Return of the Stormcriers

CHAPTER 9- GREETINGS BROTHER

  Matt sighed with exasperation and shook his head the way a wet dog attempts to dry itself, sending a shower of raindrops flying in every direction. After three days of cascading rain, the foul weather had grown tiresome; there was not a single soul amongst their party who was not soaking wet and chilled to the bone. Matt, to his current discomfort, had volunteered to take shifts outside with the men between his lessons. He felt that it was the least he could offer after the kindness that Nathan had shown him. By and large the soldiers had shown him nothing but acceptance and respect. His two tormenters, Klaus and Anton had been either too exhausted from the journey or else properly chastised by Gattis, to give him any guff. In their rare interactions since his first day with the group, they would merely nod to him and address him as, 'Boy,' in recognition. Fortunately, the other men were of a much kinder disposition, matching the prince whom they served.

  It had been a week since Nathan had begun to teach Matt how to use his powers as a stormcrier. Because of the deluge, he had been unable to practice summoning lightning for the past few nights, but every day the Prince had Matt sit in silence in his carriage and attempt to clear his mind. While Nathan had not pushed the issue on the first day, he had not been pleased with the way Matt had summoned the sparks with his anger. The prince reminded him time after time, driving the point home into his memory as a blacksmith strikes hot iron in their quest to shape the stubborn matter to their will, that a clear mind was far superior to a clouded and angry mind. Although the task of clearing his mind proved to be a surprisingly brutal challenge, and Nathan's praise was sparse Matt's respect for the prince had only increased over the past week as he observed the interactions between his new master and the soldiers that traveled under his banner. The young nobleman always had a moment to spare for his men and in turn they were fiercely loyal to him.

The Great Plains that filled the majority of central Verden, through which Matt now traveled, differed so greatly from the crags and mountainsides that Matt had grown up around that he felt almost as if he had stepped into an alien world. The vast expanse of grass that stretched for miles before and behind the carriages held no dramatic vistas to break the scenery, nor any extreme changes in elevation to break the monotony of monochromatic waves of grass that filled their vision. The knee-high vegetation bent and whipped in the wind from the storm, rippling like an organic sea all around the carriages, rolling like silky waves away from the carefully cleared dirt road that split through the vast open expanse of the province.

  At present, Matt was assisting Jahn and Paul, the two men he had first seen in Schwarzvald Forest, to free one of the mobile barracks from a patch of mud in the road. The back wheels had been sucked in by the voracious maw of wet earth, preventing the carriage from moving forward. The driver had been fearful that any attempt to drive himself free of the muck would risk the destruction of an axel, so Matt, Jahn, and Paul were tasked to pull it out by hand. They were fortunate, Matt thought, that it had been one of the empty vehicles that had become ensnared. If it had been the equipment carriage they may have been unable to dislodge it until the ground had dried out.

  "Lift on three," Jahn called out. "One, two, three!" They pulled up mightily on the carriage. Matt could feel the mud sucking the wheels down, the sludge fighting to keep its prize.

  "Lift harder!"

Matt strained, steadying his feet on the slick ground and feeling his thighs burn with effort. Beside him Jahn and Paul pulled with all their might, their muscled arms straining to free the wheels from the hungry earth. With a loud, squelching pop, the back wheels came free, nearly causing Matt to lose his balance from the sudden loss of fierce resistance. With a flick of the reigns the driver led the horses forward as the three men pushed, the ravenous mud clinging at their feet threatening to pull their boots from their feet with every step, until the carriage had passed over the worst of the hazard.