The Realm of Dreams

ch 6

Chapter 6: The Training

Raven and Tristan went outside right after breakfast, telling the trainees to meet with them as soon as they were done eating. Once outside Raven and Tristan sat down on the cold wet grass. They looked at each other and then looked back to the tavern. Raven sighed a heavy hearted sigh as he started speaking informatively to Tristan.

"We are going to have to kick these men into a faster pace. They are training well but we have to push them to their best. I can tell they are not doing their best. Once Vehemence gets ahold of them they will die instantly if we don't push them harder." Raven spoke these words cautiously to Tristan. Raven knew that Tristan hated pushing people but the time for being easy was over. Raven knew deep down that even if he was able to train these men better than any soldiers he had ever trained, it would still be by sheer luck for them to survive.

The men all walked outside and stood at attention, awaiting the orders of their instructors. Raven looked them up and down, scrutinizing them. Tristan stood near Raven letting Raven lead the pace.

Raven cleared his throat and then began firmly speaking to the men present. "Things are going to get much harder from here on out. We will be letting you go if we think you don't stand a chance. You have all been great at following us and learning, but doing great is no longer enough. Even if we do not choose you for our soldiers you will have learned a much needed and great trade. Being trained by us will, at the very least, get you assignments as soldiers elsewhere. Also, the chance of dying on our mission is much higher than success. If this bothers anyone to the point that you wish to leave, do it right now, there will be no negative feelings toward you." Raven stopped talking and let his words register to his men. About ten men hung their heads down in shame and slowly left. They walked away from the tavern and into the forest. "Does anyone else need to leave or are we ready to begin?" Raven questioned the men that had decided to stay.

The rest of the men stood their ground firmly, proudly, and in unison spoke "we are ready please proceed, Sir!"

The Lady Emerald watched this scene with much interest, she stared intensely at the soldiers as well as Raven and Tristan. She felt some type of change happening inside of her. She was curious, attentive, and intrigued at how Raven had been so straight and to the point. He had not lied and he had shared the stakes. He had been brutally honest and up front with the needs of his mission. Perhaps he was not like the men from her past, those that had destroyed her old forest. Daily he proved himself over and over to not be like those she had known before.

Raven went through a series of stretches, then a warm up with the basic sword movements, and then he divided the men into groups of five. There were five groups and once they were all grouped he explained that they would be fighting each other in their groups and the winning group would fight Tristan and himself.

Each group bowed before they stood in the fighting stance that they had been taught. Each group held their own against each other for a good amount of time. However, they did find themselves tiring easily. Finally, the winning group, the group that was left was ready to take on Tristan and Raven, or so they thought.

The men closed tightly in upon Raven and Tristan. The men seemed to have picked a leader and the others followed his ideas and instructions. Then they all changed toward Raven and Tristan. Raven held his hands high in the air, screamed words that none of them had ever heard and all the men were knocked down to the ground. One man fell on his face, one his back, one his shoulder, one his stomach, and the one that appeared to be leading them fell on top of the group. They felt shame, awe, and confusion; they were utterly perplexed. What in the world was that word and that loud shout? What just happened? The Lady Emerald looked at the men who had just lost and then at Raven. She had heard that shout and word before, but was not sure where she had heard it. Chills like ice made her shiver when Raven had used that word accompanied by the shout.

"Good try, but our enemy is stronger than me so get up. We have to do this again, starting from fighting each other and then Tristan and myself." Raven demanded the recruits.

The men all got up, followed Raven's instructions and proceeded again. The same group won against the other troops and then challenged Raven again. Raven easily knocked them down, as if they were flies. They did this many more times before taking a break and going inside. When all the men had gone inside Raven and Tristan talked in whispers outside alone. After they finished discussing their private business they went inside to eat as well. They were both tired, and getting more and more discouraged.

Vex brought them their usual drink, poured it for them, and set some warm brown bread upon the table. "It will work out, I watch sometimes and the men are truly amazing. You two are great instructors." He smiled leaving the men alone to their thoughts. Whistling his happy go lucky tune.

The next few days proceeded in this very same manner. Until the troops were able to stand their ground and not fall when Raven used his magic. This was a huge improvement and it made Raven feel hope deep in his heart.

Each day Emerald watched the training and became more and more human. Her soul was still a unicorn but something inside of her was changing.

Every time she watched Raven something drew her nearer to him. She didn’t know love; she didn’t know mankind for anything other than destruction, so every time she watched him treat the others kindly she didn’t know what to do nor how to react to it. This was nothing like what she had experienced before and since her only meeting with mankind was of them destroying her world she was confused by his kindness. The manners that he demonstrated confused her and for this reason she watched him at all times. Not only was Raven kind but so were those that were drawn into his fellowship. Especially Tristan, his co-captain. If possible he seemed even nicer than Raven was. Perhaps, Emerald thought to herself, perhaps since Raven is the Lord of dreams he is required to act nice. If he is the Lord of dreams, maybe he would know what my nightmare meant. I shall ask him sometime. She was lost deep in her thoughts as Raven and Tristan watched her, pondering what she might be thinking.

Time passed as Raven and Tristan trained their new recruits. Emerald could tell that something different was in the demeanor of those that were preparing for war. Raven and Tristan would disappear for days at a time and then come back, exhausted and hurt. When they would return they would work more on training and then take those that had been trained with them. Each time they took the men they trained, each time they left, and each time they returned those trained did not return with them. It began to bother Emerald that the men never returned; the reason being was that Raven was taking them to the dream realm so they could train under other teachers that lived in the dream realm.

This process kept going on over the course of weeks with only Raven and Tristan returning. She did not know where those being trained were going and she didn’t know why they were not coming back. Maybe they were dead, or maybe they were trying to find that strange statue she had seen in the forest so long ago. Maybe, it was both. It occurred to Emerald that when she saw and spoke with Raven next that she would tell him that she had seen the statue. This was the first time she had thought about that statue since seeing it and it caused shivers to rise violently on her body.