The Boy, The Horse, and Winter
The next morning, Oriòn wakes Eel up by opening up his window panes and letting in the cold winter air. "Wake up, Eel. It's time to train" Eel shivers tired on his bed "I don't want to," he says groaning in his sleep. Oriòn walks towards Eel's bed, he pulls off the blanket that sheltered Eel from the harsh cold. "Get up and meet me at the training ground," Oriòn says walking out of the room. Eel drags himself out of bed and into his bathroom. He rinses his face, puts on his training wead, and heads straight for the training grounds. As he approaches he hears the sound of swords clashing and people running. Eel stands by the entrance looking at the training grounds and pieces of equipment lying around. At the center of the training ground was a mat where people fought at the end of their drills.
"Eel, join up with the cadets" Oriòn commanded, pointing at a bunch of teenagers a few years younger than Eel.
That day, Eel joined the drills that the cadets were doing and failed miserably at each one. The first one was jogging. Leading the cadets, Oriòn joged around the fortress 10 times. They started by the training center and made their way past the gate, crossing the bridge before jogging around the perimeter of the frozen river by the fortress. Eel lagged as they made their way around the route, they jogged in a straight line and he couldn't keep up. He was last on the line, stopping to pant and catch his breath in many instances along the road.
Each time he'd stopped, Oriòn would make the whole squad do 30 push-ups"If one of you is weak, all of you are weak," he'd scream as the cadets dropped and did the pushups. Eel could barely do ten push-ups so the squad would have to share the remaining number of push-ups needed for them to keep their morning jog going. Eel fell to his knees when they got back into the training yard, he met the whole squad doing more push-ups as punishment for his lagging. He looked at the imprint of his palm against the snow and wondered if his hands were ever meant to do anything great.
The next drill was a personal training course the whole team had to do. Eel watched as each cadet went from one challenge to another, from swinging across the bars to dodging fruit bombs shot at them as they ran the rope course. Eel was particularly amazed by a female cadet that went right before him. She ran the course so perfectly, almost beating the record time held by Oriòn himself. Then came Eel's turn, he stood at the beginning sneezing into his elbow as he shivered in wait for the light that indicated for him to commence. Eel starts to run immediately the light flames on, he grabs the rope he's meant to climb and struggles to pull himself up the rope. He fails in his first few attempts falling halfway up his accent. The next stage was crossing the monkey bars hanging around the edge of the training yard. Eel hung on to the bar tight as he began to try and glide past the ten ahead. He could see the heap of snow waiting for him should he fall to the ground, Eels fell after making it past three of the bars. He goes up there each time trying to get across the bars but fails to muster the will needed to go through them. The other Cadets watched from below as Oriòn shook his head in disappointment. Eel had just set his record, " the slowest cadet to never complete the course", says the female cadet as she helps him up after failing to cross the bars for the 10th time. Eel felt the dreadful claws of shame dig deep into his ego as she spoke to him.
"Cadets" Oriòn calls out as they all fall in line waiting for his instructions. "Time for horse riding lessons," he says walking around the cadets like a lion locked onto his dinner.
"Are you ready?, run to the stables to get a horse. Be aware that not all the horses are in great condition so I suggest you get there faster than everyone in the squad. Am I clear?".
The whole squad shouts "Sir, yes sir" apart from Eel who feels like his body has been chewed on by an animal.
The race started and as usual, Eel lagged behind the squad as they made their way to the stables. The thick snow filled their boots as they marched onto the stables. Eel gets to the stables last and watches as each cadet gets ready to mount their horses. Oriòn watches from afar as Eel tries and fails to mount "Grey Joy", the oldest horse in the stables. One of the cadets helps him up the old horse, his face trickling with discontent with Eel's inefficiency. Oriòn mounts his horse and leads the way as the cadets practice their Formations. Oriòn led the cadets into an open field, the snowy winds made it hard to see what Oriòn was doing from the back of the line. Eel had never been in formation so he couldn't understand what any of the shouts and hand signals meant. He tries to keep up but between the snow, his horse, and his utter lack of any useful knowledge. He gets lost amid the brewing blizzard the squad gets caught in.
"Help" he shouts. "I'm back here", but no one replies. The howling winds muffled any sound made by Eel. He tries to speed Grey Joy up by kicking the horse in its stomach but gets tossed off onto the snow by his angered steed. The horse runs away into the far distance leaving Eel in pain on the snow. Eel lays on the snow looking up to the peeking sun, "why do you even bother coming out??" he asks, speaking to the sun as well as himself. His eyes begin to close. He feels himself lose his grip on consciousness, falling into the darkness….Eel feels the ground vibrate, he opens his eyes for a second. Fractured images filter into his mind. Greyjoy is up on two legs neighing, Oriòn barking inaudible orders as he points in his direction, the female cadet holding up his head as they cover him up with a blanket.
Eel wakes up on his bed sweating from a bad dream. He doesn't remember many details but can't forget the image of his hands covered in blood. He feels a sharp pain growing at the back of his head, he feels for its source. A small bump had swollen at the center of his head "Ouch" he whispered, "What in the god's names have I gotten myself into?".
Oriòn opens up the curtains, and Eel's room basks in the glamor of the moonlight. Oriòns shadow shades Eel's bookshelf from the onslaught of the moon. "You're finally up" Oriòn moves across the room fully letting in the milky glances of the moon. He sits by the side of Eel " You got tossed by Grey joy and lost consciousness" as he lights up some shine. "You want some?" Oriòn asks "It'll help with the pain". Eel shakes his head, declining Oriòns offer to smoke.
"I was shit today" Eel turns his back on Oriòn, looking away as he begins to tear up.
"True" Oriòn replies, "if GreyJoy hadn't led us back to you, you might have frozen to death" Oriòn stands up and moves to the window once more. "I broke my arm on my first day on the course" he continued after the brief silence from staying marveled by the sight of the moon. "Don't think about it too much Eel" Oriòn says, walking towards the door to take his leave. He opens the door and looks back at Eel."By the way, what do you think you did wrong?" He asks " I'll expect an answer by next tomorrow, you only get tomorrow off!!" Oriòn shuts the door behind him as he takes his leave.
Eel closes his eyes, he thinks about the question Oriòn asked wondering what his mistakes could be other than being born a loser by the greatest winner in the kingdom's history. He tries to get back to sleep hoping he doesn't have a nightmare once more.