Wielder's Awakening (6 page)

“I just noticed you sitting uncomfortably at dinner and sitting down rather carefully just now.  It’s pretty obvious to me but that could just be because I’ve gone through the same thing.  The first time I made the trip to Kavar and back, I couldn’t sit down for a week.  I’d give you something to help sooth it, but it’ll be better if you just let it toughen up.  Don’t worry about it.  You’ll be in pain for a few days but after that your skin will toughen up and it won’t bother you anymore.  As for now, you’re going to wake up very sore in the morning.”

Hank chuckled to himself and lit the pipe that he had pulled from off of the mantle.  He offered it to Traven, but he politely refused it.  Hank just shrugged and took several puffs on it.  Traven had tried his grandfather’s pipe several years back and had almost choked to death.  He didn’t understand how people could enjoy them, but many people seemed to.  They sat for a while in silence just enjoying the warmth of the fire until the two little boys burst back into the room.  They were struggling with Traven’s pack as they made their way toward him and dumped it at his feet.  He couldn’t believe that he had forgotten to take care of Dapple and bring all of his things inside with him.

“If you’ll excuse me, I need to take care of my horse.  I guess I forgot to in my eagerness to eat.”

“Oh don’t worry about it.  I’ll take care of him.  You need to get some sleep.”

Traven tried to talk Hank out of it, but he insisted and finally Traven gave in.  Mrs. Crand came into the room and said that she would show him to her oldest son’s room.  Fortunatley, he was watching the flocks tonight, so Traven would have the room all to himself.  He picked his pack up off of the wooden floor and followed Mrs. Crand as Joyce came into the room and began ushering the two little boys towards their room.  Traven followed Mrs. Crand into a small room at the back of the house.  She quickly lit the candle that rested on the small desk that was next to the bed.

“You better try to get as much rest as you can tonight.  Hank’s a nice guy, but he’ll wear you out on the trip to Kavar.  Everyone else takes four days to get there, but he insists on making the trip in three days.  And don’t worry about Joyce.  There aren’t many travelers who pass through here so every time someone does, she gets all googly eyed.  I guess she can’t help it, but when I was young I at least didn’t stare at strangers so blatantly.  Oops, I guess I’m getting carried away.  Anyway, I’ll be back to wake you up early tomorrow morning, so sleep well.”

As soon as she was out of the room, Traven slumped down onto the bed.  It had been a tiring day.  It seemed so long since he had woken up and received his birthday presents.  The events of the morning now almost seemed like a dream.  He was ready to get some sleep.  He set his pack at the base of the bed and blew out the candle.  He undressed slowly, being very careful while removing his pants.  Traven then slumped down into the bed.  It felt so great to be lying down on a soft bed.  He knew he was going to have trouble getting up in the morning.  He closed his eyes.  He liked the darkness.  With his eyes shut he could pretend that everything was normal and he was back in his own bedroom. 

The only thing that spoiled the illusion was the unfamiliar warmth of the stone on his chest.  He had managed to forget about it until now.  He opened his eyes and glanced down at it.  He could barely make out that it was glowing in the darkness.  That was so strange.  He had never heard of a gem changing color and definitely had never heard of one glowing in the dark.  Maybe the gemstone was something really special after all.  He had always liked to think that it was incredibly valuable since his father had been gripping it when he had died, but there had not been anything to really make him believe it until now.  Maybe it really was a very valuable stone.  Traven finally drifted off to sleep with the stone clutched in his hand and his head full of thoughts of his father.

He was awakened long before the sun rose by someone tapping him on the shoulder.  He was blinded by the light of the candle in front of his face as he opened his sleepy eyes and couldn’t remember where he was at first.  As his head unclouded, he remembered he was in the Crand’s house and that Mrs. Crand had said she would be waking him up early.  As his eyes adjusted to the light from the candle, he was startled to see that it was not Mrs. Crand holding the candle; it was Joyce!  Traven hastily pulled the sheet up over his bare chest and felt his face grow hot.

“My mom told me to get you up.  Dad wants to get started soon so hurry up and get your shirt on.”

After she left the room, Traven could hear her giggling as she made her way down the hall.  As soon as she was gone, he jumped up to put his breeches on and almost fell over.  His legs were extremely stiff and sore from the ride from Oak Tree.  He pulled on his breeches and gingerly tried to massage his legs as best he could.  He then threw on his shirt and picked up his pack.  By the time he got outside, Dapple was already saddled and his waterskin had been filled.

“Hurry up son!  We need to get going if we’re going to make good time.”

Traven hurried to strap his pack behind the saddle as Hank was saying goodbye to his wife and daughter.  He then went over and thanked Mrs. Crand for her hospitality, trying not to make eye contact with Joyce.  He could feel his face heating up again as he swiftly turned and carefully mounted Dapple.  Hank was already in his saddle, and they started away from the house.  Hank and Traven turned in their saddles to wave one last time as they made their way toward Hank’s brother’s house.  Despite the distance and the dark, Traven was able to clearly make out the two women blowing kisses to them.

“That’s funny.  Joyce usually doesn’t blow me a kiss when I leave, just her mother.”  Hank turned back to look forward after giving Traven a quick smile.  It was a little chilly outside without a cloak, but Traven was glad for the chill wind that cooled his cheeks.

They were soon in front of Hank’s brother’s house.  He was also saying goodbye to his wife.  When he saw Hank and Traven, he kissed his wife and got up on the seat of his wagon.  The whole back of the wagon was piled high over the lip with top quality wool.  The man introduced himself to Traven as John, and then the wagon slowly began to roll down the street.  Two horses pulled the wagon, and they were shortly moving along at a respectable speed.  They soon were out of the community and heading down the road toward Kavar.

“We’ll stop in an hour or so to eat when the sun starts to come up.  My wife packed us some freshly baked muffins for breakfast.  I want to get as far as we can before we stop.  If we don’t cover enough ground, we’ll have to eat in our saddles.”

“He’s a slave driver Traven, a slave driver!”

Hank chuckled at John’s comment.  Traven tried to stay awake as they rode along.  He wished he could have slept in a few more hours.  He was still tired from the day before and extremely sore.  His legs were already on fire, and the day had not even really begun yet.  He knew that it truly was going to be a rough three days to Kavar.

4

By the time the sun finally rose, Traven felt like he had already been riding for a whole day.  Hank told them they had made better time than he had anticipated, and he led them off the road to the base of a small hill.  Traven slowly dismounted from Dapple and stretched his cramped legs.  He then settled down on the soft grass in the shade of the small hill.  It felt wonderful to just lie down and rest.  After a few minutes Hank pulled out the large muffins and gave one to Traven and John.  Traven tried to make the muffin last, but it was soon gone.  It didn’t fully satisfy him, but he figured he better get used to not always having as much to eat as he wanted.  He was sure that there would be times on his journey when he might hardly have any food at all.  He took a large drink from his waterskin and decided to walk up to the top of the hill before he got too stiff.

It was hard to get his legs to take him up the hill, but once he reached the top he was glad he had made the effort.  For the first time, he had a chance to see all of the surrounding countryside.  Back to the east he could faintly make out a dark line in the far distance that must have been the edge of the forest.  Above the forest he could still see the towering mountains that had always dominated the skyline back at home.  To the north, Traven could only see uninterrupted rolling plains.  Not too distant to the west, he could see a thin silvery line winding its way through the plains.  He could see that the road wandered slowly towards the silvery line and eventually followed alongside.  Traven decided that it must be the Blue River if he correctly remembered the map he had seen.  It seemed strange to be so out in the open, but he happily noted that it didn’t make him uncomfortable anymore like it had the night before when he came out of the forest.

“Traven!  Hurry up and get down here.  We are on a schedule.  We have had a long enough break.”

Traven hurried down the hill the moment Hank called his name but still had to rush to scramble atop Dapple so as not to be left behind.  They were soon back on the road and making their way around the base of the hill.  He could still barely make out the silver line in the distance far ahead of them and asked if it was in fact the Blue River.

“Well, the Blue River is in front of us,” John replied wrinkling his forehead.  “You can see it from here?”

Traven nodded.  John squinted in the distance and shook his head.

“We’ll reach it sometime around midday.  Once we get to it, the road will follow it all the way to Kavar.  That’s one of the good things about the road to Kavar, you never run out of fresh water.”

It took them longer than Traven thought it would to reach the river.  He was learning that it was hard to tell distances on the plains, because he could see so far unobstructed.  As they finally pulled alongside the Blue River, Traven gazed down into the water.  He had heard that it was called the Blue River because the rocks that lined it were dark blue, but the rocks seemed more black than blue to him.  He guessed that people would rather drink water from a blue river than a black river.  The river flowed along swiftly and was several arm spans across.  He was amazed by the size of it.  He had never seen a body of water larger than the creek at Oak Tree.

“What are you staring at Traven?  It’s just a small river.  When you see the Adrinavelle you won’t even remember this little thing.”

Traven wasn’t sure if Hank was serious or not, but he ripped his gaze away from the river.  They continued on at a steady pace down the road.  As the day continued on, it became hotter and Traven became sorer.  Hank and John kept arguing about something having to do with whether or not they had gotten more wool this trip or the last.  Traven only half listened as they bantered back and forth between each other.  They never really had anything interesting to say, but he definitely preferred traveling with them than traveling alone.  Whenever he tried to ask them about the city, they would just tell him to wait and see for himself.  Hank would always say that the anticipation of what the city was like would be far more interesting than the city itself.  However, John said that the city was truly amazing and that Traven would love it when they finally reached Kavar.  When the sun was directly overhead, they stopped to eat quickly and fill up their water skins.

They had barely gotten off their horses when Hank had them back up again.  Traven rode on in silence wondering if the day was ever going to end.  He was not sure if he could spend two more days traveling at this pace.  John kept assuring him that it really was not that bad and after another day he would be used to it.  He wasn’t sure if he believed John but figured that it had to get easier over the next couple of days or he was going to die.

“Hey Traven, have you heard about that army that’s being raised in the north of Balthus?”

“An army?” Traven exclaimed excitedly as his wandering thoughts vanished.

“That’s what I said.  My neighbor took a load of wool into Kavar a few weeks ago and heard all about it.”

“It’s just a rumor John.  Don’t fill the boy’s head with a bunch of nonsense.”

“It’s not just a rumor Hank.  There were several people in Kavar who had actually seen the army.”  John then turned back to Traven.  “Apparently, there is an army that’s being gathered in northern Balthus.  No one’s sure exactly why it’s being raised.  Some say it’s just some noble who wants more land but others are saying that it’s a powerful wielder trying to cleanse the world.  It seems that it’s made up of mostly bandits and shady characters.  People who are looking for excuses to pillage and kill are flocking to the army.  I can’t believe that this army can be anything but trouble if it’s made up of a bunch of rascals.  They haven’t done anything yet, but the people of Beking are getting pretty nervous.  They’re demanding that the Empress of Balthus send her army north to disperse the group, but the empress hasn’t done anything yet.  In my opinion, I think she doesn’t really care about the people in Beking.  She’ll probably just keep most of her army to protect her palace in Rankdra.  I don’t think she really cares about anyone but herself.”