by A. J. Medina
The sound of his staff hitting her chest plate rang throughout the room. I would’ve covered my ears, except I had to brace myself and take hold of Tessa to keep the both of us from stumbling backwards.
“Are you hurt?” the wizard asked Tessa.
“Nay.”
“Knights, continue practicing.” He went back to his table and retrieved a book. It was thick as a pig and probably weighed as much by the way he heaved it onto the table. He fanned the pages and stopped on an empty one close to the beginning. He dipped his pen in the ink and started to write. I couldn’t see what he was writing from where I was, but I was curious.
“Are you really alright?” I asked Tessa.
“Aye. I’ve gotten worse than that at home. You didn’t get in trouble did you?”
“Trouble?”
“I’m sorry. I told the king that you left the room.”
“What? That was you?”
“I had to, they asked me if anyone left the room. I couldn’t lie.”
“I suppose you couldn’t.” I couldn’t. I was a knight after all.
Tessa’s armor vanished and reappeared like a flickering candle. She had complete control of it now. When her flickering stopped and her eyes dimmed, she asked the wizard what had happened.
“Your potion has run out,” he explained, looking up from his book.
“I don’t understand.”
“The potion allows you to perform magic, but only temporarily.”
“How can we perform magic permanently?” Silas asked.
“A wizard must make you a full wizard. He must transfer power to you so that you no longer need the potion. Usually an apprentice will become a full wizard when he has completed his training.”
“An apprentice?” Tessa asked. “Is it true that your apprentice betrayed the kingdom?”
“Where did you hear that?” He seemed surprised. This was obviously something he hadn’t expected us to know.
“In the square. We were asked by a few merchants if we were going to protect them from the apprentice.”
“Is the apprentice more powerful than you?” Silas asked. “Does he have permanent magic like you?”
“Nay. He didn’t complete his training.” The wizard’s eyes focused down at his book and then he pulled out another set of vials. “Everyone take another vial and drink it. We are going back out into the courtyard.”
Chapter 12
“Fall into ranks,” the wizard commanded.
He walked between Lucah and Aednat and pushed Aednat back into the next row of boys. He then took that boy and pushed him even further out of line. “Line up to the person to the left. This will be known as wide ranks. We are going to work through some movements with different weapons. This will get you accustomed to the weight of your armor and the weight of your weapons. When you have any sort of free time it would also be useful to practice these movements, they will strengthen your body and make you more resilient.”
First, the wizard had us draw our swords and practice lunging and overhead slashes. Side slashes, blocking, kneeling, and ducking before he had the squires hand out shields. The shields felt heavy. They were round and covered most of my torso. With my arm through the shield straps, I was ready to practice the same moves, except this time we were shown how to block with the shield.
The main move the wizard wanted us to practice was protecting our backs when we struck with our swords. This allowed us to block any surprise blows from behind when fighting someone in front of us.
When we came to a stop the wizard said something that surprised us all. “Clear your minds and disperse your shields.”
One by one all of our shields vanished.
“Summon your shields,” he now ordered.
My shield reappeared.
“Excellent. Next weapon,” he commanded the squires.
When the squire stood in front of me, he handed me a double edged battle axe. This thing was heavy. It felt heavier than the shield and sword combined. “The axe will take longer to master. It is heavy and this allows it to deal a lethal blow. For practice, the edges are blunted like your swords.”
After going through all the movements, we dispersed our axes and moved on to the flail. Finally, something light. It had a handle and a chain attached to a smooth ball. Normally the ball had spikes, but they didn’t want us killing ourselves just yet.
Daggers were up next and the wizard had us practice holding our swords in our right hand and the dagger in our left.
After that, came a second sword. The wizard made it look so easy as he went through the movements. No doubt the wizard would be a strong opponent. The final weapon of the day was the bow. We lined up, single file and the squires set up the targets. I shot and missed the target, hitting the stone wall instead. The arrow broke and the wizard wasn’t happy.
“Focus on the target not the wall,” he said.
The boys were cheering on the other end and I stepped back to see what the fuss was about. The arrow struck the bull’s-eye and another round of cheering echoed through the courtyard.
“I bet I can hit the bull’s-eye,” Thomas challenged. He missed.
Silas laughed and pulled the arrow back in one swift pull. He exhaled slowly and then released it. Bull’s-eye. I wished I was as good as he was. It was embarrassing at how bad I was with a bow. I tried to mimic his technique and pulled back the arrow, exhaled and then released it. I actually hit the target this time, way out on the edge.
“Let’s break for the midday meal. After your meal come back to the courtyard and practice, practice, practice. Ser Erwin will be here to give tips and answer any questions. For those of you that excel with a weapon, share any tips you can with the others. And continue wearing your armor, until you go to bed, it will help you get accustomed to it.”
At the midday meal Lucah ignored me again as usual. I contemplated if I should even meet him tonight, but I had already told him I would—I had to stick to the code. I swore to keep my word.
After scarfing down bread, potatoes and what I was told was goat, I retreated back to my chambers and dispersed my armor. I removed my boots and sat on the floor next to my bed. Leaning back, I placed my head on the bed and closed my eyes. While my meal digested, I wondered what Lucah was doing now and if our lips would touch again. I didn’t know what to make of it, him not paying me any attention.
“I need your help,” Tessa said, splashing down onto her bed.
“How can I be of service m’lady,” I mocked.
“I need to get better at the sword. Can you teach me?”
“What’s in it for me?” I asked, watching as her eyes looked up and to the right. She looked as if she was trying to look inside her own head.
“I’ll tell Silas you fancy him,” she said.
My mouth dropped open. “Don’t you dare!” I leaned forward and slapped her on the knee.
“How about this then? You said you weren’t that good at hand to hand.”
“Aye.”
“You’re good. All you need to do is learn how to move when you don’t have a sword in your hand. What other people don’t realize is that hand to hand doesn’t require you to be very aggressive. Let them come to you, avoid them and wait for the opening.
“That’s not how I fight. I like to get in there and get ‘em.”
“Just try it, you’ll see.”
“That’s boring.”
“You didn’t get picked on much did you?” Tessa asked, leaning her head to the side.
“Aye, I did, but I would fight and kids knew that.”
“I got picked on lots. Girls and boys. I had to learn to be quick and avoid them.” She moved her hands across her body. “I couldn’t beat them with my strength or my size.”
“And avoiding them was your answer?”
“Not avoiding them, as in hiding, but avoiding them as in letting them try and catch me. I’ve had girls try and hit me and when they missed they would try harder. Eventually they would tire themselves out and then I would
kick them in the shin and run away as they cradled their leg.”
“I’m sure they learned your strategy eventually.”
“Aye, but then I adapted. They would come in groups. I had to be fast and slip out of their grasp. Just try it, at least once. Please...”
“Fine. What do you want me to do?”
When we reconvened at the courtyard, other knights were already fighting amongst themselves. Some practicing the bow, while others dueled with shields and a plethora of weapons.
“I will come at you with a sword...” Tessa explained, her sword already drawn.
“Wait. I thought you said no weapons.”
“No weapons for you...”
“And then?”
“Just try to avoid getting hit. And try and pay attention to my body movements. You’ll see that when I swing my sword overhead, my hips turn and my weight shifts to my front leg as I come down. That’s when you should move.”
“I know that already, I do that when I’m sword fighting.”
“Nay, I’ve seen you. You may know the sword is coming down, but you block it. What happens when you block the sword with your own?”
“Umm... I block it.”
“Aye, but you’ve wasted a move. Instead, by sliding out of the swords line of travel, you can then use your sword to disable your opponent. Understand?”
“Aye... I think so.”
“Then let’s try it.”
She came at me with her sword and just like she mentioned, her hips rotated and her weight shifted to her front leg. The sword chopped downward. I jumped to my right and realized what she was trying to teach me. If I was brandishing a sword I could easily have swung it and severed her arm. Tessa moved slowly, much slower than I knew she could, even with the heavy sword. She must’ve been taking it easy on me for training.
“This sword is so heavy. Do you think they would make me a lighter one?” she asked.
“I don’t think they will.”
“It’s slowing me down. It’ll take me awhile before I’m strong enough to move at my usual speed.” She dragged it across the dirt as if it weighed a thousand tons.
“Maybe you can have a word with the smith. Let’s practice some more,” I said, and then jumped my legs wide, spreading my arms ready for her to attack.
When I was ready for a break, I sauntered over to the bucket of water sitting next to the stage, dipped the ladle and grabbed a drink. I must say, watching the others, they did look knightly.
“What was that?” Tessa asked.
I hadn’t realized the words had slipped out. “What?”
“You said we look... knightly.”
“Aye, I was just thinking to myself.”
“That’s what we should call ourselves. The others were saying that we should be called something different. Something other than knights, since we’re special, training in magic and all.”
I shrugged while I refilled the ladle and offered it to her.
I noticed Silas over at the range, shooting bull’s-eye after bull’s-eye. Lucah and the other boys were asking him for pointers. Ryanne was standing next to Thomas, twirling her hair. I shuddered. “I’m going to go practice the bow,” I told Tessa.
“But I thought you were going to help me with sword play.”
“Aye, I forgot.”
She didn’t need much help though. Her main issue seemed to be that the sword was much too heavy. The princess might be able to help her with that since she seemed to want us girls to succeed and so far has lent a hand in making that happen. Since Lucah already used my knuckle slap move, I taught it to Tessa. She thought it was the best thing since sweet bread.
I finished up by practicing protecting our backs with our shields when striking. It was clever I must say. My natural instinct when I swung my sword was to keep my shield arm bent at the elbow. This kept the shield tight against my shoulder. By letting my elbow straighten and dropping my arm down, I was able to slide the shield behind me and protect my back.
Tessa took this one step forward. With her arm behind her, she flung it forward at full speed and released it. Her shield flew at me with such force that when it clanged against mine, the knightlys stopped what they were doing to see what had caused the raucous.
Someone clapped on the balcony. It was the king. “Excellent! What is your name again?” he asked.
“Tessa,” the wizard answered for her. He was standing by the king’s side watching us as well.
“Excellent,” the king said, “please continue.”
Silas was still helping others practice and tweak their bow skills. I had enough of dueling and told Tessa I was going to take my turn at the bow. She wanted to practice more with the sword and asked for a volunteer. Thomas offered and she immediately yelled, on guard! Before I traipsed over to the target area, I leaned in to whisper something in her ear. “Careful,” I said, pointing at Ryanne. Ryanne scowled in our direction, her eyes bulging along with a vein in her forehead.
“I’m not afraid of her. And we’re just practicing,” Tessa said.
I nodded and left Tessa and Thomas to their sword play.
My aim was atrocious. Besides the bull’s-eye in the center there were three rings going around the target. I couldn’t get any of my arrows to land inside the second or the first ring and many times I missed the target all together.
This time I tried it again. I pulled the arrow back and exhaled slowly. I held my breath and released. The arrow still landed on the outside ring, the one farthest from the bull’s-eye. I feared I would never get an arrow to hit the red circle at the center.
“Having trouble?” A voice asked from behind me.
“Aye, I can’t seem to hit the bull’s-eye or anywhere even close.” I knew the voice, it was Silas.
“Let me see your form. Don’t use an arrow and pull the cord back as if you were about to shoot,” he said.
A bead of sweat formed on my forehead as he stood watching. I pulled the cord back and held it. He walked a circle around me observing and commenting as he did. A low and throaty “Hmm...” escaped from his lips.
“Your form looks good,” he said, a sly smile creeping across his lips. He moved and stood behind me. “Set the arrow.”
I rested the tip of the arrow on my hand and was about to pull the cord back when Silas placed his hands on my wrists. I could feel the energy radiating from his body.
“Inhale deeply as you pull and then take aim.”
I did.
“Hold your breath for a moment and then exhale slowly.”
That wasn’t hard to do with him still holding my wrists, standing so close that I could feel his hot breath on my neck.
“Now make sure your aim is correct and release.”
When the arrow shot through the air I hoped it would hit the bull’s-eye, but alas, it entered the target at the very top—the outer ring.
Silas chuckled.
“Let’s try this,” he said, and then took me by the wrist and moved me one body length away from the target.
“This is ridiculous,” I told him. “I’m too close.”
“Then you shouldn’t miss.”
But I did miss. It was no use, I was terrible. Silas offered one more piece of advice. “Load the arrow and take aim, but don’t release it.”
When I had the cord pulled nice and taut, Silas moved to my side. “Don’t move,” he said, and then ran in front of me, sighting my arrow.
I stared into his violet eyes while my shoulder muscles began to fatigue. It felt like my shoulder was burning.
“I see your problem. You’re aiming all wrong.”
“Is that all,” I said sarcastically.
“Aye. Close your left eye. Good. Now bring your right thumb to your cheek, just under your eye.”
“Like this?” I asked, following his advice even though my shoulder was still on fire.
“Aye. Now bring your bow arm to your right just a bit. Good. Do you see how that looks straight now? It’s a straight line to th
e bull’s-eye.”
“Aye.”
Silas moved out of the way. “Release the arrow.”
I did and by some miracle it hit the target dead center. I couldn’t contain my enthusiasm and hugged Silas. When I realized what I had done, I broke our embrace and innocently looked around.
“Take a step back and try again,” Silas said, laughing at how uncomfortable I was.
I shook out the burn in my right shoulder, loaded another arrow, took aim and then released it. It struck the center once again. When I went back to my original distance I tried to hit the bull’s-eye and missed. The arrow hit within the closest circle to the center.
“Not bad, Alora,” Silas said. “More practice and you’ll be as good as me.”
“Better.”
“Huh...?”
“I’ll be better than you.”
“Aye, you must strive to be the best. But so will I.”
I watched him walk off, his bow disappearing and a battle axe taking its place. Tessa ran over — ready to interrogate me, I’m sure — but before she could, the king called us to attention.
Chapter 13
“Knights, I would like to see what you have learned today. Wizard, two knights please.”
“Aye m’lord. Alora... Lucah... to the center.”
I dispersed my bow and walked to the center of the courtyard, all eyes would be focused on me again—brilliant. The knightlys formed a circle around me and Lucah and I waited patiently for further instructions. The wizard began, “The rules are simple. You can use any weapon except the bow. When you hear me call out a point — do not stop — keep fighting until a winner is declared. Ready? Salute.”
I tapped my fist to my chest and Lucah did as well. “On guard!” the wizard shouted. I immediately summoned a sword and shield, but Lucah summoned his mid-charge and was already on me. He placed his shield in front of his body and braced his shoulder, ready to ram me. I dove out of the way, rolling to my knee and swung my sword behind me and caught his leg. “Point Alora,” the wizard announced.
I rose and prepared for the next attack. This time I was ready for Lucah. He was a slightly larger opponent and with his long legs, a faster runner than I. I planned on performing just as Tessa had instructed. Lucah raised an eyebrow and then launched his shield at me. I lifted my shield to block it and found myself falling to the floor after the second impact.
