Akarnae (39 page)

Once again he lunged at her, changing his attack at the last moment to come from above. She watched as the blade sailed
in an arc towards her head and she threw herself at the ground, somersaulting out of the way. Alex continued rolling and used her forward momentum to jump back up to her feet again—remembering to keep her sword well away from her body.

Kaiden seemed surprised by her unexpected gymnastics and she took the opportunity to leap towards him while he was partially unguarded. She stabbed her sword at him but he parried it effortlessly, knocking her arm away as if she was a fly and he the flyswat.

Clearly he hadn’t been as unguarded as she’d thought.

She stood back for a moment, shifting her weight from foot to foot as she waited for his next move. He seemed to be waiting too, but for what, she wasn’t sure.

And then, as fast as lightning, he lunged at her, almost catching her unawares. She managed to meet his blade in time, but then she realised that the unexpected attack had only been to distract her from his real intention. It wasn’t just the sword she should have been watching for.

Alex was on the ground before she even realised that he’d tripped her, and she watched in slow motion as his sword streamed once more towards her head. She knew he would pull it before actually beheading her, so she took the chance to kick out at him—her aim actually good for once. He grunted in pain as her heel landed on his ankle with much more force than she’d intended.

It was a stupid thing to do, in hindsight, since her kick broke his concentration just as he was pulling out of his attack. He jerked with surprise and his sword naturally followed the movement. At least he had enough sense to flick the blade away from her neck rather than continue its downward path, and his fast reflexes were the only thing that allowed her head to remain attached to her body. But she still hissed in pain as his blade grazed her from collarbone to shoulder.

Kaiden’s eyes widened as her skin broke, his expression immediately remorseful. But this was a fight and he wasn’t supposed to feel bad for hurting her, especially since she’d just injured him as well. The cut wasn’t deep, and he could have easily done much worse.

His hesitation gave Alex the time she needed to spring back up to her feet with renewed determination. He must have noticed the resolve in her eyes, and not fear or pain, because his own face cleared of its concern and he was once again back in attack mode.

Alex feinted forwards, figuring that if Kaiden could do a fake move, then maybe she could too. But as she twisted her arm and spun it around, aiming to hit him with the hilt of her sword, he was one step ahead of her. At the very last second he surprised her by dropping his weapon and throwing his right hand out to intercept her swinging arm. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her forward, causing her to lose balance and stumble straight into him. Using her unsteadiness to his advantage, he quickly spun her around so that her back was pressed up against his chest. She struggled and almost managed to pull away, but his left arm wrapped around her waist, trapping her against his body.

The entire manoeuvre had been so unexpected that she was left a bit stunned. She wasn’t exactly sure what had happened until she felt the cold, hard steel of her own blade pressed against her neck, with Kaiden’s hand engulfing hers on the hilt of the sword.

Alex froze, remembering the night of the Gala when Gerald had held her in a similar position. She stopped breathing for an instant and shuddered as the memories washed over her.

Kaiden must have felt her distress because his arm around her waist squeezed reassuringly and then loosened a fraction.

“It’s a dance, remember?” he whispered in her ear, his breath on the back of her neck raising goose bumps along her skin. “But sometimes your way works too.”

Her eyes lit up as understanding flowed through her. In one single motion she heaved his arm with the sword away from her neck—only gaining a few inches but it was enough—and she used his advice and
stabbed
her other elbow into his stomach.

Kaiden grunted and hunched forward, and she took the opportunity to spin out of his hold. But she’d forgotten that his other arm was still wrapped around her, and she ended up spinning him as well, unbalancing them both. They fell to the ground in a tangle of limbs, each trying not to impale themselves on her blade.

Alex twisted violently, trying desperately to extricate herself from his embrace, and then she was on top of him—not even knowing how—and her hands held the sword steady at the base of his throat. She was certain he could have easily pushed her aside and retaken the lead in their ‘dance’, but at that moment Karter blew his whistle and Alex looked up to see the rest of her classmates watching as she straddled Kaiden in the middle of the Arena.

Despite everything, she felt herself flush with embarrassment, and she looked back down to find Kaiden grinning up at her.

“Good dance,” he said. “We’ll have to do it again sometime.”

“You cheated.” She was puffing from the exertion and she quickly slid off him and stood to her feet.

“How so?” he asked, standing beside her and collecting his sword.

“You let me win. You could have easily beaten me a heap of times, but you didn’t.”

“Maybe,” Kaiden said with an amused, one-shouldered shrug. “Maybe not. Either way, I think it’s safe to say we now know why you have the potential to be in this class.”

Alex didn’t know how to respond to his comment, so she said nothing and just started walking back over to their classmates who were still watching them both intently. Declan was grinning, but the rest of them didn’t seem to know what to think.

When they reached the group, Karter eyed the shallow cut at her neckline. “Do you need to get that looked at?”

“I’m fine to continue,” she said, surprised that he’d even asked.

He nodded approvingly and motioned for them to follow as he moved to one of the chambers off to the side of the Arena. Alex hadn’t been in this particular room before, but she still had an idea of what they would find there.

Sure enough, inside they discovered an obstacle course of epic proportions. Even the guys inhaled sharply at the sight of it.

Alex almost smiled. She’d been facing off against Karter’s hellish imagination for months, and for the first time all afternoon she felt like she might have the advantage.

“Who can tell me why the last part of your exam is an obstacle course?” Karter asked.

“Because it’ll test our reflexes and defensive skills in an unknown environment,” Nick answered mechanically.

“Exactly,” Karter said. “It also forces you to think under pressure, both from the challenges of the course, and also from the fifteen-minute time limit you’ll be given.”

Alex quickly did the maths in her head and realised that fifteen minutes each would take up the entire last hour and a half of their testing period. Piece of cake. Well, not really, but it beat having the stuffing kicked out of her for another ninety minutes.

“You’ll be judged by how far along the course you get,” Karter said. He clearly didn’t expect many—if any—of them to
actually complete it. “If you fail to make it through an obstacle, you have to start at the beginning again.”

They all nodded their understanding.

“We’ll work down in age, oldest to youngest, which means you’re up first, Labinsky. Get ready.”

One after another her classmates entered the course. Brendan first, then Nick, Sebastian, Declan and Kaiden. None of them managed to fully complete it, but Alex paid close attention to where they went wrong so she could learn from their mistakes.

“Jennings, you’re up,” Karter finally barked.

She stood and walked over to the starting line, jumping nervously from foot to foot while she waited for Karter’s go-ahead.

“Three, two, one,
begin.
”

Alex started the course strongly, sailing through the numerous obstacles with only minor difficulties. As she approached the second last challenge, she realised just how well she was doing—better than anyone else so far. Even though she had to be nearly out of time, she was determined to see how far she could make it.

“Hello, old friend,” she muttered to the obstacle in front of her. It was the moving balancing beam with the sandbags, a combination she’d tackled numerous times over the past few months. This particular beam moved erratically, not sequentially like she was used to.
Up-down-up-left-down-right-left-up-right-down
. There was no order to its movement, which meant she wouldn’t know which way to lean to help keep her balance when it changed direction. And if that wasn’t enough, there were
five
sandbags swinging above it, not just the three she’d dealt with in the past, all moving at different times and speeds.

Alex prepared herself and jumped up onto the beam, keeping her arms out by her sides for balance as she grew accustomed to the irregular movement. She stepped forward hesitantly
and almost fell when the beam jerked to the left under her. She managed to steady herself and took another hesitant step, then another. Eyeing the first sandbag swinging dangerously close to her, she waited until her timing was perfect before stepping again, further this time. Her step coincided with the jagged movement of the beam, and she fell down on one knee as she lost her balance.

Alex waited, calming her trembling limbs and telling herself that it was just a little further until she’d be done. She rose carefully, wobbling even more but eventually managing to get back upright before stepping forward again.

Step—wobble—step—wait for sandbag—step—wobble—step.

She continued the entire way across the beam until there was just one sandbag left between her and safety. After that, only one obstacle remained in the course and she would be through. She glanced ahead to look at the finish line, but her distraction cost her when she should have been paying attention. The beam jerked to the right, before it continued in a quick
up-down-up-left
action that tilted Alex forward—right into the path of the final swinging sandbag. It smashed straight into her, throwing her off the beam and into the mud below.

The pain was instant. Since she had no protective gear on, her shoulder joint had taken the brunt of the impact, and even just flexing her hand sent daggers down her arm. She had to bite her tongue to stop from crying out in agony. Tears sprung to her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. Instead, she used her good arm—the right one, thankfully—to push herself to her feet.

Alex cradled her injured arm close to her body and jogged painfully back to the beginning of the course. She still had time left, and there was no way she was going to quit until Karter blew his whistle. She just hoped it would be soon.

She crawled on three limbs through the first challenge—a mud-drenched wriggle-tube—but once she reached the second obstacle—a fifty-foot high rope ladder—Alex knew she was in trouble. She tried to reach out with her sore arm but it was no use—the pain was too intense and there was no way she could hold her weight with it. But she couldn’t just stand there and do nothing.

An idea came to her and she wasn’t sure if it would work, but it was worth a try. Instead of stepping onto the first rung, Alex wrapped her left leg around the entire ladder, before reaching up with her good arm and pulling her weight off the ground. She then wrapped her right leg around it as well, locking her ankles together until she felt somewhat secure. She didn’t know how high she would get, but with both her legs caught in the ladder she was much more stable.

Alex started to pull herself up with her good arm, using her legs to hold her position whenever she had to reach up for the next rung. Her muscles screamed from the strain, and even though she wasn’t using her bad shoulder at all, even the slightest movement caused pain to ripple through her body.

Finally, when she was about three quarters of the way up, the whistle blew and she shuddered with relief. There was no way she could have gone any further. It was a struggle enough to loosen her cramping limbs and slide fireman-style back to the ground.

Alex swayed on her feet when the impact from landing back on the floor jarred her shoulder, and her vision blackened for a moment. But she was determined to walk out of the class just like everyone else, so she rallied the last of her strength and staggered over to the others. Her classmates were all looking at her strangely, but she was too focused on not passing out to try and figure out what they were thinking. She did, however, look at Karter, and on his face was an expression she had never seen directed at her before: respect.

“Well, that’s it,” he said abruptly. “Your exam is over. Off you go.”

Alex wasted no time following his instructions. As she was walking—or stumbling—away, he barked out one more order: “Jennings, report to Fletcher immediately.”

She didn’t even have the energy to roll her eyes. As if she was going anywhere else.

Alex made it halfway up the hill towards the academy before she had to stop and rest. Collapsing into a sitting position on the ground, she bent over herself and held her injured arm close to her body.

“Ow,” she whispered, unable to express herself in any other way.

Just as she was contemplating leaning back and closing her eyes for a moment, a pair of dark boots entered her vision.

“Do you need that push now?”

Alex laughed breathily before wincing at the pain it caused her. “This time? I think so,” she admitted.

Kaiden knelt down and reached out to wrap his arm around her. He was careful to keep clear of her damaged shoulder as he pulled her gently to her feet. She was too exhausted and in too much pain to be embarrassed by his help—even when she realised that the rest of the guys from their Combat class were also surrounding them.

As a group they hobbled towards the Med Ward. Well, she hobbled—they walked.

“Is that what you’ve been doing during class?” Nick asked her. “That course?”

“Not that one,” she answered weakly. “But other courses like it.”

“You’d never been around that one before?” Brendan clarified.