Violet Path (10 page)

John, our hunting leader, had a bow and a quiver full of arrows strapped to his back. The rest of my group carried track-shoots. The track-shoots looked like remotes for complicated machines with a ton of buttons. I knew how to shoot a bow and arrow, so I asked John if I could borrow an extra bow. He offered me an older bow with twenty arrows in a torn-up black quiver. I slung it across my shoulder, and we left as a group into the woods.

Nick divided our group into four pairs to make the hunt more efficient. I was with Mike, one of the twins. We had left the others and made our own path in the forest.

About two and a half hours passed, and we still hadn’t caught anything. Mike was getting upset; he wanted to catch a deer or a boar for dinner, but we didn’t see anything other than squirrels.

“Shhh!” Mike whispered and waved for me to keep quiet. I froze. A magnificent deer with long, beautiful antlers stood in front of us. Mike held out his track-shoot, then pushed a couple of buttons. The deer fell, hit by a bullet in the heart. I pitied the animal as we approached its motionless body.

The deer’s lifeless, glistening eyes looked up to the sky. Its large eyes reminded me of Lyli’s. Mike grabbed the animal by its legs and swung it onto his shoulders. The head swayed behind his back with every step, slapping against his shoulder blades. The animal seemed to gaze at me regardless of where I stood. Even when I looked away, I felt its glare. It looked at me asking for mercy and pity. A small bullet was lodged between the deer’s ribs, and a thin trickle of blood stained the pure-white fur lining its tender belly.

I followed Mike back to the camp, and we ran into George and Timothy, who had killed a boar and two rabbits. I couldn’t look at the dead animals as we made our way back.

We still had three hours before dinner, so I stood at the front of the camp and practiced my aiming by shooting trees with arrows, aiming at knots in trunks. When I returned the quiver to John, he offered me the bow and five arrows as a gift. I hesitated, but he insisted, so I took them.

I went to my cabin to rest a bit before dinner. So far, it had been an interesting day.

Someone knocked. “Hey, Alex?” said Maxime in a soft, melodic voice.

“You can come in. I promise not to twist your arm.”

He didn’t enter. “I heard you’re really good at fighting. I’m going to give you a test tomorrow morning to see if you can move to the more advanced class.”

“I’m not that good.”

“We’ll see. If you pass, you’ll have fighting class twice a day and miss weapons making.”

“That’s fine with me!” I laughed.

He didn’t respond, so I assumed that he had left.

After dinner, I went back to my cabin to sleep. I put on my pajamas and lay down. Sam startled me when he came in shirtless with a towel in his hand. He didn’t even knock.

“It’s time to shower, Alex,” he said.

“I’m exhausted,” I said in a deep voice. I was terrible at pretending to be a boy.

“Well, it’s your first day, and you’re supposed to be with your group at all times, but I’ll cover for you. Nick will understand. Goodnight.”

“Thanks, goodnight,” I repeated, and he left. The last thing I was going to do was bathe in a lake, naked, with seven other men who thought I was a boy. I would have to figure something out, and quick.

Chapter 9

It was still dark outside when I headed for Maxime’s cabin. He was already outside waiting, holding his staff.

“Good morning,” he said with a slight yawn.

“Good morning,” I quietly imitated.

“Well, no use waiting. Let’s go!”

I followed him to the clearing in the forest again. When we got there, he put his staff down in front of his feet and stretched. I mirrored him.

We focused on balance and reaction. He showed me different stances and explained each one. They weren’t very difficult to learn. One of the stances consisted of having our feet shoulder-width apart, one in front, one behind, legs bent, our heels forming a right angle with equal weight on both feet. It was hard to be pushed over in this stance, and our knees wouldn’t easily bend. It also made it easy to walk and kick. We then practiced some moves that focused on the fluidity of the movements. Some of the techniques were offensive, while others were defensive. Although the offensive moves were harder to learn, the defensive moves would be harder in a real fight.

Finally, I got to put what I had learned to use. Every step suddenly seemed a lot harder than before. Maxime wasn’t rough, but he was agile, quick, and intelligent, and he predicted my choices. He was more than skilled.

We combatted for a long time until he won. He had adapted to my form and used it against me.

He offered me his hand and helped me up after having nailed me to the ground. “Good. I’m very impressed. You learn very quickly, and you adapted to my technique very well.” Maxime’s encouraging words were bitter to my ears, simply because I had lost and didn’t see the point of learning martial arts for war when Matthew would just shoot with blazing guns from miles away. On the other hand, it was soothing to receive positive criticism instead of Matthew’s harsh treatment.

I followed Maxime to the river. It was calm, and the sun lightly flew across the water. He told me that he had to go and reminded me how to get back to the camp. I waited for him to leave before slipping into the cool water. I liked the feeling of the water rushing against my skin as I swam.

I jumped out, dressed, and returned to the camp. The long tables were empty, which signaled that I was early. I dragged my feet to my cabin and slept until the bell rang. I was one of the first to sit down, but I still avoided the small groups and their conversations. Suddenly, I didn’t feel as if I fit in. I didn’t know what to talk about or what was considered “cool” or “interesting.” I never fit in anywhere, and being surrounded by males was even more challenging. As more people came, food was served and we ate quickly while David announced that the previous day’s schedule was becoming permanent. Some groans were exchanged, but mostly cheers sparked in the camp. I did my best not to react; I still couldn’t face David after he had shot and kissed me. I was more than perplexed.

When I arrived at class, David handed me a thick, black, full-body uniform. He spoke in a monotone voice, “We’ll be sword fighting today, so you’ll need this for protection. We don’t have your size, but this should do. Go and quickly change.”

I ran back to my cabin and quickly undressed, throwing my clothes everywhere. I pulled on the thick, elastic uniform. The layers of materials were thick and strong. The material was hard on the outside, like a shell, but that did not make the uniform comfortable. It was tight, very tight. I struggled to zip it up the front. It was almost impossible to breathe. The sleeves and pants dug into my skin, cutting off my circulation. The collar choked me, and I felt like I was being sucked in and strangled. I took a deep breath and ran out.

“Does it fit?” David asked.

“It’s extremely tight, and it’s hard to breathe,” I said.

“You’ll get used to it,” he replied. He pushed me aside, and I lined up with the rest of my group.

David went over the rules and how to handle different swords. He showed us various footwork and different cuts. He talked and talked, sucking in all of the air around us. My heart was racing, and I started to struggle to inhale. I was lightheaded and becoming dizzy. David’s words suddenly became slurred, and then my vision blurred and my legs went weak. I collapsed.

When I woke up, Maxime was leaning over me. I pushed him away, coughed, and inhaled as much air as I possibly could to fill my lungs. I looked around and realized I was on his bed in his cabin. I panicked. I noticed that my suit was unzipped. I suddenly became very self-conscious and scrambled to zip it up. I couldn’t remember how I had gotten there. The blood rushed to my face.

Maxime sighed. “You know, they train us and it’s a requirement to learn first aid, but not once had I thought of the panicking that comes with actually performing it. Are you all right?” Maxime was practically laughing, but David was dead serious.

I nodded, unable to utter a word.

Maxime handed me a glass of water. I thanked him and drank every drop of it.

“We don’t have a uniform in your size, so I’m sorry about that. The one you’re wearing is a kid’s uniform, and the next size up probably wouldn’t fit. I had David get your clothes from your cabin; I hope you don’t mind.” He handed me my brown pants and shirt.

“We’re going to wait outside. I’m sending in a doctor; she’s from Maria, the village not far from here, and she’s in charge of the healthcare system for The Shadows. She comes often, but Sam is the official nurse here in the camp. I figure you’d be more comfortable around her.”

I thanked him softly, and he closed the door behind him. I jumped up and quickly changed, still embarrassed not only because I had fainted in front of everyone, but also because the leader of The Shadows unzipped my uniform and administered CPR. At least I would be around another female soon. I heard a knock at the door, and Maxime’s soothing words announced that Megan was about to enter. I did not know what to expect or how to act, or even if she knew who or what I was. I stood awkwardly in the middle of the cabin as a young woman in her late twenties entered with a red bag in her hands. She had tempest eyes and dark, brown hair with pale skin.

She introduced herself full of energy, “Hi, Alex. I’m Megan. I did most of your knee surgery. Glad to see you’re up and going.”

I thanked her, and she smiled gently. She motioned for me to sit down on Maxime’s bed and asked me to take off my shirt. She listened to my heart and lungs. She then asked me for my hand to take my pulse.

“You’re a lefty,” she commented. Yes, I was left-handed, but it was weird that she had noticed that. She continued, “So . . . you are a girl hiding at a men’s war camp. You have a rare blood type, AB positive, and are left-handed. You’re very special.”

I hated being called “special.”At first, I had appreciated being around another female, but that bubble had burst with her last comment. I started to explain that I was only there because I had been asked to stay, but she cut me off to tell me that excuses were unnecessary.

“You know, you need to be more careful. I know this incident was kind of ridiculous, but as much as I enjoy your company, I don’t want to see you too often. Besides, with a rare blood type, it’s not easy to give you transfusions. Your last donors need a break as well. Other than being dehydrated, you’re very healthy. It’s a good thing Andrew is medically trained.”

Nobody had told me that I had a transfusion from the gunshot wound David inflicted. “Thanks. If you don’t mind me asking, who were my donors?” I was curious and felt the need to thank them.

“Sam and Andrew. You three are the only ones with AB-positive blood here.”

“Not David?”

“No.”

“But they’re brothers.”

“But not by blood. Now, if you don’t mind me asking, why are you here? Why stay at a war camp? Andrew didn’t say much about it.”

I wasn’t sure if I could tell her anything, especially if Maxime hadn’t told her much, but most importantly I wasn’t too sure of why I was staying. I had thought about it, but couldn’t understand my decision. The only rationale I believed was that I was against Matthew, like The Shadows, but there was something else keeping me around, which I couldn’t put my finger on. All I knew was that it had something to do with Maxime and why he had asked me to stay. “I guess it’s because I would like to stop Matthew.”

Megan smiled. “That’s everyone’s answer here; you’ll fit in fine.” She left, and I dressed.

Maxime and David greeted me outside and took the swordsmanship uniform from me. I thanked them and walked down the stairs alone. Before I reached the bottom, I realized that I hadn’t the slightest idea of the time or where I was supposed to be, so ran back up. As I approached the door, I heard the two brothers arguing.

“You almost killed her!” Maxime was enraged.

“How is this my fault? You’re the one keeping her here where she is in danger. You know the penalty!” David shouted.