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Authors: AC Cobble

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BOOK: Benjamin Ashwood
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As
soon as they dropped their gear, Rhys began building a small cook fire, Amelie
and Meredith began preparing dinner and they all watched Ben and Saala
practice.

“Tonight
we will work on two things.  First, the most basic aspect of swordsmanship and
second, the most fundamental.”  Saala pulled a long branch out of Rhys’ pile of
firewood and walked over to where Ben was standing.  “Hold your sword up and
defend yourself.”

Ben
raised his sword with both hands and before he could react, Saala flicked the
branch against Ben’s blade and sent it spinning out of his grasp.  “Your grip
is too loose.  Try again.”

This
time Ben gripped hard on the wood pommel of his sword and was ready for Saala’s
blow.  But again, the blade flew from his hand as soon as there was impact. 
This time because he was gripping so hard, he felt the shock run up both his
arms.

“Too
hard.  A steel blade against your’s and your entire body would have been
ringing.  In between those two is correct.  Try again.”

A
third time Saala brought his branch against Ben’s sword.  Even prepared as he
was, Ben barely managed to hold onto his blade.  He grimaced as he heard the
girls laughing over by the fire.  He wasn’t sure what he expected, but so far,
sword play was not as dashing as he hoped.

“Better. 
Not good, but better.”

Saala
spent the next two bells positioning Ben’s fingers on the pommel and showing
him various grips for different strokes.  Primarily the difference was one
handed or two handed, but there were nuanced differences between how to hold
the blade for a backhand stroke or a forehand one.  During this time, every few
minutes Saala would step back and swipe at Ben’s blade.  Sometimes as a
surprise, sometimes with warning.  Ben only held on about half the time and
Saala stopped commenting on the results.  Before long, the tree branch was
covered in chips and scars where Ben had managed to meet it with some force.

As
the hand grips changed for different strokes, so did the footing.  Saala would
kick Ben’s feet until they were in the proper position.  Sideways with one
handed grip, strong hand forward, sideways with two handed grip off hand
forward, centered with two handed grip, neutral position and on and on.

Saala
explained, “holding onto the sword is a basic need of course.  Having the right
footing is fundamental.  Without the right footing, nothing else I can teach
you will matter.”

After
two hours, Ben’s arms were aching with the effort of keeping his sword point
up, his hands were blistered and would have been bleeding if Saala had not
wrapped rags around them.  He was barely keeping his grip one out of five
times.   

Saala
scolded, “you are getting worse and that is enough for tonight.  We will
continue again tomorrow night and every night until you are sufficient.”

It
had an ominous ring to Ben’s ears.  They sat down with the group and dished out
the last of the rice, beans and sausage the girls had cooked.  It had been a
fairly easy day of travel, mostly downhill with only a few rolling hills to
deal with.  The next day would be the same. 

Ben
was battered and bruised from the fight the night before and the sword practice
with Saala, but he was in high spirits.  He felt like he was on the cusp of
something amazing.  Camping out on the open road in good weather, with good
company and the promise of adventure.  He couldn’t think of anything he’d
rather be doing.

Lady
Towaal and Meghan were the only ones who didn’t seem to be in a good mood and
had both retired to their bedrolls early.  Lady Towaal had her perpetual frown
and Meghan was still upset and quiet about the events the night before.  Rhys
produced a small silver flask and stretched out with his head on his pack
quietly staring up at the sky.  Swaying pine trees framed a clear starry night.

Ben
was left around the fire with Amelie, Meredith and Saala.  Since Lady Towaal
was not paying attention, now was his chance to find out what this strange
group was doing together.

In
between bites of dinner Ben casually asked, “so Amelie, what is your part in
this journey?”

She
looked at Saala, who just shrugged, before answering, “I’m going to The City
also.  Like Meghan, I will become an Initiate at the Sanctuary.”

“Oh,
I am so sorry!  Were you forced to go too?”

“No
I, well, no…  I am not being forced.”  She hesitated then finished, “it’s
complicated.”

Obviously
there was more to it than she was letting on but Ben didn’t want to spoil the opportunity
to talk so he didn’t press.  He turned to Meredith and asked her, “Meredith,
are you also joining the Sanctuary?”

She
blushed and replied, “no, I am only accompanying La…, I mean Amelie.”

Ben
smiled and nodded.  He caught her slip but again played it slow and didn’t
comment.  So at least one of them really was a Lady.  Was Meredith also a Lady
or some sort of assistant?  He scooped another spoonful of rice and beans and
thought that everyone’s role was starting to come together.  A Lady would have
body guards, even if she was travelling with a Mage.

Amelie
spoke up to take the attention off of her handmaiden, or whatever she was,
“what have you heard about The City, Ben?”

“Not
much really.  Just what the stories tell.  No one from Farview has ever
travelled that far and the merchants that come our way mostly trade in this
area.  I’m sure what I know is more fantasy than reality.”

“The
City is a place of fantasy.  I have never been there myself, but I have spoken
with people who have.”  She snuck a look at the back of Lady Towaal who was
lying a good distance from the fire and wrapped tightly in her bedroll in the
cool night air.  “The Sanctuary is there of course, and it’s a major commercial
and political center.  The City is where Nations meet.  At least, that’s what
they say.  The markets there are said to be full of exotic items from places
you’ve never even heard of.  My mother has a device from there that she places
in the bath and within minutes the water is as hot as if the maids just brought
it in.”

Ben
blinked.  Nothing like that had even been mentioned in the stories.  The idea
that someone would use magic for something so – practical – was a little
disconcerting.

Amelie
sighed and continued, “not that I will be likely to see any of the markets.  As
an Initiate you spend most of your time studying.”

Ben
stuck another thick branch in the dwindling fire and asked, “how, I mean, what
happens at the Sanctuary?”

“They
train us to be Mages.  In exchange for payment or more often service to the
Sanctuary, they will teach us what they know.”  Amelie grinned at Ben, “it’s
not as exciting as you think.  Real magic is nothing like the stories.  There
are no rain storms called out of a clear blue sky, no speaking with animals and
I’m told there is definitely no flying.”

“No
flying?  Then it hardly seems worth it!” exclaimed Ben with a grin.

Amelie
chuckled and Ben watched tension drain out of her body.  He hadn’t noticed it
before.  Despite her brave face, she was scared of what was coming.  He didn’t
know if it was the training itself or the mysterious circumstances she was in,
but Amelie was definitely dreading something that was to come.

They
turned the conversation to lighter topics and started to wind down for the
night.  Ben was burning to know more about The City, but they still had a long
way to travel and his thoughts skipped towards the other places of story he
would see.  They would be in Fabrizo in two more weeks and that was a place
some residents of Farview had actually been to.  It was still exotic for Ben
though and it seemed more real.

 

The
next two weeks continued like that.  They slowly came down from the mountainous
terrain near Farview and Murdoch’s into rolling hills and flat coastal plains. 
The weather got warmer but stayed pleasant, and for Ben, it was some of the
best days of his life.

The
journey was along a broad well-travelled road and was mostly downhill.  At the
end of each day they would make a quick camp.  Ben and Saala would work on
sword practice and the girls would cluster around Lady Towaal with their heads
together.  Rhys turned out to be a capable hunter and would leave to scout the
area, collect firewood and return with rabbits, birds or something else to
supplement the dry goods they brought with them.

Saala
never commented on it, but Ben could feel himself improving with the sword. 
His arms were getting stronger and he rarely lost his blade when Saala struck
it.  He could not move with anything close to the grace that Saala had, but he
was more comfortable with the blade and had progressed to learning defensive
forms.  The girls no longer laughed at his clumsiness and that was most
important.

Without
pressing them, Ben slowly drew more information from his companions during the
quiet nights around the campfire.  It turned out they all had some mystery
though.

Rhys
was always friendly and willing to talk, but when Ben probed for more detail on
something he kept on in a rambling, distracted way that eventually led away
from the answer and into another topic.  Ben found out that Rhys wasn’t in the
employ of Amelie like he initially suspected, he had come with Lady Towaal.  He
was a resident of The City and the only thing he liked to talk about were the
ale houses – of which he had encyclopedic knowledge.  Before the two weeks on
the road was up, Ben felt like he knew more about The City’s drinking
establishments than he did about the Buckhorn Tavern in Farview.

Ben
liked Rhys and he was a great travelling companion because of his endless
entertaining drinking stories, but Ben felt there was more underneath the
surface.  Rhys was the only one who ignored Lady Towaal’s pointed suggestions
and glares, despite the fact that he apparently worked for her.  He also
carried what looked like a well-used long sword and two wicked long-knives but
never participated in Saala and Ben’s sword practice.  Ben suspected he was
more of a Hunter than a hunter.

Amelie
was the next most talkative in the group but she also kept her secrets.  The
difference was that on the second day she flat out told Ben she didn’t want to
talk about her family.  He respected her intentions but over time he was able
to draw out small details and paint a picture in his mind.  She was from the
city of Issen and Ben got the impression she was somehow related to the Lord of
that city.  She was going to the Sanctuary at the behest of her father.  Lady
Towaal had arrived in Issen with Rhys in tow to take her.  Amelie’s father sent
Saala to keep her safe until she was officially enrolled as an Initiate.

Meredith
kept silent and seemed to struggle with her role in the group.  Over the two
weeks it became clear she was Amelie’s handmaiden, but Amelie admonished her to
not act like it while they were travelling so they wouldn’t raise suspicion. 
She wasn’t going to study at the Sanctuary so she didn’t need to listen to Lady
Towaal’s lectures each night, but she listened many times anyway.  The other
nights she would assist Rhys with the camp and the cooking.  Unlike Amelie and
the others, she had a little chip on her shoulder when it came to Ben and
Meghan.  She was from a big city, lived in a house with Lords and Ladies and
she made it clear she considered Ben and Meghan country bumpkins.

Lady
Towaal herself had very little to say to Ben.  To her, this trip was business
and she had no interest in making friends, particularly with a boy from a small
town in the mountains.  She wasn’t rude, just direct.  Aside from the lessons
with the girls she rarely spoke at length with anyone, she just made imperious
directives to the group as a whole.  She’d glare around the fire and bark out,
“we’ll leave a first light” or some other instruction.  Ben found it was easy
to follow her commands and pretend she wasn’t there the rest of the time.

Saala
and Meghan were the only two that didn’t seem to have secrets.  Ben would walk
with Meghan while they were on the road but the two of them rarely spoke. 
Farview was too recent to reminisce about and neither of them knew what to
expect in the future.  They both enjoyed the comfort of a familiar face though
when both of their lives had been turned upside down.

Saala’s
natural state was silence but he readily answered questions when Ben had them. 
Ben quickly found out that he didn’t know what to ask.  Saala said he spent
most of his time travelling and he didn’t keep a permanent home.  The concept
was foreign to Ben but he found the idea of hitting the road and moving towards
a new horizon each day to be invigorating.

The
most interesting piece of information Ben got from Saala was how he became a
Blademaster.  A large part of Ben was still that boy who sat on the edge of his
chair in the Buckhorn Tavern picking apart every word of a story about
Blademasters and their adventures.  The opportunity to get the real details
from an actual Blademaster was a thrill he wouldn’t have believed possible.

Saala
said he was from a wealthy family in the country of Ooswam.  Ben was afraid to
admit to Saala he had never heard of Ooswam.  Saala caught on and explained it
wasn’t part of Alcott, the continent they were on, it was far south of Fabrizo
and Farview – past the Blood Bay and the South Sea.  Ben kept to himself that
he didn’t know enough geography to know what that meant either.

BOOK: Benjamin Ashwood
12.75Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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