Chapter 25-Endless Toil
The sweat dripped off Idus like rain. Before they had started, his entire body had ached, but now it felt as though it was on the breaking point. He had been hacking away at the solid rock for more than an hour, with very little visible progress showing in the rock face. In the cold morning air, he had long since ditched his shirt, and was now trying to do everything he could to just keep going. He had slowed the frequency of his strokes, trying to keep an aura of strength around him, more to build his own confidence then to show Gregory that he wasn’t tired.
Gregory had long since stopped talking and was now staring out into the dark sea, swelling the water around him with his staff, as though playing with the water. Every so often Idus would stop for a moment to regain some strength, and he would find Gregory standing motionless next to the water, muttering small words to himself. It was at these moments that Gregory would almost always turn and smile encouragingly at Idus. After these moments, Idus would straighten himself upright and again commence his would-be demolition of the wall.
Whenever he restarted, his heart started racing, and he felt something push against his back as though in an attempt to break it. He had gone a long time before he took his first break, but now as he continued, he found the recurring breaks to come at progressively smaller time intervals. Every time he raised the pick, his dead arms grew even more tired. His strokes began to be less and less powerful, until it barely seemed to Idus, as though he was hitting the rock at all. He felt like he could go on no more. He let his pick fall out of his hands, as he slumped onto the ground. Tears filled his eyes as he thought of how helpless he truly was. He groaned hoping to get some kind of pity from Gregory, but as he turned to look at him, he found something else was captivating all his interests at the moment.
A large wave was cresting towards the shore. It grew progressively larger and larger as it headed straight for the beach they were on. Idus stood up, suddenly regaining his strength, but as he stood, he saw something on the top of the wave. It was Irgen. He lay unconscious and rather waterlogged on top of the wave.
As the wave approached the shore, it slowed down and slowly diminished in size until it was just big enough to wash onto the shore leaving Irgen on the dry land, next to Gregory. He surveyed Irgen with a cautious eye. He stooped down low and felt for a pulse. Idus stumbled over towards the two of them, wondering what had happened. Gregory looked up and said,
“He’ll be ok, but I think for now you two should be done.” He had a pained look as he said this. “I am sorry for having to cause the two of you such pain, but there is no other way, you must learn to defend yourselves. I am afraid there will be many more days like this one. You must continue until you complete your tasks, but for now let’s go back to the castle.”
He clapped his hands, and a shimmering, blue stretcher provided by the water around them materialized, Irgen’s clothes wrapped themselves back around his body, and they began their trek back up to the castle. The sun had begun to peak its head over the horizon now, and the veil that had covered the world around them disappeared with the night. Idus gasped as the gorgeous scene around them revealed itself to their view. Large peaks rose behind the castle, while wide rolling fields sprawled out across the landscape beside them. They rolled on as far as the eye could see. Beautiful rows of wheat and barley rose into the air in the distance. Far away, Idus thought he could descry the resemblance of a road or a highway, but he could not tell.
Soon their path turned, as they reached the zenith of the hill before them stood the castle in all its splendor in the red light of morning. They continued walking in silence. Gregory was too lost in his own thoughts to say anything, and Idus was too tired to even formulate a word, but as they approached the gate a high-pitched, worried voice from above met them.
“What happened Gregory?” Gregory froze as he looked upwards at the sound of the questioning shout. He found two women staring down at him. One was Jennifer and the other was Helen, and they were both looking quite frantic.
Gregory began chewing his bottom lip as he searched for an answer that would calm the girls down. “It is alright, they are both fine and performed marvelously. They both failed at their tasks, but that is to be expected, it is only their first day.” He motioned towards Idus, and they began walking towards the gate. Idus could make out the somewhat choked sobs of the two women. He smiled at the thought of them. The gate swung open and they found an unusually busy courtyard in front of them. They heard footsteps above and knew that Jennifer and Helen were on their way down. Gregory cleared his throat, knowing he was about to be grilled with questions.
A large crowd of Knights stood blocking the gates. Alexander stepped forward, “Already working the kids to death eh?” He smiled amiably before continuing. “Gregory, I know Thomas put you in charge of training, but we need to work together in order to give the brothers the best training they can get. It cannot just be a solo operation by you. We need to know what is going on as well.” Gregory looked thoughtfully back at him.
“You are right, but there are some things which must be done by the kids themselves. Some things which we cannot help them with and these should be their first lessons. They need to gain independence from us and from every other clan. There is no way around it. Therefore, I am sorry that I did not inform you about their training this morning, but they did not need a whole crowd of us. It was merely them struggling against themselves, and although they did not accomplish their task, they did prove to me that they have very strong wills. A trait I value immeasurably.
Once again I am sorry, but tonight if you wish, once they are rested… You and Brown may begin to teach them the art of the sword.” Then without another word, Gregory pushed his way through the jostling, noisy crowd, with Irgen floating behind him, and Idus trailing behind them.
After the long ever-arduous trip up the stairs, Idus once again found himself on the fifth floor, and once again, he found himself disappear into the soft white sheets. His aching body was at ease almost at immediately in this bed. The darkness came sweeping back and enveloped him, as he fell asleep.
The Brothers Tuerl & The Staffs of Zeus Page 25
