Voiceless Bird

Chapter 16

|| Day 3.5 Training ||

If I Graduated From the Academy...

Oh no, Alistair was going to make me train—again. I glanced behind me, looking for an escape, but I was at the edge of the garden and he was blocking my way out.

Alistair gave me a smile and I sighed in resignation.

"Trying to run away from my training?" He chuckled and I reddened—he had read me like a book, "After all the fun we had last time?"

I couldn't restrain an eye roll. Fun? Was that what he considered as fun? I called it torture, but I guess he had fun torturing people.

"In all seriousness though, you don't want to get hurt during the battles." He gave me a look and I had to admit that he was right.

With a resigned sigh, I glanced down at my shoes—heeled boots. Although the heels weren't too high, they weren't exactly... suitable for getting physical.

Alistair followed my gaze and laughed, "It'll be fine, this way you'll be even better when you run with proper shoes."

There were no more excuses left.

**

"Hurry up! Faster, faster, faster!" Alistair ran alongside me, shouting in my ear as I gasped for breath. I definitely could not go faster—this was my limit. "Didn't you hear me? Faster!"

The sun was setting and after a workout learning how to dodge and defend myself against Alistair, he had made me run laps. I was longing to go have a shower, eat dinner and sleep but it would be at least a few more hours before I would be let off.

I stared at the ground rushing by my feet, willing myself to run faster. I concentrated on my breathing and hoped that it would distract my mind from my aching legs and burning lungs.

In, out, in, out, in-

For the second time that day, I felt the recognisable feeling of air rushing towards my face as I toppled to the ground.

The very hard ground.

I fell sideways and my left foot took the brunt of my impact. Although it prevented the side of my face from being scrapped, it left me with a very twisted ankle. A small groan left my mouth as it throbbed with pain.

Alistair crouched down quickly and gently felt my swollen foot, carefully removing my heeled boot. His cool hands eased the heat of the pain and I released a pent up breath.

"Ahh, I'm so sorry—you shouldn't even be running in the shoes that you're wearing." Alistair glanced at me worriedly and sighed, "I was being reckless and affecting the people around me... again."

An unreadable look passed through his eyes and they turned a darker hue of blue. Alistair looked down at my now swollen ankle again and I felt a strange sensation around it.

Curious about this foreign feeling, I glanced at his hands over my ankle and my mouth opened slightly in shock.

Swirls of clear water were circling my foot beneath Alistair's hands. Taking a peek at him, I saw that his eyebrows were slightly furrowed in concentration and a bead of sweat had rolled down his temple.

The cool water slowly seeped into the area around my ankle and I felt the pain ebb away into nothingness. Alistair lifted his hands away, and this time I couldn't hide my shock.

Where there had once been a swollen, red ankle—there was now a perfectly normal foot, no traces of it ever being twisted. I touched my ankle, making sure that my eyes wasn't playing tricks on me.