Chapter 1: Beating Things With Sticks

The Day Before School Begins

Landar

My ax came up to meet the strike, and the sound of metal on metal reverberated through the frozen winter air. My opponent's weapon slid to one side as I pulled back my war ax and pushed directly into his sternum as hard as I could.

“Umph!” The burly guard said as he stepped back several paces. I pressed him, getting in close and bringing my ax back up in an underhand swing aimed at his ribs.

Magic flared.

“Match!” Knight Ezekial called and a magical force pulled me and my opponent, a young guardsman named Rolo, back towards our ends of the field. A barrier of force sprang up between us, and the magic coating our weapons to dull their impact encased my ax and his mace fully.

“Well done boy,” Tomas said as the magic faded. He stepped into the small fighting ring and placed a hand on my shoulder. But he looked at the panting guard on the far side of the ring. “Rolo is my most skilled guardsman from the outer gate houses.” He looked over at Rolo then. “Well done Rolo, my boy has magic and growth on you. And still you kept up with him until the end.”

Rolo lifted his mace in a solute as he worked to slow his breathing. His chest heaved like a belows, matching my own. I had purposefully not cycled mana to my limbs, and had only kept my chie moving at a slow, lethargic pace.

Otherwise I knew I would have flattened the guy.

“Thank you sir!” Rolo was quickly surrounded by a handful of other guards who helped take his armor and gear off. One brought him a stool which he quickly took, his legs shaking from exertion.

Yikes, I thought. That was a work out for me, but I’m not legs-shaking so bad I might fall over, bad.

“Come on lad, let's go speak with Ezekial and see if he has any insight for you.”

We stepped out of the ring, as two other fighters stepped in. A few minutes later as the last training bout ended, Ezekial stepped down from the judges box and began meeting with guards and their captains. Providing much needed feedback.

“So this is new huh?” I asked as I sat on a bench next to Tomas.

“Yes. Second year doing this. When the duke heard about me training with the knights and how well it went he suggested something like this once a year. Just before the academy starts, so it doesn’t distract us from work.”

“Lots of people come to the city when school starts?” I asked, as Ezekial slowly worked through the dwindling crowd of soldiers and guards.

“More every year. Different kinds of people, from places I’ve never even heard of too. There was a shark man last year who was part of the entourage of some noble kid from the southern duchy. So large, he made me look small. And his eyes . . . those eyes were as black as midnight.” Tomas shivered.

“Now that sounds interesting.” I said. “I hear that the easterners are bringing a people called the kin as well. Have you encountered them yet?”

My father shook his head. “I've met a few who traveled to meet with the city council over the last day or two, but not regularly or even on patrols. One was a fox woman with fur on her face, and six tails. Very strange.” The look my father had told me a different story. That he found it far from revolting.

“Though I did get taken to see that massive beasty they all live on. Things so big it has two whole mountains on its back.” When I gave him a skeptical look he smiled. “Really, you should see it. They’re small mountains, but they’re real. And from what the Duke’s said, they got more of them coming. They’re going beyond the forest to the west. The foothills out that way, or something.”

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Out near where Farmer and his family are. Interesting. I wonder how well that’s going to go. The people out that way were staunchly independent, strong willed, stubborn, and a tad more xenophobic then most. The elves and dwarves, whom they had peaceful interactions with for generations were still seen with suspicion. I couldn’t imagine how well strange new dog men, and fox women were going to go over.

“Looks like Zeek’s free now.” Tomas stood up and I followed him over to where Ezekial the son of the former Coin Lord had just finished giving a small demonstration using a spear to two guards. The guards' duel had been one of the more interesting ones, and Ezekial was demonstrating a different method of disarming an opponent using the weapon.

“It's tricky, but if you can get it hooked under their elbow, and use their hip as leverage, you can control an opponent's swing. Of course you need to be sure you have a partner there else the move leaves you open to a pretty quick counter attack.”

The two men thanked him and left, talking amiably to each other about their match.

“Ah, the feral child, and his bastard father.” Ezekial smiled, and gripped wrists with Tomas who returned the gesture. “How are you two?”

“I’m well. We thought to wait for his feedback until the crowd moved on.” Tomas released the hold and it was clear to me the two men had a good working relationship. If not friendship.

“No worries. I already gave your opponent, Rolo was it?” Tomas nodded at the young knight's question. “Good. I already gave your man Rolo his feedback. Consisted mainly of learning how to use his weapon as more than a mere armor crusher. As for you, Landar. You know your weapon decently well. But it's one handed, and you have a free arm. You use it well enough for balance, but if you included a second weapon, or a shield you’d only increase your effectiveness. As it is, you’re leaving a massive hole in your defense, and only using half of your aggressive potential.”

I smiled sadly. “I had another ax. But it broke when I. . . well lets just say I lost it. Been thinking about trying to make another one though.”

“Hmmm. Two of the same style of weapon can work. I’ve seen dualists who use double sword styles. But it's usually with a dominant and a blocking or parrying dagger or short sword. I could see a hatchet, lighter and quicker as it would be, filling that role. But unfortunately I can’t point you in the direction of any training manuals. Not many people use a woodsman's ax paired with a war ax. But you could adapt something from one of Saint Yerdra’s Maulers Handbook for the Aggressively Inclined, mixed with some standard dueling forms. That might work for a start.”

He gave me an appraising look. “But from what I understand you’re looking to become a mage, right? Learning to defend yourself with the equivalent of special sticks, is nothing compared to the power you can wield using arcane magic.”

I smiled and shook my head slightly. “I haven’t chosen a path yet. But I've been considering several, and yes. Mage is one of them. But regardless of what I choose for school? I want to learn more about how to use this.” I twirled the ax lazily for emphasis.

Ezekial’s frown slowly grew into a smile.

“Good! I’m glad you know the value of the blade. Or,” he gestured towards my ax. “Whatever weapon you choose to learn. A wizard might be able to call lightning from the sky, crack the earth under our feet, and split mountains with flame. But most never learn to improve their bodies, leaving them vulnerable to a single knife slipped through the ribs seeking their heart.”

Ezekial shook his head, and smiled “There are many paths to power. To spend all of your life reading old scrolls, learning spell forms, and experimenting in underground damp dungeons on eldritch horrors is perhaps the least . . . fun of the options laid before you. How many days until you have to choose?”

“Not until after the first year. Right now it's all general studies.”

“Speaking of classes. Have you got your selections into the office yet?” Tomas asked.

“Not yet. Heading there after this actually.”

“Good.” Tomas nodded. “You should get going then. It’ll be noon before you know it.”

“Can I see what you chose?” Ezekial asked. I shrugged, grabbed the slip out of my bag and handed it over to the knight. “Interesting. Mana theory, body enhancement good. Never forget that advancement is not just about the size of your mana pool. Very good. And universal principles of enchantment. Not bad given your love of those little gadgets of yours.” He looked displeased about something. “Tell me, have you heard of Practical Field Applications?”

“Yeah, why?” I had seen it in the course catalog. First years had roughly twenty class choices. Most had nearly an entire page that listed the syllabus in detail. I remembered PRactical Field Applications mainly because of how short the description had been.

“Combat, research, and medical experience in the field. Part one of a two part course series.” I quoted out loud.

Ezekial smiled wickedly.

“Not a very good explanation of the class, but also exactly perfect as well. You should take it. Its only one day a week, on Sixthday. Trust me on this, with your desire to learn how to wield weapons and magic together, this class will fit you perfectly. On top of that, if you’re lucky and good at it, you’ll get a few opportunities to earn some extra coin.”

That made me suspicious, and I stared at him and the slip of paper in his hands that listed my selected classes.

“Look. If you don’t like it, you can back out of the class for the first two weeks of classes.” Ezekial lifted a finger, summoned a tiny amount of magic and placed the finger on the page under my selected classes. I frowned as Practical Field Applications appeared on my list. “But trust me, you won’t want to quit.”