Survival

A few days later and I was cleaning the spaceship with other females. The males had remained awfully quiet since the last battle, and us females were doing our best to keep everything on track, as well as attempting to make the vibe a bit more upbeat. It was very difficult, with others mourning loudly and breaking down halfway through tasks. I felt so sorry for the females who had lost a husband or a son during the last battle. It was nothing compared to what pain I felt for Otto’s loss. Being distracted by female tasks was definitely helping. It kept my mind off his betrayal and his deceit of me and my feelings. I could only trust Tobias now.

“Marion. A word,” his voice ordered. Speak of the devil… I put my rag down on the rim of my bucket and left the small group of females to follow our leader further down the hallway to give us some privacy. The look on his face was worrying. I could tell he was strained and bothered greatly by something.

“What’s going on?” I asked him gently, hoping he’d open up to me.

“I… I’ve just been talking to Cassius a lot lately, I’m sure you understand that.”

“Of course,” I nodded.

“He’s raised the issue of your fighting skills multiple times and…” Tobias trailed off. He was avoiding making eye contact and was speaking in a quiet voice. I held my breath. Could this be the moment I’d been waiting for so long? Would Tobias really speak those words? “And I think you should join our army…” He said it. Tobias had really just asked me to be a warrior alongside him!

“Oh, wow. Yes! Of course I will!” I smiled, almost lunging forwards to embrace him to show my thanks. Tobias’ body posture told me otherwise, so I refrained from doing so. “Is something the matter? You don’t have to ask me to join just because of Cassius.”

“No I think he’s right about this…” Toby breathed before running a hand across his tired face. “It’s just Cassius…”

“How is he doing?” I asked sympathetically.

“All right… He’s stable, but no sign of improvement… No one knows if he’ll make it…” Toby turned his head away from me, holding it lower than before. Was he… crying?

“Well… at least his condition isn’t deteriorating. I’m sure he’ll pull through,” I told my friend. He remained silent, so I took a step forward and drew him into a comforting hug. I knew it was tough on him. Cassius was loved by everyone, but was especially close to Tobias. He was a kind male with a mate, and a whole wonderful life ahead of him. Cassius really didn’t deserve to die. None of us did. And that was why I had to fight. We needed to be safe, to not fear leaving our spaceship, to not worry about our loved ones as they go off to fight the humans. Because this feeling, what Toby was experiencing, it wasn’t fair. Eventually he pulled away and managed to look me in the eye. His were still damp and slightly reddened.

“We’re going to train after lunch. You should come to the island too,” Tobias said simply before leaving. And I did. Lunch couldn’t come fast enough, but eventually I was landing on the island to begin my first proper training session with Tobias. There were considerably less males there, and Loukas was chatting to Tobias when I arrived. Adara approached me with a kind smile.

“I heard Tobias is allowing you to fight now. Congratulations,” she beamed.

“Thanks. I just hope I can keep up,” I admitted shyly. It was a bit nerve-wracking. All this time and this was what I had wanted, but I had never thought it would actually happen.

“Listen up! Sylus will be taking small groups of you to the other side of the island for gun training. No one is to go in that direction unless accompanied by Sylus himself. You all know that bullets are dangerous, so we aren’t taking any risks. Loukas will stay here and practice sparring with those who wish to train in that area, and Adara will be teaching some more of you about aerial attacks. Pick your weakest ability and go to the appropriate trainer,” Tobias announced clearly. Kasiens then started shuffling about, Sylus heading off into the bush with a large bag. I was staying next to Adara, since I knew I needed to work on my archery skills when the target was moving, from both experience at battles as well as Otto’s judgement. Otto… My stomach leaped at the thought of him and what I had done. How could I…? I jumped when a hand was placed on my arm, but luckily it was just Tobias. He gave me a puzzled look.

“Sorry, just…” I started, but then sighed. He knew. I could tell.

“Stop thinking about it and doubting yourself. You did the right thing,” he reassured me. “Now, I want to train you, so are you up for the challenge?” Tobias’ voice was so much more positive already, and it lifted my spirits too.

“Challenge? I don’t think it’ll be much of a challenge,” I teased with a small grin.

“I talked to Loukas about how much you already know. It’s a decent amount, but you don’t know many techniques that are specific to our group, which is just atrocious. So, let’s spar.”

“But I’ve already defeated you,” I remarked, causing Toby to roll his eyes.

“Don’t remind me… You caught me off guard, all right? That’s it,” he replied while grabbing two blunted blades off a tree stump. Tobias then held out one to me. “Here. We’ll just do a few practices, and then I’ll show you some new moves.” I gripped onto my dagger and got it comfortable in my hand. It was a bit lighter than the one I usually used, so I’d have to adjust my technique a little to compensate. Tobias and I readied ourselves, and I slid easily into my battle stance that I had been taught. And then off we went. Much unlike the last fight, Tobias had no recognisable fighting pattern. He definitely didn’t defend for three attacks, and then try and strike me. Instead, he pressed forwards with very quick and random jabs, and I found myself focusing more on walking backwards than trying to block or attack him. Tobias was just too fast, and eventually my back hit a tree. In a blur, Tobias had freed my blade from my hand and I was left defenceless.

“That was amazing…” I breathed as he took a few steps back.

“What? No…” Toby chuckled, flicking his knife into the air and catching it after it had spun once. Show off…

“It really was! Wow… I want to be that good!” I grinned as I picked up my dagger. I felt like I sounded like a younger female who was basking in the glory of our leader, but I knew that I sincerely meant that he was a talented fighter. That was how I wanted to be. We moved back to our starting position so I wasn’t at a disadvantage by being too close to trees, and then we sparred again and again. Every time, Tobias tried a new strategy, and I only managed to have one lucky break where I was able to get the knife out of his hands. All of the rest of our matches, he won.

“You still have a lot to learn,” Tobias remarked as we took a small break. He took a sip from a water bottle as he looked out over the cliff and across the sea.

“I know…” I sighed. I wished I was a better warrior. Sure, there was a huge improvement that had happened, but it was still nothing in comparison to Tobias. Otto must have been going so easy on me.

“You’ve mastered what you do know, though. Some of those moves were executed flawlessly, whether it was an attack or a defence,” he continued, making me smile. Okay so maybe I wasn’t that bad after all…

“I really do want to be able to fight as well as you can,” I admitted, my eyes falling to the ground.

“Well let’s get going, then. I’ve got to teach you one of my favourite techniques,” Toby said with a wink as he set the water bottle down. He grabbed his knife and moved back over to our starting position. I grinned as I followed in his footsteps to our spot. Training with him was just as fun as I had imagined it would be.