When The Witching Hour Strikes

Chapter 13

As I woke in the morning, sunlight streaming through my window, I looked up and reflected on the day before. I knew something was odd about the way Ember had behaved, so I set off for breakfast and answers. I entered the hall, and found the same layout as before, only there were fewer people sitting at the long tables. It must have been early, for the halls were silent. I walked over to where I would normally sit and I saw Ember sitting there. For a moment I stopped, unsure of if I should go there, but soon my curiosity and stubbornness took over, and I found myself sitting beside her. As we sat in silence, I gathered up the courage to finally speak to her.

"Hey, Ember, um I have a question."

"Shoot."

"You know how last week you stared daggers at me when I asked where something was. Why did you change so suddenly when we got into training? You even helped me open that door, and it was all so sudden I don't-"

She cuts me off with a look I've seen many a time from Naida.

"Listen, the story is long, but if I cut it short, I might be able to tell you the main bits you need to know. So basically a long time ago, I was in exactly your position. New, and slowly adjusting to having this power I barely knew of. I slowly grew into a mean person because the world was against me. My parents were always away, on long trips and they'd leave me in the house for months on end. I had no friends, no family, and I was lost. I pretty much developed such a hatred for all those who had love in their lives, that I turned into someone else. I wasn't myself, but I had no idea how to regain some sort of control in my life. When I saw you, I guessed you were in the same position I had been in, and I didn't know how to react to that. Because I was the person I was, I sent you packing. It was what was expected of me, and then afterwards when we were paired for training I figured I would have to be nice, we'd be stuck together for a while."

"Oh. Thank you." was all I could manage.

We went back to eating, and sat in comfortable silence. As all this went through my mind, I noticed the others had walked in and sat down. Raisie was the first to break the silence that hung around us.

"So Ellie, seeing as we have a pretty much free day today, let's get some practice in with the weapons. First things first. Have you ever wielded any type of weapon, be it sword, mace, bow and arrow, spear, anything like that?"

I shook my head, in denial. I had never even seen a sword before, let alone touched one.

She looked to the others before continuing.

"Right, seeing as you have little to no idea what you will be doing, today we will cover the basics of weaponry, and find out which weapon will be your main one, and one you want to learn to use, and can use if you have no choice. Right off to the weapons chamber."

With that we set off to wherever Raisie was taking us, with me almost running to catch up with her.

As we entered the weapons chamber before us were racks upon racks of swords, spears, bows, quivers laden with arrows, maces, hand axes, and shields. I stood in awe of what was in front of me before I remembered that I needed to choose one. I turned to Raisie, but she was nowhere to be seen. She suddenly reappeared in front of me, with what appeared to be an armful of every weapon there was.

"Right. I'm going to need you to hold each one, and we will see if they fit you. Go ahead. Don't be afraid to pick up whichever one you feel you like."

I stood for a while before the weapons before picking up a curved sword with an ornate handle. It was beautiful, with gold woven around the black handle, making it seem as though it was alive. After staring at it, I saw a purple glow around it, coming from my hand weaving its way around the gold on the handle.

"I think this is it." I looked up to see Raisie had come over to me, and was watching the blade.

"We need to get one forged for you, so it's the right weight and style, but for now this one is good. It fits you well."

"I'll go see to it that  there's one forged" interjected Kalen.

At this point Cordelia began going to the rack of wooden swords before she turned around and asked Raisie,"Right, so do you want me to get another wooden kastane? We can learn the basic sword movements and some exercises to help with speed."

"Yes, good idea. So the rest of us can train as normal, and we'll help if you need anything."

"Great, let's get going then. Ellie, you're with me."

We walked over to a mat, which had been placed where you would fall. Cordelia looked me up and down before she left to grab some wooden swords, so we could begin training.

"Right, because you've never held a sword before, I am going to be helping you with your movements. First pick it up, and grip your hand around the hilt with both hands, so that you're stronger in the thrust. Good, now plant your feet firmly on the ground and channel the feeling of being very stable, and strong."

I did as she asked, and slowly, I felt more grounded, and strong in myself, without really pushing down to balance myself.

"Right. Now you've got that, I want you to attack me. Get in a spot where you will hit me. Now for this we're just going to tap the sword, so your goal is to tap me, anywhere on me you can get at."

Cordelia began dancing around me. No I don't mean like ballroom dancing, but her movements were fluid, and followed one another in a graceful manner. I stood still for a second before I remembered that I had to tap her, before she got me. I began to circle around her, waiting for a gap, but each time she stopped my wooden sword. Each time I found myself being bested, and I was clumsy with my movements. Cordelia saw the despair in my eyes, and stopped.

"Ellie, even if you don't get me, remember, for your first lesson this is pretty intense. Let's do some other things, like stretches, to loosen your muscles. We can do this again tomorrow, there's plenty of time to get good before-" she cut herself off, looking ashamed of what she was about to say.

"Before what Cordelia? What is it?"

A/N: Sorry for the cliffhanger, but it was the only way I could think of to end the chapter. Sorry for not updating in so long, but honestly life got in the way and I didn't have the motivation or inspiration to write anything. Writer's block is a b*tch, and when you're stuck, you're stuck. See you next update,

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Love,

Charchar xox

Ps: thank you so much for 200 reads!!! I know for some people it's small but for me it's brilliant. Thank you all for taking the time to read and put up with my wack ass upload schedule. I do have my next few chapters planned out so look out for those