Hey everyone! This is the third chapter of Jonathan, and I really enjoyed writing it. Hope you guys like it too.

Chapter Three

Jonathan awoke in a cramped, dark room. A single torch hung on the wall, and this lengthened the shadows of the room, and through the open door a hallway Jonathan could see. He attempted to get up, but his aching ribs would not allow it. Stryder appeared in the doorway. When he saw Jonathan was awake, he smiled.
“Young master Jonathan. You’re awake – excellent. How are you feeling?”
“I feel…alright,” said Jonathan, hesitating for a second when he hard how croaky his voice was. Jonathan came to give him a hand out of bed and once up, Jonathan could stand quite easily. He glanced into a rusted mirror on the wall and saw his own face, but harder. There was a long horizontal graze across his cheekbone that would probably leave a scar. He sighed. Then he followed Stryder down the long hallway.
Jonathan joined three surly looking thieves at the meal table, and a bowl of watery but warm soup was laid in front of him.
“You doing basic training?” spoke one of the thieves, a man with numerous piercings who continued to toss a large dagger into the air and catch it by its tip.
“I…don’t know…” said Jonathan, looking curiously at Stryder
“He’s starting today Riff” said Stryder. “The boy shows promise, judging from how he escaped from Lucy.”
The thief Riff widened his eyes and went back to his soup.
Jonathan stood in an empty sewer with Lucy. The room was roughly circular, and deep underground. The walls were unpleasantly damp, as was the floor. Jonathan was glad he was wearing boots.
“Here,” said Lucy, tossing Jonathan a short sword. “I have been told I must instruct you in short sword and dagger work, of which I am a master of. I will hopefully be able to teach you the great techniques of the most famous of dagger thieves. We will see. Now, begin.”
Jonathan had thought he would perhaps be able to hold his own, and maybe even get in a few nicks of his own. He had practised with a short sword in the four years since he had left his father. But then they started to spar – and Lucy was fast. She fought with a malice that Jonathan supposed had spread from the taxi incident. Several times he was nicked or cut lightly, but not once did he manage to touch Lucy. His frustration grew. Then his eyes widened as he saw her red dagger begin to shine white. Luminescence trailed from its tip. She was holding a bar of light that moved so fast Lucy’s hands could not be seen. Then he felt her dagger’s handle smash into his nose.
“You are SLOW! Disgraceful! Your arms are weak and your style pathetic. I do not wish to waste my time with someone such as you. I have never seen someone with less talent.”
Her dagger slowly returned to its natural colour as these words rained down upon Jonathan and blood from his nose rained down on the floor.
“Our lesson is over. I have seen enough. Back tomorrow – although it will be a waste of time.” Lucy said, her voice dripping with malevolence.
Next were lessons with the shuriken. Stryder was to teach this to Jonathan, and he was very excited. He liked Stryder, and had always thought shuriken were cool.
He stepped into the long, brightly lit sewer that was the shuriken training area. Stryder was there, tossing a single star up into the air and snatching it back again. He grinned when he saw Jonathan
“We commence shuriken training now. Here is your first set of stars, and a beginner’s glove. You’re already physically fit, so we won’t have to run through the boring arm exercises. Let’s begin with accuracy and then maybe move onto…techniques.”
Jonathan fitted the glove to his hand and examined the stars he had been given. They were simple metal, with four points but they were his. His own weapons. Jonathan promised himself he would learn to be good at shuriken no matter what it took.
The first star he attempted to throw at the target at the end of the sewer missed by a wide metre. He flushed, but Stryder steadied his hand. “Look. Think. Throw,” he said. Jonathan’s next throw was better – flying slowly but at least hitting the target. He grinned.
The practice went for hours, with Jonathan’s slow improvement evident. He hit the target every time, and was faster, but he still hadn’t hit the dead middle. He was sweating, his left arm ached, but it was brilliant. Finally he was learning something worthwhile. Then Stryder decided it was time to stop.
“Now you have improved your throw, it’s time to learn some techniques. There are two types of techniques when infusing shuriken with power – physically and with magical essence. In the next test, we will discover which of these you are inclined towards. Sit, please, and place one of your stars in front of you. Two hands on it, and remove your glove. Then focus on moving something of yourself into the star. It’s rather hard to explain, and should be found intuitively. It could take hours, or minutes. Begin.”
In the end, it took ten minutes. An unpleasant feeling spread through Jonathan’s arms, and he opened his eyes. The tips of his shuriken were glowing a blue-white. Stryder was grinning like a maniac. “Don’t stop!” he told Jonathan. “It may feel unpleasant, but what you are doing is quite correct.”
Jonathan couldn’t explain the process he had used to infuse the star. The feeling, he imagined, was rather like having string dragged through every vain in his arm simultaneously. The star was glowing completely now, an electric blue. “Stop!” said Stryder. Jonathan relinquished his hold on the star and its glow faded slowly.
“This is excellent Jonathan! You have a magical predisposition! We haven’t had thief who uses magical infusions since…Lucy. Strange. We will have to start you on more advanced techniques immediately. After that, the crafter’s quest will be imperative to your success. You are dismissed.”
Jonathan’s head was filled with buzzing thoughts. Magical shuriken infusions? And Lucy had the same sort of power as him? The crafter’s quest? It would all have to wait until tomorrow. Jonathan was thoroughly worn out. Tomorrow was sword training with Lucy again, and martial arts. Only time would tell what sort of thief Jonathan was going to become.

So yeah! Hope you liked it!

James/Nightshade