1.
As his sexualiry falls squarely at the center of this tale, hers is virtually invisible
2.
He looked at Halirit, and hesitated a moment before speaking
3.
Halirit looked at him with an expression of almost annoyance
4.
He pointed to Halirit
5.
Halirit moistened his lips inside his mouth before speaking
6.
” Halirit turned and faced Murbella
7.
“It may take more time with him than it would with an ordinary Ixian,” said Halirit
8.
Joey followed the hand up to its owner’s face and saw that it was Halirit
9.
Halirit had caught his fist just in time; it was only inches away from Lezura’s face
10.
Halirit stared down at Joey with authority and disappointment
11.
He pulled his fist out of Halirit’s hand
12.
Lezura quickly dusted off her yota and approached Halirit
13.
“Halirit, it was not Joey’s fault,” she said
14.
Halirit turned his attention to her
15.
Then Halit shifted his gaze to Halirit
16.
But first Halirit ordered Lezura to fetch some clothes for Joey
17.
“Get out of your suit and get in those clothes,” Halirit said once more
18.
“Now, I want you to try to hit me as hard as you can,” Halirit said
19.
“That was an order, Rakai,” Halirit said
20.
The Rakai swung his fist around towards Halirit's face
21.
“Now stop,” Halirit said so quickly that Joey was almost unable to stop his second attack
22.
“Eh, Karit can’t…” Joey found out the other point of what Halirit said “…hey!”
23.
“Now back to the matter at hand,” Halirit said before they strayed from the point
24.
Joey shot out his fist straight out at Halirit’s face
25.
Halirit pulled his head out of the way to the side and caught Joey’s hand
26.
Halirit tilted his head slightly in confusion and asked, “What do you mean by stance?”
27.
Though Joey was not expecting an answer like that, and hated that Halirit said he looked ridiculous, what he said made sense and he accepted it
28.
“With precision, speed and strength,” Halirit said
29.
His scream this time was so intense that Halirit felt his ears sting
30.
Halirit kicked Joey’s foot
31.
Halirit kicked the other foot and it was as sturdy as the other
32.
Halirit swung his right forearm outward brusquely
33.
“This is the upper-right,” Halirit said
34.
Halirit raised his left forearm above his head and held his other fist at his side and pointing out
35.
” Halirit moved his fist for Joey to notice
36.
Halirit said “We will be going over the stance until I think you have gotten it correct
37.
Halirit called out all the motions which Joey was to take
38.
When Halirit had reached the “lower-right” and the “lower-left” he had to stop
39.
Joey knew he had unintentionally made a mistake, but he wouldn’t tell Halirit out of fear of the embarrassment of knowing what to do but still doing wrong
40.
Halirit said, “I have no clue what skiing is, but I would assume you intended for that to be a joke
41.
It wasn’t the best display at first; when Halirit tested his defenses he could easily break through it and reach Joey
42.
“Well, done,” said Halirit
43.
Joey was enraged into punching at Halirit
44.
Joey swerved out of the way of Halirit’s foot, then blocking the attacks coming at his head
45.
Joey’s groin block was superb, stopping Halirit’s foot dead cold
46.
“You should consider yourself lucky they were not successful,” Halirit said without a hint of concern for Joey in his voice, “the next time around you might not be so lucky
47.
In no time Halirit took down Joey with a punch to his nose and a kick to his head
48.
Halirit noted the passionate hate in Joey’s voice
49.
“Rest,” Halirit said, “that is an order, Rakai
50.
Halirit flicked away Joey’s kick and shot his palm into Joey’s chest
51.
This blasted child is so hard of hearing! Halirit thought
52.
He shouted and swung his arm, slugging Halirit across his face
53.
He pointed at Halirit with a wobbling finger, as the rest of his body did
54.
Joey staggered around Halirit, waving his hands around in triumph
55.
Halirit face stung a little, but it was a hundred times better than the obvious discomfort Joey was in
56.
After his excruciating class with Halirit, the Rakai Joey Sadowski was lying on his bed in his Atmos suit, trying his best to relax the pains throughout his body
57.
“Is Halirit okay?” Joey said
58.
It was enough that he had to fight Karit and train with Halirit today; but monsters?”
59.
When she did he turned around with the intention of walking over to one of the benches for some rest; only to see Halirit standing directly in front of him
60.
“So are you going to alert you’re enemies of your presence when you desire to kill them?” Halirit said testily
61.
Joey did better than yesterday in Halirit’s class
62.
He managed to last seven minutes with Halirit in the first round
63.
In the next rounds that progressed through the class, Joey went a full half an hour without rest, and even landed a few blows on Halirit
64.
But it ended the same way it did yesterday, with Halirit beating Joey to the point where he couldn’t continue
65.
Halirit offered him a hand and helped him up
66.
“I have a feeling that when his survival skills are put to the test his fighting abilities will be more efficient,” Halirit explained
67.
“But is that not the case with anyone who is put in a life or death situation, Halirit?” Mulena said in a tone that dared him to come up with a suitable answer
68.
“I am speaking in terms of learning,” Halirit said
69.
“So what are you doing here? Why are you not with the Rakai to protect him? You blasted idiot, if he dies this it will be the fault of your race and your stupidity!” Halirit gestured for the others to follow him, and said in a low voice, “If only your brother had not gotten killed by those Barakies, I would have had a much more worthy heir
70.
Soon Joey’s bed was surrounded by other figures, the three wyassies, Halirit, Mulena, Marina, the village headman and his wife Mitithra
71.
Halirit rested a hand on his forehead, hung his head and shook it
72.
Lezura and Marina were seated on a bench to themselves, right behind Halirit and Mulena
73.
“This is a part of your class,” said Halirit frankly
74.
Out of the crowd of Nycarmans walked Halirit, his posture erect and sharp as ever
75.
“He is already here,” said Halirit
76.
Joey looked where Halirit pointed and saw his noble stead
77.
Before he ran off Halirit stopped him with a hand on his chest
78.
“Do not think that you will be accompanied by your mynamather for long,” said Halirit
79.
Joey was about to unsheathe his weapon when out of the corner of his eye he caught Halirit and Lezura staring at him intensely
80.
Even though there were Bloodliners in the group, they still listened to Halirit’s orders; partly due to the fact that he was the son of a wyassy, but mostly because he was the one to orchestrate the even today, and the Bloodliners had asked to join because they wanted to see the Rakai hunt for the first time
81.
“We will work in this manner,” said Halirit, “we will offer only our protection to the Rakai from the animals he is not to hunt
82.
“Boy,” said Joey grimly, “I guess Halirit’s still pissed off about the punch I gave him
83.
And do not listen to Halirit; he is only trying to scare you
84.
But even though Joey though Halirit was sending him to his death, he was not feeling deterred by the danger
85.
He knew Halirit only did this to make him stronger
86.
Halirit hoped that the birds didn’t scare away the animals they intended to hunt right now
87.
Halirit was busy showing Joey the mechanics of the crossbow, while Lezura took out a small data pad from her bag and prepared some images to show Joey
88.
She went over to Joey and Halirit
89.
“That is because they are,” said Halirit over Joey’s shoulder
90.
For a second there everyone thought Joey was really bold, stupid and brave enough to fight Halirit
91.
“The Rakai does not need a distraction,” said Halirit
92.
Halirit said to the group, “Gather your weapons and come with me
93.
Halirit leaned close to Joey and pointed up at the birds
94.
“And that is your first lesson,” said Halirit some level of enthusiasm, “camouflage
95.
” Halirit gestured to the bushes around them
96.
Joey figured that Halirit wanted him make himself look like a bush
97.
Halirit’s also prepared his camouflage, and soon after he and Joey were covered in blue, green, and green-yellow bushes all over
98.
Halirit crouched, Joey automatically following his teacher’s lead
99.
“Next you will learn to track trails,” whispered Halirit
100.
Halirit and his student searched through the trees and bushes until they finally located a basurel dung pile
