A Novel: Xev
Chapter 1: Dreasfjord
Xev stood in the middle of the sparring field feeling the familiar weight of his short sword held low behind him in his right hand as he carefully eyed his opponent. It was midday, the suns blistering heat on his back. Xev was extremely tired from the hard training all afternoon. He noticed slight weaknesses in his opponent, the shorter reach, the unbalanced stance but it did not matter as they were both evenly matched swordsmen. They circled slowly waiting for the right time to engage.
Xev dashed forward, side stepping a slash and caught the man on the left shoulder and he stumbled back. Xev waited for him to regain himself. The man smiled as he got up from one knee and raised his sword overhead. Xev deflected the overhead blow to the side and kicked the man's right leg out from under him. He stumbled back but this time regained his self quickly and charged at Xev, throwing blow after blow as Xev tried to block each attack. His speed proved too much and Xev received a bruise on the left thigh and right arm. Soon after Xev lost feeling in his arm and dropped his sword. Most soldiers would be finished but he was equally good with his left. Xev grabbed the sword with his left hand and parried two incoming slashes. Xev then counter attacked but each lightning fast slash to the throat was blocked.
They broke off to catch their breath, slowly circling again. This time his opponent was the first to attack. Swinging his sword from the right Xev quickly brought his sword across and blocked it. Using the momentum from his attack the fighter quickly spun around and Xev received a welt on his left shoulder. As he disengaged from the attack Xev felt his left arm start to feel weak. Xev had to end the duel quickly so he charged toward the fighter in a fury of right and left slashes, overheads, backhands but all were blocked until they both performed the same move which left their swords still beside their necks. The duel was over, a draw. They lowered their swords and fell to their knees panting.
"Excellent duel!" bellowed the sword master in his deep voice while clapping. "The finest fighters here" he then smiled. "I am impressed." He spoke silently and the red glowing wards vanished from their swords.
"You fought well" said Zanir. He rose to clasp Xev on his shoulder.
"As did you" Xev said laughing with signs of his injuries showing on his face.
Most of the duels between them ended in a similar fashion. After all they were brothers. Xev was the oldest by one year. He had short brown hair, hazel eyes, medium built and average height. His brother Zanir had longer dark brown hair, blue eyes, heavy built and was six feet even. At a young age their father had pressured them to become soldiers, the defenders of the Legion. So it was fitting they join the army when they were able. Xev decided to wait for his younger brother to turn 17 before he joined so they could start proper training at the same time.
Xev's family lived in the city of Dreasfjord close to the sea. It was a well sized trading city to the far East of the empire. Many ships came from the surrounding cities to dock and trade near its harbour making Dreasfjord a somewhat prosperous city. Xev's family was not extremely wealthy like the ones that owned trading businesses so they lived outside the edge of the city in a place called Old Forest. It was a small group of families next to a forest that extended far south and was said to have existed before the race of man had even set foot on the known world. A river also flowed by which separated their home from the city and extended out to the sea and was fed by springs in the great western mountain range called the Frystur Mountains. The Frystur mountain range ran from the north all the way south to distant lands.
The brothers lived with their father who worked as a smith. He helped forge weapons for the empire and sold them to buyers in Dreasfjord. Their father would teach them how to wield different swords, shields, spears, maces, daggers which gave them years of experience prior to training. He also taught them how to forge these weapons.
It had been seven months since the beginning of the brothers training. Every afternoon they spent hours in the sparring field practising with all sorts of weapons and tactics. They were training to become members of the elite guard who defended high ranking officers in the army. So it meant completing the toughest training there was for any mortal man. Although Xev and Zanir were young, they had still beaten many of the others in their training class making them exceptional fighters.
Xev mainly focused on the specialization of daggers and stealth weapons. During his training he had focused on stealth tactics in which he learned how to stay hidden in the shadows, how to disable men quickly and silently and also how to fight at a distance with bows.
Zanir on the other hand focused on shields, swords and maces mainly because he was the heavier and stronger of the two. He was training to be in the thick of battle wearing heavy armor which would protect him in the frontlines.
The Elite Guard did not only want warriors like Zanir but they needed fighters like Xev to help protect archers, mages and the leaders from assassins that may attack from the flanks and rear of the group.