Warrior of the Stars- Book one of the Jay Shang Chronicles

Chapter 18 - Always a Farm Boy

Chapter 18-Always a Farm Boy

Thwack!

"Faster!"

Thwack! Thwack!

"I said faster! Or do you enjoy the feel of my knuckles smacking you across that impertinent head of yours, lad?" admonished Benjii, who, for what seemed to Jay like the one-thousandth time that day, smacked the boy across the back of his skull with a turnip-sized fist.

Damon's hysterical laughter rang through the crisp mountain air as Jay struggled to his feet. He shot his friend a dirty look before taking his fighting stance again. He looked at the ground, trying to make sure his feet were the proper distance apart.

Thwack!

Jay's body flew backward. "What the heck was that for! I wasn't even ready yet!" he squawked.

Benjii put his hands on his hips, displeased with the boy's attitude.

"When you're on the battlefield the enemy isn't going to wait until you're ready! You have to be faster! Now ready up, and don't take your eyes off of my fists again if you know what good for you, lad!"

Jay forced his aching body up from the ground, positioning his body into what he thought the proper stance might be, but his head was ringing and he couldn't focus his thoughts. In front of him, Benjii's body tensed as he prepared to strike out again.

Jay tried desperately to dodge the big man's fist as it flew towards his face, but he was still too slow. It connected with the top of his head and once more sent him sprawling.

"Ooooh, that one's gonna leave a mark," hissed Damon, wincing, "Even I felt that one."

Lynwee and several of the other squad leaders were passing by and howled with laughter as they witnessed Jay's humiliation.

"Stupid fiereo! Don't you know you will always be trash? Once a farm boy, always a farm boy. You will never be a true warrior," the older boy crowed as the others cheered him on.

Benjii sighed and rubbed his sore knuckles. "That's enough for today. I'm going to have to report on your lack of progress. We've been at this for several weeks now and you're just as unskilled as when we started."

Jay lay on his stomach with his face planted firmly into the freezing snow, not wanting to see the disappointed look on Benjii's face as he trudged away. The chill was soothing against his rapidly swelling face.

Maybe Lynwee was right. He didn't know what was wrong with him. Every morning before his normal training Jay had been practicing his Brendu technique with Benjii while Damon watched on the side and made not very helpful comments.

Jay closed his eyes as his bruises began to throb.

Despite the constant practice, he was not improving. At first, he had tried to comfort himself by deciding that his failures were caused by Benjii's superior skill. However, Jay was also practicing with Damon, whose skill was not much better than his own, every night after dinner and the chubby boy was also adept at knocking him to the ground. Jay was convinced he would never get any better.

Though at first he had been proud of gaining the attention of the highest ranking men in the Kimanchean army, Jay was now worried that his lack of skill would bring him trouble. They had made it clear that they were expecting him to start showing enhancement in the other parts of his training but he was still far behind the other boys in everything but archery. He just wasn't strong or quick enough to keep up.

"If you stay like that for much longer you will freeze your nose so badly that it'll fall off." Damon sauntered up to where Jay was quickly amassing snow on top of him because, as always, it was falling from the sky.