The God's Girl (cancelled)

Competition

~Thella~

Sweating and panting, I sheathed my knives.

"Wounds?" Lukas whispered to me.

"Gut and left leg." I hissed. He was about to speak when we noticed some uneasiness with the other Romans. Lukas and I pushed through exhausted and wounded Romans. They were used to battle, but none of us were aware that there were that many chimeras existed.

As we broke through the front line of Romans, we spotted them. A centaur, a faun, and two girls. One girl was dressed for war and had a scowl on her face, the other had curly red hair and held a blue plastic hairbrush. They approached slowly. The girl with the brush stared at me.

"Romans, go back." Reyna commanded. Octavian, who was completely unscathed, objected

"Reyna-"

She silenced him with a look. "Centurions will stay."

Romans began to desperse. Before I turned away, I took one last look at the group. Then I turned away and limped back to camp.

As I travelled back, I couldn't help but feel a slight but urgent pull towards them, as if I had something of utmost importance to tell them. But I had no idea who they were.

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Two days left. Two days before the battle. Two days to prepare for one of the most important events in my life.

In the six days I had been there, I had begun to love the Romans. They were efficient, strict, and dangerous, but kind, amusing, and exhilarating. But the worry that I would fail gnawed away at me. What if I made a stupid mistake under pressure? Will they kill me?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I took deep breaths to avoid hyperventilation. My two days were up.

"You will do great!" someone assured me from behind. Instinctively, I flicked my leg out to trip the unknown speaker. A large body slammed into the ground. I turned.

"Jeez, don't kill me!" Markus exclaimed. I sighed.

"Sorry. Just kind of wound up."

He grinned easily as he scrambled back up. "Don't worry, i understand, love. Remember, don't rush your shot, but don't make it overlong. Too fast, you can't aim well. Too long, you get tired and your right arm will go out of full draw. Make it continuous."

I nodded. "I know."

"Romans? Gather in the practice meadow immediately!" Reyna yelled. Most of us were there already, but a few slackers stayed behind by the tents. They jogged up now.

When we were gathered, Reyna mounted Scipio, her pegasus. "First in the competition for Thella Kane, she will do hand-to-hand combat with Lukas. Then archery against Benly. Third, she will fight Lukas with knives. After that, she will be given a problem and certain amount of resources. She has an hour to solve it. Octavian, Peder, and I will all check her answer to see how logical it is."

Peder was son of Bellona, like Reyna.

"Lastly, she will fight Lukas with swords. There will be a thirty minute break between each fight, including the tactics exercise. For hand-to-hand whoever stays of the ground for five seconds looses. For archery whoever shoots the farthest away from the target looses. For the other combats, it is first blood."

I frowned. I was fighting Lukas three times. He was more of an expert then I had thought. I shrugged. At least he taught me in all of those areas; that had to give me some sort of advantage.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Ready. Go!"

As I did with knives, I looked into Lukas's eyes. I remembered the words he had whispered to me before we began the fight. "I won't go easy on you."

Well, neither will I, I thought.

I darted in closer. We were one yard away from each other now. We both crouched, ready to move in a moments notice.

He moved first. He summersaulted towards me, but halfway in a roll, he shoved himself up with his hands and used all the power behind his roll to kick me in the face. At the last second, I ducked, but he still hit my forehead instead of my nose.

He did a handstand for a second before he purposely fell, stomach towards the ground. As he did, I kicked his gut. He gasped, but still landed on his feet. I threw a straight punch at his face, followed by a left hook. He dodged the punch, but still received the hook.

He stepped in closer. We were only a few inches apart. Naturally, we had been close together before. You do what you have to do when you are fighting someone. But we had never stood so close. It seemed different somehow. My breath quickened.

Abruptly, a slight smile crossed his face for a second before suddenly my ears were suddenly ringing. I staggered back. Lukas smirked and I silently cursed myself. I had let my guard down, allowing Lukas to box my ears.

He kicked my face. Suddenly furious, I seized his leg and flung him sideways, ramming his head on the ground. Wrenching his leg from my grip, he rolled off the ground. I jabbed his face and punched his stomach. He took the punch, but grabbed my right jab and forced my fingers back. I grabbed the arm forcing my fingers back and jumbled, placing all my weight on his arm. I swung both my legs at his head. We were so close he couldn't dodge, so my knees slammed into the side of his head. He released my hand and fell backwards. We both tumbled to the ground. I jumped up, not wanting to risk the five seconds. I kicked Lukas's face as he was getting up, forcing him back to the ground. I placed my knee on his chest and my forearm on his throat.

"Winner!! Thella wins this round." Reyna announced. I released him. As he got to his feet, I hissed, "I will get back at you. I will box you ears so hard you will think your brain has self destructed."

He chuckled a deep, throaty laugh.

"Take a break, Thella. Your next fight is in thirty minutes." Reyna instructed. I nodded and set off for the weaponry tent.

Heather followed. "So, you like Lukas?" she asked as we entered the cluttered tent.

I whirled. "What? Of course not!" My cheeks flamed red, declaring my denial a lie.

She smiled. "I saw you before he boxed your ears. So how long have you liked him?"

"I don't know what your talking about." I sniffed. Heather rolled her eyes.

I grabbed my water bottle. "I am going to go rest." I announced.

She laughed. "Sure. More like you are avoiding this conversation." I stomped away, which pretty much proved her right.