[Reli, Book I, Chapter 2] [The Patient Warrior] “Reli, when are we going into the forest?” asked Garth. “When you are ready,” replied Reli. “I’m ready now,” said Garth. “How old are you?” asked Reli. “Ten, why?” said Garth. “How much do you weigh?” asked Reli. “They weighed us before we got on the Space Liner,” said Garth. “I was one-thirty Imperial Standard.” “I know five-year olds that weigh more,” said Reli. “Brother, I get it,” said Garth. “I’m small for a Cormon, but I’m ready.” Reli swung the Shadow Staff at the small boy and he blocked awkwardly with his practice staff, “How do you know a Snapper is tracking you?” Garth bent his knees and brought his staff back to the ready position, “Snappers like Blood Bats the best, they snap snap snap to make the bat think there is a small rodent scurrying through the brush.” Reli feinted left then swung to his right but the boy had been knocked off his feet too many times today and was learning, the boy jumped over the Shadow Staff and landed heavily on the warm sand of the practice ring. Reli noticed the boy was sweating badly and would need a break to drink. The boy still wore his native clothing despite Reli’s encouragement to change into Cormon clothing. Still though, two weeks of hard exercise was toning his body and soon he would start showing signs that his muscles were responding correctly to the increased gravity of Cormon compared to the smaller world he was born on—if the boy didn’t pass out from exhaustion first. “The Shadow Cat comes, what will you do?” asked Reli stepping back. “Kneel on the ground, hold my head up, and avert my eyes,” replied Garth. “Very good, and what of spiders?” asked Reli. “There are nearly 250,000 varieties on Cormon.” “All spiders on Cormon are poisonous,” said Garth. “But Odian the Father, in his wisdom, has placed the antidote to every spider near any place they nest. But Reli… wouldn’t it just be easier to carry a venom antidote kit?” Thunder rumbled across the sky. “Thaor speaks,” said Reli, you should listen. Garth held his hand out and looked up at the sky, nothing happened. He waited a moment longer and then looked at Reli and shrugged. Reli continued to count in his head and then held his hand out and the rain fell in one great sheet of water as if the God’s had just dumped buckets of water on the planet. “How can you time it so perfectly?” asked Garth. “What are those things on your feet?” asked Reli. Garth looked down at his boots but said nothing, the rain dripped down his face, and his shoulders tensed stubbornly for the argument. “You have been told before,” said Reli. “Sound in the air comes before the vibrations in the ground. How can you find your way home if you put those things on your feet between you and the World?” “But… I want to be a Gunslinger,” said Garth, “and they wear boots.” “I know your desire, little brother,” said Reli, “but you must know where you have been before you can find where you are going.” Garth kept his head bent but made no move to remove the boots. “Yes, brother.” The boy said the words hollow and it was obvious he had no intention of removing the boots. Reli sighed; he must be patient with the boy. The boy wasn’t ready to go out into the forest, if he went out there now, dressed as he was, he would die. The rest of the Wambes had already shed the clothing of the world they had come from for the xai, a loincloth worn by the Cormons that lived in the rain forest, but Reli doubted those Wambes sincerity to dress in the manner of a Cormon warrior. No—those boys were wearing the xai because they were miserable in the oppressive hot and humid air of the rain forest, and also they were desperate to please the Master Warriors by trying to prove they were ready to go into the forest before they were truly ready. But not this boy, he hadn’t shed his native clothing for the more comfortable xai yet. Reli thought that much of it was a sense of modesty beaten into him on Corvus. Reli might live true to nature, but that didn’t mean he was unaware of technology—balance was the key. He had used the small computer terminal located in the library hut to access information on the Imperial Library Net about the culture on Corvus so to better understand the boy. The Corvian primary religion was repressive to say the least and the native dress of the Corvian people covered them from neck to toe despite the impracticality of such clothing in the heat of the rain forest’s summer months. “That is enough practice for now, little brother,” said Reli kindly. “The rain is nearly over and Master Rede will be getting ready to tell the story of the Rabbit and the waterfall.” The boy ran the practice staff over to the stand with the others and grabbed a palm frond and swept the sand level for whoever would use the practice ring next. Reli was impressed that he didn’t have to remind the boy of these little acts of respect for his brothers. They all must share and leave what they used as they found it, it was the proper way. Reli needed to think, the boy was a challenge—stubborn, but wanting to learn. He had shared his desire to be a Gunslinger with Reli on the first day they had been together. The Gunslingers—an arrogant Marshal Order and stubborn like the boy. Only one of the Master Gunslingers had ever trained in the forest and learned the way of the World. Master Rede had told him the story of the Gunslinger that Reli had seen twice before. The Gunslinger always came with a group of boys to be trained, but he trained them himself—always five boys. Reli wondered at that, was there significance to the number five with the Gunslingers? Reli knew that Marshal Orders existed—but it was a difficult concept for him to understand. Marshal Order. How could any world survive if it’s warriors only existed within these small groups of like-minded individuals. All Cormons were warriors to begin with, though individuals could pursue other interests once they had learned the way of the warrior. How did other worlds protect themselves? Even on Cormon there were those that would lose their connection with the World and seek to conquer land or make servants of other villages. But such a thing was rare and peace dominated simply because, to attempt to conquer and take what was not yours would be met with the combined might of all of Cormon. Then of course there were the Others, the ones that called themselves ‘The Over-Lords’. They had come and the Cormons had swept over them like the ocean sweeping across a beach, but the Over-Lords had retaliated with bombs. The Cormons had decided the only way to win without seeing their world destroyed was to melt back into the great forest and refuse to fight. The Over-Lords searched out villages to bomb, but the Cormons would be gone before they arrived and the Over-Lords would acquire a worthless group of burned out buildings. The Over-Lords then tried to harvest the valued plants that could make precious medicines, but each time they entered the forest, the forest would go to sleep and what they searched for would be hidden from them by the World itself. Frustrated at their failure the Over-Lords then tried to mine the World for precious metals, but each time they would dig a shaft, Odian would shake the world and the mines would collapse before they could extract even one bucket of whatever they searched for. Reli was not uneducated as the early Cormons had been, he paid respect to Odian the Father of course, but he also understood it was actually the unstable tectonic plates shifting in the over-sized planet that made mining a fruitless endeavor. The Over-Lords built their cities and the forest around them died, their cities were nothing more than barren islands surrounded by a rich and fertile world that would give them nothing. The truth was that the Cormons received more from the ‘conquest’ of Cormon than the Over-Lords ever would. The Cormons had learned of electricity, and engineering, banking, advanced medicine, space flight, and the existence of the many people of the vast galaxy. The Cormons were an educated an advanced people now, wealthy, though the Over-Lords knew nothing of the Cormons wealth and prosperity, or of their advancements in weaponry. The people had learned to balance everything the Over-Lords had brought with their own love and respect of the World. Let the foolish ones live in their barren cities and claim their hollow victory, the Cormons ignored them. Reli looked up and startled himself, he had walked further in his thoughts than he had realized. The forest was around him and he was at least a mile from the camp. The day was humid, as usual, and the dappled light streamed in through the layered canopy of the forest. He let his awareness spread out around him and searched for danger but found nothing other than a bored Snapper lazily watching him from a tree branch. He was about to turn around and head back towards the camp when he heard—or felt, a presence coming. Reli felt just the slightest disturbance of natural movement ahead of him on the path. There was no magic to it, just an awareness of bird chatter becoming quiet and smaller animals moving away. Someone was coming, but all his brothers were already back in the camp from their own Challenges. Reli looked at the Shadow Staff in his hand. He hadn’t tried its power yet. The technology built into the unimposing weapon was formidable and he decided he should test it. He was close to the camp and this would be a good time. Whoever was coming probably wasn’t a danger and it would be better to test his weapon before a real danger forced him to rely on the weapon. Reli stepped off the path into the shadow of the trees and gripped the staff in front of him. He activated the weapon and waited and watched the path ahead. He didn’t have long to wait, a man appeared from around the bend in the path, followed by a group of boys. The boys were whisper chattering to each other and the man held his hand up for them to become silent. Reli grinned, it was perfect timing. He knew this man, or actually, knew of this man. He had seen him twice before. The man walked casually, leading the boys, and stopped on the path abreast to where Reli was hiding behind his Shadow Staff. The man turned to face Reli and nodded his head. “Greetings, young brother.” The man’s voice had an odd accent to it. “I assume you have recently completed your first Challenge and this is the first time you have used a Shadow Staff.” Reli turned off the Shadow Staff and stepped out from under the trees. The boys startled and all jumped back a step at the sight of the giant appearing between the trees. Reli grinned, causing the boys to take another step back, and bowed slightly to the man. The experienced warrior had seen him hiding, but not the boys. “Honor to you, Master Gunslinger,” said Reli. “A Shadow Staff doesn’t work well in the light of day,” said the man. “You needed to move deeper into the shadows of the trees for it to be effective.” “I thank you for the teaching, Master,” said Reli. “You are Master Rede’s son?” asked the man. Reli was surprised the man could recognize him, he had only seen him twice before and Reli had been much younger. “Yes, Master.” “Well then, if you have nothing better to do, would you lead the way,” said the man. Reli took the rebuke as it was intended; he had been startled that the man had seen him so easily and forgot his manners. “Yes Master, forgive me.” Reli should not have had to be reminded to offer his services immediately to a visiting Master Warrior and quickly turned away so the man could not see the shame on his face. Reli took the lead and the man followed with the boys following behind him. Master Rede was waiting in the center of the camp with all the Masters ringed in a crest beside him and the young men—the Challengers—ranked next behind them, and the Wambes behind them. Reli wasn’t surprised his father had the camp ready for the Master Gunslinger’s arrival, there was little that happened in the forest around the camp that Master Rede did not know of. “Honor to you, brother,” said Master Rede. “Honor to you, brother, said the Master Gunslinger. “It has been many years,” said Master Rede. “You have found another group worthy?” “Yes, Master,” said the Gunslinger. “I want to get them changed into appropriate clothing and head into the forest before night.” “Patience has never been your greatest virtue,” said Master Rede. “Events outside your forest are moving along quickly,” replied the Gunslinger. “Give them the night here and let them listen to some teaching stories,” said Master Rede. “Do not rush them.” The Gunslinger paused and took a breath before answering. “As always, you are right, Master, my mind is clouded; the Council is becoming more erratic each day. I will leave the boys here for the night and go alone into the forest to calm myself and become one with the World again.” The Gunslinger turned to his boys. “Remain with Master Rede; I will come for you in the morning.” The Gunslinger started to walk towards the hut shared by the Master Warriors and stopped to look at one of the Wambes standing in the back row. “Come here, boy.” Garth’s jaw had been hanging open and his eyes wide, and then the Gunslinger looked right at him and called him over. He forced his jaw shut and ran over to the legendary Gunslinger. “Yes, My Lord?” said Garth. “You are obviously from Corvus, why are you still dressed in that fashion?” demanded the Gunslinger. “Who is your Yedia guide, is he trying to kill you in this heat?” Garth could see the anger on the Gunslinger’s face and didn’t know how to respond. The other boys around Garth began to back away and one boy whispered, “Told you to put the right clothes on, mud brain.” “I am his Yedia guide,” said Reli stepping forward to take responsibility. “Enough,” said Master Rede. “Brother, is you mind so clouded that you take your anger out on a Wambe, go now and find your peace in the forest.” The Gunslinger’s eyes narrowed but he turned away and left Reli standing with his head down in shame, two rebukes in one day was too much and Reli spun on the Wambe. “Go to the Wambe’s hut and change immediately before I rip those boots off your feet and feed you to a Slither Snake,” said Reli angrily. Garth didn’t hesitate; he turned and ran for the Wambe hut. He knew that he had pushed Reli too far, been too stubborn; it was his fault Reli had been scolded by the Gunslinger. He hadn’t listened to the gentle lessons Reli had been teaching him. Reli was right, either he was Cormon or he wasn’t. He ran for the hut to change and had a revelation as he ran; everything fell in place for him in that moment. The layer of politeness and respect was there for a reason, they were warriors—no place here for hurt feelings. These were warriors and the respect was there to protect each other from the natural aggression all warriors had deep inside them, even the gentle Reli had anger below the surface, though well maintained—Garth had been disrespectful by not listening earlier and ignited that anger. Master Rede waited until the boy was gone and laid a hand on his son’s shoulder. “The Master Gunslinger saw immediately what we have all seen; you have been too gentle on the boy. He is the type of boy that excels under strong leadership. Look how quickly he jumped to obey when you took choice away from him and gave an order he already knew was correct, but was too stubborn to do on his own.” “The Challenges are harder than I knew, father” said Reli. “I lost my patience; I’ll take him into the forest in the morning. Tonight I’ll spend alone to clear my head.” “No, son,” said Master Rede. “Take him to the forest now, work through your anger, there is strength in anger and when you achieve success in this Challenge you will be stronger for having conquered your anger.” Reli turned to go collect the boy up from the Wambe’s hut and stopped for a moment. “Father, was I a difficult boy to teach?” “Still are,” smiled Master Rede. “Go now.” Reli waited outside the Wambe’s hut for the boy to emerge, and a long wait he had. Reli finally knocked on the wooden pole next to the entrance and called out. The boy tentatively stepped out of the shadows wearing the xai and looking extremely uncomfortable. “There you go, now you look like a proper Cormon,” Reli praised the boy. “I feel stupid,” said Garth. “My butt is just hanging out for everyone to see.” Reli leaned to one side to look behind the boy. Garth tried to cover his backside with his hands. “Do you have something there nobody else has?” teased Reli. “You are Cormon, a descendent of the Thunder God, be proud of who you are, child of Thaor.” “They call him Thor on most worlds,” said Garth. “They call pepperoni a food on most worlds, but you don’t see me eating it,” replied Reli taking a water flask down from a pole. “Huh? That doesn’t make any sense,” said Garth. Reli tossed the water flask to the boy and walked towards the forest. “I’m not a Master Warrior full of wisdom to give; that was the best I had.” “Oh, I understand. I’m your student, and your Master Rede’s student, but you are not Master Rede yet,” said Garth. “I’m sorry I got you yelled at… umm where are we going?” “Into the forest,” said Reli. “I’m ready,” said Garth. “We will see,” said Reli. “I would miss you if a Slither Snake ate you.” “Hey Reli,” said Garth. “Yes?” said Reli. “Do you know who that Gunslinger was?” asked Garth. “I know of him, but that is all,” said Reli. “That was Gunslinger Delph, only the greatest Gunslinger ever,” said Garth. “I’ve got all the Gunslinger Trading Cards, but Gunslinger Delph is the most valuable card. He’s the Commander of the Gunslinger Battleship Fleet and has captured more Pirates than anyone.” “Hmm… what is a Trading Card?” asked Reli. Garth held his hands up and made a square with his fingers. “They are… you know… like this big… and…” Reli interrupted. “He must be a great warrior; I wonder who trained him to be that great?” Garth stopped and his jaw dropped as he realized. “Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!” Garth jumped after Reli and danced in circles. “I’m training in the same place Gunslinger Delph was trained.” “I see, so now Cormon is interesting?” asked Reli dryly. “It was interesting before, but now…” Garth ran into a tree and stopped spinning in circles, shook his head and chased after Reli. “You have to teach me everything exactly the Cormon way.” “As opposed to the other way I’ve been teaching you,” said Reli pointing at the ground several steps in front of the boy. “You know what I mean.” Garth laughed and jumped over the spot Reli had pointed to and shook his finger at it. “Not today Slither Snake.”