Jace was messing with the back of a metal slide rule. There were bicoloured strips that went up and down for counting and subtracting numbers. He was using a stylus that came with it, as nothing else fitted in the slots. It was no calculator, but he’s been using it for a while now and had gotten fast at solving the problems Evaliena was throwing at him. He thought he was getting better with maths.
Jace heard the loud closing of a door. “That’s you’ve had your time with him. Now I’m taking my turn.” Shouted a familiar male voice.
“Cedar, we’ve talked about this.” Evaliena spoke back as she was lying on the floor waiting for the water to boil. “Besides, you’re far too old to go gallivanting about hunting.” Cedar had been grumbling for a while about taking Jace out for some hunting. Jace was not keen about this. Though he had known how to strip a carcass, thanks to Evaliena cooking. After being queasy several times at the sight of so many organs, and becoming desensitised to the imagery after a while.
Cedar waved Evaliena off. “Bah. If he doesn’t learn how to fend for himself, he’ll starve.” The old silver fox lazily stomped across the wooden floor to his chair next to the burning hearth.
“You saw how weak his stomach is, Cedar.” Evaliena pointed out. “He doesn’t have the guts to be a hunter.” Jace remained quiet and focused on fiddling with the slide rule. The two Reynards argued like they were a married couple. Jace didn’t quite understand the argument. He’s going to be trained as a mage. The strips he could earn would easily cover his expenses. He thought.
“He wants to explore…” Cedar countered. “Have you shown him yet just how sparse civilisation is?” He threw one arm wide, gesturing across the room. “While we’re well travelled and can far step wherever we wish. He doesn’t have the built up knowledge.” Cedar raised a rather good point. “He will be travelling on foot. While a boon for any caravan or party, he’ll have to contribute to rations somehow,” which turned unreasonable.
Evaliena leaned in the conversation. “You do know by the time I’m done with him.” And looked at her hand, counting off. “He’ll be a capable mage, a capable alchemist, a capable scribe, and a capable artificer. If he needed to know how to catch prey the traditional way, I would be a failure.”
Cedar kept grumbling and huffing. Jace offered a compromise. “You were a warrior… Cedar? Why don’t you teach me how to defend myself?”
Cedar looked down at the fire for a while. Silent. Slight grumbles, umming and ahhing. The old fox came around to the idea. “Just as a warning, boy. You will get hurt a lot.”
“Just leave me enough time so I can keep teaching him.” Evaliena added. “Knowing how you taught your previous students, he won’t have all day or most of the week, either.”
“It’s better than just making him run around the keep and doing basic exercises.” Cedar countered, then the argument started again. Jace got out of his chair and slipped upstairs to nap.
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Jace was going to make Cedar wait as he limbered up. If the old fox was going to wake him early in the morning, then he’s going to make the old fox wait while he got breakfast, which was wonderfully flavoured oats this time. And this made sure the old fox waited as Jace worked out all the stiffness in his joints. However, this was not going to make up for the fact that the sun wasn’t up yet.
Cedar was waiting beside the keep’s main door. “I thought you wanted to learn?” The old silver teased. He was in much less clothing today than every other time Jace had seen Cedar. The old fox was in a covering poncho and kilt. Both dyed and detailed with embroidery, Jace couldn’t make the meaning of.
“I didn’t expect to be so rudely woken up.” Jace stretched and yawned. “Also, why are we going outside? It’s freezing.”
Cedar smiled. “That won’t be a problem.” He gestured to the door, and it opened by itself. Cedar led himself outside without bothering to see if Jace would follow him. Acting aloof doesn’t suit Cedar at all, not at his ‘suggested’ frailty. Jace followed.
Braziers around the courtyard began lighting up with every step the old fox took. Filling the area with warmth. The wind still howled against the walls and bit against Jace’s body. Cedar made a sweeping gesture and the snow covering a circular stone platform evaporated away. He waved Jace to follow. “Come here, it’s perfectly warm.”
Jace trudged through the waist high snow. Which Cedar had just walked over as if it was solid ground. He was glad that his feet had insulating fur, even if they still felt cold. Jace stepped onto the platform and bounced back, grabbing the foot that touched the circle. The surface was boiling hot. He could see the steam wafting off before being pulled away with the wind. Cedar chuckled. “Sorry about that, boy. I forgot you couldn’t wield mana yet.”
Jace grumbled. If he was going to be spiteful, he had to expect it would bite him in the backside. He hauled himself back onto his feet and stepped back onto the platform. The stone, pleasantly warm to the touch now. Then he noticed the air inside the platform’s boundaries, the breeze barely touched it and the noise of the wind dampened. Just what was the limit to the arcane? What were the downsides?
“I’m surprised you’re so well adjusted to seeing things happen outside of your sight,” Cedar commented. Jace just nodded. He yawned again. When fantastical things happened nearly every day, he sort of became numb to it all.
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“What not going to make me do push ups and weights?” Jace groaned.
Cedar shrugged at Jace. “You haven’t passed your second milestone, so I see no reason to, as you wouldn’t get any benefit from doing training now,” the old fox casually explained. Jace would have to ask Evaliena what everyone meant by milestone when it came to age… Cedar pulled a long wooden pole from thin air over his left hand. And threw it to Jace’s feet. “Pick that up.” The old fox then pulled out a different length of wood out of that same spot.
Jace leant down and picked up the shaft of wood. It was heavier than he expected. He tested the strength of the wood by nicking the ending into the gap of the stones and pushed himself up. He hoisted himself up with ease and fell onto his side. Rolling to avoid hurting himself too much.
“You land like a Lynx.” Cedar leant over Jace. Jace didn’t know whether it was an insult or a compliment. “Get up, please. If you break that stave, I’ll force you to make another one.”
“Yes, sir…” Jace mumbled.
“At least have a bit of feeling in it when you use manners, Boy.” Cedar walked away, lightly twirling his training sword around before turning to Jace. “Now show me how you hold that stave.”
Jace hauled himself up, using the butt of the stave to get back to his feet. This was too long for his current height. Jace thought about how to hold the length of wood for a moment. He held it with two hands and pointed one end towards Cedar. Cedar was standing relaxed, the tip of his training sword lightly dabbing the stone floor. One of the old foxes eye bushy eyebrows raised. “You aiming to poke someone’s eyes out?”
Jace wanted to be cautious. “If I can keep you away from me, I can’t be hit, can I?”
Cedar looked to the side and nodded slightly. “Fair, but what will you do if I?” Cedar stepped forward and was suddenly inside the reach of Jace’s stave. “Passed your guard?”
Jace had flinched and stepped back. “Now you’re just bloody cheating!” he whined.
Cedar playfully hit Jace’s crown with the flat of the training sword, Jace groaned from the light stinging pain. “Come on lad, what will you do?”
“I think I would change grip?” Jace suggested, moving his hands across the wooden stave to be less of a spear and more of a staff. Using the training staff to protect his body. “Like this?”
Cedar pulled back his sword and rested it over his shoulder. “Has anyone trained you before?” Jace shook his head. He could tell Cedar about stuff he watched on the internet and in video games, but that was likely to go over the old fox’s head. “Have you seen others train with weapons before?” Jace nodded his head. “Then you’re a lot sharper than many of my previous students.” Cedar started walking back to this previous position. “By the way, don’t imitate that manoeuvre, if I was in a real fight that could have easily gotten me killed.” The old fox spoke earnestly.
“Cedar…”
“Yes pup?”
“This stave is far too long for me.” Jace hefted the piece of wood. If he had to swing the stave any length of time, he was going to tire out.
“Get used to it.” Cedar shrugged his shoulders dismissively. “You’ll be fighting at a disadvantage constantly. However, this is practice. Besides, Sandal wants to train you as a mage, and you want to explore.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” Jace asked Cedar. He wasn’t quite sure what the old fox meant. What would a big stick do for him?
“The answer’s simple, really.” Cedar stabbed the tip of his wooden sword into the stone floor, resting his weight on it. “A nice big stick is good for walking and hanging some sacks off of it. Eventually, as a proper mage, it might be good to mount a focus on one end and a spike on the other. Sans that, most bandits and guards aren’t going to think of a stick as being a weapon. Especially if it looks nothing like one.” Jace thought the points through, and it clicked in his head. “However, it’s also good to know how to use a dagger and a short sword too.” The old fox winked at Jace. “Now I’m going to describe a few stances and movements for you to go through. Now repeat after me…”
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He rolled onto a cushion near the hearth. He ached all over. Jace had misjudged the old fox. Cedar was fast and Jace felt like he was hitting a stone pillar with how firmly the old man stood and deflected blows. Jace suspected he was channeling whatever magical energy, mana was it?, this world had… or the difference in experience and conditioning was just that wide.
While Jace was aching on the cushion. Cedar was cackling with proud glee. “I haven’t been this invigorated in years!” The old fox was using his training sword like it was a cane.
“You call that bullying practice Cedar?” Burr commented as she helped Evaliena and Baysil with repairing the holes on a sheet between them. “Look at the poor pup. He’s bruised all over now.”
“Bah, Yes I should have watched my strikes.” Cedar conceded as he sat himself in his favoured rockable chair and raised a diplomatic hand. “I did apologise. But I was just so excited to have a sparring partner for once.”
Burr just let out a sigh. “I don’t think poor Jace here could afford serious injury right now.” Cedar shrugged it off. Nothing was going to dampen his mood.
“I think the kit did a lot better than Cinnamon did when he stupidly challenged Cedar.” Baysil quietly sewed up a hole.
“Cinnamon needed to be put in his place.” Cedar spat and he pulled out his pipe, lighting it with a rub of his fingers. He took several puffs. “I’m not so reckless as to use my full strength. Anyway, Jace is a faster learner. I’ll break him into a proper scraper yet.”
Jace wanted to correct Cedar, but he couldn’t muster the strength to much more than curl up tighter on the cushion and soak up the heat to warm his cold bones. Jace slowly fell asleep, and it wasn’t even midday yet.