Tin Thoughts (The Downfall Saga Book 2) Read online

  He knocked on the door to her room, and started whistling a jaunty tune to distract himself from his usual morning grouchiness and rumbling stomach.

  There was no answer, so he knocked again.

  After the third time knocking, he tried the door and found that it wasn’t locked. He opened the door a crack.

  “I heard that someone’s a year wiser, and I came hoping you’d share some wisdom with me,” he said.

  He opened the door the rest of the way and entered the room.

  “Hey, what’s going on here?” he asked.

  Ravyn and Caddaric lay cuddled together on the floor, a mess of papers and books spread around them.

  Ravyn opened her eyes and turned towards Kort. She pushed Caddaric’s arm off her side and stumbled to her feet.

  “What were you two doing?” he asked.

  “Nothing,” she said. “Studying. We must have fallen sleep. Why are you here?”

  Caddaric rolled over onto his back to watch the proceedings. He stretched his arms over his head, but seemed in no hurry to get up.

  “I brought you a birthday present,” snapped Kort. He showed her a glimpse of what he was holding behind his back. “I’m afraid that I’m interrupting and should come back later.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous.”

  Ravyn walked over to see her gift. Kort turned to keep it hidden behind his back. She reached an arm around both sides of him and grabbed her gift. The smile on her face disappeared.

  “What’s that smell?” she asked.

  “Sorry, I didn’t have time to wash this morning.”

  She sniffed his neck.

  “It can’t be that bad,” he said. “I washed a couple days ago.”

  “That’s the problem.” She gave another sniff. “What were you doing last night?”

  “The same thing you two were supposedly doing, studying with my lab partner.”

  “Did she think that you stunk and sprayed you with perfume?”

  “Of course not.”

  “Then why do you reek of it?”

  He handed her the doll that he had bought, wrapped in a piece of burlap, hoping to buy enough time to figure out how to turn this conversation around.

  She tossed the present on top of her still-made bed.

  “Besides, I think that it stinks,” he said.

  She gave him another long sniff.

  “I rather like it,” she said.

  She shoved him through the open door and slammed it shut.

  Chapter 21

  “I said go to the left!” screamed Ravyn.

  “I went to my left,” said Kort.

  “My left you idiot.”

  “How am I supposed to know which way is your left?”

  “Just do it.”

  Caddaric struggled to contain his laughter. He sat on a bench watching Ravyn try to direct her blindfolded teammates around the courtyard. She was trying to get them to fill a bucket of water from a trough, then avoid a series of obstacles spread around the courtyard while passing the bucket to each other, before dumping it into a barrel on the far side. They’d been at it for an hour, and still hadn’t filled a single bucket of water.

  Kort ripped off his blindfold and marched over to the makeshift platform where Ravyn stood. They kept their conversation quiet enough that he couldn’t hear what was being said, but the flailing arms and puffed out chests told him all that he needed to know.

  Donovan untied his blindfold and walked over to Caddaric.

  “Why are we still doing this?” asked Donovan.

  “We’ll keep doing it until you guys figure it out,” said Caddaric.

  “Cut it out. You know that this is better suited to your talents. If you’re not going to take over, then you could at least give her some advice.”

  “First you go and show me up, and now you want to start an argument between Ravyn and me.”

  “All that I’m saying is that the two of you have different strengths. We should be taking advantage of each of your strengths rather than expecting both of you to suddenly improve after a few weeks of practice.”

  “Get back out there and put your blindfold back on.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Donovan flashed him a sign which in no way could be interpreted as a salute, before heading back to where he had been standing. Finian and Brighid were still standing motionless, waiting for Ravyn’s next instruction.

  Finian wore a thick, black vest which matched the color of his thick eyebrows, and left his bulging arms exposed to the cold. A perpetual scowl was carved across his face, and he seemed more likely to punch someone in the face than shake their hand.

  Brighid was tall and graceful, but not nearly as graceful when bundled in the heavy coat and boots which she currently was wearing. She’d seemed shy every time that Caddaric had talked to her, and had a tendency to speak quickly and quietly when she was nervous.

  Donovan stood there dumbly, waiting for Kort and Ravyn to finish their discussion. When Kort started heading back to his spot, Donovan began retying the blindfold around his head.

  As Kort passed by Donovan, he tried to give him a playful shove, but Donovan somehow caught his arm despite being blindfolded, and tossed Kort to the ground.

  Caddaric headed over to the platform. He carefully masked the smile from seeing Kort in pain on the cold ground, before climbing up beside Ravyn.

  “Why are you here?” she asked. “It’s my turn to lead.”

  “I only wanted to give you some advice.”

  Her stare made it feel like the temperature had plummeted around him.

  “As I hope you will do for me when I can use it,” he finished. “We need to focus on the team’s success, which means using everybody’s strengths when appropriate.”

  “You’ll listen when I tell you to do something?”

  “I’ll listen when you tell me something.”

  “So what am I doing wrong?”

  “Let’s talk about what you can do better. First, you have to put yourself in their place when you give them an order. Secondly, you have to be precise. Move forward three paces, not move forward a bit.”

  “But all of their steps are different.”

  “A good leader knows their team and adjusts to each person individually. When in doubt, underestimate their movements. Tell them to take two steps. You can always tell them to take another step later.”

  She moved to the corner of the platform closest to Kort.

  “Kort, put on your blindfold and pick up the bucket. You’re holding the whole team back.”

  Kort slowly followed her instructions, tying the blindfold with care and feeling around his feet until he found the bucket.

  “Kort, turn around.”

  Kort spun around until he was facing the opposite direction.

  “No, not that far. Turn to your right a bit.”

  All four members of the team turned to their right.

  “That’s not what I meant. Why won’t any of you listen to me?”

  “Can I try?” asked Caddaric.

  Ravyn wouldn’t look at him, but gave a gentle nod.

  “Kort, take four steps straight ahead and then stop. Finian, turn a quarter circle to your left, then five steps straight ahead and then stop. Donovan and Brighid, stay where you are.”

  He watched as all four of them followed his exact instructions before stopping.

  “Why won’t they listen to me like that?” asked Ravyn. “They want me to look bad.”

  “Assume that they know nothing and you’ll be surprised by what they can do.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “You’re treating them as if they know what they’re doing, and they keep disappointing you. I dumb down my orders as much as possible, and they manage to follow them in a satisfactory manner. Try focusing on one person at a time.”

  He watched as she took several moments to collect her thoughts. She paced back and forth across the platform studying the obstacles in front of eve
rybody.

  “Kort, turn to your left ... a quarter circle,” she said.

  She waited until he finished his turn before issuing her next command.

  “Kort, I want you to toss your bucket to Donovan.”

  “How am I supposed to do that?” asked Kort.

  “Right. Just ... It’s ... He’s.” She closed her eyes in thought before continuing. “He’s ten feet in front of you. All you have to do it toss the bucket straight ahead of you.”

  Kort gave the bucket an underhand toss which was way too hard for the distance between them. Caddaric watched as the bucket sailed through the air and hit Donovan’s unsuspecting face.

  Donovan fell to the ground and the bucket clattered down beside him. Donovan lay there for several seconds before searching the ground around him for the bucket, and climbing back to his feet. Blood was pouring from his nose, but he didn’t seem to care.

  “Sorry. I’m so sorry. Let’s end this so you can get your nose looked at.”

  “No,” said Donovan in a nasal tone. “We need to do this right at least once before stopping.”

  “If you’re sure. Donovan, take two steps to your left, and then three backwards.”

  Caddaric watched as she managed to get Donovan over to the trough of water, and doubled over in laughter when she didn’t stop him in time. He toppled into the ice cold water and came up sputtering for air, but again Donovan refused to let them stop.

  Things went much better after that. She directed a shivering Donovan over to Kort, and he successfully passed him the bucket full of water. Kort bumped into a couple of obstacles, but didn’t fall, before sloshing water onto Brighid’s boots when he passed her the bucket.

  Brighid was timid in following Ravyn’s instructions and very slowly made her way to Finian without incident. Finian rushed his way over to the barrel and bumped into it in his haste. He dropped the bucket in surprise but some of the water fell into the barrel. Everyone happily considered it a success so that they could move on to something else.

  “Blindfolds off,” said Caddaric.

  Everyone removed their blindfold and headed over to the platform, except for Donovan who collected snow, which he packed into a tight ball to hold against his still bleeding nose, before he too headed to the platform.

  “Thank you everyone,” said Ravyn. “You all did ... great.”

  “At least you all stayed calm and followed instructions,” said Caddaric. “Let’s head inside to get warmed up and have a meal.”

  He and Ravyn waited on the platform as the four of them made their way across the courtyard.

  “What’s next on the agenda?” he asked.

  Ravyn had spent every spare minute reading through the book that they had been given to create a training schedule. The two of them spent many hours discussing all of the possible things that they might have to do, and coming up with ways to prepare for each of them.

  Ravyn pulled a notebook out of the bag she’d left lying beside the platform. She flipped through several pages before finding the one they were looking for.

  “That took longer than I expected. They’ve all had their copy of the book for a couple of days now. Why don’t we quiz them on its contents while we eat, and then meet Osmont and Professor Jairdan back out here afterwards?”

  “It’s your decision.”

  The two of them hurried to catch up to the rest of the team.

  Ravyn split off from the group when they were inside, and headed off to find Professor Jairdan.

  Haven had a different feel over the winter break. Without classes to provide structure, most of the students spent their time idling around in the common areas, laughing and joking with their friends. The tunnels were mostly empty and they quickly made their way down a couple levels to an eatery, whose owner liked to mix many of the spices which grew in Onora into his dishes. They could smell the place long before they reached it, and Donovan’s nose was dripping blood again by the time they were all sitting around a table. They had to wait for several minutes until Ravyn came rushing into the room, and sat down in the empty chair at the table.

  “I trust that everyone’s had a chance to read the book that I gave you,” said Ravyn, breathing heavy after her run.

  “Front to back, and back to front,” said Kort.

  “I reckon the former made much more sense,” said Donovan.

  A server stopped by and Caddaric ordered food for the group.

  “What can you tell me about the island where the competition will be held?” asked Ravyn.

  “There’s an archipelago of volcanic islands,” said Brighid. “We’ll be on the largest island called ... Galpus.” Ravyn nodded for her to go on. “There is a narrow span of dense trees near the edge of the island. The lower areas look drier and more open than the rest of the island. Higher up on the island are lush jungles and forests. I suspect that we’ll be spending most of our time in these dense areas which will make navigation difficult.”

  “There was something about weird weather on the islands that I didn’t understand,” said Kort.

  “I’ll explain it to you later,” said Ravyn. “What you need to know is that the weather is much warmer than you’d expect that far north. They get no snow even in the dead of winter.”

  “I’ll take your word on it,” said Kort.

  “Very good,” said Ravyn. “What’s the highest elevation on the island?”

  “That would be the top of a mountain,” said Kort.

  Ravyn shook her head and looked down at the knife on the table in front of her.

  “Which is over a quarter mile high,” finished Kort.

  Kort looked around for someone to tell him if he was right.

  “Not bad,” said Ravyn, “but do you know what the most dangerous thing on the island is?”

  “You,” mumbled Kort.

  “Ha, ha. Very funny,” said Ravyn. “Keep it up and I will be. The most dangerous thing is the brain coral in the water around the island. If one of its barbs punctures your skin, you’ll go mad, and not even magic can cure it. The most dangerous creature on the island is the drakon. They can grow to over fourteen feet long and weigh more than a man. Their armored scales can stop even a sword. The saliva can paralyze someone within minutes, and the noxious odor it emits causes disorientation.”

  The food arrived several minutes later. Plates heaped with the various spicy foods were set in the center of the table. They shoveled food from the communal plates onto their own. Caddaric took a bite of a noodle dish, and immediately reached for his glass of water.

  Ravyn continued to quiz them about their destination as they ate their meal. Donovan’s nose stopped bleeding halfway through the meal, and he gratefully lowered the bloody cloth which he’d been holding against it.

  Even Ravyn admitted that they had done a satisfactory job memorizing the contents of the book.

  “Now that we’re done eating, we have arranged a special surprise,” said Caddaric.

  “What it is?” asked Finian.

  “I’ll explain in a minute. Let’s find an empty classroom,” said Caddaric.

  Caddaric paid for everybody’s meal before they went looking for a classroom. He found a piece of chalk on the desk and walked up to the board at the front of the room.

  Caddaric drew a square on the board, then added a rectangle adjacent to the top of the square, the same length but narrower. Finally he drew a small circle near the top of the rectangle.

  Caddaric solemnly looked at the rest of his team.

  “We will be going to war in several minutes. Prepare yourselves.”

  He stood there silently, hands clasped behind his back, as his words sunk in.

  “I think you misspoke,” said Finian, “because there’s no one to fight in the area.”

  “That is where you’re wrong. We are facing an enemy that controls a strategic location which we must retake. They hold the high ground, but we have a numerical advantage.”

  He drew two lines inside of the circl
e.

  “The five of us will spread out and overwhelm their position.”

  “Did you say five of us?” asked Donovan.

  “Yes. Ravyn will not be able to assist us.”

  “Why don’t we sit back and blast them with magic?” asked Finian.

  “No magic.”

  Caddaric wrote their five names inside the square. He drew lines showing them converging towards the circle.

  “That’s all the time we have. Let’s go.”

  Caddaric tossed the chalk onto the desk and left the room. He hurried back out to the courtyard with the rest of the team following behind him. He stopped in the middle of the courtyard and turned to face them.

  “Our objective is right there,” he said.

  He pointed partway up the side of the valley on the far side of the courtyard, where a fort had been built out of snow.

  “That wasn’t there before,” said Donovan.

  “No it wasn’t,” said Caddaric. “It’s safe to assume that our opponents are already inside. Just stick to the plan and we’ll be fine.”

  He began advancing towards the snow fort.

  “Wait,” said Finian. “What are we using to attack if we can’t use magic?”

  Splat!

  A second ball of snow flew out of the fort. It arced high in the air and fell towards Caddaric, who calmly sidestepped it.

  “Does that answer your question?”

  They spread out and approached the side of the valley. An occasional snowball was flung towards them, but they were far enough away that they were easy to dodge.

  Donovan was in the center of their formation and reached the steep, snow covered side first. He paused to make a snowball of his own before starting up the incline. The snow was knee-deep and he had to fight his way up.

  Snowballs started shooting out of the fort at a regular rate, and Caddaric could finally see Professor Jairdan and Osmont behind the walls of the fort. Their cheeks were rosy, and they looked to be having a good time.