Chapter 6 It’s Training, Not Abuse!

"But he's only three! Barely even out of diapers!" exclaimed his mother. Tears streamed down her thin face as she clawed at the man who he would call father.

"Adelia, we talked about this. If the child were female, it would stay with you and I wouldn't touch it, but it is male. I waited until he was no longer nursing to take him, but I will not wait longer."

His father turned with him clutched tightly in his arms, his legs dangling as he turned to try and see his mother behind him, fall to her knees and great heaving sobs broke from deep inside her.

"I lost my milk! You know that!"

"Doesn't matter," his father answered gruffly, pulling the door shut on the image of his mother. He wouldn't see her again for a long time.

"Momma?" he asked concerned, craning his neck to see up at his father.

"Hush, no talking," he answered gruffly, moving quickly down the hall.

People they passed, averted their eyes and pretended not to notice them as Gabriel started to wail and fight against his father's arms.

His father took him to the practice grounds where Gabriel would learn to fight and survive. A shed meant for storing miscellaneous tools became his new home. The adults who traveled to this place to train avoided the shed, knowing that Gabriel was inside.

"I go outside?" he asked, as his father brought him breakfast one morning.

"Have you figured out how to not piss all over the place?" his father asked gruffly, setting the bowl of food down.

"Yes, I peed in the pot," said Gabriel, pointing with a grubby finger at the pot in the corner.

"I suppose once you are done eating, I will take you outside. I have a few new toys for you to play with."

With a wide grin of anticipation, Gabriel scooped the boiled rice into his mouth, taking care to chew the bits of meat and vegetable that were mixed in it so he didn't choke again.

Jumping to his feet, he fought not to dance in excitement as his father opened the door and stepped outside, leaving it open for him to follow. He didn't know how long he had been in the shed, but he was more than ready to leave.

"Follow me, and keep quiet."

Nodding quickly, Gabriel followed down a dirt path to a shady clearing in a copse of trees. There were giant rocks in the middle, and fallen branches from the trees pushed around the edges. Leaning against one of the rocks, Gabriel spied what looked like a sword and his eyes went wide.

"This one is yours. I will teach you how to use it," said his father, picking up the wooden sword and handing it to him.

Gabriel took the heavy toy and grinned up at him. The man had been telling him stories at night about great warriors and how they would fight monsters to protect the normal people. That's what he wanted to do when he grew up!

"We will practice until you can no longer lift it up, then we will play other games," said his father in a deep rumble.

Unfortunately, none of these 'games' were ever very fun for long. Gabriel would often be covered in welts and bruises where he missed blocking a swing, but his father still told him stories after he ate his evening meal and lay down to sleep on his blanket.

Gabriel's father taught him to climb cliffs, how to find his way in the dark, how to use various weapons and when he reached the age of ten, took him to a rushing river.

"Today we are doing something different," his deep voice said. "You will swim out to that island and stay on it until I return to bring you back."

"But what about monsters?" asked Gabriel, staring down at the dark waters, trying to see the bottom.

"If you find any on the island, fight them. You have a sword."

Watching his father step back and lean against a tree, Gabriel knew it was pointless to argue. Stepping into the cold water, he swallowed and tightened the strap that held his sword to his back. Nothing else covered his skin, as he hadn't had any clothing from the moment his father took him from his mother.

Fighting against the current, he quickly returned to the shore, far downstream of where the island was. Glancing at his father as he trudged back upstream, the man offered no guidance. Gabriel stood looking at the island, watching the water rush by. If he was going to make it to the island, he would have to go far upriver and hope the waters carried him to the island.

Turning to head upstream, he wondered what he was supposed to learn from this exercise. Everything his father did had a purpose, but he couldn't think of what it might be. Pausing after trudging a way, he turned to look at the island. Would this be far enough?

Chewing his lip, he shook his head. He could float well enough; the problem was that the current was so fast. Turning to go even further upriver, Gabriel finally decided he had gone far enough and jumped into the water. Kicking out as hard as he could, he fought to get to the middle of the river as the water swept him downriver faster and faster.

Spying his father's face, Gabriel panicked, thinking he had already passed the island. Then he was in calm water, just downriver of the island. Sputtering and spitting, he crawled from the water onto the rocks of the sparse piece of land.

Back on the shore, his father nodded and turned to leave. Climbing wearily to his feet, Gabriel looked around to inspect the island. He needed to make sure there really weren't any monsters on it before it got dark.

Pulling his wooden sword from the strap he had tied it to his back with, he moved slowly and carefully through the tall reeds growing against the water. Bugs flitted around him and he could hear birds calling nearby, but nothing that looked dangerous presented itself.

Sitting next to a large rock after he had explored the entire island, Gabriel glanced up at the sky. It would be dark soon and he didn't think his father would be back before dawn at the soonest. The island was covered in rocks and mud. The spot he was sitting in was the driest, so he only needed to make it soft enough to sleep on.

Looking around him, he wondered if he could use some of the tall grasses to weave a type of mat to lay on. He would have to work quickly if he wanted to be done before full dark. His stomach grumbled, but he ignored it. This wouldn't be the first time he went hungry; in fact, he was often hungry as the portions his father brought him never fully sated his hunger.

Pulling the grass from the mud, Gabriel began collecting a pile to try weaving into a mat. His father had shown him how to do it, but this would be the first time he attempted it on his own.

A noise upstream had him crouching down and going still. Could it be a monster? What should he do? Controlling his breathing, as his father had taught him, he pulled his sword close and moved as quietly as he could through the tall grass to see what was making the noise.

Not far upstream a man and a young boy were standing on the shore of the river, laughing and talking quietly about something Gabriel couldn't hear. The boy had a long stick and was swinging it out at the water while the man seemed to be showing him how to do it properly. Would Gabriel's father be teaching him that soon?

He crouched in the cold mud watching them for a long while as the last of the light faded from the sky. They caught three large fish with the stick before they turned and left, still chatting and laughing.

Tilting his head to the side, Gabriel tried to imagine his father laughing like that. The thought was so absurd to him, he couldn't picture it. Turning back to his pile of grass, he began the arduous task of weaving it.

As the sun rose the next morning, Gabriel sat hunched against the stone, squinting to see if his father was on the shore. He was not. How long would he have to stay here?

Looking down at the poorly constructed mat he had managed to complete in the darkness of the night, Gabriel sighed and went to work fixing it. He didn't know when his father would return and he wanted to have a better mat to sleep on if he needed to stay another night.

All day he worked quietly, keeping an eye on the shore for the return of his father. As evening began to approach, he couldn't ignore his stomach any longer. The birds that nested there were easy to chase off their nest to steal their eggs, and he fought the urge to gag as he swallowed half-formed chicks in his frenzy to eat. If he was still here the next day, he would have to figure something else out, because there weren't any eggs left.