Chapter 78 - 79
Two hours later and Tramon’s tree was missing a noticeable amount of branches, with a large pile of discarded detritus having accumulated at its base. These were the leaves and smaller twigs that Alistar had torn from the branches that he had picked from the tree, all of which had already been snapped into smaller sticks that in turn ended up being broken against the log that Alistar was so painstakingly attempting to cut.
I’m getting close, he thought as he lay on the grass in an exhausted sprawl. Tramon had only told him to sever the log in two, but he hadn’t specified that the deed had to be done with a single swing. Like this, Alistar had adopted the strategy of whittling away at the wood from all sides, and now had the log looking like a partially-eaten apple with the core exposed from all angles. The only thing that held it together at this point was a wrist-wide bridge of wood, though by now he had expended too much energy and could barely stand on his feet.
He needed food, he realized, if he wanted any hope of leaving here at a reasonable time. But where could he find some? He hadn’t brought any money with him today, so he couldn’t sneak off to the market. Sure, some of the people there might happily gift him some for free, but he wasn’t like Anice in that he didn’t feel comfortable accepting free things from people that he knew had far less than he did. His time in Crystellum had taught him to truly cherish even the smallest scraps of food, and now that he was a member of the count’s household and living a lavish lifestyle on the family estate, how could he ask one of the vendors for a handout in good conscience?
Hearing the voices that were drifting over from the training grounds where the other apprentices were taught by the collegia’s instructors, Alistar had an idea. The other students were supplied with free meals at least twice a day, since many of them lived in the institute’s dormitories, so there was a good chance that he might be able to receive some food from them in the event that there was any left over after everyone else had enjoyed their meals. He was also an apprentice of the collegia, at least technically, so he doubted that it would be much of a problem.
Looking down at his appearance, he thought better of wearing his dirty, sweat-stricken tunic and decided to cast it aside. It wasn’t uncommon to see the other apprentices practicing without their shirts or tunics, so he wouldn’t stick out among said crowd.
Glancing back at his master’s house where the man himself remained passed out at his dinner table, Alistar took the opportunity to tiptoe away from the small home and then rush down one of the many cobbled pathways that wound its way throughout the collegia’s grounds. He stopped at one of the fountains in the area to will some of the water within to rise up into the air in front of him, enjoying several mouthfuls before allowing the rest to fall back into the main body with a light splash.
He arrived at the training grounds a short while later, a bit nervous to see that the students were in the middle of a lecture, all of them sitting cross-legged nearby to the practice dummies of sack-cloth and straw. Luckily, their teacher was just finishing up with his speech.
A minute or so after Alistar arrived, the middle-aged, pepper-haired instructor directed his pupils to practice the basic stances of the apprentice stratum’s first tier, which many of them set about doing with light, unenthusiastic groans. The older students were all paired off and began to spar with one another on the other end of the practice grounds, leaving their master standing off to the side as he watched the young ones work.
Alistar chose this moment to hurry over to the white-robed man, who glanced at him with a raised eyebrow.