“Personally,” John interjected, “I just think he likes throwing rocks at us.”
As if for emphasis, another rock sailed past Merek and hit John on the arm.
“See?”
Merek laughed before drawing back another arrow and letting it fly.
He lost track of how long they practiced, but by the time it was over his shoulder was sore from pulling the string back so many times. Little did he know, his workout was just beginning.
“Next up, the obstacle course!” the Trainer yelled, leading them to the ropes and the wall.
“Oh come, Trainer!” John yelled, “Give us a minute!”
“Perhaps you’re not ready to be a knight,” the Trainer replied, “if you tire so quickly in training, I’d hate to see how quickly you’d tire on the battlefield.”
John said nothing else, only shrugging his response.
“Fine,” he eventually managed to say, “then I’m going first!”
He hopped up to a wooden platform that overlooked the ropes. Merek found he had grossly underestimated the scope of the course. While he had only seen the ropes and the wall, there was practically a maze of obstacles behind it. There were beams that crisscrossed with each other, as well as wooden posts that were grouped together.
Merek found he didn’t have the first clue what to expect, and that unnerved him slightly.
“Alright then loudmouth, you get to be first,” the Trainer said, “and as congratulations for volunteering, you get to take the high road.”
“Me and my big mouth,” John said, and his customary smile faded for the first time, a serious expression replacing it.
Merek’s concern only increased.
“GO!”
Merek jumped as the Trainer shouted, and John was in motion. Without hesitating, he jumped into the rope pit and tried to walk to the other side, falling every other step.
“What’s the point of that?”
“It’s supposed to keep us light on our feet, and help develop our focus on staying upright on uneven ground. The higher path is for balance and coordination. The lower path is for reflexes and durability.”
“Supposed to?”
“Yeah… it’s really difficult.”
“So I see,” Merek remarked, watching John fall over himself in an effort to get to the handles ten or so feet above the ground. A pool of mud was under it, assumedly to break the fall if anyone slipped. Merek rather doubted that was its only function, however.
John made it to the handles hanging from two beams, and started to cross using only the handles as handholds. Silently impressed, Merek watched as John grabbed handle after handle. But even as Merek watched, he saw that John was nearly panting with the effort of crossing. The man was already tired.
Merek stretched his sore arm, making sure it was ready when it was his turn.
John made it to the wall, and started to slowly climb it. Merek was less than impressed with John’s progress with this challenge; he seemed to grab handholds after taking several calming breaths.
If Merek didn’t know any better, he’d say John looked… scared.
“Is John… afraid?” Merek whispered to Milly. She only nodded, her face screwed up with concern.
“John’s always been afraid of heights,” she replied, “but the Trainer says he needs to conquer that fear. I agree, but seeing him… it kind of makes you worry.”
Merek nodded, sharing the feeling. If John fell, that was certainly going to hurt. While there seemed to be a bed or mattress of some kind at the bottom of the wall, falling was still a very unwelcome option.
But John made it to the top of the wall without needing it, though when he got there he refused to open his eyes, instead feeling for the way down.
“Open your eyes!” the Trainer shouted, though not unkindly. “You’ll never conquer yourself if you always hide from what you fear!”
Merek looked at the Trainer, wondering just how correct the man was. After all, he had hidden just fine from what he had been afraid of.
John opened his eyes, visibly steeling himself for what was to come. When he saw how high he was, he didn’t close his eyes, but Merek was sure it was a near thing.
“You can do it, John,” Merek whispered, nodding to spur the man on. He didn’t know if John saw him, but he seemed to move a bit quicker, seemed to be a bit surer of himself than he had a moment before.
“Alright new guy,” the Trainer said, gesturing to the platform, “Let’s see what you can do.”
Merek nodded, stepping up to the platform.
“You take the high road, too. You’ll know it when you see it.”
Merek nodded again, and tensed in preparation.
“GO!”
He exploded off of the platform, not stepping down but taking the rope net in a big leap. His momentum only carried him about halfway, but he was expecting that. He was also expecting the rope to give out under him, and drop him to the ground.
So when he hit the ropes, he rolled. This was no different than crossing streams that had a downward hill on the other side of them. While he would have preferred to have his staff with him, he could make do without it.
Because of his head start, Merek crossed the rope net in half of the time John did. The handles, however, presented a more unique challenge. While he had pulled himself through trees by swinging branch to branch, this was far different. He had nothing to plant his feet on, so he was dependent on his arm strength.
He still managed, if only just. When he landed at the foot of the wall, his arms stung with pain, but he pushed it away.
The wall should actually be fun.
He scaled it in no time. This was no different than the sheer cliffs he had (stupidly) climbed during his exile. Easier, actually, because the handholds jutted out and he didn’t have to blindly hunt for them.
He was over the wall and down the other side within two minutes, and he had hardly broken a sweat.
Then things got very tricky.
There were two beams in front of him, one higher than the other but both too narrow for anything more than one foot at a time.
“The high road, I assume,” Merek said as he sized up his next challenge. Each beam led to a different set of challenges based on which beam he took.
Shrugging, Merek stepped on the high beam. The moment his foot made contact it shook, nearly throwing him off-balance.
“Of course, that would be too easy.”
Merek stepped quickly but lightly, trying not to shake the beam more than was necessary. He almost fell three times crossing the ten foot long log, but he managed to stay upright – if only just.
Then the real challenge began.
He was faced with another rope net, this one leading skywards towards another platform. Assuming he was supposed to climb it, Merek jumped to the net without preamble.
His momentum promptly flipped it over so he was staring at the sky.
Oops.
It took more than a little work, but he was able to use his body to flip the net back over, and he climbed more carefully now.
When he finally reached the top he was sweating and trying his best not to look it.
In front of him there were beams that crossed at different paths, some leading to dead ends and others leading to other paths. Only one led him to where he needed to be.
And of course, they all moved.
Merek was about to start when he noticed he had caught up to John. Despite the fact that there was a net under them, John still seemed almost paralyzed with fear. He was halfway across the challenge, but his legs weren’t moving and he was actually shaking so much Merek was worried he was going to fall.
“You alright, John?” Merek called.
“Uh… Yeah, ‘course,” John replied, trying his best to smile and failing. “Just taking a second to take in the scenery, you know.”
“If you say so. Looks more to me that you’re stalling, my friend.”
“Yeah, maybe a little bit of that too.”
“Heights really aren’t your favorite thing, huh?”
“Nope. I like my feet on the ground, thank you very much.”
“Well, the sooner you press through this, the sooner you’ll be back on the ground.”
“Unless I fall. If you fall, Trainer makes you do the course over. Until we get it right.”
“Then we’d best do it right on the first try, huh?”
John actually laughed, looking back at Merek for the first time. “Yeah, I guess so.”
He moved more assuredly now, though his legs still shook slightly. Merek followed, trying his best not to disturb any beams John was on. Merek wasn’t very used to this type of challenge either, but falling didn’t worry him as much as it did John.
I’ve been falling for years.
Merek shook the thought away, the lapse in concentration almost throwing him off of the course. Meanwhile, John had made it to the last beam. But his concentration must have slipped too, because suddenly he was off-balance. Reacting quickly, Merek jumped beams without thinking until he made it to John’s beam.
A second before John fell.
Diving, Merek stretched out his hand. John, reached out for him, but he couldn’t maintain his grip on Merek’s forearm.
Merek, however, latched on to John’s arm with the grip of someone not accustomed to letting go of whoever or whatever it was holding on to. But with no purchase, nothing to pull John up to, Merek was stuck without any options. To make matters worse, his arm was tiring the longer he had to support John.
“Just let go, buddy,” John said, “there’s no harm in me falling.”
“True,” Merek said, but he didn’t let go. Instead, he focused all of his efforts on pulling John up. John grabbed the beam with both hands, and Merek let go. Merek moved off of the beam, giving the room to John, who quickly pulled himself up.
They both stood on the next platform, smiling while they caught their breath.
“I hope you two are having fun, NOW MOVE IT!”
The Trainer’s call was unmistakable, and together the two started to move down the rest of the course. There were only two challenges left, crossing the posts and then a net that shot to the ground.
Merek and John shared a glance, and Merek shrugged. Compared to what they had already done, this should be easy.
He was wrong.
The posts didn’t move, but standing on one for too long exhausted his limbs. He could only place one foot down at a time, and so his every landing was precarious at best. John fared a bit better, probably due to his experience with it, but still the two had trouble maintaining their balance. Merek fell only once, but he was able to catch himself before falling off of the course. John fell twice, but both times he was able to make it look like he had done it on purpose.
Then, finally, they made it to the net.
“The trick here is to fall so you don’t break your neck or hit the ground really hard,” John explained.
“You make it sound so easy,” Merek replied.
John said nothing else, but instead jumped onto the net. He rolled down, his momentum seeming to spin out of control. At the very last second, his hand reached out and he caught the net, but he must have miscalculated because he pin-wheeled and hit the ground hard enough for Merek to hear the impact.
“Ouch,” Merek said.
“I do that every time,” John said, standing up and rubbing his backside. Merek shrugged before leaping down, rolling uncontrollably until he was able to grab a hold of the rope. Unfortunately, he appeared to have made the exact same mistake John made, and he landed on his butt harder than he had meant to.
“Well, apparently I’m not very good at that either,” Merek said with a laugh. Together, he and John rejoined the Trainer and those not on the course yet. Milly was still there, and she hugged John the moment they were next to each other. Almost as an afterthought, Milly hugged Merek too, which made Merek laugh.
“Does John always make you worry this much?” Merek whispered to her. She simply nodded with an exasperated sigh.
“Well, you got through it. How about next time you stop holding hands and run the course right?” the Trainer barked, turning his attention to the others on the course.
“Well, we’re free until the afternoon, and then we do more practice and have free training time. Until then, want to grab some lunch?” John said.
“Mhm,” Milly said, turning to Merek with eyebrows raised.
“Oh,” Merek replied, completely unsure of himself when John and Milly both looked to him. He certainly wasn’t expecting to be invited.
“Sure,” he replied, and the three of them left the course.
It was a strange feeling, Merek noted, being invited.
Chapter Eight: The Concept of Friendship
The three of them went to the Grand Hall, the meeting place for the people and where lunch was usually served. It turned out that every day around high noon, King Tyrigg had a meal for whoever was in the area, as long as they brought some food to share with everyone. The knights and those in training were the few exceptions, seeing as they kept the peace or were training to do so, and thus couldn’t cook anything.
It was lucky, because Merek suddenly found he was very hungry.
“Merek!”
Merek turned to the familiar voice, seeing Thorald headed towards them.
“Milly, John,” Thorald said when he was near enough, “how are you today?”
“Nothing to complain about,” Milly said with a smile.
“Pretty good. Your new best friend saved my neck on the course today,” John said, clapping a hand on Merek’s back.
“Yeah, he tends to do that,” Thorald said. “Listen, how about you three sit near me?” He lowered his voice and leaned in closer, “it’s better than listening to Aunt Tomina.”
He turned his gaze, and Merek followed it to a woman in a rather ill-fitting dress talking with King Tyrigg.
“The King sits here during the feast?” Merek asked. “Isn’t that… unsafe?”
“A lot of people think so, myself included. But he insists that it’s better for morale, and better for the country, that he is seen. That people can feel comfortable bringing their problems to him.”
“What do you think?”
“I think he’s right… but we should still have him sit at a separate table, at least.”
Merek nodded and chuckled slightly, getting a plate of food. He tried not to take too much, seeing as everyone present needed to eat, but he still loaded the plate.
“I thought he had his own table. Isn’t that where we sat a few nights ago?”
“He uses that for ceremonies, important occasions. Not lunch.”
“I suppose his son returning alive is a very important occasion.”
“Greeting my rescuer was as well.”
“Really?” Merek said, though Thorald didn’t appear to hear him. The thought had never even occurred to him.
Still feeling one step behind everyone else, he sat next to Thorald as they began to eat. Milly and John soon lost themselves in their own conversation, while Thorald seemed to be contemplating something.
“What’s on your mind?” Merek asked as he bit into a piece of chicken.
“We sent some troops yesterday to the Eastern Plains, to recover the bodies of the fallen.”
Merek nodded to show he was listening as he took another bite.
“They returned just a few hours ago, with the bodies, and we’re preparing their funeral now.”
“Then what worries you?”
Thorald was quiet as he thought it over, making sure no one was eavesdropping. Tyrigg was talking to Tomina, who was complaining about the long commute (whatever that was) between the castle and her home and how he would be such a dear to have someone come by to pick her up instead of her having to walk.
Small wonder Thorald doesn’t want to talk with her. Merek thought. She seemed healthy enough to him where a walk wouldn’t hurt her.
“It�
�s the rope bridge,” Thorald finally said, pulling Merek’s attention back to him.
“What about it?”
“I thought it had just snapped due to the storm. But… the soldiers who returned reported that the bridge… the ropes didn’t seem weathered or frayed. Near as they could tell, it shouldn’t have snapped unless it was directly struck by lightning, or something of the like.”
“So you worry that it was cut,” Merek said.
“That is my worry, yes. I fear Grevoria was attempting to assassinate me.”
“Do we have any proof?” Merek said, shoving a roll into his mouth.
“None so far. And I think it best not to bring up any accusations without it.”
Merek nodded. Besides, if Grevoria didn’t know that they were suspected, than that would give Thorald an advantage.
“What are you two whispering about, so quietly and mysteriously?” Milly said, inching closer to them. John looked at them both with almost an apology, and Merek laughed.
“Sorry, I’m a bit nosy,” Milly said, shaking her mane of hair.
“Just reliving our meeting,” Merek said immediately, eating something that seemed like a thicker form of soup. It tasted sweet and had chunks of chicken in it.
“Oh yeah,” John said, “We’ve heard part of the tale. Found our dear Prince when he was stuck in a ditch, right?”
“I wasn’t stuck in a ditch,” Thorald said, “I was at the bottom of a ravine.”
Merek could tell the bottom of the ravine was still very much a sore subject for Thorald, so he moved the conversation along to the forest.
“Well, after getting him out of the ravine we run to the forest because we’re being chased by a tornado,” Merek said.
“Can you believe that? A tornado! Bearing down on us faster than you would believe.”
“So we run…”
“Well,” Thorald interjected, “hobble.”
“Yes,” Merek laughed, “limp to the forest, fast as we could, because the wind’s picking up and the rain’s falling…”
“So we finally make it to the trees, and I think we’re safe, but Merek here, he wants to keep running.”
“I’ve seen the storms before, being outside is asking for trouble. So we run, well, hobble some more…”
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