The Beast Within

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

The next day, there was no presence of Haneul but Adrik could not help but feel wary, they had no way of knowing what kind of report Haneul had gone back to give the non-Mage soldiers.

After a week and it seemed that they would be left alone, they finally went back to freely training.

Haneul must have written them off as mad village children and his report to the soldiers must have been believable because they were left alone, for now.

They would have to be careful so that there was no lightning striking through the clear skies again or they might be in actual trouble then.

By the first week, they had improved and could almost always make it to the river side while running but it would leave them winded out, collapsing against the rocky river bank in exhaustion.

Ceraun's determination was quickly bringing him up to par with Adrik, his body had started to adjust to the grueling activities so that he didn't fall asleep as soon as he laid on his pallet.

Instead using the time before bed to train some more, which showed in how much he was catching up with Adrik.

Adrik was not surprised, it was Ceraun but that did not mean he would stand by with his arms crossed while Ceraun improved so much more than he did.

They spent the entirety of the second week keeping up with the same routine, running all the way to the river bank. They were still winded out but their recovery time had greatly increased.

It also helped that they had taken to running back to the Town as well.

Adrik still kept an eye out, they could never be too careful, it also helped as a part of his training because he was constantly amplifying his eyesight to keep watch over the area around them.

Straining too hard gave him blinding headaches so he remained within the capacity of his abilities, their training would all go to naught if they were thrown into labor camps from which there was no escape.

Ceraun was just about to let lightning strike from his hands to hit a specific, smooth, rock under the water.

It minimized the damage to the rocks around them to do that instead or by then Ceraun would have leveled down all the rocks within their vicinity.

Adrik however noticed someone obviously coming over in their direction and tackled Ceraun to the ground, non-Mages might not have magic but they had some tools which were mind dazzling enough.

He had no way to tell if the non-Mage coming close could already tell what they were doing, besides, Ceraun had a way of being very thick headed when he was needed the most.

Ceraun, who had not noticed the oncoming stranger was in a state of peeved confusion, glaring up at Adrik while he clutched his head which had rattled against the hard ground.

"What is it with you, Adrik?" He demanded unhappily. "I can swear I was about to get my aim right…."

"Shut it, Feyrer." Adrik muttered reflexively, distracted.

"You shut it! By the Pillars I have half the mind to stun you stupid…"

Adrik finally looked away from where he had been staring in the distance to glance at Ceraun, worry prominent in his hazel eyes. "Someone is coming."

Ceraun snapped out of his building rage, his black eyes going wide. "Haneul?"

"No, looks to be a soldier." Adrik muttered, shoulders tense.

Ceraun went on high alert, what could a soldier possibly come all the way out here to do? They had not been monitoring them all these weeks, had they?

But then, Adrik would have picked up on it, he was starting to learn how smart the dark haired Mage was, contrary to his earlier thoughts of him, besides he did not think they cared enough about them to go through all that trouble.

"What could he possibly want?" Ceraun muttered, his voice dropping a couple octaves lower in caution.

"We will have to wait to find out." Adrik responded, he was still looking in the direction he had seen the soldier come from but without his powers this time

The non-Mage took his time with getting to where they were, Adrik had suggested trying to act normal but they were too tensed up to keep up the act.

They huddled under the slanted rock, Ceraun making piles of pebbles to try to distract himself, hopefully, the soldier or whoever it was would be bored by their existence and just continue their journey or walk away.

That was not to happen though, thumping footsteps grew louder as the non-Mage got closer, Ceraun and Adrik steeling themselves to face him.

"Hiding are we?" The non-Mage peered around the rock, beady eyes fixed on their heads.

Ceraun didn't need to act surprised, he had not expected the non-Mage to get to them so quickly, his terror intensified when he took a gander at the non-Mage stalking them.

He swallowed hard, scrambling to his feet, Adrik doing the same beside him.

"Speak." The non-Mage soldier boomed at them, his dull eyes glittering wickedly.

Ceraun kept his eyes fixed to the ground, lightning thrumming at his fingertips, it was the same soldier that had beat him up and broken his barrel, he could guess the reason why he came out here.

"No, si…." Adrik started to reply for them but the soldier cut him off with a savage kick to the side.

"Shut up, scum, I was not asking you." He said in a cruel tone, Adrik staggering backwards a bit at the hit. "I was talking to the devil's spawn."

Ceraun remained quiet at this, his blood boiling, he knew it had not been a fluke when he thought that the soldier had a grudge with him, that was fine but not when Adrik was dragged into what was all his problem.

He had never thought about it before but it was not the kind of thoughts young boys were encouraged to harbor.

Could he kill another to protect himself?