Page 57 of The Warrior
With stubbornness, I repeated, “Teach me.”
“I would rather you stayed here.”
“You once said that you admire people who stick to their promises. I’m committed to help track the fuckers down and I’m sticking to it.”
He sighed and hung his head for a second before meeting my eyes with resolve. “In that case, let me teach you a few things before you go.” He held up a finger. “But I’m warning you, Laura. If you whine we’ll stop.”
“I never whine.”
“You’d better not.”
CHAPTER 16
Getting Physical
Laura
“Let’s go again!”
I got ready for what had to be Magni’s hundredth attack on me.
“You still need to be faster, Laura.”
My arms were heavy as lead from the endless times I had defended myself the way he had shown me. We had trained more than two hours outside the school. In the beginning students had been around to watch and cheer for me, but the cold had made even Mila retreat to the school building by now. My fingers were freezing and I couldn’t feel my toes. But with Magni’s comment that he hated whiners, I was determined not to complain.
“Show me what to do if he chokes you,” Magni instructed and took his position. Lennie, the sensei whom I’d trained with in the Motherlands, had been smaller than me. It was a completely different ball game to practice with someone as big and strong as Magni, and I was worn out.
“Laura, you’re not trying. You have to practice until you’ve got it right.”
I squeezed my lips tight together, biting back the words that wanted out. Couldn’t he see that I was an exhausted ice cube?
“At least show me again how you would defend yourself if Devlin has a knife.” Magni pulled a stick from his back pocket that he had used as a prop earlier. He didn’t show any signs of fatigue or being cold.
My defense was too weak, and Magni pressed the stick against my throat. “Learn or lose, Laura!”
Swallowing my pride, I asked in desperation, “Can we stop now?”
Magni didn’t look happy about it, but he waved a hand toward the school building. “Let’s go warm you up with a hot shower.”
“How come you aren’t cold?”
“I’ve been training outside all year round since I was a child,” he said on the way to the school. “Trust me, this is nothing. I’ve been on survival camps in three feet of snow.Thatwas cold.”
We showered separately and although it helped, I was cold again the minute I stepped back out of the shower.
“The cabin will be nice and warm,” Magni said when he saw me come out from the girl’s shower room with my arms wrapped around myself. The short walk from the school building to his cabin felt like a long hike. As soon as we were inside the cabin, I grabbed the blankets from the bed and pulled them tight around me.
I was surprised that my teeth didn’t clatter when I began to talk. “I couldn’t feel my toes when I got in the shower. It’s a bit better now, but I’m still cold.”
“Take a seat.” Pressing on my shoulders, Magni gestured for me to sit down on the bed. “Let’s get you out of these boots.”
If I hadn’t been so miserable from the cold, I would’ve enjoyed seeing Magni kneel down in front of me and remove my boots with great care.
“Sorry if my feet stink, I didn’t have any clean socks to put on.”
Magni’s strong hands were massaging my left foot. “You’re fine. In my line of business, I see, hear, and smell things that would make most people sick. Trust me, smelly feet is not even on the list of things that disgust me.”
“So theydosmell?”
