2 Sand and Blood

Before long, she reached her target destination: the combat master Ashton. "Good morning, master Ashton." She greeted him, coming up to him from behind. She saw the new recruits already warming up in different groups. Some were running laps, others were practicing basic combat moves.

She watched as he glanced at her over his shoulder. "Good morning, Ket." Ashton greeted her in response with a smirk. Keturah smirked back at him before turning her blue eyes back to the recruits in front of them. "They look younger and younger each year." She commented, looking at how some of them couldn't of been any older than thirteen years old. "Maybe you're just getting old." Ashton responded to her.

Now that response from Ashton made her laugh. "You're easily a hundred years older than I am!" Keturah responded, noticing their casual interaction between them starting to catch the attention of some of the new recruits. "Just make sure you don't break a hip breaking them in today." She then added, her voice softer this time to keep the others from hearing.

She could feel the silent eye roll that he had wanted to give her. Instead though, his voice boomed out. "All of you! Drop what you're doing and get over here." The order was barked out so harshly even she had that initial moment of wanting to drop what she was doing and follow the order.

Once the bright eyed recruits were before them, Keturah's blue eyes focused on them as her ears focused on Ashton. "This is Keturah. She is superior to you in every way." Was he bragging about her? "I can already see that some of you are underestimating her from the way that you're looking at her." Keturah noticed that the recruits that he was referring to suddenly dropped their eyes from her.

"She is not to be underestimated." Ashton warned and the fox smiled. "She will be unarmed, but you will be allowed to use the practice weapons." On the outside, she knew that Ashton's words seemed to give the favor to the recruits. However, she knew it was really to give them a chance at being able to defend themselves.

As he continued talking, Keturah turned her back to them and disarmed herself. Laying her swords on the bench nearest to them. She also took the opportunity to take her boots off. If she had a choice, she liked being barefoot. It allowed her to be quieter and for her movements to move more smoothly. "You're goal is to lay a hit -- any kind of a hit -- on her." Ashton informed the recruits as she rejoined him at his side.

"Samuel! You're up first." Keturah scanned the crowd as Ashton called out the name. She then saw a black haired head pop up. The young man couldn't of been more than his early teens. However, he had been one of those that the combat master had referenced earlier about underestimating her. So this was to be the example, eh?

The fox saw the moment of hesitation in Samuel's eyes, but she kept her face cold. She moved over out into the court as he picked from one of the training weapons that were offered to him. She heard the murmur between him and some of his buddies about which weapon would be best to use.

Once he eventually joined her in the court she watched him coldly for a moment. Seeing that he was hesitant to make a move first, she gestured with her hand for him to come at her. With the taunting gesture, he did finally come at her. She waited for the last second to move, but when she did, she moved fast.

She took one of his legs out with her own as she ducked and slide past him. Keturah's action sending him stumbling to the ground. She watched as he was able to quickly regain his composure before coming at her again with the sword. Again, she waiting for the last second.

However, this time she shifted her weight to the side to dodge his attack. Quickly lifting her arm over his to bring it back down and back up again on the other side before pulling tight. Locking his arm against her before spinning him around to face away from her. She slide her one knee in between his legs, essentially locking him into place and wrenching back his arm to create just enough pain to make him let go of his sword.

With Samuel now disarmed, Keturah quickly tossed it away with her free hand. Just for a little bit of sick pleasure, she twisted his arm behind him a little more until she got a cry out from him. Once she got what she wanted, she shoved him hard away from her. Watching him stumble and struggle to keep himself from landing face first in the dirt.

If this had been a real fight and Samuel had been a real opponent, she would of broken his arm and dislocated his shoulder in that move. As this was a teaching lesson and not a punishment, she held back on him. There was no reason to break the combat master's new toys. Especially since he was being nice and letting her play with them.

Keturah growled, baring her teeth at her opponent. An intimidation tactic to make him hesitate. It worked and she saw her perfect opening to turn this from being defensive to offensive. Moving quickly in an erratic path, she leapt up before ducking under his block when she came back down just short of him.

She saw that he had expected her to attack from above with her jump. She saw the flash in his eyes that he had been mistaken as she slammed her leg into his side. Sending the much younger black haired demon skipping across the court before coming to a final landing with his face in the dirt.

"Stop letting your guard down, Samuel!" Ashton yelled at the dark hair young demon. The combat master was growing more and more frustrated by the match as he watched the female fox demon. Her movements appeared to be almost as effortless as they were fast.

Keturah waited for Samuel to start picking himself back up off of the ground before she went at him again. She could hear him coughing. She knocked the wind out of him with her kick. It really wasn't a fair fight. The recruits were set up to fail this challenge by the combat master. She was a much more experienced fighter and he was just beginning his training.

Once Samuel got off the ground and was on all fours picking himself up he started spitting blood out of his mouth. With that sign, Keturah resumed his beating. She moved quickly and he was barely able to block her first hit. However, he was completely unable to block the second. This time, she sent him flying into the dirt right at Ashton's feet. Where the rest of the recruits could see the damage that she had accomplished in the short amount of time.

"That's enough, Keturah." Ashton said finally, looking down at Samuel at his feet. "He's had enough." She did not doubt that she had thoroughly broken him in. There was enough blood on the ground to make it clear that he still took some really hard hits in even if she was holding back on him. The fox had no doubts that his pride was more wounded than his body was.

Keturah's blue eyes watched as two of his fellow recruits helped him to his feet. She saw him spit out another mouthful of blood before they helped him out of the court. "Who's next?" She asked, a small smirk sliding up onto her lips. She was just warming up.

Ashton had her go through this same process with the other nineteen recruits that he had. Some lasted longer against her than Samuel did. Others didn't make it as long in the court with her. With the exception of one, they all left with mouthfuls of blood being spit out and obvious bruises. Both to their bodies and their pride.

The only exception was the very last recruit that Keturah had to break in properly. At first, her face off with him was taking a similar path that the others had. However, this young werewolf made one nearly fatal mistake. Perhaps it was out of ignorance. Maybe even desperation to be the only one to make a hit on her.

Whatever the motivation was, the second that he grabbed one of her tails, he realized that he made the biggest mistake he could of. Keturah's eyes shot to black as she whipped around on him. Moving faster than any of them had seen. Before Ashton could intervene and call her off, she had him pinned to the ground. Her foot was on his throat and his non-dominant arm in her grasp. With a quick and sudden snap, she broke his arm.