“What… what! You want me to teach swordsmanship?”

“Ah, yes, that’s the word I was looking for. It’s been so long that I forgot. And why not?” Master asked in return.

“I’m hardly qualified to teach people, let alone teach anyone how to use a sword properly. Teach- I mean Holton would be the first to tell you that.”

“Bah,” Master waved dismissively. “I don’t expect you to teach them how to be a master swordsman, just how to defend themselves in a pinch. Do you know what gets most Chosen killed?”

I shook my head.

“They run out of energy. Our gift isn’t an unlimited resource you can draw upon. I’m sure you felt it, even if you haven’t determined what yours is yet. That pool of something that you feel deep inside. Drain that and you are as mortal as the next man or woman. Although you may retain a bit more speed and strength, it is only a minute advantage until your gift has time to recover.”

I did have this feeling when I fought the bandits. Like a tiny flame that was snuffed out when I used what little resources I had to move the spear. I still didn’t feel that flame even in my meditation session. “Ho- How long does it take for this to recover?” I asked tentatively, afraid mine would never do so.

“It depends on the person, the gift, and how long they have had it.”

“How so?” I asked.

“Take Pyron’s chosen for example. If they are near fire or heat, they will recharge quicker. With age comes a larger pool to draw from as well. I’ll let you in on a bit of a secret, Terrani’s chosen rarely run out since we are always near the ground.”

“That’s a bit of a cheat,” I grumbled, causing the man to laugh.

“That it is my boy but it’s a trade-off as we are slow to recover. Now, what do you say?”

What did I say? I knew I wasn’t the best swordsman around, hell my former teacher Holton could tell you that much. But if my help saved even one life, could I say no?

As I was thinking over his offer, he decided to sweeten the pot. “If you agree to do this, I will give you a separate stipend for your work. I will also agree to personally tutor you one day a week. Trust me, that is an offer far in excess of any monetary one I could give you.”

After hashing out the details – thanks to my merchant upbringing, which I would not be thanking my father for – we came to an agreement. The stipend was ten plates a week. A modest sum but as my meals and housing were free, it was more than I needed. The biggest win was my tutoring. I wanted to make sure it would cover, knowledge and training. With a friendly smile from the caring old man, we shook on the deal.

“Good, you can begin after lunch. I already let the initiates know that there will be special training coming up.” I frowned at this and he chuckled lightheartedly. “I knew you would agree to my proposal, I can see in your eyes that you care for people. That’s a good thing.”

“You mean, I could have gotten more?”

With a shrug, Master Mgumba turned and walked out of the room, leaving me a few parting words. “The past is the past. Don’t dwell on your failures, learn from them.” Wise words that took away the sting of getting fleeced on the deal. But he was right. I would have done it for less.

The only thing that might have made me even happier would be to have my father here during the negotiations. Seeing his reaction to me bargaining so low would have been the cream on the cake. He would have gone apoplectic at how easily I agreed. He wasn’t here though, so I made do with visualizing it in my head. Even that brought a smile to my face as I followed Master out of the room.

***

Dinner was near its end before Master Mgumba clapped his hands together, silencing any chatter. Not that there was much. Rycan and his team had left after retrieving me. The other sourpuss Master was also gone. That left the four initiates, Laris, Rebeka, Matteos, Quimby, and me. There were also two other Masters. A Master Renold, a portly older fellow with sleepy eyes. The man had to be pushing over a hundred to look old if Master was nearly three hundred. The other master was Master Thea, a raven-haired beauty with a faded white scar across one side of her forehead that ran back toward her ear.

She caught me staring at her scar and I looked away in embarrassment.

After everyone went silent, Master Mgumba spoke. “We have a treat tonight, special training for the initiates in the training yard. The masters in attendance do not need to come but you may be surprised and find you learn something from the experience.”

With a grunt of effort, Master Renold got up. “I’m a bit too old to be learning new tricks so I will bow out, I wish you all good health.” With that, the man left the room. It was clear by Master Mgumba’s frown that he wasn’t happy with the man’s dismissal.

“I would be happy to watch the training, Master,” Thea replied.

I put Master Renold’s actions out of my mind as we entered the courtyard behind the manor. It was easily three times as large as my entire home and courtyard back in my hometown. The courtyard had areas designed for practicing different gifts as evidenced by the loose rocks, small ponds, and glowing braziers. There were others as well but my focus was pulled back to Master Mgumba as he stopped next to a weapons rack that held wooden training swords, shields, spears, etc.

“As Chosen, we sometimes forget the basics. I aim to correct that mistake. From tonight on, our newest initiate, Bakus,” he gestured towards me. Not that he needed to as everyone present turned towards me. “Will be running a mandatory swordsmanship class twice a week on top of your other work.”

There was quiet grumbling about that and I saw Laris give me an annoyed look.

“During class, you will treat him as you do any Master in the Order. You will also not seek revenge for any slight after class, am I clear?”

All heads snapped forward, including Thea’s, and a “Yes Master!” came out in unison.

“Good,” Master Mgumba smiled. “Bakus, if you would be so kind, step forward. The class is yours.”

With more than a little trepidation, I walked toward the weapon rack. I spent more time than I needed to, to pick out a sword and buckler. Mostly to calm my nerves. Eventually, I turned around though.

With a deep calming breath I spoke. “Who would like to be first?”

…

Nobody volunteered, which I should have known was going to happen. I pointed to Laris. “Laris, come up here and grab a set of training gear like mine.”

The man strode forward cockily as he grabbed a long sword instead of a short sword, and a buckler. I didn’t bother correcting him on his choice of weapon.

“Good, please stand here,” I said, pointing with my sword to a line I toed into the hard-packed sand.

After he was in position, I took my place about ten feet away and turned to face him. “Have you ever sparred before?”

He shrugged, “It’s a blade, what's to know.”

I wanted to sigh but I kept my face neutral. “Ok, there will be no use of gifts during this sparring session, only muscles and reflexes.”

“That’s hardly fair,” he grumbled.

This time I shrugged. “It’s a blade, what’s to know. Do you want to attack or defend?”

The man’s mood shifted into a satisfied grin and he said, “Attack.”

“Whenever you’re read-,” I didn’t even finish my sentence when he rushed forward, putting full use of his Chosen enhanced reflexes.

I would have been surprised if Holton Aloo hadn’t beat the lesson of always being prepared into me.

Laris’s blade went straight for my face. A rooky move. There were lots of bones in the head that could deflect a blade and leave your attacker able to fight back. Instead of ducking or stepping out of the faster man’s reach, I stepped forward, letting the blade slide past my head with only minimal effort with my shield deflecting it. Then I rammed my sword into the man’s gut, doubling him over into a coughing fit. I let the man fall to the ground.

“What was, Laris’s mistake?” I asked as I stepped away from the coughing man, making sure to always keep him in sight.

Surprisingly Thea was the one to speak up. “He overestimated his skill with a blade and underestimated his opponent.”

I nodded to her and saw her pause her hand before it reached up to touch the scar on her head.

“Always assume your opponent is more skilled than you are. Go for a killing blow immediately if you can, or try and disable them by going for weak areas.” I used the tip of my sword to point to the wrists, armpits, inner thighs, pelvis, and stomach. All of which would quickly make your opponent less of a threat.

By this time, Laris had recovered and was back on his feet. “Ok, Laris, this time you defend.”

Unlike him, I gave him time to set his feet, not that his stance was good. Hard lessons learned, stuck quicker. I didn’t want to use Holton’s teaching methodology but if it broke their bad habits, that would make teaching them the correct ones faster.

Instead of going in for the strike, I danced around the faster man, making him turn to keep me in front of him. Then I reversed my direction before he could react. He did manage to knock my sword aside with his shield but I had planned for that. I slammed my buckler into his as I used the momentum of his own block to bring my sword back around for a sweeping underhand strike to the backside of his leg. He crumpled under the blow and tipped backward as my shield attack pushed him off balance. Bucklers weren’t meant for that sort of attack but if your opponent didn’t have solid footing, it was effective nonetheless.

I reached down and helped the man up. He reluctantly took my hand.

“What did we learn from that exchange?” This time I pointed my sword at Rebeka, not letting the initiates off the hook.

“Uh… footing is important?” she replied hesitantly.

“Correct,” I said with a smile. “Look at my feet, now watch how I move them as I stab forward, or as I move side to side.”

The training went on and I went through all four initiates. None had it as rough as Laris first did but each found themselves with ugly bruises and sore butts. But by the end of the first session, all four already showed improvement in footwork, hand-eye coordination, and how to properly hold a blade after I knocked Quimby’s out of his limp wristed hold. Even Thea joined in after a while.

The woman was quite a bit faster than even Laris and I pulled no punches as I spared with her. She made it five exchanges before my sword tapped her neck and she forfeit the match.

“By the Mother,” she huffed, out of breath, “who taught you.”

I sighed, “I had the misfortune of spending about a month in Holton Aloo’s tender care.”

“Oh…sorry,” she replied, sounding generally sympathetic. She must have met the man.