Page 13

“Aren’t you going to the training camp today?”

I asked when Dahr invited me to have breakfast together. It was safe to say I was a little more than surprised, especially after the night we’d spent together.

I wasn’t sure if Dahr was still affected by my accusations or if he simply wanted to give me space, because he ordered dinner to be brought in, along with Mira, who cared for my wounds. The warrior made a point to return very late to the tent, when I was already asleep.

Alone.

In my own bed.

Needless to say, I was slightly disappointed by this reaction. I was hoping for at least some acknowledgement and maybe even a little gratitude for the fact that I had chosen to stay on my own accord. Or maybe this was Dahr giving me freedom to follow through with my choice? Giving me time to change my mind whenever I wanted to?

I was too tired to wonder and, after a plentiful dinner and a few hours of waiting for Dahr to return, I decided that the best course of action was rest and recovery. Luckily, my face didn’t feel as swollen, but it was still hurting when I brushed against the silk pillow cover, so I decided to give my body the rest it needed.

And of course, I took the opportunity to get closer to Dahr with this sudden invitation to breakfast. I didn’t know if he slept well or how long he spent away from his bed last night, but we had never shared breakfast together; he always had to hurry out of the tent at first light.

“I was hoping that I could spend some time with you, if it doesn’t interfere with any other plans,”

he raised his brows slowly. He probably knew about my visits to Karisha’s tent and was indirectly telling me that I had the freedom to choose the events of my day.

I knew Karisha would understand, and I made a mental note to catch up with her at the earliest opportunity, since she must have heard about the mess I made in her absence.

“It’s not Karisha’s fault,”

I clarified, lest Dahr reach his own conclusions and go against my friend.

“Whatever I did wrong,”

I pointed.

“Running away from Sylam, getting into the sea, it was all me. She didn’t know what I was going to do that day and left me in her tent to get some space,” I made sure to explain to Dahr, especially since I knew the two of them had many projects in common and had to share the responsibilities of leading the camp.

“I made sure Karisha knows she is not at fault.”

Dahr’s answer took me by surprise, so I inched closer to him and tilted my head like a child listening to a fairytale and absorbing all details.

“We had a long chat last night. Karisha, Markos and I. I shared many things with them, most of which will help you settle better in the camp,”

he explained as he started arranging plates on the table and motioning me to take a seat.

This was probably the most plentiful breakfast spread I had seen in the camp, much more luxurious than what Karisha and I shared. There was sausages and bacon, toast, a variety of cheeses, vegetables, hard boiled eggs and even a bowl of strawberries.

“Wow,”

I released an exclamation at the sight of everything, my mouth instantly watering.

“I haven’t seen strawberries in years,”

I admitted and, leaving etiquette behind, I reached for the bowl to grab the biggest one and took a generous bite, letting myself enjoy the sweet taste and the acidic juice.

I realised too late that I was smiling like an idiot and Dahr’s eyes remained pegged on me, absorbing everything I did, so I forced myself to place the rest of the strawberry on my plate and straightened my back to take the adequate position, unwilling to make a bigger fool of myself than I already did.

“Don’t stop on my account,”

he smiled.

“I know you like strawberries, which is why I had them ordered.”

“They’re my favourite!”

I smiled with excitement and, following his invitation, I grabbed another strawberry from the bowl, this time a smaller one that perfectly fit into my mouth. Then I realised what he had just said.

“How do you know they are my favourite?”

He and I didn’t really have a lot of time for conversation and when we did, it was mostly practical things or insults.

“I bribed Karisha,”

he admitted with a small grin.

“She also told me that you are an artist and very good with maths.”

“It doesn’t seem fair that you have helpers. You know three things about me, and I didn’t even tell them to you,”

I retorted, partly displeased that we barely started our first real conversation and he already had the upper hand on me.

Dahr nodded, then took a few seconds to think while I continued looking at him and chewing on strawberries.

“My favourite colour is green. I don’t like to eat a lot in the mornings, a full stomach makes me slower in training.”

He blinked and looked at me, while I analysed both his words and the massive breakfast offering in front of me. Which meant, this had been brought for my benefit rather than his.

“And?”

I pushed, desperate for a third detail.

“I don’t enjoy fighting with a sword as much as I do with a dagger,”

he said, to my disappointment.

But the pleased smile on his face made me realise that he was actually trying. He was telling me things that were important to him, even though I did not truly consider them as such. It was my job to catch the seeds he was letting fall and push the conversation into a blooming flower.

“I don’t think I could even hold a sword,”

I confessed, doing my best to stay on topic.

“Isn’t it really difficult to manoeuvre?”

“Not as difficult as mathematics,”

he chuckled.

“Karisha thinks you have superpowers.”

“Maybe I do,”

I giggled and dived into the bountiful breakfast.

We both took a long time to enjoy the food, stopping once in a while to either make a comment, offer the other a chance to try a specific food or ask a question or two. Dahr seemed relaxed, maybe for the very first time since I met him. His shoulder blades weren’t in constant tension and his back arched slightly, elbows resting on the edge of the table.

As usual, he didn’t wear his vest and preferred to display his taut muscles and delicious torso, along with all the tattoos and battle marks his daily training sessions left on his skin. Giving me an up-close front row view of his pecs and his sculpted abs.

“Do your tattoos really change?”

I spat out the question without thinking, too focused on the way his muscles stretched and relaxed with every move.

“They do,”

Dahr confirmed before taking a long sip of water from his mug.

“I don’t choose the designs; they appear according to the last use of my power.”

I took a second to observe the side of his neck and shoulders, where the line of designs was visible from where he was sitting in front of me, trailing the long line of flames that covered his skin.

“Do you use your powers when you are fighting?”

I questioned, desperate to know more about him. Desperate to get a grasp of his daily routine, of his motivation and maybe even a peak into his life. Even though we were talking as if we were old friends, as though we knew each other since the beginning of time, I still did not know much about him.

“We fight once a month, usually on the last day.”

Dahr's inky eyes widened then, only for a moment, a barely noticeable movement, as if he just then realised whom he was speaking to.

“The rest of the days are reserved for training and sparring,”

he finished the observation in a curt tone.

I wanted to pose a follow-up question, but he took the lead this time.

“What about you?”

“Me?”

I snickered.

“I don’t do much. I spent most of my life studying, reading books and analysing other people’s work, with the hope that one day I will be able to also create a masterpiece. I am a teacher and a sculptor and currently working on my PhD, but…”

I stopped to take a breath, realising how empty the purpose of my life sounded.

“There’s not much excitement going on with my life,” I admitted, then clarified.

“I don’t know how to fight.”

Dahr looked at me as if this little summary of nothingness was the most interesting thing he’d ever heard.

“Would you like to?”

he offered after a long pause.

“Like to… what?” I asked.

“I can teach you how to fight. In return, you can teach me all about your statues and your gods,”

the warrior offered.

I released a deep laugh then, imagining someone as flaky as myself on the battlefield. I wouldn’t stand a chance. Not only because of my sickly nature, but because I would probably throw my weapon away and start running in the other direction.

“I probably needed that three years ago when I started teaching. You can’t even imagine how savage middle-graders can be,”

I started grinning at the memory of my first day of class. I had been terrified to stand in front of twenty twelve-year-olds and had so much anxiety that I spent three days with diarrhoea after the event. I had never thought I could face something as bad as my dissertation paper presentation but put me in a room with some kids and expect me to command authority and I was done for.

When I told Dahr about my very first day of school he laughed so hard that he snorted into his coffee, splashing it all over and then proceeded to tell me about his very first fight, where he was so scared that he tried to run away from the camp.

His story didn’t end up as well as mine, however. I had to return to the class over and over and see those kids grow, while he was caught, punished and forced into battle.

“Is your lazy ass avoiding training again?”

Markos’ voice protruded through the tent and interrupted our chatter.

The tribe leader’s feet remained pinned to the ground, his body frozen in place at the sight of Dahr and I, casually sharing breakfast and probably wasting a long time doing so, by the sounds of it. Markos’ head shook slightly, his gaze moving from me, to Dahr, then back to me. I knew, without him having to say it, that I was in big trouble. Fortunately, it was Dahr who took the lead.

“Nora and I were just finishing breakfast, you are welcome to join,”

the warrior replied and grabbed his mug to take another sip of coffee to enforce the message.

“Nora…”

Markos repeated, and it seemed that both he and I focused on the same thing. Though, I doubted his heart fluttered at the sound of my name on Dahr’s lips, like mine did.

“You mean March?”

Markos’ jaw pointed in my direction.

“Her name is Nora,”

Dahr cut him off.

“And she will be addressed by her own name from now on. Is that clear, cousin?”

Dahr’s voice dropped an octave, the threat deep in his tone.

“Are we going training or what?”

The tribe lord ignored the threat and expertly shifted the conversation to where he needed it to be. Dahr’s gaze turned to me in question, as if to ask me if I was finished with breakfast. Sensing my discomfort, he took the lead again and answered for me.

“I will take her to Karisha first, and meet you in the training camp,”

his voice carried such a deep tone of command, that Markos had no choice but to nod and leave the tent.

“Duty calls,”

I pressed my lips together in acknowledgement of the ending of this stolen moment. Without making the movement seem of any importance, I stood from my seat and moved back towards my bed to grab my shoes and get ready for the day.

Dahr did the same and, a few minutes later, we were walking out of the tent and towards Karisha’s, where the tribe lady was already waiting for me, buzzing with energy, her golden hair gleaming in the sunlight.

“Finally,”

she scolded and moved over to my side to offer me a quick hug.

“I thought you abandoned me completely,”

she croaked in admonishment, but smiled nonetheless to both me and Dahr.

The warrior turned to me then and grabbed my hand in his to lift it slowly and press it to his lips.

“I look forward to seeing you tonight,”

Dahr said as his lips left their mark on my knuckles.

My friend started giggling and I barely contained my chest from taking flight at the deep smile he shared with me before he nodded a farewell to the both of us.

I spent the rest of the day with Karisha, but all my thoughts kept running back to Dahr.

“Why did you try to run the other day?”

Dahr asked after he cut a piece of the dried meat from the breakfast table and placed it on my plate.

“When?”

I wasn’t sure what answer he was looking for. As far as memory served, he’d been the one who’d released me and told me to go. And I had been the one who decided to stay.

“When Myrcell and Bradth got involved,”

he placed the comment attentively, careful not to jostle old wounds. I didn’t need further clarification; I knew exactly what he was referring to. And what he wasn’t saying.

“I didn’t run,”

I clarified, once and for all.

“I didn't try to, at least. All I wanted to do was to go to the sea. I needed to feel free for just a little while longer. And when Karisha gave me the afternoon off, at first, I wanted nothing to do with anyone. But then I realised this was my opportunity to do something I loved. And be free, even if only for a little while.”

“Why do you love swimming so much?”

Dahr posed the question, both intrigued and slightly unnerved. By the tone of his voice, he didn’t seem to be a fan of the sea himself, which was surprising, especially since their training camp was right by the beach.

“It’s my home,”

I said without having to think about it.

“It’s my friend. The only thing I ever had in my life that was inherently mine,”

I confessed and let thoughts of the waves and floating within the embrace of the sea take me over.

“My parents died in a car accident when I was four, so I don’t remember much about them. I don’t have any other family, only an aunt, who got married a year later and took me to the school for girls, where I was given shelter until I became of age. Life was… hard,”

I pressed my lips together, not wanting to overwhelm the moment.

“And the sea was always there,”

Dahr replied in my stead.

“I must have learnt to swim with my parents, because I was never afraid of water. The school for girls was just on Sheep Street, less than five minutes from the beach. When the other girls went to bed, I escaped and went for a swim. I can’t even tell you the number of times I caught a cold because my hair didn’t dry quickly and I was always getting my pillow wet.”

Dahr kept quiet for a long time after my confession, to the point where I thought I needed to apologise for something I had said. I gave him the space he needed, and followed his lead, eating in silence and letting only the sounds of chewing and slurping interrupt the calmness of the tent from time to time.

We spent long minutes like that, until both our plates were empty and neither of us reached for another serving. Only then did Dahr stand, the abruptness of his moment making me jump.

“Are you ready?”

he finally looked at me, paying me full attention and letting me see the playful gleam in those obsidian eyes.

“Ready for what?”

I asked, feeling like I missed something.

“We’re going swimming,”

Dahr’s grin widened as he reached for me, offering me his hand to stand and follow him.

We came out of the tent hand in hand, Dahr’s presence stopping the daily commotion in the camp. I expected him to let me go and start walking ahead, as I had seen many of the other warriors do, but, to both my surprise and my excitement, he kept my pace and walked slowly through the lines of tents. Furthermore, he took it upon himself to present the camp and its people to me, his description so different compared to the first introduction with Karisha.

“The warriors of the camp remain towards the western area, flanked by the sea and the line of tents. This is to help them become stronger and tie better bonds with their tribe. There is nothing more important in battle than trust and knowing that your tribe has got your back can push a man to grow unthinkably strong. I had to stay in the warrior’s band for the first seven years, until my powers commanded me to advance in position,”

Dahr explained as he pointed towards the furthest and most isolated side of the camp and the horizon of blue behind it.

“Hunters are to the north and merchants to the south,”

I told him what I already knew and waited for further explanation on that, suddenly sharing in the fervour of the daily camp activities.

“Merchants and workers are free to go back and forth and bring whatever materials they need to continue their work and trades. You must have already guessed by now that we are heading towards the capital, so the southern regions are cleared of danger.”

That information twisted a knife to my stomach. Is that what my town will be remembered as? A region cleared of danger?

As if reading my thoughts, Dahr continued.

“We tried to stay clear of larger towns and create lesser damage if we advance through a straight line. It also prevents detection.”

I pushed my feelings aside, knowing that the plan I was starting to develop was nowhere near complete, and focused on the next question of importance.

“Will I have to stay with the trainees and new people to the east?”

I already had my guess as to why those people were planted there and I even asked Karisha what would happen in case of an attack.

The camp was posed strategically to protect the strongest of them all, the warriors, who were closed in from three sides. Should an attack happen, it would probably come from either the north or the east, thus hitting the hunters, who I assumed knew how to fend for themselves or the trainee camp, who would be sacrificed, permitting the warriors to either choose to fight for their position or escape through southern routes. They also kept very close to the sea, so I assumed they had naval escape routes already in place.

“You will stay with me,”

Dahr pulled me away from the dark thoughts and squeezed my hand slowly to capture my attention.

We walked like that, hand in hand, his presence giving me a stronger stance than I probably ever had, through the camp. Dahr greeted people by name and nodded from time to time in agreement to one thing or another, also taking the opportunity to pass on a small camp inspection.

I expected everyone to be terrified of him, or to run back into their tents for some reason, but children seemed to love coming up to him and touching his large arms, while the women smiled and greeted him with joy, men dipping their chins in reverence.

“What is your role in this camp?”

I heard myself asking, the deep need to understand the status quo of this place overpowering my excitement to shorten the walk that would take us back to the sea.

“I am Grannicus,”

Dahr offered the explanation as though it was obvious.

“And what does that mean, exactly?”

He tilted his head to look at me and I took advantage to display a questioning gaze, hoping that it would push him to give me more information.

“How much do you know about faerie traditions?”

he asked carefully, lowering his voice just slightly, as one who prepared to tell a story.

“I know about the fae and the four gods. And I know that your existence was announced on national TV over eighty years ago, when the war started. Personally, if you ask me, I think whoever brought back the gods made a huge mistake,”

I pressed my lips together to stop more unrequested opinions from flowing out. It was true, however.

Since the four gods, Belgarath, Catalina, Zaleen and Marynnah returned, the world stopped from being entirely reserved for humans. The four faerie lands came into existence, or better yet, they allowed us to know about their existence. And although some of them were peaceful and wanted nothing but to collaborate with humans and help each other out, like the Earth Kingdom and the Wind Kingdom, the other two used their abilities to claim power.

Fortunately, I had been born in one of the countries that were protected by the Earth Kingdom, so we did not feel the entire blow of the faerie wrath, but I knew there were other territories that were completely abandoned by humans who needed to seek refuge elsewhere. But it seemed that the peace in our lands would be coming to an end pretty soon.

Dahr chuckled at my description.

“Whatever you are thinking, imagine it at a lesser scale. If my race could be described as anything, we would be the scourge of the Fire Kingdom. No one wants drakes to be part of their territories, so we have to live isolated lives away from our realm. But we are strong, innate fighters, which is why we serve the purpose of gaining territory.”

“So they send you into battle?”

“They breed us for battle,”

Dahr explained.

“It is our only purpose. When war comes to an end, our entire species will disappear,”

he confessed with no amount of hurt in his tone.

My pulse sped up and I almost wanted to stop him and give him a hug. Give everyone a hug. To have this kind of information and to have to live with it… to know that your only purpose is war… It absolutely broke my heart. For him, for Karisha and Markos, for every single person in this camp.

“And what does Grannicus mean?”

I tried to keep the pace of the conversation and shoved my feelings away, trying my best to treat this as academic research.

“It means that I am a descendant of Grannus. He was a general in the Fire Kingdom and conquered the underground territories we are inhabiting today. It is believed that he was a descendant of Belgarath himself,”

Dahr explained with a dash of pride towards his ancestor.

“So you… you are descendant from Belgarath,”

I immediately pieced the puzzle.

“It’s not so easy to explain. Power surges every seventh generation, and I am the twenty-first generation from Grannus. Who is a descendant from Belgarath,”

Dahr explained.