by Brian Keller
Mister Skran told the boys to line up biggest to smallest. Again there was some nudging and jostling as the boys shifted into position. Boyd was the biggest, so he was at the front. Cooper was the fourth from the smallest and Birt was near the middle with four boys between them. Mister Skran started with the smallest boys, pairing them up. The boy Cooper was paired with was slightly smaller than him, but only slightly. It wasn’t so much that he was shorter, he was just thinner. His light brown hair looked like it was combed straight down on the front, back and sides. His eyebrows started a little bit higher above his nose and got slightly lower as they went toward his temples. He had a little furrow between his eyebrows that made him look worried all the time. His eyebrows gave the impression that his eyes followed the same pattern, but they didn’t. His eyes were light blue and there was a steadiness in them that made you believe he had seen more in his few short years than most had seen in twice that. He had a narrow nose and slightly sunken cheeks. The fact that his chin was more squared off than rounded made his jaw line seem inconsistent with the rest of his face. The boy looked straight into Cooper’s dark eyes and didn’t flinch. The boy extended his hand, he took it and gave him a quick firm grip. The boy said, “You’re Cooper, everyone knows you. I’m Aden.”. Cooper nodded and said, “You have the seat near the door to the Scribes storefront. You stay pretty quiet but you answer Master Worthan’s questions when he asks you.”. Aden ducked his head and said, “You try to stay pretty quiet too, unless you’re busting Boyd’s balls.”. Aden chuckled for a second.
A few more seconds and Mister Skran had finished pairing the boys together and he stepped back into the center of the room. He announced, “We will begin with unarmed fighting.”. Several groans could be heard from the boys. Skran continued, “You will not be trusted with weapons until you’ve shown you know how to fight. Now stay in your pairs and make a circle around me.” Skran selected one of the boys from the circle and brought him to the center and led him through a series of strike/block/counterstrike combinations. He told the boys to pay attention because they would not learn anything new until they could do this in their sleep. He then sent the boy back to his partner. “Take turns being the first one to punch. Begin.”. Skran proceeded slowly for the first several trips around the circle, having to make many corrections and adjustments. Sometimes he would separate the pairs and step in to act as a partner to clarify a particular point. True to his word a few boys got struck lightly when Skran determined that they were just going through the motions and not actually practicing. Cooper noticed, with some satisfaction, that Boyd was one of these boys. After three hours, Skran told everyone to stop, shake out their arms and listen. “Now that most of you are comfortable with the sequence, the combinations need to mean something. What that means to you is you should be trying to strike each other. The blocking is the responsibility of the blocker. If you fail to block properly, expect to get hit by your partner. If I see a striker changing his movement just to get in a hit, expect to get hit, by me. Begin.”. Later in the day a few that had been corrected a few times earlier got the wind knocked out of them. Each time, Skran leaned over them while they were regaining their breath and said, “You are ignoring what I am teaching. Stop wasting our time.”. By the end of the day, the only instructions Cooper and Aden were receiving was, “Good. Faster.”, and then Skran would move on.
After the first day, they would only spend a few hours a day in the training room. The rest of their day, they spent in the classroom, a couple hours copying and the rest of it receiving instruction from Master Worthan. The messages continued to come in with regularity, which often provided a welcome break from studies. Cooper had asked what happened with messages that came in while they were learning to fight. He’d been told that there were still plenty of second year students that had not advanced adequately who were available to make deliveries in their absence.
As the days passed, the partners remained the same but the sequences became more complicated and Mister Skran showed them how to use different parts of their hands for striking. He explained that a punch to the face surely hurt, but it also hurt the puncher. Holding a fist incorrectly could result in a broken hand. He demonstrated using the side of the fist, the edge of the hand and how to hold your arm in order to effectively strike with the heel of the palm. “This is very different than a slap.”, he explained. He then demonstrated how to use their elbows for striking. With the right timing and at the proper distance, an elbow strike can be devastating. He explained that the elbow was one of the only striking surfaces of the body that could still be used even if injured. This might not be true of the hand.
After ten days of prescribed combinations, Skran told the boys that they would alternate as they always had, but would start with any combination with a previously taught strike of their choosing, the blocker would need to react appropriately and then counterstrike, and so on. For Aden and Cooper, who had agreed to push each other despite the monotony of repetitive combinations, this was a refreshing and even rewarding change. Over the next week, the boys became much faster under Skran’s supervision and one afternoon Skran pulled Cooper out and paired himself with Aden. Skran told Aden, “I will start the sequence”. Skran crouched down and snapped out a quick strike which Aden was able to partially block but Aden was put off balance enough that he was unable to effectively counterstrike. Skran said, “Now strike me.” Aden lashed out with a strike to the side of Skran’s head. Skran didn’t even move to block, but Aden’s strike never landed. Aden had pulled his strike and was preparing to block Skran’s counter. Skran’s other hand surged forward like a blur but only lightly swatted Aden on the side of his head, then he stood up and withdrew. Skran was looking down at Aden and said, “You understand what I’ve just shown you?”. Aden looked slightly ashamed and nodded, “Yes, sir.”. Mister Skran turned to Cooper and promptly dropped into a crouch and, without warning, struck at Cooper’s face. As soon as Skran had turned Cooper had dropped into a crouch, so when Skran struck, Cooper reflexively tilted his head to one side as he blocked and moved to counterstrike. Blocking the strike had put Cooper off balance and Skran shifted his footing such that he caught Cooper’s foot who then tumbled to the floor. Skran watched Cooper scramble back to his feet and simply said, “Good instincts, but don’t be so eager with your counterstrikes. Trying to strike while you’re off balance is wasted effort and it makes you vulnerable. Continue.”.
Boyd still took any opportunity to try to dominate or humiliate Cooper. With the addition of Training Room classes the occasions grew fewer, perhaps because Boyd had found another outlet, but Boyd still remembered that Cooper had gotten the better of him on most of their verbal exchanges. Cooper stayed focused enough on all his lesson that he hadn’t even bothered with developing a plan against Boyd.
Mister Skran now started each session with ten minutes of stretching to increase flexibility. He also began teaching the boys how to kick properly, how to position their feet to avoid injury, how to use different surfaces of the foot when kicking. He explained that a tense muscle might produce some force, but it could not produce as much speed. He further explained that a flexible arm or leg could move faster, and then by applying strength just as the strike or kick made contact it would produce much more power than simply using strength alone. He expected the boys to be able to kick opponents in the head, but also explained that in their profession there was little call for that. Boyd asked, “If we aren’t going to use it, why are we practicing it?” Aden leaned over to Cooper and said, “Uh-oh.”. Skran looked at Boyd and said, “Who are you?”. Boyd looked incredulous but he said, “I’m Mister Boyd!”. Skran said, “No you’re not.”. Boyd was speechless but Skran continued, “If you speak to me or ask me a question you will call me ‘Mister Skran’. If you speak to me like we’re classmates, then you’d better be as good as my classmates. If you aren’t, and you’re not, then you’re a maggot.”. Skarn paused for effect then said, “So, maggot. Could you repeat your questio
n for the benefit of class?”. Cooper thought Boyd would pass out from all the trapped rage that was boiling up. Boyd knew that he’d been disrespectful and Mister Skran had called him out. Boyd also knew that Mister Skran was hopelessly beyond reach but he had trapped himself. He could feel control slipping away but he had to recover. He cleared his throat and said, “Mister Skran, if we aren’t expected to ever need to kick someone in the head, why are we stretching and practicing so we can?” Mister Skran smiled and turned away from Boyd and toward the rest of the class, and Boyd looked at Skran like he wished he had a dagger to drag across his throat. Skran said, “That’s a fair question, mister Boyd. The answer is this, if you can properly kick someone in the head, then you can certainly kick a target lower than that with even more speed, since you’re not near the limit of your flexibility. If you only practice low kicks, then those will be the only kicks in your arsenal.”.
The classroom studies continued, it took Cooper some time but he came to understand number usage and began to work figures well enough that he could add or subtract small stacks of numbers in his head and had memorized multiplication tables, and had figured out that those tables worked in reverse as well. Cooper had decided that copying his textbook was a mixed blessing, since now he was copying lessons that hadn’t been covered in lecture yet. He enjoyed learning, but when Master Worthan taught the class Cooper sometimes had some difficulty staying engaged in class since he already understood the material. It helped that Master Worthan inevitably had information to add that wasn’t in the textbook, and Cooper would add these tidbits in the margins or between the lines of the book he was copying into.
Cooper was now carrying out Courier deliveries on his own but found it wasn’t as fun going out alone as it was when he was with Birt. His friend always seemed to find ways to make things entertaining. He did discover, however, that he could perform his deliveries much faster by himself than he had with Birt. He knew how to effectively weave through the crowd, and Birt just strolled along at a slower pace. If a cart blocked his path, Birt would often just stop and wait for it to move along before walking again.
Chapter 9
A few days later, about an hour after breakfast, a scribe leaned into the classroom and waved Master Worthan over to him. After a brief few seconds of whispering Master Worthan gestured for the scribe to sit at his table as Master Worthan stepped into the storefront. He was gone for about ten minutes and then he leaned in and called out, “Mister Cooper! Come here please.”. Cooper hopped up and walked briskly, choosing a path that avoided passing next to Boyd, to where Master Worthan stood. Cooper looked up at him expectantly. The old Master said simply, “Follow me.” As he stepped back into the storefront, Cooper dutifully followed. Sitting at Master Worthan’s desk was a filthy, smelly, ratty looking scrap of a girl. Her eyes were shifting all over the room, never staying in one place for more than a moment. Master Worthan turned to him, handed him a token with a picture of some kind of plant leaf with a bottle in front of it, and said, “This girl is named Loryn. She is a new arrival. Show her to the newcomer’s room and see that she gets settled. Please try to answer her questions as well as you are able, and try to fill in some answers to questions she might not think to ask. Treat her… kindly while she adjusts. Understood?”. He stood straight and tall, “Absolutely, Master Worthan!”. Master Worthan turned to the little girl and said, “This is Mister Cooper. You’ve heard the instructions that I’ve just given him. Do not be afraid of him, he will take care of you. Go with him.”
Loryn stood without looking up and shuffled over to Cooper. Master Worthan turned and went back into the classroom. Cooper extended his hand to greet the little girl and she shrank away. He squatted down to be lower. “You heard Master Worthan tell me to treat you kindly. I will. You heard him tell you not to be afraid of me and that I’d take care of you. I will. I’m Cooper. You can trust me.”. The little girl spoke for the first time since he’d stepped into the room, “I’ve been lied to before.”. He stayed in his squatted position when he replied, “Loryn, we’ve all been lied to before. And I’m sure that you’ll hear more lies all through your life, but not from me.”. He stood and added, “At least not today.”. Loryn looked up at him for the first time and started to shrink away, ‘His eyes are so dark they could swallow someone!”, she was thinking. Then she stopped short, ‘Did he just wink at me?!?”.
He turned to walk away, gesturing that she should walk with him. As he was reaching to open the door he said, “You’re probably cold. Let me show you where you’ll be sleeping and then we’ll get you some warm clothes that fit you.”, and he walked into the next room. She was thinking, “What? A place to sleep?! Clothes?!”, and her feet were moving to follow this boy she’d just met as he led her into a place of total uncertainty.
As she entered the next room, she saw rows of tables and chairs with boys of various ages seated at them, all bent over, reading and scribbling. As she stepped in, several boys looked up to see who had entered the room. Then a few more looked up, then a couple more. Within seconds it seemed like every eye in the room was on her. As the boys realized what they were seeing, facial expressions ranged from pity, curiosity, disgust, and contempt, or some combination. She had started shifting back into the corner behind her. Then Cooper was squatting down in front of her again, a very genuine, kind expression on his face. No pity at all, no disgust at all, and absolutely no aura of cruelty about him… at all. Cooper slowly reached out his hand, “Come with me.”, he said in a very gentle voice. His eyes seemed to be filled with something dangerous, but somehow she could feel that it wouldn’t be directed at her. She dropped her gaze but accepted his hand and walked with him as he led her from the room. As they were leaving the room she could hear a boys voice, “Aww, look at that. Birt would you like a hanky?” and a chorus of chuckles followed. She heard Master Worthan’s voice whip across the room, “Silence! Back to your studies. Mister Boyd, come here please.” At the sound of Master Worthan’s raised voice she had gripped Cooper’s hand a little tighter.