Trust in Magic

Chapter 2- A New Destination

The next morning, Leigh was woken by the sound of Zafrir's voice.
"Wake up, Apprentices!" He called, barging into the room. "It's a new day and we'll be leaving soon! Alexia is expecting you in the courtyard in two hours so try to be on time! I've brought you breakfast and I'll leave it on your table."
With that he walked out again. Allan groaned as he opened his eyes, then let out a muffled scream that made Leigh jump.
"Ugh, I want to sleep," Leigh moaned, covering his face with the pillow.
"Why are you on my side of the bed?" Allan asked. "I thought we agreed to stay on our sides!"
"Don't be such a moaner," Leigh yawned, trying to sink back into his dreams. "This way, the first thing you got to see this morning was my beautiful face."
Leigh still had his eyes shut but he could tell that Allan was rolling his eyes at him. He cracked a small smile.
"Wow the breakfast looks delicious!" Allan exclaimed a second later. Guess I'm not getting any more sleep, Leigh thought. He rubbed his eyes and slowly padded to the table where he sat down heavily in one of the chairs. Zafrir had brought 2 large plates; one overflowing with ripe, exotic fruits and the other carrying neatly stacked slices of dark bread, each covered with a rich, creamy spread. There was also a tray with various jugs of juice on it.
Leigh was used to much more extravagant meals, but alone the sight of the fruits made his mouth water.
"They didn't give us any coffee," Caitlyn, who had just got up to join them, commented, wrinkling her nose. "But it looks wonderfully... simple. Well I didn't expect too much from these people."
"Well if you don't want any we'll eat it on our own," Allan said. Caitlyn humphed and sat down on the third chair, quietened.

After they had finished the food, they took turns in the bathroom. Alexia and Zafrir were already waiting for them in the courtyard when they were finally ready.
"Are we late?" Allan asked. "We weren't sure what the time was because we couldn't find a clock in the room."
"You're late indeed," Zafrir said, glancing up at the sun. "About half an hour late."
"You're fine," Alexia contradicted. "How much luggage did you bring? Each around a backpack? Ok, well we're going to have to take a couple of other things with us, so if you want to leave anything behind..." Alexia stopped as she saw Leigh's raised hand. "You don't need to raise your hand, Leigh. I'm younger than you. What is it?"
"Umm... where are we actually going?" Leigh asked.
"To the peak of the mountain. Didn't you know? That's where we'll be starting your training."
"Oh..." Leigh said weakly at the sight of the mountain.
"So as I was saying, incase you have packed anything that you don't absolutely need, you may want to leave it behind. You will each have to take another two backpacks. All the stuff you leave will be kept for you."

It was already around noon when they started walking. Everyone was dressed warmly apart from Zafrir. He was wearing the same thin, white, cotton shirt that he had worn the day before, tucked into loose, knee length trousers. He was at least wearing a cloak, but it was fluttering around his shoulders, quite useless against the wind. Once they got further up the mountain, everyone else started taking off layers too- the climb was quite demanding.
A few hours into their journey, Alexia decided it was time to take a break. They stopped at a small, level outcrop on the otherwise narrow path and started unpacking some of the supplies to form a meal. Leigh was tasked with finding water.
"I can faintly hear a stream from somewhere over there," Zafrir told him while pointing out the direction. "Could you fill this jug with water?"
Leigh himself couldn't hear anything, but decided to trust in his senior Apprentice's words. After strolling around a bit, he finally found the source that Zafrir had been talking about; a small flow of water emerged from between two large boulders
How did he hear it from that far away? Leigh wondered. Thinking back, Zafrir seemed to have been able to tell the time very well just from looking at the sun. Well, maybe he was joking... Leigh shrugged, deciding he'd ask him later.