“It will not be as easy as you imagine,” Hannya said.
“You haven't fought them yet,” Turesobei said. “Those things are tougher than they look.”
“And you will begin against thirty warriors,” Hannya explained, “a fifth of which are three times the size of the ones you see below. And you will face them in various adverse conditions. Each time you defeat them, five more will be added, including another giant one. And since it is the third session of each day, you are likely to be exhausted when you face them.”
Zaiporo’s shoulders slumped. “Oh. Well that sucks.”
Iniru’s qengai training finally failed her when she reached the hill with the heavy sandbag. She’d already struggled rolling the stone up through the incline tunnel. And the stone doors at either end of the tunnel full of ropes nearly bested her. But now that she was tired out by the rest of the course, the sandbag was just too heavy for her. After several failed attempts to lift it, she ended up dragging it backwards up the hill—very slowly. She might be faster and more agile than Turesobei, but she wasn’t as strong.
Once she finally made it up the hill, she easily swung over the monster pits. At the last one she took a running jump, flipped through the air and landed beyond the straw warriors. She raced to the weapons, grabbed the sword and made short work of the straw men, dicing them into shreds.
She scaled the rope to the top and the Blood King tapped the timing rod to make it stop.
“It was a solid effort,” Gyoroe said. “But you will need to improve your time by thirty seconds by the end of training.”
Iniru’s eyes widened and she sat down, panting. “That’s…harder than…the workouts we did…in qengai training. And we only did those…once each day.”
Zaiporo wasn't the only one to glance back at the course, shoulders sagging. Turesobei shook his head. There was no way he’d ever do this course faster than Iniru had just done it. They were going to be here training for decades.
Awasa was up next. With her strength and speed boosted by the Warlock’s power, she raced across the course and finished with relative ease. Her final time was nearly identical to Iniru’s.
Zaiporo did much better than Turesobei had, but his time was far longer than Awasa’s and Iniru’s.
“Can I go next?” Enashoma asked, nervously. “I don’t want to go last.”
“I suppose you may,” Gyoroe said. “I will adjust the challenge for you.”
Enashoma fared poorly and took forever to run the course. Luckily, all the strength based obstacles came early in the maze, while she was still fresh. But she still barely managed to get past them and had to rest after each one. She actually stopped to catch her breath halfway through dragging the sandbag up the hill. The first time she fell into an abyss they all leapt to their feet in horror. She screamed as she plummeted. Then, suddenly, she stopped in midair and slowly floated back up again. Apparently the penalty for failing on those obstacles was simple loss of time and not something more sinister or unpleasant.
It wasn’t that she lacked athleticism, just that she had never had to do anything like this before in her life. When she got to the final section, only a single straw warrior awaited her. She earned a few bruises in taking out her opponent then climbed to the top.
“At least you completed the course,” Gyoroe said, eyeing Turesobei.
He looked away, refusing to rise to the challenge.
“Kurine, you are next,” Gyoroe said.
Kurine nodded. She looked apprehensive.
“You can do it,” Turesobei said.
“I’ll do my best!” she stuttered nervously.
Kurine was incredibly strong but she wasn’t as fast as Iniru or Awasa. The sprints made that abundantly clear. She wasn’t even as fast as Turesobei and Zaiporo. The Ancient Cold and Deep was a place where people took short, certain steps across icy terrain. No one ever sprinted there. She was also terrible at leaping over or crawling under the different kinds of hurdles.
When she reached the sandbag though, she tossed it over her shoulder and ran up the hill as fast as she had across open ground. And her excellent balance made the floating stones and plank-walk sections a breeze.
She reached the stretch of freezing water and stopped. Shifting hesitantly from foot to foot, she glanced up at the viewing platform and bit her lip.
“Does she know how to swim?” Enashoma asked.
“I doubt it.” Turesobei jumped to his feet. “Not unless one of you girls taught her in the Bath Hall….”
All three of them shook their heads.
“How could she not be able to swim?” Zaiporo asked.
“She comes from a frozen world with shallow hot springs, where even a trickle of running water is rare,” Turesobei said.
Kurine leapt in. She flailed her arms and kicked her legs. No, she couldn't swim. The dark water closed over her head, but she fought her way back to the surface. She went under again. This time it took longer for her to thrust herself up. Her muzzle cleared the water enough for her to take a desperate breath of air before sinking again. All that thick fur was soaking wet and weighing her down. The thrashing motion of her desperate attempt to swim slowed as she tired. She was drowning.
“Do something!” Turesobei yelled at Gyoroe and Hannya.
Neither of them moved.
Turesobei jumped down from the platform onto the nearest wall. Heading toward Kurine, he ran as fast as he could down its length. But the walls of the maze were narrow and there wasn’t a direct route to her.
Kurine still had hadn't come up for air, and it didn't look like she was moving anymore, either. He wasn't going to reach her in time!
Iniru dove into the pool, grabbed Kurine under the arms, and kicked them both to the surface.
She had taken a different route along to tops of the walls and was, luckily, much faster than him. Turesobei watched, ready to jump in and help, as Iniru pulled Kurine out of the pool and onto the stone floor at the beginning of the passage.
Kurine coughed water from her lungs and lay gasping for air.
Gyoroe appeared beside the two girls. His eyes blazed scarlet. He grabbed Iniru by the collar and hoisted her into the air.
“What did I tell you about helping others?” he hissed.
He waved his other hand and a series of stones appeared across the pool. “Go!” he growled at Kurine.
She got up onto her hands and knees, still gasping.
“I said go!” he shouted. “And learn how to swim before tomorrow morning!”
Kurine took off immediately, hopping from stone to stone across the pool.
He tossed Iniru down and drew the bronze spell strip for the torture spell. “I would not have let her drown.”
He cast the spell and Iniru writhed. Turesobei watched helplessly. There had to be something he could do to stop this. The Blood King looked up at him, his eyes now vivid orange, and smiled. No, anything he did would only make things worse.
Kurine finished the rest of the obstacles, but it took her a while, even once she caught her breath. She struggled swinging between the platforms and twice fell into the abyss. But she made short work of the straw warriors.
Turesobei trudged back to the viewing platform.
As soon as Kurine finished the course, the Blood King released Iniru from the torture spell. She rolled over panting. Tears ran down her cheeks.
“Complete the course again from this point,” Gyoroe said to Iniru.
Shivering, she nodded but remained curled up into a ball.
“Now!”
Iniru staggered to her feet and dove into the pool. She was barely able to tread water at first, but eventually she made it across.
The Blood King disappeared and reappeared on the platform beside Turesobei. “You must learn to follow directions, apprentice. Had you not attempted to help Kurine as well, I would not have made Iniru complete the course after the torture. She suffered doubly for your disobedience.”
Turesobei seethed with fury
but said nothing.
When Iniru made it to the end, she collapsed.
“Teach Kurine how to swim and get some rest,” Hannya said. “Then report back here tomorrow morning after breakfast.”
Chapter Sixty
Hannya and Gyoroe left.
“Is everyone okay?” Turesobei asked. “If you have injuries I can heal them.”
“I’m fine,” Zaiporo said. “Nothing a night of sleep won’t fix.”
Awasa and Enashoma didn’t answer. They were watching Kurine and Iniru. They must’ve sensed something he didn’t.
Kurine scowled at Iniru. “Why did you try to rescue me?”
“Because you were drowning,” Iniru said.
Kurine wrung the water out of her hair. “I didn’t need your help.”
“You were drowning!”
Kurine huffed and stomped off down the stairs to the bridge. Her footsteps shook the platform.
“Turesobei tried to save you, too!” Iniru shouted.
“I didn’t want your help!”
Iniru leapt to her feet. “I got tortured for helping you!”
“That’s your fault, not mine!”
Enashoma hesitated, then chased after Kurine. “Wait up! I’ll teach you how to swim.”
“Gods but she’s obnoxious and ungrateful,” Iniru said. She turned to Turesobei. “How in Torment do you put up with her?”
He maintained the same dumbfounded expression he’d held for the last several moments.
“Don't answer that, Master. Anything you say now will just make things worse,” Lu Bei said.
“You’re right,” Iniru said. “I’m sorry, Sobei.”
Turesobei shook his head, still confused. “It’s…it’s okay.”
“Why don’t we all go get something to eat?” Awasa said. “I’m famished.”
She was obviously trying to change the subject, but Zaiporo didn't get the hint. He put a hand on Iniru’s shoulder.
“Kurine’s just upset because her pride’s hurt. If anyone other than you had rescued her, she’d have been okay with it.”
Iniru glared at him. “You take her side way too often. You know that?”
Zaiporo took a step back and put his hands up. “I’m not taking anyone’s side.”
“You’re just like Sobei.” Iniru rolled her eyes. “She gives you boys a flirty smile and a few bouncy hugs and you’re suckered.”
“Hey!”
“I’m going to bed,” Iniru said.
She stalked off and the rest of them stared at one another.
“Don't worry, Zai. She’s just irritated.” Awasa said.
Zaiporo made a face. It was the first thing Turesobei understood since Lord Gyoroe had left.
“I’ll try.”
“How about some food and a special brew of mine for muscle relaxation?” Lu Bei suggested.
They tramped into the Dining Hall and ate a quiet, late-night snack. As they were leaving, Kurine and Enashoma returned from the Bath Hall, wearing their robes.
“How did it go?” Turesobei asked.
Enashoma shook her head. “Not well.”
Kurine shrugged. “I’m not afraid of the water anymore.”
“That’s a start.”
“Maybe, but it won't get her across that pool tomorrow.” Enashoma sighed. “We’re going to try again after a snack.”
“Need some help?” he asked.
Kurine smiled. “Sure!”
“That’s a no,” Enashoma said. “We ditched the training uniforms to make things easier.”
“Er…maybe Awasa can help,” Turesobei said.
“I can soak in the shallows and advise,” Awasa said. “I’ll meet you there.”
On the way to their rooms, Zaiporo complained, “I can’t believe we’ve got to do that course twice a day plus a mock battle.”
“You think you’ve got it bad? On top of all this training, I also have to work with the Storm Dragon, practice opening the gates and learn a new teleportation spell.”
“Every day?”
“Every single one, until it kills me.”
“Maybe one of the girls will kill you first.” Zaiporo laughed. The he shook his head and frowned. “If you think everyone’s nerves are frayed now, then just wait. After a week of training like this, it’s going to get a lot worse. And the truce between Kurine and Iniru isn’t going to hold.”
Turesobei shrugged. “What can we do?”
“Suffer?”
Turesobei laughed. “Come by my room tomorrow morning.”
Zaiporo cringed. “I’ve got to be the second one to teleport?”
“This way you and Enashoma can share the experience.”
“I don’t think that’s the sort of thing that bonds two people.” Zaiporo narrowed his eyes. “Wait a second. You’re trying to avoid the girls, aren’t you?”
“Can you blame me?”
Zaiporo shook his head. “No. I’ll see you in the morning.”
Turesobei sighed and went into his room. He’d intended to take a bath to relax his muscles, but didn’t even manage to get out of his still-damp clothes. He collapsed onto his his sleeping mat and was instantly asleep.
* * *
A knock on the door woke him. He sat up, itchy and uncomfortable.
“Come in.”
Zaiporo slipped into the room and chuckled. “At least I woke up early enough for a bath and fresh clothes.”
“Sorry. Let me get dressed. Then we’ll take a fun trip through Wraithspace.”
Zaiporo flopped onto the sleeping mat and leaned back. “Take…your…time.”
“Tea?” Lu Bei asked Zaiporo.
“Please.”
While Lu Bei fixed them tea, Turesobei stripped down, wiped his skin off with a damp cloth then dressed.
Lu Bei handed them each a tiny bowl steaming with a foul-smelling brew.
“I’m sorry I asked,” Zaiporo said.
“It’s restorative and energizing,” Lu Bei said.
“It is,” Turesobei said. “And it tastes as bad as it smells. I suggest you drink it quickly.”
They both downed their tea in one big gulp. Turesobei shivered as the liquid burned down his throat. It stung like alcohol, but it focused the mind and got his blood pumping.
Zaiporo coughed. “That’s awful.”
“You’re lucky I made it,” Lu Bei said haughtily. “Mine has a smoother flavor than the standard brew.”
“My apologies.” He nodded at Lu Bei then turned to Turesobei. “So where my kenja heart is located means something?”
“Yes,” Turesobei said, “but I’m not an expert on that art. Lu Bei?”
“I only know the same standard lore as you, master.”
Turesobei scanned Zaiporo and was relieved to find his kenja heart on the center of his chest. “It means you’re strong and loyal.”
“Cool! By the way, things are going better with Shoma. Thanks for the advice. You know, I’ll be sixteen in two weeks and Enashoma will be fifteen the week after….”
Turesobei waited for Zaiporo to make his point, but he never did.
Eventually he said. “I guess we’d better go.”
Zaiporo nodded and Turesobei wrapped his arms around him, thinking of it as grappling practice, and teleported him safely to the Workshop.
After he finished throwing up, Zaiporo said, “Please tell me that’s going to get easier.”
“It will.”
“Did it make you throw up the first time?”
Turesobei shook his head. “Not exactly.”
“Great.”
* * *
The rest of that day was brutal.
After breakfast, they ran the obstacle course. Turesobei went first and completed it this time, without getting hurt. While the others successfully ran the course without injury, Kurine napped until it was her turn. She had stayed up with Enashoma most of the night.
When she reached the pool, she leapt in hesitantly. Then she dog paddled across. It took her forever, e
specially since she had trouble keeping her bearing straight, but she made it.
She completed the course then collapsed, exhausted, like everyone else had.
Turesobei knelt beside her. “Good job!”
Behind Kurine’s back, Iniru rolled her eyes.
Kurine tried to smile at him but was too exhausted. “It’s the only technique I could manage.”
“You’ll get better.”
“You will have to,” Hannya said. “Otherwise you will never be able to complete the course in a satisfactory amount of time.”
“How were our times?” Turesobei asked.
“Better than yesterday, but not by much.”
Between the morning and afternoon obstacle course sessions, Turesobei cast the spell of evoking the Storm Dragon twice, opened the Autumn and Spring gates then studied the teleportation scroll. He might as well have stared at the wall as at the scroll, because he was much too tired to get anything out of it.
The afternoon session was terrible. No one got badly hurt, but everyone except Iniru took some lumps. And all their times stank. He and Zaiporo both fell off the plank. And he struggled with the sprint through the swinging sandbags. One of them clocked him on the side of his head and dazed him. He was lucky he’d been able to complete the course afterward.
Kurine banged up one knee going over the hurdles and limped through the remainder of the course. Afterward, she cried out each time she landed on a platform.
Awasa slipped twice on the mud obstacle and took several mud balls to the shoulders. Since she had crossed the pool early in the course, she returned to the platform an unhappy mess.
Bruised up, with her palms burned from gripping the ropes, Enashoma barely finished. Again, she had faced only a single straw warrior. But Turesobei was proud of her for going through it when she didn’t have to. She could easily decline or only do the course once each day.
Everyone tore into their dinner as if they hadn’t eaten in ages. They might not normally need food here, but with all this training, their bodies needed nourishment.
Neither Iniru or Kurine wanted to spend time with him after dinner. Instead, they went straight to their rooms. And that was fine with him. He did what they were probably doing and got into a steaming bath.
The Blood King’s Apprentice Page 31