Chapter 15 Training

Angela had been talking to her beast and learning about things that were only possible in a mythical story. She had never imagined that one day she would actually be in a magical land as a royal princess, who had a talking, winged beast as a pet and surrounded by people who had glowing eyes and weird customs. Only that morning as Natalia was preparing her bath, had she learnt that werewolves existed, vampires and other supernatural beings. Now Mizpah was telling her that he talked to the woman who claimed to be her mother. Whenever s thought about it, her heart would skip a beat, she wanted it to be true, but she was also afraid that there was a possibility that her hopes would come crashing down. She remembered how much she longed to have a mother, her grandmother Alice had loved her, but it was not enough. She yearned for her mother, but she had taught her heart to accept that she would never experience what it felt like to have one. The feeling she had experienced the first time she found herself in the dreamscape was enough to revive the hope in her heart, she was willing to talk or interact with her even if it was in the dreamscape. Now that she understood what that place was, Angela had more questions than answers. Had the woman she met in the dreamscape been imprisoned? A tinge of fear passed through her heart, if she was a prisoner, would she be released in a hundred years. She had tried to ask all these questions to Mizpah but the beast had been elusive which made her worry. Greta came in after she came in from talking to Mizpah, she was preparing her for the training with Zander. It was one of the things that she actually liked, Alice had trained her since she could learn how to walk. She always insisted that she needed to train hard so that she could defend herself in case she was attacked. Even though such an event never really occurred until when they were both attacked by the man with the white beard, who had an advantage because he was not fighting fair but using magic, she had never had to use her skills.

Grandmother Alice had shocked her Angela could not believe that she had magic. She was just a frail old woman albeit a strong one. Alice had been the one training Angela, she was a ruthless trainer and a tough one. This made Angela to be one of the best fighters; she was swift, agile, cunning and dangerous. She had more strength than the normal humans she grew up with but it was not too pronounced that she would be considered different. Angela was feared by those that had the unfortunate luck of finding themselves on the opposite side of her kicks.

A middle-aged man with a dark mane, a moustache and sharp eyes came knocking on her door. When Natalia opened it, he bowed and stayed bent until Greta nudged Angela by elbowing her on the ribs subtly.

"Tell him to rise!" she whispered.

"Hey, rise up man!" Angela said.

The man stood straight avoiding her eyes and said, "I've been sent by master Zander to come and fetch you."

"She will be right outside, just wait for a moment." Greta told him.

The man left closing the doors behind him but not before Angela saw his cheeks, they had a tinge of red.

"Why is he blushing," she whispered to Greta, mischief written all over her face.

Greta smiled, looked at her, and held her by the chin, "You, he is embarrassed by the way you just addressed him. You only needed to say rise' and he would have done so and stated his business."

Angela frowned unsure of what she had done wrong but shrugged her shoulders the training seeming much more interesting than learning their way of communication. Greta was fussing around checking on her training suit but Angela wanted to leave immediately.

"Stop child, you do not know what you are about to encounter. The people you will be training with are not your normal average human but trained royal warriors who know nothing except violence. They are handpicked and rigorously trained since they are five years of age. When they reach the age of twelve they are released into the wild to learn survival. They live a life of kill or be killed and only return to the empire when they are sixteen. Those that die out there are considered a disgrace and they are quickly forgotten."

"Oh wow," Angela exclaimed.

The more Greta spoke about the Grundolf warriors and their training the more she felt excited to go out there and train with them. She did not tell her that Alice had trained her since she was a kid herself and except for being released out into the wilderness, she had been released out into the wilderness, she had been released out into the world where she had to survive. She had earned the respect of even the most notorious gangsters, she never backed away from a fight, and she never lost one.

Greta thought she would be scared and back down, she was afraid she would get hurt out in the training field but Angela was excited to be training. She left with Natalia after Greta made sure that she was ready even though in her heart she was terrified for her little angel.

When they left she followed them from behind discreetly, she went with them all the way to the gate that would take them to the training arena.

"Is she still following us," Angela asked Natalia who looked behind to check if Greta was still tailing them.

"No, I think she has gone to find herself a spot where she can watch over you from. She cares for you and is worried you might get hurt while training. She promised your mother she would watch over you," Natalia replied.

Angela stopped walking and turned to Natalia, "what do you mean my mother?"

Natalia's hands shot up to cover her mouth, Greta was going to have her head for this one.

She had been asked specifically not to mention her mother but she had just slipped and caught Angela's attention.

"Ahhh…ahhh. I…aaah. I meant that she is acting like a mother would," she tried to confuse Angela.

Natalia was shifting from one foot to the other like a deer caught in the headlights, she was berating herself for her loose mouth. Angela's stare was so powerful that she shivered in fear, baring her neck in submission. She had used her royal command, which cäused Natalia's wolf unable to lie to its queen. Zander who had been watching them approached them and saved Natalia from divulging information Angela was not yet ready to hear.

"There you are!"

Her focus changed from Natalia's to Zander, she approached him and went past him and into the training grounds without waiting to be shown where to go. Zander and Natalia exchanged glances but did not say a word. They followed in after her and when they got to the training grounds they found her watching a fight between two men. She was clasping her hands against her chest, clearly indicating her interest in the ongoing fight.

“wanna try?"

Zander whispered from behind, he was expecting her to say no and was shocked to hear her reply.

"I thought you'd never ask," she said as she strut to where the two guys who were sparring carried on with their fight oblivious of her presence. She tapped one of the sparring men on his shoulder but instead of turning to check who it was that tapped him, he attacked. Angela's reflexes were amazing; she took hold of his arm, twisted, and knocked him out from under his feet.

Gasps were heard from around the training grounds, nobody had ever done what she just did. She had subdued the second-in-command and Beta of Grundolf Empire effortlessly. He was known to be one of the five hast fighters in the known to be one of the five best fighters in the whole kingdom; he was feared as he was respected. Zander who was watching could not help but feel so proud of Angela. He beckoned one of the younger men from the group and asked Angela to come forth.

"This is one of our trained warriors, beat him and you will be elevated to a position higher than he currently holds. Lose and you have to clean the warrior's quarters for a week.

That is how much we do not tolerate losers, "Zander explained to Angela. She just nodded her head and stepped forward. Her opponent did the same and they both bowed down before each other, within a minute the person was lying prostate on the ground with Angela's leg placed on his back.

Zander was clapping, as were several other warriors who stood amazed at Angela’s agility and prowess.

“Where did you learn to fight like that?”

“My Camilla taught me”

“Can you run?” Zander asked.

Without waiting to be told, she left and went straight to the running tracks surrounding the field. She did ten rounds without breaking a sweat and went back to where Zander was standing.

“Very well show off, tomorrow you start our real training. Let’s see how well you do when my men are not holding back, come prepared to learn how to fight.”

"What," Angela asked shocked to hear such words coming from Zander's mouth.

"You came to show off, I let you defeat my man. Now I know what you can and cannot do, you can be a good fighter but you can't be too proud. Come prepared to start afresh." Zander said walking away and leaving Angela with a mouth wide open in surprise.