swordplay.
The wagon shook slightly as Kalina exited the wagon on the opposite side from the boys. “You have been gone longer than is normally necessary,” Kalina could be heard saying. “Is there something amiss?”
“It is very puzzling,” said a voice that the boys recognized as Garth’s. “I am sure that someone is following us. All of the signs are there. They are not excellent trackers and stray off the path now and then, but there can be no mistaking that they follow us.”
“Can you tell who it is?” Kalina asked with a touch of worry in her voice.
“That is the puzzling part,” conceded Garth. “I circle around them to determine who they are and no one is there, yet I am positive that my skills are not failing me.”
Arik’s mouth dropped open at the statement. Arik had begun to believe that Garth could track a fly across the night sky with the skills and tricks he had been teaching the boys. For him to admit that someone was following them and he could not find them defied the imagination.
“How many days now?” Kalina asked.
“Three days,” Garth stated. “They seem to know where we stop each night, but they never come close enough for their fire to be discovered. “I have also varied our heading several times each day and always they follow. There are times when they lose our track, but they always manage to pick it up again with some uncanny luck.”
“How are the boys coming along?” Kalina asked, suddenly changing the subject.
“They spend way too much time resting and listening to other people’s conversations,” Garth said sternly.
Arik and Tedi snapped their heads up and saw Garth staring at them. They both scrambled to their feet. “It was not our intention to listen,” Arik spat out with a sheepish grin. “We were too tired to continue with our swordplay and you had not returned. We only meant to rest a while.”
“Tired, are you?” growled Garth. “If that doesn’t sound like a plea to cut some firewood, I’ve never heard one. Get moving.”
Tedi stood to argue and Arik ran into him as he turned to beat a hasty retreat. Both boys tumbled to the ground and when they finally untangled themselves, Garth was gone again.
Tedi rose and brushed himself off. “Why is he always so mean?” questioned Tedi. “We weren’t doing anything wrong and he gives us punishment. We already have more wood they we can possibly burn. I’m ready to be on my way.”
Arik chuckled and turned to his friend. “You just don’t listen that well,” smiled Arik. “One of the first days that we were with him, he described how the army handles new recruits. That is what he considers us. He is breaking us down to be obedient. When he is confident that we know how to follow orders, he will begin building us up to lead. I don’t think he means for us to lead, but that is the way the army taught him to train. Remember, he gets nothing out of training us. As you just pointed out, he doesn’t need the wood we are about to chop. We need the discipline and muscle building. He knows we are tired and he is forcing us to go beyond our own thoughts of endurance. Come on, it is not going to kill us.”
Tedi grumbled about never having volunteered for any army as he followed Arik towards the woodpile.
The next morning the wagon never moved. Garth started the boys off with their morning workout and after breakfast the training continued. Garth observed the boys’ archery skills and then gave them pointers on improving their accuracy as well as the speed required to reload another arrow. After archery practice, it was swordplay until the boys were exhausted. While they were recuperating he taught them tricks with a rope and the various type of knots and their uses. When they were somewhat refreshed it was back to swordplay. The next rest period was assigned to horse care and covering their tracks in the forest.
The routine continued until about an hour before dinner when Garth set them to more swordplay and disappeared. Garth returned just as Kalina was serving a dinner of pork and carrots with a green pea soup. Arik had downed the hog himself during one of the tracking sessions the day before and that had led to a lesson in butchering. The boys were almost too tired to eat. Every other day was broken up by the necessity of moving the wagon from one campsite to another, but this day had been brutal.
Garth sat down and took his plate from Kalina without a word. Everyone ate in silence until the meal was over. Garth, as usual, lit his pipe after dinner and gazed at the boys before he spoke. “Whoever they are, they did not move their camp today. It would appear that they wish to know where we are going.”
“Where are we going?” demanded Tedi. “Arik and I had plans to reestablish ourselves in another town, but since we have joined up with you, we have had no idea where we are heading.”
“Where were you heading?” Kalina asked.
Tedi glanced at Arik and the taller boy just shrugged. “We weren’t sure,” Tedi said. “Just some place south of Lorgo. Any town that would accept us as apprentices would have been acceptable.”
“Have you given any thought to changing your names?” Kalina inquired. “There can be little doubt that your names are now being circulated along the coast.”
Tedi blushed but stated defiantly, “Of course we have. Surely you do not think us so stupid as to announce ourselves in each village?”
“Certainly not,” Kalina replied dryly. “I think you should shave your face every morning until your facial hairs stiffen, then you should grow beards. It will make you look older.”
Now it was Arik’s turn to blush. Tedi at least had the start of some facial hair though it did not require any shaving, but Arik had not a hint of any. “I don’t think I could grow a beard,” admitted Arik.
“Sure you can,” Kalina insisted. “Follow my instructions and in a few weeks you will have a fine face of hair. The single, most important thing that you two can do to avoid close inspection is to be older and wiser. Garth’s lessons will help you only after the inspection has already been too close.”
“Why are the Dark Riders after us?” Tedi asked. “Master Clava related the tale that Garth mentioned to him, but it all sounds ridiculous.”
“The tale is not ridiculous,” Kalina stated sternly. “It is to be taken with deadly seriousness. The Dark One is real and his interest in children born in the year of the Collapse is real. If the Dark One can destroy certain children born that year, he will reign for a thousand years at which time the Great Demon, Alutar, will be released from his prison to rule forever. If he cannot locate these certain children, he can destroy all of the children born that year and still succeed in his goal. The threat is quite real.”
“How can he tell which children are the ones whom he seeks?” Arik asked.
“I am not sure,” sighed Kalina. “There are many prophecies that deal with the Collapse, or the Darkness as these times are called, but they are confusing at best. Tell me about your own family, Tedi. What do you know of your parents and their brothers and sisters?”
Tedi’s eyes narrowed and he stared at Kalina with barely concealed suspicion. “Why do you want to know about my family?” he asked.
Kalina met his gaze evenly. “Are you ashamed of your family?” she quipped, “or are you embarrassed that you do not know about them?”
“I am not ashamed of my family,” Tedi asserted. “I just want to know why you want to know. We know practically nothing about you and Garth and you expect us to tell you everything. You could be working for the Dark One for all we know. The fact that you killed some Dark Riders means nothing to me. If these children are as important as you say, I am sure that the Dark One would sacrifice some men to find the right children.”
“Fair enough,” Kalina smiled. “I look for anything that stands out from the ordinary. The necklace you are wearing is finely crafted and worth more than your entire town could scrape together. Yet you claim to be a simple fisherman’s son. I merely want to know how you came by it. If your uncles or aunts were wealthy nobles, it would not be so outstanding anymore. That is why I ask.”
“You still didn’t say who you and Garth are,” reminded Tedi.
“How many Dark Riders do you need us to kill before you will believe that we do not serve the Dark One?” asked Kalina. “A hundred? A thousand? Ten thousand? If you think we serve the Dark One, no number of dead Dark Riders will ever convince you. If we wanted you dead, you would have been dead a thousand times already. You will have to come to trust us for ourselves. If you are not there yet, then decisions will have to wait.”
“Hope that whoever is following us, allows us time to wait,” Garth remarked glumly.
