Page 87 of Riftborne
I tried to take a deep breath, but my lungs resisted. It felt as though they were weighed down by sand. My throat burned.
Yes,I wanted to say, but a cough came out instead.
I blinked rapidly, trying to make the room come into focus.
“Easy now, let me get you some water.” I felt a pressure lift at the end of the bed followed by the sound of liquid being poured into a cup.
“Where am I?” I croaked, attempting to sit up.
Stark white walls lined the room, and rows of beds were positioned in an orderly fashion, separated by sheer curtains. Medical trays and equipment were dispersed throughout.
“You had some trouble with the breathing trials,” the man said, walking back into my line of sight with a cup in hand. I took it gladly and tipped it back.
He was small in stature, with a welcoming smile etched into his features. His beige tunic and loose trousers identified him as a partof the Immunity Faction. An officer. I felt like we had met before, but I couldn’t place him.
“It happens sometimes with new recruits.” His smile softened and he offered a small shrug, “Brutal lesson, if you ask me. But necessary, I’m afraid.”
“Did anyone else pass out?” I asked, readjusting myself on the bed.
His eyebrow peaked. “Well…” His eyes darted across the empty room. “No, just you.”
I sighed, letting my head fall back against the pillow.
“But Callum told me you put on quite the performance, so it's not all bad.” He sounded reassuring, but I could feel my face beginning to flush.
“Performance?” My voice pitched with embarrassment. “What do you mean?”
“I don’t know the details unfortunately. You’ll have to ask my husband.” He shrugged and collected the empty glass from my hand.
My eyes widened. Suddenly, I recognized the man. I had seen him at the Tribute Ball, standing next to Mercer before Laryk had called him over.
“The Lieutenant?”
“Halloway Mercer at your service. And you’re not the first to be surprised. He thanks the Esprithe daily that I finally gave in to his courting.” He sighed with a dramatic flourish.
“You should get some more rest. I gave you some pain relievers that should soothe your throat, but they work best when you’re not using your voice.” He walked to the door before turning around, “It’s nice to meet you, by the way. Laryk won’t shut up about his new find.” Halloway winked before walking out.
As soon as he was out of sight, I stood and gathered my things. As safe as the empty room seemed, I didn’t feel comfortable sitting there alone. I stuck my head out of the room and peered down the corridor just as a figure dressed in an emerald uniform passed bywith a tray of blood vials and sauntered into a door at the end of the hall.
It was the same blonde who came to collect our blood oaths from Mercer’s classroom. I found it odd that they kept the vials in the healers’ section. What did they do with them once they were collected? As intriguing as it would have been to follow her and find out, I knew it was a bad idea, so I stifled the curiosity.
I waited until the door shut behind her, and made my way down the hallway, hoping to find Mercer before leaving the complex. When I found him, he told me everything—how my focus started manifesting just before everything went black. Luckily no one was hurt, but all the recruits got to see my glowing white eyes just before I fell to the ground. That was quite the revelation. I never knew that my eyes would burn along with my target’s…
If it wasn’t obvious before, it certainly was after my little battle with consciousness: I was the weakest link among the recruits. The only one who ended up in the infirmary after the breathing trials.
Four weeks passed; we were well into the first week of Niamh. Laryk was still gone, helping with the Wraith threat at the Western border. I thought of him often, wondering what he was doing. If he was okay. How bad things had truly gotten. He took up more of my thoughts than I cared to admit.
Mercer had begun illustrating the fundamental techniques of hand-to-hand combat. We learned the correct defensive and offensive movements, stances, positioning, and basic strikes, but we had yet to practice on another Aossí, limited to hanging bags and dummies for now. Weapons weren’t of much importance as they seemed to be useless against our attackers, but we learned to wield and throw them just the same.
A lot of us were itching to test out our newly learned skills in a real sparring match, but Mercer insisted that this was the most important step, that it was essential to build muscle memory,refine our skills, and understand the mechanics of combat before transitioning to more interactive forms of training.
But behind every one of my thoughts, Wraiths loomed.
As more and more troops were deployed to Stormshire, the fear of what was to come only intensified. It was a matter of time before we found ourselves in the West, fighting this war from the frontlines.
Baelor never showed back up to lessons, and none of us dared to ask. I think we could all guess the reason for his sudden departure. Threatening the life of a General would not be well-received.
Nazul kept to himself for the most part. He participated in all of the training, but hardly spoke in class, and certainly not to any of us. But the condescending looks and side comments had ceased. Most of the time, I forgot he was there.
