The medic they brought was more than qualified, he had graduated from the university and had worked there for a decade before he came here. She explained the situation of her injuries as he examined her thoughtfully. He actually commended her for her first aid treatment.

He said her arm was not really broken and would be fully healed soon while the rest of her injuries were minimal. He told her she needed at least a week rest and sent two different powder medicines to drink with her tea twice a day.

She hated every second of it, it was bitter and left a weird after taste.

The first two days were a bliss for her sore body; she stayed in her room reading an old novel from the library. She had already read it but it felt nostalgic. The food was amazing and the bed comfortable, she even had a cup of hot cocoa.

The morning of the third day Cadem entered at the break of dawn. No ray of light had entered through the luminator yet and Astrid was still in a deep sleep.

“Wake up, chica” He shouted as a way of greeting and threw a leather bag into the bed.

Astrid jumped taking out a knife from under her pillow. She looked around and relaxed when she saw nothing was happening.

“Nice, you got yourself a weapon. I am not taking it away but don’t let the others see it querida. Anyway, today we are going back training so put on my regalo and let’s go” He stood waiting for her to react.

“Are you crazy? I have to heal first. I can’t go with my arm like… this” When she said this, she rose her arm noticing she had used it to take the knife with no pain whatsoever.

“We freaks heal fast. A broken arm should take no more than a week to be in perfect condition. I am sure you had a nasty fracture when we met in the bosque. So, when the medic said a week, I knew you needed a day, two tops. Now stand up señorita and let’s gooo, I don’t want you to be out of shape.” He did not wait, left the room and closed the door to give her privacy.

Astrid looked at her arm in amazement, she moved and touched it before jumping out of bed. She had thought the lack of pain was due to the medicine but now she knew better. She grabbed the bag with her now healthy arm and started to change.

Cadem had chosen her uniform, probably asked a tailor to make it personalized because it was just what she expected from him to design.

It was monochromatic; just black and white. Cadem knew her tastes after all; it was probably for her sake. Still, it was not what she would have chosen to wear while training.

It was skin tight at places and at first glance it felt uneven and ineffective in terms of defence having only one sleeve and one leg. It was, however, cleverly done and well made. The thought fabric felt like a second skin made of tough leather but without compromising mobility. The only complain was the knee-high skirt meant more as a fashion statement as there was solid material beneath.

When she was ready, she met with Cadem outside her bedroom and accompanied him to the front courtyard. He had changed to something similar and Astrid thanked any god out there that most people looked towards him and not her.

They arrived at the eastern courtyard when the colour of the sky changed from a dull grey to vivid blue and saw a man waiting for them.

“Good morning big man, thank you again for joining us today to train the chica” Cadem said as a way of greeting.

The man was naked from the waist up showing what could only be described as muscles made of pure marble. His white skin showed a variety of scars that adorned this body that he showed with pride. In terms of cloths, he was using nothing but a dark brown pair of pants, no shoes or socks in sight.

Astrid knew he was a participant, he was looking to get the same position Cadem had, the one she wanted. The main difference was that he had no bracelet like she had. Had he gained their trust or was it not a deterrent for him to escape?

“My pleasure. I want to see what she can do after some real training” Brosh answered before he threw a wooden sword towards her. “Let’s begin with some swordplay. That is your main weapon, is it not?”

Astrid took the wooden longsword. It was just over a meter in length made of solid wood, something like oak by the weight and colour. This could break bones without much trouble.

“I do love swords but I focus on hammers. My fighting master has taught me enough to say I am an apprentice in both dragon and water style” She responded with some pride touching her voice.

“If you have less than a year training that is impressive; it took me five years to get there in the dragon style, even if I was only seven when I started. And so, you used water style for our fight at the mountain, which was a good choice. I don’t know much of the style but I know flexible thinking is their sharpest weapon. The water saint denied me entrance when I went there for training but I managed to get to advance level at the rest of them.” He saw the question on her face before she could ask it. “I don’t usually use weapons; I have always been more of a hand-to-hand kind of guy.”

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Astrid had seen and felt the damage he could deliver barehanded. She was sure he was going to be one of the two selected as an assassin; with his help she could be the second.

For the next two hours the three of them trained together, mainly following drills of the dragon style as it was common ground. At some point a messenger came along and asked for Cadem to accompany him.

When left alone with Brosh the energy changed, he was more focused and insisted once and again for them to spar. Astrid felt a little scared but agreed to go for a few rounds just to ensure they could understand each other.

“Ready big guy?” She asked this more to give herself time for some last deep breaths.

“And eager” He placed himself in a similar position than the one he had used when she had received the blow.

The battle was short and precise. He sprang to action and dodged the first stock she had thrown at him. He came from her right with a heavy punch but this time she was able to react and stepped back avoid and counterattack with a slash to the neck.

The attack connected square in the back of the neck but the wooden blade bounced like she had used it against an iron pole. This left her open for him to grab her and in one swift movement threw her into the air.

Astrid felt empty as she reached the highest point at about five meters over the stone floor. Looking down, Brosh had an expression of mixed thrill and puzzlement; she felt something was missing but the fight was not over. Seeing such an innocent face from this man she decided to keep fighting.

It was not a good position but she used the energy of the fall and rolled in such a way that her blade struck him square in the forehead shattering into a million tiny pieces.

Astrid had managed to land while still rolling so that the energy of the fall was distributed. She stood up with her body complaining of the strain but no real injury.

“What the fuck is your body made off?” She shouted the question. She felt concern but at the same time was terrified, “If I had done that to any other guy their skull would have been crushed to a bloody pulp, their face unrecognisable from the damage” She looked at the man who didn’t even have a scratch where the blade connected.

“I would have dodged but I felt no Oule coming from the blade so there was no danger” He spoke in a tone that told her he had given his explanation, even if she understood nothing.

“Oule? What is Oule? What are you talking about big man?” she felt frustrated with the way Brosh responded. When the blade struck, she was sure she had killed him with such a force but she felt in worse condition than he looked.

With a puzzled expression he stood straight and spoke to her as if he was speaking to a child.

“Oule is your will; your power, to make you strong. Stronger than steel” He struck his bicep as a punctuation.

Astrid looked at him with her mouth opened. She knew he wanted to say something important but she felt like she was taking to a five-year-old and she had no patience for kids.

“What?” She answered when he did not continue. “Maybe it is a language thing, I know Brimish is not your mother tongue. We can try with Zybish or even Momoan if you prefer”

“It is not language barrier. Oule is a type of power we warriors use. You have used it; it was not a strong Oule but I felt it when I struck back in the mountain” He signalled her arm. “If you hadn’t used it, you would have lost your arm and died”

It was still somewhat strange to speak of death and murder, especially her own, but she understood what he spoke off. She knew a normal punch would not cause her to fly that way.

“I know there is something here, but I did nothing. At least not consciously. Could you give me an example?”

He stepped towards the sword rack and took two identical wooden longswords.

“This is what happens when there is no Oule to strengthen the weapon”

He left one of the swords on the ground and took stance. It was one of the simplest overhead strikes of the dragon style that let him take good use of his brute strength. He used the sword to hit an old stone statue, it was more of an obelisk than anything distinct.

With a deafening crash the sword broke into two large pieces. She expected it to be damaged but the strength he displayed was terrifying.

“Now” he continued dropping the hilt to the ground. “I will use my Oule in full”

He took stance once more; it was an identical image of the first strike. Not a hair out of place, it was the image of a master immersed in his craft. The blade fell in a perfect arc; it moved like lightning and at the moment of impact the crash was different.

The sound was of stone breaking.

It was not a clean cut; the stone broke as if hit by an explosion of dynamite or struck by a steel hammer. Brosh swung the wooden sword a couple of times to make sure of its integrity before he passed it down to Astrid.

She took a long look; she was awestruck with what just happened. The wood was in perfect condition, aside from some stone dust it had not a single scratch. It defied all logic she had ever understood, every small piece of her knowledge in artificing, materials and construction said it was not possible.

“How do I learn this?” The words came out slowly like she had to push them into existence.

“It is complicated to explain. It is something you feel your way around not like the stances and attacks of the different styles where you can just direct the student into a solid position or good movement” He tried to explain this sounding a little embarrassed, he had tried to teach this before.

“How did you learn? You are amazing, I have never seen anything like this. I mean Eigil is strong and all but it I hit him he bleeds, you just don’t”

He gave her a deep sincere laughter.

“I do bleed little girl. You gave me this one, don’t forget” Brosh signalled his forehead where a small scar contrasted with his white skin. “A strong Oule is the difference between victory and death but it does not mean you are invulnerable.”

“Can you… would you teach me? I want to get stronger.” Anything that could help her survive would be a boon at this point.

“It will be hard on your body and your mind; are you sure you want me to teach you about Oule?” It was a gentle question, full of worry and concern.

“Yes; I am sure. You might be the strongest man I have ever met and there is nothing that I want more than be stronger.” She gave him a reassuring smile.

Brosh walked towards her with confidence in every step.

He placed his huge left hand on her shoulder, smiled at her and before she could react to anything he punched her in the stomach with such weight she thought she was going to be cut in half.