True.
I hadn’t given it much thought last night. The heavy call of sleep found me quickly after I watched them walk away, but I woke up this morning with ample curiosity, my mind unable to shed the feeling that there was some sort of secrecy taking place.
“I had one of the best sleeps I’ve had in a while,” Cal stretches wide with a relaxed grin on his face.
He does look well rested and ready for the day ahead, even has a slight bounce in his movements.
And now that I think about it…
“As did I,” I nod, “apart from waking up to see the three of them leave, I slept soundly the whole night.”
“It’s this village,” Cal looks around the forest in appreciation, “so damn content in its calm coziness.”
“It does have an aura of relaxation about it, doesn’t it?”
“I want to find a nice little tobacco shop and hole myself in it for the day.”
“Considering the past three days we’ve had in Gaumond, I’d say you deserve that quiet break,” I smile at my friend, “though I doubt they’ll have a shop here. Did you see how small the village was last night?”
“Yes,” he sighs, pulling his hair back, “ale it is then. Every time I swear I’ll lay off the drink…”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Cal,” I laugh.
He chuckles and catches my gaze, “let’s begin.”
We train on hand to hand combat throughout the rising sun, never seeing its rays but noticing the woods around us growing lighter with every moment. We then move on to dagger work, with Cal having me practice with my smaller blade first so as not to lose muscle memory after all the training we’ve been doing with the larger blade.
“Can you pierce the branch above Golem’s head?” he asks, watching me change my stance.
My eyes flick to Golem standing below a tree, the branch hanging well above his hood.
“Should be easy enough.”
“Let’s see it then,” he chuckles.
I grip the blade in my fingers and cock my arm back, the blade thudding over Golem’s head and burying itself deep into the bark. The magical creature startles and glares back at me with narrowed eyes, his hands folding over his chest in obvious anger.
“Remind me to never get on your bad side, Alex,” Cal shakes his head and reaches for his beard.
“Well if you do, just remember that I have you to thank for my aim,” I walk to Golem and pat the side of his arm before retrieving my blade.
“I don’t even know if I could hit that mark,” Cal replies, “that talent is all yours and all natural.”
I smile in agreement with my friend. For some reason I have a knack with the small knife, and I’m just as determined to have the same accuracy and skill with the other.
“Then help me reach that talent with this larger blade.”
Cal grins, “you know I will. Let’s work on it for a bit and then go find some breakfast. I’m starving.”
Cal guides me through training on the larger blade before our stomachs start grumbling for food. We quickly heed the call and stash away our blades, the two of us putting on our cloaks as the cool of the forest takes over.
“Cal…” I turn to my big friend in thought.
“Hmm?”
“If the Leviathans or anyone from Pyre want to visit Disce, they would need to travel through Fumagalli first, right?”
“I would assume so,” he replies casually, “the Pyrenese definitely would, but the Leviathans could travel through Varon as well. Both this village and the southern city connects along the Great Road, and I can’t envision any foreigners wanting to travel through our forests. ”
