A few days later, the autumn rains had arrived and blustery winds made the raindrops splatter against the refectory window. Jemryn rubbed a peephole in the condensation and peered out at the crystal tree. Water was running down its protection, outlining its shape and making the shield visible.

‘You don’t want to be going out there lad.’ Came Sir Henrik’s voice from behind him. ‘It’s a bit damp’

Jemryn turned. ‘No sir, but I wanted to see if the illusion made rain inside the shield or if it only made the grass change but I can’t tell from here’

Sir Henrik scratched his chin. ‘Don’t know as anyone has ever thought to look before’ He wrestled with door for a moment against the wind, before sprinting down the garden, rubbing a patch of water off the shield and peering in, before sprinting back.

‘Reckon it’s the whole illusion lad. I could see water dripping off the tree and raindrops inside the shield.’ He clapped Jemryn on the back. ‘You’ve discovered a new nugget of knowledge about the tree. Now. Look lively. We can’t run up and down the mountain today, but the guards have cleared out most of their targets and those contraptions have been dismantled and stacked ready for reassembly on the walls. We can resume weapons drills in the Southern Hall this morning. Ah, Your Majesty.’ He pulled himself up a bit straighter as the king emerged from the corridor, followed by a herald and two guards. ‘How may we serve?’

‘I’m here at your suggestion Preceptor. I need to get a bit fitter and this is as good a place as any. You are sworn to protect me.’

‘I suppose you also recall that we are to protect you even from yourself, so we won’t be giving you a false sense of accomplishment.’

‘I did train with you as a candidate at my father’s behest, when I was Vann’s age so I am aware of your creed.’ The king gestured down at his almost white armour. It’s not that bad a fit, even three decades later.’

Sir Anders coughed loudly and it sounded suspiciously like ‘aspic mould’

The Preceptor glowered at him. ‘It seems we have a volunteer to take us through the more complex weapon forms, especially the flail form. I seem to recall that that is one of your favourites, Anders.’

The king laughed. ‘He’s not wrong though. While I am here training, I am Ryker, not “Your Majesty”, at least until word gets out and we have half the court decide that the latest fashion is to train in here. Fads seem to be changing faster than the seasons all of a sudden. No one has mentioned fish tax or thatch quotas in months. Halberds first Preceptor?”

‘Always your … Ryker.’ The preceptor looked at the two guards standing behind the king. ‘You lads can shuck off your chain and leave your kit on the table. You can train with us today. Right! Everyone through to the Southern Hall and form up into lines. Anders, you have the lead!’

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

Sir Bern had already put barrels of practice weapons by the door and everyone picked up a halberd as they passed.

‘Sir Lars. Fit these two with dragon plate as soon as maybe. You can join us shortly.’ He indicated the two guardsmen, now looking a bit like fish out of water. ‘Jemryn. You can assist.’

As always, the first form was slow and elegant with the ranks of halberd wielders well-spaced out. It was almost a form of warm up and stretching exercise, rather than a study of how to use the weapons. The second repetition went faster and the third faster still. The fourth repetition was done to a count, with the wielders freezing after every beat. Sir Anders, Sir Bern and the Preceptor then moved through the ranks correcting posture and positioning and sometimes even asking a caster to repeat a move. The fifth repletion went much the same, but Vann, Camryn and Heikki took a turn in assessing the positions, whilst they in turn were assessed by knights.

After five repetitions they swapped weapons and went through the same process first with quarterstaffs, then sword and dagger, then spears before taking a break.

One of the guards put up his hand.

‘Just speak lad.’ said the Preceptor. ‘The regular officers may stand on ceremony, but we do not. There’s not enough of us. Politeness is sufficient.’ He glanced at Sir Anders, who was completely unabashed.

‘Do you ever train with shields?’

‘We do, but nowhere near to the extent that the regulars do. This armour is near impregnable so we don’t get the same benefit, and the extra offensive capability is worth more. Yes lad?’ he looked at the page that had nervously entered the hall from the refectory.

‘Begging you pardons milords but I have been sent by the chamberlain to remind his majesty about his appointments for later this morning.’

The king let his shoulders drop. ‘It couldn’t last. Ah well. We will have to take your leave, but will be back tomorrow. I fully expect to have half the court with me when word gets out.'

The Preceptor shrugged. ‘We will pack them in and do hard physical conditioning with hand and small weapon forms. The few that stay the course will probably be worth training anyway. If you two lads leave the plate on the tables, we will sort it out later.’

‘Thank-you ladies and gentlemen. I will see you tomorrow.’ The king nodded to the knights and the candidates and went out into the refectory followed by his guards.

‘Gather around!’ the Preceptor waved them all into a circle. ‘What is your assessment of the king? Camryn?’

‘He’s got a basic grasp of the forms but he’s very unfit.’

‘Very good, Anything to add. Hekki?’

‘His sword work is good, much better than his work with long weapons, but he’s not used to wearing the heavy plate and he kept trying to use his dagger as if it was a shield.’

‘Excellent. Anders?’

‘A good assessment by the candidates. His main weakness is his lack of fitness. To beat him, you would just need to outlast him. Vann, would you care to comment on the guards?’

‘They were fairly comfortable with all the long weapons, but the regulars use many of the same forms that we do. They were less comfortable with using a spear two handed, rather than as a squad covering each other with shields and they were very uncomfortable with the sword and dagger combination, using their just armour as protection, rather than sword and shield.’

The Preceptor nodded. ‘Very good. Assessing strengths and weaknesses is an important part of our job. It is as important to cover for weaknesses in our team and exploit our strengths as it is to do the reverse to our opponents. Now. Sir Anders, Camryn go and relieve the knights on watch on the wall. Sir Bern, Hrafn, on duty in here. Jemryn, please return the dragon plate to its stands in the armoury. Ask Sir Bern for help if you need it. I see it has stopped raining for the time being so a brisk training run up the mountain is in order. We will take the training halberds with us.’