Silverheart

Chapter Fourteen

By the time we reached the woods, the sun was up. And when Heph helped me off the horse and we finished tying them up to a tree, he said "alright, so as I said, I was serious about that breakfast. But I didn't bring any food, so the first surviving skill you will learn will be how to get your own food" as stood there gawking, he smiled and said "did you think defeating Hades would be a walk in the park? You have to be ready for every situation. Plus, we will have to hunt for food on our way to his stronghold, so you need to know the skill" I swallowed. It wasn't the snaring and trapping that had me worried, it was the fact that I was about to take the animal's life with my own hands. Back home the meat would be ready for cooking, so you didn't really give much thought to it. But capturing and killing and skinning an animal sounded like too much. Heph looked at me and said "I know it must be hard, but think of what you will do under circumstances where you don't have food and you are starving. You have to try" it took me a while but I finally managed to nod and he said, "let's get started".

He spent an hour teaching me how to make a snare and we had to wait quite a while until we caught a rabbit. But when we did, Heph didn't make a move to kill it. And I realized he was waiting for me to do it "I can't" I said in a shaky voice, but Heph's face was unyielding "you have to" he said firmly as he handed me the knife and put two fingers on the rabbit's neck "just try to make it quick and deep" but as much as I wanted to learn this, every time I looked at the rabbit thrashing and trying to free itself, I couldn't...I guided the knife closer and put my hand on its throat, it calmed a little; maybe it was thinking I was going to set it free. A small noise escaped me. I put the knife to its throat–

But the knife was suddenly snatched away from my hand and it went scattering to my left. Instantly Heph was standing in front of me and snarling at something in the trees "you shouldn't make her do it if she does not want to" called a voice from the trees, and a man stepped into view; he was tall and muscled and had brown-blonde hair, slightly pale skin and what looked like hazel eyes, he looked as old as Heph and Theo, but I knew better; his pointed ears and glittering eyes told me enough. Heph loosened up a little but the tension still remained when he said in a calm but cold voice "she is my student, she has to learn" the man looked me over and smiled. It scared me somehow "I know who she is; Lady Laura's niece. Though I have to admit, I never knew she had any relatives left"

"What are you doing here?" Heph said, and the man looked back to him "my father and I just arrived and Theo was not there, so when I heard you where here I came. I was a little bored, to be honest," Heph's face was a bit stony as he said "I appreciate your visit but we are in the middle of training" a polite but edged dismissal. The man shrugged and said, "I'll see you later tonight?" Heph nodded tightly. The man grinned at me and winnowed away "who was that?" I didn't like the way he looked at me, or at Heph "that is the son of one of the king's good friends, and apparently, they came to visit. His father is a good man, but his son openly supports Hades" I felt sick "what is his name? And should I be worried about him?" Heph glanced at me then started pacing "his name is Azec. And his being here is...a complication. We will have to be way more careful now" complications didn't sound good right now "what about my visit to my family?" he gave me an apologetic look and said "we will have to wait until he leaves. We can't risk getting discovered by him" I was still crouching, so I got up and walked to where he was pacing "and how long will that be?" I asked, he ran a hand through his hair and sighed "that's the thing; I don't know why they decided to come here all of a sudden, they usually send word before they do. And so I don't know when they might be leaving" this sounded serious "could they have discovered that I am the...?" and he shook his head "suspicious? Maybe, but still unlikely. Because if they were sure, Hades would have sent his army and wiped us all out for not turning you in on sight" a chill ran through me. Of course Heph was right, Hades would want me turned in on sight. Because I was a complication to him too, and he obviously did not like that "and what about my lessons?" I wanted to change the subject "physical training is fine, it's normal. But magical...we will have to be more careful and subtle about it. We will talk about it, but not now. Let's finish the training".