Chapter Ten in The Rise of the Shar

CHAPTER X

Ridiah felt like she had just fallen asleep when a horn blew. She got up and looked out of her tent to see if it was morning but it was still dark. Ridiah rolled over and was about to climb back into bed when the horn sounded a second time. Deciding that it really was a signal to get up she pulled out her glowing stone, squeezed it in her hand until it glowed more brightly, then pulled out her warm clothes from her pack.
Dressing quickly she scrambled out of her tent to see what the trouble was.
Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, Ridiah saw Eron standing in the middle of the tents telling people to get up. Even with her sweater on Ridiah started to shiver, nights normally weren’t this cold but a chilly breeze was blowing from the ocean. Someone came up beside her and Ridiah turned to see Erwinia standing beside her.
“What’s going hhon?” She asked stifling a yawn.
“I’m not sure.” Ridiah replied, trying not to yawn herself.

Students were climbing out of their tents and rubbing their eyes while they asked what was the matter.
Razalon and Derek appeared, both were holding their glowing stones, faint lights along the line of tents revealed that a few of the other students had brought similar stones with them as well.
“May I have your attention?” Eron asked, still standing in the center of the path.
The crowd became quiet. Eron looked around to make sure no one was talking.
“I know that you are all wondering what we’re doing at this early hour but you will soon get used to it. This morning you will be climbing to the peak of the volcano.” Eron informed them.
“Are you insane?” A boy’s voice asked.
“Not when last I checked.” Eron replied sharply.
“You will be doing this every morning that you are here until you can make it to the peak before the sun rises.”
“What if we get lost?” Someone asked.
“Members of the staff are posted along the way, Sierra will be waiting for you at the peak she will make sure that no one attempts to leave before they finish.” He added.
A group of boys moaned disappointedly at this.

“I am warning you to be careful and not to climb where the rock is loose. There is plenty of water at the top for you to refresh yourselves before you come back down.”
“When do we start?” Erwinia asked, unable to hide her impatience.
“As soon as you are ready, good luck.” Then without another word he turned and left the students. Following Eron’s departure there was a mad rush to get started as soon as possible and everyone wanted to be in the front.
“Come on!” Erwinia urged, when Ridiah looked around for Razalon and Derek.
They had already started out of camp and Ridiah had to run to catch up.
“Hurry up!” Erwinia told them, as they approached the base of the mountain.
“We don’t want to be caught in the pack, we need to get ahead of the mob.”

As it turned out getting ahead of the main group was a lot harder then it sounded.
They kept tripping on stones or other people’s feet. Slowly the group of students thinned out as some pulled ahead while others fell behind, many of them literally.
Derek started panting once they started up the steep slope. Already the east was beginning to lighten, a signal that time was running out.
Together they passed a group of four students who had slowed to a jog.
It took them nearly twenty minutes before they saw the halfway mark. By that time they had also slowed to a jog. The light was getting brighter and they could see the ground good enough to avoid loose rocks and holes. Razalon suggested that they put their stones away as they could see well enough without them.

Several minutes later Razalon thought he was going to pass out from lack of air when they reached the three-fourths mark. Erwinia was starting to pull further ahead. Razalon glanced back to see if Derek was still with him and spotted him getting to his feet.
“You okay?” Razalon panted.
“I’ll be all right, I tripped, we better speed up because there’s a group gaining on us.” Derek said as he caught up to Razalon. Ridiah was still visible with her glowing stone a hundred paces ahead but Erwinia had an even larger lead. Next moment sunlight hit the peak of the volcano they had failed.

“Come on.” Erwinia urged Ridiah when she glanced over her shoulder to see why Razalon had slowed. “They’ll just have to catch up.”

Erwinia amazed Ridiah with her ability to run so fast. She was gaining on Ridiah.
“Don’t wait for me.” Ridiah gasped. “It’s nearly sunrise.”
Erwinia picked up her pace and was soon no more than a small figure in the distance.
“How does she do that?” Ridiah thought.
She looked over her shoulder again to see Razalon and Derek trying to stay ahead of a group of runners that where right behind them.

She thought about waiting for Razalon but decided it was every man for himself, or herself she corrected. Ridiah’s lungs burned and she was fighting a stitch in her side. Slowly the pain went away as she focused on the peak of the mountain. Her heart sank, the sun was already shining on it.
Ahead she could see six people racing up the last length of the slope. Erwinia seemed to be fighting for the lead with a tall boy.
She wasn’t sure how long the sun had been up but she was sure that no one had really come close to making it. By the time the boy reached the top the sun had reached Ridiah.
Erwinia was the next to reach the peak followed by four others then Ridiah, who shocked herself with her ability to sprint the last hundred paces before collapsing at the finish.

“Where did you learn to run like that?” Ridiah asked Erwinia.
“I run a lot back home.” Erwinia explained. “I told you we didn’t horses. You’re not to bad yourself, you know most girls can’t keep up like that.”
“Thanks but I think I’ll never run like that again. I doubt my legs will ever feel the same.”
Ridiah groaned.
Still gasping for breath, she looked behind her to see what had become of Razalon and Derek.
She saw them running behind a group of students that had managed to re-pass them.
Razalon saw Ridiah and said something to Derek then the two of them started running faster. Derek appeared to be limping slightly, which explained why they had fallen behind.

Razalon led Derek around the right side of the group of students so they wouldn’t be able to see them until Razalon and Derek were once again ahead.
Ridiah counted eight students in the group. Obviously they hadn’t thought that Razalon and Derek had enough energy left to keep up. It took them a few seconds to notice that they had been past. When one of them saw Razalon ahead, he told the others to hurry up but it was too late. Razalon sprinted to the finish and Derek limped in just ahead of the group. Ridiah had been shouting for Razalon to hurry without noticing that Erwinia was doing the same beside her. Erwinia gave Ridiah some water and told her that they should head back. She helped Ridiah stand up and with some quick congratulations they started running down the hill. With murderous looks, Razalon and Derek followed without stopping for a drink. Erwinia wasn’t in a hurry any more so they jogged down the volcano passing students on their way up.

“What happened to your ankle?” Ridiah asked Derek.
“I fell and hit it on a rock. I think it’ll be fine by tomorrow though.” Derek assured her.
Ridiah hoped he was right, she didn’t want to see him having to run again if it was injured.
“If I run much longer, I’m afraid my legs will fall of, they feel all shaky.” Razalon complained.
“Don’t worry, that’s only the beginning, by tomorrow you’ll be lucky if you can walk without wincing. You are sure to be really stiff.” Erwinia said brightly.
“Great, just what I need.” Ridiah groaned.

When they arrived back at camp, a member of the staff told them they could eat breakfast. Ridiah moaned, she didn’t think her legs would be able to carry her that far.
Three students were already in the dining room when they arrived. They looked as sleepy as Ridiah felt. While they were eating breakfast students started staggering in.
Ridiah looked at her brother to see that Razalon was asleep with his head leaning on his hand, his elbow precariously close to sliding off the table.
Looking at the table next to theirs Ridiah saw a red-haired girl who had fallen asleep with her head on her plate. Luckily she had already eaten but as it was she had bits of food in her hair. A gurgle from behind caused Ridiah to turn, a boy had fallen asleep with his face in a bowl of soup. Bubbles burst at the surface as he exhaled. Suddenly the boy choked and woke up, coughing miserably.

Ridiah felt herself falling asleep by the time Erwinia suggested that they go back to camp. It took Derek a couple of attempts to wake Razalon who yawned and said he’d get up when lunch was served. Finally Ridiah had to hit him behind his shoulder, which made Razalon yelp and stagger to his feet, wincing.
They had half an hour before Eron came to tell the students what to do.
Erwinia and Ridiah spent the time stretching. At first Ridiah just wanted to take a nap but Erwinia had said that it would help with stiffness. Razalon helped Derek wrap his ankle with a leftover strip of cloth from his tent.
When all the students were finished eating Eron told the gathered youth that they would be divided into groups and each group would rotate from class to class.
There were five groups of ten to twelve students. Fortunately, Razalon, Ridiah, Erwinia, and Derek ended up in the third group. Ridiah thought it was too good to be coincidence but she didn’t say anything to the others. She thought Eron had paused before assigning them to the same group.

After all the groups were made, Eron told each to get their knives and bows.
Then they were to follow a member of staff that would be teaching their assigned class.
The third group followed Eron and he explained that they would start with archery.
Ridiah was excited when she learned this. She was afraid they were going to start out with something hard like fencing. Her excitement wore off a little however, when Eron said that later in the summer they would have to learn how to shoot from horseback and make their own arrows. Erwinia’s face fell when she heard this and at first Ridiah couldn’t think of what was wrong, then she remembered that Erwinia was from Crescent and had probably never ridden a horse in her life.

Eron led their group along a trail that crossed the stream Razalon had found the day before. They reached an open field with a couple rows of targets that stood above the short grass. He gestured for the students to sit and started to lecture them on the appropriate safety rules for this class. The students were not to shoot while anyone was gathering their arrows, nor would they be allowed to mess around. Eron then told the students to bend their bows. When they were finished, he checked each bow to be sure they had been strung correctly. Finally, he lined the students so that each had their own target. Then he told them to shoot at the closest target.

The instructor watched the students shoot before he called a halt and showed them the proper shooting stance. He demonstrated in front of the class, keeping one foot in front of the other. He also told a couple of students to keep both eyes open for better accuracy when shooting.
Ridiah’s arrow hit the edge of the closest bulls-eye earning some cheers from a couple of the students. She had decided that it wouldn’t be fair to the other students to help her aim with magic. This had made her shooting a little more difficult but she liked the challenge.
Next to Ridiah, Razalon was also having trouble adjusting without using his magic.
Derek was having the most difficulty in the group and he kept missing the target completely. Ridiah couldn’t help wondering why he seemed so nervous. She felt a little sorry for him when the instructor showed him for the third time what he was doing wrong.
As it turned out Erwinia was an excellent shot and had little trouble adjusting to Eron’s suggestions. Eron told the class that it would be a good idea to practice drawing arrows from their quivers with the proper shooting stance. After an hour and a half Eron dismissed the group and told them where they needed to go next.

Their next class was learning how to manage horses in a battle. Erwinia was extremely nervous during this class but was relieved when they didn’t get a chance to ride. They spent the hour learning how to saddle horses in the most efficient way.
Their group then had to endure a lecture on sword fighting which didn’t leave them with enough time to do anything with their weapons at the end of the class.
Next, they were led into the forest where they learned what plants were edible and which ones should be used on cuts and poisons. Most of the group thought this class was extremely boring but the teacher kept reminding them that if they were in trouble on their own, this knowledge would be extremely useful.
The teacher seemed pleased with Ridiah’s ability to memorize the plants’properties and Razalons knowledge of where the plants would most likely grow.

At the end of this class they were sent to lunch. After lunch they had three more classes. One on carpentry and orienteering, the teacher said that they would be learning anything from how to navigate with a map maps to building their own boats.
The fifth class was self-defense without using weapons. The teacher informed the class that they would spend the summer learning how to fight with their hands and feet. They would occasionally be allowed to use staffs. The last class was spent inside learning about history and government. They looked at maps of Evalon and had to memorize some of the important places and cities. Most of the class was trying not to sleep when their tiredness caught up with them. When one of the students asked about Hels the teacher scowled at him and changed the subject. By the end of the day, the students were exhausted. Most had scratches from falling on rocks while they climbed the Volcano and some were spurting bruises from the self-defense lesson.

After dinner Razalon was too tired to do anything but sleep. So Ridiah limped down the path to the stream with Erwinia and Derek. They sat beside the running water and listened to Ridiah complain about how stiff her legs felt.
“How does that teacher expect us to be able to kick when we can barely stand after that climb?”
“Hey, at least you don’t have to learn how to ride a horse.” Erwinia pointed out.
“I am going to be the laughing stock of the camp after tomorrow.” She said grumpily.
“Well, you are a good runner and a great shot with the bow I had to hunt in the grass for my arrows.” Derek complained.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if I get kicked out of archery.” Derek muttered.
“Where is all our griping going to get us?” Ridiah asked climbing to her feet with a groan.
“What are you suggesting?” Derek asked.
“I think we should help each other out. Derek and I can help you learn how to ride, Erwinia.”
“And I’ll teach the three of you how to run. We can all help Derek with his shooting.” Erwinia added.
“Why don’t we go to the archery field?” Ridiah asked. “We still have a couple hours of sunlight.”

Ridiah and Erwinia still had their bows so they decided to share with Derek when they arrived at the deserted field.
At first Derek was hesitant to try shooting again, but when Ridiah said that he had nothing to lose but arrows he consented.
Soon Derek relaxed and his aim became better. Erwinia showed him how to stand with his left foot one step in front of his right. She also demonstrated how to hold a bow and the right way to aim. They continued shooting until the sun touched the horizon. Ridiah felt someone watching her but when she looked around all she saw was a member of the staff walking along the edge of the forest. For the first time she realized that this member wasn’t a half-elf but a human. He seemed to be in his late thirties.
“He must be working on finding some of the plants that Olar pointed out to us in class today.” Erwinia commented when she saw what Ridiah was looking at.

They decided that it would be best to turn in. Upon arriving, they found most of the students were gathered into groups and talking to each other. A couple of students that were in their group glanced up and waved. Knowing that they would be getting up early in the morning Derek proposed that they go to bed early so they would have more energy the next day. Ridiah checked on Razalon before she went to bed but found him still asleep.