“Professor Marxin was an excellent instructor,” Kre retorted, feeling the need to stand up in defense of his teacher.
“Oh, I don’t doubt that. I can see how he laid the right foundations, but there’s only so much any one teacher can do when they need to provide an education to an entire class of what… eight… or more probably ten?”
Kre nodded and murmured his response, “There were eleven of us in the school.”
Nodding, Dain continued, “A healthy village. That’s good to hear. When any one teacher must divide their attention amongst that many students, no one student can receive a fulsome education. Add in the fact that they must also teach everything from the most basic of schooling for the little ones to the more advanced concepts for those in your age group, and you start to see where it’s an impossible task.”
“Kind of like running a workout session for the lot of you when two of you can’t stop talking long enough to follow along,” Beleg rumbled from his station at the head of the group. “Fall in! It’s leg day!”
The groan escaped Kre’s lips before he could stop it. The entire clearing went still. Even the normal sounds of the forest died down as if they knew exactly what evil was about to befall the poor idiot that dared express his displeasure at Beleg’s workout.
“SKY TOUCHES,” the large man roared. “Until young Master Kre gets his enthusiasm back!”
They spent the next forty minutes on the hardest set of exercises that Kre had ever experienced. Even the dwarves had trouble keeping up and both Kre and Dain found themselves ridding themselves of their breakfasts before they were halfway through.
The only thing that stopped Beleg’s parade of pain was the arrival of horses and riders into the camp.
“This can’t be good,” Beleg muttered to himself as he strode through the collapsed and contorted bodies that once resembled most of the members of his company. Kre turned his head and noted that it wasn’t just Talimar and Ras, but Kersath as well.
“We are moving out,” Talimar called from atop his antsy horse.
As the exhausted company started to pull themselves to their feet to get on with the required tasks, Beleg’s voice rumbled across the clearing, “On the double!”
Despite the aches and pains, Kre found a reserve of energy he assumed came from the fear and terror bucket of his brain. Chills ran down his spine and his legs responded to his thoughts much more ably than they had just moments prior. Still, he was the last to leave the clearing and the last to get himself and his horse ready to ride out.
“We have much ground to cover and not a lot of time,” Kersath hissed, “so follow in tight formation.”
“Where are Ortho and Gnore?” Kre asked, trying to reason out why the two dweorvkin weren’t with the others.
Talimar shook his head sadly as he wheeled in behind Kersath. He spat out a single word behind him as he urged his horse out of the clearing and back onto the trail, “Rakshasa!” The word seemed nonsensical to Kre, but the others seemed to understand the severity of the situation immediately.