The Hunters of Sian

The Second Day

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Chapter Eight

The Second Day

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'Wake up Nell.' Sallos' deep voice penetrated his sleep. It was a difficult battle to rise from his dreams into the waking world. He blinked several times, his brain slow. The sun wasn't in the sky yet. He tried to rise but his body hurt. Nell gave a weak pitiful whimper. Not a single muscle or stretch of skin felt good. He took it slow, his arms trembling as he pushed himself into a sitting position. He glanced down and groaned. His forearms were indeed blossoming into spectacular patterns of red and purple from combat training the day before.

Sallos rose from beside him and made his way over to the fireplace. Nell watched as Sallos snapped his fingers. Fire crackled to life over the half-eaten logs. The demon placed a kettle over the fire. Nell hobbled out of bed, nearly collapsing as his leg muscles threatened to lock up.

'Don't bother with the full uniform. Just wear the shorts and drink this quickly.' Nell took the cup of tea with a weak nod. He was about to ask why he would only need shorts when he remembered they were supposed to be swimming for the first class. He sipped his tea and winced.

Eww.

Nell glanced down into his cup. His master gave the smallest of smiles. The tea was a nasty sort of yellow colour, and the taste was repugnant. Bitter and strong, it nearly made him gag.

'What is this?' Nell croaked.

'Among other things, turmeric. Finish it,' Sallos replied. Shuddering with disgust, Nell drank down the hot tea as fast as he dared, suppressing the urge to retch.

'It will help with the soreness. Now get going. Head down to the bathing pools.' He really didn't want to traverse the massive hallways in nothing but cut off pants, but all of the advice Sallos had given him so far had been good. He just wished it wasn't so far away.

Nell hurried as much as he could with his protesting body, more hobbling than walking. Every person he passed, demon or human seemed to be staring or laughing. He had never felt more self-conscious. His whole face was red by the time he reached the bathing pools. He let out a small breath of relief at the sight of Jeremy and Marshall, both in shorts as well.

That relief was, however, short lived as Denzel strode confidently towards them, several of the other noble boys in tow. Nell was suddenly hideously aware of how painful thin and childish he looked in comparison to the other boy's towering broad frames.

Denzel's lip curled at the sight of him. 'I always knew you looked like a drowned rat, maybe today you can finally live up to the expectation.' The other boys sniggered. Nell glared back but as usual, their demon trainer seemed to appear from thin air before they could really start anything.

'Right, follow me!' he roared. They passed deeper into the bathing hall. The apprentices followed the left wall and down a passage Nell had never noticed before.

Down and down they went, the stone wet and slimy beneath their feet. It was cold down in this descending passage. The wall sconces seemed to struggle to bleed their light into the damp air. The dark passage widened sharply. In front of the group was a deep dark pool. It was smooth and vast, spreading back further then the feeble light revealed. There were a few stone benches scattered about.

'Get in,' Cadric barked. Nell winced. Glancing around he was surprised to see the look of apprehension and fear on the face of the young girl. He remembered how he had thought she had come from of place of long reaching sands and hot sun. Maybe she wasn't very comfortable with swimming? She was certainly looking at the dark water as though it would swallow her whole.