The Lord of the Crows

Part 6 - Training room

The training room was actually a long building painted in white, with dark roof tiles, partly buried in the hill, much more spacious inside than it seemed on the outside and at first glance.

I showed up there since I had nothing else to do. And doing nothing bothered me more as I got better. At the same time, wandering around trying to avoid company became significantly harder. Our attempt to visit my father did not go well and I - although unfairly - avoided Daina and every possible encounter with her. As much as I longed to be near her, I hated admitting her attempts to pull me out of apathy and self-pity started to give some results. In the end, coming to the damn gym was the product of that same influence. I gritted my teeth at the very thought, but my body recovered enough to yearn for some kind of action. Moreover, it seemed I couldn't fill in my day in any different manner. Therefore, I finally concluded that the time could be spent somehow useful.

The old woman took me there and introduced me to a skinny young man who would "be in charge of me". I looked at him and frowned. He was supposed to be in charge of me getting back my strength?! If the shaggy, skinny boy had known how to exercise, he would have made something of himself first. We did not accept man like him into the army, except perhaps for cooks, and even the cooks had to know how to push and pull and carry staff when needed.

He also looked at me, partly dissatisfied and partly worried, in a manner of a veteran soldier assessing the newcomer, the rookie, and took me to one of the three separate sections of the building; the one with some wooden benches, tools, ropes, some tarpaulins and patched balls.

"Catch!"

He threw a small, patched ball at me and almost hit me in the head. I managed to avoid it in time but not to catch it.

"Squeeze!" He ordered after shoving the same ball into my hand. "Squeeze, I said!"

"I am squeezing it, you son of a...!" I hissed.

He grabbed my fist and turned it over. He watched it carefully for a few moments, then rolled up my sleeve all the way above my elbow, feeling and pressing the muscles destroyed by the poison. After that, he turned his equal attention to the other hand and arm.

"Your right hand is in a much worse condition."

I nodded.

"He stabbed me in the right arm."

"If he had stabbed you in the left, the blood would have spread the poison to the heart faster. The left hand will recover with very little effort, and the right ... well, guess you'll have to practice it more. But", he looked up at me and smiled, "it's not useless."

I held my breath. I wasn't sure I wanted... I was ready to hear this. Hope?

"Am... am I going to... recover?" I stuttered.

The young man let go of my hand and headed for the bench. He waved me to follow him and showed me to sit down.

"With a lot of effort and a lot of practice, yes. Maybe not to the same extent as when you were healthy, but... Now, let me see your legs."

"Interesting," he murmured, looking the wound on my hip at the end of the examination. "The person who did this to you knows a lot about the effects of the poison made from the blue flowers. The wounds were... "

"... inflicted in a manner to make the poison act as slowly as possible", I completed his sentence. "I know."

He straightened up and showed me to lie down.

"Come on, let me show you something to start with. And hold that ball. Squeeze it as many times as possible, you can do it while doing other exercises. When it gets too easy or the ball starts to seem too soft to you, I'll give you another."

I raised an eyebrow and slowly stretched out on the bench. Too soft?! Well, I barely managed to distort it a bit, as if they had filled it with stones. I looked at the guy. He seemed to know what he was doing, and, above all, he did it with love, passion, and joy.

"How did you end up here, kid?" I asked.

He jerked, but still smiled, helping me bend my leg at the knee and pull it to my chest.

"They haven't told you, have they? Such questions are not being asked here."

I nodded and winced in pain. He stopped at once.

"You are going to tell me when it hurts and when you can no longer bear the pain," he sounded very serious. "Don't try to be a hero. When it hurts, I must slow down, when you can't stand it anymore, I have to stop not to cause more damage. Understood?"

I nodded again and smiled. I was starting to like the kid.