“Tired, are you?” growledGarth. “If that doesn’t sound like a plea to cut some firewood,I’ve never heard one. Get moving.”
Tedi stood to argue and Arik ran intohim as he turned to beat a hasty retreat. Both boys tumbled to theground and when they finally untangled themselves, Garth was goneagain.
Tedi rose and brushed himself off. “Whyis he always so mean?” questioned Tedi. “We weren’t doing anythingwrong and he gives us punishment. We already have more wood they wecan possibly burn. I’m ready to be on my way.”
Arik chuckled and turned to his friend.“You just don’t listen that well,” smiled Arik. “One of the firstdays that we were with him, he described how the army handles newrecruits. That is what he considers us. He is breaking us down tobe obedient. When he is confident that we know how to followorders, he will begin building us up to lead. I don’t think hemeans for us to lead, but that is the way the army taught him totrain. Remember, he gets nothing out of training us. As you justpointed out, he doesn’t need the wood we are about to chop. We needthe discipline and muscle building. He knows we are tired and he isforcing us to go beyond our own thoughts of endurance. Come on, itis not going to kill us.”
Tedi grumbled about never havingvolunteered for any army as he followed Arik towards thewoodpile.
The next morning the wagon never moved.Garth started the boys off with their morning workout and afterbreakfast the training continued. Garth observed the boys’ archeryskills and then gave them pointers on improving their accuracy aswell as the speed required to reload another arrow. After archerypractice, it was swordplay until the boys were exhausted. Whilethey were recuperating he taught them tricks with a rope and thevarious type of knots and their uses. When they were somewhatrefreshed it was back to swordplay. The next rest period wasassigned to horse care and covering their tracks in theforest.
The routine continued until about anhour before dinner when Garth set them to more swordplay anddisappeared. Garth returned just as Kalina was serving a dinner ofpork and carrots with a green pea soup. Arik had downed the hoghimself during one of the tracking sessions the day before and thathad led to a lesson in butchering. The boys were almost too tiredto eat. Every other day was broken up by the necessity of movingthe wagon from one campsite to another, but this day had beenbrutal.
Garth sat down and took his plate fromKalina without a word. Everyone ate in silence until the meal wasover. Garth, as usual, lit his pipe after dinner and gazed at theboys before he spoke. “Whoever they are, they did not move theircamp today. It would appear that they wish to know where we aregoing.”
“Where are we going?” demandedTedi. “Arik and I had plans to reestablish ourselves in anothertown, but since we have joined up with you, we have had no ideawhere we are heading.”
“Where were you heading?”Kalina asked.
Tedi glanced at Arik and the taller boyjust shrugged. “We weren’t sure,” Tedi said. “Just some place southof Lorgo. Any town that would accept us as apprentices would havebeen acceptable.”
“Have you given any thought tochanging your names?” Kalina inquired. “There can be little doubtthat your names are now being circulated along thecoast.”
Tedi blushed but stated defiantly, “Ofcourse we have. Surely you do not think us so stupid as to announceourselves in each village?”
“Certainly not,” Kalinareplied dryly. “I think you should shave your face every morninguntil your facial hairs stiffen, then you should grow beards. Itwill make you look older.”
Now it was Arik’s turn to blush. Tediat least had the start of some facial hair though it did notrequire any shaving, but Arik had not a hint of any. “I don’t thinkI could grow a beard,” admitted Arik.
“Sure you can,” Kalinainsisted. “Follow my instructions and in a few weeks you will havea fine face of hair. The single, most important thing that you twocan do to avoid close inspection is to be older and wiser. Garth’slessons will help you only after the inspection has already beentoo close.”
“Why are the Dark Riders afterus?” Tedi asked. “Master Clava related the tale that Garthmentioned to him, but it all sounds ridiculous.”
“The tale is not ridiculous,”Kalina stated sternly. “It is to be taken with deadly seriousness.The Dark One is real and his interest in children born in the yearof the Collapse is real. If the Dark One can destroy certainchildren born that year, he will reign for a thousand years atwhich time the Great Demon, Alutar, will be released from hisprison to rule forever. If he cannot locate these certain children,he can destroy all of the children born that year and still succeedin his goal. The threat is quite real.”
“How can he tell whichchildren are the ones whom he seeks?” Arik asked.
“I am not sure,” sighedKalina. “There are many prophecies that deal with the Collapse, orthe Darkness as these times are called, but they are confusing atbest. Tell me about your own family, Tedi. What do you know of yourparents and their brothers and sisters?”
Tedi’s eyes narrowed and he stared atKalina with barely concealed suspicion. “Why do you want to knowabout my family?” he asked.
Kalina met his gaze evenly. “Are youashamed of your family?” she quipped, “or are you embarrassed thatyou do not know about them?”
“I am not ashamed of myfamily,” Tedi asserted. “I just want to know why you want to know.We know practically nothing about you and Garth and you expect usto tell you everything. You could be working for the Dark One forall we know. The fact that you killed some Dark Riders meansnothing to me. If these children are as important as you say, I amsure that the Dark One would sacrifice some men to find the rightchildren.”
“Fair enough,” Kalina smiled.“I look for anything that stands out from the ordinary. Thenecklace you are wearing is finely crafted and worth more than yourentire town could scrape together. Yet you claim to be a simplefisherman’s son. I merely want to know how you came by it. If youruncles or aunts were wealthy nobles, it would not be so outstandinganymore. That is why I ask.”
“You still didn’t say who youand Garth are,” reminded Tedi.
“How many Dark Riders do youneed us to kill before you will believe that we do not serve theDark One?” asked Kalina. “A hundred? A thousand? Ten thousand? Ifyou think we serve the Dark One, no number of dead Dark Riders willever convince you. If we wanted you dead, you would have been deada thousand times already. You will have to come to trust us forourselves. If you are not there yet, then decisions will have towait.”
“Hope that whoever isfollowing us, allows us time to wait,” Garth remarkedglumly.
Chapter 11
Paths of Fate
Fredrik and Niki rode side-by-side downthe dusty trail heading north. It had been a week since they leftCidal by heading westward towards a seldom-used north-south trail.The north-south trail was pretty barren and the only food they wereable to procure had been coconuts, some kind of berry and a chickenthey stole from a farm. The chicken had almost cost them Fredrik’slife when an arrow streaked past his head. With no target to aimhis magic at, Fredrik had simply run off with thechicken.
Niki was miserable. She was hot, tiredand dirty. Her days in the mansion in Cidal seemed a distant memoryand she kicked herself every time it surfaced. She always knew thatshe was destined to be a queen someday and when her chance finallycame, she had thrown it away. The worst part of it was that Fredrikhad become extremely quiet since they left Cidal. She could haveaccepted him yelling at her for her rash behavior, or even if helaughed about it, but he never mentioned it. His only talk was ofwhere to stop for the night or where they should look for somefood. If he didn’t say something about it soon, she was going toscream.