CHAPTER 10
She woke the next morning, to the sight of gold shimmers beneath her cheek and realized her head rested in Nakali’s lap. A hand cupped across her ear. A thumb played circles across her cheek. She could not remember how long she had been there, but she the fact the Nakali let her sleep even a little must have meant the night had departed.
As a grip grew tight upon her ankles, she knew it was so. Her body flew back as a discarded rag. Hands meeting the ground, she braced. She felt as if her wrists would shatter from the force, but as she picked herself up, to face her attacker she found everything still worked as it should.
Lieten stood before her, looking down upon half awakened features, eyes still closed to the light. Ren’ai brought a weary body to attention, knowing well his reason for being there.
“Ready?” Austerity edged Lieten’s voice. “The SlipSwamp awaits us.”
Ren’ai’s head swung up and down in an eager nod.
Nakali pushed herself up to stand beside her, placing a hand upon the girl’s neck, rubbing it gently as if to bring her body to wakening, to prepare her for the day. “Lieten, don’t take her to the Swamp. You should start her in training rooms where a mistake is not so, so.” Nakali slinked herself past him to find her reflection in the mirror. “Deadly.” She pulled her hair up and combed under it with a golden brush. Nakali did not wish to lose her pupil one day into training.
“She’s a good waste of training time if she can’t survive the Swamp.” Lieten pointed to the door, signaling that Ren’ai move out to the hallway. “Nakali’s training ended at sunrise.”
Ren’ai wondered how he knew if the sun were up or not. No warm yellow glow hit her cheek, only cold darkness and dizzying torchlight.
Lieten continued. “Mine began at dawn and I’ll train her as I see fit.”
“But I do believe that Jabari wants a new guard when our time is through.”
“And that, Nakali, is what I intend to make.”
Nakali did not turn to see him as she continued in long strokes, before twisting her fingers in between strands and laying one upon the other.“Do as you will, Lieten. You always do.”
Ren’ai stood there waiting just beyond the rock entry way, with voices echoing out, deciding her fate. Her toes pattered against the chilled ground as she anticipated Lieten’s exit through the doorway. She considered it an honor that she had already proven herself worthy to train in the way the best of them did. A great honor indeed and she would prove herself again. This place scared her to death.
He threw her a pair of shoes at her as he brushed past. “Let’s go.” He did not give so much as a glance.
She caught them in front of her face. Hopping along behind him, she struggled to snug one then the other into place. As he rounded a corner, she set herself into full dash. She knew that losing sight of him could mean wandering about for days in the unfamiliar caves.
As she saw sunlight peeking around his form, she grew joyous. The rays danced around a full head of dark curly hair interspersed with sprigs of white, playing in the folds and curves, sparing the contours. The light arched around a narrow yet defined neck meeting shoulders as one arm flew up to block the bombarding light. Scars, old and new, crisscrossed his biceps.
With some trepidation she reached up to touch his arm, to feel the rise of the stripes she saw there.
He grabbed her hand, pressing two fingers into the side of her wrist, and a thumb to the opposite side. She could not say where the hand had come from. Only that she knew it must be attached to the body in front of her. He did not turn.
Her head swam and her knees went weak. She took a hard step back as he released her. She drew her hand to her chest, rubbing the offended wrist, seeking relief.
“What are you doing?” He growled, without sparing a moment to face her.
Ren’ai mustered what little strength she felt she might have in that moment. “Does it hurt?”
“Does what hurt?”
“To have that many scars?”
“Why would it hurt? A scar is a sign of one healed. The Healer’s touch is not one of pain.”
“Oh.” Ren’ai looked at the ground then back to the scars across a firm shoulder. “Why do you have scars? You are my teacher which means you must be a good fighter, but the stripes across your body tell a different story. Suggests you messed up.” Ren’ai braced, unsure, unsteady, waiting for the knock to the head that she knew would be hers should he become one offended.
A low growl chuckled from deep inside him. Still he kept dark eyes forward into the light, sparing her no glance. “Outside the Jagged maybe. But here a scar has different meaning. It means going beyond what you are to realize what you can become. Taking chances in the safety of the training rooms where the Healer’s touch can be quickly upon you that you would not dare take on the battlefield.”
Ren’ai found her voice. “Letting the FlameChaser out in the caves so that you can be stronger when you protect the Healer?”
Finally he turned to her and she saw a glimmer of hope veil hardened eyes if only for an instant.
She smiled.
A returning glare wiped it from her cheeks. He turned dark eyes back to the sight of Lesser Sun capping the horizon. “The Healer has a saying. ‘Sometimes we must carry more than we can bear. It is how we grow stronger.’ It is how we train. What we live by.”
Ren’ai stumbled up into the light, “So scars mean that you take chances in the cave, push yourself to be better. I did not see any scars on Nakali. Does that mean she is not a great fighter like you?”
Again the growling chuckle burst low from his gut. “You wouldn’t hear me say it. I don’t care to invoke that wrath.” He wiped gathering dew from bushy brows. “Some choose to keep their scars when the Healer’s hand has been upon them and so do not. When the time comes, you will have to choose.”
“I shall keep every scar I earn.”
“Then we best get started. We learn nothing from hearing. We learn from doing.”
Ren’ai nodded a firm agreement.
Out of the darkness and into the day, she found her place beside him, eyes barely level with a hairy pit. He pulled a strong arm down around her shoulders. She twisted in discomfort.
He laughed an unfriendly laugh. “The only thing you need to know about the SlipSwamp is don’t stop.” They stood just beyond the caves looking out across a field of mud, low hanging trees, and swible brush that stretched out their crooked arms to a grey yet luminous sky. Ren’ai drew what she hoped to be a breath of sweet morning air. It smelled like death.
Ren’ai liked his explanations simple and straightforward, but she wanted to know more. “Why’s it called the SlipSwamp?”
Lieten moved to the side, drew up a stone the size of his fist and held it out to her. “Touch it.”
She complied.
Satisfied, he cast it out, far enough to put strength on display, close enough that she could see.
She turned to him. “What?”
He grabbed her face, smooshing her cheeks, turning her back. A moment later a popping sound and the stone vanished. Pulled into the land. Stolen from sight.
Her questioning eyes turned again to him.
“Don’t slip either. The warmer the object the faster it is taken. How warm was that stone?”
“Not very.”
“Then how much time do you think you’ll have?”
“I won’t slip.” Ren’ai resolved.
“Good. Ready?”
Ren’ai drew a deep breath as if preparing to dive into the river for a swim.
“Follow me.”
Lieten leapt from the rock and onto the swamp. Ren’ai followed close behind him. The mud felt thick and sticky and it sucked to her feet, trying to stop her. Popping and moaning with her every step.
“Faster, Nai. Light steps. Quick and light. Try not to leave a footprint.”
Not leave a footprint. What absurdity? She looked back but for a moment, seeing the trail of deep steps behind her.
She looked ahead, seeing none. No marking at all to say he had been there as if no less than an apparition guided her steps.
“This way, Nai.” He rounded a tree, using its trunk to speed his sharp turn.
She watched his high quick steps, trying to match her pace to his. She reached out to the tree he had just past.
It bit her.
She endured the pain without hesitation, but she wondered. “Why aren’t the trees taken under?"
Lieten looked back to his little apprentice, never losing speed. “Because Nai, the trees are the ones who take you under. We are their food. Don’t let them get a taste for you. They’ll pull you under that much faster.”
The girl quickened her pace, pain of the effort gnawing at her calves. Her thighs felt as if they might burst from exhaustion. “How far across?” She called out to Lieten, now a few paces ahead of her.
“We’ve only just entered. Don’t tell me you are ready to quit already. Although, I’m sure the trees would be grateful for the nourishment.”
“I’m fine.” She quickened her pace yet again, leveling herself with her teacher, she could do this. Her whole body burned. On more than one occasion, she had fully resolved to just stop, let it take her under to meet Father and Mother across the river, but Ren’iv needed her.
“If you feel you can’t take it anymore step on the light mud. It’s less sensitive and takes the roots longer to find you."
Ren’ai found a smooth light patch and stopped, placing her hands on her knees, drawing deep breaths.
“But only a moment longer.” He pulled her up by the shoulder as the light mud became dark beneath her and a root snapped from the surface just missing her ankle. He set her back on her feet and reached for her hand. Holding it tightly, he pulled her through a maze of low trees. Their branches swayed as if in the wind longing for a taste of her. They found another light patch and he stopped for a cherished moment all too brief. As the mud grew dark, he urged her on, through another field of trees to a rocky ledge.
He threw her up with great haste and then climbed up behind her.
Ren’ai stood at the top, looking to see the place from which they had come. She could not even see the mouth of the cave where they had begun. She peered across to the other side, with a hand over her eyes, blocking the light of Greater Sun. Her heart sank.
“This is the half waypoint. Rest up. Then we’ll be off again. Don’t want to be out here after dark. That’s a whole other day of training.” He pulled a traveling pack he wore across his back to the side and slid out some dried berries and a jar of rice water. He offered her both.
She gladly took them, gobbling the berries and taking long sips of the water, before lying back to watch the clouds as they rolled across. Thoughts drifted from that place to home. A place that she could no longer call a safe place for her or her sister. Now the Jagged would be their home. A safe place she could not see here. How many dangers yet to be seen hid behind the Jagged walls? What more would her ruthless trainer ask of her body? Did she have any more to give?