Bound To; The Wish of the Witch

XII

The lightly frosted dirt crunched under each horse's hooves as the three travelers slowly made their way down the road. The midday sun's light, barely able to peak through the abnormally thick grove's veil, only cast thin rays through the fog. Locke took in a deep breath of the autumn air and spoke.

"It's days like this that bring me back to when we'd be following master through the woods for hours." Locke said, his words laced with nostalgia.

"Yeah, except the sun was much lower and we had more bruises." Tori added with a chuckle.

"I suppose that's true." Locke laughed.

"That sounds pleasant." Scinthia said sarcastically. "What did he have you guys doing?"

"Ordinarily he'd have us climbing trees and sneakin' around if not practicing our archery or close combat training." Locke said.

"Among other things, but that pretty much sums it up." Tori paused. "The bruises didn't so much come from the training, but it came from the two of us having to compete in each regimen." He added.

"And the loser got a couple good smacks as a reward for his apparent lack of effort." Locke added, sounding a bit agitated.

"That doesn't seem too constructive." Scinthia responded.

"Yeah, it certainly didn't seem that way at the time. Although in hindsight, if we botched things up like that nowadays, we'd be lucky to get off with just a good beating." Locke said with a chuckle before continuing. "I suppose now I can't help but be appreciative for his teachings since it's probably the only thing that's kept me alive this long." He laughed again.

Scinthia was about to speak when Tori began before her.

"You've grown up since I left Locke." He said.

The two looked over at him waiting for him to elaborate.

"You used to resent Deine for how he treated us. What changed your opinion?" Tori asked.

Locke hesitated for a short moment before answering.

"Now that I've been on more missions and had a few close calls, I realize just how much I rely on what he taught us." Locke explained.

"Deine?" Scinthia repeated, half to herself. "I assume that's your mentor's name then?"

"You assume correctly M'lady. Deine is the man who taught your boyfriend and I everything we know." Locke said with a smirk directed at Tori.

Tori raised an eyebrow at the comment and gave him an irritated look, undoubtedly tired of hearing the reoccurring joke. Scinthia found it a bit funny and quietly giggled at Tori's reaction.

"Other than his teaching methods, what kind of person was he?" She asked.

"Well when he wasn't smacking us around or running us ragged, he was a pretty pleasant guy to be around. Don't get me wrong, he wasn't our friend or anything, but he was more like how a father would be, I think." Locke said.

Scinthia found his wording odd.

"You think?" She repeated.

"Well yeah, neither Tori nor I knew our parents. We were both from different orphanages, so Deine was probably the closest thing to a father either of us ha-." Locke's words were interrupted by one of Tori's elbows in his ribs.

Tori looked marginally more annoyed than before. Locke's expression changed as he probably realized he'd overstepped a boundary he wasn't supposed to.

"This is why Deine always said you had too big a mouth for a ranger Locke..." Tori said angrily before having Till move faster and walk a bit further ahead of them.