The One Who's Fallen

Chapter 7

I jolt up in my bed, gasping and sputtering. I'm not certain what woke me up until I see a smiling Anya standing by my bed with and empty bucket. I shiver, realizing she not only poured water on me to wake me up, she poured cold water on me.

My clothes stick to my body as I glare up at Anya, who's still smiling and seems almost happy... It's making me nervous. Anya walks away to the table in my tent and turns back to me, gesturing to the things on it. I blink the water from my eyes and notice there's food and new clothes.

"Get dressed and eat. I will be waiting outside." With that, she leaves.

I groan, remembering that I'll be trained today. That's going to be interesting, to say the least. I shiver again and look down at my clothes, sighing. They're completely soaked. Good thing Anya brought me new ones, these are the only clothes I have. If she didn't, the Grounders might be seeing more of me than they ever wanted to.

I pull off my clothes and drape them over the nearest surface, hoping they'll dry in here. I do the same for the furs, which also got wet. After that, I pull on the new ones that don't fit right. The shirt's too right around my chest and the jacket's sleeves are too short. The pants are too big for my hips, so I tie a rope around my waist to keep it up.

I walk out a minute later after squeezing most of the water from my hair. I eat the food Anya brought, meeting her right outside my tent.

Once she sees me, she turns and strides away. I follow her and she only stops when we're outside a circular area. The circle itself is just dirt surrounded by wooden fencing.

Anya faces me as I swallow down the last of the food. She glances behind me and the scowl is back.

"Artigas, go rest. I will watch her. Do not exhaust yourself."

I look over my shoulder to see Artigas nod and practically stumble away. He probably hasn't gotten much (or any) rest since before I saw him in the woods.

"Watch them." Anya says, making me turn back to her.

She nods toward the two people fighting in the ring. They're about my age, fighting with sticks instead of swords.

"What am I looking for?" I ask.

"Watch how they move and how they use their weapons. It should not be a separate thing but an extension of yourself."

I study the women fighting in the ring, watching their movements. Their sticks come together again and again, making cracking sounds, which seem deafeningly loud because it is otherwise silent. Somehow, they seem to anticipate each other's moves and react accordingly, shifting their stances and blocking every thrust.

After a while of watching, Anya speaks again. "Come with me. We have another ring I will train you in."

I follow her again, wondering if I'll be using sticks as well. It isn't far to the other ring and has no one around or in it. She stops in the center of the ring, her expression serious (more so than usual).

"Hit me."

I'm taken aback from that. Why would I hit her? "Why?"

Anya is annoyed at my reluctance to do what she told me to. "I need to know what you can do so I can teach you better. So do not hold back."

I nod at that, it makes sense. I don't really want to hit her, but she's okay with it... She holds up her hands as targets. I punch her outstretched arms as hard as I can.

Anya sighs at that, grumbling. "Branwada. Get into that stance again."

I comply and her hands are on me, moving my legs farther apart and raising one of my hands to the side of my head.

"This is the correct stance in hand to hand combat. Your legs should be shoulder's width apart and one hand should be up to protect your head. You should be at an angle, one foot on front, one in the back. You punch wrong." She moves so she's beside me, facing the same way as me. "Use the force of rolling your shoulder and-no, don't punch down. When you punch, lean forward on your rear foot."

I try to do what she says. "Did I do it right?"

"No. Rotate your hips and upper body forward with the punch and keep your feet straight and on the ground. At no point in punching should your feet completely leave the ground." I try again. "Better. But your hands are wrong. Your thumb should be on the outside of your fist. If it is inside and you hit something, you could break your thumb." Anya warns, demonstrating what my hand should look like. I move my thumb and she nods in approval. "Good. Try again."

It continues like this until Anya finally relents and gives me time to eat. I sit down for the first time in hours, groaning at my aching muscles. I'm already sore and I know Anya's going to keep training me today. I eat as slowly as my growling stomach will let me, reveling in the time to rest.

It's over too soon and Anya drags me back to the ring, which now has a semi-rested looking Artigas leaning on the fence.

"You should be asleep." Anya scolds. "You know you should not stay awake all night. This village is safe enough for her."

"I will be with her during the day." Artigas concedes, "and rest during the night."

"Very well. Did you want to see the Skai Prisa try to fight?"

He smiles, "Sha."

Anya and I move into the middle of the ring and we resume my training. Artigas makes a few comments on how to fix my form and I train until my arms feel like limp leaves.

Anya sends me back to my tent and Artigas picks me up some food along the way. I thank him and struggle not to fall asleep as I trudge to my tent. He bids me goodnight and leaves once we arrive. I sit on the chair next to my bed and eat, noticing how my arms are shaking. I'm just glad I'm not eating soup, it'd end up on my clothes instead of me.

Once I'm done, I don't bother stripping to my undergarments and flop face first onto bed, falling asleep almost instantly.

Fun fact: the fighting techniques Anya is teaching Clarke are the same ones I was taught when I took karate! It's been a year or so since I've gone back and this is from memory, so there may be some inaccuracies but hopefully not. Thank you for reading and stay awesome!