Tamed

Chapter 4. Marshmallow

Natalie adjusted the cap on her head, neatly tucking, practically hiding her hair below it. She never let her hair down. Like other girls, she never cared about looking beautiful. She was different and that's why she was at WICKED.

As she put on her jacket, the door of the rest room was pulled shut. She ran to the door and tried to shift the knob, but it was locked from outside. She groped inside her pockets for her wand, but it wasn't there. She had left it in her bag, which she was going to get before leaving for the class. Natalie leaned her head against the door frame. "Hello? Someone please open the door! open the door please?" she cried for help, banging on the door. But there wasn't anyone outside. She waited for a few minutes, but realized that she was already getting late for the class. Today, they had physical training and the rumor at WICKED was that trainer Nimrod Levitsky was rather strict. Strict was actually an understatement. He was an irascible and ruthless man who was looked upon by the wizards with fear. She had also heard that he was once reprimanded by the Ministry for severe violation of human rights. He used to punish the trainees at WICKED by hanging them upside down for hours, locking them up in dragon cages, pricking them with spears used for controlling wild dragons. He had even received a show cause notice by DRAW, the Dragon Rearing And Welfare society for his barbaric and unethical treatment towards dragons.

Natalie paced back and forth in the room, fidgeting her thumbs. Suddenly she paused on her tracks and looked at the window. An idea popped up in her mind. She caught hold of the thick iron bars of the window and pulled herself up to stand on the sill. She squeezed herself out through the narrow gap between the bars and looked behind her shoulder, still clutching on the bars. She was thirty feet above the ground, give or take. She took a deep breath, consoling herself that she could do it and started looking around for her possible landing. The walls of the structure were uneven as it was carved out of a mountain. She managed to reach the open corridor on the left side by placing her foot and holding on the bulgy parts of the wall. As soon as she landed in the corridor, she ran to the class which thankfully, was on the same floor.

"May... May I co..com in sir?" she asked, panting.

"You are four minutes late Miss Scott" A man with jet black hair declared, as he turned to face her, his blood red eyes staring down at her. He was sturdy and tall and the pale skin on his face was hidden under thick but neatly trimmed beard.

"Sorry sir.. I was.." Natalie began.

"No lame excuses Miss Scott" Mr. Levitsky said, with a raised voice. It seemed like it was the natural tone in which he spoke. "Get on the bench" he said.

"Sir?" she was confused.

"I said get on the fricking bench!" he yelled. Natalie saw a small wooden bench lying near the window. She walked up to it and stood on it. The boys were doing stretches and pull ups. Marshall looked at her sympathetically. "Stand on one leg" Levitsky said tapping on her right leg with an iron rod. "Hold this" he handed her the heavy iron rod that he was holding. "Hold it high..HIGHER!" Natallie did as she was told. "Stand like that till you can't feel your arms" he said and went to check on the boys.

"Physical fitness is extremely important. It requires tremendous effort to deal with dragons. You have to climb faster, run faster, crawl faster. Managing dragons is not an easy task. You are signing up for a risky task which, in every possible way can endanger your life. In addition, you have to brush up your flying skills also" Levitsky stated.

"On your toes Flicker" Levitsky yelled as Marshall's knees had started to bend downwards while doing the pushups. Nathan, Joseph and Jason were working out beside him. Boon and Owen were doing squats and Charlie, Aiden and Ezra were doing pull ups on a horizontal bar fixed in one corner of the room. Mr. Levitsky completely ignored Natalie for half an hour. Shooting pain ran through her arms and her legs felt very week. She was sure to collapse any moment now but her will power kept her intact.