Page 32 of Enchanted Shadows
CHAPTER 11
Aweek later, we had no other leads on the black magic in the forest and more than half of the women had made it up the obstacle course. I stood watch as Sam took her turn, Jessina and Vivian on the balance beam in a brutal match up.
Sam got to the metal bar jumps, where she normally faltered.
It had been Zara who had tucked her legs under her arms and flipped to the top of the bars, sitting on one bar to reach up and grab the other which had given the women another strategy for the bars.
Sam could usually get to the second one using that method, but the third, the highest, she ran out of steam and fell when she grabbed ahold of it.
Sure enough, she fell again. In the same spot that kept tripping her up. It was affecting her confidence. More and more of the women were making it to the top; Molly had just done so yesterday, and Sam was beginning to get in her own head about it.
As she rolled off the mat, she offered in explanation, “I have weak wrists.”
She likely did, but if she could get from the first bar to thesecond, I knew she could get to the third. I suspected it had more to do with nerves and breathing.
“You still have time,” I reminded her. “Don’t forget to breathe up there.”
“How could I with your constant reminders?” she said with a tight smile.
Vivian smacked Jessina off the mat, but Jessina swiped out on the way down and caught Vivian at the lower legs, knocking her off too.
There was not as much brute force training this group of women, but I had to admit they were scrappy and didn’t give in so easy. Competitiveness was not exclusive to gender.
“Don’t forget,” I barked at a louder volume. “Today is the first day we will be running twice. We leave in five minutes.”
Multiple groans were heard. Pippa the Pepper couldn’t be bothered to hold back her curse. I had at least given them a break between the rounds of running.
We were at the halfway point in our training session. Forty-five days left. Whoever passed the first round of training would have a month off before the second round began. Though the team wasn’t ready to compete in any training drills with the other teams yet, the girls were getting stronger. Sharper. I was pleased with their progress. And when it came to knowing one another, this group of women was by far outperforming some of my other groups.
Five minutes later, we ran.
“No sluffing off this round,” I told them as we headed toward the big rock for the second time that day. “Running it twice does not mean you get to walk it this time around.”
Multiple groans were the only response.
I started in the back and ran all the way to the leaders, encouraging them as I went.
When I got to Molly, Wren, and Zara running together, Inoticed they were speaking under their breath every once in a while.
“Ladies,” I told them as I passed by. “If you can chat through it, you can run it faster.”
“We are—commiserating,” Wren said to my back.
“Commiserate at the finish,” I snapped back over my shoulder. Zara was looking around at her surroundings. Was she searching for a weapon? “Zara,” I added. “If you hit me with a rock—you’ll be running it again.”
“Might be worth it,” she said quietly to the other two before saying more loudly, “Wouldn’t dream of it, General.”
The women made it to the finish line. I wanted to snap at Wren, Zara, and Molly for running it together the whole time, but their time was decent enough that I refrained. I was choosing my battles today.
As the last woman, Jaya, crossed the finish line, the women all cheered.
I headed for my own water jug, taking a generous sip. It was going to be hot out today. Far more hot than necessary. Where was that crisp fall air when we needed it?
As I turned back around, Wren and Molly were slightly swaying to the beat of a music not there. They were dancing.
Dancing?
Our first two-a-day of running, and they were dancing?
