Discoveries

38

Out of the frying pan and into the fire, was a most accurate way to describe the situation. Guess who was celebrating having caught me without paying so little as a penny? Yes, They had. Five Turned and two Fæ now sat watching me as I struggled with the Lithra shackles that bound me to the tree. They were far worse than rope, as for some reason they hurt, almost burnt, my skin. I'd been immediately gagged with some drink – that they'd shoved down my throat, without considering the possibility of me chocking to death, even though I couldn't die, but still – that made my tongue feel unimaginably heavy, stopping any sound from escaping my lips. My captors seemed most pleased with themselves for accomplishing this, but they hardly deserved the credit. I did. I mean, it had been me who'd captured myself, or actually gotten myself captured. All they'd had to do was notice me sitting there and chain me to a tree. Not that hard when it's five against an unprepared and surprised one. I would definitely tell Her that, if it got that far, which wasn't the plan. But plans weren't things to rely on too much, that at least I had learnt by now.  

When trying to break free had shown itself to be useless – and, how the hell was I going to get away after that anyway? –, I tried to get some sleep. However hard I tried, I just couldn't, so I stayed awake, thinking about the strange life I had. Did this happen to all Apprentices? Or was it just me? Oh well, who really cared? It was as it was. And I needed to get myself out of it. But how? With five guards in the day and at least one in the night, skilled fighters, it seemed near impossible. Everything was possible, in my view. That made it possible for something to be impossible, but, everything was possible. I recalled a teacher once telling me that was called a paradox, whatever that meant. Maybe something like the chicken-or-egg-first situation? To tell you the truth, I had no idea and didn't really care, as it wasn't of any use to me at that moment.

What actually was?

I started looking around, searching for anything that may help me out of that situation. Nothing seemed particularly useful, so my creativity would have to kick in.

It didn't.

The bad thing about adventures in real life was that you weren't rescued at the last moment, weren't helped by suspiciously convenient ideas or incidents and weren't super talented or trained or had a special ability – okay, I did, sort of, but it was blocked at that moment. In real life, the hero could die – if I was the hero, well, I couldn't die, but the point was there – the most noble ones perished first and shit happened. And when you shit, you need to wipe your arse and drag that bucket to the pigs or wherever it needs to go. Do not forget to clean the bucket, otherwise your house will stink of shit and it'll never go away. This way you'll be prepared for the next time your bowels rumble.

On second thoughts, I might have gotten a bit of poison in me after all.

I tried to reach to the Elements one last time, and again felt them – they were definitely there –, only at an unreachable distance. What good was having Elements when anyone could just block them whenever they felt like doing so? Seriously, that must be a serious problem. Maybe I would solve it later on or learn how to block the blocking.

Just as I was going to give up, something caught my attention. A little weakness, hardly noticeable, in the see-through wall that separated me and my Elements. I pushed it a little, but it didn't sway. A bit harder with some more concentration made it give a tiny piece of ground. And another. Now my head started pounding, making it obvious that I wasn't supposed to be doing this. I ignored it. Concentrating as hard as I could, I slowly made my way through the barrier. The further I got the more it hurt, but I pushed on. A few times I had to start all over again, but in the end I made it to the last step. There something held me back, something I couldn't quite grasp. I wanted to push through, only that didn't work.