Training 2

Mara woke up early and prepared herself to go to the academy. She was to go alone without any maids or guards as she was going to learn to do everything by herself. Her father and brother came to bid her goodbye and she hurriedly left in a carriage as her father's face showed signs of changing his mind.

The journey to the academy was not long as the castle was in the middle of the central lands and the academy was not far off. The old but strong building came in to her view as they passed through the gates. A few strict looking women were at the entrance waiting for her. They were dressed in an armor and swords. They looked so intimidating even if they were smiling.

"Hello princess, we received a letter from the king that you are going to be coming to train with us. It is truly an honor to train you and it makes us happy that the princess of the Kingdom is partaking in the training."

"Thank you ma'am. I am happy to be training with you too. You are my role models and I hope to come out stronger for my kingdom," she replied while smiling. "Okay then, this is your sergeant and she will show you where to put your things. She will also tell you the rules and punishments given for breaking the rules and the code of conduct. I will see you at nine sharp for training." The woman left after saying so.

"Hello, my name is sergeant Ana. Please follow me," the other one said and walked inside the big building. She was walked to the dorm room and shown her bed. The sergeant then told her her tasks which were going to be cleaning the dorm room floor together with other girls. If not done properly the punishment would be from 100 laps in the massive moors around to whipping.

Being tardy for training or anything else that had a specific time was also punishable. Cleanliness even if they were soldiers was supposed to be lady like. Bullying could make you get whipped or expelled. Fights, theft among other things were also highly punishableMara took in all this as from the moment she entered the building, her princess title had dropped.

She was also supposed to address the women running the facility with their titles such as sergeant, corporal especially the woman who had welcomed her. The sergeant left her and she put her belongings down and walked over to pick a mop. The other girls looked at her with a mixture of intrigue, shock, envy, malice and happiness. However, no one dared to talk to talk to her as they new she was the princess of the land.

She struggled to clean the floor at first as she didn't know how to clean the floor but she observed and picked it up fast. She finished and rushed to the dining area where she took her breakfast which was boiled yam and tea. After cleaning herself, she dressed up and went for practice as it was nine.

The training started with a hundred push ups and laps around the fields. After that they would pick their own preferred choice of weapon which Mara picked a sword and started sparring with some other girls. This training was intense compared to her previous training at the castle. She would fall alot or get scraped but at least she wasn't completely green.

After that they had working out and this would be tiresome. So tiresome that some would faint. They had to pick up weights that were heavier than their tiny selves. They had to pull carriages just like a horse would in the mud!! What!?!? They would also have to run at a really high speed in a running competition. Yes, this women wanted to kill them.

You would think that after that they would rest but NO.. they had ten minutes to eat so that they could go for witch training. Even for something they needed just their wrists to rotate and mouths to say spells, they still had to ' warm up' by 50 laps in the field. Struggles..

They would leave witch training to go wash their clothes and for their personal time and go to dinner at seven in the evening and then till ten when they would be needed to be in bed, they would do whatever they wanted. Mara went straight to bed. it was so thin and hard. Every muscle in her body was begging her go back to the castle to their glorious bed and she thought about it as she lay down on the tiny bed.

You can imagine her shock when she abruptly opened her eyes to find herself in her room in the castle. "Is this a dream?" She shrieked slapping herself to see that it was really not a dream. She didn't really have to anyway, the soreness all over her body was very real. She was in her room in the castle. But how did she get here. Maybe it was a spell they were taught, she tried to convince herself but she knew that was not it.

"Maybe if I just close my eyes and think about the academy, I will go back," she said and what do you know, there she was at the academy in her bed. This was so shocking, beyond shocking. She wanted to investigate but her body gave up and she slept. She was really so tired.

"Hey princess, wake up," she heard a voice vaguely near her. She was also being poked. She opened her eyes slowly to see a girl about her age looking at her in slight alarm. "What's wrong," she asked her getting up. She was so sore. " You will be late and punished, you have to shower before the bathrooms get crowded. Come let's go," the girl said pulling her out of the bed.

"My name is Kara your highness," the girl said bowing. "Don't do that, in here, I dropped the title so call me Mara. Just Mara okay and nice to meet you."

Kara and Mara walked to the bathrooms and took a quick shower before moving on to their duties.