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Squeezed.
He spun around. A tree with fan shaped leaves stood alone to his right, a dense stand of smaller trees to his left. Some twiggy shrubs and clumps of dead grass clung to the windswept dirt. Snow embraced the trunks and buried the shady spots. The icy wind blew through his shirt, now damp with sweat.
What the....
He saw a castle behind a bluish shimmer about a kilometer away.
A twig snapped in the woods off to his right.
No movement.
The wind whispered through the bare branches.
More twigs snapped behind the trees far to the right.
Bent down but saw nothing moving, and he resisted the urge to go into the woods to investigate.
Something flapped behind him; it was a blackbird with a peculiar glowing spot on its chest. It landed on a high branch and watched him.
Hermes?
The sound in the woods grew louder.
Toby started walking toward the Castle.
“Shift back,” said Raymond.
“What?”
“Now!” He reached out to grab Toby with one stubby, meaty hand.
“Leave me alone!” Toby snatched his arm away.
Raymond’s arms encircled Toby, and in an instant, they were in Teacher’s study.
Toby shoved Raymond, who hit the floor like wet laundry.
Teacher ran to his side and turned him over. A long, deep gash glistened across his back. Raymond didn’t moan or say anything; he sucked in air when Teacher pulled away the torn shirt, now sticky with blood.
“What happened?” Toby asked.
“Silence!” Teacher pulled out something from his desk, pointed it at Raymond.
It looked like another amulet. Teacher did something, and Raymond lifted off the floor. Teacher then started walking, and Raymond floated out the door as if he was on an invisible stretcher.
Teacher pointed to that small stool. “Sit!”
About an hour later, Teacher returned.
“Raymond will survive. The poisons were still on the surface.”
“He–”
“Stop! What did you do?”
“Nothing.”
“How did you get out there?”
Oh. “I guess I shifted outside the Barrier.”
“You guess?”
“I shifted.”
“On purpose?”
“No.”
He nodded, but those awful gray eyes stayed slits. His teeth stayed clenched. “Why did you shift?”
“I...” He shrugged.
“Because you were sloppy!” Teacher’s hand slammed down on the desk
Toby stepped back.
Teacher stepped over the new red stain on the floor.
Toby took several steps backward.
“Careless! Irresponsible!” He stopped as if his emotions clotted his thinking, and he stormed out.
Lela leaned against the door frame; she had his cloak.
“Here.” She tossed the garment. “Fatha will calm down.”
“I didn’t mean for Raymond to get hurt.”
“I know. We need to finish the workout.”
They walked back toward the garden. “What happened to him?” Toby asked.
“It was-” She shook her head “Ye have enough nightmares.”
***
They spent the next hour doing exercises, then she pulled out the Messenger’s sword.
“The longbow is effective to about 200m. Crossbow to about 50m. The broad sword for 5m. A boot knife is best in close.”
He reached over, but she placed the weapon back in the rack. She handed him a small, short broom.
“Before ye can run, ye learn to crawl.” She picked up a second broom and grabbed the end with a two-fisted grip. “We will start with a two-handed technique and move to other techniques.”
“Why can’t I use my sword?”
“So ye don’t cut off yer ear on the first day.”
She assumed a stance with her right foot forward; her toes pointed at him; her left foot was back with her foot angled to the side. She lowered her chin and smiled. “Defend yerself.”
He raised the broom.
She disarmed him with a flurry of blows to his broom, arm, and wrist.
“Anticipate yer opponent, or ye will die.” She stepped back. “Pick it up. Position yerself like this.” She again assumed the position.
He tried to copy, but she stuck his shin.
“Hey!”
“Like - this.” She assumed the position.
Toby tried again. After the third try, she didn’t hit him.
She showed the proper technique for advancing and retreating without leaving exposures.
An hour and several bruises later, he could fend off her first thrusts in two out of five tries.
He took a break to get some water. He could barely move his fingers, and some blisters no longer hurt.
Was that a good sign?
“Enough for one day. Put away the equipment.
He put the broom on the rack and–
“No!”
He jumped and looked for the danger.
The broom must have fallen over. He picked it up and placed it in the spot.
“Ye will treat the equipment with respect.”
“It’s a broom.”
She grabbed his arm. “Am I clear?”
“Yes, Keeper.”
Her anger melted away.
She stood much closer and touched his arm. Her perfume demanded his attention. “Ye understand, right?”
To the west, a few crepuscular rays decorated the sky.
Lela looked at something.
She pointed toward her favorite tree. “He’s back.”
A large hawk landed on a high branch.
“He’s tame, too.”
“Wow.”
“He will perch on my arm.”
“Will he fly to us?”
“Oh, he never comes across.”
“But...”
“Don’t tell Fatha,” she looked around, “I sneak out to him.”
She looked longingly back at the bird. Her face suddenly brightened. She looked at Toby as if she were about to ask something, but then she shook her head and looked away.
“What?” he said.
“No, it’s too much to ask.”
“What?”
She gazed lovingly at her bird. “I haven’t seen him in so long.” She smiled at toby, “But if I try to cross on foot, some stupid Guard will report me.”
“You want me to shift you?”
She grabbed his arm, giggled, and pulled herself closer.
Toby’s pulse fluttered, but after what happened to Raymond. “Is it safe?”
“Oh.” She stepped back.
“It’s just that...”
The hawk flew away, and she watched until he was out of sight. She took his arm. “How about some dinner?”
“Um, okay.” His stomach had been asking that question for an hour.
***
She led the way to the dining hall, through the line, and to a quiet table in the back.
She talked of her life here.
He talked about his life there and didn’t know he could talk so much.
After dinner, they picked up his transformed bookbag in the Keeper’s Room, and she showed him to his sleeping area in the south tower.
“Where do you stay?” he asked.
She pointed to the opposite side of the castle. “Near the North Tower. Someone will wake ye at sunrise.”
She reached over, squeezed his arm. “G’night.”
***
He climbed the narrow, spiral stairs to the top and pushed open the creaking door, revealing a small round room with four open windows.
The frigid wind blew through the north window.
The bed was a wood frame and the mattress looked like a sack, filled with hay, on a rope lattice.
He tossed his bag into a corner and knocked over a chamber pot.
What do you do with the-
Nope. Didn’t even want to ask.
He put a blanket on top of the hay and tried to lie down. After a while, he didn’t notice the poking or the itching.
Well, not as much.
The first blast rocked the tower and nearly threw him to the floor.
Hands over his ears, he looked out the south window for anything, but it was a cloudy night. The blasts seem to come north to south and then back, like strafing runs.
All sound, no flash.
He jumped every time.
He put his fingers in his ears, which only helped when the One hit further away.
This happens every night.
The blasts continued for too long, and just as suddenly, everything was as quiet as a snowstorm.