Chapter 4
Lorn placed the apple seed in the ground, then breathed magic into it. A light grew under his hands, and soon he had to move back as a sapling sprouted. The new tree shot up out of the ground, growing so quickly that its groans could be heard. Lorn continued to channel magic into the plant as the ground shifted at his feet. When he finally ran out of power, a new apple tree stood over him, apple blossoms sprouting and fluttering in the breeze as the gave the air a sweet scent.
"Well done," Tsivar said, bouncing excitedly on Lorn's shoulders. It had become his usual perch while teaching Lorn, and while he was a bit bigger than Chespar, he still wasn't really much of a burden on Lorn. His excuse, that it made it easier to supply Lorn with energy if needed, seemed a bit of a stretch though. Lorn did wish Tsivar wouldn't tug at his hair so much though.
"I expected apples," Lorn muttered, frowning. He was hoping for a bit of a snack, and a fresh, green apple would gave been perfect.
Tsivar tsked at him. "Try all you want boy, you'll never grow an apple like that. Takes more than a tree to grow them. Odd that everyone expects that though." He glanced at his son, who was still struggling with his own task, a simple, controlled release of energy. Exactly what did not matter, merely exerting his power would be a success for the boy.
"He's having a lot of trouble," Lorn muttered, not sure what else to say.
"It comes easily to you," Tsivar said in return. "Amazingly so, but you are unusual." His voice dropped to a whisper. "Believe it or not, he is doing much better than me when I began learning. It took me months it to make a light, much life as keep it there. You and Chespar he only been working for what, a month now? And he's already throwing his own lights around. It's impressive, just don't tell him that."
"Why not?"
Tsivar chuckled. "He's trying to keep up with you. It motivates him to keep going. Might as well take advantage of it."
Lorn frowned, thinking about it as Chespar made a burst of flame appear just long enough to singe the surprised mouse's whiskers. "What if he gets discouraged though?" Chespar shook his head and started smoothing his fur down before trying again. "I mean," Lorn continued, "it could happen, right? If I get too far ahead, he may realize he can't keep up."
"Timing, Lorn," Tsivar said, chuckling. "It's all about timing. When the right time comes, and the thought of matching you loses its power, I'll have a different way of motivating him. And besides," Tsivar continued as Chespar knocked himself over with a burst of wind only to bounce back up, dust himself off, and try again, "he's got something you don't."
"What's that?" Lorn asked, curious.
"His own source of power," Tsivar replied. "You can use magic, but you don't use your magic. Always someone else's. Chespar though? He's got his own supply, so his power will always be there. Yours relies on finding others, so it isn't reliable, understand?"
"I suppose?" Lorn said, shrugging and making Tsivar wriggle in place.
"Darn it Lorn," Tsivar said, "be a good seat!" Lorn chuckled as the old field mouse settled himself back down. "Now then," he continued. "You'll figure out what I mean eventually. For now, let's head back. Rondi looks like she's upset."
"So the usual then?" Lorn asked, earning a laugh from his little teacher.
"Still," Tsivar said, " best not to keep her waiting. I'll stay with Chespar, go see what the old dog wants."
"What?" Lorn asked teasingly. "You don't want to come with me?"
"Heavens no!" Tsivar said, climbing down off Lorn as he started walking. "She's crazy you know."
"She can hear you," Rondi barked out, making the mouse jump and Lorn laugh.
"Her bark is worse than her bite most days," Lorn said as Tsivar hit the ground.
"It's the some days that worry me," Tsivar muttered before scurrying off with Chespar. Lorn watched them go for a moment before walking over to Rondi.
"How is your practice going?" Rondi asked as Lorn got close.
"Well, I grew a tree today," Lorn said, turning to look at it. "No apples though."
"Shame," Rondi said, though she didn't sound like she was overly interested in an apple anyway. "You have any power left over?"
Lorn shook his head. "No, used it all, why?"
"Friend of mine in Cirafell says bad omens are popping up," Rondi said. "Important enough for her to send word, and she hasn't been wrong before."
"You have friends?" Lorn asked in mock surprise.
"Careful," Rondi growled, "I might feed you to them." She chuckled. "The Pack's spread all over the place. We watch out for each other when we can."
"The Pack?" Lorn asked as Rondi started walking.
"One day, I might introduce you," the sheepdog replied. "For now you should probably hold onto a bit of that power, just in case."
Lorn nodded and followed Rondi as she led him to her practice ground. Tsivar had initially wanted to train Lorn and Chespar there, but Rondi had put her foot down after a day of Lorn leaving craters scattered around the place. His control was better now, but it was still too easy for him to burn through energy when he was casting, which tended to make whatever he was trying to do emerge too powerfully. As it was, Rondi had cleared the area so that the ground was just dirt. Dotted throughout were assorted straw dummies made to resemble a collection of creatures in various sizes. A few years ago, Lorn had been used to make a template, and now several dummies modeled after him stood waiting, most heavily patched and worn through regular use.
Rondi regularly practiced here, and for a couple of years had been making Lorn practice as well. She walked over to her weapons rack and looked it over before picking up a quarterstaff and tossing it to Lorn. Then, grabbing her own, she led him to the middle of the practice ground, where they began doing some warm-up exercises.
In the middle of their practice, Rondi suddenly turned and swung at Lorn, who yelped and moved to block the blow. A loud crack rang out as the two staves met, but Rondi quickly continued her attack, her staff moving like water to strike again and again at Lorn, steadily pushing him back.
"You're wide open," she said suddenly, thrusting her staff into Lorn's gut, making him stagger back and grunt as the breath was forced out of him.
Barely offering him a moment to recover, Rondi started her attack again, for I g Lorn to deal with the barrage she delivered. The crack of wood on wood rang out again and again as they sparred, accompanied by the occasional cry of pain as Rondi landed a blow.
Then, Lorn saw an opportunity, baiting Rondi and accepting the blow to grab her quarterstaff, pulling it to throw Rondi off balance. A quick spin had his own staff next to her head. "Point for me?" Lorn said, breathing heavily.
"Not horrible," Rondi said, panting herself as thy stepped back. "Better to live wounded than the alternative I suppose."
"Can't say it was worth it," Lorn muttered, massaging his stomach.
Rondi snorted. "If you take a hundred blows, but only give one and win, it is still a victory."
"Just a painful on," Lorn grunted.
"Then get better,.' Rondi laughed, walking to her puppet booth, a custom-built part of her training ground filled with levers attached to ropes that in turn were attached to dummies. "Ready?" she asked after pulling several levers and dummies were already moving.
"Do you ever," Lorn huffed, spinning the staff into the puppets as they approached, "actually wait for someone to answer that?"
"No," Rondi answered, deftly yanking on a series of levers and watching as Lorn fought the swinging dummies. Some were specially made just for the quarterstaff, with a metal core that not only made them swing harder, but also punished Lorn when he struck them wrong by making his staff painfully vibrate in his hands. They also didn't look any different from the rest.
Eventually the puppets stopped moving and Lorn took the chance to rest, leaning on the staff and covered in sweat. Rondi gave him a moment, then pointed at the winch that would help reset the entire thing. Still catching his breath, Lorn put his staff up and started turning the wooden wheel until the winch locked into place, the pulley system cleverly designed so that one wheel was enough o reset each system through a series of gears and sandbags. Unfortunately, that also meant the wheel was an exercise all its own, straining against Lorn's efforts until it made its last click and he could step back.
Rondi set a bucket of water down as Lorn finished. Fetched from a nearby well, the water was cold and sweet as Lorn gulped it down from a wooden cup. "Knives next," Rondi said as Lorn set the cup down. "Just your left hand for now."
Lorn nodded and wiped his forehead before inspection the weapon rack. "Throwing or fighting?"
"Both, pick five." Rondi moved back to her puppet booth as Lorn made his selection. "Ignore the puppets," she said, pulling levers. Unlike the first time, a wooden post with several gouged arms, each brightly colored, started to spin at the side of the training ground. Another clever design, it was made in several parts that spun at different speeds as it moved across the arena based on a wheel Rondi started turning. Each arm had its own rule, based on its color. Black meant block, while Lorn was supposed to attack the red arms. The white ones, the longest of them all, Lorn was supposed to dodge. Each ring on the totem had multiple arms, which could be removed and replaced in multiple configurations.
The goal was endurance, since the longer the contraption spun freely, the faster it became, making it necessary to keep working at it until the machine spun out. As usual, Rondi had already pulled the lever that started it moving, and Lorn had to run in to keep it from picking up too much speed.
Usually, Lorn used both hands, or at least his right to fight. Being forced to use just his left slowed him down as he ducked and weaved through the machine's arms, cutting g whenever he saw red and using his arms to block the black.
"Hmm," Rondi said, pulling a new lever that caused a series of targets to swing out. "You've got company."
Lorn cursed when he saw the targets spinning. They were weighted, and would wind the mechanism if they weren't stopped. There were five of them, which made Lorn curse again. He'd only picked three throwing knives, the other two didn't fly nearly as well, but seven if he hit all the targets, that meant he wouldn't be able to really stop the whirling top of pain.
Once more cursing his luck, or at least his teacher, Lorn hopped a step back, flinging a knife out to hit the target. He winced as the knife hit the edge of the painted disk, but it held and the target jammed, stopping in place. Lorn didn't take the time to celebrate, diving back in range of the wooden death trap to try and slow it down.
He blocked a black arm and it fell free of the contraption. It was a feature of those arms. Block it enough and there would be fewer arms to worry about. Unfortunately, it also meant there would be less to help him stop the machine once he hit all the targets.
Lorn saw an opening and sent another knife into the second target, locking it down. A quick motion sent his third dagger out to hit the target, leaving him with a regular dagger, and a throwing knife, his first fighting knife barely hitting the target. Grumbling to himself, Lorn drew both, then ducked under one of the white arms to engage with the training post once more.
Despite holding both daggers, Lorn still used his off hand, striking at a red post and watching as the arm broke, surprised. "I've made some adjustments by the way," Rondi called out, amused.
Lorn grunted as he blocked a black arm, the padded wood thinking into his own arm and bending before snapping out straight once it slid past him. While it did, he risked a glare at Rondi, who simply gave him a canine grin. The old dog was actually enjoying this.
He stepped back, angrily launching both daggers, one after the other, into the targets, then replaced them with the broken red arm. If she wanted to change the rules, he would too. Wielding the arm like a club, Lorn struck at the red posts until it broke again, then simply replaced it with another. He continued to dance with the machine until all the red and black arms were either broken or on the ground, then backed away, breathing heavily as the entire thing wound down like some demented top.
"You were supposed to break the arms before taking out the targets," Rondi said, resetting levers.
"I liked my way better," Lorn said, hoisting the arm up onto his shoulder. "Kept things a lot shorter."
Rondi snorted. "Clean all this up. I'm going to find dinner. Stack the red ones with the rest of the firewood."
Lorn nodded, sighing. "Alright."
"And keep an eye out for anything odd," Rondi said as she started leaving. "See if those mice have ant energy to spare too."
"You're really worried, huh?"
Rondi paused, looking over at Lorn. "I've only gotten news from the Pack twice before. The first time, my town was destroyed."
"And the second?" Lorn asked.
She stood silently for a moment before answering. "They told me I'd find something that would shake the foundations of the world."
"Really? What happened then?"
Rondi scratched at her arm, where scars still showed through her fur. "I went lion hunting."
