The next two weeks followed a daily routine of enlivening training and soul-taxing drudgery. Mornings were spent at the pillars, Tihla hectoring them to ever increasing speed. Shamil came close to falling only once more whilst Lyvia’s initial mishap seemed to have birthed a near manic concentration that ensured an uncanny sure-footedness. Within a few days she could hop from one pillar to another without the slightest pause, sling whirling all the while as stones thunked against the targets in a rapid drumbeat. Shamil quickly resigned himself to not matching her speed, although Tihla seemed satisfied with his progress and reserved the bulk of her criticism for the less dangerous but more arduous aspects of their training.
“Duck, you cack-brain!” she snarled, swinging the spear again, this
