Over the weeks, Ember had grown accustomed to the intimidating atmosphere of the woods. The faint sounds of small animals scurrying through the foliage were no longer enough to upset her. The fear of encountering Velanthras, ready to devour her, had gradually faded, so much so that she was able to enjoy her morning runs and exercises with the Sargeant.
Lumen was a constant presence. Ember guided it with the slightest movement of her fingers, trying not to trip over roots sticking out of the ground. The drone was becoming more responsive, sending positional data to the holographic screen.
Even her stamina had improved. Enough, at least, not to die breathless at Lightara's pace.
Lightara. The more time she spent with the Sergeant, the harder it was for Ember to think of her only as Ferun. For some reason, it seemed as if every single pore of the woman screamed 'I am Lightara'.
In the middle of the woods, an intermittent beeping sounded. Ember frowned in confusion before realizing the noise was coming from her glove. A small red triangle flashed on the screen, larger than the ones she was used to.
"Um, Sarge." She slowed to a stop. Standing among the trees, Ember watched the new threat move across the screen.
Lightara walked over to her and looked over her shoulder. Her breathing was a little heavy, and it tickled Ember's neck; she tried not to focus on the goosebumps it gave her. "It must be a Velanthra."
How nice. Just what Ember had hoped for, to meet a big, pissed-off cat early in the morning.
"What do we do? It seems to be heading for the heart of the woods, so if we go this way we shouldn't run into it." She pointed to a side road that climbed in the opposite direction.
After a moment, Lightara shook her head. "No. I have a better idea."
Ember gave her a puzzled look. Reflexively, she searched her pocket for Knifey. She wore the belt, gloves, and cloak, but she didn't carry a sword this morning. It was a specific order from the Sergeant: every day she gave her instructions on how to prepare for the next training. "Please tell me the best idea's not to wait with open arms for us to get ripped to shreds."
Lightara's lips curled into a half-smile. "Maybe if you stopped making those lost puppy eyes, it wouldn't see you as a tasty snack."
As if someone had just flipped a switch, poof, Ember's cheeks glowed cherry red. She lowered her head, letting her hair fall over her face to hide it. She doubted she had been very successful. "I don't have the eyes of a lost puppy," she murmured with a hint of edge in her voice.
"I'll have to teach you to look tough, too, huh?"
Ember hid her hands behind her back. She could feel them shaking under her gloves. "I'm not a puppy!" she said again, this time with more conviction. She suspected that the red spots on her cheeks weren't helping.
Lightara raised an eyebrow skeptically, but thankfully dropped the subject. "The plan is to teach you how to use the cloak."
"Oh." Ember grabbed the fabric of the half-cloak that fluttered from her shoulder. She lifted it to study it. No one had ever explained to her how to use it, and she had forgotten it was more than just a decoration. "You want me to make it harder to individualize so the Velanthra won't see me."
"And we don't have to change our way. Two birds with one stone." Lightara folded her arms across her chest. Her reddish hair fell in soft waves over her shoulder. How she managed to keep it neat and tidy while running was something Ember had never understood.
Sergeant's secrets, she told herself.
"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea."
"Why the surprised tone?"
Ember couldn't hold back a chuckle. She curled her lower lip between her incisors and glanced up at the foliage. An owl perched on a branch, its eyes huge and lanky, its head tilted in an unlikely pose. "Because usually your plan is always 'let's kick it.'"
The other woman flicked her tongue. "Which is usually an effective plan."
If there was one thing Ember had learned about the Sergeant during their mornings together, it was that there was a playful spirit beneath the woman's aloof demeanor. You only had to welcome her sarcasm to see it.
"No offense, but I like this plan better." Ember patted her own cloak.
A mosquito buzzing too close unnerved her. She tried to shoo it away by waving her hand next to her ear. It was useless; the mosquito didn't give a damn. Perhaps it was having a good laugh at her expense.
"For it to work, you have to activate it first." Lightara brought her index finger to the tip of the buckle that held the cloak to her shoulder. It emitted a whistle, like a Ysnian machine ready to puff smoke. Then nothing. No effect. The Sergeant was still a tall bogeyman, towering in the middle of the woods.
"Um," Ember scratched the back of her head. "Either it's broken or I didn't understand what it was supposed to do."
She got a sigh in response. "I just activated it. That's the easy part."
Confused but determined to learn, Ember imitated her and pressed the clasp button. There was a new snort. The cloak vibrated, animated with a life of its own; it made her entire shoulder tremble. The effect was not unpleasant. "Are you sure this isn't a massage cloak?"
Lightara didn't answer this time; she just looked at her with lowered eyebrows.
You said too much crap.
"The cloak doesn't make you invisible," the Sergeant explained. Ember cleared her throat and gathered herself to listen. "It has fibers that adapt to the environment. Simply put, it reflects light to create a visual distortion effect."
She closed her eyes and sucked air from her rosy lips. Then her contours blurred. Lightara was there, yet she was not. The sunlight beat down on her, seeming to reflect the colors of the woods. It wasn't impossible to see her if you knew where to look, but Ember felt tears well up in her eyes as she tried to focus on her.
Ember wiped her eyes. "Ouch. You could have at least warned me about the headache."
Lightara reappeared, defined and solid. "To use it, you must concentrate. It synchronizes with your breath, so you have to learn to control it."
Great. Breathing was one of her greatest weaknesses. Especially in times of tension, anxiety didn't help her keep her mind focused and her breathing deep.
You can do it.
No, you can't. You'll look like crap.
No, you can do it. Focus.
"You have to use your diaphragm." Lightara reached out an arm to brush her fingertips under Ember's breastbone. Ember held her breath instinctively, noticing the muscle in that spot contract. "Try to breathe slowly with your stomach."
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Ember closed her eyes and followed the instructions. She inhaled deeply, her stomach bulging instead of her chest. It was as if she was feeding on the musky scent, the dew that bathed the leaves and left a small seed inside her. She threw out all the air, trying to control her breathing, and it came out shuddering.
The cloak's vibration increased, but its rhythm changed. It was erratic.
"I must admit, this is a new one for me."
Lightara's voice convinced her to open her eyes again. Looking down, Ember saw her own body intermittently distort and reappear, like a broken holographic screen.
"I've never seen anyone disguise themselves intermittently before. You look like a Midsummer Festival decoration."
Ember's face burned. Before she could speak, a roar rang through the foliage. She shuddered, and what little concentration she had shattered.
The Velanthra was approaching. On the screen, the red triangle was moving towards them at great speed.
"Don't lose your focus," Lightara scolded her.
Too bad that was easier said than done. Ember tilted her head back, filling her lungs with musky air. A faint ray of sunlight filtered through the foliage, warming the tip of her nose. The roars of the Velanthra echoed in the background, taking her breath away again and again. They were like drums of war, warning her, threatening her.
She should have run, not stood there waiting for the Velanthra to come and eat her.
"Don't think about it," Lightara whispered to her. Her voice tickled her neck.
When had she come close? "Just think about your breathing. Slow down.
With me."
Ember felt her heart beat at an exaggerated rate. The situation seemed almost like a conspiracy against her - how could she stay calm with a Velanthra about to pounce on her and the Sergeant only a few steps behind her?
But she followed Lightara's command.
She heard her inhale and did the same. She counted to seven before they both blocked the air in their lungs. Then another five seconds. Finally, they exhaled through the nose in one slow draw.
She registered the sound of twigs breaking somewhere. Ember opened her eyes again, making sure to follow Lightara's breathing. Her arms and legs had become difficult to distinguish, as if veiled by a translucent patina.
"There you are," Lightara murmured to her, her chest brushing against Ember's back.
A massive shadow swooped down on them from above. The Velanthra's long tail swayed skyward, its stubby but agile legs digging furrows in the ground with each step. It sniffed the air, its long whiskers dancing on its feline snout. With a soft grunt, it rose to its hind legs.
"Keep breathing." Lightara stayed there, behind her. A silent presence. A pillar to which Ember clung with all her strength.
Velanthra's nostrils flared, yellow eyes flashing with frustration as they looked around. The wind blew on its fur, its grayness an almost alien color in the forest.
Then, suddenly, the feline turned its head in their direction and snapped its fangs. A mighty roar swelled its chest.
"Yeah. I forgot we should have covered ourselves with moss to hide the smell," Lightara said with a calmness that was completely at odds with the situation.
"What?"
Ember barely had time to ask before the Velanthra gobbled up the remaining distance and vibrated its claws in the air. Her breath caught as Lightara grabbed her by the hips and pulled her weight out of the feline's path; the cloak's effect ceased for both of them.
"It's time for plan B."
"Do we have a plan B?" Ember widened her eyes at the beast, saliva dripping from its fangs.
"You guessed it." Lightara positioned herself at her side, legs barely bent and hands raised, ready to fight. "We'll kick it."
"You want to kick a Velanthra?" Ember blurted out.
The creature took a leap toward the trunk of a tree. It clung to the bark with its claws while its tail snapped up to wrap around a branch. The feline swung in the air, leaping from branch to branch. It flew around their heads, toying with its prey, confident that victory was in its grasp.
It used the fronds to hide its exact position. Moving too fast. Ember spun around to try to spot it, but she could only see the vibrating fronds.
She had no weapon except Knifey. And she doubted a switchblade would do much against this beast.
A huge shadow formed at her feet. Ember barely noticed it as the Velanthra's roar rang out above her; drops of saliva ran down her hair.
"Look out!"
Lightara appeared beside her. Quick as lightning, she threw herself backwards, defying gravity. Her legs arced upward; her foot struck the Velanthra's snout with precision. She fell back to the ground, on her feet and ready to move again, as the cat slammed its back against a tree, hissing.
Ember's lips parted in a stunned expression. "You really... kicked it," she murmured, a wave of hysterical laughter shaking her chest.
"I said it, Plan B."
The Velanthra rose from the ground again. It shot up again and lost itself in the foliage, ready for another ambush.
"You know, this is starting to get on my nerves," Ember said.
Lightara leaned against her, back to back. She watched the sky and the branches. "You'd fight better if you shut up."
Idiot.
Ember curled her tongue and held her lips tight. Her heart was pumping at an exaggerated rate in her chest, the beat rumbling in her ears, drowning out the sounds of the woods. It was no good; she could no longer understand where the Velanthra was. And then she remembered Lumen.
With a quick flick of her fingers, she called it back to her. The drone came out of the bushes, buzzing around her head like a mad dragonfly. Lightara nodded her head in agreement as soon as she understood the plan. Lumen rose above the trees.
The red triangle on the holographic screen began to flash again.
Ember ordered Lumen to fly towards it. She made it circle around the triangle, imagining it surrounding the Velanthra with its buzzing wings. She heard the feline roar. Then Lumen swooped down in front of them. The Velanthra followed soon after, trying to catch the drone between its fangs.
But Lumen was already gone.
Then Lightara acted. Her body bent in a perfect arc in the air, like a wheel suspended in the void. She lowered her shin into the Velanthra's head from above. The blow rumbled like a whip. The creature slammed its muzzle hard against the ground. Lightara landed almost silently in front of the creature, with the grace of a panther. Without stopping, she whirled around and unleashed another kick that made the beast howl like a wounded puppy.
Ember couldn't take her eyes off the scene. Every move the Sergeant made was of deadly elegance.
But then she shook her head and came to her senses. She unleashed Knifey.
This is your moment. You can do it.
Ember lunged at the Velanthra's flank, blade extended in front of her. She collided with the beast's muscular body. The knife sliced through flesh, a stream of dark blood staining the creature's fur and Ember's shirt. The Velanthra's tail flicked out and twisted around the girl's waist.
Ember found her feet lifted from the ground; her hands slipped from Knifey's, a sharp pain cutting off her breath. It seemed as if the Velanthra wanted to crush her and then throw her away like an old object. She clung to its tail, her legs kicking the air.
You're going to die. Bravo, moron.
The Velanthra squeezed harder. Ember felt the bones in her pelvis crack. She let out a cry of pain, her torso buckling forward.
Then the tail loosened its grip. Ember barely had time to catch her breath before she fell to her knees. Velanthra's howls filled her ears. Panting, she lifted her eyes to see Lightara's foot pressing against the creature's eye.
Come on, you can do it.
Ember scrambled to her feet and threw herself back to the feline's side. She pulled Knifey from the flesh and lunged for a nearby spot. She repeated the action over and over.
Until the beast turned to strike with its tail. Lightara dodged it with a backward leap; instead, Ember shielded her face with her hands and landed with her butt on the ground. Rather than attack again, the Velanthra grabbed a branch and leapt into the depths of the woods. It left a trail of blood in its wake.
Lightara relaxed with a sigh. "That wasn't so bad." She held out her hand to Ember and helped her stand.
The blood had gone to her head, and she felt her temples throbbing as adrenaline still coursed through her. "If by 'not bad' you mean we're still alive, yes. But everything hurts."
"You'll get over it soon. Next time will be even better."
Ember avoided commenting that she would rather not live a second time. She cleaned up Knifey and followed the Sergeant back to the Academy with the shadow of a smile on her lips.