by Cody Loewen
Lost in my melancholy, the rest of the night passes uneventfully, until after what only seems like an hour or so, the first pink of dawn appears on the horizon. As darkness dissolves into lighter gray, it becomes easier to keep watch around us as the light slowly eliminates places for an enemy to hide. I left Rayfe sleep until the sun has fully appeared, and the day has officially started.
He opens his eyes almost immediately when I shake him awake, but without any of the fear and apprehension that I experienced. In one fluid motion he rolls out of the hammock and onto the branch next to me, without even grabbing a branch for support. Stretching his arms overhead, he rolls his neck from side to side and then nimbly jumps to another branch directly below. He descends like a squirrel, sure footed and without hesitation as he moves from branch to branch. Shaking my head in disbelief, I move to follow. Only I have to face the tree trunk and grasp each branch like the lifeline it is, so that my descent has a modicum of control. While I admire Rayfe’s surefooted ability, part of me wants to smack the cocky grin right off of his face when my feet finally touch the ground.
“Not many trees where you come from?”
“I had better things to do than climb trees all day,” I retort.
His grin takes over his face as he beams at me. He is truly loving all of this.
“What do you say we grab a drink and get to it?”
I nod, trying to absorb some of his confidence.
With no way of knowing how any of the other fighting pairs fared last night or how many are still in the trial, we employ the same level of caution as the previous day as we move through the forest, trying to determine our location in relation to the training grounds. We scavenge fruit and nuts from the plants around us to keep our stomachs full and our energy up as we travel. I suggest hunting or fishing in order to get some meat into our systems, but Rayfe shoots down that idea quickly, not wanting to risk the fire that would be necessary to prepare the food.
I know that he is right of course. For now, our most important task is to stay "alive" out here, and best way to do that is to remain unseen from the prying eyes of other initiates as well as the instructors who have yet to strike at us. However, as the day wears on, the allure of a hot meal begins to outweigh the risks.
“Shouldn’t we be trying to hunt down other initiates?” I ask Rayfe as we weave through the forest, continuing to collect little bits of food along the way. It has been almost a day since our last fight, and I’m starting to miss the feel of my sword in my hand and the rush of adrenaline that comes along with a fight.
“That would be one way to go about it,” he answers thoughtfully. “Effective, yes, if we can manage to get the drop on them every time, but also risky. If we go on the hunt to thin out the competition and end up ambushed by another group or something, then we put ourselves into a position to fail. A safer way to survive this is to be patient and let other groups fight amongst themselves, let time work for us instead of against us. I may be the best fighter this forest has ever seen, but even I know when to be cautious.”
He finishes with a wide grin and I smack him on the arm, unable to hide my own smile at his hubris. I nod at his words, though, seeing the wisdom in letting the others fight it out while we sit back unseen. I catch myself mentally drifting off as we walk, falling into a daze as I listen to the wildlife around me, and force myself back to the present, remembering the danger surrounding us, and the fact that one mistake could cost me my chances of becoming a Reaver.
It is so easy to lose yourself out here. All the noises of the forest, the aromas, the mottled light; it creates such a peaceful environment.
I focus my attention back on the trees around us, looking for signs of people, but like it has been for the whole day, I don’t see anyone. I let out a sigh at the boredom that has overtaken me. So much the for the excitement and adrenaline rush of fighting. The only excitement I have seen in the past 24 hours is a snake or two in the underbrush. I inhale, ready to suggest once more that we stop and hunt some meat for dinner once more, when Rayfe grabs my arm roughly, and yanks me toward him as he falls to the ground. I land hard on top of him, the air whooshing out of his lungs with the impact.
“What the-“ I start to protest, frustrated at the violent movement that caused me to end up on the ground, and I can feel blood welling up on my knee where I scraped it on something hard underneath me.
Before I can finish the question, though, a loud thud vibrates against a tree right where we were standing, as an arrow ricochets off the trunk. I barely have time to take in the red fletching on the shaft before Rayfe is yanking me back to my feet and dragging me along as he tries to escape our invisible enemy. We take cover behind a tree just as another arrow thuds against it, and this time I spot the tip of the bolt, which is heavily padded by fabric, to stop it from actually penetrating if it were to connect.
“One of the trainers,” I gasp breathlessly as Rayfe pulls me forward once more, covering ground before we dive behind another tree as a third bolt flies at us.
“I believe so,” Rayfe answers, somehow still breathing easily despite the running. “Unless one of the other initiates somehow made it out here with a bow and a full quiver. We need to circle back around and get behind him in order to stop the barrage. We have no chance if we maintain this distance, eventually one of us is going to get hit.”
“How are we going to do that without him seeing us?” I ask him confused. “We don’t even know where he is, and it’s obvious that he has eyes on us most of the time.”
“We need a little deception,” he replies with a mischievous look in his eye. “Think you can manage to dodge a few more arrows on your own for a little longer?”
I look at him incredulously, wishing he would just lay out his plan to me, but I eventually nod as we remain ducked behind the tree, trying to be as small as possible.
“Just keep doing what we have been doing so far. Don’t stay out in the open for too long. Run a few steps and dive behind a tree. You have to keep moving though. I’ll do the rest.”
With those confident words, he pulls me into a run once more, momentarily leaving the cover of the trunk, and narrowly avoiding yet another arrow as we slip behind a tree several yards away.
“Go,” he urges me, and I break from the cover, zig zagging forward again, and then again, repeating the process two more times, as I hear the arrows hit the trees just behind me every time. Knowing that I need to focus on my own survival and task right now, I force the thoughts of Rayfe from my mind and trust him to do whatever the hell it is that he is doing.
Two trees later, I gasp for air, trying to catch my breath, preparing to dart out once more. As I brace my feet to push off for the next tree in the line, Rayfe’s voice stops me.
“You can come out now, Lykara. It’s clear.”
I push out from behind the tree, looking behind me, following the sound of his voice. Rayfe stands easily next to one of the instructors, who holds a bow loosely in one hand and a quiver with a couple of red-fletched arrows remaining slung over his shoulder. I make my way to where they stand, curious about exactly had happened, something I plan to ask Rayfe when we are alone once more.
“Good work, you two,” The instructor praises us as he slings the bow over his shoulder, freeing his hands. “You worked as a team against an unknown enemy and came out victorious, but your trial is far from over. Stay alert. Keep working together and you might just make it back.”
Without another word, the trainer turns and disappears back into the trees, leaving Rayfe and me alone once more.
“What just happened?” I ask him, still in the dark on exactly how we passed the challenge with the instructor and his bow.
“I climbed the tree when you started running,” he explains to me with a grin. “I moved from tree to tree until I was directly above him. He never saw it coming. When I jumped down right behind him and put my sword to his neck, you should have seen him just about jump out of his boots.”
I let
out a laugh at the thought of one of our instructors looking scared even for a moment.
“Good thinking,” I say to him, serious once more. “I don’t think we would have survived this if you hadn’t thought of that. I thought we were sitting ducks.”
“Well that’s why they paired us together,” he says to me with that cocky grin still plastered on his face, and I know that something stupid is about to come out of his mouth. “So you could follow me around and look pretty, and I could be the brains of our little two person operation.”
Already expecting my reaction, Rayfe turns his shoulder to fend off the punch he knows is coming. I just hope he doesn’t notice the bright red on my cheeks as I quickly turn away.
“Now, let’s have a look at that knee.”
I glance down at my leg, which I had forgotten about, to see the red stain of blood coating my shin from knee to ankle, the scrape obviously much deeper than I had originally thought. The dull throb of pain that I had been ignoring turns into a pulsing drum beat as the adrenaline from the encounter wears off. Rayfe guides me to a seat on a fallen log, and then crouches down next to me, inspecting my knee before nodding to himself and catching my eyes.
“It’s scraped pretty deeply. Because of all the blood, it looks worse than it really is. Let’s find some water to clean you up.”
He helps me to my feet and offers me his arm as we make our way forward in search of a stream. While I don't want to admit it, I am grateful to have Rayfe to lean on as the pain continues to beat its rhythm. Fortunately, the forest is teaming with small creeks and streams, so it doesn’t take long to find water. I take off my boots, roll my pant legs up past my knees, and wade into the water, watching the blood drift away in swirls of red. Once I have cleaned the wound, I make my way back to shore, where Rayfe is waiting for me.
He smears a greasy, smelly poultice he has made from plants growing near the stream onto my wound. Ripping one of the sleeves off his shirt, he quickly wraps the material around my knee. As he ties off the bandage, Rayfe looks up and catches my eye.
“That should do it. You will feel right as rain tomorrow.”
I hope he is right. Right now, the incessant throbbing makes it hard to believe. With the sun turning the horizon red and gold, we decide to prepare for night once more.
We opt to move away from the stream as it would be a logical place for other initiates to look for us. Instead, we move deeper into the forest, where the trees grow so thick the trunks are almost touching. Once again, Rayfe climbs into the canopy, but this time, he stops to help me navigate the branches. Just as he did the previous night, Rayfe fashions a bed of woven vines within the branches of the trees and motions me forward.
I shake my head. “I will take first watch tonight.”
“Are you sure? You need to rest.”
“Yes. I am not tired right now. Besides, my knee is going to keep me up for awhile anyway, so I might as well take watch.”
He gives me a nod before climbing into the hammock and promptly falling asleep, trusting me completely to guard his back.
As I watch him sleep, I can’t help but feel a little inadequate. I am so out of my element out here. Our success so far has all been because of Rayfe. His wilderness skills are keeping us fed. His knowledge of the forest is keeping us safe at night. He took out the instructor that was hunting us. What have I actually contributed?
Nothing. In fact, I am more of a liability at this point with my knee.
I shake my head, trying to dispel the negativity. We are a team and I will play my part, someway, somehow.
This time when I open my eyes to Rayfe’s gentle shake and the light of day shining through the canopy, I don't feel the fear I felt last time. The insects and birds have begun their conversations for the day, filling the air with chirps and chitters. The scent of the evergreen trees fills my nose, and the warm breeze ruffles my hair. I sit there, relaxed, enjoying the symphony that the forest is playing with my senses, until Rayfe’s voice brings me back to reality.
“What do you say we try to figure out where we are at today?” he asks as he hands me my breakfast of berries and nuts. “It has been two days now since the trial started. Soon, we will need to begin heading back toward camp, and I would like to know where that is exactly before the time comes to actually return.”
I nod in agreement but know that I will be absolutely no use on that front, relying solely on him to recognize something around us.
“Let’s keep moving through the trees and hopefully I will find a landmark or something that helps us figure it out.”
Rayfe climbs down from our perch, more slowly this time so he can help me if I need assistance. My knee gripes a little when I hit the ground, but not as much as I expected. That poultice must be working. After several hours of stealthily making our way through the trees, trying to avoid any unwanted attention, Rayfe still hasn't found anything that could possibly give us hints about our location, and we pause for a short rest.
“You had said you had a backup plan just in case you couldn't find anything,” I remind him as we eat some of the food we have gathered along the way. “It seems like this strategy we are currently taking isn’t getting us anywhere, and I feel like it is time we try something else. What is this backup plan?”
“I need to get as up high in the air as I can,” he replies. “I'm hoping the high vantage point up in the treetops may provide me better sight to the area around. If nothing else, I may be able to spot Sylvestra from here and estimate our location based off that and where I believe the training grounds to be. I remember the route that I took from my home to the training grounds, and if we can get somewhere close to that trail, I will know where I am. Find me the tallest tree you can.”
I look at the trees surrounding us, each of them seeming just as tall as the rest. I think about the effort that it took for me to lift myself up into the branches of the one that we slept in last night, and I’m not sure how I could possibly climb an even bigger one.
“This one will do,” Rayfe says, patting the trunk of an enormous tree several yards away from me.
I look up, craning my neck to gaze up into the canopy. The tree looks tall, but I’m not confident that it is really that much taller than any of the other ones.
I need to trust him, I tell myself. He hasn't been wrong in the forest yet.
I make my way over to the tree, craning my neck once more, to look up in the treetops, trying to gauge its height versus the trees next to it. They still all look the same to me. All I do know is that those branches get smaller and smaller the higher you climb. Not wanting to let Rayfe down, I reach for the nearest branch to begin the ascent into the canopy, still unsure that I'll be able to make the climb so far up into the sky.
“I'll be back before you know it,” he says to me with the grin, apparently reading my mind from my facial expression. “Stay here on the ground and keep watch. Try to stay out of sight though. I won't be able to get back to you very fast if you end up in trouble.”
I give him an appreciative nod, much more comfortable staying on the ground while he climbs. Bendng his knees, Rayfe jumps up to the first branch, climbing through the branches far faster than I would have ever been able to. When he disappears from sight within the canopy of leaves, I turn my attention back to the forest around us. I don't know how long he will be up there, and I don't want to let him down by being caught unaware. I began to make a slow circuit around the surrounding area, moving as quietly as possible. Mimicking the movements I have been watching him make for the last few days, I try to move silently through the underbrush, and find satisfaction in the fact that I am already making a noticeably smaller amount of noise as I move, even though I still sound like a giant stomping around compared to Rayfe’s silent steps.
A voice seemingly coming from right behind me makes me almost jump right out of my boots. Instinctively, I dive behind a tree, unsure if I've already been spotted, and try to catch sight of the person attached to the voice. A sec
ond voice carries over the breeze. It must be another pair of initiates headed our way.
I swivel my head to the side and spot them as they walk toward me. Holding my breath, I try to make myself as small as possible, flattening my body against the tree. Hopefully they will pass on by. While I could catch them off guard from my hiding place if they passed close enough, I don’t trust my fighting abilities enough to take both of them out before they reacted enough to put up a fight. The last thing I want is to get myself taken out of the trial while Rayfe is up in the air trying to figure out how to get us back to the camp.
Out of the corner of my eye, I spot movement from the other direction, and as I turn that way, I recognize Caria and her partner, Xander, making their way through the forest, headed right for the other two initiates. I duck into the brush, now knowing with certainty that I would have no chance in a conflict between myself and four fighters. Almost immediately, the two pairs of initiates spot each other and rush forward to engage in battle. I smile with a weird sense of pride as I watch Caria duck a swing of one of her enemies and sneak in a quick thrust of her dagger at his throat, bringing a quick end to her conflict.
She runs toward Xander, obviously hoping to aid him and finish their fight as fast as possible, but I watch her catch her foot on a root on the ground and go down hard with a pained yell, a hand reaching for her ankle in obvious agony.
Wishing I could do something, but knowing I dare not, my attention turns to Xander and the man he is fighting, curious to see how the other half of the battle would play out. The conflict seems to go on forever, the combatants evenly matched, but eventually Xander gains the upper hand and deals the killing blow to his enemy. An instructor appears as if from nowhere and immediately leads the two defeated men away from the area, leaving Xander and Caria by themselves in the forest with me watching from a distance, still hidden from the two of them, unsure of how they would react to my presence. Xander takes a look at Caria, still down on the ground, obviously unable to stand, and shakes his head in frustration.
