“How do you like working out in robes?” Glade asked.
“Now I know… why men… girded their loins… In ancient times…” Kedryn panted.
A grin spread across Glade’s face as he watched the Kid struggle to complete his sixth set of air squats by holding up the hem of his pristine robes above the knees, barely staying upright in the process.
They had been at it for two hours now, and Glade couldn’t be happier. The entire affair had been a much-needed stress relief for him and an exercise in abuse for Kedryn. Not that he had Kedryn suffer through the pain alone.
“Come on Kid! I’ve already outpaced you by 23 squats in this round alone! Are you going to let an older, better-looking officer beat a young Corporal like yourself?”
“You’re not… that much… older than me,” Kedryn gasped just before the ends of his robes slipped from his grip and caught on the back of his heel, spilling him to the ground.
The Kid groaned as he lay sprawled on the grotto’s floor. “And you don’t have… these cursed robes… to deal with!”
“You make a fair point. Too bad I don’t care. Time for burpees!”
Twenty minutes later, Kedryn was lying in mud created from his own sweat, his face covered in streaks of perspiration and muck.
Glade took mild interest in the fact that the Kid’s robes remained pristine, the dirt and sweat rolling off the fabric as if repelled by magic. Which was likely the case, seeing as it had come from the Adjudicators. Amazing what one could simply accept in just a few hours.
“Let's review what we’ve learned,” Glade said, wiping away the grime from his face before kneeling over the young Corporal.
The exercise was just what he needed, clearing his mind in a way that nothing else could. Though, he doubted Kedryn felt the same. Fortunately for the Kid, he had a commanding officer right beside him to offer him words of… encouragement.
His smile doubled in size as he remembered some of his favorite motivational phrases.
– Kid, you look like a can of biscuits that just popped open! –
– You must have lost 10 pounds in the transition from the neck up, because I swear, Corporal, you have lost your mind! –
– Kedryn, you smell like failure and corn chips! –
– Who needs magic? Your legs are a light source all by themselves! –
– Only quitters blow chunks! –
– Well, I guess you’re a quitter… –
At the start of Kedryn’s reeducation, Glade ensured they spoke strictly in Elvish for Riya’s sake. She had quickly taken shelter next to the large Fen Turtle, but had listened to their every word. Throughout the event, the girl kept a protective hand laying on the turtle’s shell.
The message was clear. Even though she wasn’t ready to talk, the turtle was not to be touched.
Over time, Riya’s tenseness abated to the point where she nodded at Glade during one of his more… colorful teaching techniques. While he personally didn’t know what the head nod meant, he’d take it. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither would building trust. Besides, they were still technically strangers. He most definitely wouldn’t trust someone he had just met from another world right from the start either.
“So, what have you learned?” Glade asked, turning his head to look down at Kedryn.
“That you… are a sadist,” the Kid gasped.
Glade barked a laugh.
“You’re lucky I’m around. If Mother had been here, you would still be in the process of being dismantled both physically and psychologically. I once caught him instructing some young soldiers from his home country. Let me tell you, the British special forces units are no joke. Tough as nails and fearless. But within twenty minutes of running afoul of Mother, he had them screaming at the top of their lungs while sprinting hills in winter with nothing but their skivvies and socks. All because they laughed at his mustache.”
Kedryn smiled as he lay panting. “What about… Wildfire?... She’s far more… scary than Mother.”
“Naw, she would just beat you within an inch of your life. After that, she would leave you alone. Not Mother. He’d make you relearn your lesson again and again until it stuck.”
Kedryn laughed, which didn’t help his current breathing challenges.
After giving the Kid enough time to calm down, Glade asked him the same question again.
“What else did you learn?”
After a brief pause, Kedryn broke eye contact and mumbled, “This is not a game.”
“Finally!” Glade growled, startling Kedryn enough to look back at his commanding officer. “Look Kid, I’ve had to bounce more than a few good soldiers off my team because they thought they were playing out some heroic fantasy or other such nonsense. Every single one of them put us in danger.”
“I cannot emphasize this point enough. It doesn’t matter if we’re on Earth or on Veil. Your actions always have consequences. While we are currently confronted with some… unique circumstances, that doesn’t change the fact we are fighting for our lives! In our line of work, choices determine who lives and who dies. And those are just the immediate impacts. You may never see the effects your decisions will have as they ripple from one end of the world to another. Be certain you think before you act! A solid, well thought out decision today will weigh the consequences heavily in our favor tomorrow.”
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Glade kept the Corporal gaze for several moments to let those words sink in.
Kedryn finally nodded his understanding and turned his attention to Riya.
“I owe you an apology. Sometime between arriving on Veil and now, I started treating you like a servant. For that, I’m sorry.” Kedryn’s face screwed up in thought as he faltered, his face flushed with embarrassment. “That’s not quite what I’m trying to say…”
Glade’s gaze hardened. Kedryn flinched.
“I mean, yes, I’m sorry! But what I’m really trying to say is that I didn’t mean to change how I was treating you. You’ve been so helpful, explaining everything and teaching me Natural Lore and all. It’s just that I was hoping to, you know, show you I could be a Royal Elf, so that you would think I... Well, I mean...”
Glade’s stomach dropped further and further with every word that fell from Kedryn’s lips, until he couldn’t stand it any longer. From the moment Glade had met the Kid, he could tell the newest member of the team didn’t have a mean bone in his body. Incompetent? Definitely. Intelligent? Yes, but the wrong kind of intelligent. But mean? Not at all.
Which was why he had been surprised the Kid had tried bullying Riya into thinking he was a Royal.
That is, until he watched the Kid fumble a simple apology in the most horrific manner possible.
Grinding his teeth, Glade did what every commander has done since the dawn of time and cursed whatever being was in charge of the universe.
Why do soldiers always fall for the locals?! Thankfully, nobody in their right mind would think such a horrible display would be found as attractive.
“That will do, Kedryn,” Glade interrupted, quickly speaking over the Corporal’s failed confession. “I’m certain Riya appreciates what you’re trying to say.”
As he glanced at Riya, he was very happy to see a look of pure confusion openly displayed. With any luck, she was just as oblivious as Kedryn was tactless.
Before either Riya or Kedryn could question exactly what the other understood, Glade forced the discussion in an entirely different direction. Namely, survival.
Over the next 30 minutes the group hashed out a skeleton of a plan to explore the surrounding caverns. Surprisingly, Kedryn contributed a great deal to the conversation. He quickly laid out an effective and well thought method to mark cave walls so they could always find their way back. The only correction Glade had to make was on the Kids proposed formation.
“In cases where the caves branch off, we could split up. Riya and I would take one of the corridors and you could…”
“Not going to happen, Corporal,” Glade needed to shut that line of reasoning down immediately, even though he silently gave the Kid props for trying. “We’re in an unfamiliar, hostile environment with unknown threats. I know that’s what you see on television, but no matter how good the plot is, splitting the party is a terrible idea. Besides, out of the three of us, who can’t create light?”
Kedryn’s face fell. “Oh, I should have thought of that.”
Ignoring Kedryn, Glade turned to Riya, who had been silent up to this point in the conversation. It was time to extend an olive branch.
“Do you have anything to add to the conversation?“
She looked between the two men, considering. After a few moments of awkward silence, she finally turned to Kedryn.
“I’m assuming after that… display, you will need healing? Sore muscles make for poor reflexes. Or so I’m told.”
“That would be brilliant!” Kedryn cried, his eyes lighting.
“With your permission, Captain Glade?”
Glade shrugged, not caring either way. He knew the Kid would be sore later, but that was what stretching and morning exercises were for. His four phase morning routine was already on the schedule after they all rested.
Riya glided over to Kedryn, her natural dexterity showing in a way Glade hadn’t noticed before. Idly, he wondered if she had leveled as well and if she had allocated an attribute in dexterity.
With a bare touch, golden light suffused Kedryn. It didn’t last long, just a few seconds, before Kedryn jumped up, pumping his fist in the air.
“I just got a +1 to strength from the combined exercise and rapid healing!”
Glade opened his mouth to ask for clarification, but was beaten by a now overly enthusiastic Riya.
“Really!? I’ve read of the possibility of rapid attribute growth from excessive physical stress combined with instant healing, but I’ve never seen it work before! The cost is too prohibitive for personal research and I’m just learning the ins and outs of celestial magic. This is incredible information! Tell me, was it just your strength or was anything else boosted? What about deformities? Anything feeling off balance?”
“Just the strength stat, but I feel my stamina is close to… wait, did you say deformities?”
Glade stared at the elf girl in disbelief. Had she just… experimented on Kedryn?
“You don’t look off balance to me. Elfrin and Bock hypothesized that rapid growth had to be intense, but meticulously balanced between aerobic and anaerobic stresses in order to be effective. That you only gained 1 point in strength but feel you’re close to increasing your stamina could mean…”
Riya stopped talking and turned to Glade.
“Could I try healing you? I’d like to see if there are similar gains from someone who is naturally more gifted in the corporeal arts. Judging from the types of exercise you subjected yourself and Bei’Kedryn to, it shouldn’t be too risky. Of course, your human heritage might be a problem in comparison with one of the Tree Bonded. Either way, it is a chance to understand the theory…”
Riya slowly trailed off as Glade took a tentative step back. She was experimenting on the Kid, and she had openly admitted to wanting to test some theory out on him! It was like facing a second Vlad!
“Sorry, I seem to have gotten carried away again.” Riya sighed, dropping her arms to her side. “I get that way sometimes, especially when there is an opportunity to test something I’ve read so much about. At least, that's what my Da… tells… me…”
Riya’s voice again trailed off, but this time for a completely different reason than before. He heard the tell tale pain in her voice. She had lost someone. Recently.
“That's incredible!” Kedryn cried, ignoring the sudden dour mood. “I mean, I’ve read plenty of wiki’s speculating how muscle growth and flexibility could be stimulated if magic were real, but to have it actually work on me? That's just awesome! But, just to be sure we’re covering everything, can we go back to the deformity part of the conversation?”
Riya jerked as if startled awake. “Oh, yes. Certainly. You aren’t screaming in pain or showing malformed growth, so that's a plus. I wonder if using celestial magic instead of healing potions makes a difference? Elfrin and Bock only had access to healing potions for their research. Either way, I wouldn’t worry. But if we want to try it again, I suggest letting your Captain… he is your Captain, right?” Kedryn nodded, “Right. Well, he seems more informed about exercise than your Eminence… Oh, right, I’m not supposed to call you that anymore. And here I am, just tittering like a grass wren and ignoring protocol.”
Riya took a deep, steadying breath.
“Let me introduce myself properly. It is good to finally make your acquaintance, Captain Glade. I am Da’Riya Ki’Loshere of the Abligare, better known as the Banished Elves. You previously offered to answer my questions. I’ll gladly take you up on your offer," She asked, looking Glade in the eye. "Why are you trying to kidnap me?”