Through the Portal

“You could come with me,” Henry suggested, knowing his brother would be alone in the hut. “You could have another go at the loom, maybe figure it out.”

Jake shook his head. “We both know that wouldn’t make a difference.” He smiled. “It’s fine. Go have fun and I am going to enjoy some much-needed alone time, here.”

Henry paused, for a minute, then sighed. “Alright, if you’re sure.” He pulled back the vines and looked back, once more. “Just stay out of trouble.”

Jake grinned. “No promises.”

Henry returned the smile as he headed out.

Jake sighed and lay down on his bed, staring up at the ceiling and preparing for a day of boredom in the hut.

Meredith walked with Josie to the caretaker’s hut before heading out to the archery range to meet Theron. She looked around, expecting to see William in training, since that was where he had agreed to meet Valda. When she asked Theron about it, he just smiled.

“She probably took him to a clearing in the woods for a little more privacy,” he told her. “It’s less concerning to others that way.”

“Concerning?” She hoped that wasn’t as bad as it sounded.

He nodded. “Her training can be grueling and people tend to worry she is being too rough. When our lady was training, people saw and criticized her, so she had to start doing the trainings where they wouldn’t be seen. Don’t worry. He’ll be fine.” He handed her an unstrung bow. “Now, I’m going to start by showing you how to string a bow. You will need to know that when travelling because you can’t leave the bow strung for too long without damaging it.”

Meredith nodded, trying not to worry about William. She was confident he could take care of himself, so she focused on the task at hand, instead. She was given a bow stringer to help her, but it took all her strength to get the string attached.

When she finally succeeded, Theron smiled at her. “Well done. Now, unstring it and do it, again.”

William grunted as he hit the ground for what seemed to him to be the hundredth time. He stared up through the trees at the colorful sky, wondering what had possessed him to have Valda as a teacher. They were practicing techniques with sticks, but she kept beating him with ease. He wondered if the training was actually doing him any good.

“You’re improving,” she commented, apparently reading his thoughts.

He grunted and pushed himself back up off the ground. He picked up his stick and prepared to go again, refusing to give up. He wanted to be able to protect his friends and a little pain (or even a lot of pain) was a small price to pay.

“You can take a beating. I’ll give you that,” Valda told him. “Have much experience?”

“A little,” he replied, popping his neck. “Shall we continue?”

She nodded. “You need to work on blocking. Hold your sword like this when you see the sword swinging down.” She turned her wrist, along with the stick. “Move it like this if it’s coming from the side.” She demonstrated and he mimicked her. “Alright, let’s give it a try.” She lunged at him. He managed to block, but just barely. She came at him again and slapped him on the shoulder with her branch. “Keep your guard up.”

He did his best to follow her advice, but still wound up on the ground, again.

She looked down at him and smiled. “Ready for the next round?”

He groaned, but stood up and took his stance. “Whenever you are.”

Jake tried to sleep, thinking that might make the day go by faster. However, he couldn’t seem to rest. Eventually, he sighed and got up, figuring a walk around the little village might help. He did his best to avoid places the others might be and wound up at the healer’s hut. He wondered if he would be able to check on Katherine, since Tristan didn’t seem to be standing guard, anymore.

He started walking to the vine door and ran into Galen, who was exiting. “Sorry.” He worried he may get in trouble for trying to enter.

The elf just smiled at him. “That’s alright. Did you need something?”

Jake shrugged. “I just thought I’d see how Katherine was doing.”

“Ah.” Galen nodded. “Well, she’s been moved to a private hut, since she’s just sleeping and doesn’t really need medical care. Tristan is looking after her and I doubt he would let you in.”

“Right.” Jake sighed, uncertain about what to do, now.

Galen considered him for a moment. “If you have some free time, perhaps, you can help me. I need to gather some herbs and an extra pair of hands is always appreciated.”

Jake looked at him and nodded, glad to be of some use, even if it seemed minor. “I think I can do that.”

“Excellent.” Galen smiled. “Follow me, then.” He led the way into the forest. They stopped a little away from the village and Galen showed Jake the types of plants he needed. He handed the boy a bag and set him to work.

“Like these, right?” Jake asked as he found what appeared to be the right plant.

Galen looked where he was indicating and nodded. “You gather from there and I’ll get these over here. We’ll have this done in no time.”

Jake nodded and went to work, feeling a little better, already.

Meredith, Henry, and Josie sat at their table at lunch, wondering where the others were. Meredith smiled as she saw William coming towards them, despite the fact that he looked like he’d been through the ringer. He stumbled to their table and sighed as he sat down.

“You look like crap,” Henry commented, voicing what they were all thinking.

William gave him a tired smile, not up to responding.

Alesia handed him a glass of the orange liquid he’d had earlier. “Galen asked me to make sure you got this. He’s collecting herbs, today.”

William gave her a grateful smile and used both hands to lift the glass to his mouth, letting out a relieved sigh as his strength returned and the pain dulled. He looked around the table. “Where’s Jake?”

“I think I saw him going into the forest with Galen,” Alesia replied. “He must be helping to collect the herbs.”

William nodded, glad that he had found something to do. “I hope he enjoys it.” He looked to the group. “So how has everyone’s day been?”

“I helped trim some branches and clean the floors and walls,” Josie announced. “Alesia says I’m a good helper. She said I could be a caregiver one day.”

Alesia smiled at the child. “Indeed, you could be. You’re a hard worker.”

“My arms are a bit sore.” Meredith shrugged. “But I’m getting pretty good with the bow. I can string and unstring it without too much trouble. I even hit the bull’s eye once, while shooting.”

William nodded and looked to Henry. “How is the weaving going?”

“Alright,” he replied, modestly. “I haven’t gotten very far, but it’s pretty cool. I’ve been learning how to make designs in the fabric.”

“That’s good.” William took another sip of the drink and grabbed some fruit. “My training has been a blast.”

“I think it’s lunch time,” Galen told Jake. He picked what appeared to be a red lime and tossed it to the boy. “Take a break and eat.”

Jake’s bag was nearly full. Collecting the right parts of the plants had turned out to be trickier than he’d imagined, but he was getting better at it. He accepted the fruit, gratefully, and took a seat on the forest floor, wondering if he needed to peel it.

Galen just bit right in to his, answering the unspoken question. “So, what were you really doing, wandering outside the hut, earlier?”

Jake shrugged, taking a bite of his fruit, pleasantly surprised to discover that the outside was not at tough as a lime. It tasted salty, but the inside was sweet, giving it a nice mix of flavors. “I was checking on Katherine.”

Galen shook his head. “If it were your friend or Tristan, I would believe that. I’m sure you are concerned for our lady, but I doubt you came to check after being told you were not allowed. Why not tell me the truth, now?”

Jake frowned and took another bite, considering his options. He didn’t want to bear his soul to this person he barely knew, but he didn’t see any harm in telling him a little. “Everyone else was busy and I got bored, so I was wandering around, a bit.” He shrugged. “It’s no big deal.”

“And yet, you felt the need to keep it a secret,” Galen observed. “Is it because you were embarrassed that you couldn’t find anything to do?” He took another bite as he watched the boy, his warm, amber eyes appearing to see right through him.

Jake shrugged again. “There was nothing around here that suited me. I’m no good at weaving or fighting techniques and I’m hopeless when it comes to cleaning, so I couldn’t figure out anything else to do.” He finished of his piece of the fruit, thinking he probably sounded rather pathetic.

“Well, you are pretty good with the herbs. I’ve seen some people tear them up while trying to pluck them.” The elf smiled, kindly. “I guess your boredom worked in my favor, today.”

Jake looked at his bag, uncertainly. “It’s no big deal.”

“It was really quite helpful,” Galen assured him. “In fact, why don’t you help me some more, tomorrow? I’ll need to let these dry overnight, but tomorrow morning, I’ll be crushing them for medicines and such. I could show you how to do it and you could assist me.”

Jake looked at him, uncertainly. “Are you sure? I tend to make a mess of things, usually.”

Galen just smiled, again. “I’m certain you cannot do more harm than I can handle and I am willing to take the risk, if you are.”

“Alright.” Jake nodded, relieved that he wouldn’t spend the next day alone.

“Excellent.” Galen stood. “Now, let’s finish gathering these herbs before we lose the light.”

The group met again for dinner and William eagerly accepted another glass of the orange drink from Galen. It briefly occurred to him to ask what was in it, but the healer just winked and said it was a secret. That concerned William, but not enough to stop him from drinking it.

“So how was your day in the forest?” Henry asked his brother as he joined them at the table. “Did you help the healer out?”

“A bit. It was mostly just gathering plants, but he promised to show me how to make them into ingredients, tomorrow.”

“That sounds like fun,” Meredith commented before she looked at William’s drink. “Are you sure that stuff is safe? You’ve been drinking an awful lot of it.”

He shrugged, not wanting to think about it. “I don’t really care.” He smiled. “Besides, I don’t think Galen would do anything to harm me and Valda still wants to do more training after dinner.”

“That seems excessive,” Meredith remarked. “Is she trying to kill you?”

William shook his head. “She’s just very dedicated. Besides, she doesn’t know how much time she has to train me and she wants to make the most of it.” He finished off the drink. “Thank goodness for Galen.”

Meredith nodded her understanding and sighed. “Just don’t overdo it, okay?” She was sore from the archery training, but she had seen how William stumbled to their table and knew he’d had a much rougher day. Besides, her training was over for the night and she could relax, unlike him. “I don’t want you hurting yourself for this.”

“I’ll be fine,” he assured her. “I know what I’m doing.” He grabbed a piece of fruit from the bowl on their table and bit in, eagerly. He wasn’t really as certain as he pretended to be, but he had no intention of stopping, now.

William met Valda at the now-empty training grounds, prepared for more grueling work. However, she just told him to sit on the ground, cross his legs and close his eyes. He feared it may be a trick, but obeyed, not daring to argue with her.

She sat on the ground, in front of him and did the same. “Tonight, we’re going to meditate. This is as important as any other part of your training. Meditating helps you learn to focus, as well as heal. Now, start by taking a deep breath in your nose.”

William obeyed, not really sure what he was doing. He had never meditated before, because he considered it to be pointless. As far as he could tell, all you did was sit around with your eyes closed.

“Breathe out your mouth,” Valda instructed, “Do that, slowly, while focusing on your body. Feel the tension in your muscles and let it drift down, into the ground.”

He did his best to obey, taking deep breaths in his nose and letting them out through his mouth. His whole body felt tense, so he did his best to imagine the tension drifting to the ground, as she had said. It didn’t seem to have much effect, but he kept trying. After about ten minutes, he felt something, like he was drifting away. The tension seemed to fade and slip downwards, just as he had intended. He wasn’t sure how long he sat like that, but the light had nearly faded completely by the time he opened his eyes.

Valda was sitting and watching him. She nodded her approval. “That’s it for your training, today. I will see you in the morning.”

He made it back to the hut and collapsed onto his bed, falling asleep within minutes.

When he awoke, the following morning, his whole body cried out, in protest and he had to suppress a groan, not wanting to wake the others. He, slowly, climbed out of bed and got dressed, each movement sending a shot of pain through him.

It was still pretty dark out when he left the hut, but he was pleasantly surprised to find a gift from Galen waiting by the door. It looked like a jelly roll and had a note attached, suggesting William eat it. He took a bite and found that moving was not nearly as painful. It had a salty flavor to it, but he didn’t mind. Once again, William mentally thanked the elf, knowing he probably wouldn’t have been able to make it through training without his help. He found Valda at the training grounds and she nodded to him.

“Glad you could make it on time, today,” she commented. “Now, give me fifty push-ups, to start.”

Jake woke up earlier than most of the others and was surprised by how excited he was about the day. He quickly got dressed and headed out. It was light outside, so he figured Galen would be up. He stood outside the healer’s hut, wondering if he should knock, since there wasn’t really much of a door.

“Come in,” Galen’s voice came from inside, making it clear he had heard Jake coming.

The boy entered and looked around. There were shelves of herbs and jars of liquids throughout the room. Galen worked over a counter, crushing some leaves with a stone mortar and pestle. Jake remembered reading about them, but had never used one. A second set was next to the elf’s.

Galen smiled at Jake and nodded to the second bowl. “Put some herbs in there and just do as I do.”

Jake nodded and picked the smaller piece up. He watched how Galen pushed it around in the bowl, grinding the herbs into dust. He put some leaves in his bowl and, carefully, began pushing down on them with the pestle.

“You’re going to have to do it harder if you want a good powder,” Galen told him. “Don’t worry about making a mess. I do it all the time.” He smiled.

Jake returned the smile and pushed the leaves down, more roughly. He twisted the pestle, thoroughly crushing them.

“That’s more like it. I’ll make a healer of you, yet, Jacob.”

Jake didn’t normally like to be called by his full name, but he, somehow, didn’t mind Galen doing it. He smiled at the compliment and wondered if it were actually possible for him to become a healer.

Henry was surprised to discover his brother was gone when he woke up, but he knew where Jake was, so he didn’t panic. Meredith and Josie were already up and dressed, so he rushed to do the same, nodding to them as they left for their activities. He pulled on some fresh clothes and headed to where the weavers worked. They were happy to see him and he smiled as he set to work, wondering if he might finish the piece before it was time for them to move on. As much as he wanted Katherine to wake up, Henry was in no rush to leave the village.

Meredith left Josie with Alesia and joined Theron at the training grounds. Once again, Valda had taken William somewhere else for the training. She did her best not to let that worry her.

“Are you ready to get started?” Theron asked.

She strung her bow as an answer. “I’m always ready.”