by Kurtis Smith
Davin wanted another chance to best Egan, but he didn’t want to be beaten senseless again. “Roland taught me some, but never enough to really fight. I’ve told you this before,” he said, hoping that Egan would go easy on him.
“The reason why I ask is there are several things that you have done incorrectly just now. What are they?” Egan questioned quickly. This threw Davin for a loop. He nearly lost his composure. It was a bad sign if he was already faltering.
“I’m not certain,” he said, lamely.
Egan gave a slight frown and spoke sarcastically. “Let me start with what you did correctly. Drawing your sword before battle begins is very important.”
Davin gaped at him. “That’s not funny.” Egan had clearly been mocking him. Anyone who had a proper head on their shoulders could tell you to draw your weapon first.
“I wasn’t joking. You would be surprised how many underestimate the time it takes to ready your weapon.”
“Here’s what you need to remember for next time,” Egan continued. “Good balance is the difference between you gaining the upper hand and your enemy knocking you over and casting the final blow. Keep your arms bent and close to you and your legs spread wide. Doing that will maintain the balance you seek.”
Davin did what Egan said. It definitely felt more comfortable.
“Now strike me,” Egan offered.
Davin didn’t hesitate. With a grunt he charged at Egan with an overhead slice. Egan blocked it easily and pushed him to the ground.
“Do it again,” Egan commanded.
Davin got back into position and came at him again. This time he used an upward movement. Egan again met Davin’s sword halfway up its swing and it flew out of Davin’s hands. It landed a few feet from where they stood, clanging on the hard floor.
They continued the same exercise for several hours. Davin had barely managed to gain any ground on Egan. Two or three strikes were all he was able to accomplish before Egan brought him down. The morning flew by without them noticing. Egan continued to give Davin pointers all throughout the morning, up until midday.
“Stop,” Egan called. Frustrated, sweating and breathing heavily, Davin bent over and put his hands on his knees. He was happy it was time for a break.
Radash was standing next to Liam at the parchment table, but Davin hadn’t seen him come in. Davin somewhat hoped Radash hadn’t been there long. It was embarrassing to be beaten so badly for several hours straight.
And humbling. Knowing Egan, that’s probably part of the idea, Davin thought with a smug glance at his teacher.
“When you are washed and ready, gentlemen, lunch is served.”
“Thank you, Liam,” Egan responded. “Give me a moment with Davin and we will be in.” Liam acknowledged Egan’s statement and he led Radash back out of the gymnasium.
Egan turned to Davin when the others left. “I have a couple of points I will leave you with before lunch. Don’t be reckless and rush into battle and do not fight with your emotions. Keep calm and poised even through the most intense moments. You will be more focused and more available mentally to read your opponent.
Also, if you assess your enemy and your surroundings ahead of time you can use both to your advantage. I am stronger than you right now this is true, but you can still beat me in a fight by staying on one step ahead of my thoughts. We will work more on this tomorrow.”
They headed into the hallway that leaded them to the dining room. Davin thought about how informed Egan was about combat.
“Were you trained just as I was when you were younger?” he asked.
Egan jerked out of his forward gaze, taking a second to respond. “Yes, but we began much younger than you are now. Although children could not use their gifts or Driocht yet, they were trained in hand to hand, bow, and sword combat when they were young. This way they could more easily incorporate the Driocht once the boy or girl came of age.”
Davin opened his mouth to respond but Egan read his mind and answered his next question. Egan held up his hand to stop Davin from speaking.
“We will practice using your physical gifts when you have the basics of sword combat. If you don’t have that knowledge the rest is worthless. I’m sure you’ve figured out that we still feel pain like normal men.”
“Yes, I figured that by now,” Davin said. He turned forward again as they strolled out of the hallway into the dining room.
Egan stretched over to give Davin an encouraging pat on the back. Davin felt awkward in how to react to this reassurance. But Egan saved him the trouble. The arm was gone within seconds and Egan had already moved onto greeting the others.
Egan and Teague were sitting at the table waiting patiently for them. Liam ushered them to sit down. Teague sat quietly and began tearing into the plate of veal before him.
“Davin, I must say,” Liam started, even though Davin wasn’t in the mood to talk. He was hungry. “I watched you for a while this morning. The most important thing is not to get discouraged or frustrated. It takes time to master a new skill.”
Davin looked up from his food. “Who says I was frustrated?” he shot back. “It’s only my first day after all.”
Liam looked to Egan and they shared something before Liam turned back to Davin. He seemingly accepted Davin’s bluff. “Indeed it is. I am sorry I assumed otherwise, my friend.”
After a few more bites another idea occurred to Davin.
“How long do you think we have here, before they find us?” he asked.
Egan spoke from beside Davin. “From my estimation, it will be at least a fortnight before we need to think about leaving.”
Radash, who hadn’t said a word since Egan and Davin entered the room, spoke up. “If I may interject,” he started, as all eyes fell upon the quiet voice in the room. “Why doesn’t Governor Alanon conduct his search without the king’s approval? Captain Deverell seems to run things his own way. Who says this man would be any different?”
Liam addressed the question. “Naturally, that would be a correct assumption under normal circumstances. You see, Governor Alanon wants to look good to the king in every way he can. Fortunate for us, this entails following the king’s protocols exactly, even if it means waiting a fortnight to act.”
“That is why you must progress as far as you can while we have the time,” Egan said. There is no telling how much time you will have to learn once we need to leave.”
This got Davin’s mind churning. “What is our next move after this?”
Egan swallowed hard as if not sure how to answer his question. “We have a couple of ideas, but they don’t concern us yet. I want you to only concentrate on your training for now, no matter how curious you are of other matters. Remember that you cannot learn while your mind is distracted.”
Davin nodded his understanding. He knew that he had no choice but to learn these new skills quickly. Wherever his travels led and whoever they were with, he knew at some point he would need to be able to fight. Their lives, most likely, depended on it.
When they returned to the fencing hall Liam took the role of teacher. The afternoon meant mind exercises. Davin was given one of the two Driocht orbs in their possession. He stared at it for a long time, unsure of what to do with it.
Liam finally talked to him, “All I want you to do today is try to touch the dark matter within the orb with your mind. When you can feel the living substance within, then we will move on.”
“What if I-“
Liam stopped him, already sensing what he was going to say. “You will know when you connect with it. It has a sensation like nothing else in this world. We will talk more when you complete this first task.”
“Wait,” Davin said. “Isn’t there more to it than that? I thought I was actually going to be instructed. Not just left to get a feeling.” Liam did not acknowledge Davin’s snide final comment openly. He simply waited an extra second before he spoke again.
“Picture the process and draw on raw emotion to break the barrier holding your
mind back. The rest is entirely up to you. Further explanation of what to do cannot help you,” he said, then left Davin to his practice.
He watched Davin from the table of parchment for several minutes, gradually making him feel more and more uncomfortable.
Davin wasn’t sure how long this was supposed to take, but he knew that he was going to get nowhere with Liam’s eyes fixed on him. It distracted him too much. Finally Liam returned to rummaging through the table’s documents.
At the end of the day Davin had made no progress. This left him feeling disappointed.
The second day of combat training went the same as the first. Davin was becoming less spastic in his movements, but was still taken down by Egan practically instantly. The excitement, fast battles and the split second decision making required in swordplay still had Davin flailing his arms about in all different directions trying to counter.
“Davin, calm your anxiety. This will let each strike, block, or counter attack to flow fluidly into the next. It’s not all about speed. There’s an art to it.” And then a little later on he said. “Stop trying to be in three places at once. Just watch and anticipate my next strike, then movement to that one place.”
Feeling that his Driocht training would go this poorly, he was not looking forward to it.
He started the session clueless as how to begin, just like the day before.
Then about a half an hour in, an idea occurred to him.
Picturing the orb in his mind, he had himself reach out to it. He continued until his hand reached through the glassy surface and to the dark matter itself. Once in the orb, he grasped the dark matter in his hand and tugged, letting it bleed through the glass. There was a moment of uncertainty while he snapped out of his daydream. He couldn’t tell if it would work.
Nothing happened at first, and he was about to slump back in his chair and start again, but then he felt it. There was a tingling on the edge of his consciousness, like the interior of his brain had been asleep and blood was returning to it. He became so excited that he lost concentration. The feeling faded as quickly as it came.
“I think I began to project my mind,” Davin said excitedly to Liam across the room. “Does it always require you to envision the process in your head before you can do it?”
“At first, but as you get well practiced and have trained your mind better, it almost becomes second nature inside you. You can see the vision, draw out the dark matter, and perform the action in only a couple of seconds.”
After a few moments of contemplation, Davin began to try again and Liam spoke from behind him.
“This is good news that you have felt the power in your mind already. I admit, I expected a few more days would pass before you would have anything to tell me. Very good, my young friend.”
Davin smiled and nodded, “Thanks.”
He got himself to the point of feeling the sensation several more times that day, but nothing passed it. There was no reason to be frustrated. He had progressed farther than Liam thought he would. That was enough for him.
Soon a week had passed. Davin rose in the morning on the eighth day and went to the fencing hall to practice. Egan was there waiting to spar with him again. They fought for several hours and, for the first time, Davin noticed he wasn’t making progress. He had even held his own with Egan for more than ten strikes up to this point. But he had reached a plateau.
Still, Egan continued with the instruction. “One thing you should always remember, Davin. The fewer times you have to strike in a fight the better, so don’t try to increase the amount of times you can meet my sword. Most fights are decided within the first couple of blows anyway.”
Davin grunted his acknowledgement, but he was in full concentration. He just wanted to practice.
Egan spoke again after another few spars. “Try to plan for the least amount of hits. Keep fights going only when you know you can’t end it quickly. Do what you need to stay alive.”
Davin twirled the sword in his hand impatiently, rolling his eyes at Egan. “You’ve been preaching at me for a week straight. Just fight already.”
Egan set himself in position. “Well, I can’t help that you are so dismal with a sword.”
Davin smirked and seconds later their blades met again, continuing their sparring session.
Davin began to think more before each strike but, by lunch time, he hadn’t come close to beating Egan. And it had already been a week. That didn’t sound too good to him.
After lunch it was Liam’s turn again. Liam tried getting Davin to find where in his mind he could feel the most connection to the dark matter. That would be his starting point. Davin struggled to the point of sweating. He was getting quite good at playing the vision quickly, but he only could manage to make the air around his hand grow warm or flutter his hair slightly with the two orbs.
“Do not be frustrated with yourself yet. The initial interaction with the orb is the most difficult part. The rest is simply being diligent with hard practice.”
This left Davin feeling not much better. If the beginning was the hardest part, why wasn’t he progressing further as fast? It would have made him happy that it truly became easier, but he didn’t feel like it was.
Their lesson ended with Davin breathing heavily and drenched in sweat.
Furthermore, the fact that he hadn’t gone to explore the town bothered him. He was always so tired after a day of training that he only wanted to relax. And now he wasn’t even getting better anymore.
That night, after he was washed, he returned to the dining room. Liam addressed everyone before they started into their meal. “I must say this one thing before we eat. Tonight, I want you all to forget your troubles. Think not on what is to come. It will be here soon enough. Tonight is a night to enjoy.” He spread his arms wide and smiled.
After everyone was properly fed Liam brought out the drinks. They drank and told stories of tales from long ago until late into the evening. Davin didn’t have much to contribute. He didn’t know any songs and the only tales that came to mind were the famous ones. Still, he was slightly entertained in listening to the other three, despite his foul mood.
Page, the woman who had helped Liam save Radash and a few other gentlemen from Liam’s guild showed up not long after they started. More filtered in and out throughout the night. Their abundance of energy was spent jovially with the others, each contributing their own stories of history past down from previous generations.
Liam left the room for a moment at one point, returning with stringed instruments to play.
“Let us share in the brotherhood of good music, shall we?” he said formally, keeping his composure well considering how drunk he was.
Liam and Page performed a duet and even Radash strummed a song that Egan sang. Davin, most notably, discovered that Egan had a quite a pleasant voice. This was something Davin never thought he would ever catch Egan doing, even under the influence of spirits.
As the evening drew later, and the party showed no signs of slowing down, Davin drew even more away from the frivolity. This wasn’t right. How could they be celebrating in such a manner when time was so crucial? Roland wasn’t going to free himself. The army surely didn’t give up on finding them. He couldn’t be the only one who realized this.
Egan glanced at Davin shortly during a lull in the excitement. Davin didn’t try to mask his sour expression. He wanted Egan to feel bad. It didn’t work. Egan rejoined the laughter seconds later, unperturbed.
Was this it? Was this the moment he had to choose to go his own way?
It certainly felt that way, but it was much sooner than he had hoped. He had barely begun to learn how to fight and use Driocht. How was he supposed to single-handedly go rescue Roland from the army?
It didn’t matter. He told himself he would do it if things didn’t go his way. And right now he nowhere near Roland, and even further from getting back to his old life.
In one determined move, Davin rose from his seat and grabbed his travelling c
loak from his room. Making sure at least some rations, a sword, and an orb were tucked away in his pack, he slipped silently past the intoxicated singers.
As he stepped through the threshold of the front door, Radash spoke behind him.
“Where are you going Davin?” Davin spun around and was relieved that it was only Radash. He felt he didn’t really owe Radash an explanation.
“Out, I’ll be back later,” and he turned to the door again.
“Are you really going to risk our safety?” Radash asked poignantly.
Davin dropped his head irritably. He couldn’t leave now without telling Radash what was really going on. Maybe it won’t be so bad.
“You don’t understand,” Davin answered. “I’m…I’m leaving, for good.”
Radash blinked twice. “That doesn’t really make sense to me.”
“I never said it would.”
Radash’ answer came quickly. “Would you care to explain it?”
“Not really.” Davin examined Teague and noticed he was dressed to go out as well. “Why do you want to leave?”
“I do not know why I need to tell you, if you won’t tell me. But I just can’t enjoy myself in there. Let me come with you.”
If Davin gave him this, it would at least allow him a small way to keep the peace. He couldn’t really hold Radash’s reasoning over his head, and it might be a little bit better than going alone.
“You seemed to be fine in there a few minutes ago,” Davin retorted.
Radash shrugged but said nothing else.
Davin stood silently, then, “Alright, let’s go.”
They headed out the door, through the yard and into the glow of the lamp-lit streets of the wealthy home owners. This area of town was known to the locals as North Seaside District. They noticed it as they passed a sign. Another sign told them where the North Seaside market was. They followed the directions out of the neighborhood with the mansions and into the market.
They observed a handful of merchants closing their shops or out taking down street booths; obviously they were the stragglers of the night.
A few Grand Soldiers roamed the area. The City Guards had said there was a small garrison here. Davin steered Radash and him away from any groups of them. He wondered if they made the merchants nervous.