The potion had worked amazingly well in healing his injuries leaving not even a mark as he set about removing all the blood from his head and face with a rag. He sighed as he quickly washed the rest of his body before heading towards the training area where he noticed Nich and Pierce in conversation at a far corner of the yard. The Battle Mage was talking very animatedly with lots of hand gestures while Master Nich stood there with his arms crossed and occasionally shook his head as Painin walked towards them.

“He can not win against someone trained so.”

“He doesn’t have to. All he has to do is draw first blood and the match is over.” Replied Master Pierce motioning with his cup as if what he proposed would be the easiest thing ever.

As he approached Master Nich turned to look at him and he could feel the master’s eyes silently weighing and appraising him. He shook his head and turned back towards the interior of the training area. Painin watched him walk away and turned to face Master Pierce who had a broad smile on his face.

“Take a sword and let’s get to work then lad.” He said motioning towards the practice swords leaning against the railing of the training area.

He picked up a sword of his own and took a sip from his cup before moving to stand in the center of the circle. Painin picked up a sword of his own and carefully approached the Battle Mage with a look of confusion on his face.

“Not to be rude…”

“But you are going to be anyways.”

“Yes, well. Why are you holding a sword?”

“Just because I am a mage does not mean I wasn’t trained in the art of the sword.” He said as he swung the sword around in the air before him.

Painin just looked at him the look of confusion on his face still present as the Battle Mage lunged forward unexpectedly his metal sword snaking out and hitting him in the arm. Painin growled and clutched at his arm. The Battle Mage retreated into a guard position with his sword held down and out before him.

“Right. On the line then.” He said motioning for Painin to move forward back to the line in the middle of the circle.

Rubbing his arm, he moved back into position holding his sword before him. The next couple of series between them ended with the same result and Painin rubbing multiple new sore spots from the blunted blade. He sighed as walked around the circle trying to breathe through the pain. While Master Pierce leaned against the fence taking small sips from his cup.

“Here. Drink this!” He said pulling a vial out of a pocket in his jerkin and tossing it across the ring to Painin.

He juggled the vial but managed to finally hold onto it and examined the blue-colored liquid inside it. A small dollop of wax sealed the top of the glass potion. Pulling it off he poured the fresh-smelling liquid into his mouth and swallowed it down. The same sort of refreshing feeling flashed through his body and his hurts and pain began to fade away. He looked at Master Pierce and felt a sense of disappointment that he had yet to score a strike on the man.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“Let’s go again.” Master Pierce said moving back to the center of the circle.

“How do you know how to fight so well?” Said Painin while trying to avoid the Battle Mages sword that seemed to bend around his defenses.

“Before I went away to the academy, I was the second-born son in my family. I was groomed to take over the family estates if anything befell my brother. I however had other plans and decided to pursue my passion for magic and study.” Each sentence was punctuated by another attack that came from some new and different angle to strike another unprotected body part.

“My father spared no expense in training my brother and he would need someone to spar against, so I have spent a lot of time in a fighting circle. My brother also ended up being in the same circle as the Prince growing up and I am no stranger to his cruelty.” The sword once more snaked in and struck him in the wrist.

The bone broke with an audible snap and his sword fell from his nerveless hand. While it took a few heartbeats for the pain to rush to his brain he stared at it dumbly. The pain rushed in and pushed him to his knees. The Battle Mage rushed forward and with a swift motion popped the cork off another potion and poured its contents down Painin’s throat. The potion worked fast but not fast enough as it didn’t cancel out the pain in a fluid motion.

“How many of those do you have?” He asked the Mage from where he was sitting down against the railing, he still rubbed his wrist even though he had felt the bones snap back into place.

“Enough for the moment. Now let us go again.”

Painin walked into the main dining area and went to get a plate of food. Apparently healing your body took it out of you and forced you to feel like you hadn’t eaten in days. He shoveled the food into his mouth and swallowed without noticing that Berm had entered the room with another of the Prince’s men.

“Fucking peasant. As if he has any idea about honor. Doubt he even knows who his fucking father was.” Said Berm standing over Painin.

Painin clutched the sides of his plate so hard that his knuckles were white, and the pewter plate shook. He took a deep breath to try and calm himself as he stared at the men. They laughed together as they noticed his reaction.

“Oh. I am sorry did that hit too close to home? I meant to say that your mother didn’t know which mangy cur your bastard father was that parted her legs.” Painin wrapped his legs around the chair under him so hard that his joints cracked from the strain.

“Let’s go, Kurk. This fucking place has too many rats for my liking.” Brem knocked into Painin as they left the room.

Painin slammed his plate down onto the table and kicked his chair backward where it crashed against the wall behind him. He got up and made his way back outside to the training area where he pulled a training sword and began to hack at a training dummy with abandon. He slammed the sword into the wood and straw dummy the tears started to stream from his eyes as he pictured Berm and the rest of the miserable whoresons in front of him.

From the darkness of his private living quarters, Master Nich watched the young man just blindly hack away at the dummy. He sat back and kept an eye on him as he drank a goblet of wine and allowing him his time to get the feelings out. Finally, the swings slowed down. The point of the sword landed in the dirt and Painin slowly made his way back into the keep stopping only to throw the sword into the bucket. With a sigh, Master Nich went back into his quarters and shut the door behind him.