Part Three

“Get on your feet, you worthless slug!” Nathalia shouted in my ear. I jumped to my feet, shoved her aside and took off running. I could hear her call after me, but I didn’t look back. I ran through the snow, slipping once, but I didn’t stop. I ran to a wooded area and ducked behind a tree to catch my breath. I tried to calm my racing heartbeat, but to no avail. I could see the steam from my breath every time I exhaled. I didn’t hear Nathalia follow me, but I was pretty sure she couldn’t be far behind. I cautiously pressed onward.
The tree line suddenly disappeared as I came to the edge of a ravine. I peeked over the cliff and watched a river peacefully flowing below. I looked around for a bridge and saw one farther down the side of the ravine. I started toward it, but froze when Nathalia stepped in my way. She had appeared out of nowhere and without a sound, though her head was turned toward the bridge. I glared at her and hoped that if I stood still enough, she would continue moving until she walked off the cliff by accident. We both turned toward the tree line when we heard twigs snapping and deep growling sounds.
A huge, wild, grizzly bear-like creature was staring at us. It looked as big and powerful as a grizzly, only twice as big and it had long saber teeth protruding from its mouth. Puffs of steam came from its nostrils in the cold night. The creature scraped at the ground with a clawed paw. Fear raced through me as I glanced at Nathalia. If she hadn’t been standing two feet away, I probably wouldn’t have cared if the bear thing took her out. “Nathalia,” I whispered. “Don’t. Move.”
She didn’t seem surprised by my presence. In fact, it was as if she already knew I was standing beside her the whole time. Instead of listening to me, she pulled a dagger out of her belt and I watched in horror as she flung it at the bear. The weapon landed in the creature’s paw and it howled in pain. That did it. The creature took off running straight at us while I stood locked in place. When the massive creature was just a few feet away, my mind finally kicked into gear. I threw myself into Nathalia, knocking us both out of the way. We landed near the edge of the ravine, but luckily not close enough to fall off. Unfortunately for our saber friend, the animal couldn’t stop soon enough and plummeted to the river below. I got up and yanked Nathalia to her feet. “Are you insane?! You almost got us killed!” I shouted at her then marched toward the bridge.
“Amusing,” she said. “Your first reaction was to save me. How… pathetic.”
I stopped and turned around. I should have kept walking, but I didn’t. “I was NOT trying to save you! You just happened to be in my way!”
“Then why didn’t you jump in the other direction?” Nathalia asked calmly as she brushed snow off her cape.
“You know what? I just saved your life! You should be thanking me.” I crossed my arms and glowered.
“Funny, I could say the same thing about you. We’re more alike than you realize.”
Anger like no other marched me right up to her face. “I am NOTHING like you,” I whispered menacingly.
“I agree,” she said backing up. “I’m better than you.”
Nathalia calmly turned her back to me as she continued. “You really are pathetic. You have a fighter’s spirit, but you have nothing to fight for, except your life. You run from me, but have no clear idea where you are going. The point is to just keep running. You have no purpose in life.”
I turned to walk back to the bridge. I’ve had enough of this. I hadn’t gone five steps when Nathalia spoke again.
“Train under me and I will give you a purpose.” Nathalia’s words caught me off guard. “Fight for me and gain the glories of this world.”
I stopped walking.

That’s how it all started.
My “training,” as she called it. Was I that desperate for something to believe in? Probably.
Either way, from that day forward, my life was changed forever. I underwent rigorous training. She had me jump through loops, endure brutal obstacle courses, and partake in various endurance and weapons training. Each day she gave me harder activities to accomplish on top of the ones she already had me doing. When I wasn’t training, I had to attend her every command. Even after a grueling workout, she would want me to do all the regular chores as well. You might call me crazy. I wouldn’t blame you. I should have ignored her, but even when I turned away that day, something kept nagging at me. Something I had to disprove to Nathalia as well as myself. I’m not like her. She offered me more than I knew she could give. I also knew that if I agreed, I could prove to her that I was indeed nothing like her. Not only that I was different, but also that I was better. I made a promise that day, I would never become like Nathalia.

It is now four months into the training and she hasn’t let up any as far as training goes. I managed to find a spot not far from the hut to which I could escape whenever I got the chance. It was a quiet place surrounded by trees. There was one tree in particular with thick enough branches for me to climb and rest on. In fact, I had been sitting on one of them for the past half hour undisturbed. It wasn’t much time, but I enjoyed the peace. I leaned my head against the tree trunk and let my legs dangle back and forth in the air below me. I reflected back on the first week after the encounter with the bear.
Nathalia had ground a set of rules into every part of the training. I closed my eyes and went over the rules in my mind for the millionth time. “Lesson one,” her sneering voice said, “Don’t get mad, get even. Lesson two: if you want something, take it. Lesson three: do whatever makes you happy. Lesson four: cheat. Lesson five: hurt people before they hurt you.” I opened my eyes and looked around. That last line wasn’t just said in my head. I spotted Nathalia walking up to my tree. I sighed loudly and hopped down from my perch to stand in front of her. Out of nowhere, she slapped me pretty hard. “Ow! What was that for?!” I yelled and rubbed my stinging cheek.
“Did you see it coming?” Nathalia asked.
“No,” I reluctantly replied.
“Exactly. Now what’s the golden rule?” She took out a dagger and started twirling it between her fingers.
“Obey you at all times,” I muttered.
Nathalia smiled and walked away. “Good girl. However, there is still one more rule I need you to remember.”
“What’s that?” I narrowed my eyes and watched her carefully.
Like lightning, she spun around threw the dagger. It flew by my ear and sunk into the tree behind me with a soft thunk. Nathalia smirked at me and said in a threatening voice, “NEVER turn on me.”
I bowed my head. “My allegiance is to you alone. You have my word.” In truth, I had begun despising her a long time ago. I would have left, but I still had to prove myself. Until then I had to keep playing along.
“Good,” she said as she started back to the hut. “You’re ready.”
“For what?” I inquired and followed behind her.
She didn’t answer, but instead led us to a couple horses waiting outside. Nathalia mounted one and waited for me before leading her horse away. We rode most of the night in silence, stopping only a few times. By nightfall we came to a fairly large town surrounding an equally large fortress. We found an inn near daybreak and settled down for the time being, sleeping soundly.