Chapter two

Apprentice

"Wake up, sleepy head!" Joel woke to Whisper shaking him harshly.

"Hey, hey! Cut it out!" he threw a couple swings at her but missed.

"Get out of bed!" Whisper spanked him and walked off.

Joel rolled out of bed with a growl. He hated it when she did that! It had been a couple months since he had gotten to the guild and it already seemed like a normal life to him. The ran after Whisper to get her back but she was already at the bottom of the stairs. She turned around and warned him with her finger up at her lips.

"Today is important for you." She lowered her voice. Joel stopped and raised his eyebrows.

"Oh yeah?"

"Shh!" she held up her finger again as the Guildmaster approached.

"I'm glad to see you're actually up!" he smiled at the two of them. "I have something for you that just came in, boy." He handed Joel a box. "Go put them on, their your size."

Knowing that it was new clothes, he ran upstairs to change without a pause. He had been waiting so long, and now his uniform was here! The master smiled after him lovingly then looked down at Whisper. "What do you think of him?" he folded his hands.

"Oh…" she straightened her back to look tall. "He is okay… but not good enough to be training with me, I think. He's too much of a little boy."

"Ah hah…" the Guildmaster chuckled. "Well, we'll see, wont we?" he patted her head and walked off.

Joel came rushing down the stairs dressed in his new apprentice uniform. He had been the only one without one on the guild until then, and now he finally felt like a part of it.

"Hey look!" one of the older apprentices who was walking by stopped and pointed. "The chicken Chaser's got an outfit! Fancy that!" Joel grinned, knowing he was a whole part of the guild. "Just got to fix one thing…" he walked up and put Joel's hood over his head. "There. Now you look official." He smiled and gave him a pat on the back. "See you around, Chicken Chaser!" he then walked off to the tavern.

The whole day, Joel strutted around the guild dressed in his new uniform. He had become a familiar sight to all the apprentices, so once seeing him in his long desired clothes, they all stopped to cheer. It was hard for the guildmaster to keep his attention during the training, but he managed. After the day had passed, he was sent to bed. Whisper was already there waiting for him. She gave him a jealous glare because of all the attention but soon let it drop as he sat down on his bed.

"You knew." He looked up and gave her a 'thank you' smile as he carefully removed his new and precious shirt.

"Yes." A small smile crept onto her face and she looked down. "I overheard the guildmaster telling Maze that if you got up late again you weren't going to get it yet."

Joel sat there a moment looking at Whisper quietly. She was the only real friend he had. To whisper's surprise, he stood up, walked over to her and gave her a small hug.

"Thank you…" tears welled up in his eyes. She blushed a little and tried to laugh.

"For what?" she pulled away and rolled her eyes, trying not to seem weak or foolish. Joel took a seat next to her.

"Well… it was such a little thing… but you knew it was a big thing to me." He shrugged and brushed some tears off his eyelids. "I mean…" he breathed in deeply, trying not to cry. "I suppose I just miss my sister… and that was something she would have done for me." Not being able to hold it in, Joel dropped his head into his hands and started to cry.

"Oh farm boy…" Whisper tried to say something useful but couldn't think of anything. She had no idea what torture he went through every night, or what pain he suffered. She had never had a friend either before… or at least, not one so open to her.

"I'm sorry…" the boy stood up and walked over to his bed. Crawling under his covers and turning off the light, he went to bed, and so did Whisper.

Three years had passed, and there Joel lay sleeping in his bed. It was the middle of the night and the moonlight dove like a beam through the windows into the room. Whisper woke suddenly to noises and turned to see him tossing in bed and mumbling something.

"Not again." She grumbled to herself. It was the third night in a row that Joel had had a nightmare and it was keeping her up! She rolled out of bed and finally got the courage to wake him out of his dream.

"Farm boy…" she grabbed his shoulder and shook it violently. "Wake up!" she harshly whispered. Joel woke suddenly from his sleep and yelled out of fear at the sight of someone standing above him. "It's me, you silly head! It's whisper!" she whacked his head.

"Why are you waking me up?" he groaned and rubbed his head. She sighed and sat down on his bed.

"You know you talk in your sleep." She informed him.

"Oh…" he rolled over onto his back and let all the air out of his lungs loudly.

"Yeah. It's the third night in a row, are you okay?" she brushed her long brown hair out of her face.

"Yeah…" Joel propped himself up on his elbows then rubbed his head. "Just nightmares…"

"About what?" she crossed her arms.

Joel let out another deep sigh then laid down on his back again. "About my family… they day they died." His face looked sad and lonely. Whisper almost did her usual 'to cool' thing and went back to bed, but instead stayed where she was and thought for a moment.

"Are you okay?" she asked again, sounding more concerned. Joel paused.

"Yeah. I just miss my family." He looked up and smiled at Whisper.

"Speaking of family…" she smiled a bit as well. "My brother, Thunder, is coming to see me! He wrote me a letter…" she excitedly jumped up and ran over to her dresser. She opened the top drawer and took out a letter. Once in was in hand, she walked over and sat on his bed again. Joel sat up and looked over at the letter in her hands. "He says that he is going to take me with him for some personal training! He is coming to pick me up tomorrow!"

Joel looked up at her and put his hand on her shoulder. "I am really happy for you!" he said kindly.

"Yes." She stood, proudly. "I am happy too." Whisper then walked over and got in her bed.

Joel turned over and faced the other way. Whisper was going to get trained a bit by her brother! One of the most well-known heroes in Albion! He wished he could spend time with his family… at least once more.

Joel woke himself the next morning. He sat up, stretched, and looked over to see that Whisper had already risen. Realizing he was nearly late, he jumped out of bed, pulled his clothes on, and ran down to meet the guildmaster.

It the fighting ring, Joel practiced his different attacks, stances, and dodges with his stick. He had become very skilled with it and treated it just like a sword. On the side of it, he carved the names of his family. This was his way of devoting his training to avenging them.

"You can take a break now." The guildmaster interrupted him. "I have someone I want you to meet."

"Thunder?" Joel stepped out of the ring and walked over to his master.

"Yes! Whisper must have told you." The guildmaster nodded. "Yes, he is here."

Joel nodded and waited patiently for Whisper and Thunder approach.

"Ah, Thunder!" The guildmaster greeted his old friend. "You and Whisper having a good time?"

"Of course!" the huge black man smiled and patted his sister's back. To Joel's surprise, she didn't look very happy. Thunder was the biggest man Joel had ever seen, if he could even call him a man! He had very strong, gold armor and a helmet covering his face.

"I would like you to meet one of our young pupils, he is training with Whisper!" the guildmaster presented him.

Thunder stared down at him with disgust and didn't even acknowledge that he had just been introduced. Joel bowed nervously and the Guildmaster tried not to look too concerned for Joel's sake, but Thunder just walked away, taking Whisper with him.

Joel stood there in disbelieve of what embarrassment had just happened to him. He had long awaited meeting the great thunder, but apparently, he was not even worthy enough to be looked upon. The guildmaster struggled for words and then finally said, "Well, how about you can be done for the day!" he reached out and set his hand on Joel's head. "Look at you." He smiled proudly at him. "You've grown so much! How old are you… thirteen?"

"Fourteen." Joel tried to smile but the comforting words of the Guildmaster weren't helping.

"Oh!" the Guildmaster perked up. "Do you hear that? That's the guild alarm!" he gave Joel a friendly nudge. "Sounds like something's in the woods. Why don't you go ahead and take care of it, I'm sure the guild would be happy to pay for it."

Joel shrugged and ran off towards the woods. He heard a couple of the apprentices shout out, "Go get 'em, Chicken Chaser!" or such, but it didn't help how low he left next no Thunder… or anyone else for that matter.

Joel ran into the guild woods and took out his stick. It was a strong stick, and he didn't doubt it's power once bit. He ran around the pathway and could see some giant wasps by a tree.

"Easy." He chuckled and started beating and swinging with his weapon. Joel enjoyed fighting almost more than anything else. It was something he was good at; something he felt like he really knew how to do. After a couple minutes, Joel had down eleven dead wasps. "Got it." He wiped his head and turned around. To his surprise, he hadn't gotten everything! There in the woods stood a bandit who had found his way it. Flashbacks from the night the bandits attacked pounded in his head and he could barely move. Before he could do a thing, the bandit was upon him. He swung his obsidian cleaver at Joel and tore a mighty large gap in his gut. Joel screamed and started running back toward the Guild but the bandit chased him. Realizing he had to do something, Joel turned around and faced his enemy. Rage grew in him as the image of his dead father haunted him. Without another moment passed, he threw the stick above his head and landed it on the bandit. It gave him rather an uncomfortable bruise and he returned an attack with a blow to Joel's arm. He gave another yell of pain and held his shoulder. "I can do better than this!" he told himself and held up his stick again. The bandit cackled and slowly moved towards him in preparation for his fatal blow. Joel stepped back a couple steps then jumped up and slammed the stick on top of the bandit's head. The enemy stood there for a moment without movement then fell to the ground, unconscious.

Guards soon came to the rescue and carried Joel to his bed. They bandaged up his wounds and soon word spread all over the guild about the Chicken Chaser's bravery. One of the servant, who had Joel as one of her favorites, even made him an apple pie.

Hours later, Joel woke with a moan and looked around the room. It was dusk and he could hear the guild preparing for bed. Whisper was standing over by the window and staring out at Albion.

"Whisper?" he weakly exclaimed in surprise and started to sit up.

"Joel!" she called him by name and ran over to make him lie down again. "Please don't move, I don't want to get in trouble with the Guildmaster if you get hurt!" she shook her head and sat down on his bed.

"Whisper, I thought you were going with your brother!" Joel looked at Whisper in the eyes. She turned her head away and started to get teary-eyed. "What happened?" Joel sat up, concerned.

"Thunder…" Whisper started to say as she turned back to look at her friend. "My brother… he…" tears streamed down Whisper's face.

"Whisper?"

"Thunder's going to go fight in the arena!" She finally spat out as if it were a curse.

"The arena…" even Joel dreaded the words. It was the slaughtering grounds in Albion. He couldn't recall the last time someone got even four rounds far in it. It was suicide. "But… why?"

Whisper didn't answer but burst into tears. "He wont come back!"

"Whisper…" Joel sighed and shook his head. "He'll be back." He remembered how big he was and imagined him beating countless foes in the arena. Looking at weeping Whisper, he reached out and took her into a tight hug. Though it hurt his new wounds a little, Joel let her cry for a bit until she actually started to fall asleep and he carried her over to her bed.

Once returning to his own bed, Joel tried to think of what it must be like for Whisper to watch her only family walk off into something like the arena. It seemed just as hopeless as the death of his family.