“High praise,” he said.
“Running, he reminds me of me,” she answered with a shrug. “Yesterday I told him about the day we found him on the beach, and the run I had to make in order to save his life. Before that run I thought I was giving my all in every race.”
Kostek looked down at her once more as she shrugged again. “I wasn’t giving anything even close,” she added.
They stood together and waited; though Kostek noticed that B’dall after cooling in the ocean did not, and instead moved up the path to the dorms. William and Tam soon appeared in the distance pushing each other hard. Tam was Mele’s first year, but like Vio she was a natural runner and pushed William almost every day, though he was four years her senior. Kostek knew there was a small measure of infatuation on her part, but it was a natural byproduct of their training. Young love blossomed very easily and with very little effort. For his part William seemed to indulge the young initiate, and even appeared to enjoy her company. They streaked by, William a step ahead of Tam today, but he did not gloat. Tam was beating him two times out of three these days, and soon he would have trouble keeping up. Tad and Hotch finished next and in the distance Kostek could make out another pair of runners. They were running single file, in the jerky motion of the over-tired, pushing each other beyond what each alone could achieve.
“That’s Gwaynn in front,” Vio said her voice betraying her excitement. Master Kostek looked down at her curiously. In all her three years, Vio had shown not the slightest interest in any boy on the islands and instead devoted herself entirely to study and practice. He said nothing however, just turned back to watch the runners as they approached. At this distance, he could not tell if Gwaynn was in the lead, but he trusted the eyes of his student and just as they got close enough that he could tell them apart, Stephen moved out from behind Gwaynn and began to pass. Gwaynn increased his speed, and soon they were approaching side by side, each determined, each giving everything they had, until finally at the last moment Stephen surged ahead and past his Master just ahead of his new rival. Both boys almost immediately fell to the sand, panting hard, completely exhausted.
Kostek turned and watched each of them, pride for both filling him up. Gwaynn, because he was improving faster than he thought possible, and Stephen because his squat muscular frame was made for power and not speed, only his heart allowed him to hold off the new comer in the end.
“Excellent, both of you. Truly excellent,” he said and with Vio in tow, moved up the beach.
The next day Gwaynn beat Stephen, by fifty paces and was closing in on Hotch.
ǂ
It took nearly a week for Navarra and a hand picked group of men to find the secret passageway that led from the upstairs study to the kitchens below. And it took another two days to find the secret way into the caves, then the long, dark tunnel, which led, away from the castle grounds. Navarra insisted on following the tunnel the entire way, knowing that where the tunnel would finally emerge would tell much about the direction the old Weapons Master might have taken. Navarra believed he already knew, but this exercise would allow him to delve deeper into the mind of the man he was chasing.
The peninsula of Massi was like a broken finger sticking out into the Inland Sea with the Zani Empire on one side and the Toranado and the Scar Mountains on the other. The Capital of Solarii was placed, in Navarra’s opinion, in the worst possible position, approximately on the first knuckle of the extended finger. For a preeminent naval power it may have worked, but the Massi were anything but, and it was a simple matter to attack the finger at the second knuckle and pinch off Solarii from the rest of the country. Very similar in fact with the art of interrogation, chop a finger at the knuckle and everything falls in line. The Massi were no different.
If he was on the run in this odd peninsula of a country, Navarra would head south, to the base of the Scar mountains and if need be into the mountains themselves; there it would take several armies to root out a single man.
Navarra spoke little on the long trip through the tunnel, and when he and his men finally broke out into fresh air he was surprised to find that they had only come five miles. It had seemed like much more.
“From here he could’ve moved to Heron,” the young Sergeant to Navarra’s left suggested. “Following behind the pup he helped save.”
Navarra grunted. Lindsay was the Sergeant’s name, and he was the only one of the group that had the courage to offer an opinion, at least in the Executioner’s presence. Navarra was beginning to respect that, and the young Sergeant’s mind, which was proving to be sharp and insightful. But that did not keep him from disagreeing with him.
“No, he will not leave his homeland so readily. Afton Sath will have moved south, toward Millvale, and then down deeper in country,” Navarra answered. “Send someone for horses…and dogs. We will head to Millvale immediately.”
VI
Kostek walked slowly through the night, his mind occupied by his latest training session with Gwaynn. The boy’s improved stamina was giving his new master fits. The lad had scored two hits on him tonight, and scored at least one nearly every night in the last week. His growing skill could no longer be ignored. The Tar was sure that Gwaynn could at least match the skills of Hotch, his fourth year student, which was beyond belief. Clearly, Gwaynn retained more of his training with Master Sath than he realized, but it was hard to know for sure because Gwaynn was not like any other student Kostek had ever worked with. The boy was relentlessly aggressive, recklessly so, and Kostek knew that eventually such aggressiveness would need to be tempered. But at the moment he was at a loss as to how. Gwaynn fought fearlessly, and when Kostek stressed that every hit he scored would have meant death on the battlefield, the boy had just shrugged.
“I’ve already died twice,” he’d answered and dove in once again for the attack. Kostek shook his head at such an aggressive style of fighting and as he moved up the steps to the Grand Hall he wondered how his students would handle it.
Tar Amon was waiting for him at the top of the stairs.
“Our visitor is progressing?” Amon inquired softly, with a hand outstretched in greeting.
“Faster than I would ever have thought possible,” Kostek answered, as Amon led him inside and to his private rooms.
“He has potential then?” Amon asked, not fully realizing Gwaynn’s quickly improving abilities. Kostek did not hold it against his Master. He would not have believed it was possible either. Kostek took a seat in a cushioned chair in front of a small oak desk as Amon moved behind it.
“Potential to be the Island’s best pupil,” Kostek answered. Amon’s head came up swiftly and he raised his eyebrows, but said nothing for several moments.
“Our best?”
Kostek nodded his head silently.
“This must be kept quiet,” Amon finally said, breaking the silence and surprising Kostek. “Especially now,” he added and handed an official looking letter to his most trusted comrade.