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P E T E R
"Wake up!" A female voice jerks me awake.
Groggy and not thinking straight, I simply assume that it was probably Susan. Although, after taking a moment to think about it, it didn't sound like her at all.
I groan, shifting onto my side, "Five more minutes."
The next thing I know, I'm thrown off my hammock and onto the hard ground.
"Hey!" I yell, looking up only to see the Archer standing over me.
"What's going on?" Edmund asks, now awake as well as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.
"You have three minutes to get ready." She orders, her gaze making me shift uncomfortably, "If you're not outside by then, I'll come in here and drag you out myself. You could be naked for all I care, I'll make sure you're outside. Do you understand?"
She then turns to Edmund, "As for you, Oreius will be with you shortly."
Nerissa makes for the exits but stops just shy of it and turns to look back at me.
"Well?" She raises a brow, "What are you waiting for? Is three minutes too much time for you?"
"N-no, of course not." I stutter as I stumble to my feet.
The Archer rolls her eyes before exiting our tent.
Edmund snickers as soon as she's gone, looking over at me with a cheeky grin.
"Good luck, Brother." He teases.
I quickly get dressed with still time to spare when I'm done.
A sense of accomplishment washes over me as I manage to get myself ready within the time frame.
I head for the exit with a smile on my face, before I pause, feeling like I was missing something.
I think long and hard- but not too long, of course, about what I'm missing before it finally hits me; my sword.
Cursing under my breath, I turn on my heels and began my search for my sword.
Surely, I won't be able to train without my sword.
"Edmund, have you seen my sword?" I questioned as I continued searching, flipping over items of clothing scattered around the room's floor.
Edmund simply snickers to himself as I fix him with a glare.
"I swear to god, Edmund. If you're hiding it somewhere-"
Edmund cuts me off, "I didn't take it! It's just amusing seeing you like this, is all." He chuckles.
"There!" I exclaim, spotting Rhindon's hilt sticking out from under a pile of extra blankets by the corner, "Finally."
I scramble out of the tent, coming face to face with Nerissa.
She had her arms folded over her chest and a look of annoyance across her face as she stomped towards my tent.
"You're late." She states, waving the stopwatch in her hand at me.
"I'm not."I argued, pointing at the watch, "Look, three minutes, just as you've asked."
She raises a brow at me, unamused, "No, you took three minutes and twenty-eight seconds to be exact. Which also means; you're late."
I couldn't help but scoff at how ridiculous this all sounded, "It was just twenty-eight seconds. I got dressed as fast as I possibly could-"
"Well, you weren't fast enough. In fact, as I've already mentioned, you were twenty-eight seconds too slow." She cuts me off, taking a step closer to me as she fixes me with a glare, "We're going to war, Peter. Do you really think a war is going to wait for you to get ready, even if it's just twenty-eight seconds? A lot of things can happen in twenty-right seconds. Every second counts."
"Alright." I huffed in frustration, "I get it."
The Archer rolls her eyes, mumbling something under her breath in a language that I didn't understand. Although, judging by her tone, it clearly wasn't anything too polite.
"Moving on, then." She clears her throat, "Drop the sword."
My eyes immediately dart towards Rhindon. The reason I was late was because I spent extra time looking for it and now we aren't even using it?
Also, wasn't she going to teach me how to fight? Surely, I'll need weapons to defend myself.
"I beg your pardon?" I glance up at her with confusion.
"I said, drop the sword." She repeats, "You won't be needing it."
"Aren't you going to teach me how to fight?" I questioned, refusing to give up my sword.
This must be some kind of trick. To test if I'll stupidly give up my weapon.
"Yes, I am." She simply answers without even sparing me a glance.
I wait for her to continue her sentence, but she doesn't.
"So?" I ask on, "How am I supposed to defend myself if I don't know how to use my sword?"
Nerissa shrugs as she rests her back on the frame of a nearby tent, "The real question should be if you can defend yourself without a sword."
"I think I'll do better defending myself if I had a sword." I continue to argue, still on the idea that this is some kind of test and she'll soon congratulate me on passing it.
Instead, she lets out a grunt in annoyance, pushing herself onto her feet.
"Let me get this straight, you think you have a better chance of survival if you had a sword?" She asks and I nod in reply.
"Yes, I would think so."
Nerissa rolls her eyes yet again, "So, what happens when you lose your sword?"
I open my mouth to reply but clamped it shut as soon as I realise I didn't have a logical answer.
"Exactly." She says, "Now, drop the sword."
I gulp, glancing from Nerissa to my sword and back again.
"I think I'd rather keep it, thank you." I reply, hoping she will.
"You're insufferable, you know that?" Nerissa exhales sharply.
The next few seconds are filled with palpable silence as we both glared at each other, both not willing to give in.
"Fine." Nerissa says, breaking the silence, "You can have the sword."
I straighten up, a sense of satisfaction filling my chest.
The feeling doesn't last long, disappearing as soon as she starts to speak again.
"But on one condition." A smug smile plays at the corners of her lips, making my face fall.
I could already tell that nothing good could follow a smile like that.
"One bout, you against me." She challenges, "If you win, I'll accept that was wrong and teach you how to properly fight with a sword."
"And if I lose?" I asked, not liking where this was headed one bit.
"If you lose..." Nerissa drawls, stroking her chin thoughtfully as she scans the area, "You'll have to run around the entire perimeter of the camp once. Then, we'll continue with my original plans for training."
"The whole perimeter?" My mouth falls slightly ajar, "But this place is huge!"
"Two rounds." She states.
"But-" I start to protest but was quickly cut off.
"Whining won't do you any good." Nerissa says, "The more you whine, the more you run. Simple."
"Fine." I slump over in defeat, "But this isn't fair. You've been trained in this."
"Then, let's make it fair." She shrugs, unbuckling her sword as well as her bow and quiver from across her back and tossing them aside.
"Now, we've wasted enough time." Nerissa cocks a brow at me with a smirk, "Let's get on to it, shall we?"