Hell Hath No Fury - Book One

Training Begins

Training was difficult. Ava didn't know if it was meant to be that way or Theo was pushing her extra hard; payback for putting her on the spot. Without a fail, they trained every night. Theo would receive a small lesson and instruction on reading, starting small at first, and then Theo would train with Ava. If Ava was tired from a long sun at sea, it didn't matter. They were in the training room for hours on end and Ava wasn't sure if she was even getting any better. It had been ten nights of training and all she felt was exhaustion.

It was a training routine Ava had never done before and it was miles away from how easy group training was. Ava ran laps around the deck first, Theo said it was to build endurance. Then she would train with her cutlass, small repetitive motions on a dummy; Theo said it was to build technique. Then she was given heavy objects hung at the end of a long stick and made to pick it up over and over, Theo said it was for strength. All of these exercises and all of that energy exerted and Ava was still no closer to learning anything about combat. Ava, despite not understanding and despite her body being in constant agony, never questioned Theo.

Exhaustion was the least of her problems though. Ava hadn't thought about the long term impact being in close quarters with Theo would cause. Night after night she was practically manhandled by Theo, not in a bad way at all. Ava had problems with her positioning, she never quite knew how to stand or where to grab a weapon. Theo was forced to be hands-on and Ava found herself purposely messing up the foot positions so Theo would be forced to come and help her out. Ava's brain was haywire, most of her thoughts were consumed by Theo, and being three inches away from her for hours on end was starting to drive Ava insane. Theo's touches never lingered but Ava still felt where Theo's hands had been even minutes after they had touched her.

Theo's training was harsher at the beginning, residual anger over being toyed with bubbled just under the surface of her skin, Ava could tell. It had taken a few nights to get back to normal but Theo and Ava jumped back into their light banter pretty quickly. Each night they got together to train, Theo's scowl softened more and more until Ava was finally in Theo's good graces again. The training didn't get easier, Theo just got nicer. Ava responded better to not-mean Theo. She ran her laps a little faster, picked up the weights with fewer complaints, and picked up techniques to swing faster and better more easily. Ava's internal monologue while training consisted of mostly complaints and thinking about Theo but no matter how much she complained she wouldn't trade it for anything.

Ava had just finished up her sixth lap around the ship. She had climbed up and downstairs and fought against the violent winds on deck, to say she was out of breath was an understatement. She slowed her pace as she jogged into the training room, Theo sat with a piece of paper in her lap tracing Common letters. Ava came to a stop and put her hands on her knees, her head hung as she caught her breath. Theo looked up from her paper only slightly before refocusing on it.

"How many was that?"

"Six," Ava rasped.

"Good, another two," Theo instructed.

"What?" Ava looked up, hands still on her knees, "Theo I did one more lap than yesterday. I can't do another two."

"Then we are done for the night," Theo said and got up.

They had an agreement. If any of them refused to do what was asked of them, the night was done. The rule was created by Ava, ironically. Theo was stubborn when it came to reading and for the first few nights would resist the instruction given to her. Ava's hand had been forced into creating a rule that was now being used to kill her. Literally. She felt her lungs would give out if she ran another lap around the ship.

But she had no choice. Ava just let out something between an exasperated scream and a grunt and ran back out. She was slower than she was before but she truly couldn't push herself to go any faster. She had never run before, at least not for sport as soldiers did. She would run around her garden with the chambermaid from time to time or dash away from a guard but that did not compare to this. Every few nights, Theo would increase the number of laps Ava needed to do. That night it had been six and Ava almost bailed just hearing that number, now she had to do two more.