Page 117 of The Gods Veiling
“What?” I shriek. “He expects to get a measure of your growth by putting you against females whose literal role is to train every day?”
“You say it like you’re not one of us now. Come on, we have to get to the center,” she says, gripping my arm and pulling me along. “Get a move on, Jay.”
“I don’t want to do this, Leah. Healers aren’t meant to fight.”
“If that were true, babe, your second wouldn’t be Defender.”
“Did anyone ever stop to think maybe my Defender designation being second was because I’m supposed to defend the body from taking damage, not causing it?” Her voice rises as her chest falls rapidly.
That’s a really good question actually…
I clearly see the panic setting in, and her friend, Leah, is right. If she comes into this upset, it’ll be worse for her.
“Hey, take a deep breath. Yeah, this is scary as fuck and you’ve got every right to freak out, but you got to keep it together for now or you’re going to get hurt. Wait—what are you all doing?” I ask as they start spreading out all over the damn place and turning their heads in all kinds of directions.
“We have to get ready. There’s no sign or signal for when they attack.”
“Yeah, exactly, get ready. Get in formation.” The second I catch the confusion on all seven of their faces, reality slaps me in mine. “He’s never trained you on formations?”
The bravado that Leah had been keeping together so well slips and she shakes her head. Mine hangs and my eyes squeeze shut.
What kind of barbaric-ass training is this? I don’t have to know shit about this Designation to know that if these females don’t know what a formation is, the dominant Defenders are about to wipe the ground with us.
My head turns toward where all the men are standing, observing.
My Valtrue is front and center with their arms crossed, eyes locked on me. They may have got a little information about me being in the arena’s back home, but I guess we’re all about to see how well that actually paid off.
I swallow my bitterness and search inside myself for the stronger emotion that’s saved my ass more than once. Despite the complete rebellion going on in my stomach, I let my eyes drift until they lock onto the familiar green of my traitorous pseudo brothers.
The pleading in his eyes doesn’t do the trick, but his fucking nod, the one that says, ‘This is what I trained you for’ definitely does. My anger boils over like a pot of water left on the stove.
I sneer, then turn to face my group. “Get over here and listen up.”
“What do you think you’re doing?” Leah frantically looks around.
“Getting you in formation so we don’t get our asses handed to us.”
“You’ve done this before?”
“Many times. Unfortunately.”
“And you came out unscathed?” poor Jay asks hopefully.
“No. That’s not a possibility, but I can make it to where it isn’t so easy.”
All seven of them look at each other, then they straighten their shoulders and run closer to me.
“In an ambush situation, you can’t be separated from one another. You never know where your opponent’s going to come in from. You have to have each other’s back. Literally. Get in a circle. Shoulder to shoulder.”
They hurriedly do as I say, then they look at me for direction. “Swords at the ready.”
I walk around the group, using my sword to tap thighs and elbows to correct their stances. Mellcom used to do this, but he’d tear you down for every mistake. I take the opposite approach.
If I correct something, I tell them something else was perfect. I don’t try to give them false hope, but I do try to build confidence in place of the fear staring back at me.
“How is the end of thistestdetermined?” I ask Leah when I come back to her.
Beside her, Jay’s shaking like a leaf. I lightly grip her wrist to steady her and her sword. Her fear both concerns and pisses me all the way off.
