The Sons of Satrina: A Sons of Satrina Novel (25 page)

Chapter Twenty-Six.

This was it.  The time was finally here.

A few nights after being chosen for the first wave of the real world training, Aisline found herself creeping along the side of a building in the dead of night.  Blending into the shadows in her full Sons of Satrina warrior uniform, she was at one with the darkness.  With her hair tightly bound and wrapped
and dressed head to toe in black, she felt like the warrior within her had finally burst forth. 

It was bloody freezing. Snow had been forecast and the ground was littered with black ice. It wasn’t the ideal situation for them to be out in the field for the first time, but the hunt didn’t ever take into account the state of the weather.

The dark of night threw ominous shadows stretching in all directions, giving the enemy the opportunity of many hiding places from their wary eyes.  Ash was loving every goddamn minute of it.  Even though it was only early evening, the winter’s day had quickly given way to the night.  The butterflies in her stomach were threatening to burst out of their hiding place at any moment to flutter at the cage of her stomach, she was that nervous.   But, it was nerves of excitement.    This was what she had been trained for. 

She was currently in hot pursuit of the master warriors in their team. 

They were out. 

They were out in the real world.

Aisline could only think about the here and now.  There was no way that she would allow any thought of Jackson or what had happened, or nearly happened, hamper her concentration.  A lapse in concentration could equal death in the real world.

So far, they hadn’t come across much, but everything was clearly stored in her mind, ready to make a full report when they got back to the academy.  It didn’t matter to her so much that they hadn’t encountered any sign of the enemy yet tonight.  Just being out here and working with the other warriors was a thrill in itself.  It was the not knowing what could happen, that was the buzz.  Anything was possible out here.

Just think, only a few months ago, the only thing on her mind was what she and her friends were planning to do the following weekend,  or whether she could sneak out of the house without a lecture from her parents. And now here she was - out from behind her mother’s suffocating apron strings - out hunting the enemy that had plagued them for a lifetime.

It
was perfect.  She wouldn’t trade this feeling for anything in the world.  Sure, she thought that she had been happy enough in her old life, and she had been at the time.  But, now she knew that this was the life that she was meant to lead.  Danger, intrigue, excitement.  She had it all now.

“What a waste of time.”  Denver complained.  Loudly.

Aisline had had more than enough of him already.  He didn’t keep tight with the group. He didn’t keep his mouth shut and he was thoroughly pissing everyone off. Denver was the only glitch in this training exercise, and a major one at that.  If only she had been paired with someone who took being a warrior seriously…

Rounding a corner, Master Warrior Dixon halted and turned on Denver, radiating menace from his very pores.  “For this assignment, if you don’t pull your finger out of your ass and pick up your game, you’re going to fail.  And I don’t just mean fail this particular assignment.  I mean, I will make sure that you are forcibly thrown out of the Sons of Satrina academy on your ass.  Are we clear?” he hissed through gritted teeth.

Aisline looked on as Master Warrior Dixon berated Denver, and Dixon was looking like he was going to spontaneously combust with barely concealed rage, while Denver only scowled like a petulant little kid. 

“I haven’t done anything.”  Denver grumbled.

“That’s the whole bloody point! You’ve done nothing but complain.  Cooperation from you has been minimal and we’re more interested in watching your incompetent back than we are in finding what we came out for!”

Even in the strategy meetings that had been spread over the previous nights, Denver had done nothing but nit-pick and argue over how they were supposed to be doing things.  He’d argued with the Master Warriors who had conducted jobs like this for decades upon decades.  Every time he opened his mouth, he made their hackles rise in annoyance.  Denver knew best and no one could argue with him otherwise.  The boy had a knack of getting on everyone’s nerves.  He had a pompous way about him and he thought he knew it all.  He thought that he knew better than anyone else and wasn’t afraid to voice his objections, even when he was talking utter bullshit.  But, it was that attitude that could put them all in jeopardy.  He wasn’t a team player in the least.   It was the Master Warriors who were in charge of this operation, not him, contrary to his own personal opinion.

Ash was pleased that Master Warrior Dixon had called him out on it finally.  They had all clearly been biting their tongues, but out here and now, it wasn’t the place for him to act up.  It was time to man up and fall into line. She, for one, was sick and tired of hearing his whining voice and was ready to plant him one herself if he didn’t pack it in.

Master Warrior Dixon turned to converse with Master Warrior Merion and the two graduate warriors moved to block and guard Aisline and Denver. The wait didn’t bother her.  It was the thrill of the chase that had captured Aisline.  They had
n’t come across any Mortuorum yet. Their base had been empty save for a cell phone, which they would hand in to the technicians to see what information they could gleam from it. 

Scooting down the alley way, close on the heels of Master Warriors Merion and Dixon, Aisline kept to the shadows.  There was no imminent danger, but out in the field, you never knew.  This was how she was supposed to play her role.  She was acting out the reality of the situation.  The Mortuorum were known
for their extreme cunning and could be lurking anywhere, ready to attack them at a moment’s notice.   And she had to be ready for them.  Even if she couldn’t lay a finger on them. That wasn’t the point.

Stalking the streets for the very first time was a bit nerve wracking to say the least.  She wanted to hold her own.  She didn’t want to be the weakest link, just because she was female.  She had already proved that she was as
good as the others in the academy and she wanted to project that out onto the street.

Keeping to the shadows, they all had their eyes peeled.  Well, except for Denver.

In actual fact, Master Warrior Dixon was well aware that there was no immediate danger on this little outing tonight.  They had planned it well and were in an area that wasn’t often frequented by the Mortuorum. It was the council who wanted the trainee Warriors out there and it was the Master Warriors, Kelton in particular, who did all they could in the planning to make sure that they could minimise any danger.  Even though this exercise was well planned to keep as far away from the enemy as they could, they also had a backup team of Warriors that only the Master Warriors knew about trailing each of the groups, in case of any problems.  This was the best way they could think to play it while still fulfilling their duties given to them by the council.

This little exercise was all about giving the newest grads and the trainees a feel for being out on the street.  Putting them through the motions, making sure that they followed instructions to the letter, making sure that they knew their place within the team.  After all, there is no ‘I’ in team….  Sometimes, the old clichés really are the best.

Kelton would be able to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses from the reports that were produced from the team leading warriors. Dixon knew that Kelton hadn’t agreed with the decision of sending trainees out into the field and they had all staged several meetings to come up with an idea that would get the council off of their backs, but that would also keep the kids out of danger.  This was the best that they could do.  As a team, as soon as the warriors had found out who the council had selected to send out on the first wave, they’d watched the trainees and all agreed on their teams.  It was a difficult situation that they had to try and make the best of.  Which was not an easy task.

Obviously, as head of the school and as head of the Sons of Satrina as a whole, Kelton had had the last word, but he could not defy the council.  Their word was deemed law and he could only work around it so far. No one was very happy about having Denver out on the streets, but they couldn’t deny that his defensive skills were second to none.  And, the pairing of
Aisline and Denver made sense. Mainly because she didn’t suffer him lightly and wouldn’t be influenced by his demands or idiotic behaviour.

With a flick of his hand, Merion slowed and Ash knew that they were about to halt and reconvene at the corner before proceeding.  Keeping light on her feet, she kept her back to the grime covered wall and glided to the side of the other warriors.  The alley was thin and long, lit
tered with garbage and they had to keep their eyes alert.  There were so many hiding places that could take them by surprise.

The thrill of being out in the field was indescribable.  Excitement
throbbed through her veins. Ash could understand why the warriors kept their enthusiasm for this job year after year. 

Denver clomped up behind them, making more noise than the other five of them put together, kicking a tin can and bumping into Aisline’s shoulder when he reached the rest of the group.

“Stealth, Denver.  Stealth.”  Warrior Dixon hissed at him and rolled his eyes in exasperation before turning to scope out the area around them.  Denver snorted in response.

Without another word, Merion signalled that they would turn right at the end of the alley and proceed north.  Aisline nodded and readied her stance.  There was no sound as they started to move as one, no sound from their movement, no sound from the sleeping city. 

Everything was clear when they rounded the corner. There was no one in sight. No Mortuorum. No Matris. No humans.  This was a really run down area of Brandestowen so there would be minimal contact with humans as well.  Concentrating on her senses as the warriors had advised her to do, Aisline knew that they were alone in the neighbour, save the noises of scrabbling rats and mice and a hunting cat.

Running through the check list in her mind, she turned
to check out where Denver was. Because a warrior is not alone in his or her battle.  They are only as strong as their team, and even if Denver was the weakest link, he was part of the team.

But, he wasn’t there.

Halting abruptly, Aisline scanned to see if he had moved out of formation, which wouldn’t have surprised her.  He hadn’t been able to follow orders all night.

He was nowhere to be seen.

Trying to gain the attention of the warriors in front of her without making a sound wasn’t easy.  Even if Denver didn’t want to obey their orders, she wanted to follow them to the best of her ability and it was infuriating to have to keep checking on him.  They had carried on their way.  She didn’t know what to do for the best.

Cursing to herself, Ash quickly turned and headed back around the corner and into the mouth of the alley.  Denver was lurking in the shadows, crouching down next to a cluster of overflowing bins and, with a grin that made his teeth glint in the poor moonlight, he beckoned her over.

“What the hell are you playing at?” she snarled at him, grabbing his arm.  They had to get moving.  “Come on!”  The others wouldn’t get far away before they turned to check, but she didn’t like them being out of her line of sight.  Out here, with their limited experience, they were totally exposed.   “I said, come on!”

“No, wait!  They’re here,” Denver pointed down the alley with a manic grin, back the way that they had come, “The Mortuorum.  They’re here.”

Aisline felt her temperature start to cool.  This wasn’t how things were supposed to go.  They weren’t supposed to be out here alone.  They weren’t supposed to engage in combat.  They had an assignment to complete and without the express permission from the Master Warriors, they were not meant to deviate from the plan.

“Damn it, Denver, I mean it.  We’ve got to get out of here.  Right now.”  She tried her hardest to keep the panic out of her voice, but with every second that passed, the danger was getting closer. It wasn’t
that she doubted her mad combat skills, not in the slightest.  However, she wasn’t stupid enough to think that she was ready to take on the enemy just the two of them.

“No way.  This is what we’re here to do.  Just because they’re running away, doesn’t mean I will.”  Denver said, puffing up his chest.  Did he really think that the other warriors were running away?  The boy was certifiably mad.

And Ash could see that he thought that he was invincible.

This was really bad.  And
it was about to get a whole lot worse.

“Come on, Denver.”  She thought that she’d try the softer approach, for once calling on her femininity to try to convince him to get out of there.  Th
ey didn’t have much time left. She could smell them getting closer, “Let’s get out of here, yeah?”  Ash smiled at him softly, fluttering her eyelashes in what she hoped was a flirtatious manner, hoping the tremor would hardly be noticeable in her lips.

For a moment, Denver looked at her like he was thinking about following her, before his lips turned up in a nasty smirk.  “Don’t even try to play me.  It won’t work.  I’m not going anywhere.”

Aisline hitched in a breath and swore silently.