by Travis Kerr
"He's fine," Raiste assured her. "Trick must have been worried and overreacted. Drom just pushed himself to his limit is all. After a little rest, and maybe a bit to eat, he'll be up and around again in no time at all."
"He doesn't look good," she pointed out.
"He's just exhausted himself. He kept his magic up for an hour or more, which is absolutely amazing in my opinion. I wouldn't have expected him to last that long after a year of practice. Certainly not after only just learning how to use it."
"Well, as long as everything is OK, I'll go back to fishing," she said. She looked directly at Trick, who was dancing back and forth nervously on the back of the couch. "And as for you, don't come out bothering me unless there's really something to worry about. You had me thinking that we were in danger."
Trick chirped a reply, though what he might have been trying to say was anyone's guess. Not even Raiste, who understood the sapphire dragonling most of the time, could say for certain what he was trying to tell her.
Probably he’s trying to tell her that he was only trying to help, Drom thought.
He could still see and understand what was going on around him, even if he did have trouble interacting with anything at the moment.
Raine left the room, presumably to go back to her fishing as she had told them she would. Raiste left as well, though Drom had no idea where the man might have been going. Trick plopped down on the couch behind him. Even if his other friends were leaving him alone for the moment, it was obvious that the small creature had no intention of going away until it was certain he was all right. Trick wasn't nearly as convinced as the rest of his friends that he was fine. Only a few moments later, however, Raiste returned with an orange, which he peeled for his friend, handing him the slices one at a time.
"Here, you should eat something," the assassin told him. Drom couldn't voice a reply, but took the bits of food willingly enough. The small wedges helped revitalize him quite a bit, much more than he would have thought. After the first few bites he found his voice once again.
"Thank you," he said groggily. The worst of the lethargy had left him, though he still felt drained.
I could sleep for a week if Raiste and Raine would let me, he thought.
"No problem," Raiste answered simply. "From now on, try not to overdue it so much if you don’t have to. You're not a light-weight after all. I can't carry you home every time you wipe yourself out. In a few more days I'll probably be leaving for Miani don't forget, and I don't think Raine could have carried you in here."
"Sorry. I just wanted to see how far I could go," Drom told him. "You told me that I should know my limits."
"True, but you don't want to push yourself too far too quickly. Granted, you can't kill yourself by pushing to far, but you can still get hurt."
"Well, now I know how long I can go before dropping," Drom said, his voice still somewhat slurred.
"For now, yes. If you continue to train with your magic, you'll probably get stronger. Pushing yourself to the point of collapse could potentially have the opposite effect. You should take a few days off before practicing again. Maybe go fishing with Raine, or perhaps we can start jarring food for the coming winter. You shouldn't do anything too strenuous for the rest off the day, and don't use your magic for at least the next three. How do you feel now? Do you feel any of your strength coming back?"
Drom shook his head. "The only thing I feel like doing right now is sleeping. I've never felt so tired."
"Resting would probably do you a lot of good right now," Raiste commented in agreement. "I'm going to head into the kitchen and get things ready for us to store away the fruits and vegetables we gathered over the past few days. Call me if you need anything." That said the assassin headed out of the room.
Trick chirped once, softly, and lay his head on Drom's shoulder, as if to say that he would watch over him for the group. Drom chuckled. How much the dragonling understood he couldn't be certain of, but if he needed anything he sensed that the small creature would get someone for him.
He tried to stand, hoping to be able to reach the book he had been reading, but finally had to give up. He just didn't have the energy to move. Trick chirped at him, a sound that Drom interpreted as an inquiry, though what the question might be he didn't know.
"I don't suppose you could get my book for me?" Drom chuckled. Of course he didn't actually expect the creature to know what he meant.
Surely Trick won't understand me any more than I can understand him, Drom thought, Regardless of how much Raiste thinks otherwise.
Trick stood and looked over to the small table between two of the chairs, where his book still sat from his reading the night before. Unexpectedly he flew over to the table, looking down at the book, then back at Drom. He chirped twice.
Perhaps he really does understand me, Drom thought. Certainly the creature had seen him reading it over the past few days, but Drom never expected him to actually know what it was.
"That's the one," Drom said encouragingly. "Bring it over here if you can please."
The book was not heavy, but the dragonling was not very large either. For a moment Drom thought that Trick wasn't going to be able to carry the book, but of course he had already seen the creature carry fish that weren't much smaller than that book was. With a little effort he managed to get the book in the air, and a few moments later deposited it in Drom's waiting hands.
"Thank you Trick," Drom said to the dragonling. "I don't think I would have been able to get it on my own. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I never would have believed you could understand me that well."
Trick didn't give so much as a chirp in answer. Drom knew that it wasn't that the dragonling didn't understand him; his small friend had just proven that. It was more likely that Trick just didn't think that the comment justified an answer. With Trick's head once again resting on his shoulder, he began reading.
At some point in time I must have fallen asleep, he realized when he woke some time later.
Trick still rested his head on his shoulder. He could tell that the dragonling was still wide awake. The book had fallen onto his chest, still opened to the page he had been reading. He dog-eared a corner of the page and placed the book down beside him.
Carefully, he tried to stand, not certain if his legs would even work yet. Trick removed his head as soon as he began moving. Before his nap he hadn't really been able to move much at all, and he had no reason to believe that the small amount of rest he had gotten would have helped.
Thankfully, though they felt like rubber underneath him, his legs still succeeded in holding his weight. He carefully staggered his way to the kitchen.
"Hey, glad to see you're finally awake," Raine said as he came in. She was cleaning her day's catch, over a dozen fish from a species he didn't recognize, with deft strokes of her sharp knife. Nearly half of the fish were already cleaned and deposited in a tall wooden barrel filled with salt. "You've been asleep for nearly half the day."
Half a day!? I doesn’t even feel like I slept an hour!
"Where did Raiste disappear to?" he asked. The assassin had said he was going to go into the kitchen and start getting the jars ready to store the fruits and vegetables that would spoil quickly. He had expected to find Raiste here, and it certainly looked like Raiste had been jarring food while he slept. Several dozen jars were filled and sealed already, but the man himself was nowhere in sight.
"He's getting his things ready to head out," she informed him. "The feed for the horses is starting to run low, and Raiste doesn't want to start using up the grains you two gathered earlier. He's going to have to take them to the city soon. He'll probably be leaving either tomorrow or the day after. We had talked about it while you were out. Now that you can use your magic, or know how to turn it on at least, he figures it's time he gets going. I can't disagree with him."
"I was hoping he would be here for a little longer at least. I only just learned how to bring out my magic, and we still don't really know
much about it."
"He told me to stay with you when you're practicing with it," she told him. "He doesn't want you doing anything with it or at least a couple of days. With what he told me about it, I'm surprised your up already."
"Barely," he admitted. "I'm still pretty drained."
"He said you would be. Let me guess, you felt like proving yourself, and so you pushed yourself beyond your limits? You should know better," she scolded. "So did you get that stupidity out of your system?"
"Definitely," he assured her. "At least now I know what my limits are, so I can practice without coming to close to the edge."
"Glad to hear it, seeing as how there's no way I could carry you back into the house. So you know, if you bring yourself that close to the edge while I'm training with you, I'll just have to leave you out there," she teased.
"I'll keep that in mind," he said dryly.
With nothing else to do, he stayed in the kitchen helping Raine with her catch until they had finished cleaning all of them, which didn't take them long. She had already finished half of them before he had come in, and it only took them a few minutes for each one. In less than fifteen minutes they had finished with the last of them. Without more work left to do in the kitchen until dinner, the two headed out into the living room.
Raiste joined them a short time later. He wasn't carrying anything with him.
Whatever he was packing must still be waiting for him in his room, Drom thought.
He walked over to the chair he sat in most nights, picking up the book he had been reading the night before. Like most of the others he had been reading since they arrived at the home, this book was also a history on mages from the past. It had the dark tan color of old wood, with deep red, raised letters on the cover.
"How are you feeling?" he asked Drom once he had settled himself.
"Better," Drom answered. "Raine tells me that you'll be leaving tomorrow."
"Tomorrow or the day after, depending on how things are going with you between now and then. Something has to be done about the horses, and we need to know how much effort the mages are putting into finding us. The fact that Bloodheart was using a dragon to hunt for us doesn't bode well, though the guards didn't seem to be looking all that closely. I don't know if he's trying to keep things quiet, or if the orders he sent his guards just hadn't kept pace with us. It could just be that the guards received their orders, but were too lazy to look properly. I would rather not take any chances. I'm certain that they won't notice me if I'm disguised as Grant, the old man I created after we left the city. Even if they are looking for me as far as Miani, they won't be looking for him. I'll sell the animals, gather a bit of information, and come straight back."
"How long do you think you'll be gone?" Drom asked. He knew that Miani shouldn't be too far, but he wasn't certain exactly how far it might be.
"At least a month, maybe two," Raiste answered. "It depends on how long it takes me to gather information. I'll try to return by boat if I can. As you've seen, we're surrounded by water out here. If we had a boat, it would be easier for us when it's time to leave again in the spring or summer, depending on how long we decide to stay."
"Well, try not to be gone for too long," Raine said with a smile of amusement. "I don't want to be stuck babysitting Drom all winter."
Gee, thanks.
"As if I need watching," Drom retorted.
"You certainly needed watching today," she reminded him, only slightly joking.
Drom refused to comment further. He knew that she was only baiting him, and had no intention of letting it bother him. He had already expected his friends to tease him, but figured he probably had it coming. He should have known better than to push himself as far as he had.
Of course, I don’t think that Raiste would have done anything differently if he had been in my place, he thought.
Still, he did need to know his current limitations. Should he need to use his magic in a fight anytime soon, which he hoped was unlikely, he would need to know how far he could go without suffering. As Raiste had pointed out before, passing out in the middle of a fight was certain to get him killed, as well as putting everyone fighting with him at risk. Better to find those limits now, when he was relatively safe, than to find them out the hard way later on.
For the most part, the group relaxed for the rest of the day. While Drom had recovered some from his heavy use of his magic, he was still weak, and tired quickly. Before they stopped completely, Raiste had Drom assist him in bringing up the jars that were still in storage.
After dinner Drom went straight to his bed, not staying up to read as he had been on most other nights. Even with his midday nap, he was still exhausted. He was sound asleep within seconds of his head hitting the pillow.
Chapter fourteen
Two days later Raiste set out as planned, heading for the port city of Miani. Trick flew in long, lazy circles above him as he led the horses away in a long, single file line. He had saddled the first three horses, tethering each animal to the saddle of the one in front of it, and guided the first one himself.
Drom was momentarily confused as Raiste headed out to the west, recalling belatedly that his friend had told him that the Hut only had one path in. Raiste would have to follow that path for some time, he realized, not turning east toward Miani until he reached the road. He didn't know if the path might split sometime sooner. He hoped it would, otherwise Raiste was going to have to go far out of his way before being able to go in the direction he wanted, but he refrained from asking.
Now he understood completely why Raiste wanted to get a boat. Rowing was slower and more strenuous than walking, but if it cut a hundred miles off of your trip, it would certainly make a difference. Also the boat would not limit them to one direction in or out only. He didn't think it was likely that they would have to leave in a hurry, but having options was never a bad thing.
All the food that needed to be stored had been taken care of the day before, and Drom found himself with very little to do. His strength had returned, for the most part at least, however he wasn't ready to try his magic again just yet. Raiste had suggested he wait for at least three days before using it again, and he thought it best to take his friend's advice.
He practiced his techniques for perhaps an hour, without the use of his magic. Without its aid his movements were much slower, and he had to control Ocean's hand's full weight, but he preferred it that way. By practicing that way it would built up his strength, he believed, and if Raiste was right, building his strength would also build his stamina, allowing him to use his magic for longer periods of time.
The knowledge he had gained from using his magic, the technique that had developed while he had used its power, stayed with him, even though the magic itself was dormant. This allowed him to practice with the new fighting style as if he was using the magic. He couldn’t use the weapon with the same sort of ease that he could while his magic infused him, but the technique was still present. He wiped the sweat from his skin once the workout was finished and considered what to do next.
He thought about cutting them more firewood for the colder days they might have that winter, but decided against it. Technically winter was already upon them, and yet so far the temperature hadn't dropped as low as he would have expected, even during the night. They had replenished their already fair supply several days before, and had barely used any of it. They had no need for more, at least not anytime soon.
Instead, he decided to join Raine, who had gone back to her fishing shortly after Raiste had left. She had considered watching him practice, but in the end decided that she was not really needed, as long as he was not going to use his magic. He wasn't really certain why, day after day, Raine still fished, even though they already had enough to last her for several weeks. With the meat from the game she had hunted, they had enough to last all winter long, even if Raiste returned sooner than expected.
He didn't have to go far. Walking toward the back of the building he spotted h
er quickly, lounging on one of the long wooden benches sitting on the dock. She had some sort of object in her hands, presumably the gear she used to fish with. Drom had seen her leave them to go fishing several times, and had even seen her fishing from their camps once or twice, but he had never really paid any attention to what she had used before. Now, with nothing else to distract him, he found the strange device quite interesting.
In her hands was flat piece of wood, deeply grooved on the top and bottom, but carved in a way that didn't leave any sharp edges. The reason was plainly clear. Some sort of thick string was wrapped around that board, and any sharp edges would almost certainly have cut through it. Part of the line had been unwound from the wood, and now extended out into the water. Some distance away, far out into the water, a bright red object floated on the surface. It appeared that the cord was attached to it.
“Mind if I join you?” he asked her as he walked out onto the dock. He spotted several posts along the outside edge of the dock’s floor. At some point this dock had been covered by a roof of some sort, protecting those that were underneath it. Now the floor under him, and a few benches, were all that remained.
“Feel free,” she answered, gesturing to a second bench nearby.
These benches are not actually made of wood, he realized, or if they are they are so heavily coated that it doesn't really matter.
They were both painted bright white, hanging freely from a chain attached to a beam from above, allowing them to swing back and forth if the person sitting on them so desired.
He had seen something like this before, he realized, though it took him several minutes to recall where. The painting in his room, the one he had seen when he first arrived, had been of a woman sitting on a bench much like this one.
Perhaps even one of these very benches, he thought.
A sudden movement on the water broke into his train of thought. The bright red object in the water bobbed slightly, then started weaving back and forth, as something moved it from underneath. Raine watched it intently, waiting for some signal that Drom did not know. He never needed to ask. The object shot under the water, disappearing completely, and Raine pulled hard on the string from her end.
