“I have some more errands to run,” Luna said as she watched Markus lead her Titan Ox and Warcharger out of the mounted goods store. “One of those errands will need me to grab Ally and Ric. Do you want to come and speak with them some more?”
“I probably should,” Markus said as he gave the Warcharger a comforting pat to calm the horse as it eyed Kalexia warily where she waited patiently beside the road, ignoring the gawking children that had gathered around her, “I’m probably going to have call a rain check though. I’m excited to finally take Kalexia for a ride; I’m sure she’s excited about that too, she’s been pretty cooped up this whole time.”
“Don’t ride too far from the city,” Luna said before turning to Stella and giving her a questioning look.
“I’m going with you,” Stella said with a wary look at Kalexia’s taloned feet. “I don’t have a death wish like Markus does.”
“Kalexia’s trained,” Markus said defensively. “Look, she hasn’t done anything to scare those children!”
As one, the three of them looked at the ice-blue, scaled drake as she gazed boredly around her. Before Markus could say anything else, she sneezed heavily, twin gouts of blue fire shooting from her nostrils and freezing the cobblestones in front of her as some of the children laughed and all of them ran away.
“I think I saw one of those kids suddenly need new pants,” Stella said as she shaded her eyes and followed one of the retreating figures with her gaze. “What was that about not scaring any of them?”
“Whatever, she still didn’t hurt anybody,” Markus said unhappily.
“No, but perhaps we should look into our Clan Hall a bit sooner than we expected,” Luna said, pulling her book out and making a new note. “If Kalexia’s sneezes are causing her to shoot out her fire, then we need something that we can make impervious to them, otherwise we’ll be paying for any damages to the city, or, Heaven forbid, the people.”
“Well, I’m going to take her out of the city for a bit,” Markus assured her. “That’ll give her some room to do whatever she wants without any bad consequences.”
“There are good consequences?” Stella asked in confusion.
“Killing bandits, freezing a tree, throwing me from the saddle,” Markus said, ticking each point off on his fingers as he listed them.
“I thought you said she was trained?” Stella said warily.
“She is,” Markus insisted. “Go up and pet her, go on.”
“I like my hands attached to me thanks,” the Halfling woman said with a shake of her head.
“Whatever,” Markus sighed. “Anything else I need to know, Luna?”
“No,” she shook her head. “Could you go by the Church with those two before you take Kalexia out though? I’d like them stabled until I have riding tack and a better lead for them.”
“Sure,” Markus agreed with a nod. “It’ll give me a chance to talk to Janks and Rook if they’re there now. See you two later, tell Ally and Ric I said ‘hi.’”
“Already giving me orders,” Stella griped jokingly to Luna. “He’s lucky I like him enough to agree to that stuff.”
“Isn’t he,” Luna agreed with a nod as she led the way down the street and toward her next errand. “If we’re not careful, the power of being in charge might go to his head.”
“We should make sure to deflate him from time to time,” Stella agreed. “Do you think my dagger would work, or should we get some needles?”
As the two women walked away laughing, Markus looked at the Warcharger that was clearly upset to be so close to Kalexia and the Titan Ox that placidly chewed cud as it looked around curiously.
“You guys got my back,” Markus said, reaching to calm the horse. “Right?”
With a loud snort and a clack of his teeth, the Warcharger chased Markus’ hand away.
“Oh, she’s lovely,” Chess said with a grin as Markus dismounted Kalexia in the Church’s stable-grounds before passing the leads to Luna’s animals off to a waiting hand. “Stabler always does excellent work, too. He matched the coloring of the leather to her scales beautifully, making a very nice dark contrast.”
“He did a great job,” Markus agreed, patting Kalexia proudly on one of her scaly shoulders. “The saddle needs to be broken in properly, but it’s still comfortable. I’m excited to get out of the city and let her loose for a bit.”
“That’s an adventure I’d love to take if I were forty years younger,” the Halfling priest sighed. “I was a Paladin myself for many years before I felt Grindel’s call to become a priest, did you know that?”
“I didn’t,” Markus said in surprise, trying not to eye the older man that reached his thighs skeptically.
“Oh yes,” Chess nodded, his eyes becoming farther away for a moment as he re-lived a memory. “I was once Sir Nargen’s right-hand man. The squires and trainees used to call me Chesterfield, the Iron-fisted Tyrant because of how hard I pushed them in training. Of course, they didn’t complain when they lived through a fight.”
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“It’s kind of hard to imagine you that way,” Markus said. “You’re so well-spoken and kind.”
“Thank you for that,” Chess said with a laugh. “As a Priest, I cannot allow myself to frighten my flock, much less sound uneducated.”
“Don’t let that fool you, though,” Rook said as he stepped up to where Markus and the High Priest were talking. “The old Halfling’s more capable than half the fighters I know in the Royal Guard. Even if he hasn’t taken to a real battlefield in decades.”
“Good day, Master Rook,” Chess said with a smile. “So good to see you, and thank you for your kind words.”
“They’re the truth,” Rook said with a sniff. “Doesn’t matter if they’re kind or not, does it?”
“Perhaps not,” Chess said with a smile, leading Markus and Rook out of the stable, with Kalexia following Markus closely as she eyed Rook warily. As the three men and one Drake stepped into the sunlit yard, Janks entered on a horse of his own, giving Rook an exasperated look.
“Come on, Rook, we were supposed to meet an hour ago by the fountain in front of the palace,” Janks said wearily. “I waited for you this whole time before giving up.”
“I was at the northern fountain where we agreed to meet,” Rook said.
“Why would we meet at the northern fountain if the Church of Grindel is to the south of the palace?” Janks asked.
“It didn’t make sense to me either, but that’s how I remembered it,” Rook said with a shrug. “Come on. Let’s get this out of the way before the boy goes off and gets himself dead.”
Shaking his head at the older man’s words and nature, Janks dismounted his horse as a stablehand ran out to take the beast from him before following after the other Royal Instructor.
“You’re looking well, Sir Markus,” Janks greeted him with a friendly grin. “And I see that your Kalexia is looking as lovely as ever.”
“Thanks,” Markus said, returning his grin. “I’m planning to take her on a ride outside the city later, once I’m done here.”
“Oh, this won’t take long,” Janks assured him as they followed Rook the rest of the way towards the training yard that was empty with everyone that typically made use of the packed sand yard taking a break for lunch.
“What’s this about?” Markus asked as he followed the two men onto the sand, pausing to grab a training sword and tower shield.
“It’s simple,” Rook said, waving his own training sword a few times to test its balance. “We taught you your Style, remember?”
“Of course,” Markus nodded as he checked his status for the new line that mentioned his Style as though to assure himself that it was there. “Why? What’s up?”
“We are about to finish teaching you the Style of Frozen Flame,” Janks said seriously. “What we taught you were the basic movements of the Style so that you could learn to use them without any needless worries about what we’re teaching you now.”
“I’ve been observing your practice sessions,” Rook said as he stretched a bit. “You’re doing better than most that I’ve seen, you take your time and you make efforts to make sure your movements are perfect before you attempt to spar with that Paladin Squire. Because of that, we’re comfortable showing you these now instead of leaving you to flounder a bit more.”
“The first thing that you need to know is that properly using what we’re going to teach you will allow you to bring out more of the basics than before,” Janks explained. “Additionally, once you’ve totally mastered the Style, you’ll be able to use it all in more unique ways, making it wholly your own.”
“Each Style of Combat is built on several things,” Rook said, taking over the lecture in full after making sure that Markus was paying attention. “The first thing that they’re built on is footwork. Many people say that footwork is the most important part of combat and as such, each Style uses different types of footwork. Types that allow you to plant your feet more easily and keep your footing as you make use of large weapons; types that make use of your momentum to force your opponent off-balance; even types that leave avenues of escape closed for both fighters.”
“The Frozen Steps and the Flaming Steps,” Markus said, referring to the footwork the two men had spent two days all but beating into him.
“Precisely,” Rook said. “The second thing that they’re built on is how to actually use the weapons. When to thrust and how to set that up; when to block with a sword to open the opponent up to a kick between the legs; when to disarm yourself and step closer to drive a dagger into their heart. The basic movements are those. Some give each of them fancy names, but at the end of the day, a thrust is a thrust and slash is a slash. Why should you go to the trouble to name it something poetic like Stork’s Sweeping Wing?”
“Someone called a move that?” Markus asked skeptically.
“That and worse,” Janks confirmed as Rook nodded before continuing.
“The final building block of a Style of Combat is something that not everyone looks into,” he said. “Stances. Using a stance can allow you to more easily use the basic movements of the Style and combine them in different ways. You’ve no doubt noticed that some of the movements leave your shield useless and others practically block your sword from swinging, yes?”
“I have,” Markus said with a wince as he remembered one particularly nasty hit from Rankins the other day that gave him a concussion before someone healed him. “It’s not fun and seemed like a pretty big hole in the entire idea of having a Style.”
“That’s because most of those movements are meant to be used with a stance,” Rook explained. “They can be used without one, obviously, and we recommend that you practice them without using the stances every so often so that you can make sure you know them. Using them with a proper stance will make them much better in a combat scenario.”
“The first stance,” Janks said, “is the Neutral Stance. It’s meant to be used if you don’t want to tip your opponent off to your charging, or defensiveness.”
“Set your feet like so,” Rook said, setting his feet apart a certain way and raising the sword in his hand while mimicking holding a shield. “Once you’re steady, keep your arms like this until someone attacks. You can move from this stance into any of the movements easily.”
“Next is the Offensive Stance,” Janks said as Rook shifted his feet and raised his sword in a more threatening manner. “This one is meant to be used to go on the attack more easily. You can also use it as a means of shifting into the Flaming Steps more fluidly, they’re meant to be used to attack and chase.”
“The third one’s the Defensive Stance,” Rook said as he shifted his feet again and lowered his sword while raising his other arm as though offering a shield to an opponent. “Like the Offensive Stance, it can be used to shift into the Frozen Steps without much issue. It’ll also work if you can’t move as easily for some reason.”
“There is a fourth stance,” Janks said. “The Mounted Stance, but it’s less of a stance and more a way to sit. We’ll teach you that before we leave but first, we’ll make sure you know how to fall into each of the other three instantly. We’ll start with the Neutral Stance.”