Page 30 of Enchanted Shadows
I shrugged. “The obstacle course. Why are we always trying to name things?”
“Death trap seems relevant,” Sam whispered under her breath.
Vivian offered, “How about the Booby Trap. You know, for the Boobie Brigade.”
Goodness. I had tried my best from the very beginning not to look at a single bosom, as nice as some of them were, but they kept bringing them up. These women were going to be the death of me. But I guess they had them, so they could talk about them all they wanted.
While they bickered about the best name for the obstacle course, I got to work. I first released my magic to turn the parts which needed turning and sent out the orbs to the second level, effectively bringing the course to life.
I ran across a balance portion, heaved a weighted barrel, and then had to time the next part. There were two sections with an arm that swung around in a circular motion, trying to knock you off. I was at the first. I timed it and then had to immediately jump across a gap. Then I was running up an incline, reaching for a dangling rope and climbing up it. My back muscles burned under the weight of my whole body, but I welcomed it. I trusted they could get me there.
The second level had a balance portion of jumping posts and another dangling rope, but you also had to go around the orbs of magic which were tightening the space to do all of that. I did it quickly, grabbing the rope and swinging across to a metal bar. Then I had to use my body as a pendulum and grab three more bars, each one slightly higher than the last.
“Damn,” Molly said from the ground. “Not sure I can do that.”
“You can,” Zara immediately said. “He’s heavier than you are. If he can do it, so can you.”
I was going to try not to be offended at her calling me heavy.
I had to climb a rope wall to get to the third level. I felt a bit like a spider, legs wide, crawling up the thing. But a badass spider, of course. From there, I had to again time my jumps around some posts that came out trying to knock me off. I knew from my own training that had I wanted them to, we could just use those to get us across. But I would model the correct way to do it first.
The most dangerous part of the whole course was next, the second of the spinning arms which could knock you off from the third level. We’d put padded landings beneath this spot last night, but there hadn’t been any when Theon Valanova’s minions were in charge.
If we fell, we fell.
And then lastly, a rock wall you had to climb to reach the very top landing above the third level. I quickly drove with my legs, reaching with my shoulders for the grips of the wall. And then I pulled myself up, ringing the same bell that had been used for more than twenty training teams.
“Just like that.” I was out of breath, but happy.
“Uh. How do we get down?” Sam asked.
I took the rope waiting up on the landing and threw it down, sliding down it hand over hand all the way to the bottom where I had started. “Like that.”
Grinning, I looked at them. “When you are not taking turns trying to climb the course, you are to be working on your balance over there. We start basic sword training next week and this will help you always be on the balls of your feet, a necessity in sword training.”
Jessina got elected as the first to try the course, so I headed to get a drink of water.
As I came back over to the group of women, it was Zara who asked, “Anyone ever tell you you’re a masochist, General?”
She hadn’t said a single word to me on the walk back last night after I had again pushed her about leading. “Oh, so you’re talking to me today?”
“Against my better judgement.”
I snorted a laugh. “I’m not a masochist. I don’tenjoypain. I just don’t fear it. I understand that it’s temporary. I understand what my body can do. The thresholds it can take.”
“Right.”
“Come on,” I offered. “Let’s go do the beam. You can have the opportunity of whacking me with the padded staffs.”
I knew it was too good of a temptation for her to deny. She walked right over and grabbed one.
I held my staff with one hand as I hopped up on the beam. “Don’t worry about hurting this.” I gestured to my face. “It has taken a few hits.”
“I know. You had a busted lip for the first day of training.”
“How observant you are, Zara.” I took a slow step toward her, moving the staff across my body. “Now. I amheavy, as you kindly noted earlier.”
“You have entirely more muscle mass than anyone I have ever met,” she explained. “I didn’t mean it rudely. Thick headed on the other hand...”
