“What is it?” Gavin asked.
“I recognize that symbol. That’s a marker for the Captain.”
Chapter Three
Gavin opened his eyes but couldn’t see through the darkness all around him. A haze clouded his mind. Tristan knew how much he hated the darkness and how much he struggled with it.
Why would he do this to me now?
Tristan must have placed something over his eyes. Gavin tried to shift and throw the blindfold off of his face, but there wasn’t any way for him to remove it.
A binding pinned his arms to his sides. Was it leather, or was it rope again this time? Each time Tristan had bound him, he’d wanted Gavin to focus on that core strength, that energy that filled him, to break free. Gavin understood that each one was a test, Tristan’s way of challenging him, but he’d succeeded every time so far.
There would come a time when he wouldn’t, but he hoped it would be quite some time before that happened. He didn’t want to disappoint Tristan.
He tried again to look around, to see anything at all, but he couldn’t. He moved his hands and feet, which were free, but the bindings around his torso, arms, and legs trapped him in such a way that he could do little else.
“Tristan?” Too much panic crept into his voice. That was a mistake. When it came to his training, revealing fear was considered a weakness. Gavin knew better than to show any vulnerability.
He gathered himself, holding onto his strength balled up inside, and tried to focus on the bindings around him. The last one had been made of leather, which meant that this one would be something stronger. So far, Gavin had been able to snap his way free of all the bindings Tristan used, but eventually…
No. He couldn’t think about what would happen when he failed.
Tristan did not suffer failure well.
He tensed and strained, and something cut into his arms and legs. It took Gavin a moment to decide what it was.
Rope.
Tristan had bound him in rope.
The thickness of the rope suggested that it would be almost impossible for him to break free. He struggled against it but couldn’t escape.
He thought about what Tristan had told him before, the way he’d wanted Gavin to find someplace deep inside of himself, to tap into a different sort of strength. But even as he focused on that, Gavin wasn’t entirely sure there was anything for him to draw upon.
He strained again and again, and he failed again and again. His body grew sore and numb as he lost track of how long he was there, focusing on the energy within him and the power he strained against. Each time, he tried to push outward, holding pressure against the ropes.
There was movement near him, and he stopped struggling. Gavin turned his head in its direction and listened to the sounds coming toward him. It was soft; the steady footsteps of somebody approaching him.
Something struck him on the side of the face.
Gavin’s head rolled with the force of the blow. It hurt, but he’d learned how to push that pain down, to suppress it so he didn’t experience anything. The next blow came, sharper, from a different angle.
The wind guided him, the soft breeze of the blow telling him with just enough time how to anticipate it, and Gavin twisted his head so he could absorb most of it. At the same time, the blindfold came off. He could see.
Tristan stood in front of him. He was a muscular man, about the same height as Gavin, and brown of complexion and hair. There was a blazing intensity from him. Whenever they trained, he was always dressed in leathers that protected him. Gavin rarely managed to strike with enough force to injure him, though he had never really wanted to hurt Tristan. It was more the challenge of it and a desire to break through his protections.
“Better,” Tristan said.
“I’m not going to be able to break these ropes,” Gavin said.
“Are you so sure?”
“I can’t tear through these.”
“You can’t because you choose not to.”
“It’s not a matter of choice. It’s a matter of knowing the ropes are too thick to work through,” he said, struggling against them while talking to Tristan.
“Then you will stay here,” Tristan said.
“For how long?”
Gavin was accustomed to being forced to stay in one place for extended periods of time. He wasn’t at all surprised that Tristan would hold him here.
“Until you break free of the bindings.”
“And if I can’t?”
“Then you can’t.”
Tristan slapped him, catching him on the left cheek with a sharp blow that overwhelmed his ability to ignore the pain. That pain sent Gavin wanting to pull away, tears streaming down his face. Because he’d allowed himself to cry, Tristan would be irritated enough to strike him again. He waited for the next blow, which would be just as sharp and just as painful, but it never came. He turned, bracing himself for the attack, but there was none.
Tristan backed away. “You have the strength within you, Gavin Lorren. You have always had that strength within you. You must find it.”
“How?”
“If I were able to tell you, then you wouldn’t be able to find it.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“It makes perfect sense, especially if you understood the power you possess.”
“I don’t possess any power.”
“Not with that attitude, you don’t.”
Gavin continued to strain against the ropes, but he could do nothing to escape from them. He tried pulling on them, struggling with the bindings. At least now that his blindfold had been removed, he could see what was holding him. The room was small, just enough to contain the chair he sat in, along with a basin near the wall. Tristan blocked his view of the door, though he could make out the faint outline of it. The thin light trailed into the room, barely enough for him to see. A faint glow surrounded Tristan. That was probably Gavin’s imagination, or the effort he put into trying to break through the ropes.
The ropes were wrapped tightly all around him. His hands and feet were as free as he’d suspected, but he couldn’t even move his fingers up to try to grasp for a section of the rope. He tried to shimmy his legs to loosen his bindings, but that didn’t work either.
Gavin struggled again, and then he threw himself back.
Maybe I could break through the chair.
He strained, jerking against the straps and trying to pry his arms free, but every attempt failed. The bindings cut into his skin. Gavin pushed that pain away, ignoring the surge of agony that ripped through him.
His mentor had taught him how to do everything he knew. And now he wanted Gavin to learn how to break free of these ropes. Only, the chair was too stout for him to shatter. How was he supposed to break through ropes if he couldn’t even break through the chair they were wrapped around?
He sat there and waited. Eventually, Tristan would have to return. He would come back and untie Gavin, or perhaps he would pose another challenge.
He never did.
Time passed. Gavin’s throat began to dry. His bladder burst, and he soiled himself. Still Tristan didn’t return.
Gavin waited. This had to be some sort of test. Eventually Tristan would return. But as time went on, he slowly realized that his mentor wasn’t going to come. If he was going to get out, he’d to have to break free, much the way Tristan told him he’d have to.