The Order of the Elements 01 - Breaking Point (21 page)

“We are going to start with the basics, well, because that’s a good place to start.” Everyone laughed, and Kali laughed a little too loudly to be entirely believable.

“The first thing to learn is basic defensive position.” Dorian slipped into a crouch. “Stay compacted, keep your muscles tensed, your senses on alert, especially in the dark. If you keep lower to the ground, especially if you can’t see your attacker, it gives you better leverage for when you are engaged in combat. It’s easier to knock them off their feet, or make them unstable. Breanne, go ahead.”

Breanne had been standing a little off to the side, but stepped up in front of Dorian when he asked for her. Ethan watched closely as she lowered slightly before she pounced on Dorian. He was crouched low enough that her stomach collided with his shoulder, and he lifted her up easily to shove her back to the mat and pin her. Ethan was sure that Breanne would have been able to fight him off, but this was a demonstration, not a battle.

Dorian straightened up. “Now, I want the girls to take the stance I just did. I’m going to walk around and make sure you are all properly positioned.”

Lucy let go of Ethan’s hand and stood in front of him. The other people in the group rearranged themselves to make room as Dorian started at the front of the group. Lucy crouched down in front of Ethan, just like Dorian had done, before settling on one of her knees to wait. Dorian and Breanne made their way quickly through the pairs. Until Dorian got to Kali.

Ethan could see him hesitate, hoping that Breanne would beat him there, but she was spacing Kiera’s feet, and Kali looked at Dorian expectantly, crouching completely wrong, of course. Phoebe rested on her knees as she glared angrily.

“I don’t understand how I’m supposed to stand,” Kali said.

Dorian’s jaw clenched, even more tightly than it normally did, as he positioned her feet and rearranged her until she was close to the right position. She kept shifting out of position in one way or another so Dorian had to keep moving her arm or pulling her up or curving her back. Phoebe was crouched again, and looked like she was about to attack. Ethan could distinctly hear thunder outside. He looked down. Surprisingly, Lucy was tensed as well.

Finally, Dorian mumbled something about “That’s good enough” before giving up on Kali and walking away. Kali smiled at Phoebe, rubbing it in; then thunder cracked ominously outside, but Kali just rolled her eyes.

Dorian returned to the front of the group. “Now, I want each of the boys to attack the girls the same way Breanne did to me.” Ethan looked at Lucy. Dorian was joking, right? “I know this is the hardest part, the first time you have to attack a girl. That’s why I do it first; better get used to it. Whoever you are with right now is your partner until our first tournament, and neither of you will learn anything if you hold back.”

Every one of the boys looked nervously down at their partner.
Doesn’t Dorian realize that Lucy is too fragile for this?
Ethan thought. Just then Ethan saw someone lunge out of the corner of his eye. Evan, of course. Phoebe was fast. She braced for the impact and pushed him back to the mat. She smiled as she stood and offered her hand to help him up.

“Good job, Evan and Phoebe. Now the rest of you, get a move on; we don’t have all day. Nobody is going to get their feelings hurt.”

Ethan looked back down at Lucy. She was smiling, looking blissfully unconcerned about the fact that he had just been told to attack her. He could see other people finally in motion around him as Dorian and Breanne moved through the pairs again. He wondered if closing his eyes might help, so he took a deep breath and shut them. He lunged. Lucy was braced and she forced him back hard enough that he was winded as he lay on the mat. She was tougher than she looked. He opened his eyes. She was leaning over him, smiling with her hand outstretched. He took her hand, and she helped him back to his feet.

“That was really good,” Ethan commented, feeling like an idiot for thinking she was breakable.

“You seem surprised,” she said. She looked over at Jared, who was rubbing his ribs as Cynthia apologized.

Ethan’s cheeks felt warm. “Well, I just, umm, well, you didn’t seem, I just didn’t want to…”

She smiled. “It’s okay; I understand. I’m not as breakable as I look.”

Seriously, she has to be a mind reader
, he was convinced. With the first test over, the rest of the morning passed quickly. Each defensive maneuver, each offensive attack, was demonstrated by Dorian and Breanne. Then they moved through the pairs to watch and correct mistakes. Every time, Kali got something wrong. Intentionally, of course. Breanne dealt with her most of the time, and those times the errors were corrected easily, but every time Dorian had to help her, she took much longer to understand the technique.

Kali’s antics slowed down progress, but even with all the murderous glares Phoebe constantly threw at her, she and Evan were doing extremely well. Jared and Cynthia were doing all right, but were still nervous. Lucy was much better and stronger than Ethan had thought, and keeping up with her kept him on his toes.

By the time lunch came around, Ethan’s stomach was growling impatiently. “It’s nearly time for your lunch hour, and when you come back, we will challenge each of you to small battles to see how you do against the unexpected with the basic knowledge you have. The second half of the afternoon will be spent in physical training.” There was an outbreak of groaning at this. Dorian held up his hands. “I know, I know, but combat requires strength and endurance, which comes from physical training.”

Ethan wasn’t looking forward to doing physical training, but since combat was something he was actually doing well at, he was more willing to giving it all he had. A half hour later, they were dismissed to go eat. Lunch passed quickly and almost silently as everyone concentrated on what they had just learned in order to be ready for their upcoming match.

They all hurried back to the training arena after lunch. Dorian and Breanne directed them to a section of the tiers and pulled one person forward at a time to spar with. Kiera, Kara, Justin, and Beth took their turns. Each of the girls managed to hold their defensive positions and push Dorian back, but were brought down to the mat only seconds later as Dorian jumped up quickly, causing them to lose their balance, and kicked their feet out from under them.

Justin did a little better. He held his own for a minute or two until Dorian locked his arms and brought him down. Ethan knew that if Dorian had been performing anywhere near his potential, nobody would have been standing after the first time he lunged at them, but he was bringing it down to beginner level.

Phoebe stepped forward next. She looked nervous but excited to be facing the unexpected. Dorian took a few seconds longer to attack her than he did the others. When he did, Phoebe’s shield went up, and Dorian backed off.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to!” Phoebe said, flustered.

“It’s okay; you just have to keep your powers at bay. That’s a good defense, but you also have to learn to fight without it.”

Phoebe nodded as she crouched down again. This time Dorian jumped a little more quickly, and Phoebe shoved him back roughly. Though he was moving slowly and lightly for the benefit of the beginners, even he looked surprised by Phoebe’s strength. He jumped back up, and Phoebe crouched again. He lunged at her, and she dodged as she kicked the back of his knee.

He crumpled for a second before regaining his position. He moved toward her again and swung his arm out to grab hers. She moved swiftly, caught his arm, spun into him, elbowed him with her free arm, and lifted him over her shoulder as he gasped from the blow. He landed with a thud on his back. Phoebe still had her arm attached to his, however, and he twisted his wrist to grab onto her arm and pull her down. He rolled over, lay across her chest, and pinned her. She squirmed, trying to get out from under him, but gave up in defeat after a few seconds.

Phoebe did look rather proud of herself, though, and Ethan couldn’t blame her. She had been the best so far. Dorian helped her up, looking extremely surprised, but smiling. Ethan was nervous. How was he going to compete with that? He anxiously stepped down from the tiers for his turn.

He stood in front of Dorian and felt as if the rest of the room disappeared. Ethan’s concentration was totally focused on Dorian as he watched the man’s every move, waiting for him to attack. With Dorian’s every twitch, Ethan’s muscles tensed. Dorian came at him, and Ethan blocked him and turned his arm around into an uncomfortable position. Dorian twisted out of it and countered Ethan by pulling his arm behind his back. Ethan elbowed Dorian in the stomach, which loosened his grasp long enough for Ethan to slip his arm out.

Dorian swung at him, and Ethan blocked him again as he kicked his foot around and tripped him. Dorian stumbled for a moment before regaining his footing and moved faster, finally pinning Ethan against the mat. Dorian was slightly out of breath. Ethan had done better than he’d expected. It was nowhere near as good as Phoebe had been, but he hadn’t been pinned to the mat within seconds, either.

Ethan took his seat again, feeling better about training and about what he was doing here. Evan bounced where he sat as he waited for his turn. Phoebe said Ethan did better than she did, but he ignored her. She was wrong. Lucy took his hand again as he sat down. He hadn’t realized what a regular occurrence this had become until just now. Not that he minded. Perhaps that was why he hadn’t noticed. He really didn’t mind at all. Had he not been so preoccupied the past few days, he might have noticed it sooner. Lucy’s hand was cool and small compared to his, and he liked it rather well where it was. When the sun hit her hair just right, it glinted from red to gold.

In this one moment where he felt comfortable, where he felt like he belonged here, Ethan realized that part of the reason was because of her. He couldn’t explain it, but he belonged to her. She had staked her claim from the moment he first met her. The dreams of the girl with the red hair that turned to gold in the sunlight, the musical laughter—he hadn’t been searching for her. His subconscious was trying to lead him to discover that she was right in front of him, the most obvious place to look, yet so often overlooked. Why, though? What gave her that claim? Why was he hers?

I’ll explain it to you sometime.

16. Connection

Whoa, Ethan thought. Did I just hear Lucy in my head?

Yes.

Ethan looked at Lucy, suddenly alarmed.

Don’t worry, you are perfectly sane. I told you I would explain it to you sometime, but not now. You’re just going to have to get used to hearing me. Her green eyes sparkled happily.

What? Why? Are you going to hear all my thoughts? Do you have Phoebe’s talent? What’s going on?

No, I do not have Phoebe’s talent, and no, I won’t hear all your thoughts, only when I choose, and you can hear mine when you choose.

Why?

I can’t tell you.

Is this a joke?

No, I can’t tell you because it’s forbidden. There are only certain people who can lift the ban, and until they do, I can’t tell you.

Why?

Because it…complicates things.
Her eyebrows pulled together.

What things?

How about this—you know how Phoebe and Syran have a connection, how they trust one another and stuff?

Yes
, Ethan replied, having no idea where this was going.

Okay, well, we now have a connection, and because of it, you can hear my thoughts and I can hear yours, part of the deal. I can’t tell you any more than that.

They watched the match going on below. Evan was doing pretty well at defending himself.
Still not as good as Phoebe
, Ethan thought,
but who was?

Yes, she was pretty good. I think Dorian was letting her win, though.

If we have a connection, why couldn’t I hear you before?

Because you didn’t notice and accept it until a few minutes ago.

Let me guess, part of the deal?

Good guess.

So what now?

Now, I go take my turn.

What? No! She can’t go fight Dorian. He’ll hurt her. He’s so much bigger than she is
. Ethan had begun to talk to himself, forgetting that Lucy was still there, listening to his thoughts.

Relax; I’ll be fine and back before you know it.

Despite Ethan’s anxiety, Lucy rose from her spot beside him and walked down to the floor.

This was just so crazy. Accepting that anyone could hear his thoughts was something he was still getting used to. He realized, though, that with Lucy, he didn’t mind. He was just surprised. Curious, Ethan wondered if she just had to be close for him to hear her thoughts, so he focused back on her where she stood on the floor and settled on another question to ask her.

What is the connection we have? Can you tell me that?

I could, but you’re going to have to figure it out for yourself. Now be quiet; I need to concentrate.

Ethan focused. She was crouching down. Dorian was about to lunge at her. She was good; instead of taking the blow and shoving him back, she dodged him completely and tripped him as she moved. Dorian stumbled but managed not to fall as he turned to face her again. She feinted left and at the last second twisted around to the right and shoved him down.

But she made almost the same mistake Phoebe had, and he grabbed her arm and twisted her onto her back on the mat. She was pinned. Dorian congratulated her, and Ethan exhaled as relief flooded through him. She bounded back to her seat and took Ethan’s hand again. He pulled her closer and put his arm around her shoulders, glad that she wasn’t hurt.

I told you I would be fine
. She smiled contentedly as she settled against his ribs.

Doesn’t mean I won’t worry. Why won’t you tell me?

It’s better if you figure it out for yourself, just like you did a few minutes ago. It’s easier to accept that way. It shouldn’t be too hard. I was surprised you figured the first part out as quickly as you did.

Does everybody else know about this? Is this something just Phoebe and I don’t know about?