Rueln Layheart

“Stance, Rueln,” Master corrected me, smacking my leg in the same spot she had done over a dozen times before. I winced, but kept my mouth shut and allowed Master Esra to correct my stance. It was only a minute later when she corrected me again. I was going to have bruises covering every inch of my arms and legs if this kept up. Finnley wasn’t doing any better. He was shaking his hand after Master Esra whacked it with her stick and sticking his fingers in his mouth.

It’s been two weeks since we left Giath and Master Esra hadn’t wasted a moment to start her training schedule again. This time, I wasn’t the only one suffering through hours of walking, running, and sword drills. She wouldn’t give us anything but a wooden staff to swing around until our arms wanted to fall off. All this was fine. I was gaining weight, which pleased Master Esra, and I was already feeling stronger, the intense exercises slowly growing easier the more we worked. The problem was when Master Esra began trying to teach us drills.

Holding a sword for the first time, even a wooden practice sword, had a domino effect on both my body and my mind. Master would instruct me to mirror her stance, correcting me again and again, but my body always resisted me. Her stance felt wrong, somehow, and it didn’t take me long to figure out why. The feeling of wrong-ness was Empress Vhal’s, not mine. Master Esra’s lessons clashed with the sword technique I—she knew. It was much older, and I wasn’t sure if it was Vhal’s opinion or mine that thought it was better.

“I’m not her,” I murmured again, scowling as I repeated the drill Master Esra had taught us. Even as I moved to complete it, however, my body resisted and moved differently than what I had intended. It was like I expected myself to have the physical body of an adult woman who had held a sword for most of her life and the endurance, flexibility, and strength that went with it. Instead, I overreached and stumbled before falling onto my rump with a solid ‘oof’. I was obviously still an eight-year-old boy who had never held a weapon in his life bigger than a kitchen knife.

“You are showing off again, Rueln,” Master Esra scolded softly. “You are still learning.”

“But I’m not!” I protested, offended by the accusation.

Master shook her head. “Now is not the time for excuses. Stand and try again.”

The silence to my right told me Finnley had stopped his own drills to listen. I glared over at him, and he grinned sheepishly and started up again. I had been Master’s first student and yet I was the one who had fallen behind. Finnley was two lessons ahead of me now, and would surely outpace me further if I didn’t figure out what was wrong with me. It was frustrating, and Master didn’t understand. I was tired of trying to explain it to her. One thing was certain, being an expert at something in a past life made learning it a new infinitely more difficult.

“Rueln,” Master Esra sighed, moving closer to tap my feet with her stick. “Your stance is terrible. If you stand like that, then you will blow over by a good wind. Here, put your feet like this.” She showed me what she wanted, and I frowned, looking down at my own feet. It’s not right. I scowled, but I obeyed and corrected myself. “Very good. Now, keep the drills up, boys,” Master Esra instructed as she went to saddle Peach. “I’m making a run into the village. I’ll be back in a few hours.”

“Aye,” Finnley called, without looking up from what he was doing, though I was sure he was just as ready as I was to put the wooden swords down. He had been working most of the morning, just as I had, and my arms were tired.

As soon as the Master was out of sight, I threw my sword away. Crossing my arms, I refused to so much as look at it anymore. “I’m done. I just won’t be a swordsman. This is stupid. I’ll just pick something else!” I was pouting, and I knew it, but couldn’t seem to stop myself.

“What’s the problem?” Finnley asked, finally stopping to frown over at me. “Ya were doin’ fine.” He walked over, picking up my practice stick, and tried to hand it back. “Here, try again. I can show ya if ya want.”

I shook my head and backed up. “No. You don’t get it. It’s not fine. I can’t get it right. I’ve tried and tried and it just doesn't feel right.”

“What do ya mean?” Finn asked, scratching his nose as he studied me. “I heard ya talkin ta Master Esra the other night, but I didn’t get what ya were tryin’ to explain.”

My face flushed with embarrassment. “It’s just—I keep trying to—Ugh!” Throwing my hands up, I shook my head. “It’s nothing. Just forget it. I don’t know how to explain.”

“Well… Master Esra won’t be happy ya quit,” Finnley advised, only to grin and throw his stick down, too, before plopping to the ground in front of me. “Ya know, I could use a nap. What Master don’ know won’t hurt her.”

“She won’t be happy you quit either,” I grumbled, and turned my back to him. Finn was nice, but I didn’t think he would get my issue any better than Master Esra. There was no point explaining it to him.

Sighing, I walked over to Master’s new bay gelding grazing nearby. We named Apple to go with the theme of fruit, which he didn’t seem to mind too much. The only problem was he expected to get an apple whenever we called him by his name. He was friendlier than Peach, and more than willing to beg us for attention. If Peach were here, she would have nipped him in the rump to scare him off, but it never kept him from coming back. “Hey buddy,” I said, offering him my hand to lip. The gelding snorted into my palm when he found I didn’t have any treats for him. Good-naturedly, the gelding went back to grazing as I sank down to sit in the grass. I smiled at the animal, but it quickly slipped away again as I fell back into my thoughts.

I knew what my problem was, but I didn’t understand how to fix it. Frowning, I tugged some grass up and started tearing the green blade apart a little at a time as I tried to work it out in my head. There had to be something I was doing wrong. I didn’t hear anyone else complain about being reincarnated. Eidke sure didn’t, not even when the gods punished him and he lost his sight.

“I wish I could ask Eidke,” I mumbled, suddenly missing my brother. The ferocity of the emotion clouded my vision for a second and I quickly blinked the sappy tears away. I had no reason to miss them. I hadn’t even been gone a month yet. Trying to push the emotions away and refocus on my problem, I wondered what Vhal had done when she had faced this problem. If she wasn’t delusional, anyway. She was so sure though, but no matter how hard I tried to find out more with what memories of hers I possessed, nothing was clear.

The minutes turned into an hour before I gave up and stood, only to stiffen at the sound of galloping hooves. Jumping to my feet, I jerked around to look up the road towards the village and groaned. Master Esra had caught us slacking. Finnley sat up with sticks sticking out of his dark hair and a look of guilt covering his face, but he pulled himself to his feet and picked up our practice swords. I felt him just pressing mine into my hand after running over to me when our Master pulled up to the camp with a strange man riding at her side.

Having caught both of us slacking on our orders, she scowled and dismounted. “Since neither of you bothered to listen to the instructions that I gave before I left, you are to pack up camp without my help. Be quick about it.”

Swallowing, I glanced over at the stranger, then nodded and went to do as I was bid. I couldn’t help the occasional look at Master and the man, noticing they seemed pretty familiar with each other. At one point I lingered too close to them, trying to listen, only for Finnley to step on my fingers when I reached for my blankets. Hissing, I waved my hand in the air, then stuck the now red appendage into my mouth and gave him a look that he didn’t bother noticing.

When I looked back, I caught Master Esra’s eye and guiltily hurried to help Finn. The older boy was quite efficient packing up from his years on the road with his family, so I followed his lead. It took us only a few minutes before we were standing with the gelding loaded and on the lead line. With our own packs over our shoulders, we stared up at Master Esra, waiting for further instructions. Well, Finnley was staring at her. I was looking over at the stranger again, only to see him grinning at me when he caught me looking.

“This is a fellow guild member of mine, Fayr Gaylden. He asked for a favor, so we’ll be helping him out for the next week,” Master Esra explained, introducing him. He was a tall man, blonde hair long and braided back from his face. His well-trimmed beard had silver streaks in it, making him look older than I thought he was. At least he wasn’t ancient looking like old man Fhal Ghran, though I guessed he was at least ten years Master’s senior.

“Ya’re in the same guild as Master Esra?” Finnley asked, taking a step closer and gazing longingly at the man’s sword on his hip. “What rank are ya?”

Fayr chuckled and nudged Master Esra lightly with his elbow. “Eager, isn’t he?” he said before he addressed Finnley’s question. “I’m two ranks below Esra since I joined later than she did. I used to be a soldier in the capital, but had a change of career after standing around looking pretty got too boring.”

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Not really all that interested in the man’s story, I sniffed and returned my attention to Master Esra. “What’s the favor, Master Esra? How can we help?”

“The favor,” she began, reaching a hand over to pat Peach’s neck when the mare pawed the road, “is escorting a caravan through the mountains. You two will care for the horses and act as lookouts as needed. The road is well used, so I don’t expect there will be much excitement in it, but that doesn’t mean I want either of you to treat this with disrespect. This is a job and what I’m training you to do. Do you understand?”

She eyed me more than Finnley, which I thought was completely unfair. I was trying to take this seriously. We acknowledged we understood her, and I reached to take Apple’s lead from Finn when I noticed Master Esra holding out her hand like she expected me to give it to her. Hesitating a moment, I did, but the confusion must have shown on my face because her friend explained, “You’ll ride into town with us. The caravan we’re guarding is more than ready to be on their way.”

“Alrigh!” Finnley exclaimed and helped himself to Fayr’s offered hand to mount his large horse.

The man pulled him up easily behind him, and a moment later, Master Esra did the same with me. I swallowed uneasily when Master urged Peach and Apple on. I secured my arms around Master Esra’s waist without her needing to remind me and hung on for the ride. Thankfully, it wasn’t a very long one.

Only a few minutes later, our small party rode into town at a quick trot until we reached a caravan of fifteen. Finnley leaned out from the saddle as we passed the three wagons hitched to large, heavily built horses, trying to see what was inside. I watched as comprehension fell over his face, the look of someone who had lived their whole lives with a family on the market. When he turned to direct his gaze at me, he mouthed, ‘spices and dried goods.’

My eyes widened. Spices were expensive and as far as I knew, few traveled overland when it was easier and safer to go by portal. “Sit straight, Finn,” Master Esra ordered, as she pulled Peach to a halt and dismounted, leaving me on top of the animal. I started to follow her, but she shook her head. “Stay there. I won’t be long.”

I swallowed and eyed Peach for any sign of treachery, but did as I was bid. I resigned myself to my potential death and waited, hoping Peach would ignore me until Master returned. Master’s guildmate dismounted as well, letting the reins drop to the ground, which I thought was strange. The animal took it as a signal to relax and shook its mane, completely ignoring the child remaining on its back.

As the adults walked off together, waving at a heavyset man, Finn turned in the saddle to look back at me. “This is going to be so cool! I hope we run into some bandits. I want to see Master Esra in action!” He lifted his hand and mimed striking down an invisible enemy with his sword.

The thought immediately had my heart racing. I couldn’t decide if it was excitement or fear. Maybe a little of both. I was still so new to exploring the world that everything sounded like an adventure. “Have you seen bandits before?” I asked, knowing Finn had traveled across the empire with his family all his life.

He hesitated, but in the end Finnley shook his head. “Nah. Not tha I remember anyway.” He opened his mouth to say more, but decided against it and brought his grin back. “I dare ‘em ta try. I’ll slice ‘em in half!” He swung his invisible sword again and nearly slipped out of the saddle, having to catch himself at the last second.

A deep chuckle brought our attention up. Fayr Gaylden had returned in time to catch Finn goofing off. After helping my friend back up into the saddle, he picked up his horse’s reins and then reached for Peach’s. “Let’s hope we don’t see something that exciting,” he said. “There will be quite enough to do without fighting the mountain men.”

Finnley grimaced. “Ya mean like chores?” I couldn’t say it sounded any better to me. We both did the chores around camp every night, tending the horses and training.

"You will be paid a silver piece between you," Fayr said, leading the horses with us still on their backs towards the end of the caravan.

My eyes widened, and I leaned forward, “Half a silver?!” That was a whole six months of earnings when I worked for that old gramps back home. I couldn’t imagine having so much coin.

“Yes, half a silver. It’s more than a fair wage for two apprentices who haven’t even registered with the guild yet, but our employers pay well. You need to earn your keep. This is a job, boys. Not a trip for your amusement. You will need to behave respectfully and do your Master well.”

Finnley and I straightened. “We know that. We would never dishonor Master Esra,” I said, scowling at the man for assuming we would.

He turned to smile at me, adjusting the reins, so he held them in one hand so he could reach up and mess my hair. “You already do her proud by saying such,” Fayr replied. “You’re good boys.”

Fayr pulled us off the horses and left us to stand behind the last wagon, mounting his horse and leading Peach back to Master Esra. “Shows what he knows,” I said to Finnley, after he was gone. Finn covered his mouth to hold back a snicker, amused by my comment. We tied Apple to a trio of horses nearby that looked to be carrying the week’s food for the caravan. I patted the gelding’s neck and turned to my friend. I nudged Finn’s side and grinned up at him. “He didn’t see Master Esra throw her boot at us for stealing the last piece of bacon yesterday.”

“It was good too,” Finn agreed, proud of his great achievement. The older boy reached over and nudged the gelding’s nose away from his pockets when he pulled on his lead. “No, ya big bear, stay there. We’ll feed ya in a bit.”

While Finnley spoke to the horse, I stepped closer to the wagon and peaked over the board that kept the goods from falling out on the uneven road. A rope held barrels in place against the wagon wall, leaving only enough space in the middle for a single body to walk. Finn appeared next to me, his longer legs allowing him to see without resorting to tip toes.

“See tha barrel at the back,” he asked, “with tha eagle seal? The company who handles that is on the northern coast. Just a cup is worth a handful of gold, I bet ya.”

I couldn’t believe it. No way was some dust in a barrel worth that much, even if it made food taste good. “You’re lying.”

“I swear on me mum,” Finn declared, raising a hand to promise, but his expression still didn’t help me believe it. He looked like he was about to laugh at a joke, but before I could say so, a hand grabbed us both by the shoulder and pulled us back. A burly man in his forties stood over us, annoyance lining every inch of his face.

“I don’t care who ya are,” he growled at us. “But ya don’t go poking yar noses where they don’t belong.”

A woman came to stand beside him, her hands on her hips as she stared at them with disapproval. “You are the apprentices to Mistress Esra, aren’t you? She said that you were around.”

“What’s it to ya?” Finn asked, frowning up at them without giving an inch.

The woman cuffed him, though gently. “Don’t be pert, youngster.” She pursed her lips, studying us both before she nodded. “You’ll do. Come on, and leave Gorgeo alone. I’m to assign you your posts.”

I couldn’t help but glance at Finnley, only for the older boy to shrug and follow the woman’s skirts, unbothered by the arrangement. It didn’t seem to me that these adults knew what to do with us. Oh well. At least whatever it is, I’ll have Finn to help pass the time.

As if the woman heard this thought, she turned and eyed us again. “You, the little one,” she said, pointing at me.

I huffed. “I’m Rueln,” I told her. I enjoyed being called the little one less than I liked being referred to as ‘boy’ by the old drunk I used to work for at home.

“Did I ask your name?” she demanded, like I had mouthed off to her. I stayed silent, knowing the look of a woman daring me to say something else. It would earn me a good smack and I knew it. “No? I thought not,” she said, satisfied. She gestured to a lanky looking man standing near the middle wagon. “That’s Gorgeo’s son, Melo. You are to attach yourself to him until your Master tells you otherwise. He’s a sentry and will teach you what you are to be doing, you hear?”

“Yes,” I muttered unhappily, glancing over at Finn, knowing we would not be together like I had hoped.

“Yes, what?”

“Yes, Ma’am,” I grumbled sourly. This job was getting worse by the minute.

The lady lost interest in me and turned to the mousy haired man who looked to be in his early twenties. “Melo, I have a youngin’ for you. Look out for him, would you?”

“Yes, Mistress Harty,” he answered, the smile he offered me much friendlier than the others had been. He offered me his hand when Mistress Harty nudged me with her boot to be off. I hardly said bye to Finn before she carted him off to his own assignment.

Turning back to the stranger, I accepted his greeting, staring down as his long fingers swallowed my hand. He was probably tall enough to make a small tree jealous. What did he eat to get that big?

“I’m Melo,” he said, introducing himself now that the bossy woman had gone off.

“Rueln,” I said, staring rudely up at him with my mouth wide open. He really was tall. I had to crane my neck up to see his face. Remembering my manners, I shut my gob and looked down, only to suck in a breath at the size of the man’s feet. Who made his shoes? Was he part giant?

Melo laughed. “Don’t worry, kid. I’m used to it. This is your first job with your Master? We get mercenaries with apprentices every so often, though you’re the first so young.”

“I’m eight,” I said, defensive. “Old enough to do my share.”

“Aye.” Melo nodded, agreeably. “My apologies. I didn’t mean to offend you. Relax a little. I’m not going to bite you. I’ll leave that to my Da and Mistress Harty. She’ll get anyone if she catches them lazin’ about.”

“All at the ready!” a man called up ahead, drawing my attention to the front of the caravan. I glimpsed Master Esra on Peach, speaking with someone before she turned the horse and headed down the line. When she spotted me, she nudged Peach into a trot in my direction.

“What do you think, Rueln?” she asked, slowing Peach, but not stopping the horse as she passed. My face must have told her I wasn’t sure at all because she smiled gently at me. “You’ll be fine. Just do as your bid for now, and behave.”

“I’ll keep an eye on him, Mistress,” Melo assured her before Master Esra was off again, obviously moving to her own position to guard the departing caravan.

I watched with more than a little longing to be with someone familiar. Melo seemed nice enough, but I didn’t think I was going to learn much from him about the work Master Esra was training me for. Resigning myself to my position, I listened to Melo explain our duties as the caravan, at last, moved.