Chapter 6:
The First Training
Priam was right, they needed some towels to wipe up the sweat that covered their faces. They had yet to spar. They were too busy running typical exercises to strengthen the body. Somehow, Priam had turned a typical workout, into excruciating labor. Aramis mumbled about how mages like himself don't need a fine-toned body, but Priam heard it and had him redouble his efforts in the exercises.
Priam then called for a pause in their 'little workout' so they could cool their bodies down. When they had finished drinking their water, they returned into formation, ready for the next few exercises, all but Aramis, who was still drinking water.
Priam showed concern and tried to have Aramis drink slower, "You'll get sick if you keep drinking it down like a Feroxi warrior in Plegia."
"I'll... be... fine..." he said in between drinks, choking through the water.
Once everyone was ready, Priam spoke, "I can see you are all a little winded from my light workout routine," he chuckled, "so we are going to take a step back and evaluate our fighting styles. I want each of you to find a partner, and I'll be the extra man, and I want each pair to challenge a different pair. The first of the pair will fight, while the other watches and tries to give advice on what they could have done better. Pair up." He waited for a couple seconds, no one moved.
"NOW!" he bellowed, and everyone scrambled to find a partner except Aramis, to his disappointment.
Helen had partnered up with Tia, Jack partnered with Nathaniel, and Clarisa with Raphael.
The rules were simple, there was a extremely large ring in the grass, and if you or your partner fell out, you lost. You would also lose if you had been disarmed and you call 'Yield' to admit you had been soundly defeated. At any time, the partner could 'tag in' and replace his or her partner.
Priam did not plan on tagging in, because he didn't want to break any of the new recruits just yet. The first fight was between Jack and Raphael. The mounted units were allowed to fight mounted as long as their mount didn't attack the opponent.
Priam called for the fighters to respect each other, he went back over the rules, and told them to ready their weapons. Jack steadied his blunt lance and patted his steed as if to signify good luck, while Raphael ran through several motions with his blade, as if envisioning the fight. Priam then thought that he knew the kid, he seemed to look like someone he hadn't seen in a while, but he couldn't put his finger on who it was.
"Go!" Priam shouted, and the two rushed at each other. Jack lunged his lance forward with the combined force of his arm and steed, just to find air. Raphael skillfully evaded the jab to his left and jumped and hit him on his right shoulder. Priam thought that this battle would be interesting, Jack was much weaker than Raphael, but with the combined advantage of a horse and the 'lance-beats-sword' bit, he figured Raphael would have his work cut out for him.
He was right. Even though Raphael was easily the stronger of the two, Jack was just as successful as he was in the match, landing as many hits as misses.
Jack lunged at Raphael's feet, but the skilled mercenary hopped and landed on the lance, driving it slightly into the ground. He then leaped up and knocked Jack off his horse with a swift kick to the chest, "Oof," Jack fell to the ground, but with lance still in hand, he charged at Raphael. Raphael had regained the advantage over his opponent, and charged toward him as well. Jack's lance had a greater reach, and he thrust it eagerly near Raphael's head. He quickly evaded the lunge, taking the hit in his shoulder armor, spun to knock the lance out of Jack's reach, and kicked him down holding him with a practice sword pointed at his neck.
Jack let out a sigh, "Yield" he called and the two separated. Raphael, never a sore winner, helped Jack to his feet.
"Excellent match, boys," Priam called, "Jack, you had the advantage, but don't let this minor setback cause you to distress, you were wise in picking the lance. If you had chosen to fight with a sword, I'm sure your opponent would have beaten you in no time. The next battle will be Aramis against Tia," she let out a gleeful 'yay!' and clapped her hands, Aramis rolled his eyes.
"No sweat," Aramis replied as he pulled out his Elfire tome, "I'll take down this pipsqueak in no time! Don't even bother with tagging in old-timer."
Priam didn't plan on it, he turned to Aramis with a smile, "So you are comfortable just using wind gust magic? Nothing powerful?"
Aramis was shocked, "What?! But that is-"
"You don't make the rules, I do." Priam interrupted, "We don't want any serious injuries on the first day of training. We may move out at any time, so we must be ready. Everyone should be healthy."
Aramis grumbled and put away his tome, replacing it with the Wind tome.
The next two fighters went to opposite sides of the ring and waited for the signal. Tanuitia wore an extremely serious face, it wasn't forced, it wasn't applied. It was a completely different face from the one he had seen all day, which was giddy and gleeful. She must really want this to have a complete attitude change, such as thi- "Hey, we're waiting...!" Aramis impatiently called out to Priam.
That was the last straw, "Aramis, give me five laps around the camp, NOW!" he barked out, Aramis grumbled and complied. After he had left their ear shot, Priam explained how the new change would work.
"Clarisa, you will fight Tia."
"But why don't you fight?" Nathaniel asked out of curiosity.
"Because I never go easy..." He chuckled, "Clarisa, enter the ring."
Clarisa obeyed and entered the ring with her pegasus, she had a tremendous advantage over Tanuitia, but still, Tia bore no face of worry.
Remembering that one of his soldiers was still running, he called out to Aramis, "GO", who had just passed. His words were mistaken by the combatants in the arena and they charged at each other.
"Hey, Tanuitia, no hard feelings?" Clarisa asked aloud as she rode her pegasus forward.
"Of course not." Tia said with a grim smile.
Clarisa lunged forward toward Tia's legs, causing Tia to tumble. Tia used her tumble to roll underneath the pegasus and she performed a rising attack behind them. It hit both the pegasus and rider, and both responded in pain. Hmm... I've seen that move before. Priam thoughtSay'ri taught it to me, but she said only elite myrmidons and mercenaries knew how to perform it... Clarisa pulled her pegasus to climb, and when she reached an appropriate height, they looped and performed a nose-dive directed at Tia. She saw this and tried to evade backwards, but this is where they pulled out of the nose-dive, she had fallen into Clarisa's trap. She nailed Tia in the stomach and forced her from the ring.
"Excellent air maneuvering, Clarisa." she blushed, but Priam didn't know why, "That was smart to make Tia believe you would land somewhere else. But Tia," He turned to Tia, who was watching the stars spin around her head, "Where did you learn the 'Flyers Bane' move? Not many people are able to execute that as you did."
"Well," Tia started when she had regained her thoughts, "my cousin is a very skilled myrmidon and I saw her perform it once, so I practiced it until I could execute it perfectly!" She said with a spring in her step at being praised for her performance.
Priam questioned her, "Who is your cousin, Tia? I might know her."
"I know that you do, because she-" she was cut off by a voice coming from around the corner.
"Tanuitia!" Priam recognized the voice and turned to see Say'ri storming toward the young myrmidon. "There you are! I can nay believe you would deceive your parents! They show great worry! You have been gone for a whole day without telling them of your destination!"
"Aw, come on, Say'ri! I really want to be like you, but they won't let me. I signed up for this to be adventurous like you and your tales! Finding love is for another ti-"
"ENOUGH!" Say'ri commanded. She was blushing, but happy that Priam hadn't heard the rest of what Tia had to say. "I wish for you to be safe, Tanuitia." she continued in sincerity, "becoming a myrmidon at such an early age can be quite difficult."
"YOU were a myrmidon at age 14! I'm 16! I can handle myself in a fight!" Tia began to raise her voice, "If you had seen how I handled the last fight-"
"You were removed from the ring, only getting one hit in!" Say'ri yelled in exasperation.
Silence fell on the group.
Priam decided to dismiss the rest of the troops to remove them from the awkward position they were in. The team left in silence, and the only ones left on the training grounds were Priam, Say'ri, and Tanuitia.
"..my whole life..." Tia started, a tear slowly descending down her face, "...I've wanted to be as strong as you... You are what I strive for. Perfection..." Tia then began to softly cry, "I thought, if I could get good with a sword, then maybe I could be just like my cousin... *sniffle*..."
Say'ri embraced her cousin to try to calm her down, patting her on the back and speaking softly, "If this means so much to you, then we will have word with your parents. But I must know," she turned to face Priam, "do you think she will be fine?" Priam nodded.
"You mean it?" Tia asked, wiping her eyes dry of tears. Say'ri nodded.
"But if you are allowed by your parents, then you must dedicate yourself to Sir Priam's teachings."
"OhThankyouThankyouThankyouThankyou, Thank you!" She blurted out as fast as she could, jumping up and down in Say'ri's grip. The Princess of Chon'sin didn't move.
"We still must ask your parents, come. Let us go speak with them."
Say'ri had her right arm wrapped around her little cousin as they strode to the residential area. Priam sighed with relief after they were out of sight.
"Excuse me, sir." Priam turned to see Raphael standing behind him.
"Raphael, good to see you're still here, but I dismissed you ten minutes ago."
Raphael held a sword at his side, the sheath to it seemed familiar to Priam. The handle of the sword inside was also similar. Priam realized what this was about.
"Kid," he asked as calmly as possible, "what the hell are you doing with my sword?"
Raphael scratched at the scar on the side of his face out of nervousness.
"T-this sword is not the same one you wield, sir. Your Ragnell is where you left it." he pointed to the table where Ragnell lay. Priam was slightly confused as Raphael unsheathed his and looked at it in an examining manner. "This one was given to me by my uncle, who told me tales of how my father possessed it and fought with it..." his voice trailed of as Priam pieced the facts together and realized who the kid was. Shock spread across his face, but it was quickly replaced by a smile.
"... You're a little late." Priam said with a chuckle, placing a firm hand on his shoulder.
HEY!...The next chapter is easily the shortest of the bunch (except for the first chapter) By the time you are done reading this, the next chapter should be uploaded. Both chapters were extremely short so I decided to upload them on the same day to get them out of the way.
Chapter 8 is easily my favorite one to write and revise, I can't wait to upload it, but school starts soon and I will have to put studies over stories... :( Nonetheless, I promise to keep updating this story until it is complete. There may be long periods of time where nothing is added, but it will be completed!
Shoutout to COOKIECHEESEMAN: I laughed at your unintentional pun: "...Somehow I was hooked since the beginning..." It's funny, because, y'know, coughyou'reafishcouch.
As always, leave a review with what what was good, what was bad, and what was too nerdy. Favorites and Follows are also appreciated. I am also still looking for one more First-gen paralogue parent idea, thinking something with Anna... The Walhart and Emmeryn story is in its first stages and I can't wait to publish the first two chapters.
PM me anytime. I will literally talk to anyone, including the most introverted people you know. I am always excited at meeting new and nerdy people.
Oh yeah and before I forget: Thanks again.
~TheSearcherer