For some of the Safer Streets gang members, time passed relatively quickly as they trained under their astute, vicious and powerful leader. But for others, it was a slow, fearful and painful drag. This was especially the case with Keltolkia who was having a hard time sleeping and being made to exert herself far more than she was comfortable with. She was repeatedly told by Stephanie that this was a sign that she was held in high esteem and was becoming a more and more favoured and respected member within the gang.
She was being trained to operate firearms, shoot accurately, use long knives and throwing knives, run fast for long distances, perform push-ups, use a punch bag and practise all sorts of fighting techniques. Stephanie often made her face off in a fight against herself in order to force her to improve. She knew that there was a lot of anger in Keltolkia and she wanted to compel her to unleash that lion inside her by letting her try her utmost best to land a hit on her. But for a long time, it always ended up with Kel being severely hurt and needing to be helped up off the ground after being beaten again and again by Stephanie. She was however, slowly but surely becoming more competent at agile movement and both ranged and closeup combat. Stephanie even allowed her to use a metal bar against her while she had no weapon at all. But so far, Stephanie was still too fast and skilful to ever take a proper hit from Keltolkia.
But while the leader had ‘high hopes’ for her, Kel harboured a bitterness and resentment in her heart towards Stephanie and also towards Aslan who had ratted her out on that terrible, haunting day of bloodshed, harrowing cries and death.
Kel saw Aslan one day polishing a shotgun and remarked, “you had to go and tell on me, didn’t you?” He looked up. “Oh, here we go.” She continued, “that led to me having to blow a man’s brains out. None of that would have happened if only you’d kept your big mouth shut.”
He immediately got up, clenching the shotgun as though he were about to use it like a baseball bat against her. But she held her ground as he approached. He was a large, towering and menacing figure, well over six foot tall. He looked down at her but she still showed no signs of fear, except for slowly backing away a few steps. “All I did was serve the leader. None of that would have happened if you weren’t silly enough to give us your ridiculous two penny’s worth about her being a witch! We need her! We’re all going to be rich by the end of this. Otherwise, we’re back to square one, disunited, sitting ducks, waiting to get picked off by the Blithson gang or rot in a ditch or prison cell. When I saw an opportunity in Stephanie, I made a decision that I would stand with her and see this through. I’m loyal to Stephanie! She’s a damn good leader and if you can’t take her strict ways, you should never have signed up to begin with.”
Kel remarked, “one day it will be you who makes a mistake big man, and I’ll happily blow your brains out too.”
“Enough!” he shouted and attempted to push her away but she caught and twisted his wrist as Stephanie had taught her to do and with the other hand, snatched the shotgun off him. But he had also been training and lunged his entire weight forward like a pouncing beast, giving her a bear hug just as she tried to dodge aside. They both crashed to the ground and rolled about shouting, spluttering and cursing loudly at each other.
Eventually, Kel called on the leader for help, seeing as she was already aware of the commotion and on the way to the scene. “Yo, Steph! Get this animal off me, will ya?”
Stephanie’s voice was soon heard, “Aslan! Don’t you dare damage my asset! Get your ugly hands off her!” He obeyed instantly.
“Keltolkia! Get over here and explain yourself. Now!” The leader clapped her hands loudly and Kel grudgingly went to her leader.
She felt full of fear as always. But at least that monster of a man was no longer on top of her. And yet having to face Stephanie after messing up like that was almost just as bad, if not worse.
Stephanie could read her before she even needed to explain what the fight was about. “This is all about that day you got rid of the traitor. I don’t care about all that anymore. You need to look forward. Are you listening? Always forward! Now finish your ten-minute break and get back to your training. Go on, move it Kel.” She then smacked her on the back of her shoulder which meant that she was pleased with her and how tough she was becoming. Kel didn’t flinch this time even though there was now a soar burse where she kept getting those ‘compliment bashes,’ as Stephanie called them.
Kel was somewhat relieved that there were no consequences this time for her actions and the fact that she had faced up to Aslan and been defended by the leader was a highly welcomed bonus.
Every few days, Kel would need a recovery morning where her injuries would be nursed and she would get extra rest. But all this was only so that she could be stretched to her limit again and made to spend her resources once more on her highly taxing and at times, horrifying training. She was being told to jump off tall metal containers or be pushed off in order to practise overcoming fear and surviving a fall by rolling over and getting used to the impact of hitting the ground from a frightening height. She was constantly being told that the body can take a lot more than our minds tell us it can.
She was also given some extra padding and a helmet and had to learn to dodge or catch incoming projectiles lunged at her by Stephanie and other gang members while intense music played at high volume that got the others hyped up and excited. To some of them, it was an addictively entertaining game. The projectiles were sharp and nasty. Others were lumpy and heavy. They included throwing knives, darts, discblades and other random metal objects and rocks. She would often fail to dodge the incoming objects and while the discblades sometimes gashed and scared her, the throwing knives were worse if they hit her since Stephanie had made sure that the padding wasn’t quite enough and to withstand impact from discblades or small stab wounds from the knives which were extremely painful. She was told that if there wasn’t a serious enough sense of danger, she wouldn’t train as hard to get good at dodging, deflecting or catching the throwing weapons.
Like a horde of tribal, primitive hostiles, they laughed, joked and shouted while throwing the projectiles at her with all their might and skill while the music and rapid beats blared at full volume. Rage and tears frequently surged and flowed from behind her black helmet that no one saw. But Stephanie knew her well and suspected how she felt behind that helmet. It had two pink blotches of spray-paint in the shape of roses on it because she was still ‘too much of a girl and not enough of a warrior.’ But Stephanie was always careful to push her just far enough before she reached braking point. Then she would suddenly call the exercise to a halt and tell Kel to take a break. And Kel herself had gradually come to realise that she would never really break under Stephanie and in a twisted way, began to like and trust her for that even though she detested her in every other way.
But Stephanie was always a few steps ahead of her and had many ideas up her sleave about how to keep the good will of her apprentice and her loyalty, as far as that was possible. She would find ways to reward her immensely and out of the blue when she was least expecting it and most tempted to despair, and she would always keep her that bit longer in the game. She liked Keltolkia and the respect she had for her grew steadily. But she was always aware that her apprentice might turn on her one day if she wasn’t careful. It was important that Kel wasn’t trained to that level to where she would become a significant threat to her life. But even if she did try to take her leader out, there would still be the rest of the gang to deal with, not to mention their enemies, the Blithson gang and of course the Police. Kel still needed her leader Stephanie in order to survive and hopefully even to make something of herself in this life.
While the other men including Aslan were being trained in a variety of different fields, Keltolkia was the only one who was being trained up expressly for killing. She was on course to become the top breacher and destroyer within the gang. With no choice but to cooperate, she was getting more and more agile, tough, fast and deadly by the day. She grew more and more determined to survive but that didn’t stop her occasionally chocking up with burning tears of anger and resentment at night before falling asleep through sheer exhaustion. But in the back of her mind, she knew that Stephanie was a massive benefit to her and that it would ultimately be unwise to make a move against her.
The other two women in the gang were being trained more in stealth and spy work than combat. They had been named Angel and Martyr, both in their late forties. They would often sneak off to see their young friend Kel and do all they could to comfort her and ease her physical pain and mental anguish. Sometimes in the mornings, they would each pull one of her arms until they finally got her to stand on her feet once again, ready to brave another day of horror in the Safter Streets gang. The routine never changed. A quick breakfast, then report to Stephanie and begin the day’s training. Mess about and get punished, do okay and hopefully live to fight another day or do well and at least get praised in the form of another blow on the shoulder. That was life for Keltolkia.
She once got too confident in her evasive and fast-running skills that she had been taught by her leader and had tried to escape during the night. But Stephanie sensed her intention and movement. She chased after her for nearly a quarter of a mile until she finally caught her. Kel pleaded on her knees for her life while tearfully confessing that she truly needed Stephanie and was in fact grateful for all the training she had given her. Stephanie forgave her but from then on, made sure to secure her with a chain each night in a dim corner of the basement.
Little did Stephanie know that a young fairy named Sophia-Highborn was currently being trained over the period of ten Luminarian months (twelve earth months) in the higher world on the harsh and inclement heights of Hermit Mountain to be sent to Earth in order to do her best to change the heart of Stephanie, the dangerous and wayward Fairy Princess, and hopefully to convince her to return to where she truly belonged. Would Stephanie respond well to this? What were the chances that she continue to choose a life of crime over the Crown of the Higher World?