by Owen Black
Perplexed, he resumed his training, or whatever it was called. He hoped soon Urso would appear to relieve his tedious lesson for something more exciting. To Thane’s disappointment the trainer did not return the rest of the day.
As his father had instructed, Thane returned to the arena bright and early the next morning. He was quickly discouraged however when he arrived to find Urso placing the ten markers in a circle once more. Thane considered leaving but paused to reconsider. Surely the trainer didn’t expect him to waste another day hopping from number to number. The possibility of escape vanished, however, when Urso spotted him and waved. Thane walked slowly towards him, unable to mask his disappointment.
The day went by the same - the trainer had left him to his task and like the day before he had not returned to work with him further. It had been another wasted day.
Thane was thus terribly discouraged when he walked home that afternoon. His head ached from concentrating on his menial assignment and the boredom of the repetition had nearly driven him mad. He had made up his mind that he would not return. If his father would not teach him to fight he would just do it himself.
He arrived home just before sundown and the smell of fresh bread struck him even before he had opened the door. His mother looked up as he entered while her hands pounded on unbaked dough in the small kitchen. Thane’s stomach growled.
“You look tired,” she said with a smile. “How did it go today?”
“Another wasted day,” Thane replied. “Is he home yet?”
“Not yet. He will be late I’m sure. We will go ahead without him.”
Thane closed the door and then walked over to the table that sat perched along the right wall. He pulled out the chair on the closest end and plopped down, elbows to the table and his face buried in his hands in frustration.
Felia fought back a smile and said, “Oh come on, it can’t be that bad. It beats school right?”
Thane peeked up at her and glared then returned his face to his hands and moaned. He then looked up. “Two days of the same thing, I haven’t even swung a weapon once much less my fist.”
“Maybe your father can talk to Urso tomorrow. I will see what I can do.”
***
The following morning Avryn walked his son to the arena. Along the way they had talked about a number of things, but his training and what he had planned to tell Urso was not among them. Avryn simply had no idea what he would say.
He knew that Thane had wondered why he had not stayed to oversee his training. Unknown to his son was the fact that he had actually watched him from afar at various times throughout each day but had kept his distance as he had promised Urso. Avryn had kept his word, until today.
As the pair entered the arena, a few men greeted Avryn warmly with handshakes and an assortment of small talk. Thane joined in the dialog when prompted and provided the customary smile and greeting that was expected of the son of a king, a skill he had developed over the years when he joined his father on walks through the village. Although most might relish the attention, it was clear that popularity was not something Thane was comfortable with. Avryn hoped that in time this would improve.
Avryn sighed when he spotted Urso heading their way with a staff in each hand. His face was expressionless but knowing the trainer as he did, he was likely angry, and he had a right to be.
“Morning Avryn, I’m surprised to see you here,” Urso said, accompanied by an angry stare.
“Listen, I know what we talked about,” Avryn replied as he held out his hands. “Just hear me out.”
“I don’t need to hear it. I can guess. Your son here is bored with his training, has no idea what we are working on nor does he grasp how it can help him and he wants to fight – to hit something, swing his mighty staff, fight an opponent, get on with the action. Am I close?” He continued before Avryn could reply, “Of course I am. He is lazy and presumptuous. He is gifted yet blind.”
The trainer then tossed one of the staves to Thane who caught it before it struck the ground. As he walked away he said, “You train him. I’m fed up any way. I have plenty of pupils who want to learn.”
Avryn was shocked by how the man had spoken to them but knew he had to choose his words carefully. Urso was a brilliant trainer and his methods had been questioned.
“Wait,” Avryn said. “Perhaps you can just show him what he is learning?”
“I shouldn’t have to justify what I’m doing. I made myself clear Avryn, if I was to teach him, he would have to learn my way, by my rules.”
Thane then blurted, “I’m sick of the numbers any way, let’s just—”
Avryn tried to cut him off but Urso beat him to it. “Numbers? You still think this is all about numbers do you? Fine. Come here and bring that staff. Avryn, give us some room.”
Thane slowly walked forward, reluctant due to the snarl on the trainer’s face. Avryn, meanwhile, quickly stepped away. Thane needed to learn this lesson on his own.
“Alright you are on one,” Urso directed. “Got it?”
Thane was confused. He looked down at his feet and then back at the trainer. “What do you mean?”
“Good heavens,” the trainer said. “Just pretend you are on the cloth numbered one. Surely you have enough imagination for that.”
“Ok, ok…I got it.”
“Now, picture that I am the center of the circle of numbers,” Urso said as he lifted his staff. “Swing at me.”
Thane lifted his staff slowly and gripped it with both hands near the center of the shaft. “Like this?”
Urso dropped his shoulders. “You have been waiting for this so get on with it. Be angry, be frustrated, swing the bloody thing already and—”
Thane grunted as he swung the weapon. His blow was skillfully blocked by the trainer’s staff, filling their ears with a loud crack.
“Great – see you aren’t so dim after all. Now vanish or whatever it is you call it to position five and when you appear, swing at me as fast as you can.” He watched as Thane glanced back at his father. “Eyes on me. Focus. That’s your weakness. Now do as I said.”
Thane looked at the ground just behind the trainer. He then closed his eyes and vanished. He reappeared a few seconds later, gathered his senses and then swung his staff at Urso who turned in time to block the blow.
“I said as fast as you can! Don’t look at the ground this time. Come on, let’s see what you have. Try to swing before I do, unless you aren’t quick enough of course.” Urso was clearly baiting his pupil on. “I call out a number then you do your thing and swing as fast as you can. Let’s go! Ten!”
In a flash Thane was gone only to reappear near his original position on the imaginary circle. The trainer spun quickly and blocked the strike.
Without hesitation Urso then shouted, “Six!”
Thane vanished once more and the trainer turned to his left and blocked the blow effortlessly when his opponent reappeared.
“Not bad!” Urso shouted. “Now you pick ten numbers on your own. Do it and attack as fast as you can. Go!”
Avryn watched as Thane paused and contemplated the command. He noticed that his son had begun to perspire. He was at last getting the workout he craved. Avryn’s examination was cut short, however, when Thane disappeared yet again.
In a whirlwind of clashing staves that looked more like a practiced dance than the improvised violence that it was, Thane appeared and swung his staff with all of his might, grunting as it sliced through the air. When the blow connected with that of his teacher, he vanished once more only to reappear at another unmarked point around his opponent before striking with his next swing and departing once again.
Avryn was awestruck as he watched Thane move in and out of the world with such grace and speed that he simply could not comprehend what he witnessed. The rule that governed them all – the rule that moving from one point to another was determined by the speed in one’s legs – did not apply to his son. Everything had changed. It was in that moment that he unders
tood the power, and danger, before him.
The dazzling display was cut short when on the sixth blow, albeit only a few seconds from when the duel had begun, Thane struck Urso squarely in the back sending the man crashing to his belly, fortunately catching himself just before his face would have landed in the dirt.
Thane backed up in shock. He wiped the sweat from his brow and dropped the staff to the ground. The look of disbelief that was visible on his face was matched only by the onlookers who had noticed the battle and had observed the fall of their trainer. An unbreakable silence engulfed the arena.
Urso surprised them all when he stood up and, as he shook his head, gave a half-hearted laugh and rubbed the dirt from his hands. He then turned to Thane, “Fifteen years. Fifteen years I have been teaching people and in our first duel you manage to best me. Just think, I even knew the ten positions you could have appeared at and still I couldn’t keep up.” He then reached down and picked up the staff he had been wielding. “Too bad you haven’t learned anything useful.”
He then walked away, leaving Avryn and his son speechless.
Avryn noticed the shame that blanketed his son’s face. Thane looked to him for help, but this was not his problem to fix. He needed to solve this on his own and Avryn simply motioned in Urso’s direction.
Thane grimaced then called after the trainer, “Sir please! I’m sorry I didn’t mean—”
Urso held up a hand without turning around and called back over his shoulder, “Avryn, tell his mother he will be late tonight. We have a lot of work to do.”
Chapter 22
Fighting a biting wind that threatened to topple him back down the treeless hillside, Guderian pushed on, wary that his two day journey had somehow stretched to three. The partially frozen grass crackled under his step, evidence of the steadily dropping temperatures that winter had brought.
He worked his way to the top of what he hoped to be the last obstacle before he reached the sea. Based on a noticeable change in the smell of the air and the occasional crash of waves that sounded in the distance, it likely was.
Guderian’s decision to seek help from the Aquans had been met with skepticism. He was not bothered by this because he understood the unlikely nature of his journey. Nobody in Avryndale had even seen an Aquan, much less conversed with them. Some even doubted they existed, although Guderian was convinced otherwise, having suffered a great loss at their hands.
In the nearly six years since Avryndale had been built, two groups had ventured to the sea with differing results. The first, a band of four men and two women including his sister, had left a little over three years ago in an effort to map the coastline. They were experienced trackers and had found their way to the shoreline quite easily.
The water they found was described as breathtaking, a deep blue color that stretched to the horizon as far as they could see. It was a welcome sight to the tired travelers, a vision of peace and beauty in the cruel world that they knew. Exhausted yet relieved, they had decided to delay their travels and camp along the beach, beneath an expanse of stars, in what was described as a particularly tranquil spot near a towering rock formation.
For three days they enjoyed the sand and the water while keeping to their assigned task by mapping the shoreline. They were anxious to report back on the beauty of their discovery but on the day they had planned to leave it just proved too difficult. They decided to stay for one more day.
The morning of the fourth day began with a shock when one of the women awoke and discovered that the others in her party had vanished. She at first deduced, though surprised, that they had gone exploring without her. When she then realized that all of their weapons had been left behind she grew worried.
For two days the woman remained at the camp hoping that they would return. On her final day she left the beach and walked the shore, looking for signs of her friends. Having failed in her search she returned to the campsite that afternoon only to discover that all of their equipment had been taken and the campsite itself had been completely wiped away as if it never existed. Her concern then escalated to fright when she spotted, scrawled into the sand, a most unexpected and startling thing - the word ‘GO’.
She immediately fled back to the village where she provided her rather disturbing report. The rest of her party, including Guderian’s sister, was never found.
The second group set out a few weeks after the woman had returned with the intent of finding the missing. This time, eight well-armed men went, using the directions the woman provided. They spent several days searching the area for any evidence of what had happened but nothing was ever found and they returned without incident.
The fate of the missing members of the original expedition was never learned. Some speculated that the woman had fabricated the tale, perhaps ashamed of what truly had occurred. Others believed that the group had simply gotten lost or been attacked by carnivores.
Before he left, Guderian explained to Avryn and Joli that he knew in his heart that the Aquans were connected to the loss of his sister. With the survival of his village at stake, his purpose was simple – find the Aquans and seek their help.
Determined, Guderian fought his way up the hill and arrived at the summit. It was then, when he at last reached the top of his climb, that his eyes fell upon the enormity that was the great Blue Sea. It was indeed every bit as incredible as had been described with endless water and rolling waves that swept onto the sandy beach below.
Without thought, Guderian turned his gaze back the way he came, as if by chance the sight of the village that had been lost long ago would momentarily return. He missed Joli and guilt played heavy on his heart. He knew that she had been hurt by his decision to go alone. Some day he hoped that she would understand.
With a sigh Guderian then turned back and descended to the beach.
He spent the afternoon searching for the large rock formation where the groups that had come before had camped. Not initially in sight, he was forced to choose a direction of travel. Luck was with him that day because after an hour it appeared in the distance, a faint but unmistakable pillar of stone, seemingly out of place and surrounded by water a few hundred feet from land.
Just before sunset he reached the shoreline adjacent to the landmark and scanned for signs of activity. If there had been any recent visitors to the shore, any hint of their visitation had been claimed by the tide. The thought made him shiver. He was not a good swimmer.
Cold and tired, Guderian lowered his packs to the sand, gathered some shrubs and quickly built a small fire. He became entranced as he watched the dark wispy smoke climb into the sky while the sun dipped beneath the sea, casting forth an orange glow that briefly engulfed him before fading. He stretched out on the sand, pulled a blanket over his aching body, thought briefly of home and then drifted to sleep, his last thought questioning if he would make it through the night unharmed.
Guderian awoke the next morning from an unexpectedly restful sleep. He quickly surveyed his surroundings and found nothing out of order. His gear was where he had left it and no footprints but his own had disturbed the sand around him.
Surprisingly disappointed, he ate a light breakfast and set about gathering more kindling for the fire that had died out during the night. Once he had collected a suitable load he returned to his small campsite, restarted the fire and soothed his aching body with the crackling flame.
After nibbling on a small breakfast, Guderian opened one of his bags and dumped onto the ground beside him a large assortment of rocks that he had collected during his journey. He examined the pile not as a collector of mundane things but as someone who had another purpose in mind.
The stones were mostly small with none bigger than his thumb and he estimated that he had brought several hundred. Although his back remained sore from the weight, it had proved a worthy effort because there were few that suited his needs scattered on the beach.
Having failed at his first attempt to draw attention with the fire, Guderian picked u
p the first rock and heaved it into the waiting waters. He watched the rock slice through the air and descend about fifty feet from shore. With a loud plunk it sank from view, momentarily sending forth a tiny plume when it broke the surface.
Guderian remained by the fire as the hours trickled by, occasionally standing to heave a stone into the sea before returning to his daydreams focused on the woman he left behind and the incredible development that a unicorn – a real unicorn – lived among them. The sun eventually faded and once again he slept beneath the stars.
The next day began the cycle anew. He restarted the fire, ate his breakfast and began his repetitive task of throwing all over again. He fell into a daze while time ticked by as he listened to the rhythmic crashing of the waves and his mind wandered.
Halfway through the morning, with his thoughts elsewhere, Guderian launched yet another rock into the sea. He watched it plunge into the waiting abyss but something then caught his eye. It took a moment but finally he realized that he was not imagining. He wiped at his eyes and looked again and sure enough, about forty feet from the shore and partially hidden by water, a figure stood watching.
He squinted and raised a hand to shield the sun. Although the figure was human in form he could not make out any detail. Tense seconds ticked by while the stranger simply watched from afar, not making a sound, just watching.
Guderian’s heart thumped rapidly. He knew he was face to face with an Aquan, mysterious creatures that many believed to be the fabric of tales woven by parents in bedtime stories. Proof stood before him. They were real.
He stood and called to the stranger, “Hello out there! I came to meet with your people.”
The figure remained still as if perhaps it lacked the ability to hear or comprehend his words.
“Can you understand me?” Guderian asked.
A few anxious moments passed without response and then the figure slowly raised an arm and pointed to the rising hill behind his camp. He was not welcome.