Chapter 11

Althidon continued staring at me for a moment, then turned to Taranath.

"Did you know about any of this?" he asked.

"I only knew that he came from a different land, Sword-Master," Taranath said. "The rest is new to me."

"Are you going to give me a reason to believe you?" Althidon asked.

I carefully thought on my words. "Silvy sent me. I don't know if you know of her or not, but she was married to the previous king. When Ralcor took over, he killed the previous king as well as all his sons. Including Silvy's son. He then violated her in front of a crowd of people to teach her a lesson. The only reason he didn't kill her was because she uses magic that he needs sometimes."

"I've heard of Silvy," Althidon said, his mouth twisting into a frown. "Foul business, what Ralcor did to her."

"Since that happened, she's been praying to her gods, asking them for vengeance. She asked them to send her someone that could kill Ralcor." I shrugged. "Apparently, that's me. She said I can learn magic as well."

Althidon grunted. "Rare, for men of the lower races to be able to use magic. Did she tell you what type of magic your inner talent is?"

Lower races? I supposed elves thought of themselves as top of the world. Maybe that was why they lived up so high, in trees.

"No, she didn't mention it," I said.

Althidon nodded, taking it all in. "So, you want to kill Ralcor and place yourself on the throne, then?"

"Yes," I said. "I'm going to kill him and fix their society. All their men are assholes, and from what I understand, Ralcor stopped all trade with the elves. I would fix relations between our people."

Althidon rubbed his chin. Taranath looked at me as if seeing me for the first time.

"If he's telling the truth, this would indeed be a great help," Taranath said.

"I know, I know," Althidon muttered. "I'll tell you this, Aaron of House Parker. I remember the day when Ralcor took over. Even up here, tales reached my ears of the blood that flowed from Ralcor's blade like water. I've never been a huge fan of goblin men—the women are lovely, but most of their men are little more than savage brutes—but making peace with our neighbors is a cause worth fighting for."

"So, you'll train me?" I asked.

He looked down his nose at me for a moment. "I'll train you. But not how you'd like. I've been doing this for a long time, boy, so I'm going to train you in exactly what you need to make this work. If I spent a year training you with a sword, Ralcor would still slice you in half on his third move. You won't get this done with a sword. No, the spear is what you'll be learning."

I clapped my hands and rubbed them together. "Alright, let's get started."

Althidon looked down at the wand in his hand. "I suppose this situation warrants that. Yes, let's get started."

He barked a few orders at the young men practicing with swords, then set another man to run them through a series of drills. After that, he fetched a long spear and brought it to me.

"The sword is as much a status symbol as it is a weapon," Althidon explained. "Takes a long time to make one, and the quality has to be perfect or the blade can fail. It takes years of hard training to be even passably good with a sword. I've spent a lifetime learning and I feel like I'm only halfway there."

"And the spear is easier?" I asked. In my mind I saw movies where characters twisted spears in their hands like quarterstaffs, pummeling their enemy until finally stabbing them in the heart.

"The spear is a superior weapon in most ways," Althidon continued. "It's cheap to produce and easy to learn. The length gives you an advantage over anyone with a sword." 

He offered me the spear and I accepted it, gripping it midway in both hands. I examined the spearhead: this one was a leather ball, and I assumed it was stuffed with something soft. So, a training spear.

"Left hand here," Althidon said, pointing to a spot about an arm length from the butt of the spear. "And your right hand goes on the end." He stood next to me, hands situated as if he were holding a spear as well. He thrust forward, his movement snappy and fast. 

"The primary attack with the spear is the thrust," he explained. "If your opponent is wearing armor then you'll likely be thrusting at the face or neck. Your aim had better be spot-on. However, if your opponent isn't wearing armor, the torso is a nice, large target."

I nodded. "So, aim for the face." I tried not to feel nauseous at the thought of stabbing someone in the face and what that would feel like.

"Aim for wherever you see an opening," he corrected. "Stand like so. Good. Now, ensure you keep the tip of your spear at roughly face-level. That's going to protect your head."

He grabbed another practice spear from a nearby rack and came back to me, but this time he stood facing me. "Ideally, you'll want to keep that spear in front of you at all times. If something knocks it aside, bring it right back. You won't be doing any wild spins or swinging with this weapon. No, you'll simply parry and thrust. Parry and thrust."

"Parry and thrust," I said.

Althidon raised his spear and slowly thrust forward, right at me. "Knock that to the side and thrust at me," he instructed.

Using my grip on the spear haft, I struck his spearhead out of the way and thrust forward. I was still out of range, so I couldn't hit him.

"Good. That is the foundation of what we will practice today," he said. "I'm going to move a little faster, but I'll be doing the same thing. And I want you to respond each time by knocking my spear out of the way and thrusting right at my chest."

We spent the better part of an hour just working on that basic exercise. Althidon wanted me to be familiar with the motions of the spear, so that it felt as natural as my own hand.

"Go ahead and try to land a hit on me," he said.

"You want me to actually attack you?" I asked.

"Yes," he said with a nod. "I want you to see what it looks like at full speed."

I brought my spear up and held it in front of me, then took a step closer. The moment I did, Althidon thrust forward with his spear. I went to knock it to the side, but he changed trajectory mid-thrust and dropped into a lunge, taking me square in the chest. He moved like a striking viper, almost too fast to follow.

"It's a very simple movement, which allows for speed," he said. "Again."

I was more cautious this time. I moved in, expecting him to feint and juke, which he did. Once again, I could barely even see his spear as he struck me right in the stomach. Not hard enough to hurt, fortunately.

"There are a few more advanced techniques we'll get to when you're ready," Althidon said. "But the benefit of the spear is that in just an hour, you're at least familiar with all the primary attacks with this weapon. I'll teach you new moves as we go along, but we're going to focus on sparring for the next few months, for hours a day. I want this spear feeling like part of your body."

"Who's going to bring me here?" I asked. "I remember how to get to the tree I came from, but I would need some help finding you again." I looked around for Taranath and didn't see him.

"Well, I suppose you'll just have to learn how to ask for directions," Althidon said. "Fortunately, you speak our language so that shouldn't be too hard. Where did you learn it, by the way? Your accent is very slight."

"I actually don't know your language," I replied. "This is a thing of magic, done by Silvy when I first arrived."

Althidon grunted and nodded. "Yes, that would make sense. Well, enough chat. Spear up."

We went through another two hours of spear drills. Althidon focused on my stance and grip, ensuring they were perfect. By the end of the day my shoulders were tired and the skin on my hands raw, but I felt much more familiar with the weapon.

"Fortunately, you seem to be a fast learner," Althidon said. "So, as I said, we're going to focus most of your time on sparring. You'll need to be highly skilled with a spear if you want to last even a minute against Ralcor. He is savage on a level you would not comprehend."

"Ugh, don't remind me," I said, setting the butt of my spear on the wooden floor.

"Make sure you eat plenty and get sufficient sleep," Althidon said. "Your body needs to heal and grow from the work we did today. It will only do so if you take care of it."

"Is that it?" I asked.

He nodded. "That is it for today. For the next week, we are going to focus on just these basic movements and sparring. I may have you spar with some of the new swordsmen, just to get some experience with that. You'll have to learn to fight against someone wielding a sword."

"Sounds good," I said. "So, we're done for the day?"

"Until tomorrow," he said.

I didn't know what level of respect was afforded to a Sword-Master, but I decided to play it safe. I bowed to him, hand over heart the way Taranath had. "Thank you for your time, Sword-Master Althidon."

He acknowledged my bow with a nod of his head. "Thank you for the wand. It appears Silvy knows what we want and what we need."

"What does that wand do?" I asked.

"It's used for enchanting other objects," he said. "It can be done without a wand, but it's much more difficult. Yes, this wand is much appreciated."

After that, I left the training platform and tried to remember where the seamstress' shop had been. I crossed over several arched bridges and asked a few people, and finally made my way back to Elasha.

When I entered her shop, she was seated on a stool, bent over a pile of cloth. Her fingers moved deftly as she sewed two pieces of blue cloth together. After a moment, she looked up and saw me.

"Back so soon?" she asked.

"I just wanted to check on my clothes," I said.

"It's going to take some time," she said. "Fortunately, I keep a handful of cloaks on hand, so I have one that will fit you." She nodded towards a rack on the wall where wooden pegs held a dozen dark brown cloaks. "It's the one on the left."

I reached out and grabbed the cloak. The material didn't feel familiar to me; it felt nearly as strong as wool, but much softer. Not as soft as my t-shirt, but it would be pleasantly comfortable. I swung it around my shoulders and fastened it at my throat. It fit like it was made for me, and hung down to around mid-calf. The cloak also had a wide hood, and I pulled it forward for a moment, checking the fit.

"Thank you, Elasha," I said, pushing the hood back. "I appreciate this."

"Well, I appreciate your silver," she said, turning back to her work. "Come see me in two days and I should have more for you."

With that, I left her shop and tried to find my way around the city so I could leave.