The masters that Llewil had found for the three of them were nothing if not demanding. Ishan’s master was a man named Relwir. He had been the one who knocked at the door. He had his arms crossed as he waited, his foot tapping as though he’d been waiting for an eternity. His lips pursed together, he scoffed when he saw Ishan.

Saul felt bad for his friend. Ishan's new master hadn't waited long before he began to criticize his development so far. “You’ve done everything all wrong! A mage over level 10 with such paltry mana regeneration? I bet you don’t even know how to make your spells more efficient!” Ishan was silent, his head bowed in deference. It seemed to tell the man all he needed to know.

“Have you been doing any mana control exercises?”

Saul watched Ishan open his mouth as if to answer, before the master continued on, “Of course you haven’t! Come with me! We will start from the ground up. I’ll give you the same exercises we give to the children. If you can better control your mana, you can reduce the costs of your spells!” The elf turned and moved to the other side of the clearing with a huff. When Ishan didn’t join him right away, the master turned back and glared daggers at his student.

‘Looks like he’s in for a rough time,’ Saul had thought with no small measure of amusement. The master who was there to train Basi had set up some small obstacle course on the opposite side of the monolith. She was an elf maiden with a lovely smile who seemed as friendly as Relwir was rough around the edges. “Better go with her, Basi. Do as he says. They’re going to help us get stronger.” The lizard loped over to her and the two of them moved to begin using the obstacle course. Saul wanted to watch his companion go through the strange training, but he had his own training to attend to.

“I am Telwyn,” The elf standing closer to him had said. He was tall for an elf and had a warm expression. A massive spear was sticking up over his head, strapped to his back. He made a small gesture to the other elf standing with him, their features covered by a cloak that left them shrouded by darkness.

“This is my sister, Alwyn. I’ll be instructing you in the spear. She can help you in other matters. You are a ranger, correct?” Saul nodded. The elf continued, “Good! She’s one of the most skilled hunters we have in our village. She can instruct you on any number of valuable skills. Archery, hunting, moving in the shadows… She will be working with you to improve in all these areas. Now…”

The elf clapped his hands together with a wide grin. “We’d best be getting started! Your training with me will be more physically exhausting. Since you’ve got monsters to fight later, we’d better go first.”

He took Saul to the right side of the field. As they got closer Saul could see several wooden stilts rising up from the ground, their tops all shaved flat and placed at similar heights. They were no more than a third of a meter apart.

Telwyn jumped into the air and landed lightly on one of the pegs, walking out into the middle of them. “We’ll be doing your spear training here. This is a special training method we elves developed to help master basic melee footwork.”

He jumped from one peg to another, his feet almost silent as he landed. He reached behind his back to grab his spear and held it at the ready. “If you have mastered your footwork, you can attack and defend to much greater effect. Footwork is the foundation of any good warrior. Without a proper foundation, anything built is worthless. Now, come up here.”

Saul leaped into the air and landed on one of the pegs with a thud. His weight pressed into the wood and caused it to sway, his arms flailing as he searched for his balance. ‘This is harder than it looks.’ He thought. The peg wasn't wide enough for him to get into his stance.

He placed one foot on the next closest peg and sank down into the ready position. His muscles were working overtime to maintain balance on the pegs. They were solid wood, but they didn't offer much support. His spear dropped into his hands. “I believe that my foundation is good. Let’s see.” He said with a grin.

Telwyn’s smile faded as the elf adopted a serious expression. “That is a foolish position to take. I will instruct you.” The elf danced forward, moving across the pegs with practiced ease. He came at Saul low, Telwyn’s spear sweeping towards his leading leg. Saul lifted his leg up and pivoted on his back foot to find secure footing on another platform.

Next he shifted his weight forward to stab at the elf's head with his spear. Telwyn danced back and then surged forward, putting Saul on the defensive once more. His spear searching for an opening.

He went low again and again Saul moved his foot to another platform. His legs wobbled as he struggled to find his balance. In that moment of uncertainty, Telwyn went after his plant foot and swept his spear through. One moment Saul was standing on the platform, the next he was falling onto the sea of pegs.

He landed with a heavy thump. He hit one particularly high peg with the majority of his weight. The impact stole his breath away, catching him on his back between his shoulder blades.

He climbed back to his feet to see the elf smiling again. “As I said, a weak foundation makes the building useless. You seem to have a decent grasp of how to use your spear, but without solid footing, you can’t even touch me.” Saul let his gaze rest on the ground in a sign of deference.

“Of course, master Telwyn. I apologize for my earlier boasts. I look forward to learning all you have to teach.” With his gaze downcast, Saul was able to see the exact width of the pegs they were standing on. Each one was just big enough for both of his feet. For him to stand in the center of two and achieve maximum balance would take careful footwork. “Master, how do you suggest I go about building my footwork?”

The elf moved back and forth from one platform to another as if in a familiar dance. “First, I’d recommend you just get used to the idea of moving around up here. Each peg is roughly the same distance apart, but the slight variations in height mean you can’t forget to look where you’re stepping. What we’ll be doing is simple enough. Spears away.”

The elf strapped his weapon to his back in a smooth motion. “For our first day together, I want you to focus on catching me. If you’re able to catch me three times before it’s time for your archery training, we can begin to spar.”

‘Playing catch, eh?’ Saul thought. His weapon vanished from his hands. ‘It makes sense. The best way to get used to moving up here is to move around.’ Telwyn jumped back to stand on the furthest row of pegs, landing as naturally as a bird.

“Now, in order for you to get the most out of this training, you’ll want to move as if you’re holding your weapon. That means you want to chase me in the appropriate stance. If I see bad footwork, I’ll let you know immediately. Let’s begin.”

Saul moved forward as quickly as he could. He began aggressively, but his feet weren’t centered over the pegs. Those errant steps came close to making him fall several times. He reigned in his desire to rush ahead and paid close attention to each peg as he stepped forward.

Saul’s approach was so slow that he hadn’t forced Telwyn to move yet. Saul’s focus was totally on the pegs, intent on finding the appropriate spot for his next step. He didn’t make it halfway across the field before Telwyn tapped him on the shoulder. He spun in surprise, losing his balance and falling onto a peg again, this time getting speared so hard in the lower back that the breath left him in a rush.

When he managed to clamber back to his feet a sour expression was spreading across his face, “How did you do that? How do you move so fast?”

Telwyn tilted his head back and let out peals of laughter that were almost melodic. “I didn’t move fast at all! You were so focused on your footwork that you forgot to keep your eyes on me! It’s important to see where you’re walking but you can’t forget to see your enemies. That’s a mistake that will prove to be fatal if it isn’t corrected.” Saul nodded and took a few measured steps back, careful to check his footing before committing to any of them.

“So keep my eyes on you and watch where I’m walking. Makes sense. Let’s go again.” Telwyn created more distance between them. This time, Saul alternated between quick glances at his footing and quick glances up to Telwyn. He was making decent pace towards the elf, approaching him with his body sideways. His left foot was his lead foot as he inched along.

When he was close enough to Telwyn to close the gap in a leap, he circulated his Qi into his legs and took one more small step towards him. The instant he felt his foot touch the peg, he exploded forward and closed the distance between the two of them, his arms outstretched as he soared through the air. A smile spread across his lips as he drew closer, triumphant, a smile that vanished as Telwyn calmly turned to the side to avoid his grasp.

Saul’s outstretched arms broke his fall, pain blossoming in his right shoulder as he rolled head over heels and landed in a crumpled heap. He let out a pained sigh as he rose to his knees, then used his left hand to push himself up.

His right arm hung loosely by his side as pain radiated throughout his body. With grit teeth he looked up at the elf, “Does anyone here happen to know healing magic? I know I can just yank this back into place, but it’s a bad idea.” He took a small step forward and winced as his knee threatened to buckle.

Telwyn nodded, his smile gone for once, and gestured to Alwyn, “She’s got a couple low level healing spells that should resolve everything. Now, before you get healed let’s talk about where you went wrong. What do you think?”

Saul growled softly. The pain was intense. The last thing he wanted to do at the moment was analyze his failures. He tried to shrug those thoughts off, drawing in a deep breath and responding, though the pain meant he did so through clenched teeth. “I shouldn’t have leaped at you. Once I was in the air, I had no control. If you were a real enemy, you could have struck me down if you managed to avoid my attack.”

His master nodded. “That’s exactly right. We’ll call it a day for now. I want you to get healed up, then train with Alwyn for now. Tomorrow we’ll play catch again for the first hour, and regardless of what happens we will be working with our weapons for the second hour.” Telwyn bowed low to him, “Thank you for accepting my instruction. Now, I’m going to go get some rest. We’re going to be staying in the empty room in the cabin for the next week. If you have any questions after your training, feel free to ask.”

Saul bowed in as low as he could in return, bruised and battered, before lumbering over to Alwyn. Luckily for him, her healing spells did just the trick and had him ready for more training in almost no time.