Solo A new day

[Reed]

Date: 4th of Winter, 519 A.V.

Reed walked out sluggishly onto the Antinous training grounds. He was not used to wearing armor, or carrying weapons. His tools had always been one of convienence that could be easily discarded once the fight was through. While a stool felt at home in his hands, the short sword and buckler he'd been given were ungainly.
They dragged his arms down with their weight. All of this ran thorugh his mind as he stepped forward to join the other squires.

He found them standing in a rough semi-circle around their instructor, Knight Miriam Antinous. She was shorter than he'd expected, and was not in full plate like the squires. Instead she wore a simple grey tunic, and trousers. In her hand she carried a longsword that she sharpened while she waited for the rest of the squires to fill in. A few moments later, on some unseen signal, she stood up abruptly, tucking away her whet stone before addressing the gathering.

"Now before we begin, we've got a couple of new faces today in need of placement, so if you will all form a circle, we'll start with Reed. Step into the center with me please." She said, gesturing him forward.

Don't petch this up, Merdem thought with a sneer.

Reed ignored the slight, and slid down his face plate. Steeling himself for this encounter, he tightened his grip on his short sword and buckler before stepping forward. Around them, the squires circled, eerily reminiscent of his time in the pit. They had young innocent faces though, and lacked the blood lust of a Sunberthian crowd.

"Now, I want you to swing at me Reed. Don't hold back, I need to see what you are capable of." She said without lifting her sword. Reed responded by lunging forward with an awkward swing. She countered with a swing of her own that took his blade high, and tore it from his grasp. He winced as the blade bounced across the stone floor. It came to a rest at the edge of the ring of squires as he suddenly felt very hot.

You don't belong here

Biting back a reply, he walked over to retrieve his sword, fortunate that the visor hid the embarrassment that must be plain on his face. As he neared the blade, a squire nudged it toward him with her boot. Her face was plain, devoid of the judgement he'd expected there. In fact, when he looked around, he didn't see anyone pulling faces at him. They looked on almost bored, which was reassuring in a way. Nodding his acknowledgement to the woman, he picked it up and rejoined the instructor.

"Again!" She shouted once he was back in the center, drawing him forward by slowly backpedaling. This time he tried stabbing forward with the sword.
She sidestepped the move easily, and slammed the flat of her blade against his wrist. He dropped the blade, and pulled his hand back to rub at his tingling wrist.
Petch that hurt even through the armor. Everyone just stood quiet, staring at him till chagrined, he picked up his blade again.

"Again!" She said, turning her back to him. Reed hesitated. In a move to quick for him to register, Miriam turned about, and feinted a strike at his legs. When he haphazardly went to block the blow, his sword and buckler clanging together, she jabbed up with the hilt of her blade. It connected hard into the side of his helmet, and he collapsed forward onto the ground, head ringing. The acrid taste of bile stung the back of his throat, and his eyes were blurry as he rolled onto his back. Above him, the image of Miriam Antinous slowly came into focus.

"I think I'll pair you with Galina Hastings for todays training. Welcome Reed" She said with a grin, holding out a hand to help him up.

Merdem was suspiciously silent.

[Reed]

Off to the right of the entrance in an area with a relatively flat patch of grass, he sparred with Galina. Much like his fight earlier with the instructor, he was taking more than he was giving, but his partner didn’t rub it in his face. She was very respectful about it, always allowing him to get up from where she laid him out. Small blessings. It wasn’t even half past the tenth bell, and he felt exhausted in a way he hadn’t for a very long time. To top it off, the pads under his plate chaffed him something fierce in the joints. His back hurt like the first time he tried to stand and petch. He was of course taller than most of the whores in Sunberth so naturally he had to pick her up. The next day, he barely could crawl out of bed his back was so tight.

Across from him, Galina looked as resolute as always, standing tall and at the ready. Well, maybe tall wasn’t the right word. She was shorter than most of the other Squires at five feet five inches, but her back was straight as a board when she took up her stance against him. He tried to remember how she held her shield slightly angled away from her while she carried her sword high to her right, but when he tried it felt off. Like he was back in some alley playing pretend with the other street rats. So often, when they moved to practice swings together, he fell to what felt practical to him. Which was mostly trying to keep the sword from flying from his grip and trying not to trip up his swings with the shield. To her credit, she was patient with him, letting him take swings at her to get warmed up before she started swinging back. For every swing he gave, it seemed like she gave two back. Galina didn’t look like she could swing hard, but it wasn’t long before both of his wrists started to feel numb under the blows. Her latest attack had sent him stumbling back onto his arse, and it had taken him longer each time to get up in this heavy plate.

As always, she was standing there waiting for him, sword at the ready. Stepping forward, Reed slashed across with his blade. It struck her shield high and bounced back. While his attention was focused on his blade, hers came jabbing in low out of the corner of his vision. Reed flinched backwards; shield forgotten as the blade ringed off his thigh. By the time his own blade came down to deflect, her blade was back up and sweeping at an acute angle. He threw his shield up to block, quite literally. Released from his grasp, it came promptly tumbling back down when her blade struck it. It slid off the ground and under his right boot as he moved to get around her shield arm. Again, he went crashing to the ground to the sound of muffled laughter from Galina.

“Here, let me help” Galina said, lifting her visor and extending a hand. ‘Gut her now’ Merdem rumbled. ‘Petch you’ Reed sent back, clenching his eyes closed and pointedly dropping his sword before taking the squire’s hand. She wore a big, goofy grin that cooled the hot rage Merdem brought out of him. “Thanks” He said stiffly as he got up with her help. His head tilted briefly to look at his discarded sword and shield before looking back at her. “Don’t worry about those,” she said gesturing the weapons, “my first week, I was dropping them left and right. The trick is getting the proper grip.” Then she demonstrated by drawing her sword from where she’d stabbed it into the dirt and flipping the blade horizontal to show the way she handled it. Her fingers curled neatly around the grip, while her thumb curled over her index at a comfortable angle. “By holding it this way, it can change the angle of the blade with a twist of my wrist by pressing against the guard with my thumb and forefinger”

She stepped back and sent the blade through a few passes to show him. Picking up his own sword off the ground, he sent it through a few passes of his own before picking up his shield. “For your shield, you are going to want to secure that forearm strap first or you are never going to keep that on you” Galina said, holding her shield out wide. He saw the strap she mentioned wrapped around her forearm and looked at his own shield in confusion. “Oh?” He said in surprise, finding the strap he’d thought had been an alternate handle. Sheepishly, he strapped it across his arm, and mirrored the grip he was trying out for the sword.

“Looks good, lets try it out” Galina said once he’d secured his shield, stepping forward to lob a slow slash at him. He brought his shield up to block and grunted. “You don’t need to do that”

“So?” She asked, swinging low. “maybe I’m getting tired” He blocked it easily and took a swing of his own which she checked with her shield. Reed snorted and stepped inside her next swing as she went high, dropping his blade as he did so. Galina hesitated as he hooked his foot behind her right leg, pushing forward as he gripped the front of her cuirass. Off balance by the unexpected maneuver, she tumbled backwards under his weight as they slammed together against the ground. Taller than her, his head ended up bouncing against the ground stunning him for a moment, but the fall had stunned her as well. Used to keeping his head after such hits in the pit, Reed recovered first. After straddling her on the ground, he gripped her face plate with his free hand and pulled it forward so he could get a good look at her eyes through the opening. “You don’t need to do that” He said more calmly than he felt before standing up and dusting himself off. Almost as an afterthought he extended a hand towards her which she promptly slapped away, staggering up to stand on her own.

[Reed]

He didn’t know how he felt about what he just did, but neither did he have much time to think about it. Galina slashed at him, and he barely managed to bring his shield up to block, his sword forgotten. Backpedaling, he checked a second strike from her, a third, fourth. His arm ached under the blows as he struggled to keep the shield in front of him. The fifth ripped it from his grasp, the loose strap getting tangled around his wrist. Before he could properly register that however, Galina charged him, her shoulder impacting with his breastplate. He flew backwards, landing on the ground hard, his helmet ringing for the umpteenth time today, deafening him.

Reed struggled to get up onto his elbows, trying to shake off the dazzling lights that spun in his vision when she landed hard upon him with her knee. “Don’t” pant, “manhandle” pant, “me” pant, “again” pant, she said between gasps, her voice tight. She took a moment after that to do some deep breathing before continuing. “Now, I know you are used to taking orders so make sure you remember this one. You think just because you may be bigger, and stronger, you can’t take learn a thing or two? Huh?” With a huff, she stood up, and backed off him. “Keep that in mind the next time we spare”

That said, Galina sheathed her sword, and walked off to talk with another squire who had stopped to watch. Ponderously, Reed got up and retrieved his shield and sword. He hadn’t expected such wrath from the small woman. Her words struck a chord though, something to chew on for sure even if he didn’t exactly agree with her assessment of him. He had just meant to not look weak in front of the other Squires, but as the thoughts came, he realized the point. This was not Sunberth were everyday was a struggle to keep what little he had to his name. Here the weak were protected by the strong, and that was what he was weak. He wanted to be strong though, and he had to take these lessons on the chin if he was going to do that.

Behind Galina and the other squire, Miriam and a familiar man watched him. While she was glaring daggers at him, he wore a softer expression. The man was Kaer Curisaris, whom had freed him from slaver, and so much more. Reed suddenly felt the full weight of shame for what he’d done, and quickly avoided their eyes to study his boots. How much had he seen? When had his mouth gotten so dry? Forcing a swallow, he shifted awkwardly before steeling himself and heading towards the pair. The idea of just sitting there, waiting to see what would happen didn’t appeal to him in the least. When he got there though, Kaer had walked off, and the instructor was facing away from him.

“Spar with Coen till it is time for a break” She said without looking at him. From his side, a young boy approached. Reed rolled his eyes and squeezed his eyes shut. Really?

[Reed]

Surprisingly, sparring with Coen helped him reign in his temper. The boy was a lot like Scrav whom he’d grown up with on the streets. Fierce and stubborn, the boy put him through his paces. While Reed was still trying to grip the sword in a way that didn’t feel awkward, Coen was working through a series of moves. It went like slash downward, shield up, step back, and slash across. Then he would repeat it, always deliberately slow. Reed for his part initially parried the first strike and stepped. forwards but didn’t have his shield up so he got slapped high on his arm plate. Chagrinned, he decided to play it slow like the boy, until he learned the routine.

However, even when he thought he had a firm grasp of the basics, he found it difficult to exploit the openings he thought he saw. He’d get in close and then get thwacked by an unexpected move with the sword or shield while his blows always got parried. Not that he was swinging his hardest against this kid, but still. The boy anticipated him easily every time and was ready with a counter.

Worse, the petching armor was exhausting to even walk in. Slow was his max speed now that he had been swinging the sword around for a few bells now. It made it much easier to anticipate his strikes and every time he was rebuffed it was a struggle not to stagger backwards. When the instructor finally called for a break, Reed almost wept with relief. He immediately limped out of the training area, eager to strip off this armor that was starting to feel like a sauna.

[Reed]

Kaer was waiting for him outside of his room. He was smiling, which was supposed to be a good sign, but he had a wry squint to his eyes that Reed had learned to be wary of. “A lot harder than it looks.” Reed muttered as he passed into the room, holding the door open for the older knight before closing and bolting it. Kaer raised an eyebrow at that, but he just shrugged. His head knew Syliras was much safer than Sunberth, but the bolt calmed his blood all the same.

“We all had it had it hard our first day” Kaer said taking a seat in chair. Reed moved to do the same, but his sword bumped awkwardly against the chair and forced him to adjust it before he could sit. “I think I’ve hit everything and everyone with this sheath on the way too and from practice.” He groused, fiddling with the buckle of his sword belt. “You’ll get used to it soon enough. It’ll become like anything you do enough times. Just got to keep in mind what they are showing and telling you out there. This isn’t anything like the pits.” He drew that last bit out tellingly, and Reed studied his undone buckle for a few moments longer before meeting the knight’s eyes.
“I know, I lost focus out there, but it won’t happen again” He said as he undid the fasteners on the underside of his forearm plate. “Look, it happened and that is that. Just be more mindful in the future. You need to maintain a balance of body and mind, especially when you are training so when things get heated your body knows how to react”

One side done he worked on the other as he considered how to deal with the intrusive thoughts that seemed to seize control over him when his blood was up. Merdem was what he called it when that dormant side of his personality came to the fore, but he wasn’t sure why. It had just come to him when he was facing death in the ring. He couldn’t shake it either no matter how silly it sounded to his ears.

“How is everything else?” Kaer asked and Reed realized he had been expected to answer before now. “Its fine, still getting used to these corridors. Strange being inside so much, but I’m getting used to it along with many other strange things.” Kaer chuckled at that, scratching his chin as he looked Reed up and down. “Yeah, it is certainly an acquired taste, but the city is certainly safer for it.” Reed nodded thoughtfully, and stripped off his breast plate, breathing a sigh of relief as the air cooled his exposed skin. The rough spun shirt he wore clung to his body, soaked in sweat so he stripped that off next.

“How long did it take you to get used to the armor?”

“Oh, it was quite a while before I felt the least bit comfortable in plate. For the first year, I ached in places I didn’t even know I had muscles and chaffed something terrible in the joints. My feet felt like more there were more sores than sole on the pads, and I’d struggled to keep my head up during morning sparring after the first few days.”

“Great, something to look forward to” He said examined his own foot after taking off his shoe. The skin there was already a light pink in places as blisters started to form.
“Remember, just take it a step at a time and it will go easier on you. Trust me. I tried to take it all in at first and ended up stretched thing, accomplishing nothing. If you take your training a piece at a time, and really learn it, things will go smoother for you.” Reed started to nod, but Kaer held up a hand, not quite finished with the sentiment. “I’m not saying it will ever be easy, because this is a difficult road you have chosen. I’m just saying there is a smart way of going about it, and there is a way to make it far, far more difficult if you close your mind to what people are trying to teach you.” At that, Kaer stood up, and put his hand on Reeds shoulder for a moment before leaving the room, closing the door behind him. Leg armor half unfastened, Reed limped to the door and bolted it before sinking down to the floor in a slump. He tried thinking on the words Kaer had said but the moment the back of his head hit the rough wood of the door, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

[Alric Lysane]

Reed

Hi!

Should you return please update your CS and PM/DM me for your Grade!

~ Alric