Teon awoke as the first hints of dawn caressed his face. He sat up groggily, rubbing his eyes, and stretched. I'll show you, old man, he thought as he jumped out of bed and made it, smoothing out all the wrinkles. He crept down the stairs as he kept an eye out for his father. As he approached the bottom of the stairs, the stench of mead grew stronger, coupled with the rot of vomit. Teon plugged his nose and gagged as he made his way into the kitchen to take an apple from the fruit basket. Here's hoping this thing doesn't get me intoxicated, he joked to himself as he hurried out the door.
Dreng stood outside, sword in hand, as he delivered a whirlwind of cuts and thrusts into the straw dummy in the lawn, his brow slick with sweat. His sword thudded into the target one last time before he turned his attention towards Teon. “You going to keep gawking there or will you get a move on? Alden doesn't take kindly to tardiness.”
Teon stared at his father for a moment, taking note of the alertness in his eyes. Sober, then. For now. “Right. I expect I'll be late tonight, father.” He thought for a moment, his mouth opening to speak, but then thought better of it.
Dreng pulled his sword from the dummy and rested the blade on his shoulder, “What is it, boy? Speak!”
“...It's nothing, father,” Teon replied, beginning to walk away. “Don't wait for me to return. Sleep if you must.”
“Huh,” Dreng grunted and turned his attention back to the dummy. As Teon strode further from home, the thudding of sword against straw faded, replaced by the murmuring of merchants and farmers as they began preparing their stores and stands for the day. He bit into the apple, delighted and relieved to see that the air of mead didn't taint the flavor too much.
“Teon! You certainly took your time this morning!” Baldwin called out, leaning against the wall of the Boar's Den amidst the sea of people trying to get into and out of the tavern.
“Well, it's only fair. You kept me waiting yesterday, so I kept you waiting today,” Teon responded as he smiled.
“Ah, very well then!” Baldwin's grin faded as he asked, “How did everything go last night? Hopefully not too bad?”
“Not terrible. Just a tankard thrown at me, along with some angry drunken words. Of course, the stench on the other hand—” Teon smiled and chuckled, “—well, I'm sure you can see where this is going.”
Baldwin scrunched his nose, “I don't envy you there, I've smelled one too many drunks. One of the downsides to my father owning the Den.” He sighed and drummed his fingers on the wall before pushing off of it. “Shall we be off then? Unless we want to run for miles again.”
Teon nodded as the two started weaving through the streets. “How was last night with Levina?”
Baldwin grinned, “Beautiful as always. You should have seen the way the moonlight was glittering in her eyes. And the way she—”
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Teon punched Baldwin's shoulder, “I get the picture. Do spare me the lovestruck poetry, will you? You'll make me sick!” He let out a hearty laugh, “But I'm glad to hear it. I expect you'll be wed come next summer?”
Baldwin nodded, rubbing his shoulder, “That's the plan, yes. And speaking of which, I'd like to ask something of you.” He paused, shuffling awkwardly from foot to foot, before continuing, “Would you be my ringbearer?”
Teon paused. Not out of surprise, he knew this was inevitable. Still, he hadn't given it much thought. “I'd be honored to. I can think of no man I'd rather be ringbearer for,” he replied.
Baldwin clapped Teon's shoulder and gave him a somber smile, “My thanks.” They continued on in silence for a moment before Baldwin spoke up again, “With luck, maybe you'll be wed to someone someday. Preferably before your fiftieth summer!” Baldwin let out a thunderous laugh as Teon rolled his eyes.
“Well, I've heard there's many fine maidens in Edenbury. Hope you don't end up too jealous of the attention I'll get. A young, handsome, and unwed member of the Black Boars…now that's a prize you don't often see,” Teon replied smugly.
“Oh, I think I'll be fine. I'll be wed to Levina by then. Hers is all the attention I require.”
Teon shrugged, “I suppose. Fine you old dove, I'll let you win this round. But only because I got distracted by your request!” The two shared a laugh as they finally arrived at the training grounds.
Alden stood with his arms crossed, waiting for the two young men, “You're both late. You were to be here by dawn, and it is now a bit past that. So!” Alden grabbed two wooden training swords, tossing them to the two before arming himself with one. “Today, you'll be sparring against me. And for every hit you take, you'll be expected to run once around the ring.”
Teon cocked his head, “Just the ring? That certainly isn't too long.”
Alden grinned wickedly, “Well, I'll not be holding back. Let us see you two handle a far more experienced warrior!”
Baldwin sighed, “We're in for it now, aren't we, Tey?”
Without warning, Alden struck both of his students, both in the leg, “That's one so far.”
Teon protested, “We weren't ready!”
“Enemies on and off of the battlefield will not wait for you to be ready. You want to be a Black Boar, correct? Then you'd best not let me catch you getting careless again!”
Baldwin smiled, challenging Teon, “The one who gets hit the most buys a round of ale!”
Teon smirked and assumed a ready position as Alden began launching a series of cuts and thrusts at the two boys. Teon's brow furrowed in concentration as he narrowly dodged many of the strikes, though he took a cut to the arm and a thrust glancing off of his ribs. Baldwin, however, met Alden's strikes head on, blocking them with an iron defense, before attempting to land a few blows of his own. Alden parried them with ease, using his blade to push Baldwin's just out of the way before counterattacking, landing a cut to his shoulder followed by a thrust straight to his stomach.
As the bout continued onwards, the two collected more and more bruises without being able to land any blows on Alden. Exhausted, they lowered their swords almost simultaneously, breathing heavily. Alden commanded, “Come on, you pansies! Raise your weapons! The fight isn't over yet!”
Teon shook his head in disbelief speaking in between breaths, “How are…you even…breathing calmly?”
Alden sighed, lowering his sword, “Well, I suppose you two haven't gone through quite enough physical conditioning. We'll have to change that. Both of you, an extra five rounds around the ring. I'll give you five minutes to catch your breaths before you start. Once you start running, you do not stop until you have finished, is that understood?”
Baldwin sank to a knee before adjusting himself to sit on the dirt, “Understood…” Teon merely nodded in agreement and sat next to Baldwin.
Alden smiled nostalgically at the two, “I was once exactly where you two are now. Not to worry, I'll be sure to toughen you boys up properly!”
Off in the distance, Teon saw a small black figure flying in front of the sun. Recognizing it finally as a raven, he called out, “Alden, a raven!” Alden turned and held out his arm, letting the jet-black raven perch gracefully on him as it landed.
“Message from King!” The raven croaked out, as it turned its head, gesturing to the parchment on its back. Alden gently unclasped the leather pouch and unfurled the message, reading it quickly. Teon couldn't tell what the message was, only that Alden's face darkened upon reading it.
Alden grit his teeth and nodded to the raven, “Thank you for traveling all this way.” He turned his attention to the young men, “It seems training for today will have to be postponed. I am to journey to Edenbury immediately. I'll see if I can arrange to have someone else train you till I return.” Without even waiting for a response, he left, a couple tears streaking down his face.