Ancient Guardians The Legacy of the Key (35 page)

 Reece smiled
confidently. “Hey, I’ll get to learn a little about what you guys do! It should
be interesting.”

He smiled
mischievously in return. “That, my love, we shall see.

Conversation behind
them, they spent the remainder of the evening sitting comfortably in each
other’s arms. Reece positioned herself to lie back against Levi, and rested her
head against his chest. They both remained quiet, enjoying the comfort of each
other while watching the water glisten as it poured from the fountain into the
pond in front of them.

Chapter 25

Jasmeen had Reece up before the sun. When she was
dressed in her track suit, and ready for the day’s workout, she sat quietly on
the sofa, and waited for Levi to come retrieve her. As she waited, she recalled
the previous night’s events in her mind. The last things she remembered were
the soothing sounds of the fountain, and Levi running his fingers gently
through her hair. She must have fallen asleep.
Wow, that’s awkward.
Had
he called a servant to carry her to bed? Or carried her himself?

When Jasmeen
answered the knock at her bedroom door, Reece was a bit surprised to see that
it was not Levi who stood there. Instead, he had sent a servant to escort her
to the area where they would meet to go over the training he had planned for
her.

They walked out
beyond the barns, toward a group of long, windowless buildings that she had
seen before, but never entered. Inside was something like a martial arts gym
from Earth. Red pads covered the floors and lined the walls, and there were
large punching bags placed throughout.

As the servant left
her standing alone in the room, she was intimidated by what it represented.
This was where the Guardians did their training, and now she was having second
thoughts about whether or not she was up for this. She sighed.
Way to go,
Reece. Trying to play everyone’s hero, and you’re probably going to make an
idiot out of yourself.

Levi, Samuel, and
two other men entered from a door across the room. They wore loose, black
pants, and tight, long-sleeved, black shirts that accentuated their muscles.
Samuel and the two other men seemed to be pursuing another interest. They
greeted her on their way out through the door Reece had entered by. Levi
stopped in front of her, and she smiled confidently at him.

 His answering smile
was not as bright. “Did you rest well?”

 “I did. Thank you
for bringing me back to my room; sorry I fell asleep on you.”

“There is no need
to apologize. You needed the rest.” His mood seemed odd. This wasn’t the
loving, compassionate Levi she had grown used to. This was an instructor, and
taking his instruction lightly was not going to be an option.

He led her over to
the middle of the room.

“Reece, the purpose
of the training today is to prepare your mind to never surrender, no matter the
situation. Tomorrow we may come into a situation where it feels that I cannot
help you. It will be imperative that you do not panic under such circumstances.
I will need you to be fearless until I can get to you. You must understand; you
will not have the physical strength to overpower your captors. Therefore, our
focus today is to teach you to rely on your mental strength instead. You must
want to fight, even though you know you are not strong enough physically. Your
mind is the most powerful thing you have, and until we can teach you how to use
its power properly, your body’s natural tendency will most likely be either to
freeze, or to run. Either one will put your captors at a great advantage. If
you can resist the natural urge to panic, and instead put forth your best
fight, it will give me time to get to you.”

With that, he started
the training.

After what seemed
to be about an hour of jumping rope, running in place, and other various
calisthenics to bring up her heart rate, and stretch and warm her muscles, Levi
picked up a pair of strike pads, much like the ones she remembered from her
self-defense class. “Let us work on your form with a few strikes against
these.”

“I think I throw a
pretty good punch, so be prepared. I don’t want to hurt you,” she teased.

He reacted with a
look of annoyance. “Just strike the pads, Reece, I will adjust your form if I
see need for improvement.”

Not in the mood
for joking, then. All right.
She
threw a couple of punches, got into her rhythm, and Levi stopped her to adjust
her form. It happened over and over. Annoyingly, his face gave no indication of
whether she was doing better, or worse.

After the striking
drills, he brought her over to a large punching bag in the corner of the room.
First he showed her the kicking form he wanted her to use on the bag, then he
allowed her to begin throwing her kicks against it.

She was tiring, and
fatigue made her irritable. Levi was not helping. He began raising his voice,
and constantly stopping her to correct her approach to the bag. She never
lashed back at him, although she wanted to. Instead, she pushed harder.

Levi never once
stopped to allow her to rest. When she thought he actually would, he pushed her
into a more rigorous drill. The only rest she got was the short time it took to
take a sip of water before he brought her back to the center of the room.

“We will go through
a series of motions that I want you to defend yourself against. I want you to
give yourself over to your mind. Let the element of surprise take you, and then
see how you can react with it.”

They practiced many
different self-defense moves. Levi taught her how to avoid being attacked, and
how to escape from various holds. He taught her how to twist away from someone
coming up from behind; actually, she had trouble with that one. Over and over
she tried, but Levi corrected her every time. When she finally mastered it, she
felt triumphant.

Levi showed no
reaction. She decided to give him an opportunity to give her the positive input
she deserved. “Wow! I finally got it! I didn’t know I could do that!”

He stared at her
sternly. “The only way to know if you can actually do the move is to be in a
situation in which you are forced to use it.”

She looked at him
incredulously. Her voice began to rise with frustration. “What are you talking
about? You showed me the move; we ran the drill, and I got away from the bad
guy. All I’m saying is that I learned something new.”

His eyes narrowed,
staring down at her. He looked annoyed. Well, she could do annoyed, too.
“Whatever,” she said. “What are we doing next anyway? Let’s just move on.”

“Stay here.” He
answered her flatly.

Reece stood and
waited. She closed her eyes, trying to enjoy the break. Gradually, the dark
behind her eyelids seemed to deepen and she felt calmer. She thought about
sitting down.

Suddenly, she was
grabbed and trapped. She knew immediately it was Levi. Now was her chance to
show him what she’d learned. Using the moves he had taught her, she began to
twist out of his grip. Her eyes flew open—to total darkness. She could see
nothing. Panic set in, darkness consumed her, and she couldn’t remember the
steps she needed. Her heart beat loudly in her ears. She had to—had to!—prove
to Levi that she could do this.

The angrier and
more frustrated she became, the less skill she seemed to have. She began to cry
out of frustration and anger. Levi had been right; she really hadn’t learned
the move thoroughly. They had worked for hours, and she thought she had learned
something, but she really hadn’t. The thought sapped her will to fight and her
ability to think.

She tried to focus
and fight against her tired body’s screaming that she had reached her limits.
Levi growled instructions in her ear, and his arms tightened around her more.
She fought to try and listen to his commands, but she felt herself weakening
further. Completely drained, she stopped fighting his strength.

Levi held her
tighter. “Are you going to give up, Reece? Fight back!”

“Stop. You win.”

 “NO!” he shouted.
“You must find your way out of this!”

She started to
panic. She was afraid of this new Levi. She searched for air but couldn’t find
it. “Levi, STOP! I can’t breathe!”

 He released her,
and she collapsed to the ground taking deep breaths.
All of this work was
for nothing
, she thought, defeated. She lay there, her body weak, and
trembling from exhaustion. She knew she could not pull herself to her legs to
stand if she wanted to. She was extremely fatigued, with nothing left. She
became angry that she panicked, and forced her body to recover itself.

 When the lights to
the room came back on, she saw Levi’s back as he exited the building. She
closed her eyes again, more upset with herself than ever. She could only
imagine what he was thinking. She sat up and tried not to think. A short rest,
and then she would pull herself to her feet and head to the house, alone.

A few minutes
later, Levi returned with Samuel by his side. Samuel gave Reece a concerned
look, and went to stand in the back of the room.

 Levi went to Reece
and knelt down, bringing himself to her level. “Reece, let us get you back to
the house. You’ve pushed yourself beyond exhaustion. This will not work.
Forgive me; I pushed you hard for nothing.”

His words were not
what she wanted to hear. “What? That’s it?”

 He answered her
firmly. “We will have to find another way. I will have a Pemdai warrior travel
with us tomorrow. This was too much, and too fast, for you. You are from Earth,
and your mind is not capable of handling the stress that we Pemdai can. I am
sorry.”

She felt her body
become instantly numb in response to the insult. Then the numbness was replaced
by adrenaline, giving her a second wind. She stared angrily at Levi, and spoke
slowly and firmly. “I am not finished, Levi. I just needed a break.”

If she hadn’t been
so angry, she would have flinched at his dark expression. “Reece, you cannot do
this. It’s over.”

Heat rushed through
her. Her anger took over and brought fuel to every muscle in her body. She used
this newfound strength to restrain herself from slapping Levi’s rigid face. She
glared at him, but his expression didn’t change. It only made her angrier. “Do
not tell me what I can or can’t do,” she growled, in a voice she hadn’t known
she owned.

Levi stood up, not
taking his eyes from hers. “Get up.” He squared himself back into a position
she recognized. She squared up to him, her body begging for a chance to counter
whatever he came at her with. When he advanced her, she countered the approach
perfectly, without even thinking.

From out of
nowhere, Samuel captured her from the side. She spun away. As soon as she
escaped that attack, another came from the other side. She couldn’t break free
from this one, but she never stopped fighting. The attacker released her, and
she was instantly attacked from another direction. Her mind stayed focused and
intent.

 With every hit,
she fought with everything she had in her, until the attacker pulled back, or
she was able to remove him. She wasn’t perfectly successful; the men were too
strong, and more than once she found herself helpless. She did not master the
skills Levi had taught her, but she did exactly what he wanted her to do; she
fought without considering to surrender. She could not make out the faces of
her attackers, not even Levi’s. She only knew that her life was in danger, and
she fully gave herself over to the fighting instincts she had not known she
possessed. She never gave up, and never once panicked.

Reece did not know
how long this went on. Amazingly, she did not feel tired. Adrenaline pumped
through her body, and she felt nothing, only power. Finally, there were no more
attacks. She stood in the middle of the room out of breath, waiting, just in
case. Her legs weren’t shaking as they had earlier; she enjoyed the power she
felt running through her.

When her eyes
focused, she found Levi standing across from her, smiling broadly. Samuel stood
at his side, and two other men walked over to join them. She let out a breath
as Levi came to her and wrapped his arms around her.

Feeling her muscles
begin to loosen and relax, she collapsed happily against him. Her heartbeat and
breathing slowed.

“I believe we may
have just unleashed our next greatest Pemdai warrior. It’s over, my love; now,
let us calm you down a bit.”

She pulled back,
looking up at him. “You planned that all along, didn’t you?”

He smiled
apologetically. “I will tell you, it was a lot harder than I expected to watch
you transform into a raging lioness. Any attacker coming at you unexpectedly
will be shocked when they meet with your newfound talents. I am beyond impressed.
You have done extremely well today.”

She smiled up at
him. Samuel and the two other men walked over to them, and expressed their
opinions about how well she did before leaving the room.

“Who were those
guys with Samuel?” She asked Levi.