must be hungry with what they have been through and I can see that they are soaked. Stoke up the fire some more after you’re done with the horses and we’ll see if we can dry them out.”
“Excuse me,” Tedi interrupted. “I appreciate your hospitality, but I am not a believer in coincidences. You wandered into our campsite in Lorgo and now you just happen to send this bandit after us to protect us from Dark Riders. Who are you really and what do you want with us?”
Arik looked stunned at Tedi’s impertinence, but Kalina just smiled. “I would be sorely disappointed if you believed that I would risk Garth’s life just to play games with you. You boys are destined to greatness and any person who would stand by and allow you to fall into the hands of the Dark One is a person whom I would not want to associate with. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Kalina. I am a gypsy and have some sense of foretelling. When I walked into your campsite the other day, I was struck with an aura of greatness and goodness, which emanated from you two boys. I mentioned this to Garth and he told me that one of you had tried sneaking into our campsite before we reached Lorgo.”
“I wasn’t trying to sneak in,” protested Tedi. “I thought you were a gang of bandits and I wanted to know your intent with regards to Lorgo.”
Garth laughed out loud as he was securing the horses and Kalina smiled. “I am sure,” she continued, “but I also do not believe in coincidences. When Garth told me about the witch who was interested in you, I vowed that I would look after you until you were capable of protecting yourselves.”
“So, if we decided we were capable of protecting ourselves, you wouldn’t stop us from leaving?” Arik asked.
“I would never stop you from going your own way,” Kalina declared adamantly. “Did Garth force you to come here? If he did, I will have words with him.”
“No,” Arik admitted, “he did not force us, although our choices were slim at the time.”
“Well, your choices are not much better now,” Kalina said, “but you are free to leave at any time. Before you decide to up and leave, though, let me give you some advice. I doubt that you boys have ever been out of Lorgo before, because you seem totally unaware of what is waiting for you out there. Garth can train you to take care of yourselves. He can teach you how to ride a horse, use a sword, be quieter in the forest, lay false trails, and read the trails of others. There is so much that Garth can teach you that I would think you foolish if you did not avail yourselves of the opportunity to learn from him, but the choice is yours. Should I bring you dinner, or will you be on your way?”
“As long as we are free to leave when we wish,” Arik said forcefully, “we will stay and appreciate your generosity.”
Garth strode over and stood before the boys. Reaching down slowly he took the sword and scabbard from Arik’s hand. “I can stitch the belt on this for you,” Garth uttered. “Unfortunately, I was in a bit of a hurry when I cut it loose.”
Arik let the sword go and Garth turned to Tedi and took his sword, as well. Kalina emerged from the wagon with several blankets, which she draped over the boys like a caring mother. “Slip out of your wet clothes and I will dry them over the fire,” Kalina added as she turned to prepare plates of dinner for Garth and the boys.
Tedi could smell the turkey and realized that it had been some time since he and Arik had eaten a meal. The boys managed to wiggle out of their clothes and Kalina collected them as she handed the boys mugs of hot coffee. Both boys shivered slightly as their skin finally realized that it was cold and wet. They pulled the blankets close around themselves as they sipped their coffee. After a short period of time, Garth came over and sat by the fire just as Kalina was bringing plates of food. Tedi tore into the turkey, turnips and some kind of green, leafy vegetable that he had never seen. The boys cleaned their plates quickly and Kalina gave them another serving of everything.
Arik could not believe it, but by the time they had finished dinner, the boys' clothes were dry and warm. They wiggled into their clothes under the blankets and eventually let the blankets drop from their shoulders. Garth finished mending the scabbards and returned the swords to the boys. “Tomorrow we will begin instruction on how to use those,” he commented.
“What about the Dark Riders?” inquired Arik. “Won’t they track us to here? Shouldn’t we be moving on?”
“They will first assess the damage that has been done to them,” smiled Garth as he stripped off his scabbard straps and shirt and refastened the sword to his back. “Then they will suspect that a large group ambushed their men and they will send for reinforcements. If we leave in the morning, we will be well ahead of them. As for them tracking us to here, it will not be as easy as they are used to. There are tricks to covering your path that I can explain to you when the time is right.”
Arik looked around the campsite and saw Kalina doing something at the back of the wagon, safely outside the range of hearing. “Garth,” he began, “you seem to be quite capable of taking care of yourself and you don’t seem to be too fond of Tedi and me. Why would you risk your life to save us and then offer to teach us your tricks? Surely, it is not just because Kalina thinks we are destined for greatness, whatever that means.”
Garth smiled grimly and stared at Arik. “Kalina is a great woman,” he said quietly. “If she sees something special in you two, then there is something special. Frankly, I see nothing but two fisherboys who have run away from home and wish to play at the games of men as if they knew the rules.”
“Your compassion is heartwarming,” snipped Tedi. “Perhaps, if you looked, you would see two young boys whose mothers were stolen from them and forced to leave their fathers because Dark Riders and bandits won't let them live in peace. Perhaps if you lost something or someone you love, you wouldn’t be so damn aloof about other people’s troubles.”
Garth’s face grew visibly taut and the veins of his temples and neck bulged considerably. He rose silently and walked across the campsite to a clear area well away from Kalina and the boys and whipped his sword out of the sheath on his back. Slowly he began moving his sword back and forth as if fighting some invisible foe. His arms and feet moved surely like the fine steps of a choreographed dance. The sword moved high and low, varying from sweeps to lunges, from checks to severs, slowly picking up speed until the blade became hard to focus on.
Kalina came out of the wagon with a tray of small, dried sweet cakes, which she brought to the boys. She looked over at Garth and sat next to the boys. “What were you talking about?” she asked.
“I get the feeling that Garth is not real happy about us being here,” remarked Tedi. “I told him that he should have more compassion for other people instead of only thinking about himself.”
Garth was moving faster now. His arms and feet began moving so fast that it appeared he was just jumping around at random, but closer inspection revealed that each stroke of his sword was centered on the same invisible foe. At a speed that Arik thought would make most people dizzy, Garth’s every movement was sure-footed and precise. While the hit with his sword might be high, low or in between, they all would have hit the invisible foe.
“You truly do not understand Garth,” Kalina said softly. “He has lost more than any man I know and he bears the responsibility for each and every loss. He does not dwell long on his own problems because the weight of them would crush him. Instead, he devotes his life to other people’s problems. He helps those who are incapable of helping themselves. Sometimes they are grateful, sometimes they are not, but always they think that their problems are the worst in the world. None of them have ever thought to ask about his problems, not that he would discuss them if anyone did ask.”
Kalina sighed and looked back at Garth. He was now fighting a circle of invisible foes, twirling round and round and varying the stroke so that no opponent could foretell the stroke that would be aimed at him. Sweat poured down his body in rivers, yet his breath appeared even and measured. Arik and Tedi stared at his rippling muscles and sure steps and were amazed at the variety of strokes he could deliver with the sword. Kalina rose and went back to the wagon.
“Perhaps, you spoke hastily,” Arik chided. “It did not appear to me that the man who killed ten Dark Riders that were after us was thinking only of himself.”
“He got me mad,” responded Tedi sheepishly. “He was treating us like little boys that had stolen some candy and gotten caught.”
“Maybe that is how we appear,” commented Arik. “What does he know of us? You tried to sneak into his camp and he scared you off. One sight of him in town and we both ran into the woods. Then he overheard me bragging about how quiet I was and I didn’t even know he was there. Finally, we get ourselves caught in a trap with no way out and we just ran, mindless of how we were going to escape. Maybe that is what we are, a couple
