Chapter 5: You are cordially invited to... an ambush
* * *
The ice-cold water hit Ethan like... well, a bucket of ice-cold water.
"Get up boy!" a voice said.
He snapped awake and leapt out of bed. It took almost a second for him to get his bearings. When he did, he realized it was still dark outside. He had been sleeping in the trainee barracks of The Bank. It looked like a medieval version of every barracks he'd ever seen in a movie.
"We're burning daylight, now stop wasting time." Heinrich said.
Ethan shivered and instinctively shook much of the water off like a dog or cat would. The action peppered the entire room in water, much to the consternation of those who hadn't been woken by the commotion.
"It's time for training." Heinrich said.
"But it's still dark outside." Ethan yawned.
WHACK!
Heinrich's fist smashed into the side of his face and knocked Ethan clean off his feet because he wasn't ready for it. It wasn't a particularly hard punch, but it still hurt.
"What was that for!?" he shouted as he bristled on all fours.
"Your enemies won't wait for dawn to attack, so neither will I." Heinrich replied. "Come, training awaits."
And train they did.
Every.
Single.
Day.
For almost two weeks, the routine was the same. Heinrich would wake Ethan up before dawn, drag him out to the training grounds, and drill him hard. Ethan was occasionally given a few moments to wolf down some food and drink, but Heinrich kept him training every second he wasn't eating, drinking, sleeping, or relieving himself.
He was a harsh teacher, but fair.
He never belittled Ethan, but constantly pointed out the flaws in his technique and pushed him to improve. For sixteen hours every day, he pushed him to become a better fighter. Despite his cold attitude, he was there every minute of training and Ethan developed a healthy respect for him. For two weeks Ethan ate, and then Heinrich ate. Ethan drank, and then Heinrich drank. Ethan slept, and then Heinrich slept.
After a whole week of non-stop practice, Ethan's short spear was beginning to feel like an extension of his body. Despite the 7-foot length, Ethan could strike a target much further away in a single move with improved footwork. Heinrich also taught Ethan to be accurate when throwing it. He didn't hit the bull's eye every time, but he was getting better.
He wasn't getting better at the sparring sessions though.
He finally won a single sparring match at the end of the first week, but not with Heinrich. It was against one of the other guards and Ethan was pretty sure he'd only won because the other guard had become distracted. It took almost the whole two weeks before Ethan won his second sparring match.
He longed to heal up the hundreds of small bruises he could feel under his scales. The scales didn't bruise of course, but the flesh under them was a different story. Unfortunately, he'd burned up all his Mana trying -- and failing -- to heal Alana in the vault and had barely recovered any of it since he was rarely near any gold.
Occasionally, he could feel Alana's presence near the training grounds. He never saw her and she was never around long enough for his mana to regenerate much, but he was pretty sure she watched him train now and then. He would occasionally feel a strong flicker of emotion over their bond whenever he would get particularly badly hit on these occasions. He was true to her request and didn't look at their bond to see her emotions, but sometimes they were too obvious to miss.
Finally, after nearly two weeks of constant training, Heinrich lowered his weapon mid-afternoon.
"Practice is over for today." He announced. "You have a wedding tomorrow and should get a good night's sleep. Go see Madam Hygea, she'll tend to your wounds."
"But what about my..." Ethan trailed off. He was a dragon and Madam Hygea would probably be able to tell if she healed him.
"She knows and she can be trusted." Heinrich interrupted. "Don't worry about it."
Ethan nodded, put his training spear back on a rack, and headed outside. It took a few moments for him to realize he hadn't been anywhere except the training grounds, barracks, or mess hall in almost two weeks. He breathed in the fresh air; he'd almost forgotten what it smelled like.
"Hello." A sweet voice came from his right. He turned to see Beth standing there in a royal blue dress. The dress accentuated all of her curves while still being modest and covering everything. It was designed to allure and attract while remaining modest; it did its job perfectly.
"Hi, you look great."
Beth blushed slightly. "Thank you. Father wouldn't let me see you while you were in training so I wanted to look my best for you."
"I can honestly say you've never looked prettier." He couldn't help but smile at her.
Beth beamed. "We only have the rest of the day, so let's hurry and get you patched up by Madam Hygea. We have a week's worth of preparations for you and only a few hours to do them."
"Lead on." Ethan said. He thought he felt Alana's presence nearby, but didn't look at their bond to see. His mind drifted back to just after they'd rescued Beth. The three of them had all gotten along perfectly, and he wished things could be like that again.
Despite how impossible it seemed, somewhere deep down inside, a part of him felt like that might be the case eventually. His dragon instincts told him it would be the case; that they would all be happy at some point in the future. For some reason, he felt like it would be sooner rather than later.
* * *
Alana watched Ethan and Beth leave the training area through the window of her apartment.
"You need to stop torturing yourself." Anthiel said.
"I know." She replied, but didn't look away.
