The Eye of Elicion: The Kinowenn Chronicles Vol 1 (7 page)

“You look ready to fight,” was Maya’s greeting to her.

“I don’t know about ready, but I’m willing to give it a decent try,” replied Lucy. She was nervous. She had been moderately athletic all her life, but she had never had to fight with weapons before.

“Don’t worry about a thing,” said Gavin with a wave of his hand. “If you are terrible at one method of fighting, you’re bound to be better at another one. If you need extra help, that’s one area I can manage. Just let me know.”

Lucy thanked him for his offer of help even though she was not sure she would take him up on it. She was enjoying the fact that she was making friends. Could you stay friends with someone who routinely and ruthlessly beat you up with weapons even if it was for your own good? At the same time, could you respect someone you beat all the time? She did not want to look like a fool in front of him, or any of her new friends for that matter.

Lucy barely touched her food even though Justin assured her she would need her strength for what ever they were doing. All too soon, breakfast was over and it was time to head towards embarrassment.

Lucy found her way to the practice grounds and was relieved to recognize Chloe, Darren, Philip and a few others from her classes. She hoped they would all be in the same boat. She did not look like the only nervous person there. It turned out weapons was one of the few classes that was co-taught. They were introduced to Orin, the weapons master who was a gruff dwarf mostly hidden behind a beard. Lucy hoped she did not have to spar with him. Orin introduced them to Tannin.

Tannin was a centaur. His long black hair was tied back and flowed down to the horse part of him, which was all black as well. He had piercing blue eyes so light they were almost white, a tanned and muscular torso and surprisingly delicate facial features. Tannin was there to supplement their training and, once they became proficient enough riding horses, he would teach them how to fight on horseback and spar with them. Lucy turned paler at the thought of fighting on horseback. She was quite sure she would never reach that level of competence.

“Many days we will divide the morning between two different activities,” said Orin, pacing back and forth in front of them. “To master most styles of fighting, it is important to be in shape. Thus, we will start the day with some forms of exercise and then move on to a weapon. I suggest you start stretching,” he mentioned, almost as an afterthought and the class immediately began to bend over, touch their toes, stretch their calves, and generally limber up as he continued to talk. “As soon as you arrive each morning, it is important that you start stretching. I like my warriors in shape, and I like them healthy. Immediately tell one of us if anything hurts. Do not dismiss what you think are minor injuries. That is how major injuries develop or how infection sets in.”

Orin was reminding her of what she imagined a kind drill sergeant to be like. He hadn’t called them all maggots yet, but he definitely expected them to perform and get in shape.

“Follow me,” said Orin and he walked to the edge of some woods bordering the practice grounds.

He moved quickly for someone with such short legs. The class saw a trail winding through the woods and it looked like it might be an obstacle course.

“We shall start today with my obstacle course. I expect you to finish it quickly, and I expect you to finish sooner each time we do this. Sometimes the goal will be to get through as fast as you can as a group, helping each other along the way. Other times we want you to try for individual bests. Sometimes, there will be other rules or goals. Today, get through however you can as fast as you can. Start now,” said Orin.

The class stood there for a moment, surprised at the suddenness of starting something so soon. Then they took off running. Orin stayed where he was, but Tannin trotted along beside them. He hadn’t said anything yet, but he set a challenging pace and expected them to keep up.

Sure enough, it was an obstacle course. They had barely made it around the first curve when there were tree branches blocking the road at different heights.

“Get through however you can today, later we will be more specific on which branches you are to go over or under,” said Tannin, moving off to the side, walking beside the obstacle.

Lucy was on the shorter side and used that to her advantage. She ran under anything that was higher than her waist, which was more than half the logs and leapt or climbed over anything shorter than that. She was beginning to breathe harder, but was pleased to find she was not the last one through and kept running, picking up the pace as Tannin did.

Next they came to a pit with four logs spanning it. The pit was deep enough that if you fell, you might twist an ankle if you landed wrong, but not deep enough to break anything. There were rope ladders on the starting side that you could climb up if you fell, but none on the other side. Obviously, you had to make it across eventually. Lucy hesitated for two seconds, chose an end log and sprinted across without looking down. The best way to do something like that was to focus on something eye-height ahead of you and keep a steady pace. Looking down would only help you lose your balance. Luckily for Lucy, there was a little red bird at a good height for her on the other side of the pit. Lucy reached the other side and noticed that Darren had had the same idea. They smiled at each other and kept running. Lucy could hear a gasp behind her and knew someone had fallen into the pit. She did not stop or look back to find out who.

Darren and Lucy were shortly behind Tannin, leading the pack. They came to a high wall with ropes attached at the top and hanging down. Lucy and Darren each grabbed one and began to climb. Darren was faster than Lucy and was down the other side before she reached the top. Lucy struggled a little climbing the rope; she had never had much arm strength. She reached the bottom and kept running. Her breath was coming in gasps.

She reached the next obstacle. It was what one might call a gauntlet of sorts. There were tree trunks larger than Lucy could hug rigged to swing back and forth between two rows of closely planted trees. She could hear Darren grunt ahead of her and figured he must have been hit by one of the trunks. Lucy watched the trunks, trying to follow the rhythm, and then she looked down at the ground. Well, there was no one to say she actually had to go through them. She lay down on the ground. There was just enough room between the two lines of trees for her to fit. She put her hands over her face to protect it and began to roll as fast as she could. The swinging trunks were so close they almost brushed her every time she was on one of her sides. Finally, she wondered if she was out yet and peered through her fingers, opening her eyes. She hadn’t realized she had shut them. Lucy was clear of the trunks and had actually rolled an extra ten feet or so.

Lucy stood up as another boy came running through, dodging the last trunk. She turned and began to run again. They came across a small stream, and Lucy continued to run, picked up her pace, and jumped at the last second. She just made it to the other side and kept running. The boy behind her made the jump with a foot to spare. They ran as hard as they could towards an opening in the trees. They ran neck and neck into the practice yard, on the opposite side they had started from. There was Darren gasping for breath and drinking water slowly. Lucy sank down next to him, and he handed her his water bottle.

“Thanks,” panted Lucy, handing it to the other boy who drank gratefully. “Nice run,” she told Darren.

“You too,” he responded taking a drink from the water bottle the boy had just passed back to him.

“Lucy,” she panted as an introduction to the boy with a halfhearted wave.

“Grant,” he panted with nod.

“Darren,” he smiled exhaustedly at Grant.

Orin had been standing off to the side. “Ok, you’ve sat enough, start stretching.”

The last thing any of them wanted to do was move, but he was probably right so Lucy sat up, spread her legs apart, and reached for her right foot touching her forehead to her knee.

“Where’s Tannin?” asked Lucy.

“After we made it out he smiled encouragingly at me and started back at the beginning. I guess he’s going back after the stragglers,” said Darren.

“That was hard, but almost fun,” said Grant.

Lucy nodded in agreement. Tannin came running out again, Chloe right behind him. Tannin ran across the yard to the entrance and started through again, barely looking winded. Chloe collapsed beside them and took the water bottle.

“I think I bruised my shoulder on those trunks,” said Darren, his breathing back to normal, moving his left shoulder to make sure it was nothing more serious.

Orin overheard and felt Darren’s shoulder as well. Everything must have felt ok though because he nodded with satisfaction.

“That…hardest…part,” panted Chloe.

“Lucy cheated,” said Grant with a smile.

“Today there was no cheating,” said Orin. “I said get through however you can, and she’s here.”

“How did you cheat?” wondered Darren.

“I rolled under the gauntlet of trunks.”

“You fit?” asked Darren amazed.

“Barely.”

“I didn’t even think to try that,” added Chloe in disappointment.

“That’s ok, I think you are too tall,” said Lucy. Chloe was about five inches taller than she was.

At Orin’s instructions, Chloe began to stretch. Shortly, the rest of the class filtered out of the training course with Tannin. Philip was drenched and looked as though he had fallen into the stream. Lucy felt bad for him. First his matchbox caught fire and now this. Orin set them all to stretching as Tannin addressed them individually on their performance and Orin informed them that he expected to see improvement. Each person was given an apple to eat and then they began the next part of the class.

“Today, we will be working with the bows and arrows,” started Orin.

Lucy smiled at this. She had always thought it would be cool to learn how to use a bow.

“We will start with stationary targets, and you will be standing still. Obviously, once you master this, things will get more difficult.”

Orin went on to impart upon them the wisdom of knowing how to use a long-range weapon as he handed everyone standard bows. Tannin followed behind him handing out quivers of arrows.

“After a few practices with the bow, we will have a better idea of if you need a larger one, a lighter one, or other dimensions.”

Orin explained the basics of using the bow and then directed them to targets. This way they could practice while Orin and Tannin watched and gave individual pointers.

Lucy looked at her target, looked at her bow and thought, I can do this. She drew an arrow, notched it, aimed for the target, and drew back the string. The arrow fell sideways. She tipped the bow at an angle to hold the arrow in position and tried again. She drew back, the arrow stayed in position, and she let go. The arrow flew about ten feet and dropped short of the target. Lucy drew another arrow, notched it, drew back as hard as she could, and let go. The arrow soared over the target while the bowstring snapped her on the forearm.

“Ouch!” she exclaimed rubbing her arm.

Darren looked over at her and smiled. His four arrows had managed to hit the target.

“Keep trying, you’ll get it. Remember, I still can’t flip a match box.”

Lucy smiled back and tried again. This time she hit the target, but not hard enough. The arrow hung downward and slid out of the target. Ok, she needed more force. She snapped her arm again. Tannin stepped up behind her.

“Turn your body more,” he said in a soft gentle voice.

“Like this?”

He nodded.

“Keep your arm straight, and pull your hand back, level to your cheek.”

Lucy tried again and managed to hit the target successfully. Tannin nodded and moved on to the next student, skipping over Darren who already had several arrows deep in his target. The stance felt awkward and if she wasn’t careful, the bowstring snapped viciously at her forearm. She now had a permanent red spot. She wondered if her Aloe plant could help with that. Who would have thought that shooting an arrow was so difficult? It always sounded easier in books. She knew it took longer to train someone to successfully use a bow than a crossbow, but she wasn’t looking for perfection. Occasionally hitting the target would suffice. Lucy tried again.

“Ouch!” said Lucy again, sucking on her finger.

“What did you do?” asked Darren.

“I somehow managed to slice my finger open from one of the fletchings.”

“I didn’t know that was possible.”

“I think we’ve found one weapon I’m not going to master. I wonder what’s next?” asked Lucy, hoping it was something she would not be able to hurt herself with. When the weapon you were using caused more damage to you than your opponent, it was time to change weapons. She was not looking forward to her next bow experience. Lucy breathed a sigh of relief when the class was over and it was time for lunch.

Lucy sat down at what was becoming her usual table with a sigh. At least her finger had stopped bleeding.

“How did things go?” asked Justin. He was eating the thickest sandwich Lucy had ever seen. She was sure she would not have been able to open her mouth that wide. She wondered how many different types of meat were included.

“Well, I’m going to get myself killed with my own weapon approximately ten minutes after graduating, but I’ll be in great shape when it happens.”

“It couldn’t have been that bad,” said Gavin with a laugh.

Lucy proceeded to tell them about her morning in between bites of pasta. They were glad the obstacle course went so well for her. Maya still had trouble walking across the log over the pit. They laughed at the way she got through the trunk gauntlet. Then, she regaled them with her bow and arrow antics. Gavin almost spit out his coffee.

“I guess it really was that bad,” said Gavin laughing. “How did you manage to slit your finger open?”

“It’ll get better,” said Maya in a reassuring way even though she was smiling too. “I managed to hit myself in the head with my staff the first time we used those.”