Page 2 of Enchanted Shadows (The Enchanted Kingdom #6)

T hree of them were late. So this was starting off great. It was five minutes past the time we were supposed to start the first training session, and I was already annoyed. Which boded well for the next ninety days.

“Owen.”

I turned to find Vivian sashaying her way over to me, her blonde hair around her shoulders.

We had been in school together before I began training.

When I saw her file in the stack Krew and I had gone over, I had been a little surprised.

Most of these women were younger. In their twenties like my sister.

But a few, like Vivian, Harlow, and Molly, were older.

I glared at her. This was day one. I set the tone from the very beginning for how this would go. “That would be General Raikes , Vivian.”

“Oh, sorry,” she grinned as she moved in closer. “Has it been so long that you call me by my full name now? Vivian, not Viv?”

Was she nervous or was she trying to hit on me? Neither of which I had the patience for. I cocked my head. “We’re not friends here. I am your general, and you will treat me as such. ”

Hurt crossed her face before she turned and walked away. I wondered for a half a minute if she would walk right out the wall and back to Savaryn, if I had managed to lose a trainee in the first five minutes. Yet she stayed.

Finally, seven minutes in, unable to wait a damn minute more, I gestured them in closer.

“I’m General Raikes.” My eyes went to each of them, some shifting their weight nervously, some looking hopeful, others looking a little scared.

My eyes landed on my sister, who sent me a wink.

“No matter how you may know me outside of training, I am your general in here.”

Too many of them were too skinny and frail. We had rubber barrels filled with weights to use in just a few days, and I was mentally wagering that only four of the twenty would be able to move it at all.

I glared at another trainee as she came sprinting in, letting out a quick, “Sorry.”

I crossed my arms. “This is the absolute only day I will accept lateness from any of you. Be late again tomorrow and you will have extra running to do.” I switched my attention back to the group before me.

“Ladies, you are making history today. Look around. Each of you is part of the first training class of all women. There are twenty of you now. If a dozen of you make it to the end of this class, I will be surprised.”

A few nervous laughs hit the air as they all falsely assumed I was joking. I wasn’t.

“You will be doubted. You will likely have some horrible things said to you. And you will have to earn your position. So, I do hope you are up for the challenge. By the end of this ninety days, you will be able to defend yourself without your Enchantment. In fact, those of you who are Enchanted are not going to be allowed to use your magic during physical training for the morning session.”

“What?” Vivian snapped .

I sincerely hoped she didn’t sign up for this just to flirt with me. She was going to be sorely disappointed. Also just... sore .

About half of the women were Enchanted and we even had one Brakken Enchanted, a redhead named Fern. Jorah had met her while healing Brakken and asked if she wanted to join. To give Fern credit, she looked more ready than the majority of the Wylan women.

I gestured with my head to a trail through the trees. “This is a well-worn trail we use for rookie training. It’s a mile and a half to the turnaround point. You will have to run there and back within thirty minutes. And you don’t have long to get your times down.”

“Or what?” a voice asked.

“Or else don’t bother to keep coming,” I answered honestly.

Someone gasped.

“That is the standard for the men who have been training for the past twenty years, and thus it is for you. Eventually, we might even run it twice.”

Molly was barely holding back a groan. I wondered why she had joined. From what Jorah said of her, I always assumed she preferred books to the outdoors.

“Today we will start slow. Running. A few core and leg exercises.” I gestured behind me to some wooden balance beams a foot off the ground in the middle of the training ring.

“Balance. And of course, stretching.” I paused.

“It’s in your best interest to get to know one another well.

You will be a stronger front if you learn to work together.

If you learn to bring out the strengths of each other.

So get to know one another while in the barracks, but here, in the training field, you bring your best.”

I stopped to swallow. “I don’t know why you signed up for this, ladies.

Maybe it was the lure of being able to say you were a part of this.

Maybe you have always wanted to learn to defend yourself.

Maybe you wanted to be closer to the castle.

Or maybe you just like the attention. Whatever the reason, this is no princess academy, so you best get used to running.

To sweat. One of the best ways to train your mind is to prove to it what your body can handle.

I am going to push you. I am going to be mean.

But at the end of this, I guarantee you will be stronger. ”

Almost all of them had a water bottle, as instructed. I gestured to a spot. “Grab a quick drink, leave them there, and let’s go.”

I didn’t look back to see if anyone followed. I ran.

The amount of grabbing of knees and panting by the end wasn’t all that shocking, but they all made it to the big rock and back.

I was mildly surprised. And because they were all breathing so heavily, there was very little complaining going on.

Nor trash talking like was common in past groups I’d led.

I stood against the fence of the training ring. When I had been in training, Krew and I had jokingly referred to this fenced-in area as the ring of death . I had taken some tough shots here for sure. Even got knocked out, but only once.

The barracks were within a half mile to the east of the ring. The forest, The Dead Lake, and meadow next to the castle were on the other side of that. The barracks and training space were on the furthermost northwest chunk of Kavan Keep. To the south of us were the barns and wall.

“For the next twenty minutes, we will be doing some balancing, followed by some squats, followed by some pushups, and then repeat the process until everything hurts.”

“Everything already hurts,” Molly muttered.

A giggle and snort combination I recognized as my sister’s agreed.

“Then we will spend a fair portion of time stretching properly. If you haven’t run like this before, your shins will be in a world of hurt within a few days if you do not learn to take care of them.

” Was I being prickly? Yes. So I felt I needed to dangle something in front of them.

“Showers and lunch will be following that, followed by a history and current events class. And then lastly, a quick strategy training session. The Enchanted among you can use your powers at that point and that point only.”

I quickly showed them exactly what I wanted and broke them into groups to try it themselves.

The difference in the women used to physical work and those who were not was blatantly obvious.

Molly might have joked about everything hurting, but she was somewhere in the middle of the skill of the class.

I wondered if she had started training on her own.

And why she was here, back in Kavan Keep, when she seemed to prefer her new home in Nerede.

I didn’t have a notebook on me but kept mental notes all the same.

A brown-haired woman from Rallis named Jessina was the fastest and strongest of the bunch, Vivian not far behind.

Sam wasn’t near the top half in the speed and strength department, but I listened to her explain to a few women how she increased her speed across the beams the second time around and knew I found myself the strategist. There was always at least one in each class. Keir had been ours.

I pressed my lips together to keep from smiling.

Keir hadn’t been home for close to a year, as Esta had given birth to their daughter just last week.

Dex was also still in Dra Skor, possibly for good now that he was soul bound with Avril.

Everyone was pairing up and making babies.

And here I was. Training a group of women.

Zara was one of the last women to do the balance beams. She was from Nerede and was downright graceful as she stepped across.

She carried herself differently. She hadn’t said much and was content to wait her turn.

Her long braid stretched down her back as she effortlessly crossed the beam, her blonde hair contrasting against her brown skin.

Something about her looked vaguely familiar.

I wondered if I had seen her in passing on one of the many trips I had made to Nerede.

A woman named Tate fell from the other balance beam, stealing my attention. She had landed on her butt hard. Two girls hauled her up.

“You good?” I asked.

She looked up at me. “I think so. You don’t give massages, do you?”

What in the hell had I gotten myself into?

“Not today. And not for the next ninety days. Say something like that to me again, and you’ll run for it.

” I nodded toward the beam. “Hop back on. The distance to the ground is only going to get farther and eventually you will be attacking one another from the beams. Now is not the time to learn to fear them.”

“Okay.”

“Okay, General ,” I corrected her. The flirting had to go. Immediately.

If they wanted this, they were all going to have to learn the chain of command. Officers first, a lieutenant who served as the head of each team, and then general.

Krew had tried to give me the title of Commander twice now, but I had declined. I already got enough special treatment for being close to the king and queen, I didn’t need my position questioned.

As I continued to watch, I found I was oddly content with the women before me.

Of course it was the first day, and how they would act at the end of the week when they were both sore and tired would be more of an indication of the group’s potential.

Still, I wasn’t bothered by the number of times people fell off the balance beams. Or the fact that a few of their squat forms were ridiculously atrocious.

All of those things could be learned and fixed.

I was interested in their minds. What combination of individuals I had before me .

As we finished up a long stretch, I heard a howl from close by.

While a few of the women not used to Kavan Keep jolted, I didn’t.

Rafe must be nearby. Which was a little surprising.

The pack of wolves liked to keep to the meadow side of the forest. Particularly since more and more birds and wildlife were back to being in the forest.

“You are dismissed for lunch,” I told the women. “And please, eat. As of this moment, you all need more protein in your daily food intake. You will need to strengthen your muscles, and your muscles need the protein. Learn to love meat.”

Molly snorted, but I did my best to ignore it. Ignore all of them.

As I followed them in and headed out of the ring and toward the barrack kitchens to grab a bite of food myself, there was Rafe, sniffing toward the women. He got particularly close to Zara and Molly.

While Molly looked like she would faint from happiness, Zara looked ready to bolt.

“He’s not going to hurt you,” I told them, voice loud but not too loud to spook Rafe. Shadow and a few other wolves were likely also close by.

Rafe sniffed Zara’s palm before giving it a lick.

“He likes you,” I told her as I walked over, reaching down to run my hand along his back.

“Why?” Zara was still looking at her hand, as if still shocked a wild animal had licked her hand.

My eyebrows shot up. “Why does he like you?”

“Yes.” Her brown eyes met mine. “I haven’t done anything.”

I shrugged as I pet him once more before he ran off in the direction of the forest. “He’s a good judge of character.”

“ The wolf? Is a good judge of character?”

“Haven’t you heard the stories?” Molly asked.

Zara wiped her hands along her black pants. “Well, yes, but I assumed they were exaggerated, like legends of sorts. ”

Molly giggled. “Not so far-fetched now. You just got slurped.”

“Day one and already I’m being fed to the wolves,” Zara deadpanned.

I laughed. They truly all were. We had a long way to go, but day one was off and running.