Dashyl's Quest

Dashyl’s face contorted as he grunted out, “twenty,” and fell back against his pillow with a fulsh ball between his feet. It was the last and most difficult exercise of his program. He had to clench the ball with his feet and then raise it up as high as he could, then lower it and repeat twenty times. The silent curic who observed his daily exercises gave Dashyl a drink of water, toweled off his forehead and took the ball away. The boy sank down into his bed, breathing heavily with his eyes closed.

It had been three days since they brought in the young man next to him and he had not stirred. His breathing was shallow. Dashyl had become accustomed to the slight sound and he wouldn’t even know the patient was there if he couldn’t see him. Dashyl had taken to calling out greetings to his roommate at random times, but there was never a response. To ease the boredom, for both of them he assumed, Dashyl would sing a few old Legion marching songs his father had taught him.

After catching his breath, Dashyl began to sing. He reached a rousing bit of the chorus and was singing at the top of his lungs when Rathyra stepped in through the doorway.

“My, my, you are loyal to the Legion, aren’t you, Dashyl,” she said, halfway between smiling and admonishing.

“Why shouldn’t I be? My father was loyal,” Dashyl retorted.

“Yes, and from what you’ve told me, his loyalty to their cause was the death of him.”

“Oh, yeah, I suppose you can look at it that way,” Dashyl said, furrowing his brow.  “But you’re Saraja, your people don’t like our people. That’s why you left the Legion and settled your own lands and became the Saraja instead of Sarion. At least that’s what my dad says. Said,” Dashyl corrected himself.

“Ah, yes, it is true that I am Sarajan, but my loyalties lie neither with Sarion or Sarajan interests. I serve my employer dutifully, regardless of what faction they may or may not support,” explained the curic from under her blue hood.

“Who is your employer?”

“You need not be burdened by that curiosity, child. You did well during today’s exercises; you should be able to try walking soon. Rest now before your last meal. Oh, and try not to sing too loudly. It is a nice gesture, but we don’t want to startle him awake.” Rathyra refilled the boy’s water and left the room. Dashyl picked up the song where he had left off but sang just under his breath, killing time until the end of the day.