The One Who's Fallen

Chapter 11

It's not as bad as I worried it would be. There are boils on the hunters' skin, and some small cuts from branches whipping at them as they ran. Other than that, they're mainly okay. There's one hunter that had the misfortune to have a panther claw his leg as it fled. From what they tell me in broken English, that's what alerted them to the fog.

A large man with a braided beard fixes them up as well, and I assume he is Nyko. We work in relative silence, bandaging up the wounds until the hunters are all ready to go. I warn them to clean it and to come back to get their wounds redressed.

Nyko nods at my words and repeats them in Trigedasleng. I'm pretty proud of myself for recognizing a few words. The hunters thank us and leave.

"Thank you, Sky Girl." Nyko says.

"You're welcome." I automatically respond, kind of surprised he's talking to me at all.

"You are good with medicine." Nyko compliments, smiling at me. "Perhaps I can convince Anya to allow you to assist me on days she is not training you."

"I would love to, but good luck convincing her."

Nyko laughs heartily, "I do not know how it was up in the sky, but here the healers are respected. I understand she is teaching you Trigedasleng on the days you do not train?" He waits for me to nod before he continues. "Anya and I can teach you while you train, from her while you are taught how to fight, and from me when we work in here. I am certain she will agree to this agreement as long as you will."

"It sounds good, I'm in."

Nyko looks confused. "You are in what?"

"Sorry, it's a saying. I forget most of you are literal. It means I'd be happy to do that."

He claps his hands together excitedly, making a loud sound that makes me jump. "Wonderful. I will speak to Anya soon to confirm. It is getting late now, get some food in you and rest. I have seen Anya train people." He chuckles, "You will need the rest."

Anya's trained other people? Okay, even in my head that makes it sound like I'm jealous, but I'm not. I'm curious as to who survived her training.

"Mochof, Nyko. Good night." I say.

"You are learning well already." He grins, "it will be a pleasure to work with you. The Trigedasleng word for good night is reshop."

"Reshop, Nyko." I call back as I walk away. Artigas appears beside me, walking only a few paces behind me. "You know you don't have to follow me everywhere. I'm in TonDC, I should be safe."

"You should be, but it is my duty to protect you and that includes walking to your tent."

I sigh at that. "At least go to bed soon after, okay? I don't want you to be sleep deprived because of me."

"Of course. How did it go with Nyko and the hunters?"

"Pretty well. Nyko was impressed enough to want me to come back every other day."

Artigas frowns, "What about your Trigedasleng training?"

"According to Nyko, they'll both be teaching me that while they train and teach me. I'm not sure exactly how that'll work."

"I am not sure, either. Anya may not be happy with it."

Anya's not really happy with much except when she wakes me up with a bucket of cold water. I dread the thought of waking up tomorrow if she's mad.

Artigas picks up two plates of food and hands me one. I thank him and we go our separate ways once he walks me to my tent. I set my plate down on the table and pull the rubber band from my hair, letting it fall free. It feels odd after an hour or two with it up. I actually like it up more than I thought I would. Perhaps I'll teach myself how to braid my hair.

I tuck the rubber band into my pocket and pull out the pencils, setting them on the table too. I take out my notebook and write reshop and its meaning in it. If they're really going to be teaching me while we work, I'll need to carry it and a pencil or two around everywhere.

I sit and eat in silence. I nearly fall asleep while eating and give up trying to stay awake, stumbling over to my bed and flopping down onto it. I manage to get under the furs before  I pass out.

I wake up to a weird pressure on my back. I shift, trying to dislodge whatever it is, but it digs into my spine.  I hiss at the sudden pain and turn my head to see what it is. Of course it's Anya. She's sitting on my back and looking at me with her usual stern eyes, but I can see a hint of amusement in them.

"Why are you on my back?" I ask, my voice rough with sleep.

"The water did not wake you up. Now move. You have a lot to learn."

Anya gets up, turning to watch me sit up on the bed. I wince at the twinge in my back. "How long were you sitting on me?"

"A couple minutes. There is food on the table for you to eat. Meet me at the training ring we were at before as soon as possible."

I sigh as Anya leaves. She didn't mention anything about Nyko. I wonder if I am going to be working with him.

Artigas' shadow is outside the door of my tent. I out my hair up in the rubber band again, making a mental note to practice braiding it when I'm not exhausted. My dad taught me how to braid my hair, but I haven't done it since he died.

I devour the food quickly, grabbing the rest so I can eat as Artigas and I walk to the ring.

We don't speak as we walk and when we reach it, Anya is waiting for us. She's cleaning the weapons, though she hasn't taught me how to use them yet.

"Clarke. I am sure he has told you what he planned to ask me, but from now on you will spend one day training with me and one day working with Nyko."

With that, she tossed me a polished stick about the size of a sword. "What's this?"

"I will be training you how to fight with swords now. I do not want to kill you, so we are using these training sticks."

Anya picks up a stick and wields it expertly, spinning it easily between her fingers. She has never been more intimidating. Anya gets into a stance, which I try to copy. She thrusts it at me and I lean back automatically the way she taught me the other day and block it as best I can. The impact makes my teeth chatter loudly in my skull and my arm ache.

"Good. Again."

Thank you to the person who pointed out I wrote "Gustus" instead of "Nyko" in the last chapter! It should be fixed now! Thank you all for reading and stay awesome!