Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Dreamers & Legends ❯ Trials of the Wise ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Master Tin Dall showed them their rooms and left them alone for the rest of the night. So they polished their weapons and laid out their sleeping gear. Gnal was feeling uneasy about this whole thing. Why would she bring them all the way out here and do nothing but tell them a story that is passed to all the kids who reach manhood? When were they going to learn something, all this waiting stuff was making him agitated.

"Kitan, there's something going on here, she's hiding something that she doesn't want us to know" Gnal said roling on his side "I think we should wait for her to fall asleep and then-"

"What?" Kitan interrupted "tie her up and interogate her? No lets wait until tomorrow and see what happens. Who knows maybe before we leave here she'll just tell us."

Gnal sighed and rolled back the other way to face the window "man, you're such a goody-to-shoes. Just once couldn't you be more daring and be on the wild side?"

Kitan ignored it as Gnal just letting his emotions get the best of him, yet again, one day they would get them in to trouble with someone in the village he thought to himself. The next day came far too early for them when Master Tin Dall threw a bucket full of water on them and told them to get dressed and meet her outside. They did as they were told and met her outside after scarfing down a small bite of bread and rabbit meat they had caught last night.

Once outside they looked around for her but she was no where to be found. Things were too quiet, instinctively they drew their weapons and got ready for anything that came out at them. It was silent for what seemed like hours but it was only seconds before a small pebble flew with great speed and force at Gnal. He dodged it and smacked away the nextone that was aimed at his knee. Kitan also was under attack but not by pebbles. He was being bombarded by small pieces of wood that were sharpened into slender throwing knives. They continued to protect themselves but they weren't fast enough to dodge them all. Once the attack seemed to die down they examined their wounds. Gnal had a few that had bruised his arms and upper legs, he also had one that hit the side of his head. He must not have felt or saw the blood that trickled down his head because it was in his blind spot. Kitan on the other hand had many small cuts and many wood slivers embedded into him just under the surface of the skin. Their master dropped from her hiding place and spoke with a sarcastic tone.

"At least you two pieces of rock for brains can hold your own, But what I wanted to know was how you work on your own. Kitan you continued to try to protect Gnal and thus caused what happened to you happen. Everything I threw at you was intended for him and you fell for my trap." she walked over to them and handed a small damp cloth to them for their wounds "what we are going to do for the next three months is train the two of you to try and not act and think like a bunch of rocks. By the time you are ready, you will be more like me. More agile, stealthy, and yes stronger in both mind and body"

They looked at each other, exchanged confused glances, then looked back at her. "What the, are you crazy?! You nearly kill us just under a day and a half ago" Gnal yelled at her "then on top of that, you tell us to come here,without time for us to get at least some rest, and then you continue to beat us with sticks and stones?"

"Yes. That sounds about right. Oh don't forget I gave you a roof over your head and goin to feed you ingrates while we're here" she replied coolly

he took a deep breath and let it out as if to say more and then said "alright, just wanted to make sure that I got the story right for when the people back home write something on our tombstones to remember us by" he finished raising his voice a little at the end emphasizing the tombstone. She let out a hearty laugh that could only come from her gut. then drew her weapon. They got ready for her to attack but all she did was flip it a few times and hurled it at the log just a few feet from the cabin's door.

"Your training program will go like this. The first month you will train your mind, a warrior must be able to put himself into his enemies position, to avoid unneccesary casualties. The next month you will do weight trainging, warriors don't last long if they cannot avoid their attackers." she said as she walked closer to them so they were within arms reach "Finally you will then spend the last month sparring. With me, each other, depends. On how I feel maybe,just maybe I will show each of you a nice little something I picked up over the years" she said with a very mischievious grin on her face.

Gnal moved closer and whispered "ten tirpins say its something she picked up from her late husband" then let out a loud "Oww, what the hell! Why don't you ever hit him for a change!" rubbing his shoulder. She had thrown a swift punch at him hitting him in the shoulder as she walked past him, not stopping to pay him any more attention she wanted to.

"Because he at least knows when and where to make such comments, and because he does he knows not to say them in mixed company" she retorted to him already feet from the cabin "Now I want you to try and find your center. When a warrior is in the heat of battle all he thinks of is how he can win. He has no time to think about the after effects of his actions until they have already been made. By then its too late. You two rocks for brains on the other hand are being trained by me, that will not happen to you. Finding your center will calm your mind, it will make things even in the heat of battle become clear, and that's what will make you better than the run of the mill peasant who thinks he can use a weapon."

For the next thirty days Kitan and Gnal trained furiously to train their minds so they could put them in their enemies head, so they could act like them, move like them, and hopefully learn to avoid the traps of their enemies. It had been a month and all they had done was reflect to themselves, think and more thinking. Gnal had grown tired of sitting on top of the waterfall and looking out into the horizon and just watch the sun rise and then set many hours later. It wasn't all useless, Kitan spent the time going through his techniques. When he was younger him and Gnal would always spar together and after they rested they would go through the basic techniques, and that would always calm him. At the moment he was sitting in Slumber of the Sloth. That is where he places the blades criss-crossed on his lap and focuses on his surroundings, making him more aware to his surroundings. Swiftly and quietly he rose to his feet and began the technique known as Striking Scorpion. this was where he jumped into the air and attempt to throw his opponent off gaurd by lashing with one blade in a semi circle and thrusting the other like a tail of a scorpion striking its food. unbeknownst to him, his master was watching him go through the basic and some of the more advanced techniques. He sharply turned and began the technique known as Moons Eclipse. Before finishing his sharp turn he started arcing both blades as if outlining the moon in front of him. He then jumped forward and in mid air twisted himself so the blades twisted so they made continueous circles in the air. Before he landed he finished the move with a horizontal slash where one went left and the other right, causing any opponent no matter how much skill they had, they would take an injury that could be fatal of they didn't know how to gaurd against it. When he rose to take a breather he heard a faint clapping getting louder. He turned and looked around to try and find out where it was coming from.

"You have talent, I am surprised" she said walking towards him. "I am even more surprised by how much the two of you learn and have taken from my training, its just with you never being on time I could never gauge where you were among my other students" she continued "and now that I have you all the time I have figured out that you have far surpassed them, not just in strength but also in mental prowess and stamina. I watched you just now and I saw very few openings in how you were practicing."

"What do you mean?" Kitan retorted, somewhat taken back by even thinking he had an opening in his attacks "and what do you mean by 'mental prowess and stamina'?"

"I mean you think moves ahead of your opponent, mind you not enough against me, and you move with such speed that you execute them with such precision it makes it that much harder to block or parry against let alone dodge your attacks. Now I want you and Gnal to rest up." she turned and walked away.

Gnal and Kitan had thought the first month was strenuous, not believing they were accomplishing something. They were wrong, Master Tin Dall had brought out her old ankle and arm weights, light stuff that weighed only around forty pounds each, nothing a lightweight couldn't handle.

"I can't even move!" Gnal yelled trying desperately trying to lift one of his arms. "You expect us to move let alone fight like this?! You really have gone off the deep end, you've lost it ya old hag!" Gnal yelled in frustration. Her response was another punch to his arm, making him drop his arm and lose what little progress he had of straightening his body. He let out a shout of frustration and pain. Kitan had to agree with him in some sense. Why start out with so much resistance? What was she trying to get them ready for? It frustrated him, he turned his attention to the matter at hand. He could see the benefits of this in the long run. His body would adjust to moving with this much resistence and eventually when they removed these their movements, strength, and reflexes would undoubtingly increase.

"Shut your trap and get to moving. I want you to meet me over at the entrance to the path you took to reach this place by the end of the day." She said leaving them to their own devices. "Oh and if you even try to take them off, I'll know. I have my ways of seeing everything that goes on up here." she yelled over her shoulder. The two of them moaned and groaned and by noon they had only reached the place where they had stopped to change Kitan's bandages.

"Man that hag is gonna get it when I get my hands on that wrinkled face of hers" Gnal said gritting his teeth, trying to move his legs. "We should just take these off, she'd never know. I think she was bluffing when she said that."

"We can't know for sure" Kitan replied scanning his surroundings, feeling as though she was following them, just waiting for them to try. "Besides it'll help us in the long run so I think we should just get through it. We'll get used to it in no time"

They moved forward, intent on getting down to the destination she had told them. intent on proving her wrong. By the time they reached the bottom of the trail the sun had set and the moon had risen. She was there, shoveling food into her mouth, completely ignorant of the two of them. When she finally saw them she got a drink, cleared her throat and got up and walked towards them.

"Good, I had actually thought it would take two days to get here so I ate the food you two had brought with you." She said wiping the food crumbs from the corners of her mouth "Alright now that you have gotten someswhat used to them, I want you to return to the cabin, get some rest with a roof over your head you know?"

That was the last straw. Gnal, using every ounce of strength in his body, fueled by anger and hatred for this woman, he attempted to grab her and at least do something to her to quell the hatred. She laughed at his attempt, she merely stepped away from him and picked up a stick and proceeded to poke and prod him. Like a new-born calf being led to the stable. She used this method to lead him and Kitan back up the mountain trail and into the cabin. When they reached it the two of them were so exhausted they collapsed on the floor next to the fire. The next few weeks were going to be a real pain.

By the third week they had finally gotten accustomed to the extra weight and were running up and down the trail like it was nothing. Every week for the first two weeks she had slowly added more weight when they were sleeping. Gnal had called her out after a week and two days and was rewarded with yet another punch aimed at his shoulder. At the moment they were busy jogging back towards the cabin, now with sixty pound weights. They, yet again, reached the cabin around nightfall decided to turn in for the night. Kitan had routinely checked his calendar during the time they were spending up there. Tomorrow was the first day of the third and final month. Master Tin Dall walked in then with clean sheets. She placed them on the beds and walked out. Before leaving the room completely she turned around and said "Starting tomorrow the two of you are going to go through the final test of your training from me while your here and I want you fighting at your best. I'm using the first week to judge where you stand and how much work I am gonna have to put into you for the..." that was all he heard as she had turned and walked away. What was it she planning? Why did he feel uneasy wih the situation at hand? What was she using them for? what was it she was trying to make them ready for? He put it in the back of his mind and resumed his training. Gnal had already started changing his sheets. Kitan left to find something to ice his bruises, when he returned Gnal was dozing off on the floor, sprawled out with his head supported by his arm.

"Gnal, what do you think she's hiding?"

They sat in silence listening to the noises from the forest that surrounded them. The hooting of the owls, the soft chirping of a few birds still awake and the soft sounds of the crickets telling them the cool yet warm air around them.

"I got it!" Gnal blurted out startling Kitan "sorry, I know maybe shes gonna make us travel to a bigger village or maybe even...the kingdom of Dralgo! Yeah thats it, we hear all about the festivals and celebrations from the traveling merchants that come to our village all the time."

Kitan thought it over a bit. Yeah the few merchants that travel up the coast to visit and sell their products do mention the grand festivals, and grand meetings and tournaments...wait.

"I think" Kitan concluded "that shes trying to enter us in a tournament."



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