Chapter Two:

Paul:

It burned. It burned worse than the first night. It burned to the point where I almost fainted right at the altar. I don't know if Ash felt the same thing, I couldn't tell. His face remained calm throughout the whole thing.

Ayden had warned me that Dare'ths always had rough bondings, the second even worse than the first, but I hadn't expected this. I almost yanked my arm away from Ash. As part of the ceremony, I removed my dagger and saluted Ash. He did the same thing. I was struggling to remain in my own mind, alone. I felt them take the ceremonial rope and tie our arms together. I flinch. I was officially stuck for the night.

Our marks bound together, a telepathic connection was inevitable. I felt Ayden take my shoulder, leading me out of the church, Ash and Sam forced to follow by our joined arms. We are taken to a shed in the middle of the forest, about a miles walk.

He opens the door and nearly shoves me in, unlike Ash, I'm used to this kind of treatment. Sam comes in after us.

"We'll be back in the morning. This is to practice your control even when you are asleep. We will untie you in the morning. Until then," Sam says. Ayden stays for a moment.

"As you both know, the bonding is for strategic purposes. This allows our warriors to fight in a more…. Precise pattern. I am warning you Ash- ale'gh, do not mess up what I have created. Paul is the ultimate fighter, do not mess up his thought arrangement." He leaves.

I would have apologized to Ash for what he said if it were not for the incredible amount of pain he was causing me right now. He takes my other hand in his, forcing me to look at him.

"Paul, I think we should just give in. It'll be a lot better if we don't fight the stupid connection." He says nervously. I glare back at him.

"I don't want you in my head."

"I'm going to be there eventually if you like it or not."

I lay down as slowly as I can, trying not to collapse from the pain in my arm.

"You're in pain. I can feel it." He leans over me and for a second, I begin to regret my decision to lie down. He bends over and places his forehead on mine, forcing the mental connection. I gasp as I am ripped from my mind and thrown once again into an empty space. This time however, before I can retreat, his mind grabs ahold of me.

"Let go of me you-"

"The pains gone now. Can't you see that?' I freeze. He's right. I stop struggling and he releases me. Still glaring at him, I don't allow any further then the first layer of my mind, which is basic emotions. Nothing more.

Finally, he allows both of us to retreat back into our own minds. When we arrive, I realize that the burning has stopped. Laying down beside me, Ash drifts off to sleep almost immediately, wrapping himself in his cloak to keep warm. I follow suit minutes later.

…..

I wake up just as my wrist is cut free from Ash's. Sitting up immediately, I realize that it is Ayden who has done so.

"Paul- ale'gh, are you ok?" he says, running his hands over my mark again. I hate when he does that, but I know that he is only making sure that it is still working. I look over at Ash who sits up as well.

"I'm fine." I says standing up. Ash joins me just as Sam walks in. He has a large smile on his face.

"Ash," They speak to each other without any formality….. "I have incredible news!" Ash walks up to him, allowing him to grasp his shoulders. "I have received permission to train both you and Paul. I will be your new mentor!"

I freeze, stepping closer to Ayden. Though most would find him cruel and twisted, he is a great mentor. I have learned much from him. I do not wish to turn from my fighting style…..

"Yes! Oh my God! That's awesome!" Ash says dancing around him. I glare at Sam openly. No matter what he says, I'm not about to give up anything I trained for. Ayden clutches my arm before pulling me back almost behind him.

"Then Sam, I must ask that you treat Paul with respect." Ayden muttered. "He is trained in a way that he does not need adjusted."

"I will of course give him respect, though I hope that you realize that some of the best fighters, are trained in multiple ways. I hope that he will both except new styles, and share his old ones." He glances at his watch. "We must go. The sun is already up."

They both turn, waiting for me to make a move to join them. I do, but not without saying goodbye to Ayden.

"Mentor Ayden, thank you for the past years of teaching." I say bowing slightly. He nods.

"Paul- ale'gh, go far and fight strong. May our paths meet once again one day." I nod and join Sam on the other side of the building. I do not offer a greeting.

Sighing, he turns and sets off at a fast run. With one more glance at Ayden, I follow, jumping into the pace easily. I easily cross the rough trails, leap the small river in a single bound and all in all, do not lose my footing once.

I can tell that I am faster than either of them, and definitely more flexible. I am however impressed, for such an old man, he is incredibly strong.

I use a tree branch to send myself flying over a small ditch in the ground. I land on the other side in a catlike way and turn to wait for my fellow travelers. They choose to climb through the ditch instead, wasting time. How am I ever going to make it with these two…..

"Why don't you just jump?" I ask. "It is faster."

"But if you fall Paul- ale'gh, then you are more than slowed down, you can be injured." I snort.

"I will not fall. If you train correctly, you do not stumble."

They reach me.

"I will show you later, Paul- ale'gh, what it means when a warrior falls." I can see Ash giggling slightly and I don't like the pleased look on Sam's face.

"Yes." I say quietly. "You shall."

We continue at a fast pace, this time, they have tried to go faster to let me run. I enjoy running, the pounding of your heart against your chest, the feeling of your lungs bursting. I am glad that he allows me to run. We come to the edge of a lake.

"What are we doing here?" I ask grumpily. "This isn't the railroad tracks." Neither of us has ever been on a train, we don't have electricity, but we have been described a rail road track.

Smiling, Sam hands out several water proof sacks. Still grinning, he says calmly. "Strip. We need to swim across the lake."

Is this guy crazy?! It's twenty five degrees outside, the water is not ice, it was moving slightly so this made it hard to freeze. I know how to swim…. But this was ridiculous.

Both of them have already removed their clothing and placed it in the bags. I turn away, blushing at their little modesty.

"Come on, we don't have all day and we're not going without you." Sam says smirking slightly.

I take off my coat slowly, feeling incredibly self-conscious. Ayden and I….. well we never got this personal. I liked privacy as a rule and this was not something I liked at all.

I removed my shirt quickly enough, but flinched at the cold that suddenly hit my bare skin. I then took off my moccasins, allowing myself to remove the rest of my clothing. Stuffing it all in my bag, I turned to face them, my face probably still red. I can blame it on the cold…..

I close the sack and throw it over my shoulder. "Let's just go." I mutter.

Sam nods before leaping into the freezing water. I follow, wondering how the hell we're going to get across this alive. The water stings my skin, making me flinch but I push forward, swimming with powerful strokes. When we do make it to the other side, I throw myself out of the water, shaking horribly. It was absolute torture….

Wiping off the water as best as I can, I reach into the sack and remove my clothes, throwing them on. My fellow travelers do the same. Warm once again, I shake my long purple hair out of my face angrily.

I look up in time to see several men waiting for us. Each of them is holding a horse in their hands. I glance towards Sam. He must have prepared this, they have my horse with them. I also recognize Ash and Sam's horses.

We approach our horses. I notice that they are carrying everything we will need on our journey to the tracks, which though it is only a day's worth, it is still exhausting. Ash's horse is named Birch, a sturdy young male that is easily fast and powerful. He has a long winter coat that is colored white but with speckled black spots.

Sam's horse is Streak. An obvious name for the horse is pure black except for a single white streak on his large, broad chest.

I rest my hand on my horse's nose. Her name's Chance. She's a beautiful red sorrel mare. Her hooves all have white socks along with a star on her forehead. Though she has little endurance, she is incredibly fast for short distances. Ayden did not approve of this but I insisted that I get her. She had smooth gates, smoother than any other horse I had ever ridden.

"Are we going to ride them to the tracks?" Ash asked curiously. "They get to come with us to camp, right?" I freeze. I didn't want to leave Chance here. It took me forever to earn her trust long enough for her to not buck me off.

"Of course Ash." Sam swung himself onto Streak. "Come on boys, let's ride."

Thanks for continuing with Lighter than Air! Hope you're enjoying it!