On Bated Breath We Wait

Chapter5

As my mom had mentioned she woke me up early. It was only a few hours earlier than normal, at dawn. She started to instruct me to go wash my face to wake up, I would need my wits about me before breakfast. Whilst I walked out of the bathroom from washing my face, I saw her waiting for me at our table. Upon the table rested a large chest. She signed, “Do you know what this is?”

Still waking up, I rubbed my eyes to get a better look. “No,” I replied. She opened the chest and motioned me to come closer to look inside. What was in the chest was the outfit she wore last night, as well as a few other things that I didn’t see on her. She had three, maybe four outfits each identical to each other. Strapped to the inner portion of the chest’s lid were several small knives of varying shapes; and a short metal cylinder that was no thicker than a broom handle. I could tell she was waiting for me to say something. So I asked, “Why all of the different knives?”

She proceeded to pull out each knife, holding it in a particular way before handing it to me. As I held the knife myself, she started to explain its use and where she would keep it on her person. Some of the knife's uses were simple. One was for close combat, another for being a throwing weapon. But as she continued to explain each knife, they started to have more interesting uses. A serrated blade was now a must have for her, as she explained that several times in the past someone or something had gotten caught in a trap and she needed a knife to easily cut rope. Another blade had a groove that ran down the center of the blade; as I held that one and looked closer at it, she pulled out a small bottle of green liquid poison. Wolfsbane, Hemlock, and Death Thistle these were some of the poisons she mentioned she could use with that knife with Death Thistle being the most dangerous. Death Thistle in its liquid form was a shadow of its former self, but even weakened significantly it could still kill someone within minutes.

Finally, all of the knives had been removed from the chest and explained; she reached for the cylinder and asked, “What’s this?” Again, I didn’t have a clue. As I answered, I heard a clip and a hissing sound began coming from the cylinder. After a few seconds it stopped, and in an instant sections of the cylinder darted out and it now took the shape of a javelin. Amazed, I reached out to touch it, but she put out a hand and moved her finger back and forth; I could tell I wasn’t ready for it. Once we finished going through everything she wanted me to see in her chest, she told me to go get breakfast and warned me not to eat anything dairy unless I would like to see it during the next part of training.

As I made my way to the mess hall, I wondered what type of training my mom wanted to start with. I knew that while I was never seen as athletic I had my moments. With that in mind I decided that I was just going to try my best to impress her. The mess hall was in full swing by the time I had arrived. Rather than wait for some of the better foods in the mess hall, I walked over to the table where some of the bakers and chefs had left out various cheeses and breads for people to grab before heading off to work. As I began to reach for a plate to start selecting my breakfast, I heard someone shout my name.

“Duran, my boy, over here,” the voice shouted. I looked around to see who was shouting for me, and to my surprise it was a family friend, Alex. He was peeking around one of the doorways that led to the kitchen, he waved me closer and as I approached he asked, “Duran, is it true?”

“Is what true?” I responded, awaiting him to actually ask.

He answered, “Is it true that your mother is going to be picking back up the blade to teach you? It’s the only thing the envoy are talking about right now.”

His eyes affixed to me and I responded, “Yeah, she is. Is that a big deal?” He began to grin from ear to ear and disappeared into the kitchen. From the mess hall I could hear a bit of cheering coming from the kitchen. He returned with a plate in hand, and handed it to me. The plate was a diverse assortment of meats, berries, and three perfectly shaped pieces of bread topped with a pat of butter. Confused by the strange bread I had to ask, “What is with the weird bread.”

His grin got even bigger, “Duran, those are called pancakes. And they are a gift from the kitchen staff to you. From what the envoy members were talking about earlier today here in the mess hall, you are going to need every bit of strength you can muster.” I began to eye the plate, before asking why. He explained that in the past whenever someone new was getting trained to be a future member of the envoy, it was the most difficult training they had ever experienced. By the time it was dinner, they could barely move and sometimes missed dinner. I thanked him and started looking for a place to sit and eat, luckily I noticed Nikos.

As I sat down, Nikos was staring into his food and with a grin I asked, “About time I ran into you, how is everything?” Rather than waiting for his answer I started eating. Oh the food was delicious, the meats were moist, hot and salty. The berries were freshly picked and tart. But best of all were the pancakes! I had never had anything quite like them, they were as if I was eating a cloud. With each bite my pace of eating speed up, it was only when Nikos commented did I notice. Between my bites of food, I did hear him complaining about all of the strange and odd things around him, he called them ’mysteries’. Thinking back to growing up with him I commented, “Sounds like the puzzles our dads used to give us, remember? What was that, when we were nine? You used to love these kinds of things, you got this.” He rebuttaled and continued to complain about his father, only to end by saying that out of all of the things his father left money wasn’t one of them, I started laughing at the thought. I ended up making an excuse to why I was eating so quickly, and while it was true, I couldn’t let him know that I was just so entranced by the pancakes. We ended up agreeing on trying to meet up for breakfast every few days before each of us went on with our day.

I met with mom back at home, she had changed from her normal attire to that of loose fitting clothes. When I brought them up she signed, “These are easier to move around in. Depending on how far we can get in your training, maybe then I’ll teach you how to move in different clothing.” As she put on her shoes she signaled for me to come closer. I took a step forward; still about five feet away. Again she signaled me to come closer, this repeated until I was about a foot away. In the small area between us she began to sign again, “What I’m about to do stays between us. Not even your father can know, okay? It’s a technique from outside of the Temple for training students. I’m going to start signing words you do not know. Do not try and remember them, however when I point to you say your name. I will continue signing after you speak, I will point to you once again. I need you to say I understand and agreed. I’ll explain everything after that.”

I agreed and she began to sign at an unbelievable rate, her hands never pausing. She pointed at me, “Duran Kelt.” As her hands continued to sign, it felt as if I could understand what she was signing. I saw her sign her name, the words ‘student’ and ’master’, as well as the words ‘share’ and ‘mind’. After a bit she once again pointed to me, “I understand and agreed.”

The world went white, and I woke up on the floor, my head on her lap. My head felt as if it were splitting from a headache and I heard her say, “Don’t move, give your body a moment to get used to this. You can speak but don’t try to get up.”

“Mom, what just happened? And why can I hear you again, did dad make another one of those potions?” I asked.

Carefully she said, “No, this is something else. While I’m not in the position to fully explain what this is, I can say it’s called a ‘Training Link’. Think of it as magic. For a few hours you and I can speak with only our minds.” It was then I realized, while I was hearing her I didn’t feel the vibrations of her voice through her body.

“Wait, pause. Are you telling me that we are speaking with our minds.” I awaited her answer.

“Well, I am. You are still speaking normally, it will take some getting use to before you can.”, I could feel happiness coming through our connection.

“You said to think of this as magic. Is it?” I attempted to say only through thought.

“Duran, I only got a bit of that thought. I understood you said is it but that's all,” her voice even in my mind was exactly the same as yesterday, it was calming and gentle. I repeated my question out loud.

Rather than getting an answer I felt as if I was getting images of her past and with that I understood. I shouted but then caught myself, carefully I focused on her and thought, “Was that your past? Is that what the world is like outside of the Temple?”

My brain flashed with the images that she had just shown me. I watched as I saw someone who looked like my mother grow up; except she had grayish black skin, her hair was white almost silver and her eyes were a reddish purple. The images in my head continued, not allowing me to reflect what I had just seen. Images of her with two stout, grey muscular people, it was paired with the feeling of love and regret. Next, my mind was filled with images of a group of people in envoy attire, then an image of dad looking at her. As an image of a baby flashed quickly, before it felt as if I was looking through her eyes down at me on her lap.

It was as Nikos mentioned, we do not know our parents. I felt the connection between her and I and reached out, “Mom?”

“Yes, son?” she replied. I could feel the headache fade away, but rather than getting up, I laid there and asked her of her life and what I had seen. She explained that she’s what the outside world calls a ‘Drow’, they are a dark skinned race similar to elves. They have long lives and do not normally interact with people outside their race. She had been born mute and her true parents gave her up, as they saw it a weakness. The people that raised her were Duergar, a race similar to dwarves who had been at war with the Drow for centuries. She was raised with love, but with the agenda that she should turn the war in the favor of the Duergar. Not wanting to be part of the war, she fled and it was there she met the envoy. Naive to the ways of the world were the envoy, but they were quick to learn from her. Rather than letting them travel alone she stayed with them, eventually coming back to the Temple. The rest of her story was known to me, she had met dad and had me.

Quietly, I asked, “What happened? Everything about you is different.” Calmly, she explained that it’s something about the Temple. It alters everything from the outside world. Some things change like she had, others cease to exist the closer they come to the Temple. I stood up and asked about the training, rather than ask about something that she didn’t fully understand.

As we left our home and made our way outside, as we stepped into the light of the day I looked up at the nearby cliff, only to hear mom say, “Don’t look up, there is something strange going on up there.” We continued on until we got to a tall tree, its lower branch had been stripped off over the years and now its first branch was easily ten feet overhead. “Climb the tree,” her voice echoed in my head.

I pointed at the barren tree and asked, “That one?” Only to see her confirm with a nod. I started to look at the tree for a place to grip or a foothold, but as I searched I found none. And so I reached out to her mind and asked, “How do I climb this? I think it’s impossible.”

“It’s not impossible, this is part of your training. Expect the unexpected, make mistakes as I will be here to catch you when you fall,” she hinted.

“Now you are starting to sound like Nikos’ father. Just for this one time, could you give me a more direct answer.” I pleaded.

“Observe,” she took several steps back and began running at the tree in a full sprint. A few feet away from the tree, she jumped and her body turned now perpendicular to the tree. As her feet touched the tree she continued to run up the tree; far into the branches until I could no longer see her. I felt her mind touch mine, “Do you need me to explain?”

“Yes! That wasn’t something a person could do. I didn’t even know that was possible.” I exclaimed.

She corrected me, “No, that isn’t something a human can easily do. Remember you are half me, and thus not fully human. I want to see what you can do.”

I took a few steps back as she did and began running at the tree, just as she did I jumped and attempted to have my feet land on the tree. As I felt my feet touch the tree, I could feel myself falling and as I hit the ground I heard her asking if I was okay, “I’m just a bit sore from the fall. Any other tips for climbing this tree.”

She explained that sometimes the body does exactly what we want it to do, other times we have to learn to force it to do what we want. “Please, try again.” She asked, before added, “And this time try to stay connected with me. I’ll try and sense what feeling you are having and I might be able to point you in the right direction.”

I stepped back to where we both started, a tiny bit of anger flickered in my mind. I was both jealous that she was able to do it so easily but also mad at myself for being unable to. I quickly cleared my mind of those thoughts and focused on the tree. Again, I ran at the tree full speed and jumped. As my feet touched the tree, I felt my momentum continued to move me up the tree. One step, two steps…joy rushed over me, and then I began to fall. Like, a flash of lightning I saw mom sprinting down the tree and before I could hit the ground she caught me.

Beaming with pride she said, “You had it there for a second. But you let your mind waver.” As she put me down I asked her what I did wrong only for her to repeat, “Don’t let your mind waver.”

She and I both walked over to the starting spot; I began to focus on the tree and the thought of running up it like she did. I cleared my mind of only the thought of climbing it and started to run, my feet collided with the tree and I instantly fell. “Interesting.” I heard her say.

“What the hell! I almost did it last time! Why didn’t I even get a step up the tree this time!” I shouted furiously. Only for her to walk over to me and place a single finger to my lips.

“Hush, child. I see your problem. And oddly, anger is your answer. When you were able to climb the tree a few steps, you were angry at yourself. Try to stay angry, either at yourself, me or the tree and try again.” She led me back and pointed at the tree, “Again.”

Anger filled my mind, at her, at myself, at the stupid tree. As I sprinted at the tree, my anger only increased. What if I fail again, what if I do it only to fall from an even greater height? The moment I jumped I could feel something was different, and my mom’s comment came to mind; do not let your mind waver. The instant my foot touched the tree I could hear the sounds of the bark cracking. Each step I took up the tree the cracking loudened, I was quickly into the branches and high up into the tree. Remembering I didn’t want to fall back down, I grabbed onto nearby branches as my speed dropped. I could feel her excitement. Only to hear the words, “Next lesson. Climb down.” It was easier said than done, the pathway down wasn’t a straight path like it was up but carefully I climbed down the tree.

She clapped as I reached the ground, “Wow, I wasn’t expecting us to figure out your trigger so easily.”

“Trigger?” I panted, winded from climbing down the tree.

She motioned for me to sit, as she explained, “Your magical trigger. It’s what you need to cast…” I felt the blood rush to my head, my vision began to blur.

The next thing I knew I was back to having my head on her lap, “What happened?” I wondered, hoping to hear her answer in my head. But nothing, I awaited her reply and eventually I spoke out loud, “Mom, what happened?” I pointed to my head hoping she would understand.

Only to see her beginning to sign again, “I had to break off the connection, otherwise your body might have started to affect me. Since we are out here I’m not going to reconnect us. We will just continue today’s lesson without it.” She instructed me to climb the tree over and over again and each time climb down faster. And with a big grin she added, “And try not to pass out again.” I proceeded to climb tree repetitively, each time letting anger fill my mind. Each time gave me a new reason to be angry at myself. It was past noon by the time she stopped me; I had climbed the tree over a few hundred times. My arms and legs were battered from hitting branches on both the way up and the way down; but the trunk of the tree looked worse.

The trunk looked as if someone had spent all day hitting it with an axe. She reached behind her back, and from underneath her clothes pulled out an axe. As she handed the axe to me she signed, “Get rid of the evidence.”

Felling the tree was easier than I thought it would be, maybe it was because I had mostly destroyed the truck. Once it was on the ground I commented, “That was easy.” She informed me that getting it to the ground would always be easy, chopping it to smaller pieces that takes time.

While I devised a plan to cut the tree into pieces she commented, “Focus your efforts on the trunk; your primary focus should be to look for any footprints or markings on the trunk from you running up it. You need to cut right in the middle of those markings to destroy them.” Switching my plan, I began to look up and down the trunk of the tree. In the end I only ended up finding three spots where my footprint was visible. As I swung the axe, I quickly noticed that where my footprints were was incredibly hard. I looked toward her to see her signing, “Now is when this lesson starts.” She paused before explaining, “When you use magic it can easily affect the environment around you; even more so if what you are doing with magic would only be possible with magic. The easiest way to clean up something like this is best to remember… Magic MUST defeat magic.”

I could feel her eyes watching me, judging me for what I did next. Heeding her advice, I started to concentrate. Feeling angry on cue was difficult, as nothing ever really bothered me enough to make me angry for an extended period of time. As I reflected, thinking about how to make myself angry I saw out of the corner of my eye her sign, pain. My realization that pain would bring out anger was instant, and without hesitation I punched the trunk of the tree where my footprint was. Pain instantly rushed up my arm, as I lifted my hand I saw I had broken the skin on a few of my knuckles. I grabbed the axe with both hands, and focused on the pain. The axe cut through it effortlessly, I quickly stepped over to the next spot. Again, effortlessly as I walked over to the last spot and cut right through the tree I looked up and asked, “Should it be this easy?”

Smiling, she explained, “Yes and no. It’s probably easy because you are using too much magic. Magic takes a toll on the user, don’t lose your focus or that toll will hit you right now. Try to maintain your focus and finish cutting the rest of the tree, and do it fast. I’ll get rid of the pieces you cut off.” She began to walk over to the section of the tree that had no branches. With a swift kick a large section of the trunk jumped into the air, only for her to catch it with one arm.

My jaw dropped; “How!” I exclaimed. She placed a finger to her lips, before darting away. Amazingly, I wondered how in the world she did that. Magic was obviously the answer, but seeing someone do something like that still left me in awe. I continued to cut up the tree, and every now and then she came back and grabbed another section of the tree before running off. Once I finished, I waited for her to return. As I asked how I could help, she told me to sit and I’m glad she did. Exactly as she warned me, my legs began to shake and as I sat down I could feel a wave of exhaustion washed over me. My eyes felt heavier by the second, rather than grabbing another section, she walked over to me and pulled out a flask. I reached out my whole entire arm shaking, she unscrewed the lid and brought it up to my lips. A sweet tasting wine poured into my mouth, as I enjoyed the wine my arms stopped shaking. She handed me the flask and signed, “Finish it, or don’t but it will help with the fatigue.” As I sat there, I watched as she cleaned up what was left of the tree. I couldn’t help but wonder how I never noticed that she was so strong.

By the time she had finished up, my fatigue was gone and the flask was empty. As I caught her attention I commented, “Sorry, I ended up drinking the whole thing.”

“How are you feeling?” She asked. I explained that while I wasn’t fatigued anymore I still felt sore. With an outstretched hand she helped me up every step felt like a thousand; the toll of magic was harsh. “You got a handle on that very fast, I might joke that you might be a natural. But then again you did bust up your knuckles pretty well to hold onto your anger,” she remarked. On our way back inside she carefully looked around before signing, “We will continue your training back at home, I think you have had enough physical training for today.”

It was a bit past lunch when we got back home, she cleared her chest off the table and motioned me to sit down. As I sat down she signed, “In a moment say you agree again.” She touched her forehead and then mine before rapidly making hand signs again, she pointed to me and I agreed. I could feel the connection between our minds return and then she rolled a map out in front of me before commenting, “What is wrong about this map.”

Sitting there I began to look at the map, it was a detailed map of the Temple and the surrounding area. The hallways and rooms were intricately mapped, each hallway was named and each room had either a name or a purpose written on it. As I tried to identify what was wrong with the map, I noticed she was making a small plate of food. She placed it in front of me and asked what I had noticed. “Nothing, this map is perfect. I didn’t see a thing wrong or a thing missing,“ I answered, unsure what she wanted me to see.

She waved her hand over the map and a large glowing c***k appeared on the map before quickly fading away, “That was a leyline.” Continuing on, she explained that leylines are rivers of magic that run around and through the planet. They are the foundation of magic itself, without them magic wouldn’t be possible.

She directed me back to the map pointed to the center and asked what was there. I looked carefully before commenting, “From the looks of it the elders meeting room.” She pulled out a second map and asked again, this time it was a research room and on the map it was labeled, locked. She pulled out six more maps each of a different floor, and asked again. At the center was either an elder related room or a room which was labelled locked.

She explained that something strange was going on at the Temple as it was basically on top of a leyline. Something impossible was happening, the Temple should be bustling with magic. She added, “Before I continue on I must stress. Do not say anything about this.” I understood how serious she was, I nodded and she pulled out a large book. Even closed I could tell its pages were littered with various bookmarks, tabs, inserts, and notes. On the cover read, Leylines and the author's name had been scratched out. She told me that the rest of the day would be mental training, and that I would be reading this book.

Flipping through the pages I saw many maps and diagrams of the outside world and how the leylines travelled in those areas. I could hear her in my head, “Read, don’t skim.” For the rest of the day I read the book; many questions filled my head but she had disappeared and was no longer home. As the sun set I headed off to the mess hall, my fatigue returned. Each step was a struggle and bruises had started to appear everywhere. As I got my dinner and sat down both Nikos and Meryl joined me, I could tell each of us had a long day as none of us spoke. Exhausted, we only enjoyed each other's presence and as we all went our separate ways, I hoped what I learned today wouldn’t create a divide between us. As I arrived home and made my way to bed, I could feel the day weighing on me; instantly I fell asleep.