Flashing to get his attention, Glowby flitted towards the center stone and hovered above it as Aiden frowned at his friend’s distress over the stricken jewel. Making his way down the aisle towards the center, Aiden’s eyes probed for any hint of light. He could only imagine what it would look like fully illuminated, but for the moment, it only reflected Glowby’s muted brilliance. Slowly, not certain what he should do, he reached his hand and laid it against its cold stone skin. For a few moments, he stood with his head bowed and his eyes admiring the gentle gold and brown swirls, but just as had happened with the plate, he felt something begin to stir.
When he had been younger, he and Jessop had found a young, injured hoxysquirrel lying in some weeds near one of the outbuildings on the school grounds. The poor thing was thin, and they quickly wrapped it up in Aiden’s shirt before making their way to the stables. Being in the heart of the city, they didn’t have a lot of animals, but the stable master was a kind man and had been more than willing to help the boys with their new charge.
Benek, the man’s name, had taken one look at the desperate thing before instructing the boys in its care. He had told them to find some old towels, putting most of them into a box for the poor creature to curl up with and hide from the light. Taking the last of the towels, he showed how to dip one corner of the towel into some Undine milk before letting the young creature feed on it.
Aiden remembered how it had snuffled out of the nest of towels, questing for the milk-laden tip and thought to himself that the stone felt much like that. Like it needed something to eat or drink. He watched Glowby Float up off of the stone as the thoughts chased each other around in his head before deciding to try something. Pushing his consciousness towards that nebulous tendril, he wasn’t sure anything was going to happen when suddenly, he felt it latch on.
He didn’t know how to describe it, but the feeling was like sticking his hand into a cold mountain stream. Jerking back, he exclaimed with surprise and felt the connection break, watching as what appeared to be a very faint glow in the jewel flame briefly before dying back into darkness.
It momentarily terrified him, but after quickly examining his hand he saw that there wasn’t any damage or lasting effect from the odd contact. Glowby just floated there, calm and serene. It reassured Aiden immensely because he knew that his friend wouldn’t be so calm if it had been dangerous. He’d warned Aiden many times before about dangerous situations, and he wasn’t acting like that at all. Trusting his friend, he tentatively placed his hand back on the stone.
Immediately the connection re-established and the cold feeling returned. He paid close attention, ready to snatch his hand back and run for it if he needed to, but he didn’t feel ill, and Glowby was still calm. As he watched, the brief glow he’d seen earlier in the stone began to return and slowly grew stronger. It took many minutes, but after enough time had passed Aiden felt the strange connection drop from his hand and go elsewhere. Pulling his hand away, he watched the stone continued to grow stronger, and some of the other gemstones nearby began to flicker as well.
Aiden took a deep breath, letting it out in a whoosh of relief and watched Glowby began to flit about happily, buzzing by his cheek a few times as if giving him kisses. He wasn’t entirely sure this was a dream anymore, and somehow it felt connected to the plate that he’d made. Hadn’t Professor Onyxine said that all the stones had been drained? Had he just fixed that? When Glowby left the room, he dutifully followed his friend, working his way back through the pathways in the Hall of Stones until he once again recognized where they were. Things had begun to fade, and he could feel himself gently beginning to drift off to sleep. Finally. He was exhausted and just hoped he remembered any of this when he awoke the next morning.
Chapter 4
The next morning Aiden felt hands grab him and shake. Peeking out of his decidedly uncooperative eyelids, he watched Jessop give him a grin, then reach out once more to oust him out of bed.
“Time to get up, Aiden! Wakey and shakey!” Came Jessop’s pleased voice, making Aiden groan in response.
“You always say that Aiden, now I get to! Ha! It is fun to say!” Jessop hopped down and began to pull clean clothes from his chest at the base of their beds. They hadn’t had a chance to bathe last night, but Aiden figured since they were going to chop wood, it would be best to wait until afterward to go to the school bathhouse. No sense in doing otherwise. Rolling slowly out of bed, he joined Jessop on the floor and began dressing.
He groaned again as he pulled one of his sturdy work shirts over his head. He felt like he hadn’t slept at all and it took him a second to remember everything that had occurred last night. That lucid dream came crashing in again, making him pause in thought. Peeking back up to his bunk, he glared at Glowby who seemed to be trying to stay nestled on his pillow.
Well, that’s not fair, he thought as he nonchalantly slapped the pillow, causing Glowby to shoot up in surprise. It took a few moments before he settled sullenly behind Jessop, who was happily babbling about one of the Chivnel he’d seen last night. Aiden grinned as he turned towards the door with Jessop and an angry Glowby in tow. He wasn’t about to let Glowby sleep while he had to go work, not after dragging him into that weird dream last night.
Fortunately, the dorms were no longer locked down though the Hall of Stones was closed off and there were more guards scattered about the campus. Aiden and Jessop made their way to the school’s cafeteria, getting something to eat before heading over to where the wood was stored. True to his word, there was already half a cord of wood set out with an axe stuck into the chopping stump. Aiden was happy to help his friend, but secretly he was pleased it wasn’t a full cord.
The exercise felt good, and it wasn’t long before both boys were sweating and talking pleasantly back and forth with each other. Despite the company, Aiden kept having to pull himself back from being distracted about the dream. They had gotten through about an hour of work when Jessop stopped chopping, turning to Aiden with concern.
“Okay, what is wrong, Aiden?”
Aiden stopped as well. Setting the next piece of wood on the stump and straightening up before looking quizzically at his friend. “What do you mean?”
“Aiden,” Jessop paused, frowning at him, “You’ve been slow placing the wood, and you are never slow. You always tell me to pay attention. If I don’t pay attention, I will hurt myself or someone else. You are not paying attention, and I don’t want to hurt you.”
Aiden nodded slowly. He had been distracted, and Jessop was right; chopping wood and daydreaming were a bad combination. He took a deep breath and sighed, looking up at his friend.
“You are right Jessop. I’m sorry, I… Well I had a bad dream last night, and it has been bothering me.” Aiden knew he couldn’t tell Jessop about anything that happened yesterday or last night, but he didn’t want to lie to his friend either.
The two friends watched at each other for several moments before Jessop’s eyebrows beetled in consternation. “Uh…are you going to tell me what it was about, Aiden? You always say, talk about your problems, don’t keep them in. That way you can help me. So,” Jessop brightened quickly, “Are you going to tell me?”
Mind whirling, Aiden cast about for something to say and eventually landed on a good half-lie. It related to what was currently happening to him, but left out most of the quirky details that would just cause issues with his talkative friend. “Well, I… I was just thinking about the day I’ll have to leave the school when I get older. How things will change so much. What will I do? What if things change way more than I was expecting? What if…bad things happen that I can’t handle or don’t understand?”
He watched in surprise as Jessop laughed happily and laid the axe on the stump before coming over to him. He put his hands on Aiden’s shoulders, staring into his eyes intently. “Aiden, you always tell me this; if I have problems that I should come to you. Well, I am here, too. If you need help come to me and I will be there for you. We are friends, right?
” Jessop patted his shoulders with both hands before nodding and smiling with certainty. “Friends help each other.”
Walking back to the axe, Jessop picked it up and stretched before lining up for the next piece of wood, leaving Aiden to shake his head slowly. Maybe it is that simple, he thought; maybe I am just…thinking too much.
Putting the next piece of wood up on the stump, Aiden didn’t answer but just let the repetitive work take up the rest of their time. They were almost finished when one of the younger orphans, a boy named Zaken, trotted over to them from the commons. His eyes were bright and he was breathing as if he’d been running. “Aiden! Aiden, I have a reassignment for you. Oya Dihya wants you to report to the exercise yard.”
Aiden and Jessop both stopped, watching as Zaken skidded to a stop beside them. “The exercise yard? Are you sure?” Aiden asked, looking over at his friend before turning back to the boy. Zaken nodded his head but didn’t have any other information, so they sent him off to whatever other errands he was carrying out.
Aiden was just about to turn back and help Jessop finish up the wood chopping, but his friend waved him off. “It’s okay; I can do the rest. It’s almost done, and I don’t think you want to keep the weapons master waiting.” Jessop appeared worried because he was not wrong. Oya Dihya was a Naiaden, and they were well known for being unusually intense.
“I can finish up here, Aiden. You’ve helped me catch up and I will get the wood over to the headmaster’s office soon. Like you said, if he didn’t run out last night I should be okay, right?”
Nodding and ruffling Jessop’s hair, Aiden turned to go. “Okay, Jessop. I’ll see you at lunch unless they have me doing something odd.”
“Or target practice,” Jessop said, grinning.
Rolling his eyes, Aiden didn’t argue as he started towards the exercise yard. “Yeah, well if I don’t come back, you get my blankets and extra clothes, okay? Don’t let anyone else get them.” Jessop waved before hefting the axe and returning his attention to the last few pieces of wood.
The exercise yard was used for many things, including regular exercise and fight practice for students studying the various combat styles that the school offered. Set in a deep depression, surrounded by fairly high walls, it served well for any type of activity that both isolated the students and served to protect the rest of the school when things became overly loud. Numerous rooms had been dug into the hillside which housed the equipment that was kept for those purposes.
Oya Dihya was in charge of many of these training schools and hailed from the island nation of Reid. The people of that place were thought to be exclusively Naiadens, and it was usually considered death for any other race to be there except under very protected and isolated circumstances. The only allowance to date being the Duke of Terek himself. Their entire civilization was ruled by a complex set of social and martial obligations. In fact, the entire island chain had been a mystery until about five hundred years ago when Duke Gerevat Terek won his way onto the island and secured an agreement with their people.
The agreement did not allow trade, as the Naiadens did not have a monetary system nor did they engage in barter. What it did allow for were mercenary bands to serve in the Terek military or individuals Naiadens to travel in the lands of Terek without having to deal with transgressions against their rigid social system right then and there. Instead, any offenses were entered onto specialized rolls that were then answered to by the Duke of Terek himself in a once-yearly blood punishment. The exact nature of the punishment was kept secret, however, but it had allowed the Naiadens to experience life outside of Reid in something other than bloodshed for the first time in known memory. A very good thing, considering the average Naiaden was just under four meters at the shoulder and almost supernaturally fast and strong.
The other thing that was most unusual about the race was that to a one, they all appeared to be female. No one had seen, nor had there ever been mentioned in Duke Gerevat’s written journals, a male of the species. Some had surmised that they were kept somewhere, hidden away, but no one had been able to confirm this. No one had been brave enough to ask, either.
As Aiden made his way down the steps, he watched what appeared to be some sort of sword exercise below. Oya Dihya was prominent as she paced around, growling or barking commands and whacking not a few limbs into place that apparently were not where her exacting standards required.
Amongst the group of twelve students, Aiden watched Chari, Gavin and Markam standing towards the front. He had little idea of what good swordsmanship was, but it looked to him as if Gavin and Markam were the most skilled, with Chari close behind. That being said, they were not immune from the harsh barking of the Naiaden or the rapping of her staff.
Stepping out onto the warm sand and starting across the arena floor, Aiden felt Glowby cowering behind his hair, peeking out on occasion. Aiden rolled his eyes, distracted for a moment as he wondered what his imaginary friend had to be worried about. He had never really seen Oya Dihya up-close and was, therefore, surprised when she was suddenly blocking out the sun. Stumbling back, he tripped, sprawling as he stared upwards at her powerful form.
“By the Circle Stones,” He gasped, staring up at the woman. Her powerful, sinuous muscles stood out under her skin like carved granite while her intensely powerful gaze locking with his. Her face had a sculpted quality to it, almost too-perfect as her high cheekbones, deep-set eyes and gracefully curving lips were framed within a cascade of dark curls. Dressed in an armored leather fighting tunic that left her arms and legs bare, she resembled nothing so much as a statue come to life.
For a long moment, she just stood there, studying him before turning her head slightly. “You are Orphan Aiden Finn,” She said confidently and in a deep thrumming alto, before turning quickly and pointing towards a water barrel. “Run water for the students. They require your service, so do not fail or it will go on the rolls.”
Aiden watched as she turned, striding back towards her students and seemingly ignoring him. He noticed immediately that none of the other students were so much as smirking at his fall in the dirt, and Glowby was frantically darting towards the water barrel as if his life depended on it. This is a test, he realized before gathering himself and following Glowby to the water barrel.
The rest of the morning went like that, with Aiden following Glowby’s lead and running water back and forth between the sparring students and the water barrel. He was aghast at how brutal Oya Dihya was with the students, and whereas before he thought she was only tapping, he could now see the bruises and welts being raised on various limbs that were errant from their correct position.
It was shocking, but Aiden just kept his head down and ran water, following Glowby the whole time as fast as he was able. If he flagged, Glowby would buzz at him until he started up again. By the end of the two hours, he was muttering curses under his breath and promising all sorts of horrible tortures for his friend. That would work, right? Imaginary tortures? Aiden wished feverishly it would though Glowby seemed to be ignoring his thoughts on purpose.
Finally, at what seemed to be just before noon, Dihya called a pause and nodded towards Gavin. The rest of the students began to do slow weapons forms, but Gavin, Chari, and Markam came trotting over to him.
Aiden watched his friends suspiciously, whispering to them when they got within range. “What’s going on? Why am I here?”
Gavin waved him to silence. “I’ll explain later, Aiden. We’ve got fifteen minutes to talk.” Gavin said grimly. “Come with us.”
Following them towards the far end of the arena, Aiden couldn’t help but wonder what was wrong. They seemed upset about something, and he was just about to ask Gavin again what had happened when Markam reached out and grabbed his sweaty tunic, pushing him roughly against the wall. Gavin crowded in as well, pushing against him and whispering loudly. “All right, Aiden, what did you do with the plate?”
Aiden could only gape, being taken completely by surprise and shook his
head, unsure of what was going on. Chari pushed her way between the two larger boys and Aiden, growling at them. “Stop it, you two! Gods, why don’t you just ask him nicely first? It’s not like you idiots didn’t get him into this mess in the first place.”
Markam didn’t move, holding Aiden a few centimeters off of the packed dirt until Gavin gave a huge sigh, nodding to the large boy. “Okay, she’s right, Markam, that’s enough. We have no idea what happened and it’s not like he asked for this. Put him down.”
Markam growled but did let him go, dropping him to the floor of the arena and causing him to stumble. Already clearly upset, Chari helped him up while glaring at Markam, who at least had the decency to turn away, mumbling something that sounded like an apology. Aiden wasn’t having any of it
Aiden gritted his teeth, snapping at all of them. “Okay, what the hell? I have no idea what is going on. Why am I even here in the arena running water? And why is your giant thug trying to kill me? Seriously?”
Markam, Gavin and Chari all shared a glance, though Chari’s held hints of frustration at the other two. Finally, she stepped up to him and whispered. “Aiden, calm down and keep quiet. Are you saying you don’t have that plate?”
The Glimmer Steel Saga, Boxed Set, Books 1 - 4 Page 5