Descending Darkness(50)

“Yes, you can. I’ve seen you do this many times,” Bragden says.

“When I was able to use magic. I can’t do it without it.”

“You took out those two guys in Dravin’s compound before we got there without magic. You can do this. You just have to concentrate.”

“That was adrenaline and anger. I can’t do it when it’s only me. I’m not strong enough,” I tell him. I must have spoken louder than I thought I did because the gym gets really quiet.

“Use that anger! Get angry, Ryanne! Dravin and Adam aren’t going to stand by. They’re going to attack, and you won’t always be able to use your magic. So get angry at me! Defend yourself.” I hear a small rumble of thunder outside.

Bragden holds his arm out. “Don’t. She needs this.” Glancing over my shoulder, I see Colton stop walking toward us. I know that he doesn’t like to see me angry. “Let’s go again.”

I can tell that others are watching us, but I focus solely on Bragden. Conner takes a couple steps back. He’ll join in if I start to get the upper hand on Bragden. I know that they are only trying to help me, but it still angers me that I am so easily defeated.

Bragden takes a step toward me. He swings his arm out again, and I bend backward, narrowly avoiding it. Righting myself, I prepare for his next attack. He reaches out and attempts to punch me, but I bring up my forearm and knock his hand down. Using his other hand, he aims for my stomach. I move back and use my unoccupied arm to deflect that blow. A couple seconds later, he starts to increase his intensity. I deflect the first couple blows. He swings out with his right hand to punch my side. I dodge this hit but don’t see his left hand until it connects with my shoulder. I spin around and fall into Conner, who steadies me. I can feel my arm throbbing, but I push the pain to the back of my mind. I step away from Conner and face Bragden again, nodding to tell him that I’m okay.

“Again. This time start fighting back.” He doesn’t give me much time to recover. Conner moves back as Bragden runs toward me. I jump out of the way and prepare myself for his advances. I successfully block his oncoming attacks. Bragden fights predominately with his right side, so I aim to stop that. Ducking one of his punches, I lift my foot and put all of my weight into my step. Aim low. I bring my foot down on his foot, then reach back and kick him in the shin. When he bends over, I spin around to gain momentum and kick his right shoulder. He stumbles back, but doesn’t fall. As he regains his balance, his eyes narrow at me and a look of concentration crosses his expression. This just got serious.

I am aware of everyone around me. I see Liam, Natalie, and Colton in the corner attempting to spar, but watching us instead. I see David and Emma standing off to the side with Logan and Larkin, not even bothering to try and train. I hear footsteps behind me as Bragden starts walking for me again. Conner is about to join in. Quickly, I do a back handspring off to the side, so I am no longer in the middle of the floor. Off to the side, I am able to see both guys as they come toward me.

I run at Conner first. He isn’t expecting me to make the first move. I jump kick him in the chest. As he stumbles backward, I turn around and deflect Bragden’s blows. Hearing movement behind me, I duck at the last second, and Conner’s fist hits Bragden in the chest. While down, I lean back and hit Bragden in the shin again—the same spot as last time. He hisses and momentarily forgets to get back into a defensive stance. I swing around again, like the first time, and kick him in the middle of his chest. He falls backward and stays there, so I face Conner again. As I’m turning, his fist connects with my stomach.

I fall backward but quickly go into a back summersault and recover. I hear someone gasp behind me. Dang it, that hurt. Ignoring the pain, I assess my surroundings again. Bragden is standing off to the side, watching. He’s not joining back in thankfully.

I haven’t trained much with Conner yet. Like David did initially, he usually stands behind me and tells me ways to correct my stance or move, so I’m not as familiar with his fighting style. After deflecting the next couple of punches, I start to notice a pattern. He uses his right arm twice and then his left once. He isn’t as strong as Bragden; he relies on speed instead of strength. When he moves to punch me with his right hand, I stop it. Grabbing onto his wrist, I pull him forward and twist my body, so my back is to his chest. Keeping a grip on his right wrist, I swing my left elbow back and hit him in the solar plexus. He grunts and bends over, winded. With my left foot, I back kick him in the shin and let go of his wrist. When he doubles over, I spin around and kick his right shoulder with the base of my foot, knocking him on his back.