Ramaeka (The Ramaeka Series Book 1) (13 page)

“Wow,” Ramaeka
looked at him wide eyed.  “Those things are almost impossible to kill!”

“I’m pretty
good,” Stripe smirked running a hand through his hair.

Shady
sniggered.  “Tell them what really happened.”

“That is what
happened!” Stripe protested.  Ramaeka looked between the two of them.

“So what did
happen then?” he asked Shady who grinned wickedly.

“The troll was
swinging him around like crazy like he said, but he could barely hold on let
alone hit it.  Then it came at me but when it stopped to pounce Stripe went
over its head still holding on to that over sized knife of his.  The beast
tripped over a rock and fell on top of Stripe.”

He paused and
grinned at Stripe.  “Stripe was sort of holding his sword up and it went
straight up through the troll’s mouth and into its head.”

“I like my
story better,” Stripe grumbled as Ramaeka laughed.  “And I still smell like
troll, even after I jumped into the water afterwards.”

Amar’s
presence was a strange addition to their group in Ramaeka’s opinion.  The boy
rarely smiled and always treated them with a polite indifference, though he was
a willing and hard worker.  He was an enigma to Ramaeka who despite his
upbringing and love of secrets was open and cheerful.

Amar kept his
promise and immediately began to teach Ramaeka basic combat along with Stripe. 
The main problem he thought as he watched the two of them debate a point about
stance, was that they both knew different methods, both of fighting and of
teaching.

Stripe was
more impatient and wanted to move him on to the next lesson as soon as he had
tried the last.  He also knew less about the theoretical side of fighting
having learnt from experience himself.  However he had a passion about fighting
that made it easy to understand what he was talking about.
 Amar on the other hand made sure he understood the lesson completely before
moving on; he was a far calmer teacher and more patient.  He explained the
theoretical application of fighting as well which Ramaeka enjoyed, when to use
what attack and why, and other basic strategy.  However he was less passionate
about fighting, preferring to use it as a defence rather than wanting to
continually test and push himself like Stripe.

Ramaeka didn’t
mind though, he soaked up everything they taught him with ease.  The fact that
he knew how to fight albeit in a different form allowed him better
understanding and he quickly got to the point where he could spar with both of
them without biting the dust too hard.  Of course the first thing he had learnt
was to fall properly. 

He enjoyed the
lessons, even Shady got into them, sparring with Ramaeka since he was closer to
his level than the other two.  He still couldn’t beat any of them though and
Stripe and Shady made sure to rub it in his face until he took it upon himself
to put a fish in each of their beds, even Amar’s.  It was the first time that
he had ever seen any real emotion on Amar’s face; it had been worth being made
to do four hours of running and arm strengthening exercises.

As they got
further into the mountains though it became more difficult for long lessons. 
The cold became so intense that by the time they had finished travelling for
the day all of them save Amar were too exhausted to do anything but eat and
sleep.  Amar always bullied Ramaeka into at least one lesson each night before
allowing him to sleep.  He told him that it would build endurance.  Ramaeka
told him exactly which of the five hells he could go to, which actually brought
a small smile to Amar’s face.  Unfortunately Ramaeka was too tired to care. 
The mountains were even colder than his home had been; they were also covered
in ice and snow. 

On the fourth
day of travelling in the snow and ice, an immense storm brewed up faster than
any Ramaeka had ever seen.  Amar grabbed hold of him as the wind pushed him
back, and hauled him forward.  He turned slightly and grabbed Stripe’s hand;
behind him he could see Stripe grab hold of Shady in the same fashion.  Amar
lead them surely through the storm and into a sheltered cave.  Exhausted they
slumped down trying to get their breath back in the thin air.  Amar, the only
one who had any energy, lit a fire before putting protective wards around the
cave.  Ramaeka watched him curiously; he hadn’t seen him do these wards
before.  Amar glanced over at him.

“These will
keep the entrance from blocking with snow and ice,” he explained.  “While these
will keep the cave from collapsing on us and this will stop the fire from going
out.”

He stopped and
sat down beside Ramaeka, digging into his bag and pulling out food to cook.

“Here,” he
offered a small cube to Ramaeka.  “This will give you a little energy, its
sweet.”

Ramaeka smiled
his thanks, took the cube and popped it in his mouth.  It was sweet, chewy and
tasted like honey and fruit, energy seeped from the sweetness into his very
bones.  He sat up straight and watched as Amar offered a cube to both Stripe
and Shady who took them gratefully.

“That stuff is
delicious, what is it?” he asked enthusiastically.  Amar smiled at him, making
Ramaeka blink in surprise.  He tossed him another piece.

“It’s called
krisim, it is a sweet made in my home,” he explained.

“I’m going to
visit your home someday,” Ramaeka promised feeling much more cheerful.

“If you are
feeling better, perhaps we may try a different type of lesson today?” Amar said
calmly.

“What kind of
lesson?” Ramaeka asked watching as the other boy melted some snow in a pot over
the fire.

“I believe you
have enough physical discipline to begin to learn the art of magic,” Amar
informed him; he turned to the other two.  “I will also teach both of you, if
you would care to learn.”  Shady nodded, Stripe hesitated for a moment then
nodded reluctantly.

“Very well,”
Amar folded his legs beneath him indicating for them to move forward and do the
same.

“First you
must learn to meditate.”

Stripe
scoffed.  “Meditation!  What good is that?”

“It clears the
mind, and it will also help you to find your core of magic.  If you cannot
master this then you will not be able to master magic.”

Stripe frowned
but did not reply.

“Now close
your eyes and concentrate on your breathing, clear your mind of thought and
your heart of emotion.”

Ramaeka closed
his eyes and immediately sunk into meditation.  He already knew how to do this
part; it had been part of every dragon’s routine in the fortress.  Everything
faded away except the beating of his heart and the rush of blood in his veins. 
He quietened those to background noise and simply enjoyed the peace.  He could
feel the comforting throb of his magic at the very core of his being.  A soft
voice interrupted his peace.

“I am going to
help you this once to find your core and show you how to draw upon it.”

But I already
know he wanted to protest though he stayed quiet.  A firm hand drew him down to
his core which burned brightly.  He bathed in its glow for a moment before the
voice interrupted again.

“Now I want
you to call it, just a small thread.”

He did so with
ease, pulling a thin thread of it out.

“Now weave it
up through your body to your eyes,” the voice instructed.

Ramaeka had
never done this before.  Curious he drew the thread of power through his body
until it pressed behind his closed eyes.  “Open your eyes now.”

As he did so,
Ramaeka flinched.  Everything blazed with light.  Blinking watery eyes
concentrated and looked again.  This time the light did not surprise him and he
stared around the cave with wonder.  The cave itself glowed with a soft white
light, as did the few rocks on the ground.  The wards that Amar had set were
silvery white symbols.  Looking at his friends he saw that Shady glowed with a
steady gold light.  Stripe’s light was much stronger and blazed a very light
yellow.  Looking down at his own hands Ramaeka noticed a strong brown light
encompassing them.  Amar’s light however eclipsed them all; he burned the same
white as the cave and stones but with an intensity that was almost painful.

“That’s enough
now,” commanded the soft voice.  Ramaeka blinked letting go of his power.  He
felt the thread slide down back into place.  Opening his eyes again he was
almost disappointed to see that everything was just the same again.  His
friends were rubbing their eyes as if to dispel any lingering images.  Amar
offered him some water.

“What was that?”
Shady murmured sipping on some water.

“What you saw
was the life magic of those around you as well as the product of magic that I
have cast,” Amar explained.

“You all did
extremely well; I assume that you have meditated before now?”

Stripe and
Shady exchanged glances.

“We were
taught how to do it when we were kids, at a temple in Porkae,” Stripe said
gruffly.  “It wasn’t for magic or anything, just part of the lessons you had to
take if you wanted to learn how to read and write.”

“The lessons
were free to us street kids, and being able to read and write put you a step
above the rest,” Shady explained.  “The priests were sacred so they couldn’t be
forced to dob on you, and no one was allowed to take anyone by force from the
temple.”

“I understand,”
Amar nodded thoughtfully.  “And you Ramaeka?”

Ramaeka
gulped.  “Er, pretty much the same thing, my father made all of us meditate.”

“Just to relax
and clear the mind though,” he added quickly.

Amar looked at
him intently for a moment before turning back to the other two.

“It is useful
that you know this already,” he said.  “Teaching you magic will be much
easier.  But that is more than enough for today, you were meditating for over
an hour, something your body is probably not used to.”

Ramaeka stretched
in agreement, he was stiff and cramped after sitting in the same position for
so long.

“Here let me
cook tonight,” Stripe offered taking the pot and food from Amar.

As Stripe
cooked and Shady snoozed, Ramaeka sat and watched Amar.  The boy sat at the
front of the cave staring out into the storm.  He was strange thought Ramaeka
uneasily, and the colour of his life force had brought several strange
suspicions into his mind.  But they were so ridiculous he knew they couldn’t be
true.  As if reading his mind, Amar turned and looked at Ramaeka.  He smiled
slightly before turning back to the storm.  Whoever he really was Ramaeka
wasn’t going to question him, he decided.

Standing up he
walked over and joined him in the entrance.  The landscape outside was completely
shut off by raging wind and whirling snow.  Ramaeka shivered and pulled his
jacket closely around himself.  He was so grateful that Stripe had brought him
warm clothes back in Talok though he’d scoffed at them at the time.

“Can you see
the patterns in the snow?” Amar asked suddenly.

“Sorry?”
Ramaeka asked in confusion.

Amar pointed
out into the snow. 

“If you look
into the snow you can make out shapes and patterns,” he explained.

Ramaeka peered
out into the white mass.  At first he couldn’t make out anything in particular
but after awhile he started to pick up shapes as the wind and snow shifted.

“Hey I see
what you mean,” he turned and grinned at Amar.  Looking out again he pointed to
a whirling patch.  “That looks like a fish leaping out of water.”

“That’s right,”
Amar giving him that small rare smile of his.  They sat together staring out
into the storm until Stripe called them back for food.

Chapter Six

The storm
lasted four long miserable days in which they were trapped in their cave.  The
most worrying aspect of their enforced stay was their dwindling supplies.  With
several days of travelling still to go once they were able to leave and unsure
of how long they would be caught there, they were forced to ration their food
and water.

It was the
worst thing to ever happen to him as far as Ramaeka was concerned.  While the
one meal a day was enough to sustain the other three boys, he was slowly
starving.  As a dragon he needed far more food than a human.  Even if he wasn’t
in his greater form, his body seemed to use up any energy from the food twice
as fast as the others.  He couldn’t complain though, he was smaller than all
three of his companions and shouldn’t need as much.  So complaining might just
make them more suspicious.

He sighed and
sat up unable to sleep anymore; his hunger pains were too sharp.  Amar was
sitting tending to the fire.

“Hello Ramaeka,”
he greeted him.

“Hey,” he
replied flopping down beside him.  The one good thing about being stranded here
were the magic lessons which Amar had been giving them.  They were completely
different from any Ramaeka had ever received from Garain.  They had moved on
from merely accessing their power to being able to call it up and use it.  They
also did at least two hours of meditation every day as well.

Stripe walked
over and sat down beside Ramaeka greeting both of them.

“Shady’s still
snoring in the back,” he told them with a grin.

They all
laughed, Shady’s snoring had become almost legendary and was a source of great
amusement.  At least when they weren’t trying to sleep.  Ramaeka smiled to
himself, after being stuck in a cave with them for so long Amar was beginning
to loosen up and become friendlier.  He and Stripe were getting along better
too.

“Hey Amar,
teach me some more about magic?” he pleaded turning to his newest friend.

“Very well,”
Amar replied making himself more comfortable.  “Perhaps I could explain a
little of the theoretical side of magic so that you may gain a deeper
understanding of its uses.”