Chapter 82 Glad Or Annoyed

“Ready?” Lenna asked the large man in front of her. She was down in a low stance with a round shield strapped firmly to her left arm facing the man. Her sword was resting against the upper right edge of the shield half a dozen inches back from its tip.

The man shifted his tower shield a bit and rolled his shoulder causing his spear to follow the motion. “Ready.” Mark replied.

Lenna nodded once and launched at him with only her natural strength. She pulled the shield back right as Mark’s spear was about to make contact. The shift in timing caught Mark by surprise. She kept the shield in the same position for another step so his now stationary spear would be tossed to the side due to the sharp angle that its tip hit her shield. She took one more step than Mark expected her to. The tip of her left boot made contact with Mark’s shield before her entire body weight slammed into it. Lenna had used the edge of her shield as an improvised battering ram to shove Mark’s shield aside. It was a move that plenty of seasoned warriors had done at least once to a door. Much like a door, Mark’s shield swung inwards and almost punched him in the nose before it was forced aside by the rest of the mass behind the charging shield bash.

Mark’s eyes went wide as a longsword skipped off the side of his helmet. He hadn’t even seen it coming. He stumbled and Lenna was already past him. “Damn.” Mark swore.

“So V’Nova’s can use a shield.” Isaac teased.

Lenna shook her head. “No. Just me.” She replied. “Only soldiers are specifically taught shield combat. Paladins need a free hand to focus some of our spells.”

“Why just you?” Mark asked while backing away and getting back into position.

“I was stuck at a low level for a very long time. I had a lot of time to kill.” Lenna replied simply and then got back into position to charge at him again.

“Where did that strike even come from?” Mark questioned. He couldn’t figure it out even in hindsight. Her shield had blocked his vision until the blade was already skipping across the side of his helmet. The impact turned his head to the side and between his own shield and the sword in his face he hadn’t been able to see anything.

“She switched to a reverse grip on the sword as soon as it was out of your sight.” Esk enlightened him. “She spun into the strike right after she was done tossing your shield aside like a tavern door.”

Mark grunted in response. “Will I be able to counter that even if I know it’s coming?” He asked the paladin in front of him.

“Do you want me to tell you how?” Lenna questioned in return. “Or do you want to figure it out yourself?”

“Teach me. I’m here to learn.” Mark replied with a nod.

“Plant the butt of your spear behind you. You only need the top two feet of it. Your right thumb and wrist are armored. Use it.” She ordered the warrior. “Use the armor over your thumb to hold onto the right side of the shield so it won’t hit you in the face and lean into it.” Mark did as instructed and locked in as well as he could. “I advance.”

Mark nodded and braced. Lenna impacted his shield so hard that his thumb was bruised through the armor. His spear was almost ripped from his hand as Lenna spun into it. He forced his spear and shield back towards each other and Lenna’s momentum was completely arrested. Her reverse grip spinning attack went wide and caught nothing but air far behind Mark’s body. He shoved forwards with everything he had and Lenna stumbled backwards before reorienting back onto him. Lenna nodded and straightened. “You hit like a runaway cart.” Mark commented.

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Lenna smirked. “I’m not any stronger than the drow soldiers. That technique is common for breaking through caravan guards. It doesn’t work if the battle line is more than one person thick but it is perfect for getting past one person and maybe killing them at the same time.” Lenna explained.

Mark nodded. “Thanks. My hand is still bruised though.”

“We sparred barehanded before gearing up to do it again. The bruises under the armor helped get us ready for real fights. V’Nova soldiers will not feel pain unless you shatter bones or gouge out eyes.” Lenna explained. “Focus on defense but land a killing blow when you can. Glancing strikes will only leave you open for counter attacks.”

Mark nodded again. “Thank you, teacher.” He told her.

Lenna chuckled and turned away. “Um, you’re welcome.” She replied. Isaac gave her a look that meant that he would most definitely be teasing her about that later. “I’ll fight you.” She told her mate evenly.

Isaac chuckled and turned back to Kahtesh. “Now, using what I just taught you, what is five rows of eight?” Isaac asked the little dragon. Kahtesh looked at Isaac quizzically for a long moment. Isaac narrowed his eyes at the dragon. “Stop counting them in your head.” He corrected Kahtesh. “This is an easy one. Five rows of eight is half of eight, which is four, then add a zero, forty.”

“Why are you teaching the skeleton multiplication?” Fina questioned with great exasperation. Alexander and Jala were there taking notes. The arena’s sand pit was packed with individuals that were not usually in a place such as that, excluding Esk and Lenna.

“We are trying to see how, where, Kahtesh stores memories.” Alexander explained.

“He understood addition and subtraction perfectly fine.” Isaac said more to himself than any of those present. “I don’t understand what’s so hard about multiplication.”

“You don’t understand what is hard about multiplication?” Esk asked incredulously. Isaac just shook his head with a confused look on his face. “Seven times nine?” Esk shot at Isaac.

“Sixty three.” Isaac replied just as fast.

“Twelve times fifteen?” Esk fired at the mage.

“One hundred eighty.” Isaac countered just as quickly.

“Twenty seven times fifty two?” Esk further questioned. When Isaac took more than one whole second to reply Esk started to let out a breath of relief.

“One, four, zero, four.” Isaac spit out before Esk could finish his exhale.

“How?” Esk questioned.

“It’s simple math?” Isaac replied somewhat confused and concerned at the looks he was getting.

“It is such a shame he isn’t a wizard.” Alexander whispered with a shake of his head.

Isaac shook his head to clear it and focused back on his dragon. “Okay, it’s easy buddy, I promise. Let’s pick one you haven’t heard yet.” The dragon just looked up at him expectantly. “Six multiplied by six.” And so Isaac went on in an almost vain attempt at teaching a dead dragon arithmetic, all the while two wizards looked at the dragon through magic arrays and magic items. This continued on for the better part of the rest of the day until Lenna was finished teaching Esk and Mark how to handle combat with someone trained to fight for the V’Nova clan.

Before everyone split to go their separate ways Isaac stopped Shy. He handed her a folded piece of paper. “Burn it when you’re done.” He told her and then waved goodbye to the rest of the Flame Ravens.

“What was that about?” Esk questioned.

Shy opened the note without letting anyone see it. A moment later the note was being burned away by a match that seemed to come out of nowhere. Only Shy knew where she kept half of her random items. “A secret.” Shy explained.

“What about?” Esk pressed.

“A secret.” Shy replied evenly.

“Fine.” Esk grumbled. After a long moment he continued: “You know, we shouldn’t keep secrets in the te- ow!” His statement was cut off by Fina’s fist coming down hard on the top of his head.

“If she wanted to tell you, she would.” Fina corrected the younger adventurer. “As much as I would like to know, Shy has a right to her own secrets. Unless you want me to go telling everyone about that time in the inn in Sharsberry?”

“No, no, we are fine. Everything is fine. People are allowed to have their secrets. Nothing wrong with that.” Esk rambled on.

Fina grinned. “Good.”

—

Lenna’s aura flared for the third time that day. “This is beyond the point of ‘getting old’.” Lenna growled.

“Yes, it is.” Isaac agreed. “Every six hours on the dot for almost ten days straight?”

“Yes.” Lenna replied.

“You don’t think they are just doing it to get under your skin, do you?” Isaac questioned.

“Maybe,” Lenna replied. After a moment she continued: “I doubt it. They would be much more random if that were the case. It is like they are just keeping tabs on me.”

Isaac nodded in agreement. “Like they are making sure you don’t try to run when…” Isaac’s voice trailed off as there were too many people around.

“Yes.” Lenna said. “My uncle thinks too little of me if he thinks I would run.”

Isaac shrugged. “He has no idea how invested you are in this place. If we weren’t invested in Safeharbor or the people that live here I would’ve left by now.”

Lenna gave him a weary smile. “Should I be glad or annoyed that we made friends here?” She asked.

Isaac chuckled. “Probably a bit of both. I’ll get back to you on that.”