Chapters of a Life: Trainee (Complete)

3

Last night was magic. We had run and chased the bats and each other till our parents had to drag us back to our dens. Unfortunately for me, my nemesis was again upon me, morning. Dad had gotten me up and informed me what my chores were, which ones had to be taken care of before breakfast and what my daily schedule would be. To help me remember I began to recite it as I collected the eggs. 'Each morning I will collect the eggs and milk the cow, after breaking my fast off to school, then to training, finishing up with taking fauna classes, cleaning our den, and any personal stuff then off to bed'. Walking in I placed the pail of milk on the table next to the basket of eggs, it always amazed me that our cows and chickens produced, seeing the fire was not set I began to fix that. When the fire was hot the cooking began, when it was completed I went to the door and called for Dad. "Dad foods ready", I hollered. One of the perks of being a were was great hearing.

Within moments Dad came in and washed his hands, "Ummm, smells good. To be so young you are a fine cook, Bo".

Blushing I mumbled, "Thanks".

"Ya ready", he asked enjoying some honey on his bread.

"As I can be. I met many of my classmates last night and they are nice," I said.

"I hear some hesitation, there is nothing ya canna tell me", he said.

"Well, Ewan and I had words and he grabbed me..." before I could finish Dad had stood up and was headed out toward the door. I rushed after him clutching his leg.

"NO, this is between Ewan and me", I firmly stated. Still clinging like a leech to his leg.

"Bo", he said bending over to scoop me up, "I am yer Dad and it is my privilege to protect ya."

My smile just about didn't fit on my face, I swiftly moved around to throw my arms around his neck. Drawing back "That makes me so happy to hear but this has to be my fight. If I let you fight it for me he will never know how strong I am. Sorry but this is between that foozle and me." I told him.

"Foozle, really. Do I need to talk to ya Papa and Grandpa about what they have been teaching you"? Dad asked joking with me.

"You know that it was Uncle Sten who teaches me all those words", I sassed back smiling as we returned to the table to finish our meal.

Several hours later I was off to physical training. The morning had been divided between reading, writing, arithmetic, language, and strategy. Since my brain had been exhausted it was time my body became the same. Since we were all of a similar age we all walked down to the training field together. Turns out that I had not met all my classmates the night before, there were three more in our school but they were older and were wanting to train with the Elders I had also discover the names of Ewan's males, Knud and Gorm brothers who were every bit as knackered as Ewan.

Ewan was out in the lead with his two jackanapes the rest of us dragging along behind when it dawned on me that he wanted it to appear as if we were following him. Stopping I gathered my remaining classmates around and asked them, "Do ya want to follow Ewan? If not then come with me."

We broke off to follow a path that would bring us to the field from a different angle. As we entered we could see Ewan looking around wondering where we had gotten off too.

"They were behind me. Guess they realized how weak they were and..." we heard him say.

"Good day to all, are we late?" I asked knowing we were not.

"Not at all. Please join us and we will begin." Fenian said smiling at us. As turned Ewan shot us a look that we all should have died from. Me, I wiggled my fingers at him and grinned.

I knew I was caught when I caught the Delta's eye. "If yer done?"

"Yes sir", I had been suitably subdued.

"Each of ya will be paired up and will fight as the warriors watch and see yer skill level. The rules are simple no tryin' to kill, no maiming, and do yer best." With that, the warriors spread out on the field as I grabbed Heather for my first pairing.

Heather was no warrior and the fight was over quickly. As were most of the fights. In the end, it took less time than anyone thought to have Ewan and I be the last two on the field. As we lined up for our fight I thought about all the lessons I had gained while on the journey and relaxed into my pose. Ewan was impatient and lept at me, a brisk turn made evading him easy. Time and again it was that way, he lept and I turned away. Then his anger rose up and he began to berate me calling me horrid names, this stunned me and he took advantage of that momentary hesitation to grab me and begin to pummel me.

Later that night as I laid in Dad's bed my ribs wrapped and salve on my face, I listened to the adults talk. "I am sorry Alpha he began screaming vulgarities at her she hesitated for a moment and he had her down. We got him off of her as quickly as possible." Fenian said his voice was so subdued it was hard to hear. But it might have had more to do with the ringing that was still in my head.

"Alpha he will be punished at the next training session tomorrow. Who do you want to deliver the lashes", Adare asked?

"No lashes, he will be helping to in the garden and running extra patrols." My head was pounding and I could barely speak for the dryness of my throat but I needed to be heard.

Everyone spun to face me. "What are you saying? Why no lashes it's the way we punish offenders here." Bea said as if I was personally offending her by changing the punishment.

Finally making it to them, those few feet felt like miles, I sat at the table and took a long drink, When the glass ran dry I explained, "The lashes will leave scars. He will turn those scars into badges of honor. This way we take his honor by making him do what he considers female work or work for lesser wolves. He gets put in his place and we don't give him a platform for later." I sat back closing my eyes and wondered if anyone would notice how exhausted I was and would pack me back to Dad's bed.

"Amazing, how did we not see that", Fenian asked as he stared down at me.

"He will be humiliated and this will be so much worse", Adare grinned.

"Hmm, this would take the wind out of his sails and knock his father down a peg" Dad said quietly.

The thing that had me opening my eyes and looking up through the pain was how silent the females were. Twisting my head slightly to see where they were, I caught them staring at me as if they were trying to see how I was put together. Undeterred I asked, "Well she-wolves what say ye"?

Their smiles encouraged me while the males seemed unnerved, "Aye, we say Aye. The little Alpha is right and sneaky. This will not stop him but it will not give him the platform he wants to garner support claim nor will it give him the scars could use later. Impressive. Now she needs to return a bed for a long sleep, tomorrow she'll be right as rain." Bea said as she gently gathered me in her arms. As she placed me in the bed, I had nearly dozed off when I heard her say, "While you are not mine, I claim you as blood." A soft kiss to my forehead and she was gone.