Closed Boy in the dark

[Reed]

Date: 20th of Winter, 419 A.V.

Reed woke up in a cold sweat, his bed sheet twisted around his legs. Already the dream was fading but the man in the water stuck with him even as the conversation blurred. He was breathing hard through his mouth, heart beating rapidly in his chest. Sucking in air through his nose and out through his mouth, he focused on calming himself, and pushing past the nightmare. They were becoming more frequent of late, interrupting his sleep a couple of times a night. Coupled with his strenuous training it was wearing him thin, and the voice inside his head knew that. It was ominously quiet for now, but Reed knew that it was only biding its time. He laid back down, but it was no use. A frenetic energy filled him now, yearning to be released, so he got up, throwing on some clothes before heading out the door.

Outside, all was quiet. He didn’t see anyone on his way to his destination save for a couple of bleary-eyed knights on patrol who waved him on his way. Coming out onto the open sky of the training grounds, he saw why. Morning was still several bells off, much to the displeasure of his weary mind. Maybe he could run off this energy in time to catch a quick nap. He started at a jog, working his way around the parameter of the grounds at a leisurely pace. Focusing first on breathing through his nose and out through his mouth, he picked up his feet as he moved. In, out. In, out. As the pace dictated. He carried his arms crooked at an angle swinging in time with his steps. He kept his fists balled up as he moved, rotating his shoulders only a little bit with each step.

Next he focused on trying to take longer strides, extending his legs further though it ruined his gait and rhythm. His breathing forgotten, he started breathing through his mouth more as he struggled to control his erratic pace. The longer strides felt off to him though he could feel them giving a good strain to the muscles in his legs. Most notably his calves and thighs. A stitch started developing in his side, and a crick in his neck, but he ignored those for now. He pushed past that pain to continue running along at the pace he had set, though he carried his shoulders a little more stiffly than before. He should have stretched beforehand. He knew that, but he felt dumb for not taking the time to do it. While he had been so preoccupied with avoiding stillness, he hadn’t thought to take the proper prep before exercising and pushing his body. So, he decided then and there to avoid pushing himself too hard. After all he had a whole day of training ahead of him and he didn’t want to strain something before the exercises with the other squires. He wanted to keep pace with the class. That was everything to him, and for the most part the restless energy that had stirred him awake had left him. With a few bells still remaining before dawn, he set off to his apartment to catch a quick nap before the more formal training began for the day.

[Reed]

5th Bell

A few bells later, Reed was back at the training grounds with the other squires. Today, they started off with some group stretches to get warmed up before sparring practice. First, they were to stand up straight with their feet spread evenly apart before bending at the hip, and reaching downwards to touch their toes with both arms held straight. Reed did his best, but couldn’t reach past his upper ankle without bending his knees out to the side which wasn’t apart of the proper form of the stretch. So instead his fingers hovered around his lower calf as he strained to bend as far as his body would allow, stretching out the muscles in his lower back, and along his hamstrings as he did so. He wobbled a little, but not enough to throw him off balance which was fortunate given the embarrassment he would have felt falling over in front of the other squires. It was only the warmup, and already he felt wiped. He needed to get a hold of this sleeping thing that was bothering him. But how?

He tried the next stretch, hoping that might instill some wakefulness in him. For this one, they were putting their weight on their left leg that was curled underneath them, while their right leg extended straight out. Then, with both hands again, they had to reach for the toes of their right foot, or in Reed’s case, as far as he could manage along his right leg. He made it midway up his shin and held that stretch for 15 seconds. After, he did the other leg before standing up with the rest of the squires for the next stretch.

This one Reed dreaded as it was a degree more difficult than the other ones. For this one, they had to stand on their right leg, while holding their left up behind them. Then, while keeping that posture with their faces, and torsos pointed straight ahead, they had to twist to the left as far as they could manage and hold that for 15 seconds. Reed nearly toppled as he did so but managed a slight twist while he wobbled on one foot. Then they did the other side and took a brief break before advancing on to the final stretches. This last one wasn’t so bad in comparison to the others. They were what the instructor called lunges and involved them sticking out their right foot as far as they could in front of them, and then angling forward to put their weight on that leg while their left stretched out horizontal behind them. Stretching out his right leg like the rest, he made sure to keep both hands-on top of his right knee while he extended his left leg out behind him. His left leg trembled as he kept the posture, and he managed to hold it partially, only resting his leg against the ground around 10 second in. It was pretty much the same for the other leg, reminding Reed that he needed to work on his stretches more in the future if he was to keep up with the rest of them. Kaer was always quick to drill him on the importance of a good warm up to avoid injury at practice and having fought in the cages for much of his adult life, Reed didn’t disagree. Preparation was life or death, and while it was always about putting on a good show, the outcome was often determined far in advance for such encounters. At least his fights were.

[Reed]

With the stretches done, they all went to go get armored up. Reed would be sparring with Coen today, so he walked with him there. “Mind helping me fasten up. I’ll do the same.” He asked as they drew close. Coen shrugged, and pulled on his harness. “Sure. You using the pollaxe today?” Reed nodded as he strapped on a harness before sitting on a bench to work his foot through a cuisse and pulled it up onto his thigh. Strapping it in place, he worked on the next, before cinching the greaves around his lower legs. Finally, he strapped the poleyns over his knees and stood up, shaking each leg to check if anything was loose. Nothing slid inappropriately so he picked up his rerebraces, making sure those were good and tight before he put on the vambraces, and couters. Then came the part he’d need help with, the Cuirass as he wasn’t so flexible yet to cinch the straps around his lower back.

“Ready?” He asked, and Coen nodded, moving behind him as he picked up the cuirass an put it around his chest. While he worked on the side straps, Coen helped with the harder to reach buckles, patting him on the shoulder when he was done. “Thanks” Reed said as he jerked the cuirass a couple of times to make sure it was secure. With that done, he put on his pauldrons next, managing to get one strapped on before Coen needed help with his cuirass. They made quick work of the rest, strapping on the gorget and finally helmet before they stepped towards where they’d be sparring today in the training grounds.

Coen went with a long spear for practice today, while Reed hefted a pollaxe, carrying it in a two-handed grip, steel butt up, not too unlike how Coen wielded his spear. Imagine if we’d had this in the pit? Reed stopped walking and turned to face Coen. They’d chosen an interesting part of the training grounds for their sparring session today. Here, there were low towers of rock that littered the field between them, allowing for maneuverability in the close quarters. The ground was hard flat earth. Decent fighting conditions as he saw them, even if he was still so unfamiliar with the arms and armor. He wasn’t too nervous, however. If there was one thing brawling had taught him, it was how to persevere even when you got shite for options. More to the point, this was training. A fact he had to keep reminding himself from time to time.

He jabbed the butt of his pollaxe, the cue, in the air a few times to get reacquainted with the weight of the weapon. Across from him, Coen made a few practices passes of his own at a stand of rocks. The boy was quick with the weapon, a lot quicker than Reed with his pollaxe, and he made a mental note of that as he took up a stance in front of the boy.

[Reed]

Slowly, he advanced forward, holding the metal que high, and ready. Coen made the first move, striking low so Reed had to step to the side to avoid the blow. He swung the butt of the pollaxe in response, chasing Coen back as it went harmlessly through the air between them. The younger squire made another strike, this time at his midsection which Reed diverted with the haft of his pollaxe. They were just using slow practice swings, but still the move felt jarring in his grip as the hard wood knocked together. He kept his grip at least, and taking a step back, slashed upwards with the head of his pollaxe, still trying to buy more space. Coen just grunted at that, and stabbed forward again, this time high. It glanced off the edge of his left pauldron as he tried to step aside to avoid the blow.

The move brought him inside of Coen’s reach, and he swung the que down to bang against his right rerebrace. Coen shoved him back with the haft of his spear held horizontal, and Reed backpedaled to keep his balance. He struck again with his que, missing this time as the boy twisted away from the blow and jabbed at him from the side. Tucking his elbow in, he blocked the blow between his vambrace and couter. The strike thankfully had little weight behind it, so it just scrapped off the armor as Coen pulled away and adjusted his stance. Reed charged forwards a couple of steps and swung the head of the pollaxe in a wide arch which Coen easily danced backwards to avoid, but it bought Reed a few moments of breathing room while he decided what he was going to try next.

Coen adopted a wide stance, his spear carried at a slight angle in front of him as he guided the end of it towards wherever Reed was shifting towards. Reed followed his point and held his que still before him as he closed the distance between them. Coen struck out, low with the tip, and then high with the butt. Reed managed to step around the first but took the second hit on his left rerebrace as he jabbed forwards with the metal que of his pollaxe. It struck Coen’s right pauldron and sent him stumbling back a couple of steps from the force of the blow. About time you landed some good hits. Now, press the advantage. Grimacing, Reed held his position and instead adjusted his grip on the pollaxe, flexing his fingers to try and draw some feeling back into them. Ahead of him, Coen caught his breath for a few moments before standing up straight and pulling his visor up. “You are getting much better with that thing. In the future though, because I have a little more reach on you with this weapon, you might want to get in closer than giving me the space I needed to properly strike.”

Setting aside his weapon, Reed flipped his own visor up before speaking. “Thanks, you are doing well too. I will try to keep that in mind next time. I’m not used to working with weapons that have a long reach.” Coen nodded and walked forward, clapping him on the shoulder, though he had to reach up to do it. “Nothing to worry about, just helping out a friend.” Reed nodded but didn’t say anything, instead opting to simply follow Coen to the water barrel to get a sip and cool off a bit.

[Reed]

After taking a healthy sip from a ladle, Reed arched his back till he felt a satisfying pop along his spine. Looking to Coen, he saw that he was grinning watching some of the other squires’ spar and took another gulp of water. The young man would make a fine knight someday, he certainly had the heart for it. Unlike you. He was a very patient sparring partner, and he knew he’d learn a lot from the kid if he kept his ego in check. What does he have in the way of experience? Even though he towered over him, Coen never hesitated to go on the attack. Takes a reeaal man to be brave in all that armor when you’re just practicing. The kid is dedicated. Dedicated to die in his first battle.

“Reed?” Coen’s voice broke him out of his trance as he realized he’d been just staring ahead, holding the ladle. “Yeah? Oh, sorry I was just thinking about something.”

“Well don’t think too hard, its only practice. You’ll learn more from doing, than analyzing it” Coen chuckled, taking one more sip before walking back to their weapons. “Speaking of, how bout we get back to sparring?”

“Works for me” Reed said quickly, eager to do anything but think on what had just happened. Their sparring went much the same as before, with Coen getting two to three hits for every one of Reeds’ but it was all in good fun. By the time it was finished, Reed ached in a dozen places and probably had a handful of bruises. More than a handful he realized as he disrobed for a bath. It had been a long, hard day, and the water was blessedly hot when he climbed in. Sighing in relief, he sank down into the water past his chin. He reveled in the feeling for a chime before dipping his head underneath the water briefly. When he came up, he heard an odd noise just behind him like the scrape of stone across the floor.

“You really shouldn’t go days between baths. I thought I would never see you again.” A woman spoke from behind him, her voice sounding like she was right next to him. Startled, Reed turned about in the pool to see an eight inches tall woman standing behind him, fully nude with beautiful dark eyes and hair.

The woman laughed, and walked to the edge of the pool, dipping a toe in as she watched him. “I knew when I saw you that this would be a lot of fun.”

Reeds face screwed up in puzzlement at that. “Are you real?” He blurted. She laughed again, doing a little spin before sitting down. She lounged across the lip of the pool in a way that unnerved him and stared at him for several moments before speaking. “Of course, I’m real, and I’m quite sure you’ve heard of me before.”

“I think I would remember hearing of such a woman” Reed said incredulously, shaking his head. The woman pouted, “You can’t tell me you’ve never heard of Nikali. I’m a little piece of her!” The little woman rolled on to her belly and rested her cheek on her hands.

“Nikali?” He frowned. “Why are you looking for me?” Reed knew of the goddess, or at least of her reputation, but he was a free man now. Why was she waiting for him? The woman just smiled, twirling a finger through her long dark hair. “Because I’ve been waiting a long time to find someone who can help me, and when I saw you.. well, you just fit the role you know.”

“Help? How? I am not a slave anymore” He said, more than a bit defensively. She just laughed his aggression away lightly and splashed him. “Well, I want you to help me by letting me help you. We are tied to one another; I can feel it.” Little Nikali said, putting a hand on her breast.

“I don’t even know what I’d need your help with” Reed said dubious. “Well, how about you give me a hand and we’ll see” She extended an arm out too him, but he walked to an edge further along from her, stepping out of the pool while keeping an eye on the little woman. “I don’t even know what you are, or..” He started to say as he dried off, but before he could continue the little woman did a little roll towards him. Actually, it was a series of rolls that put her far closer to him fast than he expected. He backed into a wall, and the little Nikali came to a stop before him. “You are stubborn, but I suppose that is to be expected.” She said as she touched his foot with hers. The tiny limb felt weird in the momentary contact before she stepped back. “Now was that so hard?”

“What?” Reed asked, dumbfounded. “Remember when I said I was a little piece of Nikali. That means I share power from her mark and can determine your needs from a touch. Needs you might not even realize, which I’m coming to understand, may be a lot. But that is alright, we’ve got time.” Little Nikali looked up at him expectantly, and he sighed. “Okay. Can we at least continue this conversation in a less public place? People are staring.” Of course, nobody was overly blatant about it, but he’d caught more than a few less than casual glances his way from other patrons around the pool. He’d hear about this at training tomorrow for sure. “Sure” The little woman said and reached up. “Give me a hand will ya? This will go much faster if you carry me.” “After I get dressed” He grunted, adding “alone” when he saw she was following him. “Suit yourself” She said, sitting her back against the foot of the bench.

“So, what do you need me for?” Reed asked little Nikali as soon as they were inside of his apartment. She immediately made herself at home, climbing up to take a seat at his dining table. Probably wants to make you a slave again. “Its not about what I need from you. Its what we can do together.” “What does that even mean?” He asked, taking a seat on the edge of his bed, and resting his back against the wall. “Surely you know how piteous the life of a Ranuri marked is without a master. You’d be doing me a favor, really.” Little Nikali pouted, and then flashed him a grin. “I am no slaver.” “Of course not, and I am no human, though I do certainly appear like it sometimes.” She said, but before he could question her on that last part, she continued. “Think of me as your divine companion. All you have to do is when you need my help, pray to Nikali, and I’ll be there.”

“What do I pray about?” Reed asked, scratching his head. “Whatever comes to mind when you think of her. I’m sure you’ll think of something.” Little Nikali said, standing up in the chair, hopping off and sauntering past him to the foot of his bed where he kept his bag. “But for now, how about you get some rest. You look dreadfully tired. I’ll be here come morning to answer any more questions. Just remember what I said.” She added, lounging across his pack. “But why me?” He asked, but the woman did not stir from her position. “Why me?” He asked a bit louder, but she didn’t budge. Because you attract trouble like shite draws flies. Reed extinguished his lamp and laid down on the bed. It didn’t take long for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. He focused on the ceiling above him, while slowly he drifted to sleep, the days exhaustion quickly overcoming him. Tomorrow, he thought, he would get some answers.

[Alric Lysane]

Reed

Hi!

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

~ Alric