The next day, I woke up when I heard low voices inside the tent. I turned and saw the two who looked so unlike the others, Syla and Tiber.
They were fully clothed and hurried out of the room.
I debated with myself and then hurled myself upright to follow them. It was still dark out, and the cold curled around my limbs, but I shrugged it away, looking for my target.
They were easy to pick out. Although they weren’t the only ones up and about, they were the only ones moving with a sense of purpose. Tiber was a tall, big man, and he moved as if rolling forward, quick and decisive. I could see that he hadn’t been an ordinary man before he was sent here.
Rubbing my hands together, I followed them as they weaved between tents, watching the two speak to each other with ease. They were odd in the midst of the other dejected workers. How did they get into the labor camp?
Finally, they slowed, and the tents thinned as we reached the edge of the Steelclaw camp. I saw where they were heading, a small pool, murky and not clear, set right on the ground.
The two stopped at the edge, and instead of going in as I thought, they spread out and began to bend their limbs. Are... they exercising? I was baffled and stood there awkwardly in the open space, watching them.
Syla seemed to be the only one doing something right, though. With her slim body, she sat and began bending her legs at impossible angles, flexing her body in a way I had never seen before. I stood there, transfixed.
"Do you just come to stare?" Tiber said, his voice gruff. The man was older, probably in his forties, but his body was still in great shape, and he carried himself as if he could explode into action at any time.
It reminded me of my former sword trainer. The man was forever stuck at the Squire rank but was a master of the sword. They had the same look too, as if constantly searching for the best way to strike.
"I... what are you doing?" I finally asked, stepping closer.
Syla shot me a look but said nothing.
"Getting our body ready for the day. The work is hard and draining, and you’d want to use all your free time to sleep, but preparing yourself like this helps like magic," the big man said as he began doing a set of sit-ups.
I hesitated. My body wasn’t in the best condition, and I was hungry. Should I subject myself to more training that might sap the rest of my energy? But then, Tiber and Syla seemed to be the only two alive among the workers. Maybe they were doing something right after all.
I sat down slowly, wincing, and began to do sit-ups. It was one of the easiest exercises given to me to build my core strength, especially while standing and moving, so I figured I’d start there.
I began using the training method taught by my former trainer, to first clear the mind and think of nothing but darkness. To imagine the body as nothing but flesh and bones that couldn’t feel pain. To do nothing but move.
It came easier than I thought, and soon I was thinking of nothing but my moving body. My mind was easily claimed by the emptiness, the darkness, and my body moved without me needing to focus on it.
I kept going until a hand shook me roughly out of it. "Hey! Scrawny! Stop that! Hey!"
The hand gripped me tightly, and I blinked, my senses reluctantly pulling away from the darkness that soothed my mind. "What?" I looked around in confusion.
Tiber was looming over me with a frown on his face, while Syla was crouched beside me, her hand digging into my shoulder. I was still sitting on the ground.
"What?" I repeated, alarmed. Had I done something? I looked at my right hand in panic, my heart surging and my breath catching. Did I show my mark?
I calmed when I saw that it wasn’t my mark. They weren’t looking at my hand but my face. "What?" I said for the third time.
Syla snatched her hand away and glared at me. "Are you trying to kill yourself before you even work and make the quota today? Much lower, and we’ll all get punished," she accused.
I could only stare at her, baffled.
She gestured at me, and I finally looked at myself, paying attention to my body. I was sweating hard, and my body felt like soft leather. My stomach was spasming, twitching, but I... felt good, as if all the tension I’d been carrying for years had finally found a way out.
Tiber grunted. "Interesting. You’ve been doing that for close to an hour and would have continued if she hadn’t stopped you. I’ve never seen anyone go at it like that without stopping."
His eyes sharpened on me, and I almost flinched, my heart beating even faster. Does he know I’m a Squire? I don’t want others to know until I’m ready. If they know, they’ll want to see my mark... not yet. I’m not ready.
Ready for what? I couldn’t answer that either. The unknown is always even more dangerous than not.
Syla was looking at me with suspicion as well. "It’s light out. You’d better strip and get into the water before others come here."
Taking her own advice, she stripped and followed Tiber into the water. I stood, threw my wet clothes into a pile on the ground, and entered the cold water with little hesitation.
Rough stones lined the edge of the pool for scrubbing the body, and I gladly used them. I was far more relaxed than I’d been in a long time.
Maybe that was why I didn’t notice Tiber and Syla staring at me so intently.