Wraiths Revenge

Training

Three days later Cara was starting to wish she had never heard of scouts. Sitting in the drizzle the cloak that she had brought with her was soaked through and anywhere she shifted to in the small bush in which she hid caused a cascade of water to pour down her back from the leaves.

If she looked carefully through the rain she could just see the hood of Milarks cloak poking through the branches of the pine tree ahead of her. To add to her disgruntlement the rain didn’t seem to be affecting him at all, she had been watching for perhaps ten minutes and he hadn’t even shifted once.

Glaring at the hood she fingered the wooden practice sword that she had been given when she had gone to Milarks tower for the first day of training. She had been so excited after telling Dirk that she had not had any sleep and had been at the tower long before the dawn broke over the village. It was not long later though before he strode through the bottom door a pack over his shoulder and the practice sword for her to use. Then after a short visit to Samar they finally headed off through the gates into the forest.

Thinking back to the first day Cara silently laughed to herself. She had thought that beyond the outskirts of the forest that she had been in already there would be wondrous sights, her mind had envisioned mountains and exotic animals the like of which the village would never believe. As the first day wore to a close and the rain had begun to come in she had slowly come to the sad fact. Beyond the first line of trees there were simply more trees, nothing grand or exciting. Just more of the same bland landscape made worse by the constant rain.

Dejectedly she allowed herself a sigh before she resumed her silent watch of the tree where she could see Milark. When she had questioned him about where they were headed he had simply

said that she would see soon, and any questions she asked about what had been said in the tower about the veil and the map had been met with a curt,

“When you need to know I’ll tell you.”

As she had began to wonder if she should just tell Milark she wanted to go back to Grast she had awoken this morning to find him waiting for her at the campfire where they had slept the night before.

“Ok so I guess this is far out enough to start your training,” Cara looked around, the woods looked no different from the last two days.

“The villagers believe that the scouts are a group of villagers who protect the villages from things on the island that would do them harm, though this is true there is more to it.”

Milark had held up a hand as even more questions built up in Cara. He looked to the wooden sword at her waist smiling slightly.

“If you can touch me with that sword by sunset tonight then I’ll tell you the rest over a hot meal, otherwise you will have to watch me eat while I tell you the story.”

He leaned forward the smile turning to a wolfish grin across his face.

“I have never been touched with the sword Cara, you would be the first to best me.”

To her surprise as she fumbled with her sword she had hit the ground hard as he kicked her in the chest darting into the woods. Her first few chases had all ended in embarrassing failures as she had repeatedly ended up on the floor and her sides and chest were now a mass of bruises from roots and stones.

“Well not this time,” she muttered very softly as she inched forward through the bush. Milarks hood still pointed forwards there was no way he could have seen her or heard her over the sounds of the rain hitting the trees.

Slowly pulling her sword free she lay on the ground wriggling towards him trying to ignore the cold water as it seeped in through her cloak. The sun had long since passed its height and judging from what she could see through the foliage she judged this would be her last chance before sundown. Wincing as a branch creaked under her knee she stood, still no movement from the hood. She could barely see Milarks body through the dense tree but she aimed the point of her sword at where she thought he would be and with a shout of glee she lunged forward the point of the sword stabbing square into the back of the cloak.

A split second later the breath left her hard as a body dropped from above her to crush her once more into the dirt, dazed and confused she looked towards where the cloak had been and with a rush of disappointment she realized it was just that. A cloak, Milark had never been in it, he had put it there as a decoy. A hot flush of embarrassment hit her as she struggled to her feet glaring at him standing there the rain pouring off his head.

“That was good Cara, you move quietly,” he looked to the tree above. “But always expect an enemy to be quieter.”

This was the way it had been the first couple of times he had beat her as well, always a compliment and then a lesson.

“You move quick Cara but always expect an enemy to be faster than you.”

Or

“You are strong Cara but always expect an enemy to be stronger than you.”

Cara glanced up as the sun as it began disappearing over the horizon, her time was up. Gripping her sword until her hand hurt she watched as Milark looked up towards the sky.

“Well Cara I believe that sundown is-“

CRACK

Cara hit the dirt for the second time in minutes as her practice sword flew off into the trees. Dumbfounded she stared at the wooden blade Milark held, he had made no movement except his arm to her surprise attack and she still couldn’t believe how quick he had moved the blade.

“A surprise attack, not bad Cara,” he slid the sword back into the loop on his belt, “it’s been a long time since I had to draw sword to stop an attack in training. It seems you are learning quickly.”

Barely hearing the compliment Cara felt anger rising in her, she was cold, hungry and now she wouldn’t even get supper tonight.

“How can I learn when all you have taught me is that the enemy will always be better than me, the enemy is stronger Cara, the enemy is quicker Cara, how am I ever supposed to win when I am always slower or weaker.”

She breathed heavily surprised to find that she had been shouting, Milark had made no move at her tirade he merely motioned her closer under the tree.

“Think Cara, even if an enemy is better than you in every way, there is still a way to beat them, just think.”

The rain flew from Caras hair as she shook her head.

“I don’t know, I never touched you with my sword remember, perhaps I’m not good enough to become a scout.”

“Ah but Cara you came closer than anyone ever has before, how did you do it?”

Cara thought back to her final attack.

“I just thought if I could hit you while you were distracted perhaps I’d stand a chance. But it didn’t work anyway.”

She knew she was being sullen but she couldn’t help it, her back and chest ached and Milarks questions were just making her feel stupid. But to her surprise Milark clapped his hands grinning.

“Yes Cara that’s exactly what you did, you waited until I was distracted, you trapped me. This is the quality that a scout must have above all others, it doesn’t matter how strong or fast whatever you are fighting is as long as you can outsmart it. You are my first student to ever try to trick me so early in the training and I’ll wager none of the other scouts have ever come across it so early either.”

Cara stared at him.

“So I did well?” she asked hesitantly still confused by the conversation.

“Yes Cara, you did very well” Milark chuckled as he turned back to where their camp lay.

“I’ll let you have some hot food tonight.”

Her anger forgotten Cara smiled as she headed through the trees.

As night settled around them Cara huddled in close to the fire watching Milark cook. Now that she was warm she wasn’t surprised to find that she began drifting off, the days events had been energetic at the least.

“If you’re tired I don’t suppose you want to hear the rest of the story about the scouts history Cara,” Milark laughed as he sat across from her.

Her eyes snapping open and all thoughts of sleep left her as Cara leant forward unsure what question to ask first.

“You said that protecting the villages wasn’t all that the scouts do, what else is there?”

She thought that was a good simple question to start with but to her surprise Milark frowned slightly before answering.

“Well the best way to answer that question I suppose would be with a question of my own. These dangers that you believe the scouts protect you from, what do you suppose they are?”

Cara thought a moment of the animals she had heard tell of but never seen near the village.

“Well I suppose bear and wild boar and such animals.”

“But then what would the hunters catch for meat if we scouts kept them away from the village” Milark asked squinting his eyes at her as she thought.

Cara blinked, she had never really thought about that, of course the wild animals must come near the village, the hunting parties never strayed far beyond the boundaries. Her brow creased in thought but surprisingly she realized that though she had always wanted to become a scout she had never given much thought to what they actually did.

“I don’t know” she answered finally

Milark grabbed a couple of sticks from the pile to go on the fire and lay two of them in front of Cara parallel to each other.

“Ok, so this stick,” he pointed to the one closest to him, “is the islands that we live on and around us.”

He pointed to the other stick.

“That stick there is what we call the veil. It’s a kind of wall that was set up a long time ago a bit like a prison, we are on the outside of it.”

“The veil that Valnar mentioned back at the tower, the one I can’t see?” Cara asked confused. If this veil was a wall then how could she not see it?

“The very same one yes,” Milark nodded, “now the scouts were created a long time ago to watch the veil and to keep it safe over the years.”

“So where is this veil? Is it on the island? Can we go there?” The questions poured out of Cara as her excitement grew, finally she would be able to go somewhere the villagers had never been.

Milark waved his arm around the campsite, “It’s all around us Cara, perhaps I was wrong to use the word wall, the veil is more of a… barrier I suppose. It was set in place long ago and now it’s weakening, some few of the islanders can see the veil and such are usually picked to be scouts but it is weakening, soon it will fail and when that happens there will be nothing left to stop them breaking through. This is the scouts’ main purpose Cara, to hold the veil and stop the Djukta returning.

He bowed his head sadly.

“And though Valnar and the others don’t yet see it. I believe we have already failed.”