I huffed at the sight of it, earning a chuckle from Ashley.
“Not only brute force, good,” Rohan praised his opponent as he got up.
The Sergeant attacked Nathanial with his fist, but as he ducked away, Rohan changed his tactic and swept out his leg, knocking Nathanial right back down.
“You need to be quicker,” The Sergeant’s voice was back to boredom, taunting the man, who was setting an example for us all.
Nathanial gritted his teeth, getting himself up again and threw a dozen attacks against Rohan; none of them were enough to make him stagger, but he managed to stall him, preventing the Sergeant from finding a hole in his attacks.
Rohan threw himself backwards, making his opponent’s attack fly wide in the air, before he charged right back.Nathaniel saw it coming, spinning around and avoiding Rohan’s grip before kicking his back, making him stumble for balance.
Silence fell and they stopped in their tracks, all of us holding our breaths.
A small scoff sounded, before Rohan turned around and smirked. “You pass.”
Murmurs spread around the group, but Nathaniel only smiled back at him, softening with each breath, before he nodded and stepped back into the group.
“You want me to take the next one?” one of the other soldiers asked the Sergeant. It earned him nothing but a sharp glare. “Are you kidding?”
“I… ehm… sorry sir.”
Rohan’s jaw worked, his eyes not leaving the soldier, almost as if considering attacking him next.
“Ethalyn Deering,” he shot out, without looking away from the soldier.
I took a deep breath, my pulse racing at the sound of my name. As I stepped forward, I shrugged my shoulders in an attempt to calm my nerves, I had no need for them here.
Slowly, his dark eyes shifted, until they met with mine. His face was blank; I wasn’t able to tell if he was disappointed or not, but I had sparred against people before, so this wasn’t new.
I curled my hand into a fist, then stretched it open again, repeated it a few times. Rohan lunged at me, faster than I thought, but I side-stepped. His elbow came flying, and I avoided it by parrying with my arm. Not even a second passed, before his other arm swung from the opposite direction, and I barely had time to put my fist up and stop it from connecting with my face. He was fast,focused and tried to find my weaknesses by changing his attacks, putting pressure on me to respond quickly.
He whipped his leg in a wide swing, but I crouched down to the dirty floor, before I threw myself back up and tackled him with my side right into his chest.
It was like hitting a brick wall—I was surprised that I hadn’t been able to force him back even the slightest. His arms wrapped around me, grappling as he swept me up in the air and threw me. I crashed into some of the boxes to the side.
Sand poured out of one of them, while the other crate had been filled with unloaded weapons, my entire body ached from the impact.
Rohan was slowly stalking closer, his eyes blank, he looked emotionless and the mere thought sent a chill down my spine. I filled my hands with sand, pushed myself up and charged at him. Once close, I threw the sand in his face. He shielded his arm, but he lost sight of me nonetheless, and I took a hold of his wrist, spun it around and forced it up against his back.
He grunted slightly at the uncomfortable twist, but quickly regained his senses and tried to break out of my grip. “That’s it? That’s all you can do?” he chuckled tauntingly, as he spun around.
He caught me with his free arm, clenching it around my throat and cutting off my air supply. I hissed violently as I clawed at his arm.
Rohan sighed loudly behind me and my heart started racing.
No.
No this can’t be it, I can’t fail here.
I grabbed hold of his wrist again, pouring all my strength into it. We had barely moved around, yet I already felt warm from the quick movements.
Rohan flinched at my grip, as if surprised that I hadn’t given up. I forced his arm away, before I tumbled to the ground. My eyes darted back to him, his brows slightly furrowed as he looked at me. I used his confusion to my advantage and placed all my weight on my hands before I kicked him in the stomach. He staggered backwards a few steps, giving me enough time to get back on my own feet.
I spun around, my hands balled into fists ready for another go, but… he just stood there, looking at me.
Was it another test? I kept my hands ready, studying him but he didn’t flinch.
Confused, I tried to take a swing at him, but he caught my wrist and squeezed it. By instinct I opened my hand and his eyes darted to the palm of it.
