“Do you know how many enchantments exist in the Empire?”

Nay could feel the myriads of runes all around her, inside the training room of the chamber of the Imperatrix. It was as filled with enchantments as all the other parts of the manor on the mountain summit.

“There are limits?” She asked.

“Of course. Well, not for some of the most legendary of writtingers. But an enchantment is usually merely the written form of a phantom miracle, just like psalms are its spoken form.”

“Two-hundred and forty-two?” Trinne proposed.

The Imperatrix’ eyebrow rose. “That is the official number but it is a well hidden one. Did you snoop inside my library?”

“You gave us access.”

“Even then, it should not have been easy to find. But it is a good estimate, even if it doesn’t take into account the fifty or so that have been banned over the years. Either too dangerous to make, or creating more problems than they could solve.”

Nay digested the information for a bit. “That’s quite the low amount.”

“Very much so. It limits the things we can do a lot, and considering Carradin mages haven’t got the same phantom miracles as our Touched, well, they have other enchantments as well. So, to answer your question Trinne, the reason why they were almost no enchantments in Gite is because of that, the city is too close to Carradinoris.”

The thirteen lessons of the Imperatrix.

Nay had been given a leave.

Which was contradictory as she was currently shouting orders to the young recruits she was training in the huge flat field situated between the Imperatrix’ palace and the lift leading to Her chambers.

At the very least, Nay was finding this contradictory. But apparently, succeeding her second mission flawlessly only obtained her limited rest. She may have been freed from the orders of the ex-Imperatrix, but that didn’t mean the orders of the Emperor had gone away. She was still charged in the training of the mouslings, the name that had finally been chosen to replace the jewels of the Imperatrix. Most were young adults, with a few teenagers among them. They were thirty or so, which was too big a number for Nay to remember all of their names. Three recruits she did find promising though, commencing with a boy named Kadric, coming from Thiers. He was an embodiment of the stereotypes of the region. He had the same personality commonly associated to the city north of the capital: Obeying orders with no question asked, always doing his best and rigorous to a fault. It could be felt in his sword, and Nay had taught him the way of fighting that she had learned in the Academy of Gite. The simple and effective style was perfect for him. If Jarl needed a warrior, Kadric would be the best fit. The second that had stood out to Nay was Geronimo. He was eighteen years old, but was taller than Nay by a good five inches, and had to be four times her weight. He was built like a giant, and he reminded Nay of the young fisherman boy who she had trained with in the Academy. It wasn’t just his physique that convinced Nay that he would become a Mousling without doubt, it was his mind. He was shrewd, nothing like Mor, the fisherman’s boy, who had been quite simpleminded. Geronimo used his physique as a way of intimidating, but he was doing it very consciously, only when he wanted. Nay had trained him in the use of every kind of weapon she knew of, from knife to halberd. The third recruit was a woman, very dark of skin like every refugee coming from Makaka. Nay was almost certain she was named Crakie. It was a girl that had lived in the street, her scars all over her fit body was proof enough already, but her eyes were also filled with this rage that you could only find in those who had lived so long with nothing. Nay knew she would be chosen as well, because of her devotion. There was story there that Nay didn’t know, but Crakie had a debt to the Emperor, and there wasn’t something more sacred than that for the refugee girl, in Nay’s limited understanding of her.

In terms of fighting, those three weren’t the best or the ones with the best prospects, but Nay knew that being too good would bring them back in the army, not bring them to the new Mouslings position. Everyone except Liz of course. She was too young to participate in the war. And it was better like that. The day before, her sister had won against an adult for the first time, and Nay was terrified at the idea of her sister being used to kill. Liz had such an innocent way of looking at what they were learning here. She wasn’t thinking about using it to kill, it wasn’t the Legio way, but if the circumstances brought with them a corrupting change…

Lisana was going to become the best fighter in the world, Nay had no doubts about that. She wasn’t the only one thinking that either, everyone, recruits and passing soldiers often asking Nay for a duel were agreeing on that.

Nay was improving as well, but only slightly, and mainly due to her own work as Lisana’s teacher. The sad thing was that she often time felt like she was learning more than she was teaching, which was quite the depressing thought about her teaching skills.

“No! Stop!” Nay shouted, as her students didn’t get it. One of the soldiers laughed mockingly around them. Nay was used seeing them there, and they very rarely bothered her, but the laugh was rude, and the Legio checked for who had done it.

The place they were training in was simple. It was a square of land that had been lent to Nay, a bit on the side of the main road. There were barracks just next to it, and the tall building had a large balcony with a balustrade on the first floor. Usually, soldiers stood there to watch them. Today wasn’t an exception. The Legio spotted the one responsible for the impolite noise immediately. A soldier from Giamen, if she recognized his uniform right. She hadn’t seen him before. She did know the other soldiers around him, they were the usual onlookers, and all were smiling and seemingly making bets. She sighed, whether in Gite or in Leïn, soldiers were the same everywhere.

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“What’s the new guy’s name?” She pointed to the rude soldier.

Who seemed a bit shocked at being spotted so easily.

“Löm m’am.” A neighbour of his answered.

“And so you ask a girl to help you settle your problems with this Löm?”

“No m’am. Just a lesson of humility. And well, if your students don’t get how Trechuite techniques work, maybe you need to exemplify?” Nay would remember him, he was forgettable in his physique, but his impertinence was quite memorable. Nay didn’t mind observers, as long as they didn’t bother her about rivalries between divisions.

He was correct though. Her students were getting stuck, not able to copy or defend against the Trechuite techniques. Also, Lisana was currently looking at her with big eyes filled with hope. Liz had repeated many times that she loved seeing her big sister give all those creepy lurkers a lesson.

The Legio scratched the back of her head. “Löm, do you want to participate at today's training?” She gave him a large carnivorous expression, but the soldier on top of the balcony probably didn’t see it well, because it was almost arrogantly that he jumped down over the balustrade. It wasn’t high up, and he landed gracefully on the ground. He had the common armour of Giamen, leather with metal plates on his torso and neck. Four little banners were stuck on his torso. From what she remembered, those were similar to stars on Ducal guards. The brown colour of his armour was slightly discoloured, showing that he wasn’t washing it often.

“Geronimo, lend him your training weapons. And make a circle. Watch carefully! Trechuite techniques are all based on perspective and surprise. Löm, are you ready?”

The Giamen didn’t look worried when he asked: “No helmet? I wouldn’t want to hurt the Imperatrix’ goddaughter.” He gave a quick glance to the balcony, as to tease them with his bravado. One of the soldiers up there put a hand over his face. “She’s going to rip him a second…” Nay didn’t hear the rest of the sentence, but she had understood the general gist of it. She raised an eyebrow to Löm. “If I was currently working as a Jewel, you could have just gotten a three year forced deployment to the Boiling sea for that comment, you know?”

The swagger of Löm transformed into horror. “I didn’t mean…”

“I am on leave right now, and it was a joke.”

The Giamen soldier’s eyebrows scrunched up. The Legio just succeeded in pissing him off, way too easily in her opinion. The fight had not even begun and she already had a hold on his Rreico. The Legio stared at her sister, meeting her eyes. Liz nodded vehemently, in awe. She had understood the private, unspoken lesson.

“Good! On guard, and we salute!” Bubble was still in her scabbard: the Trechuites usually fought with a sword and buckler, but Nay had just Lake.

Löm lowered his head slightly, and was already starting to move when Nay interrupted him as she continued talking.

“So, Trechuite techniques!” She was the one that stepped towards him. “The Digging sword: a technique made by pushing the tip of your sword in the ground behind you, to create extra tension.” To her words she added the action. Löm blinked, raising his shield as he heard the Legio explain exactly what she was planning to do. Lake scratched the ground behind her, and when the tension was at its maximum, the powerless sword, completely blunt, rushed at a terrifying speed to crash on the brandished shield of Löm. The shock should have been terrifying, but the Legio contained her strike at the very last moment, and it bounced off with a very short and soft metal noise on the metal ball on the middle of the shield.

“Inverted Parry!” Nay continued. Löm was already striking back with his own sword, a quick attack aimed at her forehead. She raised her right arm and turned her wrist, countering the attack with Lake’s pommel, then she pushed the flat of her blade with her free hand, making it go from down to up, for the tip to reach her opponents belly. “Followed by the half-circle counter.” Löm had jumped back just in time, but that was good as Nay wanted to put some distance between them. “Not bad.” She still recognized the soldier’s skill. He wasn’t awful.

He didn’t look happy about that, red reaching his ears. Some whistling had come from the balcony. “You’re not bad Löm! First time a lass tells you that right?”

He raised his shield, and rushed forward, his sword pointed straight in front of him. Such a charge was generally done with a spear. Nay would have usually waited for the very last instant to dodge by doing a side-step followed by a turn, to entirely bypass his defences, but that was a Legio technique.

“The tree jumps of Harbetouche!” She decided instead.

She jumped back three times, every jump she accompanied by a strike that forced Löm to direct his shield to block her, but he didn’t stop charging. She took the middle of her blade with her free arm, and stopped her opponent’s sword with her own just as she dodged to the side. “Gorgot street technique.” She wasn’t accustomed to that way of fighting, and if she hadn’t controlled Löm’s Rreico so completely, she would have had to change her strategy.

“Will you…stop talking!” The soldier was furious, his pride clearly hurt, but it seemed that his objective was to force Nay to focus on the fight entirely, and not to hurt her. The Legio decided that she would stop torturing him.

“And, remember the main Trechuite technique?” She asked. She dodged another sword strike, and jumped back as she pushed herself away on the soldiers shield. She had suddenly put a large amount of distance between them, and her grip on Lake was back to normal.

He lowered his shield, just a second, to watch her next move more carefully.

And the Legio’s entire body bent, her right leg jumped forward while her left one straightened and angled itself, Lake went straight for Löm, who didn’t have time to react at this attack he thought impossible. Lake’s tip stopped just between both of his eyes, the Legio stopping her attack at the very last second.

With a time-gap, Löm did two steps backwards and then fell on his bottom.

“Playing with legs! Every Trechuite fights like this. You voluntarily reduce your reach to surprise your opponent with sudden reaching strikes.” Nay gave a glance to her students. Their interest in the Trechuite techniques seemed to have gone back up. She turned her attention back on Löm. “Thank you for helping me demonstrate. You can go back to your friends. And you guys!” She pointed to the soldiers exchanging gold pieces. Their pleased or disappointed faces tensed up. “Coin games are banned if not under official supervision. You better pay a drink to my students after the training if you don’t want me to report you to your commanding officers.”

Such games were banned, but betting was tolerated. The soldiers knew that, but one of them spoke back, his smile re-establishing itself. “Of course ma’m. Will you join us?”

“No, I have a prior appointment.” Nay sighed thinking about the meeting that was scheduled to happen a bit after her lesson. She was without a doubt to be overwhelmed by unending speeches and bad news. Trinne’s spy in Carradinoris had reported worrying information, and, considering the timing of the reunion, it seemed that something similar had reached the Emperor and the ex-imperatrix’ ears.