by M E Wolf
Alexandra awoke from Jentus’s nudging. She grabbed her clothes and belt, got dressed and felt the cold as she handed Jentus the blanket. He handed her a light wool cloak. After fastening the cloak’s clasp she wrapped the cloak around herself to keep warm until they started to move. Her shoulder was still sore, but at least the cold numbed most of the pain. She tried to soothe the pain in the same way that she healed her ankle the previous day, but she only caused a vein in her forehead to throb.
It puzzled her that it would work once and not work again. She figured it had to do with her still being very tired. Alexandra looked at Jentus as he cleared the camp imagining what he would be like in six years, whether he would be dead or really old looking. Deciding that it would not matter since it was not today Alexandra was content on looking at her surroundings.
The sun was not even up yet and she could still see a partial outline of the moon through the morning mist. It was like it was not even there, although she felt it calling to her. She wondered how much longer it would be before she started her training. Jentus put his large pack on and then handed Alexandra a piece of salted beef. She tore a chunk off with her teeth and began to chew. It was leathery, but the taste and juices secreted from it after each chew helped her slip away from her fatigue.
Jentus and her continued on their journey to a place only he knew where it was. She wondered why they had to travel so far away from the main houses of the L’art’o. As if listening to her thoughts, Jentus spoke in between chews,
“Alexandra we are traveling out here so far from the main area because I need you to focus. It is very hard to train someone in the midst of the hustle and bustle of our busy city. So, long ago the hunters of the L’art’o built a training lodge up here in the mountains.”
He waved his right hand around signifying the vastness of the mountain ranges that could only now be seen just below the horizon in front of them. Jentus continued to speak,
“We will start with strengthening exercises, basic unarmed combat and meditation for the first two weeks. After that I will let you know what we will do. You would still maintain your skills in those things, but at a lesser degree than we will be working on them in the first two weeks. We should arrive in a few days.”
They continued walking along a trail that was overgrown with grass and weeds from not being used for a while. Many days passed as they continued to walk on the trail through an array of colourful trees. Some hung over the path and some fallen ones obstructed their path. Each day of their travels Alexandra tried to heal a wound like she did with her ankle, but nothing happened.
Exhaustion was the only thing that she had gained from her attempts. It was slowly annoying her that she did not understand why her healing ability was not working now. She wondered if she was trying too hard, or just not doing it right. A lack of hurts it was not because she must have stubbed, scraped, twisted, and extended every part of her now aching body throughout the entire journey.
She knew that they would reach the hunters’ lodge by midday and her training would start just before first light of the next day. Jentus pointed out the lodge down below in the ravine and she knew that they would soon be there. Alexandra dreaded the thought of the training because she knew that Jentus would work her hard and give her very little time to rest. An hour passed and she could see the lodge a few feet in front of her.
Jentus and her went inside the lodge and he directed her to a loft that could be accessed only by a rope ladder hanging from it.
“Alexandra you will sleep here. There is a feather bed up there and I suggest that you get some sleep now. We will be starting early in the morning and you will not get much rest for the next two weeks.”
Alexandra did as he said and headed to the loft and climbed up the rope ladder. Drawing it up she said, “Good night, Jentus.” Jentus nodded and disappeared behind a light oak-wood door. Alexandra took off all of her clothing, including that which was covering her pelvic area and breasts and wrapped herself in the fur of an animal unknown to her. Exhausted from her travels, she fell into a deep sleep.
CHAPTER FORTY THREE
Alexandra awoke to the melodious sound of many exotic birds singing a magical prayer of thankfulness for the sun bringing a new day. She got up out of the feather bed well rested and let the blanket of fur fall to the bed forgetting her nakedness, letting it pile around her up to her navel. In her tired state of the previous day she did not notice the latch above her leading to the sky. Looking up she pulled the cord that dangled and swayed beneath it from the light breeze to let the sun come in through the roof.
A device such as this was never available to her. It pulled with ease over pulleys well oiled to open the latch that made the sky window. Many books had told her of things like these, but it was the first time that she had seen one with her own eyes. The bright sun shown on her accenting her breasts’ darkened brown, almost a light black hue, colour with streaks of gold. Her nipples were firm and her stomach was flat and the slight curve of her hips peaked above the fur on the blanket.
She soaked in the sun’s rays as much as she could because she knew that the next few days would be very hard. After an hour of the sun she spied a square basin not much larger than herself used for bathing. Alexandra knew that she needed a bath so she dropped the rope ladder over the edge of the loft and climbed to the floor below. As she walked towards the basin she noticed that it had been filled with water and wondered if the bath was drawn for her.
Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Jentus looking in her direction. She turned her head to look at him while she walked towards the basin, a towel now wrapped tightly around her. She shivered with the thought that he had been watching her while she was enjoying the sun, naked.
“I knew that you have not had a bath for many days and so drew you that bath there.” He pointed to the basin and continued to speak, “After your bath we will get straight to your training. For now I will be out back waiting for you to join me. Don’t be too long. There is a lot of work to be done.”
Alexandra watched Jentus leave as she slipped into the basin, dropping the towel just outside of it. Reaching over the side after she sat in the tub she grabbed a bar of soap and a flask of bath oil. The soap smelled of lilacs and the oil had a sweet smell of jasmine. She poured some of the oil into the water of her bath, put the glass stopper on the flask and set it on the shelf behind her.
The aroma of the jasmine lifted her spirits as she began to roll the bar of soap over her body working up a rich lather as she gradually got cleaner. Trading the bar of soap for a gooey substance to wash her long black hair she messaged it into her scalp and hair. She did not realize her hair had grown so long since she had not thoroughly washed it or combed out the tangles in a long time.
Before long the water that she was in got darker and darker and darker as she got cleaner. Alexandra’s black hair started to glisten and sparkle with a few stray highlights of red, auburn and white. Her skin remained a golden brown. She got out of the tub and dressed in the training clothes that were left by Jentus. Alexandra did not like them that much because they were made of thick leather that was hard to move in.
It was half the thickness of her baby finger and was heavy. After putting the whole outfit on, it covered her legs, pelvic area, upper body, and arms. The gloves and boots were even thicker than the rest of the outfit. A leather helm that just sat on the top of her head like a bowl completed the training outfit. She waddled over to the door that she had seen Jentus go through, and left the building.
CHAPTER FORTY FOUR
“You finally made it outside. We must begin your training right away.” Jentus said.
Alexandra noticed that he was wearing the same outfit as her, but it did not appear that he was having the same difficulty that she had in moving.
“Now for the basic strengthening exercises. Lie on your back like this, bend your knees and put your hands beneath your head. Now, on a count of three bring your head up to your knees. One, t
wo, three ... go.” He began as Alexandra walked forward.
Alexandra lay on her back with her knees bent and her hands beneath her head. She had never heard of this type of training before. Trying to pull her head to her knees was harder than she would have thought it to be. Each time she tried to do it the small spot just below her rib cage began to burn and each time she went back down the spot just below her navel would begin to burn.
After three complete repetitions she lay on the ground in agony. To her surprise the pain went away as quickly as it came and she felt better than she did before she had begun this exercise. Jentus looked at her as he finished an unknown amount of repetitions,
“Don’t tell me that you have stopped already. I just did forty of these crunches, how many did you do?”
Alexandra knew that she would not be able to lie to him and so decided to give him a straight answer,
“I did three of them. They are hard to do with all of this leather on.” She patted her midsection while still lying on the ground.
“It is supposed to be hard. If you do not have the necessary skills out there,”
He gave an all-encompassing wave towards the trees in front of them and continued.
“You will not survive. Making the exercises extra hard will make it easier when things are not as harsh out there, but if we made the training easy you may not survive in harsher conditions. Doing well here means that you will have it easier than most out there.
“There are some situations out there that are harder than this, but they are very rare and it is unlikely that you will experience those. For now, give me three more crunches and we will move on to the next strength training exercise.”
Alexandra struggled through the next three crunches with less burning than the first three. Once done, Jentus helped her up to a sitting position.
“Now, we will do what is called push-ups. You do them by lying flat on your stomach, toes pointing towards the earth supporting the body’s weight and hands palm down. Beginning with your chest touching the ground and your back, buttocks and legs in a straight line.
“Pressing on the earth with your hands while maintaining a straight body posture will ideally complete a half cycle of this exercise. The up and down motion of this exercise constitutes a full cycle. Let’s begin.”
She watched Jentus do a few full cycles of the exercise before she began. Alexandra found it hard, but not as hard as the crunches. After doing five full cycles her chest was sticky with sweat and burned slightly. Jentus handed her a cloth to wipe the sweat from her forehead.
“These push-ups are necessary in your strength training. You never know when you have to push someone bigger than you off of you. I have done sixty full cycles of this exercise, how many have you done?” Jentus looked at her with a piercing stare.
Turning away from his gaze she answered him, “I did five full cycles.”
With a look of dissatisfaction Jentus spoke, “After you do five more push-ups, we will continue with the rest of the strength training.”
Alexandra did five more full cycles and let Jentus help her up. Jentus guided her to two tall trees that were about three feet apart. One of the trees went up into the clouds and the other stopped just before the clouds. Jentus began his instructions of what she was supposed to do,
“Alexandra, sometimes a hunter has to climb a tree in order to get a better view of his quarry or to escape a fight that he could not possibly win. In order to climb you must hug the tree with the sides of your feet and pull yourself up the tree with your hands. Once up high enough to reach branches you will use the branches to climb up the tree.
“The shorter tree’s branches are easier to reach than the taller tree. You must shimmy up about six feet before you reach a branch of the shorter tree and you must shimmy up about twenty feet before you reach a branch of the taller tree. Today you will attempt to climb up to the first set of branches of the shorter tree and I will climb up to the first set of branches of the taller tree. If you want, you can watch me climb for a bit before you start.”
She watched as Jentus climbed up to the first row of branches on the taller tree. He made it look easy with the grace of a squirrel. Alexandra could feel his eyes on her and so began to climb up the shorter tree. Half way to the first row of branches she lost her footing and slid to the bottom of the tree. Her legs stung from having a fair amount of skin torn from them.
Despite the numb sting in her fingers she attempted to climb up the tree again. Just as she was about to grab onto the first branch within reach she fell backwards whacking the back of her head on the tree numerous times as she tumbled backwards towards the ground.
“Come on, get up. We are not done with today’s training yet. Your training must continue no matter what happens. While breath still remains in your lungs you must be able to do the training.
“If you are not able to complete the training for any reason, you will not be able to survive the harsh life of a hunter. Above all a hunter’s will to survive should go beyond any condition that would prevent a normal civilian from continuing.” Jentus lectured.
Alexandra’s head throbbed and when she reached up with her left hand and brought it back, there was blood on it. Silently she agreed that if she stopped during a hunt because of a simple wound those that she hunted would kill her. She slowly got to her feet wobbling dizzily when she finally stood waving her hand to Jentus that she would be alright as he stepped forward in a motion to help her.
Once the dizziness passed, Jentus spoke,
“Alexandra, you have to get to the first row of branches before the day is out, even if you have to be up all night. Now, up the tree you go.” Jentus commanded.
She wiped the blood off of her hands and began to climb the tree. Alexandra made many attempts at climbing the tree, but always fell just before she grabbed onto the closest branch. However hard she fell, Jentus still made her climb the tree. Scraped, bruised, sore, tired, black, blue and whatever else she could be made her not want to continue.
Concerned only with succeeding the climb up the tree and not the dozen or more attempts that just made her bruise many parts of her body, she climbed up the tree. She barely managed to grab the closest branch. Straining to pull herself up onto the branch, she sat down and rested to get enough strength to come back down. As on cue Jentus began to speak just before she started to come down from the tree,
“Alexandra, we still have a lot of work to do. I suggest that you come down now.”
Alexandra smiled and made her descent down the tree. Once on firm ground, Jentus gave her instructions for the next exercise,
“Alexandra the next exercise is running. There are flags posted at various locations in the forest. When going through the course you must be aware of your surroundings. No matter how many times you go through the course you will not recognize your surroundings.
“The forest in front of us, which the course happens to be in, is called the Enchanted Forest. It is called this because it is never the same forest at any given time. The more often you go on the course, the more difficult the course will seem.
“Unfortunately, there is a slight chance that you would be attacked while on the course and that means that you will have to strap on your short sword. It is indeed unfortunate that I cannot train you how to use it until after the first two weeks.
“From past history, only one hunter initiate has been attacked within the first two weeks and this does not warrant being trained in a weapon within the first two weeks.” Jentus helped her strap on her short sword, and sent her into the forest to run the course.
CHAPTER FORTY FIVE
It was hard for Alexandra to run in the outfit that she was wearing. She slipped and fell many times on the muddy trail that Jentus had sent her on. Running was never one of her strong suits, in fact she hated to run. Being far away from what she saw as home made it hard to adjust to her new life-style. After about a hundred yards the forest began to take on a look that was wild with tree roo
ts scurrying across the path as high as her knees.
The trees bunched about the trail making passage through the forest more difficult as she continued running along the trail. She wondered when she would come across the first flag that marked where she was to turn. Remembering that Jentus had told her that there were five red flags that would appear when she was to turn disheartened her. Alexandra hoped that she would find all of the flags that he had mentioned and be safely out of this enchanted forest.
Something strange was going on in the forest and she could not tell what it was. After a moment of contemplation she figured out what it was. When she first had come into the forest at a gallop she did not hear any noises. Now she heard many different types of birds, guttural sounds of some unknown beasts and branches crunching under the feet of many different sizes of animals all about the trail.
Alexandra was afraid because of what Jentus had told her before she had entered the forest. He had said that there were wild animals or things that could attack her in the forest. She still remembered that he had also said that it was rare to happen in the first two weeks of training, but it did happen once. Jentus never said what had happened to that trainee.
Making a mental note to herself to ask him if she ever made it out of here alive, she doubled her pace. Alexandra fell many times, tripping over the roots and slipping on the mud on the path that she continued to run on. The faster she went the closer the sounds of the forest got to her. It was as though she was running straight towards whatever was out there.
Then, as the sounds were too loud for her to hear herself think, she saw the first red flag. Heart pounding rapidly from the exhilarating run she was on and the fear of being snatched away by whatever was out there, she breathed a sigh of relief that she had made it to the first flag. Not knowing how much time had gone by, she paused for a moment to catch her breath and then started to run down the left trail that the flag directed her to go.