Page 34 of Kingdom of Tomorrow
Only Roman knew whattake your placesmeant, and we followed his lead, branching out to surround our instructor from the edges.
The high prince lifted his face, projecting all kinds of annoyance. “First things first. Cash lied during his evaluation. Now everyone else is being rewarded for telling the truth with a valuable lesson. I never make empty threats.”
Our collective attention zoomed to Cash, who hung his head in shame.
“He will remain silent for two weeks,” the HP added, not quite scowling but close. “If he speaks, even once, he’ll wear a muzzle. One way or another, he will comprehend the importance of having a voice and using it well, or he will suffer.”
My dread returned, doubled. Seriously, what did the high prince have in store for my pruning?
“Moving on.” His expression remained unchanged. “This is self-defense. You may have taken lessons before, but I’d advise you to forget everything you think you know. The maddened of Theirland aren’t like those you’ve encountered in Ourland.”
Thanks to Archduke Heta, I knew that quite well.
“You’ll have weapons, yes. And we’ll train with them. The problem is, there will be times your weapons fail, or you run out of ammo and the enemy keeps coming. That is why we’ll start with the basics. Strengths and weaknesses.”
Wonderful. A new nightmare unlocked.
“Feeders are more powerful in the dark. The lack of daylight in Theirland makes an already complicated situation worse, especially while you’re dealing with reversal of vision metamorphopsia. RVM is a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree vertical inversion of your visual field. In other words, everything is upside down.” His gaze cut to me. “There’s no need to panic. The problem is rectified with special lenses.”
Miracle of miracles, he’d just uttered a reassurance without bursting into flames.
He waved at someone behind us. “These lenses correct RVM and allow you to see feeders in the dark whenever they enter a five-foot radius.”
I looked over my shoulder and spotted Mykal lugging a large box through the door. Strain etched every inch of her. The urge to rush over and help barraged me, but I didn’t dare “disrespect” my instructor or disrupt his class. Lesson learned.
She stopped near the HP, dropped her burden, and dug inside it, withdrawing a curved inch-thick metal band she then handed over. He secured the band around his forehead, just over his brows, and danced his fingers over one side. A green light flashed, and a clear screen unfolded over his eyes and molded itself into a type of half mask.
Still trying to catch her breath, Mykal passed a band to everyone else.
“Thank you,” I whispered, and she whimpered.
“To activate your lens, tap the button on your right with four swift strikes,” the high prince said. “Today, you’ll simply wear it while learning basic techniques for avoiding and causing injury to yourself during a battle with feeders.”
I donned the device and tapped the sides as told, and the screen lowered and reshaped. Very cool.
For the next hour, the HP demonstrated positions, gestures, tips, and tricks. I admit, I struggled to concentrate. His muscles. They rippled. Worse, he watched us as we copied his motions, offering critiques whenever necessary. With Juniper and me, it was often necessary.
“Do you enjoy harming yourself?” he asked as I beat at the air.
I’m not annoyed, I’m not annoyed.“I do not.”
He stalked over and righted the angle of my thumb, then guided my fist to his chest, mimicking a punch. After returning my thumb to its original position, he guided my fist to his chest a second time. “Feel the difference.”
“Oh! I really do.” But only after my brain switched back on. The warmth of his touch ... the roughness of his calluses ...help me.“My error puts too much pressure on my thumb.”
“Correct. Now let’s address the bigger problem. Fear is talking to you, and you’re coddling it rather than treating it like the enemy it is. Talk back. Tell it to leave, then hit me.”
What? “No!” This was a test. How did one talk to fear, anyway? “Even I know better than to strike a military officer.”
“But you haven’t yet learned to obey one, I see,” he quipped. “Hit me.”
“No,” I snapped.
He slitted his eyes. “I suggest you rethink your stance, Lady Pink.”
Fine! If he insisted on insisting, he left me with no choice. “I’ll do it. I’ll smack you.”
“In the face.”
