8 Chapter Eight: Zakary Kanara

Dayn finished his chores in the usual time only to have his new instructor waiting for him, "You could be late once in a while" Dayn said in frustration "And let you slack off, not likely" the old man replied.

Zak tossed the longsword, Dayn jumped back and the blade hit the ground with a loud clang, "That's dangerous" he shouted, "Not if you catch it" the old man said shaking his head. "You'll never excel if you continue to jump at every challenge that comes your way."

Dayn knew this was a trick, the old guy had tried to get him to admit to the kobold incident from day one. No one else would speak to him about it, only the miners, himself, and Sieri knew that the incident took place.

Dayn sauntered over and picked up the sword and got into stance, Zak walked over and inspected his positioning, he smacked him hard on the shoulder and Dayn readjusted, he then got a quick smack in the side of the knee. This was their daily routine, Dayn would take a stance and Zak would hit him in various spots till he was satisfied every joint was in the right position.

"Hmmm... good, it only took two this time, you're starting to remember" of course he was starting to remember he had bruises on top of bruises thanks to this old buzzard.

"Strike!" the old man shouted, Dayn performed an overhead slice down and was able to stop at just his waist. Zak paced around him again and once he was satisfied "Recover!" Dayn brought his sword back up into position, he got a sharp crack against his leg. "You're leg is out of place" Zak barked at him, Dayn quickly readjusted his stance, "Strike!" came the next command and Dayn brought the sword down, he flinched he knew it was to low and what was coming next. The cane cracked over his knuckles leaving a large red welt, Dayn yelped and quickly lifted the weapon back to his waist, Zak's pacing continued "Recover!" This exercise went well into mid afternoon before he was given a break.

"You're coming along well, another couple weeks of these exercises and you'll be looking like a proper aspirant" Zak stated satisfied "Who said I wanted to be one" Dayn muttered under his breath.

Zak gave Dayn a sharp look "You lack discipline, when your superior compliments you the only thing from your mouth should be thank you sir "Thank you sah" Dayn commented giving a mock salute. Zak looked at him quizzically, "You can do without the ridiculous hand gesture" he said Dayn had merely been mimicking soldiers from his own world and wasn't aware saluting wasn't a thing here. Zak passed him a skin of water, "One drink then we return to training" he said commandingly, of course we do Dayn thought to himself, I haven't been bruised enough today already.

His mid afternoon training was with the practice dummy as Zak had put it without hitting an actual target you can't develop the necessary muscles to excel in swordsmanship, sparring was useless unless Zak let Dayn hit him.

So he returned to the old wood and straw soldier, he rained hit after hit after hit at the dummy getting his own wrists, shoulders, and legs smacked for every mistake as the afternoon wore into evening.

Of late Dayn had been taking his evening meal with Zak, Father Archibald encouraged him to learn what he could from the man as the world is a dangerous place, a person who knows how to fight is more likely to survive then one who cannot.

"Why are you so hesitant to let me know?" Zak asked, "I have my grand daughters report and although none of the other townsfolk saw how the kobold died they insisted he was burned." Dayn gave him a blank stare, "I had a torch" he said, Dayn was a lousy liar and Zak could tell he was being less then truthful with him.

"Lets say there was more to it then that, you find out about it, the inquisitors find out about it, then I spend the rest of my life fleeing from religious zealots, so no I can't use divine magic, Dana was mistaken."

Zak didn't need Dayn's confirmation, he knew his son wouldn't act without proof, looking into his eyes was enough for Zak, he was convinced this boy could save the kingdom. "Well admitting it or not is meaningless my gut tells me you'll be a worthy man someday so I'm turning this over to your possession."

Zak handed Dayn an ancient leather bound book, the bindings had begun to wear away with age. On the center cast in silver was the likeness of a great dragon spreading its wings, "This book belonged to my ancestors and within are the teachings of the dragon religion" He said.

"You may not choose Selvarthrallax as your deity but still within is knowledge you will have use of in the future" he said somberly, "I should not dally here much longer or the Inquisitorum will become suspicious." "Tomorrow will come your test to see if you can put what you've learned over the past three years into practice," Dayn looked astonished, would they duel tomorrow? It had been a while and he had been thoroughly trounced last time, he knew his skills stood no chance against the wizened old warrior.

Dayn felt dread as he approached the training yard, in truth it was simply the temples courtyard since Zak had arrived it had been used more for training then anything else, he passed the last corner and opened the main doors. Zak was dressed for travel, Dayn looked at him an expression of confusion plain on his face, His mentor tossed him an old leather bag, within was newly forged chainmail and travelling equipment. "What you thought it would be another sparring match? no your test will take place deep in the mountains" Zak said a wide grin spreading across his face.