Sara let out a long-suffering sigh as she came out of their bedroom. “Please excuse him. He lacks manners, decorum, and most social graces.”
“Woman, make some breakfast for our guests and let us know when it’s ready. The short ones will be outside with me. Come on, stubby and stubbier, let’s get to training.”
“Is it wrong to want to throat punch him?” Tom asked as Charlie walked out the door.
“Feel free. It won’t kill him and maybe it’ll teach him to be nicer,” Sara said. “Good luck. He’s going to be hell.”
“Fun,” Harry said. “You get to stay inside and meditate on your navel while we get to deal with the grumpy bear,” he glared at Dick as he followed Tom out the door.
Sara sent Dick out to get the others when breakfast was ready. He stepped out into the yard and his jaw dropped. Tom and Harry were laying on the ground, both covered in dirt, and panting heavily. “What the hell?”
“They’re learning,” Charlie said. His clothing was not exactly clean, but he at least did not look as if he had been rolling around in the dirt like his friends. “See if you can get them up. Breakfast isn’t waiting, after all.”
Dick went to Harry first and cleaned him with occultism. “Dude, you okay?”
“I think he’s a Russian sadist,” Harry muttered.
“Why Russian?” Dick asked as he moved to clean Tom up.
“Because he loves alcohol and he laughs like a crazy Russian when he gets excited.”
“Is that what that was?” Dick chuckled. “I wasn’t sure from inside.”
“I want to hurt him... hurt him so bad,” Tom grumbled, getting to his feet with a grimace. “He called this a warm up, which means after breakfast will be worse.”
“I’ll be starting after breakfast, and Harry, you were right. Sara says the first step to learning a spell is listening to her from a trance.”
“Gods, I hate magi so much right now,” Tom complained, starting for the door.
“Right?” Harry agreed.
Breakfast was tasty, but Tom and Harry’s enjoyment was muted because Charlie kept grinning at them while he ate. Sara offered them seconds, which both accepted. Charlie grumbled, but sat there drinking his beer as he waited for them to finish.
Dick wondered if maybe this had been a bad idea when he watched the three of them head to the yard. “He’s not going to break them, is he?”
“No, he’ll stop short of that,” Sara said as she gathered up the plates. “He really does like you three. I haven’t seen him so happy in years.”
“I hope they can survive until dinner.”
“Enough worry about them. You have your own task ahead of you,” Sara said as she began to clean. “Sit and clear your mind. Once you’re ready, I’ll start teaching you.”
~*~*~
Groaning as water splashed on his face, Tom sat up. “What?”
“Dinner,” Dick said. “Thought you’d like to eat.”
“Harry?” Tom glanced around, spotting his friend a foot away, also slowly waking up.
“That man is a German-Russian sadist,” Harry mumbled.
“Why?” Dick asked.
“He’s too methodical to be just Russian,” Harry said, wobbling as he got to his feet. “Every inch of me aches… wait... not every inch, thank god.”
“Same,” Tom said. “I used everything I could and I still feel like I could fall over dead.”
“I vanished twice, and both times, I failed to stab him,” Harry muttered, clearly upset with himself.
“Dinner is waiting,” Dick said, helping guide his friends. “Sara made something special for you two surviving the first day. I hesitate to say it, but she did say that today was just a testing day.”
“Is it wrong to kill your host in the middle of the night?” Tom asked.
“I don’t think I could,” Harry replied. “I don’t think I could lift a knife high enough to do the job.”
Following the two inside, Sara gave them a long look before she looked at Charlie with a disapproving glower. “Charlie?”
Charlie looked away from her, “Don’t you give me that look, woman. They wanted to learn. I’m just teaching them.”
“They are novices, and you need to keep that in mind,” Sara said in the same crisp tone.
“Tomorrow I’ll be showing each of them some of the things I think they should learn. I had to run them ragged today to make sure I knew what would be best,” Charlie replied, but it almost sounded like he was making excuses.
“Please sit,” Sara said to the friends. “I made strip meat and peppers.”
“Oh, one of my favorites,” Charlie said, reaching for the first pan.
A ghostly hand caught Charlie’s. “You should go get some of your private stock for dinner.”
Charlie frowned but got up from the table. Once he was out of the room, Sara motioned them toward the stove. “Take what you want. He’ll likely empty the pans once he gets back.”
Charlie came back after a few minutes carrying a small keg. Setting it on the table next to him, he filled the mugs Sara brought him and handed them around the table. His lips thinned when he noticed all the plates other than his heaped with food.
Sara took his empty plate, setting hers in front of him. “There, now eat up,” she said, kissing his cheek and filling her plate with what was left of dinner.
The friends thanked Sara repeatedly, savoring the delicious meal. The venison was cooked perfectly, and the peppers added a hint of spice without being overbearing. Charlie’s special beer turned out to be rich, with a surprising zing after a few seconds.
As they finished up, Sara retrieved a small pie. Setting it down in front of Charlie, she handed him five small dishes and a knife. Charlie looked sad, but he cut the pie into equal sections and handed out the dessert without complaint.
“This is a family recipe. I hope you enjoy,” Sara said.
Tom was the first to take a bite. “Custard and pears, very nice.”
The other two quickly followed suit. “I didn’t expect the cinnamon,” Dick said.
“It’s amazing,” Harry said, devouring his. “Damn, it’s all gone.”
“They never last,” Sara laughed lightly. “Normally, someone eats all but a single slice.” She glanced to Charlie, who was eyeing Tom’s not yet empty plate.
Tom met Charlie’s eyes before stuffing the last bite into his mouth, giving the brewer a big smile as he chewed and swallowed. Once he could speak again, Tom told Sara, “It was delicious.”
“Thank you. I don’t make it often, but you two did so much today that I thought you might enjoy a special treat.”
“We did,” Harry added, licking the last bit of custard from his spoon. “Delicious.”
Charlie eyed them both before he rose to his feet, “Goodnight, sleep well. Tomorrow, we get serious.”
Sara watched him go with an exasperated sigh, “Oh dear. I’ll talk to him. Tomorrow shouldn’t be too bad.”
Tom and Harry exchanged a look before Harry got to his feet. “We should turn in early, too. He really worked us over good today.”
“Thank you for the wonderful meal,” Tom added.
“I’ll help you clean up,” Dick said, starting to gather the plates. “Is it normal to feel like something’s right on the tip of your tongue while you’re learning a new spell?”
“Oh, yes. The feeling gets more pronounced the closer you get to learning it, too,” Sara replied. “Most people try to find ways to reduce the learning time required, too, because the more powerful spells can take a month to learn.”
“I’ll have to keep that in mind,” Dick murmured. “I’d been hoping to learn how to do ritual magic when I could.”
“A good thing to know how to do. It does help a lot with preparation before combat and downtime,” Sara agreed. “That is the main part of growing in strength, though; figuring out which path is best for you.”
~*~*~
Tom groaned as he staggered into the house for d
inner. “I fucking swear, he is a demonic German-Russian sadist.”
“Who gets energy by pushing us to the breaking point,” Harry agreed.
“Every time I’ve seen you two the last couple of days, you look like boot camp rejects,” Dick said, using his magic to clean them up.
“You’ve had it nice, mister caster,” Tom grumbled. “Sitting inside, sipping tea, talking about the lint in your belly button.”
Dick rolled his eyes, “Sure. While you’ve been having your bodies turned to jelly, that’s been my brain.”
“We haven’t been able to tell the difference,” Tom deadpanned as he stepped inside.
“Motherf—” Dick began.
“You haven’t warned us for the last two days when Charlie comes to wake us up. You ain’t getting a lot of sympathy right now,” Harry cut him off.
“Pretty sure you’re supposed to stop him yourself.”
“Oh, we got a plan,” Harry said darkly.
“This I have to see,” Dick chuckled.
“You’ll be awake for it,” Harry said coldly.
“Yup,” Dick said, opening the door. “Come on, shorty, dinner is waiting.”
Dinner was much like it had been for the past few days: a different, but superbly prepared main dish along with top of the line beer, and then a dessert that was mouth-wateringly good. Tom and Harry turned in as soon as dinner was over, earning laughs from Charlie, who kissed Sara goodnight before heading off himself.
“Are your friends okay?” Sara asked Dick. “They’ve gotten more withdrawn over the last two days.”
“Neither of them likes losing, so Charlie thrashing them every day has started to take a toll,” Dick replied. “They’ll be fine, since tomorrow is the last day.”
“It is. You should be able to cast the spell by noon,” Sara nodded. “You’ve done well.”
“I had a good teacher. Let me say thank you for myself and them. They might not feel like saying it tomorrow.”
“Thank you all, as well,” Sara smiled. “Charlie has been so happy over the last few days. It’s been ages since I’ve seen him like this.”
“I’m not sure they would like to hear that,” Dick laughed. “Goodnight, Sara.”
“Goodnight,” Sara said, heading for her bedroom.
Awake a little after midnight, Dick sat next to the window, thinking on how he was learning the spell. The last three days had been spent in meditation, absorbing the gestures and words needed to mold the raw energy of magic into the exact result he wished from the spell. With his battle mage ability, he did not need to worry about the gestures, but the words became doubly important. Hearing movement behind him, Dick did not turn his head to look, instead keeping his focus out the window. He did not know what his friends were up to, but he did not want to spoil it.
An hour before sunrise, Dick heard movement inside Charlie’s room. Turning to face the door, Dick smiled when he looked at the piles huddled under the blankets. At a casual glance, it looked very much like both of his friends were under their blankets.
“Morning,” Dick said as he had every morning.
“Today is the last day,” Charlie smiled. “Last time getting to roust them, though I’m a little surprised that they aren’t up yet.”
“You’ve worked them to exhaustion over the last few days,” Dick reminded the brewer.
“That is true,” Charlie laughed lightly. “Oh well, time to wake—”
Charlie was pulling his leg back when a booted foot came shooting out of the blankets, catching his other leg. He wobbled in place, stumbling but managing to stay upright.
“Tricky,” Charlie laughed. His laughter cut off as sudden, intense pain hit him.
“Thanks,” Harry added, finishing his attack with the wooden training blade with a jab to Charlie’s spine. The first two shots had been to both his kidneys, leaving Charlie gasping on one knee.
Charlie coughed and spat out a gob of bloody phlegm. “Now that is good teamwork,” he laughed. “Good, you pass. When the fight isn’t fair, even it up however you have to.”
“You better be cleaning that up,” Sara said, entering the front room with a put-upon expression.
Dick cast occultism, cleaning it up. “I knew you guys could do it.”
“Is that why you didn’t move this morning?” Harry asked.
“I might have glanced toward where you hid if I’d known,” Dick grinned. “So I made sure to have no idea.”
“Wonderful,” Charlie roared in laughter. “No more training today. Today, we drink and I get you some gear.”
“After breakfast,” Sara said primly. “I have five more hours of teaching Dick. That’ll give you plenty of time to show off your armory.”
“After breakfast,” Charlie repeated, taking his seat at the table. “We’ll equip you and then have a real go at it to see if you’ve learned what I’ve been trying to teach you.”
“Against you again?” Tom asked.
“No, against each other,” Charlie grinned.
Harry nodded, “Might have a chance.”
“In your dreams, shorty,” Tom replied.
“Sit. Breakfast will be simple this morning,” Sara said. “Frumenty with honey.”
“Fru-whaty?” Tom asked.
“It’s wheat, boiled and cracked,” Charlie replied.
“A thicker oatmeal,” Sara clarified.
“Ah, got it,” Tom nodded.
“You’ll be heading back to Greenways today?” Charlie asked.
“That’s the plan, but depending on when we leave, we’ll know how much we have to hustle to get back before nightfall,” Dick said.
“You should just stay another night, since you won’t be able to leave before noon, anyway,” Charlie said. “Since the gobs have been dealt with, I can get you to Greenways tomorrow. I’ve been meaning to take a load that way. I normally give it off to one of the merchants, but it’ll be good to stop in and pay my respects to Laurel Rand.”
“I’ll make sure there are some things sent along for her,” Sara said softly. “Poor dear is probably unsure of what to do now.”
“We’ll accept the offer,” Tom said. “I’m sure shorty will be glad not to have to walk.”
“Fuck you, Tom… though he isn’t wrong,” Harry admitted.
“Then it’s settled,” Charlie said. “One more day of training.”
When breakfast was done, Charlie led Tom and Harry around the back of the house, where a pair of solid iron doors were set at a forty-five-degree angle. Pulling a large, rune-inscribed key from his belt pouch, Charlie opened the doors, revealing a set of stairs. “In you go.”
Tom was the first one to go down the stone stairs. At the base of the stairs was another iron door. “Protected much?”
“It is,” Harry said, picking up a faint red glow on the door’s lock. “It’s trapped, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. Best you don’t play with that one, either,” Charlie said as he moved to the door and unlocked it with a different key. “There we go.” He pushed the heavy door open and light spilled out from the room.
Tom whistled softly. “Nice man-cave.”
Harry had to nod as he followed Charlie into the room. A variety of weapons and armor were on display, all of them well cared for.
“Let’s see about a shield for you,” Charlie said, going over to where a few shields were hanging. “This one should do to start.” Taking down a heater shield, he tossed it to Tom and moved over to a display of long daggers. “And something better than what you currently have,” he said to Harry.
Tom snagged the heater shield and strapped it to his arm. The soft fur lining of the leather straps made it comfortable to wear. The wood had a bit of heft, but the steel rim accounted for most of the weight.
“That should do for you. Your magi friend, though, he’s a tough one,” Charlie said, handing off a good blade to Harry. “He carries a wood axe, but that isn’t meant to be a weapon and won’t fare well against hobs. Maybe a staff or a spear
to give him some range to keep them away long enough for Tom to get back to him.”
“That short spear would probably work,” Tom said, pointing to a dark hafted one.
“Heh, he isn’t getting that one, but you’ve a good eye. I think I’ll give him a proper axe, since he’s at least used one in battle.” Charlie chose one that was half axe and half hammer, weighing it thoughtfully in his hands for a moment before nodding. “That should do it.”
Greenways Goblins (Resurrection Quest Book 1) Page 16
