Tollis slowly turned to Stolly. "Well I guess you haven’t heard the news?"
Stolly rolled his eyes. "What news could be worth hearing, if I haven’t heard it?" Again, his followers laughed.
Tollis wondered how much Stolly’s father paid the idiots to follow the spoiled rich boy around and laugh at his every word. "It seems Master Camen is granting me a retrial as soon as there is a worthy opponent! That may take longer than six months!"
This time it was nearly the whole weapons table that busted out laughing. Stolly just turned and walked over to the martial table. He sneered at Rix and Aram as he and his retinue walked to the far end of the table.
About that time, the most beautiful woman Aram had ever laid eyes on, walked up to his table and looked down at him. "You must be Apprentice Aram, yes?"
Aram’s tongue suddenly seemed way too big to be in his mouth. He just sat there wide eyed, opening and closing his mouth like a carp on a hook, until Rix stomped on his toe under the table. "Ouch!"
The woman smiled and Aram couldn’t seem to form a coherent thought, much less speak. "Ouch? What an interesting name."
Rix took pity on his friend and took over. "Forgive him Madam. He is indeed Aram. I think Master Camen may have done permanent damage to his brains during their match today. I think it is an improvement over the drivel that usually spouts from his lips at any given time. May I ask your name?"
She gave Rix a little nod. "Why, certainly. My name is Master Arlaina and unless I was misinformed, young Aram here is at the wrong table." She held out her hand to Aram. "Would you accompany me to the acrobatics table?"
Aram nodded, took her hand and walked with her to the center table. Once there, she led him to the end seat, closest to the masters' table and went to take her seat with the other masters. Aram tried to eat his dinner without staring at his new master; a task he found more difficult than anything else he had done in all his eighteen years. She was a living dream, with raven black hair down to her slender waist and the most fascinating green eyes he had ever seen. She carried herself with a posture that would make a queen feel inadequate around her, yet her movements were fluid and graceful.
"Get a hold of yourself Aram," he said to himself. How was he going to focus on training? Then he got a mental picture of her doing the splits and slowly going to a handstand. It was almost too much and he choked on a piece of roast he had forgotten to chew.
The classmate beside him laughed out loud and slapped him on the back, dislodging the traitorous piece of meat. "Let me guess, you just pictured her extending her leg up beside her head while she is standing in front of you."
Aram’s mouth dropped open yet again today. "She can do that?"
The classmate had a starry look in his eye. "Yes my friend and that’s not even touching the surface." Then he smiled at Aram and extended his hand. "The name’s Conner. I already know that yours is Aram."
Aram snapped out of his mental torture and grasped Conner’s arm. "Conner, Conner; oh, you're Fat Willie's brother!" All the blood vacated Aram’s face as he realized he had just called Conner’s brother Fat Willie.
Conner laughed. "Don’t worry; I call him Fat Willie too. Father sent him to weapons training in the hopes it would work off a few pounds. I think Willie wears the moniker like a badge of honor! He truly has no shame."
Aram sighed in relief. "Oh. I thought, 'smooth move Aram, insult the brother of the guy that just saved your life!' Thanks for that, by the way."
Conner waved him off. "Just repaying a debt. The same was done for me my first day. Now it is on you to save the next poor bastard. After you’re done choking on your dinner, I could show you to our room. My roommate just graduated yesterday, so you get to bunk with me, you lucky devil."
Aram smiled and clasped Conner’s arm again. "It sounds like you and I have something in common." Conner got a puzzled look as he returned the hand shake. Aram laughed. "You get to bunk with me. It seems we are both lucky devils!"
They finished their dinner and Conner took Aram on the "Grand Tour" of the acrobatics wing. The most interesting part was the gym. It had several gizmos and gadgets. Aram had no idea what they were for. When he started asking Conner questions about them, he just laughed and said. "You will see soon enough, I don’t want to spoil your first night’s sleep."
Shortly after nine bells, Aram started making his way to Master Arlaina’s office. He knocked on the door, heard a faint "Enter," then walked inside. He had been in several masters’ chambers in his years at the Order. They were all the same. The front room was a spacious office, with a desk and a comfortable chair behind it. In front of the desk, were three rather hard, wooden chairs. Thankfully, he hadn’t had to sit in one after a strapping for what seemed ages. His first few years were filled with the painful memories of a stubborn child.
On the back wall of the office was a door leading into the personal living quarters of the master. It was through this door that Master Arlaina entered the room. She walked over to her desk, sat down and started shuffling through a rather large stack of papers. She looked up at Aram, held up the stack of papers and said. "You may as well sit down. This looks like it’s going to take a while!"
Aram was accustomed to this. It wasn’t that he was a trouble maker who needed volume after volume to catalogue all his trespasses. It was more due to the fact that he had been in the Order since the age of four. So the master had fourteen years’ worth of records sitting in front of her.
Aram took his seat and waited. Master Arlaina sighed in frustration.
Chapter Two
The Order
A fourteen year student wasn’t unheard of, but it was rare. The Order was made up of many different schools: Weapons Training, Dexterity Training, Martial Training, Acrobatics Training and of course Academics. Inside each of these wings were several different degrees of mastery. For example, the weapons trainee could specialize in one weapon, which typically took 1 year to graduate, or one could take the complete training and learn every weapon known. That training typically lasted five years.
Dexterity Training had many hidden gems for classes that were only offered to select students. The basic class was just intended to teach balance that would help in horseback riding, or help some exceptionally clumsy child gain a little confidence. But it was the sub classes that truly mattered. Here, one could learn to pick pockets, set and remove traps, pick locks and locate hidden objects such as a door or traps. Again, the full class typically lasted five years. Martial training was the art of hand to hand combat and evasion. This training had no hidden gems, but typically took five years to complete anyway. Then there was acrobatics. It was in this final portion of Aram’s training that he would learn Stealth and that particularly useful twenty foot fall maneuver Master Camen had used in the arena.
Aram had no idea why he was in the school and why he was mandated to take every class they offered. He didn’t even remember who his family was, or why they had sent him away. If any of the answers to those questions were in that stack of papers that followed him year after year, none of the masters had deemed it necessary to share the information with him. His friends however, had many theories. Rix was convinced he was the third son of some rich noble and as compensation for not being in line for inheritance, his generous father paid his way through the complete Order. That sounded pretty far-fetched to Aram. This was, however, preferable to Tollis’ explanation of him being an orphan that the Order took in to raise as one of their own.
The completion of each area of study came down to the trials. For the weapons training the apprentice had to best three of his classmates in a three on one contest to qualify for the trials. Then, for the trial, he must go against a martial apprentice and manage to draw blood before he is forced to surrender or rendered unconscious. There are healers nearby in case the blood drawing is a little excessive. Apprentices have been known to die in the trials, which is why the only people allowed to test are those the masters feel are truly ready.
/> The Order's complex itself isn’t a thing of beauty. There aren’t rich tapestries hung on the walls or polished marble floors. The arena is the center of the compound with each of the wings branching off from there. To the north is the weapons wing. East is home of the martial wing. South has two arches: the left arch leads into the dexterity wing, while the right arch leads to the great hall and kitchen. Then there is the west wing: Aram’s new and final home.
Most of the apprentices inside the Order are there for specific reasons. Tollis for example is the son of a minor noble. Their manor is out on the edges of the kingdom, so are regularly involved in skirmishes with neighboring thugs. Rix insists his mother is the force that pushed him into the martial training, because he was regularly bullied. His father said he just needed to grow a pair, but his mother had insisted that if his father wanted to use the pair he had, he would spring for the training. During Aram’s fourteen years in the Order he had made and lost many friends. These two, however, he felt a strong bond with.
Aram knew that the reality of Rix and Tollis leaving him as well would soon come to pass. Tollis would be taking his trials soon and there was no doubt that Stolly would bleed on that day. After he graduated he would surely be off for home, where he could defend his family. Rix would be testing soon after that and he too, would be going home. That would leave Aram all alone for what could be five more years. Would they still remember him?
Chapter Three
The Acrobat
Master Arlaina sat down the last page of his file. "Well, it seems I have something of a savant on my hands. Each of your past masters thought very highly of your talents! You shaved a year off of the dexterity training. According to the martial master, you could have qualified for the martial trials a year ago, but for some reason you decided to wait. May I ask why?"
Aram cleared his throat. "Two reasons, really. One, I wanted to learn as many of the pressure points and nerves of the body as there are to learn. But mostly, Apprentice Rix and I were roommates and I enjoyed his company."
Master Arlaina sat there tapping the side of her face with a long slender finger. "So you feel a sense of loyalty to your friends. That is a great show of your character. Although character plays no roll in what I teach, I do feel better sharing what I know with people of good moral character. So you can expect that I will hold nothing back from you. When I am done with you Aram, you will wonder how you ever survived these last eighteen years without this knowledge. Do you know all that I can teach you?"
Aram leaned forward in his seat eagerly. "Well, I was hoping that I would learn the trick Master Camen used when he leaped off the balcony!"
Master Arlaina waved her hand like she was shooing a pesky fly. "That is nothing, Apprentice; if you apply yourself, I could have you leaping from places twice as high. But that isn’t even close to everything you will learn in this wing." She leaned back in her chair and calmly asked. "Now is it, Master Dimsey?"
Aram screwed up his face in confusion and was just about to ask what she was talking about when the shadow behind her desk moved and turned into a man! "Whoa! Where the devil did you come from?"
Master Arlaina just smiled and the shadow man said. "'Where the devil did you come from, Master!'' I believe that is what you meant to say." Aram was stunned and could only nod his head. Master Dimsey gave him a purely evil smile and said. "What you should worry about, young Apprentice, is where I am now." With that, he vanished! Just vanished! Aram stood up from his chair and spun in a slow circle, checking every corner and shadow, but saw nothing.
Master Arlaina tried not to laugh at the sheer awe on his face as he asked, "Is that magic?"
Aram nearly jumped completely out of his skin when he heard a whisper in his ear. "Of course not; I’m no mage!"
Aram spun around to find Master Dimsey right behind him. "You have got to teach me that! Can you imagine what I could do to Rix with a skill like that?"
Master Arlaina laughed out loud in what sounded like, relief? "You see, Dimsey? Just as I said: good character! We offer to teach him one of the most dangerous skills in the world and he wants to use it to prank his old roommate! "Go to bed, Apprentice. Tomorrow we will begin."
Aram’s mind was racing as he got back to his room. Master Dimsey had entered Master Arlaina’s office right behind him and he never even noticed. He had asked how that skill was related to acrobatics, but Master Arlaina just told him he would see. She had also said it was very important that he keep that side-training to himself. He couldn’t wait for tomorrow to arrive. Master Arlaina said she would test his natural ability and that would determine where his training would start.
It seemed as if he had just dozed off when there was a loud bang on the dorm door. The morning wake-up call. He jumped out of bed and was hurrying into his clothes when Conner stopped him. "Slow down, rookie! You can’t go to class wearing your regular clothes! Look in your locker." Aram walked over to his locker and looked inside.
There, hanging on a peg, was some kind of jumpsuit made of the gods only knew what material. He looked over at Conner who had just donned his own. "You have got to be kidding! That is the most ridiculous looking outfit I have ever seen."
Conner appraised himself in the room’s mirror. "You get used to it. Besides, the range of movement you have in these things is unreal. Just give it a try."
Aram made a sour face but donned the thing anyway. Once he had it on, it did feel extremely flexible. However, when he looked down, it left very little to the imagination. Conner saw the embarrassed look on his face and said. "Don’t worry; there are ten of us in the class, so yours will just be another in the line. What will really make you self-conscious is if you let your mind wander too far onto Master Arlaina!" The look of horror on Aram’s face was just what Conner needed to start the day on a bright note. He laughed all the way out the door and down the hall.
Breakfast was served in the Gym and consisted of mostly fruits. Conner informed him that he would be thankful for it when the cramping started. They were sitting on the giant mat in the center of the floor eating their fruit, when Master Arlaina entered the gym and stood before them. She too, wore one of the jumpsuits, but Aram found it no more distracting than her in any other garb. "Today we have a new apprentice. In case you don’t already know, his name is Aram. Today I will be focusing mostly on his evaluation, so I want the rest of you to continue working on what you were assigned yesterday." With that, everyone jumped up and spread out to various locations in the gym, working with different contraptions.
Aram stood as Master Arlaina walked over to him and said. "Show me that move you used against Apprentice Tollis yesterday." Aram threw himself backwards, back parallel to the floor, then with a quick flex snapped right back up. "Impressive!" She praised, "this time, I want you to do it again, but place your hands on the floor behind you and continue completely over."
Aram had seen this maneuver before and although he had never tried it himself, he felt confident. He bent smoothly back and then flipped right around onto his feet as if he had been doing it for years. "Well done," Arlaina commented. "Now do it 3 times in a row."
Aram shrugged, not seeing the point, but performed the task smoothly. When he came to a stop, he looked Master Arlaina in the eye and raised his hand.
"I know; you are wondering what the point is?"
"Yes Master. I know the value of the first part of the move, but why continue over?"
Master Arlaina looked at him, walked over to the side of the room and picked up a quarter staff. She calmly walked back. "Okay, try the half move you prefer." Then she swung the staff at him. Aram threw himself back. The staff passed him by, but just as he was about to reverse his momentum, the back end of the staff knocked his feet out and he fell flat on his back. Then the leading end of the staff came around and stopped within a hair's breadth of his nose.
Master Arlaina helped him back to his feet. "Now do it my way, but do it faster." Again the staff came at him. He threw himself backwards.
The leading end passed harmlessly. As his feet flew up, the second end of the staff passed harmlessly. He had to throw himself backwards again to avoid the leading edge again and they repeated this for a few turns. Master Arlaina saw the light come on in his eyes.
"Forgive me for doubting, Master; it will not happen again!"
Master Arlaina nodded to herself. "The only way to learn, Apprentice, is to ask questions. But what is puzzling me now is what I should do with you. I have third year students who couldn’t pull off what you have just done on your first day."
They spent the rest of the morning on the mat doing assorted rolls, cartwheels, flips and many other moves Aram had never even contemplated, much less tried. Master Arlaina would perform the move one time and Aram would mirror her moves with exacting precision. Each time he succeeded, the next move's difficulty increased. They ended the morning session with Aram performing a cartwheel, double back handspring that ended in a double back flip. He nailed it on the first try. By this time he was exhausted. The tumbling wasn’t far different from some of the dodging he had learned in Martial training; they just carried through where a dodge would not.
"Okay, Apprentices, circle up for lunch." Everyone took places on the mat in a huge circle while lunch was served: again, more fruit.
Aram leaned towards Conner. "If all we ever eat is fruit I may die of starvation!"
Conner just laughed. "If you didn’t eat this much fruit you would lie in bed tonight screaming because of the cramps. Trust me, I felt the same way when I first came and rebelled by not eating. That was the worst night of my life and I wasn’t doing a fraction of the things I saw you doing out there this morning."
"You saw? How did I do? I thought I did everything she asked of me, but after each thing she looked more and more upset! I felt like I was botching it up terribly!"
The Trials (Assassin's Intent Book 1) Page 2