15. Isle of Skye

The boat ride took a little over two days to arrive at the Isle of Skye. 

There were only five people on the boat, including Ivy. After they set sail, the captain handed each a bag with a sandwich and two bottles of water and told them to make it last the rest of the trip as they won't be getting any more. 

Ivy mostly kept to herself on the voyage; no one else seemed to be in the talking mood. The wooden boat looked like it used to be a pirate ship but was remodeled to resemble something a bit more modern. There was electricity on the boat and dim flickering lights that ran the length of the halls. The air was thick with the scent of salt and aged wood, and every step echoed softly. 

Ivy spent most of the time exercising, running the length of the ship, and trying to do as many push-ups and pullups as possible. When she wasn't doing that, she found herself daydreaming. Staring off the side of the boat into the water. She would see what looked like large sea monsters and whales swim alongside the boat. Once she even saw a serpent so large that it could have probably swallowed the boat whole if it was hungry enough. 

Even below deck, the nights were cold and damp. The thin bed sheets barely enough to warm any of them. 

After two grueling days, the ship slammed onto the shore of a foggy beach; the force almost launching Ivy from her bed. It was just past dawn. 

When all five of them left the boat, and stepped on to the cold, wet sand, the captain of the ship pointed toward a silhouette through the fog, saying, "That's your man," before pushing back off to sea, leaving them. 

As the figure got closer, stepping into view, they saw he was tall and muscular, dressed in a Roman legionnaire's armor. He was soft-spoken, his face almost completely devoid of any emotion, saying, "Scathach's castle is located just a few miles away in Dunscaith." Without another word, he turned and walked back into the fog. 

The five of them looked at each other, deciding to follow the man, unsure of what else to do. 

They trudged up the beach; the sand giving way to a dense forest. The winding trail they followed twisted and turned, with gnarled roots snaking across the path. The air was thick with the scent of pine and damp earth, and the eerie silence of the forest was broken only by the crunch of leaves beneath their boots. After nearly thirty minutes of navigating the labyrinth of trees, they emerged into a clearing.

The fog clung to the earth, a persistent shroud that muted the world around them. Yet, a massive silhouette began to take shape through the thick haze. The towering form of a castle loomed before them, its stone walls rising like a fortress. The battlements were barely visible, shrouded in the mist, but the sheer size of the structure was unmistakable.

Without a word, the legionnaire who had guided them to this point turned on his heel, his figure quickly swallowed by the shadows of the forest. His departure was as silent as his arrival, leaving the group standing alone.

The front gate creaked open, the sound slicing through the fog-laden air like a knife. From within the depths of the castle, a silhouette emerged, its form indistinct, cloaked by the swirling mist. The figure moved slowly, deliberately, stepping through the gate, its features still obscured by the relentless fog. 

With a snap of its fingers, all the fog on the island dissipated, and a woman stood before them. She was tall, muscular, wearing dark warrior face paint, with dark red hair, and adorned in fur armor. Placing a tattooed hand on her chest, she introduced herself, "I am Scathach." 

She paced in front of the group, sizing each of them up. She stopped in front of Ivy, looking her up and down, noticing the massive duffle bag over her shoulder. "What is your business here?"

"My name is Ivy. I just got here from-"

"I didn't ask you what your name was or where you came from; I asked you what you are doing here."

"I'm here to train. To get stronger. Once I get strong enough, I will see my mother again." 

Scathach nodded, then walked to the next person, asking the same thing. 

"I want to learn to kill." He said. 

After she was done asking everyone, seemingly satisfied with their answers, she began walking back towards the castle. But without warning, she did an 180-degree turn. In a flash, several daggers flew from her grasp, cutting through the air with deadly precision. Ivy and most of the men reacted instinctively, ducking and twisting out of the path of the lethal blades. But one man was a fraction too slow. A dagger found its mark, embedding itself deep into his sternum. His eyes widened in shock and pain as he staggered back, clutching his chest, before collapsing to the ground, gasping for breath. 

Scathach stood over him and coldly said, "Only the strongest may train with me. I weed out the weak and frail so as to make sure my time is not wasted." She walked back towards the castle and told everyone to follow her. The man tried to get up, but he collapsed back down to the ground. 

Walking through the gate of the castle, they ended up in a massive courtyard with thirty other trainees waiting. 

"Everyone has arrived. Thirty-five of you in all." Just as Scathach said that, the gate sealed shut with a thunderous boom. 

Of those original thirty trainees, Kaly took this time to glance over, seeing who had just arrived. She wasn't impressed by who she saw so far, 'frankly, this whole training looks like it's going to be a month and a half of boredom.' Her eyes fixated on Ivy, and she cocked her head, a bit intrigued. 

Scathach stood in front, her arms crossed, regarding the trainees in front of her. She took out a small device hidden in her clothes, "If you are sent by Crater or some other colony, take out your IDs and I will scan it. If not, have your payments ready." As she walked down the line, scanning and collecting, she didn't see anyone too interesting, mostly just kids from Crater and the occasional grizzled military warrior type. Her eyes landed on someone, and she had to do a double take. 'Is that girl's skin blue?' she thought. The girl looked to be around the age of that other bouncy child, Ivy, maybe a bit shorter. She had pale blue skin, and long black jumbo braids that hung a bit past her shoulders; she wore a dhoti, open-toe sandals, and a crop top. But it was her eyes that truly caught attention—deep, dark, and brimming with a mischievous twinkle, as if she had just set a prank in motion and was waiting for the moment it would spring to life. 

The girl handed Scathach a card, and when she looked at it, 'yeah she definitely stole this card from someone. I highly doubt her name is Scott Abel…oh well. Not my problem.'

Standing a few feet away, a boy stared at Ivy, as she took the dufflebag off her shoulder, handing it to Scathach, dumbfounded. Though, she didn't seem to notice his stares. 'I know her!' Pearson thought. 'I'm like ninety percent sure this was my brother's friend who got expelled from Crater a while back. He was actually kinda mad when that happened. Her name is Ivy, I think. Ivy, Colson, and his weird friend, Zoe…yeah, that's right! Now, how the hell did she get here? I wonder if Crater knows.' 

In the back of the courtyard, a metal gate slowly creaked open. 

Scathach spoke up, "Your training starts now. And as a warmup, we will run."

Pearson's hand shot up, "How far are we running?" 

A deep, annoyed frown crossed her face, "Does it matter?"

"I-I guess not," he said. 

"What if I said we were running five miles?"

"That'd be fine…I guess…"

"What if I said two hundred. Would you quit?"

"I-no…"

"Okay."

'Damn, I need to learn to shut up,' Pearson thought.

They followed as she walked toward the back gate, "I will warn you: Follow me closely, because if you get left behind, tough shit," she said, taking off in a run.