“Ready for tonight?” asked Nero as caressed the long crest. The horse snorted in agreement, making Collins shake his head.

“I still can’t get used to how fast you became friends. You know, I spent years to reach your current relations with this stubborn horse,” said the blonde boy as he patted her head while the horse just snorted once again.

“I don’t know. I have always found a common language with animals,” said Nero as he took the reins and jumped on the horse.

“Good. This time, you are better than before. At first try to walk a bit, grip the reins, but stay relaxed and don’t move your legs when you don’t want to give a command,” said Collins as he walked together with the rider. Nero listened to his words and he, Collins, and the horse slowly started their journey towards a pond where they usually finish their training.

They continued to walk for some time when the blonde boy nodded, feeling that his horse got accustomed to the new rider.

“You can start increasing speed, but please don’t forget about my lessons, use signals and commands, and don’t get scared, the horse would feel it,” said Collins as he patted the horse on the neck. Nero nodded and quickly whistled, watching how a horse slowly started galloping.

Collins watched how his friend and his horse were slowly disappearing as he followed them. However, both boys didn’t know that there was a sparrow in the skies, which was observing them. When it saw how Nero increased his speed, it croaked and flapped its wings.

The wind intensified as Nero gained more speed. He felt so refreshing and increased more speed with each new moment. Collins could only swear at his friend and increase his speed just not to lose him from sight. Even though his friend already knew all basics and had some practice, his horse wasn’t a typical farmer’s horse. His grandfather - village elder bred it for journeys to the outside world.

As the pair of the boy moved, Nero felt more comfortable with each passing moment. The horse listened to him as if he rode on it for years. He didn't even need to give commands and signals while the horse already moved in certain directions as if it felt his thoughts. That's why Nero just enjoyed this moment and let the horse do its work.

Half an hour later, when Collins finally caught his friend at the pond; he saw how Nero was laughing and washing his horse that never liked to bathe. It usually snorted or tried to escape as soon as it felt that it would get some cold shower. But now he saw how Nero washed his horse that calmly stood as if it was a norm. He even rubbed his own eyes for a moment. Once again, he felt as if his friend was just too omniscient when he dealt with animals.

“How was it?” he asked as he approached his horse and tied it to the near tree. The horse only snorted at his gesture.

“Better than before,” said Nero with a delighted smile on his lips, “You were right. I just needed to control it better and easily gained huge speed. It was amazing! I felt how wind tickled my face and how with each new move my speed increased.”

“I felt it,” said Collins, remembering how clouds were dust were only left behind his friend. “Finally, you have learned everything I wanted to teach you,”

“I can’t say the same about me, I am not so good at learning like you,” said the blonde boy with a sigh.

“Don’t worry, I will still teach you as usual,” said Nero, approaching him. “There are many books out there which I can give you, more interesting than tales of legendary heroes.”

“What? Really, which, for example? I thought tales of ancient legends would be the most interesting ones.” Collins only widened his eyes, unable to believe him, and climbed at their spot at the big stone near the pond. Nero also mirrored his actions and followed him.

“Adventures. They are much more interesting than ancient tales,” said Nero as he took one small stone and threw it at the pond.

“You might be right. Even those adventures from hero journeys sounded thrilling. Can you give me an adventurer’s book when I finish reading the current one?” asked Collins as he threw another stone towards a pond.

“Of course. Just tell me when you will need it, I will take one of my teacher’s books,”

“Then, take my horse when you feel you want to ride on it. I will inform my parents and my small sister,” said Collins as he threw another stone towards a pond.

“How old is she already?” asked Nero.

“Kate is already 3-years old. If you see her, don’t get tricked by her innocent appearance. She is a real devil that will use that chance to make a joke on you,” said Collins with a serious expression on his face.

“Wait,” suddenly said Nero, “That accident, three months ago when you walked with many small green dots on your face, right on the day when elder boys and girls had to gather to look for their pairs. Was it she who made it with you?”

“Doggone, Nero, I told you to forget about it. You can’t even realize how my peers looked at me when I was forced to go on that event after her joke,” said Collins as he clenched his fist and strongly threw another stone towards the pond.

“That was brutal. I heard you became the main hero of that gathering. Why didn’t you wash away it?” asked Nero with a curious expression on his face.

“You think I didn’t try. I used several barrels of water solely to wash my face. But, Kate used a strange oil and laughed at my efforts as I was trying to save my face. Doggone! I once again want to kick her ass for that joke,” said Collins after he remembered how a girl he liked laughed at him that day.

“I got it. I won’t repeat your mistake and won’t let my guard down near your scary sister,” said Nero as he laughed, patting his friend’s shoulder, and jumped down from the stone.

“Already return?” asked Collins.

“Yes, I still have training today,” said Nero as stretched his shoulders. Colins nodded and stood up, following his friend.

While both boys started their return journey, they didn’t notice how alone black sparrow croaked at that moment and flapped its wings.

When both friends and horse have finally left the pond, they didn’t know that deep down inside a pond a strange rune appeared, making a small shelter at which water slowly started entering, creating a small current.

...

..

.

“Son, what you see?” asked Tiona, as she pointed at the hoof footprint on the ground. Nero, who was dressed in the leather outfit, similar to his mother’s, inclined and concentrated his glance at that print.

“It’s boar’s footprint,” said Nero, moments later.

“That’s everything you want to tell?” asked Tiona, as she watched how her son nodded his head.

“Son, reading traces is more than just knowing whose trace is it. Give me your hand,” said Tiona as he put Nero’s fingers on that trace.

“You feel it?” asked mother.

“Yes,” said the boy, “It’s still warm.”

“It’s, son. Trace reading is not only about seeing and learning whose traces it is but also about touching and smelling. Sometimes your fingers can tell you much more than any external signs. Here, look at what will I learn only by using touching,” said Tiona, as she bent over to touch another trace. She spent several moments in her pose before standing and looking at her son.

“It passed here around half an hour ago. Look at the differences between prints of its legs. The boar is limping. Besides, I can tell that it has enough meat to let us feed on it for the whole week,” said Tiona as she adjusted her bow.

“How did you know it, mother?” asked Nero.

“By experience. The more similar footprints you would see, the faster and more you will gain knowledge. That’s why never forget to practice this skill, it’s very useful and would help you in many life situations,” said Tiona as she moved out, following the traces.

Half an hour later, they finally saw a boar that was standing near a small stream, unaware that Tiona has already raised her bow and prepared an arrow. She was now aiming at it and could fire at any moment.

Nero also watched how his mother was aiming at the boar and saw that the boar did not know what was happening. Such scene continued for several moments when a boar made snorted and turned towards a near bush from which several small boars appeared moments later.

When they appeared, the boar turned towards them, showing his heart area right in Tiona’s direction. The boy already thought that a moment later his mother’s arrow would appear, killing the boar when his mother put away an arrow and stood up from her position at the bush, signaling Nero to leave. She also nodded to the mother boar when that one turned to look at the sudden sound. Their eyes met, and it felt as if both mothers understood each other.

Nero was dumbfounded and couldn’t hold himself from asking when they moved some distance away.

“Why didn’t you shoot him?” asked the boy. Tiona only smiled and turned at him.

“Did you see them?”

“Yes, there were four small boars.”

“That’s right. There were four of them. They were less than three months years old. Even though it’s already summer and there is plenty of food here in the forests around these mountains, they would have much close to zero chances to survive if I killed their mother. If I killed her, I would need to make the same for her children,” explained Tiona as she looked at her son, who was still not understanding her.

“But they are wildfowl, and it’s okay for hunters to hunt it. Others would have shot it and would be glad for extra easy wildfowl,” said Nero with a dumbfounded expression on his face.

“True. If that boar met other hunters from our village, they would have shot it without thinking. They wouldn’t think that it might be too much meat for the village and nobody would buy it and some of it would get spoiled. They will just shoot it,”

“This is a difference between them and me. They are amateurs while I am a professional," said Tiona as she approached her son.

“Remember, a good hunter is not someone who can hunt or shoot any wildfowl, but that one who knows which and when he needs to shoot. We don’t need so much meat right now. It would be better if we and look a deer and leave that small family behind. Who knows, several seasons from now, those small boars would grow and you or I would have more potential meat during the winter,” said Tiona as she patted her son’s shoulder. Nero still had the same dumbfounded expression on his face, but unlike before, he was thinking about his mother’s words.

On that day, when Tiona took Nero for the hunt for the first time in his life, they returned with a deer. However, they didn’t know that a black sparrow was always accompanying them in the skies.

...

..

.

The skies were already darkening as the sun slowly disappeared, but two people paid no attention to that and continued their doing.

“Try harder!” said Gustav, as he blocked Nero’s sword. “Work with your legs. Your sword thrust doesn’t start in your arms, it starts with your legs,”

A figure of the old man blocked all attacks of the small boy that tried again and again. He also counterattacked from time to time.

“If you can’t block or parr my sword, use your legs and evade,” said Gustav as he retreated to give Nero a short rest.

“Think when you move. Each move should be intentional,” said the old man after he unleashed another counterattack on the boy’s chest.

Nero retreated with a pained expression as he held his chest. He gritted his teeth as he looked at his teacher.

“Use all your weight in your attacks. If you meet the weakest bandit, you won’t be able to do anything for him with such weak attacks. Boy, where is your rage, how long will you let me hit you as I please?”

Nero only clenched his teeth and fists as he stood up from the ground and unleashed another of his attacks. He didn’t make the same mistake as before when he angrily and foolishly growled and attacked his teacher. His initial attacks were easily dodged and soon another hit landed at his body, making Nero retreat and hold that area, bearing the pain.

“Hmm. Looks like this trick wouldn’t work again,” said Gustav, as he adjusted his sword. “If you don’t want to attack me, then I will start, get ready.”

Nero only raised his sword when his teacher already unleashed his heavy counter-attacks. The boy tried to block or part them, but new pain was inevitable.

“Don’t forget about stance. Don’t open yourself!” said the old man as he made Nero lose his balance and fall to the ground. As Nero laid, he wiped a bit of blood, coming from his nose and stood up to continue their training. Rage was in his eyes and he really wanted to hit his teacher at least once.

“Parr, or evade, if you can’t block my sword thrust,” said Gustav as he unleashed his sword towards the boy’s neck. Nero's sword blocked the sword right as he finished his phrase. His hands felt numb just from that exchange, but the boy still felt rage.

“Good,” said the old man when Nero redirected his attack and quickly started moving to make his counter-attack.

“You have finally learned it!” said Gustav when he blocked his disciple’s attack in which he used whole his weight.

“But, it’s still not enough. You need more physical training if you want to pierce through my defense,” said the old man as he moved on his feet and hit Nero on his left side, making the boy fall, holding it.

Nero gritted his teeth and looked at his teacher with narrowed eyes. His limps were trembling while the whole body was in pain. He was exhausted, but the old man calmly looked at him from above as if nothing happened.

“Again, don’t forget to protect your left side. Why is it always open and unprotected? Such weakness can cause your death if you were on the real battlefield,” said Gustav as he approached and gave his hand to help Nero stand up.

Nero only growled from pain and started shaking off from dust before bowing to his teacher. Even though there were tears in his eyes and a huge pain in his body, Nero didn't hate his teacher but concentrated all his strength to ask him.

“Thank you, teacher. How was it today?” Gustav smiled when he heard him.

“Depends from which angle you want to look. If you were a mage, I would say that it was okay, but if you want to become a knight and use your inner energy, then it’s super bad. Any knight would kill you for at least one mistake you showed against me. You are full of holes that can result in your death. Continue training and polishing your skills,” said the old man with a stern gaze and face as he turned away from Nero.

Even though he was glad about the boy’s progress in their fifth training duel, he didn’t want to spoil him. It’s better to be harsh with students and make them work than saying that they are good and watching how they stop trying to improve. Gustav already made a similar mistake in his past and didn’t plan to repeat it while he was training his last student in his life.