by Tyler Earp
* * *
They spent the night in the Academy, and Charley almost cried when he saw the bathroom had hot water. He had also become so used to not sleeping on a bed, that it had almost felt weird to him.
I could get used to this, Charley thought to himself as he looked at the donkeys that Ban had given to them. Just as long as they don't fart.
That day, Rafe stopped earlier than he normally did. He had them set up the tents before pulling Charley, Abe and Nina into a large clearing among the trees with practice swords in hands. “What, did you think you were going to get out of training?”
“It had crossed my mind,” Nina muttered under her breath.
Rafe growled. “It shouldn't have. I must turn each of you into competent warriors. What should take a decade, I have to teach in just a few short years. Not only that, but you must each learn to master your Paths.” He paused for a moment, his back turned to them before shouting out, “The first pose.”
They each snapped to attention, holding practice swords out. Arms and knees slightly bent with back straight but relaxed. One foot further out than the other, with the gap in between feet about shoulder-width apart, Charley reminded himself.
Rafe walked around each of them. Without saying a word, he made the usual adjustment to Nina's feet that appeared impossibly small. He had them hold the swords at attention for what had to be twenty minutes.
Surprisingly, Charley felt none of the usual strain from holding it. In fact, it felt completely weightless. Rafe leaned against a tree and a small smile spread across his face. “From now on, you will practice forms with your real sword.”
“What about sparring?” Abe asked.
Rafe barked a laugh. “If I wanted one of you to be missing an arm, I would cut it off myself. No, sparring will still be done with practice blades, but none of you have anything more to learn from the stave's balance. All of you know the correct forms, now you need practice implementing them with the balance of your swords.”
He broke Nina and Abe off into a pair and had them start a mock match while he paired himself with Charley. Oh great. Another death sentence.
Rafe smiled at him. “I want to test something. Draw your real sword.”
Charley groaned. “Not again. Isn't almost killing me once bad enough?”
“Don't worry. I'll use a stave.”
Charley tilted his head. “Won't I cut it?”
“No. I'm going to imbue it with magic. If it hits you, it will just leave a nasty bruise, and I'll hold back on Amplifying. Now get set.”
Charley faced Rafe, his sword held at ready. Why do I deserve this? He slid his feet into position and nodded at Rafe. Abe and Nina paused to look over, forgetting that they were supposed to be sparring.
Without looking, Rafe said, “Get back to it, you two.” Rafe covered the small amount of space between them and jabbed at Charley. He felt the same weightlessness again as he effortlessly knocked Rafe's blade away.
A light appeared in Rafe's eyes. Charley gasped as he saw a flash of Rafe's intentions. Before Rafe had even made the move, Charley preemptively moved his blade to block Rafe's blow.
A moment later, Charley found himself kneeling over with Rafe's boot planted in his stomach. He looked up at Rafe as he stepped back. “I don't– understand. I saw what– you were going to do.”
Rafe grinned. “No, you saw what I wanted you to. I figured out how your Empath powers are manifesting. You can read other people's intentions. I just had to trick your ability into reading something that wasn't going to happen.”
“So you tricked me? Isn't that cheating?”
Rafe laughed. “Do you think sword fighting is all about chivalry and honor? It's not. It's about survival. You can be as honorable as you want, but you would be honorably dead if you refused to fight dirty.”
Charley sat, thinking about what Rafe had said. He decided to go with the easier topic. “So how did you trick me?”
“It was easy once I figured it out. I let you see what would be the easy move, and then I do the unpredictable. I moved by instinct, not with my training I feinted you out, basically. It's not as easy as it sounds. If you were a better- trained swordsman, I could have easily lost my leg. I would not try it against a veteran, just someone like you.”
Charley smiled. “Well, the good thing is that I don't have to fight you for real– or anyone like you.”
Rafe shook his head. “That is exactly why I showed you this. Someday you might not be able to rely on your intuition and magic. You might end up fighting someone who can do exactly what I did.”
“Is there any way for me to see through it?”
Rafe shrugged. “When your Empath abilities mature more, who knows. But, for now, the best thing you could do is train your swordsmanship. You could easily be almost as good as Abe if your could overcome your aversion to violence.”
“What if– I don't want to?”
“That is certainly a noble sentiment, but not exactly a smart one. It is like I said, nobility usually just gets you killed. Now, get out your stave. I want you to practice repressing the abilities while you train. That way you can concentrate on controlling your Path.”
“How do you know that will build control?” Charley asked.
Rafe shrugged. “I knew another Empath once. She was like you.” He refused to say anything more on the matter.