Apprentice (The Black Mage, #2)(87)

"But you never would."

"No. But it's a nice fantasy. Especially when Byron spends all his time ripping me apart."

"Is he worse than Sir Piers?"

"You have no idea." I took a bite of my brother's dinner, or what was left of it. "Besides, Piers always believed in me. Byron is just looking for ways to make me quit."

"Our commander out here is like that. But I think it's because he cares and doesn't want to see us unprepared."

"Byron doesn't care if I'm prepared or not, he just wants me gone."

"Surely he's like that with everyone?" That question came from one of Derrick's female comrades.

I smiled weakly. "Only the women. And one of my friends when he was with us. But, no, it's mostly me. The master loathes me."

Derrick looked amused. "Because you are stubborn."

I sighed. "Because I am everything he hates - but enough about my miserable existence, let's hear what life is like for a soldier in Tijan. How has the action been up north?"

I must have asked the right question because the next thing I knew, every single soldier in the place was bellowing over the other to tell me their wildest stories since coming into service. My brother and his cohorts had had quite the adventure in the year since they started and some of the older men had tales as far back as twenty.

I spent the rest of the evening listening to tales about Caltothian skirmishes and the pranks the soldiers liked to play against one another in their down time. It was nice to see how happy Derrick was with his new friends. While a soldier's life was certainly challenging, they clearly knew how to smile at the end of a long day.

Much glory was given to the mages, but it was the soldiers who were always the first line of defense. It was a fact I had tried not to ponder too heavily when I thought about Derrick. Especially when I remembered that he was stationed along the border where most of the fighting took place. Neither he nor his comrades seemed too concerned, or if they were afraid, they hid it well. But I worried. Because that was the only thing a big sister could do.

Still, it was meant to be an evening of festivity, not solace. My brother was one of the best in his year, and he was not a fool. He would be smart about any action he took and I knew he trusted me to do the same. I forced myself to smile and enjoy the rest of the night.

By the time I finally said my goodbyes and saddled my horse, it was easily two hours past midnight. I was fighting sleep and not looking forward to the three-hour trek back to Ferren's Keep. But if I missed the morning warm ups with the regiment, Byron would notice, and then I would be stuck cleaning the armory for the rest of my apprenticeship. So it was one night without rest, or ten months of polishing armor. I chose the former.

I just hoped the next day would carry on much faster than the first.





****





"You feeling alright, Ryiah?"

I just shook my head and then laid it back on the table while the others continued their morning meal.

"She didn't get any sleep." Ella patted my back sympathetically. "I don't think it agreed with her."

"Derrick and his friends kept her that late? That oaf should have sent her on her way after an hour," Alex declared.

"I wanted to see him," I mumbled without raising my head. If I did, the room would start to spin and then I'd be right back where I started.

"A lot of good that did you."

"I only have to get through the rest of practice and then I'll get to sleep."

"You forgot the armory," Ella reminded me.

I groaned. Why did Byron have to hate me so much?

After the second bell I followed Ella out of the dining commons to Combat's training grounds with a quick departing wave to my twin. Ferren's Keep, like the other three cities we had trained in, was as different as could be. Which meant, of course, that our training was different as well – though how just how different, I hadn't expected.

First things first, the keep was actually inside a giant fortress built into one of the Iron Mountains. Like Ishir Outpost, the rock city provided a safe refuge for its inhabitants, but it had the added bonus of a dense forest and raging river just south of it.

The fortress was as large as the king's palace in Devon with a similar wall guarding its face. The fortress hosted row after row of sentry posts and a high tower to its north. Add to that an endless supply of lookouts and a guard at every possible entrance to monitor the people's coming and goings and it was easy to see why our training focused on defense instead of what we were used to, the attack.

"The balance of power favors the defender." That was the first thing Commander Nyx said when we arrived. "This keep is impenetrable so long as our regiment continues to make it so."

During our non-magic drills, we spent a good deal of time running back and forth along the narrow sentry wall, taking turns with our partner as one attempted to scale it while the other employed various techniques to hold them off.

Those "techniques" had included longbows and crossbows – the two favorite weapons of the keep's regiment, whose main role was servicing the wall as a sentry.

We also trained with knives since they were easy to carry during a climb.

Then we practiced loading and unloading the heavy catapults, and then took turns aiming heavy piles of rock at landmarks below.