The Apprentice (28 page)

“Fine,”
Byron said unexpectedly. “I’ll leave the
schrub
be for today; he’s not
worth it anyway. Besides, I wouldn’t want to give you an excuse to not
participate in the Revel.”

When
Erik didn’t respond, Byron turned and walked away. He paused as he passed by
Rowan.

“We’ll
continue this another time,
lolfar
. And next time there won’t be anyone
to save you.” Byron spat at Rowan’s feet and left, followed by the others.

Rowan
glared at the boy as he walked away, seething with anger.

“I’ll
look forward to it, Byron. Maybe next time you’ll have the guts to do it
alone,” Rowan muttered to himself.

“It
would probably be a bad idea to bait him like that.”

Rowan
jumped at the sound of Erik’s voice. The boy now stood next to him.

“Here,
let me help,” Erik said, offering an arm to help him up. Rowan cautiously took
it and stood.

“Don’t
get me wrong,” Erik continued. “I’m not saying that you wouldn’t be able to
beat Byron if it came down to a fight. Byron’s a bastard and he needs to be
kept in check. But calling out a foe and his companions like you just did is
foolish, especially when you’re outnumbered.”

“I know.
I just hate having to deal with him,” Rowan said.

“That’s
understandable. Byron can be an annoying thorn in your side.” There was a short
pause before Erik continued. “I’m sorry I did nothing sooner.”

To
Rowan, it seemed as though Erik had extended a cautious offer of friendship. He
didn’t know what to say. Erik’s apology hung in an awkward silence between them
for several moments.

“Thanks
for helping me,” Rowan finally said.

“You’re
welcome.”

For the
first time since being placed in the barracks, Rowan felt as though he was
beginning to make a connection.

The two
slowly began to walk back to the barracks, together.

“You are
always practicing your blade-work, right?” Erik asked tentatively. Rowan nodded
and Erik continued. “I rarely ever see you practicing anything other than
swordsmanship or archery, and I was wondering if you would be willing to try
sparring with me. Darius has been telling me that I need to work on new
skills.”

Rowan
recognized the offer for what it was: a tentative attempt by Erik to establish
a connection with Rowan and bring him out of his isolation, which, admittedly,
had become somewhat self-imposed of late. Recognizing and understanding what
Erik was doing for him gave Rowan a new sense of respect for the boy. He made a
mental note to remember this exchange.

“Sure.
Baird doesn’t come around too often anymore, so I don’t really get to do a lot
of sparring. It would be nice to have partner, someone who would work with me.”

“Great!”
Erik said, slapping him on the back. “We can work together tomorrow after the
morning exercises.”

With
that, Erik put an end to the conversation as he jogged off towards the barracks
without giving Rowan time to respond. Rowan could have made an effort to jog
back with Erik and potentially keep the conversation going, but he felt tired
and didn’t want to bother the only person that he seemed to be on speaking
terms with. He wasn’t
that
desperate for attention. At least not from
the other trainees. There was someone else whose attention he sought.

Tired
and bruised, Rowan made his way back to the barracks alone and threw himself
onto his bed, pausing only to remove the necessary articles of clothing.

Chapter 22
                     
 

Rowan felt somewhat better the next
day. He hadn’t noticed before, but the ever-present sense of isolation had been
weighing him down, especially with Baird’s absence.

It
seemed to Rowan as though their connection had been on hold since arriving in
the capital. It was understandable. He recognized that Baird had many things to
do and training was accomplished much more efficiently under the supervision of
others. But he missed the closeness that the two of them had shared during their
journey. He wondered what was occupying Baird’s time.

It was
quite early in the morning, as evidenced by the number of boys still lying
asleep throughout the barracks, so Rowan allowed himself to rest his eyes for a
short while before waking up. He had been dreaming of home and wished to
return.

His eyes
shut but the dream was gone, leaving him with only a lingering sense of
longing.

Once he
felt fully awake and ready to face the day ahead of him, he cast off the
sheets. The chill air caused him to shiver, so he quickly began what had become
a morning routine.

He
started with cleaning and clothing himself. Rowan was lucky that he did not
have to shave on a daily basis. He probably didn’t need to shave at all since
he never seemed to get more than a heavy stubble, but it looked awkward and he
didn’t mind the hassle of the occasional trim. He followed this by quickly
rinsing his hair and face. The cold water stung as he dipped his head beneath
the surface, cursing quietly as it woke him up. By this time, most of the other
boys were rising as well, so the need for quiet wasn’t necessary.

After
checking on his few possessions, Rowan followed the other boys to the dining
hall where they were served breakfast each morning. He grabbed a tray, absently
brushing his damp hair to keep it out of his eyes. It had grown shaggy after a
month without being cut, yet it was still too short to tie back into a
ponytail, causing it to constantly fall into his face.

The
food, Rowan noted as he sat down at an empty table, did not appear very
appealing this morning. As he slowly began to pick at his meal, Rowan thought
about the night before. Specifically, he thought about his arranged meeting
with Erik later in the day. He wondered what Erik was planning. He looked
around to see if he could spot the older boy, but Erik was nowhere to be seen.
Rowan figured he must not have risen for breakfast yet.

Focused
on his food and the thoughts that pre-occupied him, Rowan didn’t notice the
sound of heavy footsteps approaching him from behind. Someone cuffed him on the
back of the head and a tray was slammed down on the table in front of him,
splattering him with bits of food. Byron stood over him, sneering.

“You
look like you have some nasty bruises there, Rowan. Do they hurt?” Byron
grinned and some of his friends laughed. “You should try to be more careful
around here. Black and blue don’t suit you.”

Although
he knew he should not rise to Byron’s taunt, Rowan couldn’t help but respond.
“You don’t look so good yourself, but at least I’ll heal and get better. You
are stuck with your ugly mug.”

Byron’s
grin disappeared. Rowan could see the anger boiling inside him, ready to burst,
but instead Byron frowned and glanced over Rowan’s shoulder, his demeanor
quickly changing. Something behind Rowan had caught his attention and he
sneered again.

Wondering
what it was, Rowan turned around and saw Erik striding towards them. The older
boy set his tray down besides Rowan’s but he remained standing.

“This
doesn’t concern you, Erik.”

“I think
that it does.”

Byron
shifted his gaze between Rowan and Erik. “So you’ve decided to make friends
with
him
?” Byron sneered. “I never would have expected you to sink so
low, Erik.”

“I would
say the same about you Byron, but I know you better than that.”

Erik
smiled and Byron scowled. Rowan had to give Erik credit, the boy handled Byron
exceedingly well.

“Why do
you choose to sully yourself by associating with trash like him? I’ve never
been able to understand you, Erik,” Byron said. “Everything that you do just
seems to irk me.”

Erik was
about to say something when the sound of a door crashing open grabbed
everyone’s attention.

“What is
going on here?” Darius snapped, quickly striding across the room with his eyes
fixated them. Rowan noticed as the trainer approached that a number of faces
were turned in their direction. Apparently his confrontation with Byron had
drawn a lot of attention.

Darius’s
gaze swept over the small group and seemed to take the scene in instantly.
“What’s going on here?” he repeated. His gaze fell upon Byron.

“Nothing,”
Byron said, his voice even and controlled. “We were simply having a friendly
conversation that was just coming to an end.”

“Byron’s
right, sir,” Erik added quickly.

Rowan
could easily tell that Darius wasn’t fooled by Byron or Erik. The trainer could
obviously tell that something was amiss.

“And
what do you have to say, Rowan?” Darius asked, focusing his gaze on Rowan and
his fresh bruises.

“We
were
having a conversation,” Rowan said cautiously. “But it was becoming unpleasant
and boring, so Byron was about to leave and be on his way.”

Darius’s
eyes narrowed. It was obvious that the three of them were lying, but it did not
seem as though the trainer would take any action at the moment.

“If that
is all, then the three of you are free to return to your morning meal. But if
any one of you steps out of line,” Darius cautioned, eyeing each of them in
turn, “then I will make sure that you regret it. And I
will
know if you
have done something wrong.” He gave each one of them a harsh stare before
sending Byron on his way and turning to leave. Trainers ate in a different mess
hall in order to maintain a distance between themselves and the boys, but it
was common for several of them to frequent the boys’ mess to keep an eye on
them. As Darius was walking away, Rowan thought he spotted the trainer glancing
at him over his shoulder. But then Darius was out the door and gone, leaving
Rowan sitting alone with Erik.

“Well,
that was a great way to begin the morning,” Erik said, sitting down on the
opposite side of the table and pulling his tray in front of him.

“I
suppose,” Rowan said. He didn’t really know how to respond. “I could have
handled that myself, you know.”

Erik
stopped eating and looked at Rowan from across the table. “Perhaps,” he said
with a shrug.

“I
didn’t need your help,” Rowan insisted. “Don’t misunderstand me. I’m grateful
for what you did and I’m glad that you aided me, but I could have handled
Byron.” Rowan was happy that he seemed to have found a friend in Erik, but his
pride was hurt. He didn’t want anyone to think that he needed help because he
was too weak to help himself.

“You
think you could have handled Byron? No, you couldn’t have,” Erik said,
repeating Rowan’s statement. “This would have simply been a repeat of last
night.”

Anger
coursed through Rowan, but Erik didn’t allow him the chance to speak.

“You are
very skilled, Rowan. Most of the other boys have been trained since birth,
whereas you only begun receiving training recently. And yet you have excelled,
and in some areas you are more proficient than anyone else. You were chosen by
Baird to be his apprentice because he saw potential in you. In an even fight,
you are most certainly a match for Byron, as skilled as he is. That is why I
want to train with you.

“What
you fail to recognize, however, is the way that things work around here. Byron
has a number of people following him. You have been isolated and alone. You see
a feud between Byron and yourself, but you don’t seem to remember that the odds
are never in your favor. You won’t have a fair fight against Byron.” Erik
paused for a moment. “The exception to this, of course, is the Revel, which is
held publicly and judged impartially.”

The
thought hadn’t occurred to Rowan; the idea that the Revel offered him a chance
to beat Byron in a public arena, where he would have a fair match. There would
be a backlash by Byron afterwards, of course, but Rowan could deal with that
when it happened. At the moment, the offer of a fair match against Byron was
very tempting. He told Erik as much.

“I
agree,” Erik said. “I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t going to use the
Revel to settle a few grudges. That is one of the greatest motivators about the
competition. The chance to beat all others. Although there are some other
compelling reasons.” Erik blushed as he said this, but he obstinately refused
to say anything more. So Rowan chose to shift the conversation.

“Why did
you agree with Byron when you lied to Darius?” Rowan asked. “I thought you
didn’t like him.”

Erik
glanced across the room at Byron, who caught him looking and glared back. Rowan
feared that Byron might try to start another quarrel, but he just scowled and
looked away.

“I don’t
like Byron,” Erik stated, “but Darius can be meddlesome and that seemed to be
the quickest and most efficient way to keep things from escalating. What else
could I have said? Arguing with Byron wouldn’t have done any good. Besides, I
think it annoyed him that I agreed.”

“I guess
so,” Rowan said. His breakfast had grown cold, so he pushed his plate to the side.
He fiddled with his utensils for a moment before addressing Erik about the
previous night.

“Yesterday
evening, you mentioned that you wanted to work together,” Rowan said, phrasing
the statement as if it were a question.

“Yes. I
was meaning to remind you about that this morning, but you had left the
barracks before I woke up and when I arrived, I got distracted by Byron,” Erik
said, still eating his own breakfast. “We have our normal training routines
after breakfast, but after that, I was hoping that you would be willing to work
together. I need to work on my skills with a blade, especially with the Revel
coming up. What do you think?”

“It
sounds like a good arrangement. I haven’t ever sparred with anyone other than
Baird, and recently I’ve only been sparring with training posts. I could really
use the challenge.”

“Great,”
Erik exclaimed. With that out of the way, Erik returned his attention to his
breakfast as Rowan waited for Darius or one of the trainers to call them to
attention and begin the morning exercises.