Feral Magic

Honestly, she hadn’t cared before, and couldn’t decide if she should care now. Did she want them close or cautious? Did she want friends?
Zak stood before her; sword raised. “I feel like you’re going to accidentally slit my throat.”
She smiled at his nervous shift. “Oh, it wouldn’t be an accident if I did.”
“That’s comforting.”
Vixin tilted her head. “I’d have to be pretty heartless to kill my friend.”
“Will we ever be more than that?”
Her breath hitched and the night before flashed through her mind, but Vixin shook it off, charged, and flipped him over her shoulder. “Depends. Can you stay on your feet?”
He huffed and struggled to his feet. “Again.”
~~~
Three weeks later, Vixin readied them for their first day of offensive training. She’d spent the time creating drills where they’d run through the woods, searching for ‘attackers’ she’d hidden in the trees. Vixin tested their endurance and strength and gave Zak’s group a confidence she hadn’t seen in them a few weeks ago.
Much to her dismay, Zak insisted there were a few among them who didn’t need to participate, and no amount of convincing could get him to see otherwise. Everyone should at least try. Their age didn’t matter. Nor did their gender. After a time, she’d simply ignored them. If their comrades wanted to come to their rescue then so be it, but she wasn’t about to risk her life on people who wouldn’t learn to protect themselves.
Everyone stood at the ready, their stances practiced and at least up to par. Many were still far from perfect, but she couldn’t expect perfection in this short amount of time. They’d learn on the fly or die trying.
“Go.”
A series of grunts followed her command and Vixin eyed those tossing their partners over their shoulders. Thankfully, Zak had chosen Sam as his partner today, enabling her to observe and correct.
“Again.”
They lined up, and another series of grunts followed.
“You,” she pointed to a young man, “your stance isn’t wide enough. If you want to be able to toss your opponent, you need to be balanced.”
He threw up his hands. “What’s the point?” Vixin raised a brow. “We have weapons. Not to mention magic. Why do we need to learn hand to hand?”
“You need to learn yourself before you can learn extensions of yourself.”
“I mean no offence.” He glanced toward Zak. “Honestly, but we were doing just fine without all this extra work.”
Vixin crossed her arms. “How tall are you?”
“Almost six foot.”
“And how tall would you estimate me to be?”
“I don’t know. Five three I guess?”
“Five one, but close enough. And how much do you weigh?”
“Two hundred, give or take?”
“And me?”
“What?”
“How much do you think I weigh?”
“Um, I don’t know.”
“I’m one fifteen. Now, you have close to a foot and a hundred pounds on me. Pick up a weapon.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I said pick up a weapon. I didn’t ask if you understood.” He glanced around at the others and did as he was told. “Now, cross your blade with mine and push.” He did so but Vixin growled at him. “I said to push.”
At that, he shoved and Vixin fell onto her backside. Some in the crowd murmured, but she resisted the urge to grimace and picked herself up. “Now do it again.”
“I don’t—”
“I said, do it again,” she yelled.
This time he came at her full force. She ducked under his weapon, scooted her body close to his, and threw him over her shoulder. It was a technique she’d practiced with her father a thousand times.
He hit the ground hard and all those watching gasped.
“You outsize me and believe it or not there will be people who outsize you. When that happens, brute force will not be enough to bring them down. Awareness, sizing up your opponent, attention to detail, all this ties in together so don’t forget it. Anyone else have questions?” They remained silent. “Good, then get back to work.”
~~~
“You were pretty brutal today.” Zak sat beside her.
“I don’t like being challenged.”
“They’ll have questions. Daniel might look like a brute, but he’s pretty soft on the inside. Maybe go a little easier on them next time?”
“Easier gets you killed. Speaking of, when are we leaving this place? I thought you guys didn’t stay in one spot too long?”
“They needed a break and we had everything we needed to get by. But you’re right. It is about time to move. We’ll probably hit another spot then head back to the second realm to trade out our weapons.”
“We haven’t even started working on magic.”
Zak gave her a sideways smile. “Are you going to convince me you’re an expert in that already?”
“I practice every night. I don’t see them doing the same.”
“Is everything always this hard core with you?”
“Get used to it. I’m not dying here, and I’ll utilize every second of every day to ensure it.”
Zak lowered his voice. “What if you spend your whole life preparing and die anyway?”
“Then at least I’ll go without regrets.”
~~~
Zak didn’t let her drill them the next day, but Vixin still went around asking about their magical abilities. Even if she couldn’t prepare them before their next hit, she could start preparing a training regime. She paused and laughed to herself. Zak really was rubbing off on her.
Vixin stalked through the camp and thoughts of other groups in the realm plagued her. Clearly, someone was nearby and operated with more lenient rules. They were willing to kill, maim, possibly even torture. What would happen if they encountered this group? Zak didn’t seem like the type to yield and she couldn’t envision a fight going well.
Vixin glanced at him while he conversated with a young man, readying the people he called ‘family’ to embark on