Chapter 8
I hit the ground rolling. Dirt sprayed into the air in all directions, but the fact that my outfit was totally ruined didn’t bother me nearly as much as the fact that I was in one piece. Either Drew was telling the truth or I was dreaming. I was sincerely hoping for the latter one. The grass was pulled up in a ten foot line from where I have originally landed. The landscaping needed work. Thankfully I was alive.
Drew appeared next to me a few seconds later, softly landing like a cat on his legs. I rolled my eyes. The first training I got and I wasn’t even good at it, go figure. I stood, brushing myself off. Showers of grass and dirt fell to the ground. Oh well, at least I had some camouflage now. Drew waited patiently until I was finished before grabbing my hand and silently gliding around the tower we had just jumped from towards the sea I had seen earlier. The longer we walked, the better I became at mimicking Drew’s movements. Once I even tricked my escort into thinking I had left because I was so quiet, but all he had to do was look down at me and smile, which he did quite often, in fact.
Before we reached the beach, we stumbled upon the forest. He laughed mischievously before sprinting toward the center. He was off like a sprinter, going faster than I thought humanely possible. I started running after him, hoping in vain to catch a glimpse of him through the trees. I did more than that though, running only a few feet behind him, and going faster than any other athlete I had seen. I think I had a personal best in the four hundred meters. I looked down at my feet and was astonished that I couldn’t see them. Drew stopped suddenly, sending me almost headlong into a tree. His arm snaked out and grabbed me about the waist to catch me mere seconds before impact. My eyes widened, that was way too close. I wasn’t going to be looking at my feet anymore.
Before I could even notice that I wasn’t breathing hard after a run like that he pointed to a gazebo hidden behind a huge weeping willow tree. “We’re here,” he said. “Fey trained here for generations, now it’s just a spot for midnight trysts. Don’t worry though, a friend of mine charmed the forest so only we can get in,” he added. Drew was facing the tree, not looking at me. When he did turn his eyes were the most startling color of green. They caught me off guard, and I didn’t say anything as he led me father into the meadow with the gazebo.
The gazebo was bigger than I had expected it to be. It looked to be the size of gym, except it was round instead of the usual rectangle. Steps led up to a set of heavy oak doors covered with runes that I could only imagine the meaning to. Windows could be seen to go all the way around the building. As I later found out, curtains cover them to reduce the heat inside. That was why it looked so much like an open building. The curtains billowed in the sea salt air that still penetrated the dark canopy of the forest, and at that moment I realized why trysts were held here. The whole structure was made of a dark wood, with dancing red curtains and roses planted around the perimeter of the building. Drew caught me staring and sighed.
“It’s beautiful,” I said more to myself than him.
“Good,” he answered, “cause it will be your new home until you can control yourself.” I knew what he really meant, until I could act human again.
“Mind if we go inside?” I asked eagerly, wanting to change the subject and inpatient to continue the tour.
He chuckled nervously, “Be my guest,” and held open the door for me. Inside was vast. Most of the ceiling was vaulted except for a section which looked like a loft. The floor was made of different materials in different parts of the room. Right now I stood on a regular old gym floor. As Drew showed me to the loft we passed over foam mats, and the springy floor gymnasts use. At the far end of the room a ladder hung down next to two sets of double doors.
“One heads out to the outdoor field behind the building, and the other to the equipment and armory room,” explained Drew while he waited for me to climb the ladder. Instead of the usual wooden ceiling, it was replaced by glass. I stared at the beautiful blue sky in wonder. My only fear was the glass breaking, but two huge shutters would solve that problem. The loft itself wasn’t huge, but bigger than my bedroom back home. There seemed to be a theme of red, the duvet color on the simple Spartan bed was red and it matched a small rug placed by a huge clothes press. I was shell-shocked.
“This place is amazing!” I said looking in awe around me.
“I’m flattered,” he answered before sitting down on my nicely made bed with a sigh. “Normally five people would share this, so I think you can manage.”
“Five people? Wow, why five?” I asked, curious to start learning already.
“A tradition I guess, there are always five students and one teacher. This makes one person better because they practice with the teacher. Lucky for you it’s only a one person class,” he said winking. After my heart started beating in overtime at his words I shook my head.
“What time is it?” I asked, peering through the skylight. “When do I start?” It still mattered to me that I wasn’t altogether human as I mentally prepared for a workout like I always did.
“It’s almost 2 o’clock,” he said “and I like your attitude. Let’s get started.” He jumped off the loft and I waited to hear the sound of him hitting the mats below. It never came. Feeling something, I turned, Drew stood there frowning. “What are you doing? Follow me,” he said in his most authoritative voice. I rolled my eyes and didn’t wait for him to jump before I was hurtling toward the ground, landing with a thud on the mat. I did however manage the whole landing on my feet thing. Proud of myself I analyzed my jump. Landing was the issue. I saw Drew lazily sitting on the loft railing, perched very close to the edge.
“How was that? What’s my first grade?” I asked playfully, a smile plastered on my face. This was pretty fun.
He scoffed, “I guess we have to work on directions or following them. It was okay,” he replied and turned immediately thoughtful. “I would try visualizing your jump beforehand. Think you are a feather, and float to the ground, imagine no sound at all.” Out of everything he had said to me today I think that was the most helpful. I thought for a moment, imagining myself falling before I realized glumly that I had to climb up that retched ladder again. I wondered if the jumping was a two sided deal.
“Can I jump up there?” I asked suddenly too nervous to ask many questions. He didn’t seem surprised I had come to this conclusion. He nodded and I closed my eyes, picturing myself as a bird flying silently from tree branch to tree branch. When I opened my eyes I found myself standing in the middle of the loft. Applause filled the room.
“How was that?” I was starting to feel self-conscious, and I had no idea why.
“A perfect 10, now let’s move onto physical exercise,” before my eye could follow him he was out of the building, running for the ocean. Laughing, I followed him. I barely finished laughing before I found myself on the beach, where I proceeded to stop. Why couldn’t I see anything while I was running? It was like looking through a fish bowl at an object on the other side. Blurred and distorted. I resolved to ask Drew when I found him. I studied the beach now, wondering what we were going to be doing. I found him lounging by the water’s edge. I sat down beside him, neither of us spoke; I didn’t want to ruin the moment. In the blink of an eye I found myself on my back roughly jostled. Drew was on top of me keeping me pinned. I stopped squirming to hear him out.
“Don’t ever shut down like that again. Relaxing and tuning out everything will kill you,” he said, staring at me intently. I nodded before he got off me and helped me up before taking off for the gazebo once again. As I walked into the room I swung out of the way to duck from a punch. He attacked me again, this time jumping right behind me to grab at me. I anticipated his move and somersaulted away from his reaching arms. As we continued sparing I noticed my vision becoming increasingly sharper. I was able to recognize the move Drew was doing before it happened. Finally we stopped and he threw me a water bottle. I drained it quickly, happy for the respite.
“That doesn’t need any work. You are average at evading, but what about attacking?” He said more to himself than me. I took it as a challenge. I helped Drew carry out five large dummies out of the equipment room and into the gym. They were extremely heavy, and while Drew carried two, I could only manage with one. As he instructed we set them up in a ring almost ten feet across.
“We’ll see what you know. Punch it,” Drew instructed after placing me in the center of the circle and swinging me around till I faced a dummy.
“You want me to punch it?” I clarified, indicating which one to strike. When he nodded I took a step back, wound up, and then swung. The dummy didn’t move. Drew punched it from the other direction and I was quick to escape from the bouncing rubber man.
“Punch harder, you’re a warrior for pete’s sake,” he told me. I tried and failed again. For the remainder of the afternoon I stood in front of each dummy and punched it. Drew helped with technique, but he said all I needed was power. He also seemed perplexed I didn’t have it. Finally he ordered me to stop.
“I don’t think your battle strength has manifested yet, wait a few more days and it will come,” he told me. We then proceeded to eat a picnic dinner. After dinner were weapons. I had grown steadily nervous since Drew had mentioned fighting during lunch.
“You’re joking,” I said at first. He shook his head no while eating a chocolate covered strawberry. It still never ceased to amaze me that we ate tons of food. Between both of us we had finished off a whole roast chicken with pounds of potatoes, and now I was working on a salad while he examined the desserts. I never figured out how the food got delivered piping hot all the way out here.
“The sooner we finish your basic training the sooner you’ll be safe around here,” he replied not meeting my eyes. I suddenly realized the fact I wasn’t safe and sat up straighter. Drew didn’t seem to notice.
“We should get started then,” I demanded finishing the last of the salad and stealing a strawberry from Drew. A ghost of a smile touched his lips, but the fact I wasn’t safe made both of us nervous.
“Let’s go,” he agreed, and we packed up in record time. While Drew went to go find the practice weapons I sat in the loft and pondered what Drew had said. It really scared me, along with the fact that I had a bad feeling where we were. Drew’s earlier comment also had me puzzled. The fact my “battle strength” hadn’t manifested was also a cause for concern. I heard the clinking of metal and steeled myself. I was going to save myself, no one needed to do it for me. Drew was setting up downstairs. He threw a heavy vest and bag at me before instructing me to put it on.
I opened the bag, pulling out a set of shin greaves and arm guards. A pair of heavy gloves followed. All the items were the same dull brown and made of heavy padding. I grew down more nervous as I got geared up. It seemed like forever, but I managed to get everything on. I turned facing Drew who was similarly dressed and waiting for me. He held in his hand what I thought was a sword. It almost seemed to glow green in the dying sunlight. Next to Drew was and enormous fake wooden person. It had two eyes gorged into the soft wood. Someone had written “Fey” on the chest in sweeping letters. Out of all the areas on the practice tool, it was the most destroyed.
When he offered me the sword, I took it from his chiseled hands. He studied me intently, waiting to see what I would do with it. I in turn, studied the weapon now in my grasp. It was heavy, almost two feet long, and was now shining a brilliant purple. The hilt was made of leather and printed on it were more runes. The blade of the sword was evenly balanced with the hilt. I swung it experimentally, careful to avoid hitting anything. Drew showed me how to place my hands, and told me to start swinging. After two hours of nonstop combat, I was ready to die. My arms felt like jelly and my cruel annoying headache was back. After putting away the training equipment I attempted to jump up to the loft, but was too tired and didn’t move an inch. The sight of the ladder sickened me even more, and I accepted my fate of sleeping on the floor in the training area. Drew came up behind me and I soon found myself sitting atop my bed with a smiling boy looking back at me.
“Tough day of training, huh?” he asked, sitting beside me. His attention turned to a spot on the floor.
“Nothing I can’t handle, the sooner I get away from here the better, so I’m going to train away,” I replied, equally fixated on a spot on the opposite wall. “I am tired though,” I confessed, hoping I could just lie down.
All he said was, “I know,” before moving over so I could lie against him. “We’re doing a different kind of training tomorrow. You sleep; I’ll be back with more gear. See you in the morning.” He was gone suddenly, leaving behind a trace of his woodsy scent. I got under the covers, asleep before I could contemplate the meaning of his words.