Lolo’s back healed slowly over the next week as she was not allowed to rest and recover. Between violent “duels” with Sattal’s men and the avalanche of physical demands Sattal placed on them, she kept reopening her cuts. Huo Lohse shared the conversation she’d overheard in the cave with her peers, setting off Fortus’s alarm bells, and Tamkhee’s warning to not provoke Sattal.

During training, if you could even call it that anymore, Sattal kept upping the ante. If Standig could beat one of his men, Sattal would make him fight against two the next time. If Ulana could get through the obstacle course, the next time she’d have to get across while Sattal’s men shot tipless arrows at her. If Fortus could run one hundred laps, then, certainly, he could run them again with a bag full of rocks strapped to his back.

The trainees were exhausted, on edge, and constantly injured, but they pushed through, and Durfein was getting close to completing his armor for General Yudha.

One morning about a week and half into his take-over of their training, Sattal announced that he was “tired of going easy” on the trainees, which really meant that he was bored. He ordered all the trainees onto the field to each face off against three of his men at once, dueling rules to apply. No helping each other. Three skilled fighters against one trainee, the fight was a desperate one, but the trainees were getting used to that. They had one great advantage over these seasoned soldiers. Their youth meant that they were quicker, better able to adapt to changing circumstances, and more agile.

Standig’s size and raw power meant that, if he could accept the hits that resulted from rushing a soldier, he could overpower just about anyone with his bare hands. Within seconds of starting his match, he rushed the soldier nearest to him, taking a hit to his face, but throwing him headlong into one of his companions, knocking them both out. One-on-one, Standig deflected an attack and grabbed his opponent's head. Standig then pulled the soldier over his back in a violent body slam, ending his fight.

Huo Lohse’s duel required more finesse. To survive Sattal's version of training, she had become very good at spotting physical weaknesses resulting from former injuries, and she used this to her advantage ruthlessly. Most soldiers had at least one old injury that they unconsciously protected. The man on her right, for example, had an old shoulder injury, while the soldier on her left was compensating for a bad left knee. Lolo started her fight by rushing the soldier in front of her. He met her head on, and Lolo spun out to his right to dodge his sword and swing her own hard across the small of his back. He stumbled forward and, in one smooth motion, Lolo quickly stepped in behind him to strike the back of his head with the hilt of her sword, knocking him out.

The other two soldiers caught up to her, each slicing the air level with her chest. She tumbled forward in a somersault to dodge, and the soldiers struck each other’s swords. While on the ground, Lolo seized the opportunity to sweep the legs of the soldier with the bad shoulder. He fell, but before he could recover, Lolo had his arm twisted behind his head. One good drop of her knee into his back, and his shoulder dislocated.

This move came at a cost. The third soldier landed a blow across her stomach, knocking the wind out of her. However, Lolo let the momentum of his hit help her move back into a standing position, and on his next attack, she was ready for him. They crossed swords for a while, each fighting to find an advantage. He prepared a powerful blow to her head; she waited for him to raise his arms. With his arms up, Lolo rushed him, barrelling into his chest just as hard as she could and hooking his left ankle with her right foot as he stumbled. He tripped and fell, giving her the opportunity to land a blow directly at his weak knee. He was down.

Taking a page from Huo Lohse’s book, Fortus had become a more adaptable, martial arts based swordsman this summer, because his usual skill advantage didn’t apply here. To start his match, Fortus chose to wait for the soldiers to rush him. When they did, he skid through the gap between two of the men on his knees while swinging his sword around to strike one of the soldiers across the backs of their knees. The soldier fell as Fortus stood up and delivered a final hit across his opponent’s sword hand. The soldier's wrist cracked, and he dropped his sword.

Fortus then jumped back to dodge attacks from the remaining two soldiers. The men moved to flank him, but Fortus kept falling back, preventing them from getting around him. Once a soldier did manage to get behind him, Fortus rushed the one in front of him, taking a hit to his left ribs that made him wince, but he successfully pushed the soldier back. As the soldier tried to recover, Fortus landed a kick in his stomach that knocked him over. Fortus pounced on him, bringing his body weight down hard across the man’s gut, causing him to pass out.

Fortus looked up to see the third soldier take a swing at his back and rolled away to dodge. The soldier’s sword struck his unconscious companion instead, and Fortus spun around on the ground to tangle his legs through his opponent’s ankles. A slight kick brought the soldier down, and Fortus threw himself over the top of him. The soldier managed to get his feet up underneath Fortus and kicked him over his head. Using the momentum of the launch to roll away and create some distance between them, Fortus scrambled to his feet to meet the soldier head on. They fought for a good while before Fortus made a mistake, and the soldier struck him in the shoulder. Instead of buckling under the pain, Fortus dropped his sword and caught the soldier by the forearm. A quick kick to the soldier’s chest, and something in his arm popped. The soldier clutched at his elbow and tried to bring his sword back up. Fortus slapped the sword out of the soldier’s hand, and the soldier crumpled to the ground, still clutching his arm.

Ulana’s fight started when the man to her right charged. She managed to jump back out of the way and kicked him in the back to use his momentum against him. The soldier crashed into one of his comrades, and Ulana rushed the pair, striking both on their shoulders, but before she could finish either off, the third soldier took a swing at her back, and Ulana had to change targets.

While the first two soldiers recovered, Ulana did battle with the third. Blocking a strike to her head, Ulana kicked the soldier's side, knocking him backwards. As he stumbled, Ulana swung hard at his sword arm. The soldier’s arm batted to the side, and he dropped his sword. But again, before Ulana could finish him off, the other two soldiers were bearing down on top of her.

Two on one, Ulana deflected attack after attack, but she couldn’t land any of her own. She sliced the air to give her some breathing room, and was about to rush the soldier on her right when the third soldier came up behind her again and knocked her legs out from under her.

From the sidelines, Huo Lohse watched in horror as the three soldiers bludgeoned Ulana's curled up body with their swords. She was down. Why weren’t they stopping?

“Lolo, don’t,” Standig warned.

She tried to stay out of it, she really did, but when the soldiers started indiscriminately kicking, she just couldn’t take it anymore. Huo Lohse jumped into the fight, immediately knocking out one of the soldiers and pushing back the other two. Startled, the two remaining soldiers made mistakes, and Lolo knocked one soldier to the ground then pushed the other backwards over the top of his fallen companion. Two well-chosen hits, and both soldiers were down.

Lolo hurried to check on Ulana. Ulana’s nose was bleeding and she was going to have lots of bruises all over her body, but otherwise, she was ok. Lolo helped Ulana up and back to the sidelines.

“Just couldn’t resist, could you, hero?" Sattal scoffed.

Lolo looked down to avoid eye contact and ignore him.

“Unfortunately, the rules clearly stated that you couldn’t help each other.” Huo Lohse could hear the danger in Sattal’s voice and looked up just in time to see Tamkhee fly at her with his sword raised.

She dodged. Sattal laughed and joined the fray. It was now Lolo against the two captains. Just as Lolo remembered, the black dragons both fought hard and fast. She had to dodge more attacks than she was able to defend against or deflect.

“What’s the matter, hero, afraid to engage?” Sattal continued to taunt her.

But he was right. The only way to end this fight was to take them down or go down swinging. She took a deep breath and charged Tamkhee. Deflecting his attack across his body, Lolo used one of her Wolf Tribe partner maneuvers with Tamkhee as her unwitting companion. She grabbed his sword arm and used it to swing herself across his back, kicking Sattal in the head as she wrapped around Tamkhee. Tamkhee grabbed her leg with his off-hand as it wrapped around his waist, and Lolo let go of his sword arm to drop her hands to the ground. Once her hands landed, she kicked upwards and hit Tamkhee across the jaw. Stunned, Tamkhee released her and staggered backwards.

Lolo crumpled into an awkward roll and looked up to see a livid Sattal bearing down on her. Instinctively, she kicked again, hitting him below the belt. He folded in half and collapsed into the grass.

Now only Tamkhee was left. She got up just in time to dodge a hit to her shoulder. Their fight was long and vicious, each taking hits, neither having much of an advantage. Eventually, Huo Lohse simply wore out, and Tamkhee tackled her to the ground.

Sattal, angry and humiliated, ordered his soldiers to return Huo Lohse to the cave, and Tamkhee got off of her so she could be dragged away.

As the soldiers marched off the field, she could hear Sattal ordering the rest of the trainees to the bunkers. “At least he’s not taking it out on them too,” she thought.

Back at the cave, Lolo was locked in a small cage about seven feet tall and five feet square. The four soldiers guarding her were enjoying reaching their arms through the narrow bars, two of them on each side, to pull her hair, jab her ribs, and snatch at her clothes. She took the abuse for a little while, but soon, she had had enough.

“Cut it out,” she warned.

“Or what?”

“Or I’ll defend myself, and you'll regret it.”

“Oh! We have a plucky one,” one of the guards jeered, as they continued to harass her.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” She yanked the arms on her right side backwards, and the two soldiers yelled as their shoulders popped. On her left, the soldiers scrambled to pull their arms back through the narrow bars, but in their haste, they kept bumping into each other. Lolo grabbed each of their wrists, braced her feet against the bars and yanked the soldiers forward, knocking their heads into the cage. One of them collapsed unconscious; the other tried again to pull his arm out, his nose bloodied.

It was this scene that Tamkhee witnessed upon his arrival. He couldn’t help but chuckle a little as the wolf princess beat up her bullies, but he was obligated to put a stop to it. He removed a small needle from a pouch at his belt and dipped it into an accompanying vial. As Lolo yanked the guards into the bars of the cage, Tamkhee flicked the needle at her.

Feeling a sharp stinging sensation, Lolo reached up to find Tamkhee’s thin, silver needle piercing the skin at the crook of her neck. She pulled it out and looked around for its source. “Captain Yudha, is this yours?” she asked, moving to the edge of the cage to see him better.

He nodded.

“What is it?”

“A sedation needle.”

Almost on cue, Lolo felt her head start to go fuzzy. “What’s it for?”

“To calm troublesome prisoners.”

“Like me?”

The corner of his mouth twitched.

“Wha'd'zit do?” Her words started to slur together, and Lolo was surprised by the sedative's potency and rapid effect.

“It relaxes your muscles and makes you sleepy. Don’t worry though, the effect is temporary.”

Lolo felt a sudden panic as her arms and legs began to feel heavy. Tamkhee reached an arm through the cage as her legs gave out to help her land gently on the ground. “Sleep it off.”

“Sleep what off?” Sattal’s voice sent a wave of adrenaline through Lolo’s body, giving her a little strength against the sedative. Tamkhee seemed similarly affected by Sattal's arrival as his grip on her elbow suddenly tightened slightly. “Sleep what off, Captain?”

Tamkhee produced the sedation needle for Sattal to inspect.

“You sedated her?” Sattal’s laugh made Lolo feel frightened for reasons she couldn't quite riddle out. He looked around the edges of the cage to see four soldiers either unconscious or nursing injuries. “Ah. I see that the dog has been busy. Open the cell,” he ordered.

“What for?” Tamkhee asked.

Sattal just glared at Tamkhee. Tamkhee clenched his jaw and searched the guards to locate the key and unlock the cell door. Sattal entered the cage and crouched down to hover over Huo Lohse. “Do you want to leave?”

Lolo looked at him confused.

“I can let you leave at any time,” Sattal smiled nastily, “all you have to do is kiss me.”

“What?” The sedative was making it hard to concentrate, but she could hear Tamkhee shift uncomfortably by the door.

“You heard me.”

Huo Lohse was bewildered and disgusted by this demand, and something triggered in her memory. Ulana had warned her, “don’t ever be alone with him or give him any reason to touch you.”

“Well?” Sattal pressed.

She had to fight the sedative to look up at him. “Go d' hell.”

Sattal’s smile grew wider and even more malicious as he stood up. “Bring her into the other room.”

Two men entered and grabbed her under the arms to drag her behind Sattal; Tamkhee followed them. They entered a large chamber of the cave near the entrance. She had been marched through this room a few times, but she’d never really paid attention to what was in it. Off to the side, empty manacles were anchored to the floor, and an assortment of grotesque tools with unimaginable purposes lined the wall. This was a torture chamber.

“I’ll tell you again. You can leave at any time; all you have to do is kiss me.”

She clenched her jaw, and resolutely stared at the floor.

Sattal laughed. “Bring him in.”

Lolo’s head snapped up as a gagged Fortus was dragged across the room and chained up in the manacles. “Wha'd're you doing?” The panic in her voice was undeniable.

The guards holding her up shoved her forward to watch, and Huo Lohse’s legs gave out again. Her head was spinning. Takleeph took his time selecting one of the tools, finally settling on a simple metal pipe. Fortus braced himself and found a spot on the wall to focus on. He couldn’t look at Huo Lohse.

Dragging the pipe along the rock floor to make a horrible noise, Takleeph certainly had a flair for the dramatic. He walked all around Fortus, letting the end of the pipe scrape across his body before finally resting under his chin, breaking his concentration. “So young,” Takleeph sighed happily.

The pipe came down across Fortus’s back with a sickening thud, and while Fortus reacted minimally, Huo Lohse immediately started crying. Another hit across his right side, and she was sobbing. Five strikes in, and she was in front of Sattal on her knees.

“Sattal, please,” she was sobbing so hard she almost couldn’t talk, “please, I'm begging you. Stop this.”

Sattal held up his hand and Takleeph stepped back. Narrowing his eyes at her, Sattal leaned down to whisper in her ear, “you know what you have to do.”

It was a powerplay to return his humiliation and she knew it, but right now, that didn’t seem so very important. She stopped crying, and wiped her face quickly on her sleeve. It took every ounce of strength and willpower that she had left just to rise to her feet because of how hard she was trembling. Taking a deep breath, Lolo closed her eyes and kissed him, pulling away quickly.

He smiled. “If you’re going to kiss me, do it properly,” Sattal’s voice was triumphant and terrifying. Before she could even process what he’d said, one of his hands wrapped around to the small of her back while the other grabbed her throat and forced her lips against his. She tried to push him off, but the sedative had taken most of her strength away. She managed to turn her head and look down, preventing him from accessing her face.

Undeterred, Sattal pushed her against the rock wall, grabbing her ponytail and pulling it down her back to force her face upwards. She fought and eventually managed to slip under his right arm, but she didn’t get very far. Clumsily, she tripped over his foot and fell, so he grabbed her from behind and slammed the left side of her head into the wall, opening a small gash across her hairline just above her temple and dazing her further.

Between the sedation and the knock to her head, Lolo was rendered helpless, and Sattal had no qualms taking advantage of this. He forced her onto her back. Her hands moved to protect her face, but Sattal easily pinned them above her head with one hand. She turned her face away to the left, but Sattal was no longer concerned with kissing her.

Somewhere seemingly far away, Lolo heard a girl screaming and crying. She sounded so pathetic, Lolo found herself struggling desperately to try to help her. It took her a long time to realize that the girl was herself.

From Fortus’s vantage point, he could see Sattal stradling Lolo, his face moving up and down the right side of her neck and chest. Lolo’s arms lay limp by her head, but her body was straining to get away. The worst part, however, was her crying, alternating between gasps of pain and a helpless whimpering. Fortus thought he’d go mad. Huo Lohse was not the damsel in distress type, and seeing her like this was more than he could take. It was haunting and made him feel sick as he jerked against the chains binding him to the floor.

Tamkhee watched repulsed as Sattal tore the front of Lolo’s shirt, his fingers playing in the spaces between her ribs. But Tamkhee wasn’t in a position to do much about it. In fact, he was about to walk away when he noticed the clean, white scar across Lolo’s left ribs. She’d gotten that scar in an accident while protecting him from her out-of-control tournament partner.

“Stop.”

Sattal froze, then sat up to look at Tamkhee, and Lolo quieted down for the moment, barely conscious. “Oh? You want a turn?”

“You’ve made your point, Sattal. You’ve had your fun.”

Sattal stood up to look Tamkhee squarely in the eyes, and Tamkhee was disgusted to see blood smeared under his lip and across his chin. “Jealous?”

Tamkhee’s eyes narrowed at Sattal. “It’s not worth starting a war over a little girl. We aren’t ready yet.”

Sattal glared at him but didn’t argue. Instead, he turned around to look down at Huo Lohse and kicked her hard in the ribs, causing her limp body to crumple around the point of impact. “Little whore,” he said and spit on her on his way out. Sattal waved for his men to follow him.

“What should I do with this one?” Takleeph asked Tamkhee, indicating Fortus who was still straining desperately to pull free.

“Let him go. That was the deal, wasn't it?”

Disappointed, Takleeph obeyed orders, and Fortus was released. Tamkhee ordered everyone left out, leaving Fortus to tend to Huo Lohse. By the time Fortus got to her, she was unconscious.

“Lolo?” Fortus didn't know what to do. He tried to lift her head, but he quickly recoiled, realizing just how much blood there was. He sat back on his knees and scanned her body to assess the damage.

The gash on the left side of her head, though small, had painted that half of her face red before creating a small puddle that had soaked into her shirt and hair. There was also some sort of wound on her right collarbone that had created little streams of blood connecting pools in the indents of her neck and chest. Along that same right side, from her jawline through to her upper arm, her skin was covered in regularly shaped, bright red bruises, the likes of which Fortus had never seen before.

He looked down to find Lolo’s bloody shirt completely torn from collar to hem, right down the front. First peeling her ruined shirt off her, Fortus used his own shirt to cover her up. During this exchange, Lolo woke up in a panic, immediately crying.

“Whoa, hey, Lolo. It’s me. You’re ok.”

She registered his voice and calmed down. “Fortus, are you ok?” Her sobs began anew. “I’m so, so sorry.”

“Yeah. It’s ok. I’m ok.”

She nodded and released a shuddering breath of acknowledgment. “Fortus, please don’t tell anyone about this. I don’t want them to worry. Especially Standig. Knowing him, he’ll do something stupid.”

He agreed, and, despite the blood, Fortus found that he couldn’t help but pull her up into a hug where she sobbed on his shoulder until she succumbed to the sedative again a few moments later. It struck Fortus how absurd it was for her to be worrying about him and the others-- this girl that had just gone through hell for him. As he held her, it suddenly clicked why she had so many people in her life who were eager to protect her, and Fortus realized that he too was now on that list.

“Never again, Lolo,” he promised.