The Sons of Satrina: A Sons of Satrina Novel (4 page)

Chapter Four.

Waking up the next morning, Jackson crawled out of his surprisingly comfortable new bed and made his way slowly down to the communal bathroom. He was hoping to beat the rest of the guys to it and keep the peace he’d been experiencing going a bit longer. Also, he was feeling a little off this morning. He didn’t think that he’d be able to cope with the noise on top of this monster headache. This was worse than any hangover he’d ever experienced. The stark artificial lighting stabbed at his eyes.

It was early enough that the place was deathly quiet when he got down there. It gave him plenty of time to shower and get ready for one of the toughest days that he had yet to face. Training day number one.
The beginning of the rest of his life.

Even the bathrooms in this place were designer chic.  All marble and chrome, the height of modern sophistication. Unfortunately, the attention to detail would be lost on many of the
young men in this place.  As long as they could wash, eat, train and sleep, then they would have been happy living in a shack with a hole in the ground.

Jackson felt more than a little unwell. This uneasy feeling was not because it was the first day of his new trainee warrior life.  He wasn’t jittery with nerves. Even though it was a really big deal, he was no longer a child and could handle this. Something else was wrong. Everything felt out of whack. His head was a mess. The last thing he needed was to be forced to take a sick day on the first day of training. He would just have to plough through it.

Dressed in a pair of distressed Boss jeans and a plain black tee, Jackson threw on a battered old pair of Converse and was ready to roll down to the cafeteria for breakfast. They had been told that the training would be academic today and work out gear wasn’t required.

Stepping out of the bathroom, he nearly collided with Dylan and Jase who were being trailed into the bathroom by another ridiculously tall trainee.  They all looked blurry eyed with sleep. He could have almost believed that they had been out on the town last night. They all looked wasted.

“Hey, man. Wait for us, yeah?” Dylan pointed over to a discreet sofa area down the hall and didn’t bother to wait for a response. Jackson decided that he may as well wait for the three of them. After all, it was not any sort of hardship for him to have some friends while he was here. He’d be working with these guy’s for years to come, so it made sense to make some kind of bond.

It felt like he had only just settled into the large, over stuffed sofa when Dylan and the others came bouncing out of the bathroom. They sure didn’t waste a lot of time on personal hygiene. At least they looked like they were back in the land of the living now and the smell of minty toothpaste wafted on the air, which was better than nothing.

“Well, what are you waiting for? Come on, Jax! Move your ass.  We’re starving over here.” and Jase gave him a friendly punch on the shoulder, grinning as they reached him.

Breakfast was pretty much what Jackson would have had at home. Plenty of fresh fruit, cereal, wholesome goodness and all that jazz.  Jase, Dylan and Trey didn’t follow suit, bulking up on plenty of bread, pastries and a crafty chocolate bar or two. Jackson wasn’t exactly religious about his diet.  He wasn’t a health freak or anything like that. He didn’t see his body as a temple, but at the beginning of term, he wanted to make an impression on the teachers and he wanted it to be the right one.

Pushing out of their seats in unison, the legs of the chairs screeched across the floor and drew the attention of the rest of the student body. Jackson stood a little taller, refusing to be intimidated by the other, older trainee warrior’s scrutiny.

It was strange. Here he was, a man, and he felt like they were truly back at school. This wasn’t school.  This was a combat training academy. They were grown up, nearly adults. They were here for a common goal.  But, that didn’t lessen the air of competitiveness that filled the building. Jackson shook his head slightly.

They were heading over towards the sparring room where they were to convene for their first lesson.  That was when the butterflies starting to flit around his stomach. Not that he would have ever admitted that to the others. There was no way that he was making himself out to be such a big girl when he had only just met them, but he was really nervous about attending Warrior Kelton’s class. The man was his damn idol. He was sure to fall flat on his face, he was that goddamn nervous. Jackson felt sick to his stomach. So much for being a man – he felt like a little kid on the first day of school.              

So, what did he go and do? Made like Denver and strutted into class as if he were the king of the world. Jase, Dylan and Trey seemed to follow his lead and swaggered their way over to the benches that were lined against the wall, taking their time and flexing their muscles. There was so
mething about the first class that made them all want to turn into the big man; proving before they had even started that they were the biggest, baddest, toughest thing out there.

That was until Master Warrior Kelton walked into the room and then the whole class shrunk back to size. They coul
dn’t compare to him in the slightest. Kelton was already in his fighting and physical prime, appearing to be in his late twenties and buff as hell.  This bunch of teenage nobodies were no match for him.

“Quieten it down in here, boys.” Kelton made sure to put an emphasis on the word ‘boys’, putting them firmly in their place. Even though in their minds they thought they w
ere all grown up, in this world they were still children. They entered the Academy at age eighteen and would graduate in three to four years. Even then, they would not be ‘men’ until they proved their worth. Kelton may only appear to be twenty-eight-ish, but he was decades older and he had the wisdom and knowledge to carry himself with arrogance and confidence that the young guys could only wish for.

Kelton was used to dealing with unruly, rebellious, over-confident, enthusiastic rabbles. This was nothing new for him. He had been a warrior for countless decades and over recent years, he had become the head of the Sons of Satrina training Academy. He had taken over when Bartholomew had retired to oversee the safety of the community from a less hostile environment. Kelton still went out into the field
regularly, as he had a destiny to fulfil. He split his time between teaching and fighting and found each as equally as rewarding as the other.

The guys all sat a little straighter and paid a little more attention. They were ready to battle it out for the position of the best in the class. Kelton turned his back to the group and grinned to himself. He was thinking back to the time all those years ago when he’d been a cocky trainee himself.

When Kelton had been younger it had been their leader, Bartholomew, who had taken a personal interest in the trainees of the day. Kelton could clearly remember their leader knocking him on his ass in his very first combat class. Cockiness didn’t get you anywhere in this place and Kelton had found that out the hard way. As would these new recruits. Kelton had learned plenty of tricks from his predecessor.

He had been taught by the best and had become even better. All of the boys in the class knew that they were in for a tough time with him, but that it would be worth it in the end. No one could teach combat like Master Warrior Kelton.

“Right then.” he said as he stood before the newbie’s. “I am Master Warrior Kelton. You can call me Sir until you have earned the right to call me by my name. This, for some of you, will never happen. In addition, so you know from the very start, just because you have been born with the mark, it does not automatically mean that you will become warrior. It takes time. It takes effort. It takes hard work and dedication. And, it takes loyalty. This whole life is not a given right. It is a privilege that you have to earn.”

Most of them sat in rapt silence. All except for Denver. He really didn’t know when to keep his big mouth shut. You would have thought that a person with even half a brain cell rattling around in their skull would have known better.  Clearly, Denver was that dumb. “Sure. You know what they sa
y, those who can’t do, teach.” he muttered with a snigger.

Not one of the guys cracked a smile. They all shifted their gaze to him, unable to believe the fucktarded remark he’d made. It wouldn’t have ever crossed their minds to disrespect a legend like Kelton. The guy was unreal and incredibly stupid.

Moreover, for Denver’s bad luck, Kelton had heard every word he’d uttered.

“You think that just because I am here teaching that I am no longer a warrior? That I am not tough enough? That I don’t have what it takes? That I’ve lost it?” His tone was more than enough to put his point across. The look in his eyes screamed barely restrained anger.

This was certainly not how Kelton had expected this new teaching year to start out. He was used to arrogant little boys coming in here thinking that they were the Big I Am. No one had dared to disrespect him like this. There was no way he was going to allow a jumped up little piece of shit talk to him that way. He’d been out there, on the field, doing his duty while this little snot rag was still in nappies.

He was fuming mad.

“I’m waiting boy.”

There was a stone cold silence enveloping the sparring room as every
one waited to see what would happen next. They all knew that Denver had crossed the line and that Kelton was a time bomb waiting to explode. With morbid excitement, they were on the edges of their seats.

“I didn’t mean it like that.” Denver sounded like a petulant five year old that had been caught out. There was no way that Denver wanted to back down in front of the rest of the recruits, but he also wasn’t stupid enough to try and take Kelton on. He talked smack but had no way to back it up when it came to someone with Kelton’s experience. This was one of the first times that his bravado had gotten him into trouble. He wasn’t sure how he was going to talk his way out of this one.

“You know what? I don’t think I even want to waste my time trying to work out what you meant by that dim-witted comment.” Kelton turned back to the class and started to reach for the stash of weapons that were stacked up next to him in a box. The whole class gasped in unison, fearing what he was going to do.

“Get out of my class. Right now. I’ll deal with you later.”

Jackson turned to watch Denver skulk out of the room. He couldn’t help but smile to himself. This place was getting better by the minute in his opinion. First of all, he was sat in a class being taught by a master of his trade. Secondly, Denver had just been knocked off his perch. That just had to be the icing on the cake.

“Now, I hope that the rest of you can show a little respect and dedication to this
course.  Because, if you can’t I am politely asking you to leave now. I refuse to waste my time and energy on people who do not take the role of the warrior seriously.” Kelton glared around the room at the rest of the group. He found only eager faces, ready to learn.

“Now, who can tell me what this is and what this seal represents?” Kelton said as he held up a small, ornately carved dagger and started on with the less
on, ‘An Introduction to Weaponry’.

After about two hours of going through only a small selection of weapons, a loud rapid-fire knock reverberated on the door of the room. Without taking his attention off the Kimber Solo CDP Laser 9mm Grip that was in his hand, Kelton called out, “Yes?”

The door swung open and a woman with flowing rich auburn hair and a figure that deserved to be
on a playboy centrefold came rushing into the room.

Stopping for a moment to catch her breath and gather her composure, she heaved in a shuddering breath and walked over to where Kelton was still perched on the edge of his desk. This was going to be one of the hardest things that she’d ever had to do.

All of the young men in the room stared at her in appreciative fascination. She moved with such speed and grace that her mere presence commanded their rapt attention. However, Kayleigh didn’t even bat an eyelid in their direction. They simply didn’t register on her radar. Focused, she waited patiently in front of Kelton.

She knew him well enough to give him a minute to make sure that the gun he’d been handling was safe. Anyway, she needed his full attention to tell him what she had just found out.

“Kayleigh? Is everything okay? What’s going on?” he said in a low voice. Kelton knew that something must have been up for her to come in and interrupt his lesson. He wasn’t annoyed by her presence, but he was immediately concerned.

“Kelton. I need to speak to you. Somewhe
re a little quieter, perhaps?” she replied in a hushed voice with a glance around at the group gathered. “And private.” she nodded slightly to acknowledge their audience.

Kelton nodded and gently put a hand on the small of her back, steering her out into the deserted corridor.

In any other situation, the guys in the room would have whooped it up.  It was pretty damn obvious from the intimate touch and the way that the two of them interacted that there was something going on between them. However, even the guys could sense that there was something seriously afoot and remained respectfully quiet.

As soon as the door had shut, a hushed murmur had rolled around the recruits. Each of them wondered what was going on, who she was, if they really were together and congratulating Kelton on his good fortune at pulling such a stunner if they were.