Shael went in for the next attack, but I was done holding back. She swung at me, but I twirled away.
She expected me to go in a defensive position, but I reversed grip my weapon, and very, quickly I struck her mouth with the pommel. She stumbled back, mouth-filling with blood, We were about to fight again, but we were stopped by the lieutenant, "That's enough!" he shouted. We stood next to recruits who fought. Shaels head was hung low, blood dripping from her mouth. I wanted to know what was going through her head, but I didn't have time to think about her. My arms and face were paining me severely.
Our peers stared at us in amazement. I could see Shael crack a sinister smile walking towards them. "Why are you coming here!" The knight shouted, "go and see a healer!" We arrived at the infirmary, Shael was being checked by the healer.
"It seems your gums have been cut, your lip has also been scared," the doctor said.
He gestured for me to sit down, and dabbed the scar with a cloth. "Wait here, I'm going to get a healing scroll, but be warned," he said. "The scar is not going to disappear."
I nodded, but I didn't take my eyes off Shael. We were now alone, and I was going to get some answers from her. She crossed her arms and diverted her attention from me.
"What happened in there?" I asked. She set her jaw and stared blankly at the medicine cabinet.
This was making me mad, we were fine yesterday, I could even say we were friends, but... if something was going on with her, I was going to find out. I grabbed both of her arms and brought her close to me until both our noses almost touched, she looked at me surprised. I know I was being a bit forceful, but I didn't want to lose her; she was the only good person I talked to after leaving my home.
"Shael," I whispered, "Please if anything has happened, tell me."
Unsurprisingly, she pushed me away. "What are you a dog!" she shouted while shoving me away
"Why are you avoiding it just tell me!" I retorted.
She looked at me puzzled as if I was supposed to know something. "You know Zarek, I thought you would've handled this better, but your just whining, aren't you supposed to be a knight!" She sighed. "I am a woman, these men are not going to respect me, and that would make me an easy target." She walked to the window. "What other way to show I'm not to be messed with, than by besting the son of Engar."
I was at a loss for words... and for some reason, the anger I felt subsided. In that short time, I guess I admired her strength and tenacity, or maybe I didn't want to lose a friend. "Zarek," she whispered, "If you want nothing to do with me after what I just told you, I understand-"
"Listen! you did want you needed to do, that other stuff is trivial, I wouldn't be a good person if your unique path to success stopped us from being together!" I probably sounded desperate but I didn't care.
Her eyes widened in surprise, "Together!" she exclaimed.
I struggled to find words, uh... not like together...like... uh, friends! I mean.
She just stared at me, and surprisingly, a little smile crept across her face. "You're a weird one aren't you," she let out a burst of laughter. My face became flushed, I couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed. The healer entered the room, Shael and I both looked at him with surprise. "Seems like you two are having fun." We were healed instantly, and just like the healer said the scars would not go away when healed. Shael and I slowly walked back to the arena.
"Sorry about your face." She said.
"Ah... it's nothing, I replied, I got your face too, so we're even.
She gasped, and playfully slapped my arm. I was glad the tension between us was broken, but our troubles weren't over. We arrived at the arena, and Lieutenant Kalodor was menacingly standing in front of the recruits. He now turned his attention to us.
In a deep and rough tone, he commanded. "You two... join the line!"
We joined without hesitation. Kalodor's eyebrows were furrowed in anger, he clasped his hands behind his back, and slowly paced up and down in front of us. He did this multiple times, and it made me nervous. Abruptly he stopped and pointed his left foot towards us, he then turned his entire body to face us, his right foot connected with his other, creating a loud clack.
He covered his face and muttered, "This is what our order has come to, a bunch of fools who can't even hold a sword properly, and fools who let anger blind their judgment. Some of you miserably failed this ceremony, so let me say this, those who passed will further their training, and those who failed will be trained."
Klayden chuckled at those words which made the lieutenant fixate his attention on him.
Kalodor walked towards him, "What's so funny lad?"
He straightened his back, to get to his fullest height, "Nothing commander!" Klayden shouted
Kalodor was now in his face, their noses almost touching. "You take me for a fool, humph, listen here, just because you think you passed, don't think you're getting it easy. Going forth, your life is going to be a living hell, and I'll make sure of that."
You could see Klayden swallow a lump in his throat. The commander stepped away from Klayden and snapped his fingers, with haste, the priest we followed down to the arena stood next to him. Unsurprisingly the commoners, besides Roger, were going to receive sword training. The recruits allowed to further their training were: Klayden, Shael, Caldor, Dagen, Akibrus, Roger, and me. The path ahead is going to be treacherous but I'm was going to get through it.
A week later
It was now the 19th day of Firewane. The training we were receiving was, physically and mentally demanding, we marched for hours, through mud and rain fully armored, and fought each other till our hands felt like they were about to fall off. But it wasn't all physical we were given a bestiary, and it was full of many monsters, and information about plants that you could and cannot eat. A monster that stood out to me was called a Duskfang, it was the most common monster in Selediano, it was a sightless and venomous monster, it had a slender body and many teeth in its mouth. It was relatively weak but its claws could do serious damage.
Another day had come, and we were awakened early by a knight; the sun hadn't even risen, and I was exhausted. We were instructed to eat breakfast, I heartily ate knowing I wouldn't get another meal until tomorrow.
While eating I heard a very familiar voice, and they didn't sound too pleased.
"Come on you fucks! We're moving out now!"
It was Zorion, it seemed like he had only recently come back from a mission, his hood and boots were muddy and the stains on his cloak was stained with blood.
Zorion! I exclaimed. He whipped his head towards me and stamped his boots causing the mud to splatter.
He now towered over me.
"Don't get too familiar with me kid, Get moving!"
Klayden stood up and shouted, "Sir! Can you wait till we're finished? We just awoke."
I couldn't see Zorion's face but I could tell he was angry, he stormed towards Klayden and gave him the meanest backhand. "Do you think I had any sleep or any food! No... I didn't, now get moving!"
I donned my hood, it was the hood that all soldiers of the Sacred hand wore, it had a hand holding the blade of a sword. We stood in a single file behind Zorion waiting for the portcullis to open, it wasn't winterwane, but outside was still cold, and to make it worse it was raining.
Shael whispered, "Why aren't we going out on horseback?"
She asked a good question, Zorion told us we would be marching east to HeolstorFlod Woodlands.
Shael wasn't the only one with worries, Klayden had been having a hard time, Commander Kalodor made him scrape the golden color from his armor, and made him repaint it black. The portcullis opened with a loud clang, and we were on our way.
We passed through the village of Ashbourne, we received some looks from the villagers but it was nothing, just curious glances, an old man approached Zorion.
"Are these your recruits?" he inquired.
"They sure are gramps!"
"That's good, there the future protectors of this country... anyway, I'll be going now."
"Take care of yourself, gramps."
It was now early morning Zorion told us, but there was no sun, the sky was grey and the rain was pouring heavily. We were a couple of hours away from the forest, but I could see it from the open field. Our line was now broken, klayden and his goons were upfront, and Roger, Shael, and I were a couple of paces behind. Zorion didn't seem to mind so we continued doing our thing.
Shael sighed, " If I knew being a knight would be this tiresome, I wouldn't have joined."
Roger and I gave a light chuckle. But something was on my mind, and I wanted to hear Roger and Shael's opinion on it.
"What do you guys think we're going to do once we reach our destination?" I asked.
Roger raised his eyebrows. "I don't know, but whatever it is, I'm going to push through."
Shael was smiling at Roger. "What!?" roger asked, his cheeks flushed red.
"I like your optimism, ya know... it makes me feel brave."
My mouth was opened in disbelief, but not enough for them to notice. I like Roger, he's a cool guy but this needed to stop. A couple of hours passed, and we were approaching a water mill surrounded by wheat fields, there was a wide river that was connected by a bridge. We saw a farmer tending to his sheep, and Zorion headed towards him.
"Bill!" Zorion shouted, the old man averted his attention to Zorion running towards him.
"Zorion! Is that you," the old man shouted. They embraced each other and gave a pat on the back.
"Listen here!" Zorion shouted. "See this old guy, he's the best soldier you could ever lay your eyes on."
"Ah, ya praise me too much lad, haha!"
"Anyway, Bill, I need something before I continue. Zorion pulled out a pouch filled with money and said, here's what I need: A couple of loaves of bread, some meat, and seven pieces of thick cloth strips.
I was glad we were getting some food, but why did he need seven strips of cloth? Bill came back with a sack and the seven strips in his hand. With the sack over his shoulders, he turned to face us, and the hand that held the strips outstretched.
"Each of you, take a piece," Zoroin said in a low and menacing voice. We all took a piece of cloth and awaited his instructions. "This is how it's going to work, you will tie that cloth around your eyes and rest a hand on each other's shoulders." Hearing these words made my heart sink to my boots. Shael and I looked at each other fearfully. I tied my cloth around my eyes, my hands shaking while doing so. I felt shael's hand rest on my shoulder, and it sent a chill down my spine.
"Listen to what I have to say, I won't be repeating it twice," Zorion cautioned. Whatever happens, don't let go of each other's shoulders, and don't remove does blindfolds'. And with that, we were off, it was an annoying walk through this forest, I kept stumbling, and I was paranoid. Every noise gave me stabs of fear. We were walking for hours until we finally came to a stop, our boots squelching in the mud.
"Remove the blinds," Zorion commanded. We did as was told, it was dark out, but I still had to get used to seeing without a blindfold. In front of us was a log cabin, it wasn't anything fancy but I was still glad we could get out of the cold.
My thoughts were interrupted when Zorion started talking, "I'm gonna make this short so listen, you see this cabin, this is going to be your home for the next eight days, on the last day you will have to find your way out of this forest."
We all looked at each other nervously, and my heart was racing. "This is your food," Zorion threw the sack on the ground, "use it wisely." And with that, he left without another word, We all stood staring in the nothingness, and silence, but it was Dagen who broke the silence.
"So what are we supposed to do now?" he asked. Roger looked at him with one eyebrow raised.
"What do you mean! We're supposed to survive for eight days, that's what we're going to do."
He grabbed the sack and headed inside followed by everyone else.
I stood outside trying to get a feel for my surroundings, everything about this forest was eerie, the trees close to the cabin were leafless, the branches looked like monsters waiting to grab me, I could barely make out anything else, my vision was blotted by the fog.
Towards the cabin door, I heard Shael's voice. "You coming or what?"