth birthday papa gave me my first real sword, not a practice sword but a real one he says I must be very careful with it or I could do myself damage. He does fuss so after all I am practically an adult now.
It was around now that Ria's eyes started to get droopy, she tried to read more but instead decided it would be better if she put the book away and slept, after all, tomorrow she and Raphael were learning how to fight with knives.

At six am Clodagh came in to Ria's room and turned on the lights,
"What the? Clo?"
"My apologies Ria, Grim have been spotted sooner than we thought. As far as we know, not many have escaped. However you and Raphael must learn to fight as soon as possible, the sooner you know how to yield a knife the sooner we can go and kill the few who have escaped."
Groggily, Ria brushed the hair out of her eyes, "I'll be with you in ten."
"Thank you, I will go and wake Raphael"
"You might want to stay as far away as possible to wake him, he is not a morning person."

Ria was right, an incredibly annoyed Raphael soon joined her in the training room.
"Give me a fricking knife"
"Whoa there Raphael," Ria lifted a mug to him "Coffee?"
"Gimme that" and with that he knocked back his first cup of coffee that day in ten seconds flat.

Unlike with the fistfights where Clodagh had thrown them hallucinations and told them to wing it the knife fights needed a little more preparation,
"The hallucinations will be able to harm you more than the first ones, do not worry about it I will heal you."
Not particularly convinced they gripped the knives Clodagh had given them.
A girl appeared in front of Ria, she had a mean face and messy hair, Ria's eyes however went to the knife in her left hand. The girl sprang forward, Ria yanked her hand up and slashed the girls face making her step back in shock using this moment to pin her to the wall, Ria pointed the blade at the girls heart, "do I have to kill her?"
"Yes" it was not Clodagh who answered the question, Ria turned her head to see Esmeralda standing serenely behind her, "she will only disappear when she is dead."
Ria clenched her eyes shut and plunged the knife into the girls chest, there was a bloodcurdling scream, and she was gone.

The day continued much as it had began, Raphael and Ria spent all day trying their hardest to get the better of the vicious teens. Esmeralda overlooked the whole affair, she seemed pleased enough by Ria and Raphael's progress. All in all Ria made it out with nothing but a gash on her face and a cut on her hand, Raphael escaped with a small cut on his shoulder Clodagh healed them both easily.
"Thanks Clo."
"It is nothing." Clodagh dismissed Ria's thanks.