The Beast Within

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Time flew by at the river bank, the both of the young Mages improving both in their abilities and physically, the ever flowing river glinting pale blue in the sunlight, an ever present audience to their daily antics.

This was a day like any other, the sun beating down mercilessly, winking bright gold in the clear blue sky.

This gave Ceraun who tended to lose his tunic ever so often a particularly dark tan, weather toughened skin now accustomed to the harsh temperatures.

Adrik laid beneath the slanted rock, staring into the distance, the soft sounds of the flowing river giving a calming ambience which was crassly interrupted by Ceraun rapidly punching a rock with his bare fists.

Adrik glanced irritably at him, his eyes squinting against the glare as he caught the sight of a bare chested Ceraun punching away at a hard rock with a concentration reserved for far more important things.

He had tied up his knuckles to protect them from getting scrapes and bruises but Adrik could bet that it was not helping one bit, he did not give any care about whatever the block head decided to do.

The constant thumping was grating on his nerves though, it was time to take a well deserved rest but how was it to accomplish that with that infernal pounding going on in the background, making it hard to take a deep breath in peace.

“For the Pillars sake, would you cease that infernal pounding, Feyrer!” He finally cracked and blurted out.

“Huh?” Ceraun paused, whirling around in surprise. “But I also want to break a rock with my bare hand just like you did.” He protested.

Adrik’s irritated look transformed to one of frustration. “I told you numerous times, Feyrer, I bloody used magic!” He half yelled, looking livid. “You easily shatter rocks with your magic too so what is this all about?”

Ceraun shrugged, looking unrepentant. “Surpassing you.” He announced with a grin, going back to his pounding.

Adrik let out a string of colorful curses underneath his breath, leaning against the rock once more and closing his eyes to the annoying image in front of him.

His thoughts drifted at this, thinking over the past month, back to when they had first started to come here.

The time to get drafted into the army was drawing nearer with each sunrise and sunset, it seemed like he could wait forever for it to finally arrive and in the same vein, he wished it would happen soon to end the endless waiting.

Nothing out of place had happened since the day that the non-Mage soldier had attacked and tried to kill them, the lack of something to worry about for weeks was a little unsettling but they had learnt to take the good days as they came and to try hard to survive the bad ones.

“Adrik.”

Ceraun’s voice startled him but he did not open his eyes, frowning. “What?” He noted that the annoying pounding had finally stopped.

“Someone is coming.” He said the words that carried a heavy note of unease.

Adrik’s eyes flew open at this, scrambling to his feet to get a better look because whenever someone came all the way to the river bank, especially to them, it usually ended up bad.

Immediately he used magic to spy on the oncoming person, his eyes glowing with his inherent powers.

“Haneul.”

The single word was said with apprehension, they could not decide if it would end up good or bad, one could not tell with the scrawny Mage spy.

“It’s Haneul.” Adrik affirmed, settling back in his previous position.

Ceraun’s forehead wrinkled in worry. “What do you think he wants?”

Adrik shrugged. “We will have to wait and see now, won’t we?” He said, managing to sound indifferent although anxiety squirmed in his middle. “You might want to stop that brainless task, unless you perhaps want to spend the night at a labor camp.”

Ceraun scoffed but stopped punching the rock, he had already chipped off a good portion of it but had gotten nowhere near to cracking or weakening the rock.

He would keep at it till he did, he had the time to anyway and he was determined.

Haneul cautiously made his way closer, he had been nervous while giving the report back to the grimy non-Mage soldiers who always cuffed him, painfully too and for no reason other than they could.

Which was a strange occurrence, he had never felt nervous about reporting in other Mages.

It was not like he willingly spied on his people or he craved the sickening silent tears of Mages who lost someone they loved to the labor camps but he had to survive somehow.

His parents had both been killed by wild ogres so it was just him and his aged grandmother left, they had to survive somehow, that did not mean he was proud of the way he went about it.

He already had his measly life laid out, spy until he was old enough to work at the mines, then that was the end of it.

It was simple, with little dangers, easy to accept but then came these two boys his age who had fire in their eyes and he was not talking about the glow of magic.

Even adult Mages had lost the fire in their eyes, there was no reason to have it, not when the entire world was hellbent on snuffing it out.

He kept his distance from them though, hanging around them would only put them in trouble, Haneul was not stupid, he knew that they were definitely using magic, practicing it even but the non-Mage soldiers would not hear the news from his mouth.

“What a surprise to see you here, Haneul!” The fair haired Mage with the friendly smile, waved him over.

“I thought I might find you two here.” He muttered awkwardly, nodding his greetings to them both. “I thought you might like to know about what was going on back in the town.”