When the Banshee Whispers

chapters 12 and 13

Chapter 12

"This world we live in is built on the expectations of those who see it. A man who walks the forest expecting to find monsters will kill a squirrel and proclaim himself a mighty slayer of demons. The man who opens his eyes and sees the world for what it truly is and not what he expects it to be is truly blessed, and will make for a fearsome warrior."  Sword Master Valley spoke with the loud booming voice of a battlefield commander. He stood with his hands behind his back as he looked at the thirty boys lined up in front of him.

It was the third day after I had arrived at the Talon house, and the first day of real training. I remember being surprised when I was led into a common room full of bunks two high. How was one supposed to sleep knowing someone else was directly above or below him. Not that I did much sleeping regardless. 

I can still remember the feeling of standing in that line looking at Master Valley as he told us how he was going to make us into the worlds greatest warriors. Attendants handed each boy a small boot dagger, little more than a carving knife. Valley told us to carry them always.

I can still remember the boy next to me with the ink black hair making a joke about getting to stand next to the crown prince and earning a lap around the compound for it. Drenden earned a lot of laps during our five years together at the house, it did little to change him.

"Lesson one," Valley told us. "Lesson one is opening your eyes, your ears, and all your senses to the world around you."

An attendant walked up behind him and planted a flag in the ground. A simple black cloth with three silver slashes running from top right to bottom left.

"The symbol of the talons," Valley went on to tell us how the mark of the talons inspired fear in our enemies and so forth. Then he held up a small silver coin with the same mark on it. "These are called honor marks," he said. "Outside these walls they are nearly worthless. But in here you can use them to buy extra food, water, luxuries, or better armor or weapons before a test." He rolled the coin over in his fingers.

I'd heard of some of the tests talons went through, that I would go through. An extra canteen of water could make all the difference. By the hunger in the other boys' eyes they recognized it too.

Master Valley smiled. "The only way to earn honor marks it to win competitions, stand out, excel." Then he pointed behind him to a massive pile of cut logs. Most about an arms length long and ranging in width from little more than a stick to wider around than the reach of a man's arms. It must have been thirty feet tall and seventy wide.

"First test," Valley's smile widened. "The first recruit to bring me a log with the symbol of the talons on it wins this mark." The boys looked back and forth at one another. "Go!" Valley shouted.

It was a mad dash to the pile, boys threw elbows at one another to slow them. Thirty recruits hit the pile at nearly the same time. Some started digging right away, others climbed quickly to the top, chucking down logs at the boys below.

I chose to run around the back side and start digging at the ground. Most of the logs had carvings on one end or the other. Many were just symbols. A shape, a design, or a pattern. Some had more complex images. A Romildan owl, a hawk, even some with rather graphic images of women in various states of undress. I couldn't help but try to imagine someone carving all these logs as I dug, throwing logs over my shoulder as I searched for those three lines.

My arms grew tired and heavy by the time I saw it. Two boys had already given up, and another was carried off with a twisted ankle. Buried right in front of me, under a log with a large eye on it I saw them. Three parallel lines, I could only see half the log but I felt my spirits lift. But as I reached for it I felt a hand on my shoulder. I was roughly thrown to the ground by a boy a head taller than me and twice as wide. He'd seen it too.