He pushed through the swinging doors and found the hall silent and empty. He’d have thought the cook would be up and started at least. Maybe he could get in a workout before breakfast. Eli hadn’t shown him a gym yesterday, but they had to have something.
Damien went down to the ground floor and out into the yard. The morning was cool and clear, the sun just turning the sky above the wall gray. It was a beautiful late spring day.
A few guardsmen stood on the wall and Damien ran up the steps to talk to them. If anyone knew where he could find the gym it seemed like it would be the guards. He trotted up to the nearest man, a middle-aged fellow with a pot belly and salt-and-pepper beard. On closer inspection maybe he wasn’t the best one to ask.
Not wanting to be rude now that he’d approached Damien said, “Excuse me. Do you know if there’s a gym or somewhere for the students to exercise?”
The guardsman laughed. “Not so far as I know, young sir. Sorcerers aren’t much for exercise.”
Coming from a fat guardsman that was a laughable statement. “Would you guys mind if I ran the wall?”
The guardsman waved his hand. “Be my guest.”
Damien shook his head and jogged away. He did ten circuits, about five miles give or take. The guards all stared at him in disbelief as he kept running. It was like they’d never seen someone exercising before. Given their lack of conditioning Damien guessed most of them certainly hadn’t run in a while.
He stopped beside the same guardsman. “What time is breakfast?”
The man grumbled and glanced at the sun just peeking over the wall. “Another hour at least.”
Damn, they didn’t get started very early here. He grabbed the lip of the wall and swung over, hanging by his fingers. He did forty pull ups, then reversed his grip so his back was to the wall and did forty more. Damien pulled himself back up on the walkway and rolled his shoulders. What was he supposed to do for another hour?
He jogged back inside and up to the dining hall. Pots were clanging in the kitchen, so that was progress. He dropped to the floor and did some crunches. The doors squeaked and a familiar voice said, “I figured I’d find you here.”
Damien grinned and kipped up to his feet. Standing by the door, a matching grin on his face was a boy a year older than him with long brown hair, a lean, fit build, and a chiseled, handsome face. John Kord, his oldest and best friend.
Chapter 8
“John! What’s it been, three years?” The boys bumped fists. Damien hadn’t seen his childhood friend since he started training at The Citadel and had forgotten John was supposed to be studying at The Tower. “How’s it going?”
“Good, turns out I’ve got a gift for healing. The old man didn’t like it much, he wanted an artillerist. What about you? I thought you were going to be a warlord.”
“You and everyone else. Apparently the seer screwed up when I was born.” Damien shook his head and sat on one of the benches. “A year and a half trying to use internal soul force and all the time I was a sorcerer. To say Dad wasn’t thrilled would be an understatement.”
“I can imagine. How many generations of your family have been warlords?”
“Since the first colonists came over from the old empire.”
John laughed at his impression of his father. “Well, we can’t help how we’re born, can we?”
“Nope. Anyway, Jen can carry on the family tradition. She’s a better warrior anyway.”
John’s expression turned wistful when Damien mentioned his sister. His friend had always had a crush on Jen. That she was completely indifferent to him made it even worse. “She can’t inherit the demon sword though, can she?”
“No, Lizzy won’t work with a female partner. What’s the general up to these days?”
John sat across from Damien. “Dad’s up north, keeping an eye on the ice trolls and ogres. Some days I’d swear he wants them to attack just so he’ll have something to do.”
“Really?”
“Nah, he’s too fond of his men to want any of them to die in some stupid war. He’s just bored.”
Damien got up and did a handstand followed by pushups. Between reps he said, “This is a weird place, John. There’s no gym, no real schedule. Mistress Ann said to just show up for training whenever I finished breakfast.”
“You got paired up with Ann? Lucky dog. She’s the best-looking teacher in the tower.”
It looked like Eli wasn’t the only one with a crush on his teacher. Of course, John had a crush on most every woman he laid eyes on. Pots clanked in the kitchen and Damien rolled to his feet. “So I’ve heard. Who’s your master?”
“I’m in a group of three studying healing with Master Jones: tall, skinny and bald.” John sighed. “Still, he’s regarded as one of the finest healers in the kingdom.”
“Is he by any chance in charge of making healing potions?”
John nodded. “Yeah, why?”
“I wanted to thank him. I’ve drunk enough of the damn things over the last year and a half.”
John laughed again though Damien found nothing funny in his broken bones. The kitchen door swung open and the cook came through carrying a steaming pot. Behind him the two women he’d seen the night before followed with trays covered with bread, fruit, and jars of golden honey.
Damien turned and jogged to the pile of bowls at the start of the line. His morning exercise had left him starving. The cook filled his bowl with oatmeal which Damien then topped with blueberries and honey. He added a slice of bread, collected a cup of water, and headed back to their bench. John
