PART III - MASTER TRAINER THORN

Everyone looked to see someone walking with authority towards Earick and Yulayla. Callie recognized him as the other officer that had been with Legate Galin when Major Celeste had been explaining what happened with the Pixie and Dwarf. He was tall, wearing polished leather armor like many of the other officers and carried himself with an easy-going but experienced bearing. An obvious Beastkin, he was covered in short fur and had a rat-like face, complete with whiskers. A long, hairless tail even swished behind him. At his side he wore what appeared to be a sword, its gold hilt polished to a reflective perfection.

A Dwarf woman walked with him, an obvious limp in her step, but a smile on her face as she spoke to the Master Trainer. Like many others, she sported leather armor, although not as well crafted or polished. Multiple scars on her face told the tale of many battles in her past, and her posture seemed to confirm her veteran status.

“Master Trainer Thorn,” Earick quickly called out. “Thank you for coming so quickly.”

“Your timing was excellent. I had been dragged into a dreadful meeting and your Sprite gave me an excuse to take my leave. You have my thanks. This is my assistant, Sergeant-Major Natala. What seems to be the concern? A problem with one of the recruits?”

“Sergeant-Major,” Earick acknowledged with a nod before turning back to Thorn. “I don’t believe it is necessarily a problem, but certainly a confusing situation.” Quickly, Earick called Callie forward and explained all that had happened. Her lack of memory before the wagon, the strange lack of any indications of class, and the Archery perk.

Thorn’s expression was blank. Several times he glanced at Callie, or the rest of her group. As Earick finished his summary, Thorn simply said, “I see.”

Thorn started to pace, his finger tapping lightly on his furry chin. “So to sum up, we have a Conscripted Gnome with no memory, no history, and no class, but she does have a combat perk.”

“Yes, Master Thorn.”

Thorn pondered some more. “Unfortunately, the Curse prevents us from sending her home, without potentially killing her. That is even more complicated by the fact she does not even remember where home is. What to do…”

Vanis stepped forward. “Master Thorn, if I may.”

“Yes, Recruit.”

“We have taken it upon ourselves to aid Miss Callie until it can be determined what has happened.”

“So?” Thorn said with a dismissive, flat tone. “You are recruits here to train. Your Conscription requires it, if nothing else. The matters of a wayward Gnome should not be of your concern.”

Callie’s heart skipped a beat, a sudden new worry about being separated from her new friends.

Vanis edged closer and lowered his voice so only Thorn and Callie could hear him. “Perhaps I should be more clear, Master Thorn. I have sworn to aid Miss Callie.”

Thorn looked carefully at Vanis. “I see,” he said with seriousness, in a matching low voice. Thorn nodded and paced away. After a few steps, he motioned to his aide. With a few whispered words, she gave a stiff nod, and jogged away. The limp was obvious, but neither seemed to slow her nor cause her any discomfort.

“You know, your Highness, I met your father many years ago. And you, for that matter.”

“You must forgive me, but I am afraid I do not recall,” Vanis said with slight irritation at being called out as royalty.

“I’m not surprised, You were just a teenage boy at the time, and it was a tedious affair which you should have not been forced to participate in. You were made to shake my hand as part of an endless receiving line, so all that taken together and there’s no doubt I was eminently forgettable.”

“Again, I regret any slight I may have given.”

“What? Oh please, no slight taken, it does not matter. What is important is that two things happened that I think may have bearing on this situation.”

“Oh?” Vanis said.

“First, I found your father to be a remarkable man. Even though, at the time, I was of middling rank, he was respectful to me, and to all the other officers in our entourage. It was not at all what I was expecting from a King. But he treated me, all of us for that matter, with kindness, asked of our family and seemed to take a legitimate interest in us. At the time I thought it only an act.”

“I assure you, it was not. My father cares deeply for those in service to the Free Folk, whether it be military or civil service.”

“Oh yes, I know that now, but at the time, it was terribly surprising.”

“And what was the second thing, Sir.”

“Ahh. This relates to you, Sire. As this dreadful, never-ending affair dragged on, a young woman, a simple serving girl in fact, was knocked to the ground by some Duke or Lord or someone of some importance, a Human. It was purely an accident. He stepped backwards not knowing she was there. Glasses and drink went everywhere. Do you remember what you did?”

Vanis thought. “I do believe so. I left the line, despite my father telling me to stay, and then insisted that Governor Solva not only apologize, but help retrieve the broken glasses.”

“That’s right. And then you yourself got down on your own hands and knees to help pick up glass as well. After a few moments, when other staff arrived and took over the cleanup, you rose, helped the poor, terrified girl to her feet, and then helped the Governor up. Finally, you shook hands with this Solva, thanking him for his help.”

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“Yes,” Vanis said. “Surprisingly, the Governor became a good friend, and I was courting his daughter for a time as well. Of course, that was before…”

Thorn winced. “A terrible time for all, and a shame if your courtship was serious.”

“Thank you for your kind words.”

“But what happened stuck in my head,” Thorn continued, “and learning you were coming reminded me of that day. My mentor at the time turned to me and, indicating to you, stated ‘That boy will grow to be a respectable king’.”

“You are certainly aware I will never be the King.”

“I am, but at the time you were still heir-apparent. What is important, though, is that you did the honorable thing to aid someone far below your station, ignoring your father’s, the King’s, direct demand you leave it be. You showed no reserve in insulting a man of high stature, and then apparently were able to overcome that slight and become close with him.”

“Yes, Master Thorn, because it was the right thing to do.”

“Exactly. And so all this leads me to believe that your father has raised you to be an honorable man. One who would take his sworn oaths seriously. And one, who even if his commander were to order him to let it go, would ignore that order to do the right thing for this Gnome. And that I would be foolish to try to stop you.”

“You have a good read of my intentions, Master Thorn,” Vanis said. “Of all our intentions.”

“As I thought.” With a gesture, he added, “Ahh, here comes my assistant now.”

Sergeant-Major Natala arrived and handed something to Thorn. “Recruit Calliope Willow Archer.” he said with command in his voice, turning to look at her and causing the Gnome to jump.

Callie immediately snapped straight. “Uh, yes, uh Sir.”

“According to the Scryer, you have no class that they can detect.”

“Um, yes, Sir.”

“Also, they report you have a combat perk. That being Advanced Archery.”

“I guess?” Callie said with a questioning tone, before quickly amending, “Sir.”

“Take this and show me how you would shoot it.” He handed Callie a wooden bow of bright red. A small blue gem was embedded into the wood, and a pair of strange symbols were inscribed along its length. The string on the bow was a golden yellow, and seemed to hum with a strange power.

Callie looked over the crimson bow. It was beautifully carved, exquisite even. Surprisingly, it was short, as if sized for someone no taller than she was. It was of simple design, certainly not a competition compound bow like she was used to. But it felt strong and solid and perfectly balanced where it should be.

“What would you like me to do?” she asked, again, quickly amending it with, “Sir.”

“Shoot something! Show me your form.”

“Do you have any arrows?”

Thorn smiled. “Just aim and pull back the bowstring.”

Callie shrugged. “Okay.” That made no sense. How could she shoot something without an arrow? She looked around and saw a pile of straw perhaps fifteen meters away and squared her stance and straightened her left arm. With her right, she raised her elbow into the proper position. Taking two fingers, she grasped the string and pulled back and a strange ghostly, ethereal image of an arrow seemed to appear from nowhere.

Callie panicked! She let loose a squeak of surprise and the ghostly arrow flew off haphazardly. It skipped across the ground, then flew over the pile before hitting the outside wall of the camp and bouncing lazily off.

“What the hell!” she exclaimed.

Thorn looked at her with incredulity. “Endless Arrow enchantment.”

“Well, you should have warned me! I could have actually hurt someone!” Callie snarled, actually quite angry at the danger that had been created.

“Hmm,” Thorn said in an evaluating tone. “Try again.”

Callie again squared off against the pile, irritated and feeling as if she had been set up. She raised the bow and then her right arm. Again she pulled the string, this time resisting the urge to freak out when the arrow formed itself in the perfect firing position. She drew a breath, aimed, and let loose. The ghost-arrow flew true and slipped into the pile of straw, disappearing from view.

“Thank you,” Thorn said, extending his hand for the bow. Callie, a little reluctantly, handed it to him. Magic arrows! That’s really cool!

Thorn gave Callie a long hard stare, to the point that she started to feel a little awkward.

“Recruit Calliope, your form is absolutely impeccable, your downrange safety concern is admirable and your aim on even your first shot with an unknown weapon was dead on. There is no doubt that your Archery perk is well-earned and that your surname is, ironically, quite appropriate.”

Callie opened her eyes wide in surprise, and then looked back at the rest of her group. Lena was beaming like a proud mother, and even Vanis seemed to be happy with the Master Trainer’s evaluation..

“Scryer Earick,” Thorn said.

“Yes, Master Thorn?”

“Of the Hybrid classes you have remaining, have you any that are brown and yellow?”

“Brown and yellow? Are you sure? Let me check.” Earick went to the crate and started to look through it. “I do not, Yulayla?”

Quickly, Yulayla went to her own crate for the second table and looked through it. She quickly emerged with a block. “Last one, Master Thorn.”

Thorn extended his hand, taking the block from the Scryer. “Recruit Callie,” he said with emphasis, “Your memory loss may explain why the Scry for your class failed, but the perk provides evidence that, despite being a Gnome, this may be the hidden class you have.”

“A Gnome? Really? Brown and yellow?” Earick asked in confusion.

Thorn shrugged. “The perk seems genuine, as we have just seen. And there’s only one class that uses the Advanced Archery perk to that level of perfection. Perhaps trying to give her the skills will fix what the Scry is unable to see. If it doesn’t work, there's ultimately no harm. If it does, it will be truly remarkable.”

“But, a Gnome?” Yulayla said. “Is that possible?!”

“We will have to see,” Thorn said, shrugging again.

“It’s going to really piss off Trainer Reynard is what it’s going to do,” Yulayla said with a huff.

“Oh, that it will,” Thorn said with a chuckle. “Adds to the excitement, doesn’t it.”

“I don’t understand,” Callie said. “What class is brown and yellow?”

“You don’t know?” Master Thorn asked. He held up a hand to Earick before he could say anything. “Try to puzzle it out.”

Callie thought hard. A Warrior, so that would be somebody that could fight. And a Scout, so in the Army, that would be somebody that could sneak around, maybe move through the woods at wartime to spy. And they use a lot of archery weapons. What would that be? She thought about the books she’d read when she was a kid, and the movies she’d seen, and about all the heroes she knew from all those stories. And then it all hit her, she saw the name, she saw his face. Her face exploded in glee.

“She’s got it!” Thorn said, seeing the bright smile on the Gnome’s face.

“Legolas!” Callie squealed.

Thorn’s smile dropped slightly, “What’s a Legolas?”

“Hawkeye?” Callie less-enthusiastically squealed.

Thorn’s smile dropped off his face.

“Robin Hood, maybe?”