[Flashback] Fondest Memories[Solo]

[Markus Andres]

3rd of Fall 505 AV ’Do another ten’ ”I ca… Can’t.” ’Do ten. Now.’ Markus growled in anger at his masters unreasonable request. Markus felt his arms ache in protest. He was wearing full armor as he slowly descended so his nose touched the ground and then came the hard part. Pushing all 180 pounds up again. Another nine of those and Markus was sure his arms would abandon ship and find a better master to hang with. Markus was wide eyed and was breathing heavily. ’Wysar is the god of discipline: Something you sorely lack. Your thoughts are everywhere. You need focus. You need to be whipped into something more. Something better.’ Eight left – The anger fueled his limbs. Giving him the strength to continue. ’Conviction: You don’t believe in anything but yourself. You need to believe in the people around you.’ 6… - the anger was taking hold. ’and integrity: You will be drilled in the code of the knights and laws of Syliras. You will honor the code with conviction. Uphold the law with discipline.’ ”Just… Just shut up. This is hard enough without having to listen to your petching Kelvicshit.” Markus was about to get up and give his master a piece of his mind. Or a piece of his fist. Markus felt his upper body get pressed down into the ground as his master placed his foot on his back. No matter how hard Markus struggled he couldn’t move. It was humiliating that he was kicking and flailing there on the ground. ’As I said. You lack discipline. Finish your push ups. You need more upper body strength before we continue your bow training.’ His master moved his foot away. ”Who said I wanted to use your stupid bow?!” Markus said as he was pushing his heavy body up. ’I did. Once you are done, we are going running.’ Markus nodded and continued to do the push ups.

[Markus Andres]

26th of fall 505 AV. Markus pushed his body up with relative ease. It had gotten a lot easier to push his armored body up in the past couple of weeks. Given him a stronger core and much stronger arms. His legs too had gotten stronger from all the running he had been doing. He got all the way up and looked at his master with a self-satisfied smirk on his lips. ’About time. Let’s go.’ ”Running?” ’Yes. Get your helmet’ Markus did as he was told and turned to see his master leave the room, he quickly ran after him, only to get surprised when he left the room with a left hook to his jawbone. Markus stumbled into the room again. It had been a particular weak strike, but it had still rattled Markus’ brain and still hurt. But none of his teeth, nor his jaw had been broken. ”What the pet-” ’Always be prepared.’ His master sternly reminded him. Markus had been about to like his master because he had just been drilling him with the laws and rules of Syliras. The code of honor along with his body strength and swordplay. No sparring. Just training. No always be prepared petch. But now that his master had hooked Markus, he knew he was going to spar with his master that day. To his annoyance. ’Are you coming?’ Markus walked to the doorway and looked out. No hook waiting for him this time. He began to run after his master. A quick jog at most, but still very taxing on his body when wearing heavy armor. Soon they were by the stables. Markus hadn’t expected his master to take him riding again. It had been a while since they had been out on horse. But Markus shrugged. It couldn’t be worse than when his master had taken him out to shoot arrows at him. Someone should tell him that something is seriously wrong with him. ”Where are we going this time?” ’What does the code say about patience’ ”… Fine, keep your secret then.” Markus mounted his horse and a page handed him his helmet. With a low thank you to the boy, Markus looked at his master. Who simply nodded to him and Markus put on the helmet and pushed down the visor. Made sure that his grandfather’s sword was on his left side. His shield was in a saddlebag. The bag on the other side had duo of quivers. It reminded him about his last riding trip with his master. He made his horse trot after his masters.

[Markus Andres]

It was over 30 chimes later when his master made them stop the horses. Markus had some trouble with stopping his horse and had riden past his master when he finally managed to stop the horse. Even though he could feel his masters glare holes into his back, Markus couldn’t help but grin and clap the horse on the neck. ’Dismount.’ Markus did as he was told. This time making sure nothing he was wearing got stuck as he swung his leg over. Elegantly stepping down into a puddle of mud. Covering the bottom of his right leg with mud. Markus closed his eyes and resisted the urge to draw his sword and hack away at Semele’s domain. Perhaps his masters constant reprimanding had an effect, for only a season earlier, Markus’ blade would be covered in mud already then. ’Take the quiver over your back. And come get the shortbow. … And clean your leg before your armor rusts.’ Markus did as he was told. Finally scraping the mud off of his leg. Then turned to his master. ”Why is it you always take me random places to do stuff we could have done in the castle? Why drag me all the way out here to shoot arrows at trees? It makes no sense. And is extremely dangerous.” ’Because you learn better out here. With the danger up close. Stop complaining and prepare to shoot at the tree down there.’ He pointed at a tree roughly 20 yards away. He had a relative clear shot. ”If you say so.” Markus pulled an arrow and put it on the string. Last time he had barely been able to pull the string back. But he had been training so hard the past weeks that now, he ought to be able to pull the darned string back. With great effort, Markus pulled the arrow past the place he had managed to get it last, but he still couldn’t pull it all the way. But he figured he wouldn’t need that. So he let the arrow go. The arrow flew short of the target. Burrowing itself into the ground. ’Again. Use your stance to draw strength from the ground.’ Markus looked at him with wonder in his eyes. ”What?” ’Look at my stance. Copy it.’ Markus saw his master take a traditional archer stance and with incredible strength send an arrow down into the middle of the tree. ’By standing like that, you have better balance and more strength. No, your legs a little closer. Yes, that is a close the stance. Your left towards the target.’ Markus copied the stance and this time he managed to pull the arrow a bit further back. This time, however, the arrow flew way off course and landed in a shrubbery on Markus’ left. ’Your arm needs to be straight out in front of you. Both your shoulders need to be level. Take your time. Learn to shoot correctly before you think about speed.’ Markus nodded and urged his master to go on. ’Remember to aim. Get the right habits. First, find an anchor point. That is where you pull the string back to. It makes the string react the same way, every time, and you will know what you did wrong should the arrow miss. Look at me.’ Markus saw his master pull the string back and noticed his thumb was tapping against his helmet. Drawing Markus’ attention to it. Then his master unleashed the power of the bow at the tree. The arrow piercing the tree a little above the other arrow. Show off Markus thought sourly. ’You choose your own anchor point. Aim down the string and arrowpoint. Where the arrowpoint is, is where you hit with the arrow.’ Markus pulled the string back. Looked at the string right in front of his eye. Down at the arrowpoint. Then with a deep breath released the arrow. It went left of the target again. ”I don’t understand, I did as you told me.” ’Remember to compensate for the helmet. Your anchor point is a bit further out than what is ordinary. Always aim a bit to the right of your target with this technique.’ Markus did as he was told and this time the arrow went straight at the tree. But instead of hitting the tree. It flew short again and hit the ground. – Perhaps, subconsciously, Markus was getting even with Semele for the mud thing.

[Markus Andres]

It was over a bell later when his master told him to stop. The ground around the tree was littered with arrows and marks from arrows. Until then, Markus had only hit the tree 2 times. The first had hit the bottom of the trunk and the other was still up in the crown of the tree. Markus sat down and leaned back. Relaxing. Or trying to. For one thing had been bothering him since he had left Zeltiva. What could knights hope to accomplish against the hellish powers of a battlemage? ”Master. What can a knight do against a mage?” ’Depends.’ ”On?” ’Whether he is prepared or not.’ ”Knight or mage?” ’Both.’ ”Could you explain, ser?” Markus then realized he had just, twice even, used the mandatory honorifics on his master. Without even thinking about it. It made him angry that he had submitted to his master that easily. ’If the mage is prepared, you are going to face magic no matter what. He will try and kill you before you can get close enough to harm him. In such a case, you will most likely die. But, if the mage isn’t prepared for you, he will take time before he can cast the truly nasty magic.’ ”What would I do in case a mage is prepared?” ’Distract him. Try to make him lose his focus. Pain often helps, but danger also tend to make people lose focus. Let’s say the tree is a mage.’ His master pulled back an arrow and let it fly at the tree. It flew right past the tree. ’Even if I don’t hit him, such an arrow would distract the mage, perhaps giving you a second more to get into cover or for your friend to finish him off. Or.’ He stringed another arrow, took aim and let the arrow fly into the ’leg’ of the tree. – ’such an attack would definitely make him lose focus on the spellcasting. Sometimes even screaming at them or throwing a rock in their direction is enough.’ ”At least my archery can distract a mage.” Markus said and picked up the bow and aimed at the tree. While hearing his master utter small corrections to his stance. When he unleashed the arrow, it flew straight at the target. Once again, it came up short. ’In a year… perhaps.’ His master dryly added when they both saw where the arrow had landed.

[Markus Andres]

’Markus. Aim a little higher. Remember the slight left-ish aim you got. Level your shoulders. Good. Release the arrow when you feel ready.’ Twang. ’A little too low, again. Aim higher. You want to kill the man, not just hit him in the thigh. That can be a very painful way to die. Remember, no reason to let the enemies suffer. Kill them quick and clean.’ Markus pulled the string back again. Aimed the bow a little higher. Let the arrow fly from the bow. Slamming directly into the trunk of the tree. A solid hit. It was his first real hit Markus jumped into the air and punched his right fist into the air. Then his master and him talked in unison ”-’Finally!’-” ’It is also time to head back. Get the arrows, don’t forget the one in the tree.’ Markus joy vanished from his face when he realized what that meant. Climb into a tree wearing full gear… Not to mention his right arm was already aching from repeatedly pulling back the string. Still, he didn’t complain. He just gathered all the arrows on the ground first and then looked up into the tree. If he could see it he might be able to poke it down with his sword. But no such luck. Markus shrugged and ran at the tree and jumped for low hanging branches, getting a grip on one that couldn’t support his weight and cracked. Markus landed on his feet and looked for another, more solid, branch. He found one and managed to get his hands on it, without it snapping. With a real effort, Markus managed to pull all of his body up on the branch. From there, he scouted for the missing arrow. Then he saw it, lying between to branches a good 10 feet further up. Markus got to work. Trashing his way through the tree. Getting stuck often in his armor and then having to climb down again and then find a different route up for his heavy body. He was lucky that his master had put him through that rigorous training. It took him 10 chimes to get to the arrow. It took him a single chime to get back down again. As a branch snapped and Markus landed on his back, pain shot through him and he felt the air get blasted from his lungs. Markus gasped for air. Tried to get it into his shocked lungs that still refused to accept new air. Markus could feel his vision blur a little from the mix of pain and lack of oxygen. His master was by his side right away. Getting him up into a sitting position. It helped. Markus felt air got through to his struggling body. And Markus breathed a lot and he breathed quickly. ”Dang it.” ’You alright? Nothing broken?’ ”Yea, I think I am fine.” His master helped him to his feet. ’Be careful.’ He finally said when they reached the horses. Markus put the arrow with the others in the quiver and climbed up on the horse and he waited for his master to get going before he motioned the horse to move forward. Markus took up the bow again and pulled the string back. Finding it ten times harder to do on a horse, as he lacked the ground for support. ”Ser, when will you teach me to shoot from horseback?” ’Next year.’ ”NEXT YEAR? WHY FIRST THEN??” Markus screamed at his lungs fullest power, which at this time, wasn't that much considering his recent accident. But still enough to make some birds fly away scared. ’Patience.’ It wasn’t the first time that day, that Markus had considered aiming his bow at the master. … Wouldn’t be the last either.

[Archon]

Illumination of Development Markus Andres +4 Bodybuilding +4 Composite Shortbow +1 Horse Riding +1 Climbing Lores: Dealing with full armor, Teachings of Wysar, Archery Stance (Basic), Climbing in armor Care to see more? : Pretty much straight forward with the rewards here, you got what you did work for. Just a little bit for Horse Riding and Climbing experience due to your just touching on those briefly through the thread. Notes:A great thread, I really enjoy seeing Markus when he was younger and rebellious. A couple typos throughout, but certainly nothing to detract from the fun of it all.