Chapter 26-Back at the Hospital Wing
Irgen awoke with a start, and his memories came rushing back into his mind. He thrashed amidst the sheets, trying to break out of grasp of the sea, but then he heard a soft soothing voice next to him, and he sat up. Here he found Helen, and he knew something strange must have happened. She smiled at his befuddled look.
“You’re ok Irgen. You’re back in the hospital wing.” Irgen looked around cautiously and found Idus sitting on the other side of his bed. He smiled happily at him.
“Hmmmm. Now according to my recollection, this is twice I have had to wait for you to wake up. Maybe my memory is wrong or something, but you really should work on staying conscious. I mean it certainly would prevent us from having to sit around worrying about certain things… Like you.” Idus’ playful reprimand gladdened Irgen.
“What happened?” He asked quietly. Helen cleared her throat and looked with raised eyebrows at Idus.
“Well you see what happened was, Gregory saved you once you started to drown, but when you guys made it back to the castle, Alexander and Brown were furious. You see both of them woke up early with the same intent of training you one on one, but it appears that Gregory foiled their plans…but only by making you wake up at 2:30 this morning…” Her voice sounded unusually strained.
“Now granted, he is in charge of your training for now, but none of us really thought he should have gone and pulled the stunt he pulled. I really think that what he did was for the best, but I do believe he should have told us about his plans.” She touched her forehead in an attempt to restrain herself. “I will admit; however, that it was hilarious this morning. Both of them were livid, and nobody could do anything about it. They couldn’t even complain to Harold, because he seems to have left in the night.” She smiled as her hand dropped back down to her side.
“But now I am afraid you two will have to continue your training. As soon as you’re up to it, Irgen, you two will have to start learning the art of the sword with the dynamic duo over there.” She gave Irgen a slight grimace, and he smiled.
“Well I feel alright.” He glanced at Idus.
“Should we start lesson number two?” They both grinned as Idus nodded. Irgen ripped the sheets off himself and launched out of bed, almost colliding with Helen. He discovered he was wearing the same things he had decided to wear this morning. He saw Helen smile in approval, and he beamed back at her. He caught a glimpse of Idus shaking his head at the two of them, before they began walking towards the stairs.
As they approached the stairwell, Brown burst into the roam panting. As he entered, he did a kind of pirouette. He smiled at the boys, and in his enthusiasm, he began rattling off a list of unintelligible words.
“Swad, not, t’nigh, red, go.”
Irgen, Idus, and Helen looked at each other in confusion. It was awhile before Brown finally began to make sense, but even then he was still so eager to begin, that they felt like they were listening to the chattering of a squirrel in the trees.
“Great! You two are up, I am so glad to be able to train you two. My first name is Reggie. Alex’s first name is Alex and his last name is ironically enough, Alexander. Anyway I am so glad to be able to teach you.” This phrase the boys noticed was repeated about four times in succession. They figured it was a fact that he wanted to drill into their minds. Idus thought it was strange that their first trainer, Gregory, had not even tried to make friends, well at least to the extent of Reggie; nevertheless, he was kind of flattered by Reggie’s constant attention.
After shaking his hands numerous times, they proceeded downstairs, where they met Alexander. Gregory was nowhere to be seen, and it appeared that he was either sulking from the reprimand, or else he did not want to be seen by the two who had reprimanded him. Either way, both of the twins noticed his absence.
Alex met them and shook each of their hands, but with a much more solemn attitude. It looked to the brothers like Reggie was probably the more affable of the two. After a brief greeting, they sat down at a table and began eating what appeared to Irgen to be dinner. He was starving. He thought food had never tasted so good. The morning’s grueling tasks had not only made him sore, but it had also left him with a seemingly unquenchable hunger and thirst. He ate and drank heartily from the food on the table. The meal consisted of creamy mashed potatoes along with tender chicken breast. It was simple, but Irgen thought nothing had ever tasted so good. Finally he felt his bodily needs start to subside, and the five of them sat around the table quietly. Each letting the food settle in their stomachs.
Irgen leaned back in his chair. A feeling of relaxation swept over him as he did this, and all of a sudden, his tired aching body seemed to be screaming for sleep. He felt his eyelids begin to droop. He tried to fight off the inevitable, but before he knew it, he was asleep.
A loud crashing noise filled the room, as Irgen’s chair crashed to the floor. He awoke with a start and jumped upward, while the table roared with laughter. His face turned bright red as he looked around the room good-naturedly. Reggie was laughing hysterically, but between his bouts of laughter, he managed to get out a couple of words.
“Well I guess before you guys fall asleep on us we better get started with our training eh?” Once again he broke out in laughter. Idus thought he sounded a bit like a hyena. The laugh was loud, high and came at extremely random intervals. It was as though he tried unsuccessfully to hold it in for a while, but gave up as soon as he found that it wasn’t going to work.
Idus stood up and stole a glance at the still red face of Irgen. He found him to be breathing extremely hard. The fall had created an enormous adrenaline rush in Irgen’s system. Fear always seemed to do that. Irgen cast a quick shamefaced glance at Idus before pulling himself to his feet. The scraping sounds of chairs met him as he did so.
Reggie clutched his stomach as he stood up, trying to control his high-pitched laughter. Finally he managed to straighten up and conceal his smile beneath a twisted, yet equally hilarious, frown. He turned and walked towards the door. Everyone else followed in his wake. When they reached the open green lawn outside, the twins found that it was nearing sunset. The sun had almost totally disappeared over the wall, casting a long shadow on the lawn before them.
They walked onto the luscious dark green lawn, until they were about halfway between the castle and the wall. Then Alex turned and muttered a faint word, and a light appeared above them.
“Now first things first, you both need to take off your shoes.” The brothers exchanged quizzical looks before complying with this strange request. “Now the art of the sword is more than just prancing around waving a piece of metal. It takes work and a lot of it. And even then it is not always the best swordsman who will win. You may have seen plenty of movies where they have choreographed fight scenes, scenes where the actors have a practiced routine they do. You do not, and will not have the pleasure of having such a routine, where the bad guy always loses and the good guy wins. No, instead we will try to prepare you for what is really out there. It is a world of strength, quickness, ruthlessness, and a lot of heartache.” He stopped while contemplating his last words.
“It is our job to turn you into master swordsmen. Nothing else will suffice. You must understand that in this training, we will not be training you to use toys. Instead we are getting you ready to defend yourself against the very real onslaught of the world outside of this castle---”
“---But if we can kill with magic, why do we need to fight with swords?” Idus interrupted.
“That is a very interesting subject, Idus.” Reggie cut in, “One which I am not sure I can answer completely. Well, in a sense completely, for part of the tale belongs to those who have never returned to us. You see, mages have fought with somewhat primitive means since our very beginning. Alecto himself used his sword as his chosen weapon, preferring to use magic on more domestic matters, partly because magic can be
funneled into these deadly weapons, and partly because skill with a blade has long been thought of as a trait of a true fighter
There is more; however, you know that a mage can use both his element and spells to his advantage, but all too often, this does not help. You have seen with your very eyes what happens when mages try to use their element to kill each other, they end up losing most of their own life force, and oftentimes they die as well. This is one reason why it is so interesting that Idus survived. It means that because of your connection, you will be able to practice more complicated magic, and build up a stronger resistance to the drain on your energy, and this in turn will make you both extraordinarily powerful, because few, if any, will have as much control over themselves as you will.” He shook his head as Irgen raised his finger, preparing to ask another question.
“We’ll talk about it later, but for now suffice it to say that killing with your element isn’t the most proficient means of dealing out derision to your enemies. Now casting spells is also very difficult to kill someone with, because as you pronounce the words to the spell, you have to concentrate on what you want the spell to do. And let me tell you, it is very difficult to concentrate on a killing spell when another is headed in your direction. Few of them do any real damage, sometimes they might cause a slight nosebleed, but instead most mages prefer to stick with just cursing the snot out of their enemies. And even then it is difficult because almost every spell has a block, and even after it hits you, the master mages can act quickly and cast what is called a counteractive spell.”
“Let me give you an example. If I decided that I wanted to kill you with the word water. I would have to basically visualize you drowning, and after it hit you, you could say the counteractive word, and visualize the water draining out of your body, and you’d be safe… That is if you concentrated harder than the other man.” He paused and found that Irgen had a horrified look on his face.
“B-b-but… You mean you have to actually visualize yourself killing them?”
“I am afraid so, and that is why it is so difficult, because few people are evil enough to want to kill another human being, not even in war. May I add that we think of killing as belonging to dark magic which belongs almost singularly to the Tenebri. They will not hesitate to kill you, so it’s best to just not give them a chance. This is a war that has been going on for centuries. Some wonder if the bloodshed will ever stop. I do not know, but…” His voiced changed into a soft, almost ashamed whisper, “I have only ever killed one man with magic, and it was horrible. He tried to cast the counteractive spell, and we fought each other for his very life, and-and.” His voice cut out and he stopped. He looked at the ground as he turned towards a wall and strode meaningfully toward it, sniveling as he went.
“Yes, war is a horrible thing. You boys will learn that soon enough.” Alex said thoughtfully, “As to the last aspect as to why we use blades. We have found that those killed by magic, can find a way to return back to this world. It is not exactly the most probable thing in the world, but it is possible. Most mages, even those who have it in them to constantly kill by magic, balk at the prospect of having someone whom they killed come back to life. They have a point too, because it is a very horrifying prospect. Some let guilt and fear harrow them up in their mind, until finally they are driven insane, unable to bear the outlook of having to meet that person again. Others like Reggie merely have remorseful regrets, sometimes going so far as to wish it was them who had died and not the other way around.” He sighed, and the twins looked up at Reggie who now stood lonely atop the wall, leaning against the bulwarks, and staring silently out into the sea.
“Sometimes I find myself wishing the same thing, but the wars drag on, and as they do, I find that I must fight for what I believe in, and both of us have found that skill with a blade is perhaps the only way left for us to fight. Yes, you do have to get up close and personal, but more often than not, your adrenaline gets rushing and you act without thinking. Perhaps we like the sword so much, because it offers us a way out of our own guilt. It kind of helps us remember that sometimes things have to work out the way they have to work out.”
“War creates a unique type of mindset in people, it changes how they think. It will take awhile before this change occurs in the two of you, but remember, when you fight; you are not just playing with toys. Instead you are toying with your very lives. Never ever forget that in war it is kill or be killed. And your training will help you make that decision. Now, let’s begin.”