I can't believe I'm writing this again— not the chapter, this story. Actually I can believe it. Anyway life is rough at the moment (I'm a junior = colleges and tests, and parents. Bleh!) So I'm needing Aria. Honestly, I don't really care who reads this now, I'm writing for myself. But that doesn't mean others can't read it! (and review!) :)
Enjoy. I'll be updating whenever I get a chance.
~Raider
Chapter 8
Will cleared his throat as he approached my back where I sat at the table, nursing my coffee as he retrieved his maps. Reaching over my shoulder, he laid the maps out in front of me, saying, "These are the maps you were using when you worked with Halt." He sat next to me and opened his mouth to say more but I cut him off, upset he had lied to me.
"What are you talking about? These maps are all wrong." I ran my palm over the parchment that had re-curled itself and flattened it out. "Halt's map had at least two more inches on the top, plus the scale is smaller than the one before." I said pointing it out, and pushed it to the side. This one isn't Halt's either." I scowled thoroughly disgusted. "Why would you lie about something so trivial?" I finished in a huff and slumped against the back of the chair, crossing my arms. Will looked up, over my shoulder, and I turned around wondering what, rather who, he was looking at. Halt met Will's eyes in a moment, and Will breathed a single word, "Whoa."
"Well, that's certainly interesting," Alyss said with a straight face, not even betraying an encouraging emotion. I sat at the table in my same seat and Will's wife stood diagonal from me. I bent my head, focusing on a knot in the table, trying to avoid her penetrating gaze. I glance up once, and fell victim to her powerful eyes. We stared at each other for a moment until she finally looked away to Halt. "Incredible," she spoke again and looked back at the copied map I drew for Halt. "And you say she simply drew this from memory?" Halt looked at me for a moment, and I glared at him, upset that he made me a spectacle. He gave a single nod, still looking at me, and for a some strange reason I felt a small feeling of cold realization slide down my spine.
I shuddered involuntarily, and Halt subtly raised an eyebrow before looking away. "Well this will be a special case indeed." Alyss finished coolly and turned to Connor whose little bottom wiggled as he burrowed under the large rug.
"Do I seriously have to do this?" I asked Halt as he grabbed my recurve bow and quiver from their pegs and handed them to me. "Seriously, yes." Halt replied shortly and opened the door for me, allowing me to step out first. "This shouldn't be that big of a deal," Will said with a smirk, as he followed Alyss who held Connor. Alyss sat in one of the porch chairs as I stationed myself about thirty paces from the target. Fingering the scratch on my bow, I took a deep breath and asked,
"How long?"
"Until I say." Halt said again and leaned against the porch banister staring off into the trees. Will looked at me and winked, then said, "Go." I sighed and removed an arrow from my quiver, nocking it slowly. "Please take more time," Halt said dryly,
"We're in no rush."
"All you had to do was ask..." I mumbled and drew the bowstring back quickly, feeling my shoulders clench together. I remembered the last time I saw Halt shoot a bow, trying to mimic his movements. I let the arrow fly and was very impressed.
My method worked! A thock echoed in the trees, and I smiled. The arrow may not have lodged itself in the bulls-eye, but it was still just outside the target range. I smiled, drew another arrow and shot, a thock echoed and I fired a few more times, each shot nearing closer and closer to the bulls-eye. I had one arrow left in my quiver, when Halt said, "Stop." I rose an eyebrow and relaxed from my stance- rather, Halt's.
"What now?" I muttered and tried to think of another activity Halt would want me to perform.
"Why don't you shoot one, Will? Just to show her how it's done..." Halt said, and I moved aside, to let Will shoot. Without command, he fired once, the arrow hitting exactly into the target. I frowned and concentrated on Will's movements recalling what he had done to make his arrow fly true. Focusing on his movements, I took the appropriate stance and drew the arrow, then fired. unconcerned with the fact i never waited for Halt's command, or for Will to move out of the way. The arrow soared through the air with a hiss and embedded itself in the tree about an inch higher that Will's. I nodded to myself happy with the drastic improvement. Hearing a sharp intake of breath, I looked over and saw a look of amazement quickly disappear from his face. Halt kindly stepped on his foot.
Will grunted sharply and silenced himself. "Aria, you are dismissed," Halt said in his quiet but firm manner and I looked at him with confusion. I rose an eyebrow, but walked up the porch steps when he gave me a look hard to explain. The face he made was pleading, but not. Halt would never had to plead for anything, but it was also reassuring. the kind of face that said, Don't worry you haven't done anything wrong... yet. As well as the face that said, "Quit your staring and get inside." I grinned and walked across the porch and into the house, stepping inside right next to the screen door hoping to listen in on whatever conversation they planned to have about me.
"She even walks like you!" I heard Will hiss, and I scowled, upset I had anything in common with the old grouch.
I could only imagine Halt's expression when he said, "Why don't we take a walk, so any apprentices don't listen in."
Alyss walked inside, staring down at me expectantly .I laughed nervously and moved away from the door, seeing Halt and Will walk into the woods. I moved to the kitchen counter and started to refill the coffee pot. Quickly it began to simmer and and boil on the rough wrought-iron stove.
"Why do they always have to talk about me?" I grumbled and Alyss grabbed a bug absentmindedly from Connor's hand as she rose an eyebrow.
"Do you honestly not know?" she asked and the statement caught me off guard. Of course I knew and I am almost positive Halt knew, too.
"No, I know," I replied strongly knowing my innocent, naive pretense wasn't fooling anybody-not even myself. "I know I have a good memory and can mimic almost anyone." I finished and moved into a chair imitating how Alyss was sitting, if she was surprised by it, it didn't show.
"You are also a visual learner and will be a huge asset to Araluen if you continue your training." she said to me and got up to pour a cup of coffee for herself.
"Why an asset?" I asked wanting to get the lowdown from someone who knew more about me than I did for once.
"You'll be able to remember information easily." She said shortly and took a sip of her coffee, then moved to pour some honey in it. "I remember at the Castle the books they would give us. They were thick, huge boring books, it is highly logical you would be able to memorize them all."
I gave Alyss a pained look, not wanting to have that kind of useless information crammed in my head. "But there are other people that can do that, right?" I asked.
"No," she said. "I've never met anybody else who is like you." Immediately I felt alienated and slightly freakish. "When did you find out?" She asked and I shrugged.
"A week ago, but that was only because Halt made me do all those exercises." I said, staring at Connor who was scooting around on his butt in circles.
"Any hint's from your childhood?"
"None, other than the fact I was able to read rather quickly. Anything else I did revolved around cleaning, and playing with my brothers...nothing of much importance." Alyss frowned thinking, and stared at her son, totally oblivious to his humorous and strange behavior.
"I need to talk with Halt..." she mumbled to herself, and we were quiet for a minute. "So what do you think of Halt?"
"Truthfully?" I asked with a grin.
"Are you implying that you wouldn't be otherwise?" She asked me raising an eyebrow, and I lowered my eyes, suitably chastised.
"No? Well, he's fun," I finished.
"Honestly?" Alyss asked.
"Are you implying I wouldn't be otherwise?" I asked raising an eyebrow and she smiled.
"Well, it takes most people some time to get used to Halt. Gilan thought for a short while during his apprenticeship Halt was the devil hired by his father, to rid his life of fun." Alyss told me and I laughed.
I replied, "I know he doesn't smile all that much, but he's clever and witty, and very sardonic. I love it, but is demeaning at the same time. He's like my mother- only grumpier. So I'm used to it, kind of." She nodded, thoughtfully, and stared out the window. I looked over at Connor, who had something in his hands.
"Watcha got there?" I asked him, and he payed me no attention continuing focus on what he was playing with. As I got closer, I saw a harmless spider in his hands, barely alive, and the little boy was pulling off it's legs with pleasure. "Connor!" I shrieked, and grabbed the spider from him, and ran outside, as the spider squirmed in misery in my hands. I set it in the dirt, and step on it once-hard, putting it out of its misery. "How could you?!" I asked the little boy as soon as I was back inside, I'm embarrassed to say I was close to tears. He of course paid no attention to me, and I sighed loudly. Alyss noticed the whole thing but said nothing to me.
Once I was sitting, she whispered, "If you can't handle that, will you ever be able to really use a weapon?" I shrunk in my chair, as the idea was driven home. Almost immediately I remembered first seeing Halt fire arrow after arrow into the tree, and then when I asked Lilly about her job, her life, a shadow had crossed her face, and right then for the first time, I realized I didn't want to hurt people. Another voice though spoke in my ear saying, you may be hurting them, but you're saving us. And that idea kept the wolves at bay. For a little while at least.
"Aria?!" Will called into the house for the porch and I stood and left my position at the table, and headed outside, wary of whatever else he might have me do. "Oh there you are!" he exclaimed as I let the screen door slam shut.
I answered with a short, "Yep." and looked at him waiting for some sort of an explanation.
"Alrighty, here's what we're going to do. I'm going to go inside and hid something, and you have to tell me what's missing.
"Ok," I sighed, and when Will took a step toward the door. "Wait, don't I get to see everything first?"
"Nope!" Will answered with a short smile. I sighed again, as he walked into the cabin, shut the screen door, and the oak door behind it, preventing me from looking in.
"I wasn't going to cheat!" I yelled through the door after him, and I heard a soft reply, "Better safe than sorry!"
"Yeah, yeah," I muttered, and leaned against the door frame as I looked into the woods. The leaves now were just starting to turn, and I wanted to capture the essence of it all forever. "Ready!" I heard Will call from inside, and I rolled my eyes as I opened the door. "What's missing?" he asked, and I looked around the room. I saw Connor's blocks...one, two, there, four...I shut my eyes momentarily, no it couldn't be, that would be too easy. "One of Connor's blocks are missing," I called out and Will grinned and nodded, I could tell he enjoyed this game. I saw the table-chairs all still there, the rug, sink, dishes, knives, coffee pot. I closed my eyes and immediately saw the view of the cooking area. Yep, yep, still there...wait.
"Will," I moaned drawing his name out. Why hadn't I see it before? "What happened to my prototype?"
"Oh, that's what that was?" he replied. "You mean the sticks and twine and things?"
"Yeah." I said, throwing some sassyness into my reply.
"I threw it out."
"You what?!" I said with a shriek.
"It was cluttering up the counter, and it wasn't a very pretty thing to look at," Will said straight faced. "I would've made our lives so much easier! It was going to have a counterweight and a sluice and empty the water bucket slowly and drain into the sink." I moaned, and narrowed my eyes at Will.
"Oh well," he said with a shrug.
"This game is stupid," I pouted, and turned to leave, choosing to end the game myself other than waiting for Will.
"Aria?" Will called after me, and I'm pretty sure Alyss rolled her eyes. "Where are you going?"
"Away!"I said back, only turning around to mention, "Oh, and by the way there was a flower missing, you removed a log, took off your oakleaf, and moved the coffee pot to the other counter. Goodbye!" I said barely containing a smile.
I tromped down the porch only to hear Will mutter, "Ridiculous drama queen."
Standing on the porch steps, I bowed to the imaginary crowd below me with a flourish of my hand. And then a jarring sound caught my attention-someone was clapping. The figure emerged from the woods, and I realized it was Halt, who was mocking me. "Thanks Halt," I said sarcastically in response.
"Anytime," he muttered in reply, and waved me toward him. I jogged to where he was, and was surprised to see a second cloak in his hand.
"What's that?" I asked and Halt sighed and turned away from me. "Okay fine. It's a cloak like yours, all inked up and rubbed together," I said with smile and ran up beside him, when he stalked away. I leaned in closer, and looked to either side of us before whispering. "How you practice your magic." Halt turned, looked at me, and rose an eyebrow.
"And I thought we were a little too young for such childish antics," he said shaking his head as if it was a horrible breach of protocol for me to sink to the level of imagination of my littlest brother. Okay, so maybe it was- shoot me. I shrugged, and asked, "How do you use it?"
"Finally, a logical question," Halt muttered under his breath, and he said to me, "Maybe if you were to actually think before you speak, you wouldn't be considered such a fool." The statement caught me aback, but I shrugged it off.
"Eh," I replied, and Halt frowned at me before speaking.
"It's called camouflage, It blends into the surroundings, and if used properly, you can move unseen, walking unheard though, is what helps Rangers to be the stealth masters we are."
"Stealth masters?" I rose an eyebrow, and Halt only smirked in reply.
Sorry peoples, this part here will be a it of a let down. News flash- you aren't Rangers. ("Neither are you!" "Be quiet Patrick! I'm and honorary Ranger! I still know how this stuff works!") So I can't tell you how Halt taught me to move unseen, sorry. There's a strict policy against it. Lilly even got into trouble when she started teaching us some basic stuff when she visited. I can't tell you how I attempted to move unseen, but know this...I'm sure I looked pretty idiotic. Halt's frown grew more pronounced, and finally he was fed up with me completely. "We're moving on," he said roughly to me while I was hugging a tree. ( "Shut up Will! I was attempting to "become one" with my surroundings.") I hid a smile, and it was wiped away almost as quickly. "Unheard movement," he spoke. And oh geez, my heart stopped. Remeber that one day in the woods? My ankles crack. There is no way I could walk silently.
Again, I can't tell you how he told me to walk silently, but I do know this, I picked it up pretty fast, all you had to do was control your feet, but with unseen movement-that was an act of balancing your whole body. Either way, I had a feeling I was learning how to do it right, but there's an issue. Audibly, I was failing miserably. Like epic fail. And here's the kicker... (Did you get the pun?! Horace, Kicker...Actually, that's pretty bad. Eh.) Halt knew it. He knew I couldn't walk silently for the life of me. Every time I took a step, he flinched, as a resounding crack rung about the trees. Leading me away from the clearing he explained the next drill. Halt planned to lay a path, and I had to follow it, walking silently along it. I would be using my powers of observation, and hope to walk the distance silently. I turned and sat on the dried leaves, not daring to peak as Halt walked away.
"Honestly? Is that really your best effort? A squirrel could've done better, and they have complete disregard for everything." Halt popped up from behind me and growled. I was trying my best to follow his trail. Normally, no one would ever be able to find Halt, but he had to give me a few simple clues.
"At least I'm trying, Halt!" I stormed off of his path and leaned against a tree, muttering angrily.
"Trying?!" He questioned incredulously, and followed me. "I heard at least twelve sticks snap. Watch your footing!"
"My footing?!" I repeated. "I swear to cheese, I didn't step on a single stick!"
Halt raised one eyebrow, "Cheese?" He asked me.
I shrugged and replied, "Mom doesn't let me say anything else." Halt rolled his eyes and started to walk down the trail, he originally created for me.
"You're right." He said softly.
"Halt, I promise I didn't…" I told him, my voice rose in pitch. "Wait, what?"
"You…are…right." He pronounced each word slowly with care. We stood in silence for a few moments and I shifted my feet nervously when Halt yelled, "STOP!" I froze in place, after my initial jump. "Did you hear it?" He asked softly.
"Um, hear what?" I replied.
"The stick." Halt said curtly and glared at the forest floor. He gestured for me to move aside and I moved a few paces away.
He impatiently frowned, and I looked at the fallen foliage. "There isn't any stick." He said softly. I looked up at him... "It's you."
I stood on the front porch to Halt's cabin, cowering as he yelled.
"Why didn't you tell me?!" He asked loudly.
"Tell you what? There is nothing to tell." I lied, trying to sound convincing.
"Your ankles!" He erupted. I don't even think Will ever saw him this mad, much less Lilly. "Every time you move them, they sound like a bloody twig!" He continued to yell at me and paced back and forth, his hands clenching around his bow. I was afraid he was going to stick me with an arrow any moment.
"How long?" He asked quietly, suppressing further rage.
"Since forever." I replied downcast, tears welled in my eyes. Since the day in the forest, I recalled a few days from my childhood. I was able to vaguely pick up the sound. I guess I had simply blocked it out.
"Damn it all to hell!" Was his sharp reply and he went inside, leaving me on the porch, drowning in my sadness.
The screen door slammed closed on the porch, and uninvited the tears came.
That was two chapters in one.