Chapter 33

"Just a few more steps." Aire said as the reached the end of the hallway. "A few more steps till we reach what?" A strained voice asked from behind her. She glanced backwards at the Rogue who stiffly shuffled forward. A grimace of pain would mark his face every now and again as an injury protested against certain movements. Emeric put an arm over Kedo's shoulders, using him as a mobile crutch.

Aire smirked at Emeric. "Come on you lazy old hag. You've gotten too used to laying in bed. It's time you get out a bit." Aire stated as she pushed a large set of doors open. Kedo giggled at the insult and ran forward to catch up with Aire. 'Little critter.' Emeric thought as he watched his little friend join Aire. He'd expected the young Rogue to take his side in this, but apparently he was under the physician's influence.

Emeric watched with contempt as the doors opened into the all too familiar training square. "If you expect me to run the coarse today, you can just as well as ask my dead great-grandmother to do it. I'm almost sure she'll be able to finish it faster than me."

Aire raised an eyebrow, "Don't worry, I've got pretty low expectations of you anyway." She turned away to hide the smile on her face as she walked into the training square.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Emeric called after her with a humorous glint in his eyes as he stumbled back into a slow, painful walk. Aire turned on her heal, shrugged, and then turned away again, not once breaking her stride.

It felt like an eternity before she came to a halt. Emeric sighed with relief as she stopped. His back ached from the short walk. He rubbed his lower back, willing the pain to retreat, however, it refused. It was like a constant companion.

It had been a month since he had nearly died, yet the wounds were causing more problems than Emeric could have predicted. His fractured arm was nearly completely healed, however, the other two, more serious wounds were proving to be a nuisance.

His arm movements were limited as a result from the injured shoulder muscles. Emeric only prayed that they would heal properly over time. His back was a different matter. He could barely move without it sending waves of pain up and down his spine. Walking only worsened the notion.

As Emeric watched a group of Eliminators steadily jog around the training square he felt a pang of jealousy hit him. He craved movement and long runs, but his body simply couldn't handle it.

"So what exactly is it that you want me to do?" Emeric asked reluctantly as he came to halt next to her. She looked up at him with an amused grin, "Don't look so scared you big baby." She teased. Emeric raised and eyebrow, but didn't reply. He'd learned not to challenge Aire to a verbal bout. She was an unformidable opponent and had claimed the victory each time such a bout had transpired.

"Fine," She sighed, seeing that Emeric wasn't going to risk a battle of words. "Just two laps around the square. You can go as fast as you want, but nothing more than a walk."

Emeric met her eyes with mock disappointment, "Darn, I was almost hoping you'd say I must sprint the whole thing." His words stung with sarcasm. "Funny." Aire teased and sent him on his way with a nod of her head.

"You coming with?" He asked Kedo. The young Rogue smirked, "With an old hag like you?" He asked teasingly. Emeric's eyes grew slightly wider at the kid's words. "Look what you've done." He playfully accused Aire, "Teaching a young kid foul language like that." Emeric shook his head as he failed to keep a straight face and turned away to hide a smile as he started his first slow lap.

Halfway through his second lap, Emeric was forced to bring his trudge like walk to a halt. His back was throbbing as if knives had been driven into it. He took slow, deep breathes as he tried to rid the pain from his body, but it was to no avail. As minutes slowly passed and the pain remained, Emeric forced himself back into a slow walk.

As he limped on, he felt eyes tracing his every step. It unsettled him and brought back memories of Hyatt's eyes boring into him on that fateful day nearly more than a month ago.

He turned his eyes to search for the source of the discomfort. It wasn't long until he spotted Nedes in the training square. He stood with a wooden practice sword in his hand. Standing by him was Marven, the treacherous trainer.

Emeric ignored them and completed the lap with the fastest walk that he could manage. When he reached Aire, he felt ready to sink to the ground and never get back up again. She met his pained eyes, "Alright, now just five laps over the obstacle coarse then we're done for the day."

Emeric met her eyes with an expressionless glare, "Funny..." Was all he said. Aire smiled wholeheartedly. "I'm just joking with you." She atoned. "I was hoping you were." Emeric stated with relief, simultaneously bringing another smile over Aires soft features.

The sight sent prickles through Emeric's stomach and made him uncomfortable. It wasn't a sensation he was familiar with. Over the weeks in her treatment, Emeric had grown close to Aire. The butterflies in his stomach came frequently, but was unfamiliar to him and he didn't know what to make of it.

"Let's get you back to the treatment room. I can see you've had enough for one day." Aire suggested. "Old hag." Kedo whispered under his breath earning a cuff over the head from Emeric who looked at him accusingly. The kid grinned guiltily, but made little more of the situation.

As they turned to leave, the doors of the training square swung open and Calvert came striding in. The aura in the training facility instantly became tense and agitated. Emeric felt his own muscles involuntarily tense up.

Calvert's eyes fell on him. The Dome Keeper strode closer with long, sure strides. When he came to a stop in front on them, Emeric found himself lowering his eyes.

"So this is where the two of you have run off to." Calvert stated, ignoring Kedo's presence. Aire too was unsettled by the sudden appearance of the Dome Keeper and remained silent.

"What are you doing here, training?" Calvert directed the question at Emeric, though the words seemed to contain an emotion similar to mockery.

"Yes." Emeric stated with as much conviction as he could manage. Calvert watched him steadily, "You don't even have a sweat rolling," The Dome keeper accused. "It's more like you strolled around the place." The words held venom.

Luckily for Emeric, Aire stepped into the conversation to defend him. "It's his first time out since the accident, he had enough for today."

Calvert stepped closer to Aire in a threatening manner. His height dwarfed her as he gazed down at her with menace. "Is that so?" He asked rhetorically. "I seem to think differently." He explained.

He turned his wrathful gaze at Emeric. "Five laps around the square. If I see you walk once, I'll add two more laps." Emeric grew pale and swallowed nervously. He turned a desperate gaze at Aire, who had turned a fuming red color of rage. "You can't do that." She exclaimed furiously. "If you have any hope of him ever returning to the Dome, you have to let me do things my way."

Once again, Calvert turned his gaze on her. "Don't think you can tell me how to do my job, Halfblood. If I let you do things your way, he'll be back in the Dome in no less than a dozen years. I need him there within the up coming months." Calvert's tone of voice grew louder as he spoke.

Aire shook her head, slightly taken aback by the insulting name he had given her, but she was more furious at the thought that he was willing to kill Emeric in the effort to get him ready for the Domes once more.

"You'll kill him if you push him too hard." Aire warned in a soft yet chilling voice. Calvert met her gaze steadily, "Try and stop me."

"Now get going." he yelled at Emeric. The Rogue slowly backed away from the Dome Keeper, but he made no effort to run the laps. A furious glint shone from Calvert's eyes. He lunged forward and shoved Emeric hard. The Rogue winced and tried catching himself, but his limbs didn't obey and fell hard on his back.

Emeric grunted as a jarring pain came alive in his back.

"I said...Get Going!" Calvert spoke softly, but the menace in his voice sent shivers through Emeric.

He weakly got to his feet, but still showed his reluctance to do as he had been told. Calvert grit his teeth as he held back his anger. His eyes landed on Kedo and he instantly grabbed the boy.

"No!" Emeric yelled and lunged forward, but he wasn't in time to stop the blow that struck Kedo harshly against the cheekbone. The young Rogue fell to the ground with a cry of pain.

Emeric placed himself protectively between Calvert and the young Rogue. It took all his will power to keep himself from attacking the Dome Keeper. He knew that it would only make things worse. However, he realised that Calvert was the one person that wouldn't drown his life with guilt if he killed him.

"Get...Going." Calvert said through gritted teeth. Emeric met his eyes defiantly for a few seconds before helping Kedo to his feet.

After placing the boy protectively behind Aire he trudged off into a painful jog that sent stabs of pain through his back and shoulder.

As he forced himself to keep the pace, Calvert voice traveled to his ears. "You know what people do to animals that can't do anything for them anymore...When they become useless?" The sentence hung for a few seconds.

"They put them out of their misery."

*****

Aching, sore, and in complete agony, Emeric lay in his all to familiar treatment bed. His eyes were clinched shut against the unrelenting pain that marred his body.

He had ended up doing ten laps. His legs had given in at multiple occasions, and Calvert had added more torturous running.

Kedo sat beside the bed, his face pale with worry and anger. A blue bruise marred his right eye. He watched Aire as she worked, taking in everything she did with curiosity.

Aire and Kedo were shocked when the silence of the room was suddenly disturbed.

"What did he mean when he called you Halfblood?" Emeric questioned Aire.

She seemed surprised by the question and paused for a few seconds as she collected her thoughts, "Well, its just a theory, but they all see me as one." Emeric frowned in confusion, "A Halfblood?" Aire nodded her head as she sat down against the wall. "Yeah."

Emeric made a move for her to continue. "What's a Halfblood?" Kedo asked curiously. Aire seemed reluctant, but after a glance at the curious young Rogue who watched her with his large blue eyes she couldn't keep up the secretive façade.

"It's all just rumours." She started, "I grew up as an orphan, never knew my parents, but people have always said that my father was Etreshian."

Emeric's eyes grew wide with surprise, while Kedo was still ignorant to the division in the world and watched Aire curiously.

"It's affected me all my life. As you'd expect." Aire continued. "I was raised by a physician and always dreamed of following in his footsteps. However, no one wanted to come to me once I started the trade. They doubted my age and said that they would never go to a Halfblooded witch for treatment." She lowered her head as horrid memories came back to her.

"The Domes were the only place that accepted me, there was only one condition..."

She trailed off and silence betook the room once more.

"Which was?" Emeric asked softly.

"I can never leave again..."