Ernest brings the three children out of the camp. He then gestures to some wooden swords and shields. Franklin groans, “Wooden swords.”

  Ernest looks over at the boy while grabbing a wooden shield and sword. “You’ll mostly be training with spears since that’s better while fighting in a unit.”

  Franklin begrudgingly grabs his equipment while still complaining, “I thought we’d get to practice with real weapons with real soldiers.”

  “When in formation, we use steel weapons. But never when fighting our allies. It’s the greatest disgrace for a soldier to die in training.” Ernest then taps his shield and shouts, “come show me what you got!”

  Franklin and Louis quickly group up and attack the scarred soldier without fear. Franklin strikes while Louis slashes. Ernest blocks both with his shield easily. He then taps Franklin’s shoulder.

  “Franklin, you need to remember your shield! You must always keep it in front of you. Louis, it’s good to attack simultaneously, but it's easy to block if you attack the same spot,” Ernest then quickly steps back, disengaging.

  Laurel lunges forward with quick footwork, thrusting at Ernest’s sword side. Ernest blocks with his sword and moves toward Laurel while the blades glide across each other. He then smashes her shield with his sending the young girl toppling over.

  Once again, the two boys try a combo attack. However, Louis is a bit hesitant as he focuses on keeping his shield up. Franklin holds the shield to his chest, but his eyes focus on Ernest’s as he focuses on the attack. Ernest kicks a clump of grass at Franklin’s face, which momentarily blocks his vision. Ernest rams the boy and then takes on the hesitant Louis.

  Louis stumbles back with wide eyes. Ernest keeps stepping in and smashes the boy with his sword. Bang, Bang, Bang, Louis’s arm loses its feeling as he cowers behind his shield.

  Franklin regaining his vision tries to aid his friend, but Ernest swipes at him with his shield with such force that it disarms Franklin. Both sword and shield fall to the ground taking Franklin out of the fight.

  Laurel swiftly runs in, and with lightning strikes into slashes, she pummels Ernest. However, the attacks are light, and Ernest ignores them. It only takes one powerful attack from Ernest to send the girl back to the ground.

  “That was an impressive display. But your enemy won’t even feel the strikes on a battlefield with armor. Louis, you need to be more confident. You’re tall for your age and will likely only get taller. You have to learn to use your reach to keep your enemies away. Hiding behind your shield will never win a fight. Franklin, you are too obvious. Every attack is telegraphed, and you lose sight of your surroundings,” Ernest teaches while throwing his weapon and shield away. “That’s enough for now. Let’s rest up for a bit.”

  The kids stagger to their feet and follow Ernest to get some water and relax. Upon the hill, John is observing the action. ‘It can’t be helped. They’ve only dealt with Elanor’s overwhelming attacks and her straightforward training. Anna’s techniques are strong, but they are all done with the vision of recreating her past. They aren’t dynamic or deceitful,’ John contemplates his leaves bobbing gently.

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  Joe snorts, annoyed, “Mom moo moo.”

  John sends his voice to his hill mate, “Yeah, they’ve already left. If they think they can find me that easily they are horribly mistaken.”

  Joe looks at the stupid bush unconvinced, “moo.”

  “The Donna incident was just a fluke!” John retorts. If he could blush, he’d definitely be beet red.

  “Moo mon snort,” Joe complains while kicking up dirt.

  John bobs up and down in agreement. “Yeah, it’s annoying. But understandable. Anyone can tell that this place isn’t normal.”

  Back with Ernest, he is casually talking with the kids when the men return from the hill. Ernest glances at them, and they shake their heads. Ernest then mentions, "Franklin, I've noticed your sword. Can I take a look at it?"

  Franklin's smile brightly showing his teeth, "Wilbur finished mine first! All us kids have them." Franklin pulls out his sword from the simple sheath.

  Laurel shakes her head, "Donna doesn't have one."

  Franklin agrees, "that's right, she's too young." Not even Laurel can shake his good mood.

  Ernest takes the weapon and examines it. The blade is almost pure white when the light hits it. A slight rainbow reflects along the sword’s edge. "I've never seen a sword like this before. what is it made of?" Ernest asks with a casual smile.

  Franklin looks over at Louis, then Laurel. Neither gives a clear signal. 'I wasn't told not to talk about it. And Master will tell me if I'm making a mistake,' considers. "It's moon iron. Wilbur had a hard time getting used to forging it."

  Ernest inspects the sword while commenting, "You can hardly tell. This is quite special." He then returns the blade. "Would you like to test it?"

  Franklin jumps to his feet with shining eyes. “Let’s do it!”

  Ernest laughs, “alright, don’t overdo it. There is a bare blade. You should never underestimate the danger of a drawn weapon.” He then hands the blade handle first to Franklin. Ernest hollers over to some of his men, “bring that practice armor over!”

  The men bring over a set of Red River empire armor. It was once painted a bright red, but now it’s well worn and scratched. “Alright, give it a strike. Let’s see if their armor can stop your weapon,” Ernest says while gesturing to the armor.

  Franklin charges forward and chops down at the armor. The screech of metal on metal fills the air as the sword cuts deep into the shoulder armor. Franklin looks at the armor perturbed. ‘I thought it’d do much better,’ Franklin thinks.

  However, in contrast to Franklin's thoughts, the men watching shot, “Woah!” “Amazing.” “That’s almost 4 inches.”

  Franklin tries to pull out his sword, but it’s stuck in the armor. He’s forced to dig his feet into the ground and put his back in it. Another quieter scraping sound announces the sword is coming free. Franklin stumbles back with the sword above his head.

  Ernest claps Franklin on the back, “That’s an extraordinary sword! We'd have a huge advantage if we could make spears out of moon iron.”

  Louis shakes his head, sending his golden locks to swish, “We can’t get anymore! It’s too dangerous and hard to collect.”

  Ernest looks over his shoulder and asks, “what do you mean it’s too dangerous?”

  Franklin explains while looking at his sword in contemplation, “It’s more than a day's walk, and demonic beasts attack the whole way. We had some close calls last time.”

  Louis adds, “even once you get there, mining it is hard. We’re lucky to have any at all.”

  Ernest touches his face scar in contemplation, “with us. It may be possible. I think it’s worth a try, at least. Can you show us the way?”

  All three kids frown and look at each other. Franklin shakes his head, “we’d have to talk with our parents first.”

  Ernest frowns but then nods with a smile, “of course, it’s hard to trust new people. But I must stress the better the weapons, the more we’ll kill.”

  Franklin nods, “I understand. I’ll be sure to tell everyone!”