Chapter 21

  Hektor’s days in the castle started off inconspicuously and within five days turned into a routine. He woke up one day and was gob smacked to realize how quickly he had adjusted to his new day to day.

  He had once read in philosophy how consistency always finds a way, that regardless of intervention and hurdles, it adapts, fights and persists to keep on carrying. The notion resonated with him, of finding his own consistency.

  And despite that his life had been turned upside down, the world remained the same. Everything around him, the city, the castle, the people, all carried on as they were, not seemingly concerned beyond a second thought at his plight.

  An eclipse didn’t occur during the day. A menacing storm didn’t herald dramatic misfortune. No songs of prophecy were sung, nor did a villain arise from the depths of darkness like it did in the stories.

  Nothing happened.

  It was a humbling experience and Hektor appreciated it. His ordeals felt a little more manageable and insignificant in the grand scheme of things. He faced his days with the new found aim of trying to be better and stronger than the day before. Strength in weakness. Weakness in strength. Nazeer’s words had become a chant for him.

  His days began by rising at five in the morning and going for his exercises at the barracks at six.

  Captain Ferdinand incrementally increased the intensity of his routine. He was still trying to find a balance for Hektor, to push him hard enough to get stronger without tiring him for the rest of the day. Every session he pushed Hektor a little more and the boy met his challenge. What infuriated Ferdinand was that he could not push the boy to his limits for fear of injury. Even a small bruise or sprain and the subsequent recovery would take away from what little time Hektor had for grooming to become a count.

  Hektor was obedient, but proved to be a puzzle for the Captain. His trained eye saw a diamond in the rough, someone who could have hidden talents as a fighter. If only! It was clear to as day that the boy had an aversion to any form of competition and weaponry.

  Ferdinand’s hands itched to train the boy to his potential, but it was not his place to make such decisions. He yielded to keeping things simple and following his orders as he worked on improving Hektor’s fitness.

  Sore and tired, Hektor would then return to his cottage for breakfast. Once presentable, he would go to his lessons. Strangely enough, he would always be led to different places in the castle to meet his tutors.

  Hektor had his theories as to why. Maybe they were trying to lessen his fear of the castle. Or that they were simply being thoughtful that a change of scenery would keep Hektor distracted and prevent him from falling into his bad moods.

  Similar to Captain Ferdinand, all his tutors had increased the intensity of his education. Their lectures had become more in-depth and practical. His teachers grew demanding and constantly challenged him in their classes to match them with his own insights.

  Hektor found the lessons agreeable, that is until his tutors realized that he could do with thrice the workload they were giving him. Hektor didn’t complain. Time was of the essence and he needed to maximize his gains.

  Hektor would only get free in the afternoon, but he wouldn’t be let go so easily. His teachers saddled him with plenty of study material to go through on his own. Hektor wouldn’t have minded, but the volume of dry text he had to ingest took a great deal of patience. He could go through books called ‘Trade Strategies for Small Territories’ and ‘Druidry and Forestry’ easily enough. But reading pages upon pages on accounting, taxes and zoning laws written in the most boring language felt like trying to build a carriage with a square wheel; needlessly complicated without any reason.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Hektor could do nothing, but persevere.

  The highlight of his day come to be spending time with his mother. With his impending departure, both mother and son were eager to make up for lost time. Arm in arm, they would take pleasant walks into the late afternoons. They would talk about simple things and not so simple things.

  Sabina would tell him stories from her past when she had become the Duchess. She narrated her earliest experiences in governance and advised him, preaching the difficult lessons she had learnt and the mistakes she had made on way to becoming a fair and just ruler.

  Sabina also shared her beliefs with Hektor. She did so not for the purpose of converting him. She wanted Hektor to understand her and take her knowledge and use it to find his own principles that he could be stand for.

  Sabina was an encyclopedia of leadership and through her Hektor could imagine what kind of leader he wanted to be. Her many anecdotes both cautioned Hektor to avoid the pitfalls of a novice ruler and provided him an insight into making the difficult decisions.

  The Duchess had so far kept Hektor away from court and from making introductions, cautiously taking things slowly to ease Hektor through and not overwhelm him all at once. Brick by brick, she would build strong foundations.

  It was by Sabina’s design that Hektor was kept terribly busy. So much so that he barely had the time to learn and do what was asked of him and not a stray thought more. It kept him focused to what was directly in front of him and away from the what was looming over the horizon. He wasn’t given the luxury to have doubts or to grow despondent in idleness.

  Sabina and Delia wanted to find Hektor’s limit, to how far they could push without breaking him. To everyone’s surprise, they kept pushing and Hektor kept matching their expectations. It presented a satisfying problem of figuring out Hektor’s potential and how best to draw it out.

  As gratifying as it was having such a student, eventually everyone came to realize that Hektor had been downplaying his talents considerably. He had been pulling the wool over their eyes while hiding away his intellect. That prickled the pride of many a tutor and kept them all on their toes.

  Sabina had kept her word in keeping distractions to a minimum. She had even accounted for Hektor’s diet, who was constantly fed the healthiest meals. The nutrition proved vital for maintaining his grueling timetable, as did the hated ‘sludge’.

  The ‘sludge’ was what Hektor had termed the green concoction he was tortured with thrice a day. It was made as a blend of three different kinds of raw eggs, seven vegetables and roots, five spices, some oils, crushed nuts and two kinds of milk.

  Hektor had to choke three tall glasses of the damn thing every day. But By the Three, did it work! If one could get past the taste, smell, texture, viscosity, the whole damn thing really, it was like being plunged into ice water. It was nourishing and Hektor could almost feel his body getting healthier, right after he had to clamp his mouth shut to not vomit the entire thing.

  Hektor’s evenings were mostly spent in self-study, reading and solving the assignments given to him by his tutors.

  Nine o’clock had him at the barracks again with Captain Ferdinand and Peter. The nightly exercises were more meditative in practice and about limbering up his muscles and joints.

  He got home bone tired, but there was no time for weariness as he was finally alone and could study his magic. He trained with his magic however long he could and when he couldn’t, he moved to his reading and studies to rest.

  Once he recovered magically, he went back to training and repeated the process. He took to bed around one in morning and only managed a few hours of sleep before rising to repeat his day. It would have been impossible to maintain such a pace had he not been a mage.

  A small minority of mages had passive traits with their magics. These were usually advantageous and the extent varied immensely, but the most common manifestations came in some form of more resilient physical or mental traits.

  Hektor’s enhanced physique came with such a boon. Ever since awakening as mage, he only needed about four to five hours of sleep without suffering any setbacks. Or it could simply be the vigor of youth and Hektor being stubborn.

  Hektor slept bone tired, but he slept soundly. The trick was to give his everything, keep busy and not to think too far ahead. Small steps.

  It was still the beginning of a path, but each day Hektor met the expectations placed on him, he felt empowered that his will that did not break for these many days.