Of Wyverns and Brands

Chapter 24

"Are ya sure 'bout this?" Nephenee asks, hesitant.

"Yep. Bring it on," I call back.

Taking a deep breath to prepare herself, Nephenee dashes toward me, lance ready. Watching for the moment, I twist as she closes and hold my breath as the lance tip brushes against my stomach. Dodged.

Using the opening, I bring my lance down to end what I think is a finished bout. Wrong. Despite her closeness, Nephenee suddenly twirls back and brings her own lance around as mine falls harmlessly against the planks of the ship. Pure instinct saves my life as I jerk my head just out of the way of her sudden jab.

At my face.

…Nephenee doesn't play around in practice apparently.

I quickly backpedal as Nephenee begins to try and skewer me repeatedly. There was none of the graceful maneuvers that Jill or Daren had, and she mostly just knew how to stab with the lance, but that was more than enough for her. Nephenee had ridiculous reflexes and speed connecting her jabs.

Realizing I was being pushed too far back, I dive at her next strike, her lance once again coming far too close for comfort. Going on the offensive, I stab at her with my lance, but she quickly deflects it with her shield and steps forward, getting too close for either of us to use our lances.

Though I inwardly know what's coming, my feet are too slow to move back and the shield comes up to bash me in the face, throwing me on my back. Nephenee follows it up by leaping at me, and I roll over just in time to avoid being impaled as her lance sinks into the wood.

…Isn't this a little intense for just a spar, Nephenee?

Knowing not to stop, I sweep my lance at the back of her legs from my downed position and smirk as I catch her off-guard for once. Rushing, I get up, only to see that she had managed to right herself before falling and that her lance was already aimed at my chest. I lost. Again.

"Yield," I say, dropping my lance. I can barely hear myself, though, over the sound of my heavy breathing and racing heart.

"Good match," Nephenee says, lowering her lance.

"Do you always have to try and skewer me, though? I might recover from a stab, but not one directly at my face," I point out as I pick up my discarded lance.

"I tried to hold back some on ya," Nephenee murmurs in her country accent, lowering her head some. That was her holding back?

"Well, hopefully it will help train my reflexes, then. How do you move so fast, though?"

"It's just like baling hay back on the farm," Nephenee states. "Why do you want to spar so much, though?"

"I want to get better," I reply, shrugging. "In battle, Midnight ends up doing most of the work, and I can't always rely on having her by my side, so I need to learn how to fight by myself."

And that is why I asked Nephenee to train with me, as she uses the lance as well. Plus, she's always on my top five list, but that's besides the point. Nephenee was pretty hesitant at first, but at least she said yes.

"Now you can train with me!" My smile turns into a grimace as Emma comes running up to leap onto my back. I stagger and almost fall from the sudden weight that has attached itself to me. "Let's fly, Drake!"

I sigh, trying to peel her off me. "Emma, I'm trying to learn to fight on the ground, not in the air right now."

"But you're on a boat, not on the ground," Emma points out.

She got me there. The deck of the ship was constantly swaying, destroying the balance one had on solid ground, but I had also learned that the ground was never really level on a battlefield either. Learning to adapt would help, plus the swaying of the deck was closer to riding wyvern-back than on regular ground.

"Besides, I need help with my special move," she adds.

"I'm sure Marcia can help you better."

"You didn't even ask what my special move was!" Emma exclaims, shocked.

I look to Nephenee for help, but she's just watching us with a bemused smile, her previous awkwardness gone. We're sparring partners now, Nephenee! Give me a break here! "What's your special move?" I finally ask, pandering to her a little. I am so not used to dealing with kids.

"The triangle attack!" Emma shouts…right next to my ear. "I keep trying to get it down, but it's just not right."

"Triangle attack?" I repeat. Wasn't that the special attack between the pegasus riders and the brothers? "Don't you need three people to do that?"

Emma gasps. "You know about the triangle attack? Teach me! Please~!"

I vainly try to stop her from shaking me. "I don't know how. I've just heard of it. Marcia knows, though." Sorry, Marcia, but I'm going to have to throw you under the bus here.

"I can't ask her, though. She's busy." Sleeping down in the hull, I bet.

"Emma, sweetie. Why don't we go down and ask ol' Brom to spin us a yarn?" Nephenee prompts, getting the girl's attention.

"Can we? Brom has the best stories!" Emma says, dropping off my back finally. She dashes off into the ship, still full of energy.

Nephenee laughs at my expression as I watch her go. "Sorry bout that, Drake. Emma can be a handful at times. Harder to wrestle than the ol' mule as mum says. I'll try to keep her distracted."

"Thanks," I reply, sitting to rest for a moment. I think Emma took more out of me than our bouts. Once I had caught my breath, I decided to go look for Zihark. I also wanted a tutor for the sword, and Zihark was my best bet, as Ike was still giving me the cold shoulder, and Mia was, well, Mia.

I found Zihark down in the hull sharpening his blade. He gives me a polite nod as I walk up. We actually haven't even met technically, so… "Hey, I'm Drake, the rookie wyvern rider of the group."

"My name is Zihark, a simple swordsman," he replies. "I know things have been…hectic lately, but I joined your group back at Port Toha. I couldn't just stand there and watch them try to hurt the laguz, so I ended up here."

"So you don't view them in a negative light?" I prompt, sitting on a crate across from him.

Zihark pauses before answering. "I've…spent time around some of them and learned that most of the rumors about them are untrue. That's why I've decided to protect any I come across. I was acting as part of the vigilante group in Port Toha to wait for that very opportunity."

"So I have a question," I begin, already running out of topics of small talk. "I only recently began fighting, so I don't know how to use a sword well. Would you be willing to teach me?"

Zihark looks a little surprised at the question, but smiles. "I'm not much of a teacher, but I could show you a few things. It will help to pass the time while we're on this boat as well."

I grin as my the tension leaves my shoulders. Victory.

Zihark chuckles at my reaction. "Why were you so nervous? Am I that hard to approach?"

"Um…I'm just really bad at starting a conversation with people I'm not familiar with," I admit.

"Well hopefully that won't last too long. Ready to practice?"

"Um, guys?" Mist walks up hesitantly. I'm surprised see that she's holding a sword. "I want to learn as well. Can I?" Wait, Mist is classing up already?

"I guess so, as long as Drake doesn't mind," Zihark answers.

"I'm fine with it," I reply, though inwardly conflicted. On one hand, I'm excited that Mist is already classing up into my favorite class of the game. On the other hand, I feel that it's all too soon for her to be learning to kill. Then again, it might be best for her to at least learn to defend herself, and I probably couldn't stop her, either.

"I'll try my best," Mist says, looking relieved. "Oh, my name's Mist."

"Zihark," he replies. "Maybe I really am hard to approach."

And with that, Zihark began to show us how he fought. Unlike Mia, who tried to bash the lessons into me, Zihark took the time to show us how to fight correctly, from how to hold the sword, to the different stances to stand in.

I found out Zihark used a different style than Mia, too. While Mia's style focused on stabbing and dodging, Zihark's focused more on slicing and blocking, which I found out complemented my hand-and-a-half sword better. Mist used a shorter, one-handed sword instead, so she might have done better with Mia's style, but she stayed under Zihark all the same.

With a promise to continue tomorrow, I left after we finished to search for my last chosen teacher. I found him reading a book in a corner away from everyone else. The look he gives me told me he that didn't want to be bothered, but I decide to bother him anyway.

"Soren, will you teach me magic?"

"No," he states, not even putting his book down.

"Why not?"

"I already told you. Magic is a delicate art that requires time and dedication to use. Even then, it is only good if you end up having potential." But magic is too useful and powerful to pass up.

"We have several months while we're stuck at sea," I point out. "And surely there's a way to test someone's potential. Otherwise, wouldn't a lot of mages be weak and have wasted their time?"

Soren sighs, finally lowering his book to finally look me in the eyes. "Yes, there is a spell that can tests one's power safely, but usually it is only tried out after a year of study." I wait, turning my puppy dog eyes to maximum. Soren sighs once more. He does that a lot around me. "Learning the spell without previous training will take a few months at the earliest to learn. Even then, that spell can't be used in combat and will only test your endurance. One small part wrong, though, will kill you. Literally. Do you still want to try?"

I nod eagerly. I plan to learn to fight with both lance and sword properly, but if I end up being able to use magic as well, it would definitely boost my fighting ability. "I'll even trade more of what I know about science in exchange."

Soren rubs his temple for a moment. "Fine. But I want you to fully understand. Magic isn't just some easy power grab to become stronger. You have to work on it just like with any weapon to have any skill, or you'll end up hurting yourself more than your enemy."

"Understood."

"I guess we should get started at the beginning, then."

If Zihark was a good teacher, Soren was even better. Don't get me wrong. He was sarcastic, strict, and harsh, but he moved at a fast pace, which I could keep up with. I may not be good at physical stuff, but I do have some mental capabilities, which is why I'm hoping this turns out well.

I found out that spells have both vocal and semantic components, though, just like in DnD. One had to chant the spell just right, while combining it with various arm and hand gestures. Which also killed the idea of using it while flying. There's no way Midnight could hold still long enough to let a spell be cast. The vocal part was definitely the worst. The ancient language is actually really hard to speak. Also, it doesn't translate letter for letter into English like I thought.

With Soren on board, I had found a regime for my self-imposed training. Sparring with Nephenee in the morning, sword practice with Zihark afterward, and finishing up with magic teaching with Soren at the end of the day. I then used the last of my energy on pushups and jogging.

It was the only way I knew to get stronger. I'm done with being impassive. I had just been going with the flow, but that had got Greil killed. I'm not going to make that mistake again. It's time to get serious. Even if my body wanted to kill me during the first week. Seriously, how out of shape was I? At least the Tellius diet had helped me lose most of my fat already.

I continued my regime for the next two months. My bouts with Nephenee got longer, and I even won…once. I went from training to actual sparring with Zihark and Mist…who is picking up the sword faster than me. And after constant teaching, practice, and drilling from Soren, I am finally ready to try my first spell. Things are finally starting to turn around.

-o-

AN: Training montage! And we're about to find out how much magic potential Drake has.

As for me, I've finally caught up on sleep, though hospital visits are taking up my free time during the week. But I have finished up the Princess Diaries. I've found that light humor is a lot harder for me to write than serious angst, but everything's a learning experience. Do try to read it, though, as it will hopefully make you laugh at least a few times.

I can't wait to reach Begnion's small arc. *evil grin*

R&R as always. (Reviews act as fuel for writers!)

Update: Error corrections, etc.