Stone Soul to beat one of the challengers from the Tournament. He congratulated me, but warned me not to revel too much in smaller victories, that it was the big challenges in life that must be overcome at all costs, not the individual skirmishes. I supposed I understood what he meant. I wanted to tell him about Daija, I wanted to ask his advice, to know how he and my mother had started out, but I didn’t ever feel it was the right time to ask those kinds of questions. We talked about mother’s garden and her experiments with alchemic brews. We talked about his work; he was helping to reinforce some of the battlements around Helmsbridge in preparation for the coming Dragonbirths.
By the time we arrived back at the academy, I felt fully refreshed and ready to slay a dragon or two.
***
“Caedan!”
Boe was the first to see me as I finally arrived at the training grounds after saying my goodbyes to my father at the perimeter. I’d been directed to suit up and join my class, but I hadn’t even reached the barracks when I saw Boe’s familiar red locks bounding toward me. We embraced and I could feel a change in Boe, like it had been a very long time since I’d seen him and he’d spent that whole time doing nothing but training furiously. It turned out that was almost exactly what had been happening. Commander Hawk had moved on from our class to train the younger recruits while we were assigned a new instructor. Master Walker Ebondell.
“He’s insane,” Boe said, which, coming from him, was saying something. “You’re going to have a hard time keeping up with things at first.”
It was hard not to take that personally. I forced a smile and just said, “You’ll see.”
He shrugged at me and then changed the subject, saying, “You arrived just in time, we’re going to be splitting into our dragon quest teams today. We’ll be having skirmishes and the winners will get to choose someone to be on their team.” Teams were groups of five, and we’d spent some time trying to guess how Hawk would assign them. It turned out that he wasn’t even going to have anything to do with it.
“You’ll want to warm up,” Boe warned me as he jogged off to the training grounds, presumably to follow his own advice. I hurried to the barracks to get my armor on.
***
Master Walker explained the rules briefly, and I got the impression it was mostly for my benefit. We’d each be assigned an opponent and the first to win three matches would be declared the winner and permitted to choose another Stone Soul to join their dragon quest team. For my skirmishes, I was assigned to spar with Warley. He had a determination in his piercing black eyes that I was sure I’d never seen in him before. In truth, everyone in the class seemed to have a certain new ferocity and drive. I hadn’t spent any time training with Master Walker, but I was already beginning to fear him. I hoped I would have an advantage because I was well rested, but I was also out of practice while it looked like everyone else had some new tricks and techniques. In all, it seemed like it would be a fair fight.
Boe was assigned to spar with Irvin. I didn’t much like Boe’s odds, even though it was obvious that he’d improved in the time I was gone. I knew Irvin didn’t really like Boe’s constant enthusiasm and that he’d see this as a chance to show up Boe as well the chance to choose a team member. But I didn’t have any time to focus on Boe’s match. I had to figure out what to do about Warley.
I decided not to let Warley have time to size me up and realize how well rested I was, or how rusty I felt. The moment the first round began, I sprung forward and went for a decisive blow. He fought off my attack, but he was clearly caught off guard and I pressed my advantage with two more relentless strikes. I felt a thrill as my practice sword broke though his defenses and came into contact with his neck. Victory. Warley stumbled backward and fell on his butt,
By the time we arrived back at the academy, I felt fully refreshed and ready to slay a dragon or two.
***
“Caedan!”
Boe was the first to see me as I finally arrived at the training grounds after saying my goodbyes to my father at the perimeter. I’d been directed to suit up and join my class, but I hadn’t even reached the barracks when I saw Boe’s familiar red locks bounding toward me. We embraced and I could feel a change in Boe, like it had been a very long time since I’d seen him and he’d spent that whole time doing nothing but training furiously. It turned out that was almost exactly what had been happening. Commander Hawk had moved on from our class to train the younger recruits while we were assigned a new instructor. Master Walker Ebondell.
“He’s insane,” Boe said, which, coming from him, was saying something. “You’re going to have a hard time keeping up with things at first.”
It was hard not to take that personally. I forced a smile and just said, “You’ll see.”
He shrugged at me and then changed the subject, saying, “You arrived just in time, we’re going to be splitting into our dragon quest teams today. We’ll be having skirmishes and the winners will get to choose someone to be on their team.” Teams were groups of five, and we’d spent some time trying to guess how Hawk would assign them. It turned out that he wasn’t even going to have anything to do with it.
“You’ll want to warm up,” Boe warned me as he jogged off to the training grounds, presumably to follow his own advice. I hurried to the barracks to get my armor on.
***
Master Walker explained the rules briefly, and I got the impression it was mostly for my benefit. We’d each be assigned an opponent and the first to win three matches would be declared the winner and permitted to choose another Stone Soul to join their dragon quest team. For my skirmishes, I was assigned to spar with Warley. He had a determination in his piercing black eyes that I was sure I’d never seen in him before. In truth, everyone in the class seemed to have a certain new ferocity and drive. I hadn’t spent any time training with Master Walker, but I was already beginning to fear him. I hoped I would have an advantage because I was well rested, but I was also out of practice while it looked like everyone else had some new tricks and techniques. In all, it seemed like it would be a fair fight.
Boe was assigned to spar with Irvin. I didn’t much like Boe’s odds, even though it was obvious that he’d improved in the time I was gone. I knew Irvin didn’t really like Boe’s constant enthusiasm and that he’d see this as a chance to show up Boe as well the chance to choose a team member. But I didn’t have any time to focus on Boe’s match. I had to figure out what to do about Warley.
I decided not to let Warley have time to size me up and realize how well rested I was, or how rusty I felt. The moment the first round began, I sprung forward and went for a decisive blow. He fought off my attack, but he was clearly caught off guard and I pressed my advantage with two more relentless strikes. I felt a thrill as my practice sword broke though his defenses and came into contact with his neck. Victory. Warley stumbled backward and fell on his butt,
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