For a moment the Lieutenant seemed as shocked at everyone else, but that did not slow her down as she flowed into motion. Another strike came, this time at the man’s ribs. Again, the other sword was there to stop the blow.

The Lieutenant stepped back with her eyes narrowed and then the dance began. She aimed a combination of blows at the large man and was blocked each time. As she continued to try to strike him, the Lieutenant drove the man across the circle. Despite almost being hit a few times, the man continued only to defend, never counter attacking.

Niall looked over at the Lieutenant. Instead of the anger he expected to see on her face, he saw a fierce joy and determination.

Eventually, the Lieutenant had the man up at the edge of the circle. The man stood there for a moment, fending off the attacks and then spun to one side. He plunged the metal sword into the earth outside the circle and in the same movement picked up two wooden swords from the rack. Niall’s eyes widened as he realised the man had engineered the fight to allow him to get to that position.

With a wooden sword in each hand, the large man exploded into action. As the Lieutenant continued to attack the man blocked each strike but, for each blow, he now returned an attack. With a flurry of effort, the Lieutenant managed to stop the initial blows that flowed into her body and face. However, the end result was clear.

The Lieutenant ducked under another blow and spun away. As she spun back round the sword in the recruit’s left hand moved almost invisibly fast and smashed into the Lieutenant’s face. Niall was no expert, but even he could see if the recruit had used a metal sword it would have been a killing blow. As it was, the Lieutenant’s face was a bloody mess, although, unexpectedly, the grin on the officer’s face was larger than ever.

The Lieutenant rolled backwards and held out her hand for a pause. The larger man immediately lowered his sword.

The Lieutenant looked at him thoughtfully the wounds on her face closing as she spoke. “You fight using a Southern style.” A statement, not a question.

“Yes, Sir.”

“How does a miner’s whelp from the borders know the fighting style of warriors from across the oceans? Permission to speak freely, recruit.”

“My grandfather was from the Kirdasha, sir. He was shipwrecked on a trading voyage and stayed here ever since. He taught me how to fight.”

“Kirdasha? Well that explains why you would not attack. He taught you the code as well as the skills.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Your name is Trintor, isn’t itrecruit?”

“Yes, Sir”

“Fall in, Recruit Trintor.”

The Lieutenant turned to the rest of the recruits. “I was intending for this to be a demonstration, recruits. It was, just not the one I was expecting.” She pointed at Trintor. “This, recruits, is what is possible. An ignorant miner can best an officer of the Gwilliant army. Understand I am not boasting when I say I have never been defeated in one-on-one combat by a Bulvine. If this recruit can best me then understand that it is possible for you to defeat a Bulvine fighter. All it takes is hard work.”

Niall and the other recruits spent the rest of the morning learning and drilling basic blocks and strikes with wooden practice swords. The instructors were not shy to correct them, but despite the bruises, Niall could feel himself improving.

In his water break, Niall looked around to see the Lieutenant sparing with Trintor. With a longsword in her hands the Lieutenant defeated Trintor in moments, but her best efforts with a short sword only allowed her to hold off Trintor for slightly longer that her first attempt. Niall suppressed a grin. Much as he did not want the Lieutenant to be right, the fact that one of their own could defeat a professional soldier like her, gave him hope.

With a shout that signalled the end of the break, Sergeant Strang ordered the recruits to pair off. Niall started to walk towards Huff but stopped when a heavy hand fell on his shoulder. He turned to see Killip standing next to him. “Why don’t we go together?”

Niall did not like the look in Killip’s eyes, but before he could move the Sergeant called out again. “Right. You are going to practise the forms we learnt this morning against each other. One blocks, the other strikes, then you swap. This is about technique not power, so pull your blows. Plenty of time to smack each other around later.”

Killip looked at Niall. “Why don’t you attack first?”

Niall took his stance and launched into the form they had been taught. Lazily, Killip flicked the attack away. “My turn.”

Niall braced himself in his defensive position and did not take his eyes of Killip. He was under no illusions that the other man would hold back.

There was a blur and Niall felt painful stings on his arms and legs. He staggered forward a few steps.

“Oh. Did you not manage to block my strikes?” Killip’s sympathetic smile reeked of insincerity. “Better luck next time. Your turn again.”

That first series set the tone for the rest of the session. No matter what he did, Niall could not lay a blow on Killip. By contrast, Killip beat him black and blue while carefully never going so far as to have the instructors intervene. Despite the pain, Niall was not unhappy. If he was going to improve, he needed to fight against those more skilled than him. He managed to count it as a win when, towards the end, he finally blocked a couple of Killip’s blows.

After they were dismissed for lunch, Niall grabbed his meal and sat down with the others. He grimaced as he eased into his seat. He had mostly healed himself after his session with Killip, but there were still a few tender spots.

Penton winced at him in sympathy. “So that Killip guy has really got it in for you, hasn’t he?

“Oh, he’ll get over. But never mind me. What Trintor did was crazy huh?”

“I’ve got to admit, it was a pleasure to watch the Lieutenant get her backside kicked,” said Shannon.

“So, watching him, got me thinking about what we were discussing yesterday.” Niall said.

“We’re not going to like this, are we?” said Huff.

“Listen. The only way we are going to get through this is if we’re better at fighting. I hate to admit it, but the Lieutenant had a point. If Trintor can do it, then so can we.”

“Niall,” Penton said. “I know what you’re saying but Trintor had a super-secret fighting technique that, apparently, he has been training with his grandfather since he was a baby. We don’t have anything like that.”

“We don’t, but we can ask him to teach us”.

“Why would he do that?” Huff asked.

Niall paused for a moment, “I’m not sure yet, but I thought I would ask. The thing is, if I can get him to agree, then we’re going to have to do extra training. Would you be up for it?”

Penton looked at Niall in horror. “Extra training? Extra? When would we do that?”

“It would have to be before we go to bed. It’s the only real free time we get.” Niall saw the looks on all of their faces. “Listen. We’ve got three months. That’s it. I don’t know about you, but I really, really want to still be alive when we finish our training. If we lose a bit of free time for a few months, well I see that as worth it.”

There was a long silence while the other three stared at Niall. Eventually Huff spoke up. “OK. If you can convince Trintor then I’ll do it. Nothing much to lose and an awful lot to gain.”

Niall looked at Penton and Shannon who looked at each other. Shannon shrugged. “I’m in as well. Why not? It’s not as if this place could get any worse.” Penton just nodded.

Niall smiled. “In which case, I’m going to talk to Trintor.” He looked around to see the large man sitting at another table. The other recruits seemed to be somewhat wary of him after the display he put on that morning and he was alone at his table.

Niall picked up his tray and walked over. As he came closer, it was obvious that working in the mines had helped Trintor to build the muscles that had helped him to defeat the Lieutenant. “Hi, I’m Niall. Mind if I join you?”

Trintor looked up and waved at the empty seats. “All yours”

“So, what you did this morning was pretty impressive.”

Trinitor shrugged. “It was stupid is what it was. I let my irritation get the better of me. Bullies pushing people around always gets under my skin.”

“It looked like you had it under control from what I could see.”

“Oh, the sword fighting was the easy part. I have a decent, Short Sword Skill. It just happens that it’s higher levelled than the Lieutenant. She’s a longsword specialist though. I couldn’t touch her with one of those in her hand. But, she’s a professional soldier, so what do you expect?”

“Still, it was better than anything I’ve ever seen.”

“Thank you.”

“So, I was wondering if you could give me and my friends some pointers, maybe a bit of out-of-hours training.”

Trintor put down his fork. “Listen, I’m sure you’re a great guy, but I can’t help. I was stupid to let myself stand out earlier. I’m not doing it again. I’m just going to keep my head down and get it over with. This is about getting home safely. I’m not here to make friends.”

“But you heard what the Lieutenant said. We’re going to be up against some pretty tough enemies in the field. The better we all are, the better our chances to stay alive.”

“I’ll back myself, thanks. I’m no teacher. I don’t want to get involved. Ask one of the instructors if you want pointers.” The big man turned back to his food and ignored Niall.

Niall stared at the top of his bowed head and then walked back to the others.

Huff clapped him on his shoulder. “Hey, you tried. Never mind.”

Niall was about to respond when he sensed someone standing behind him. He turned to see Trintor who nodded at the others. “Are these the friends that you were talking about?”

Niall nodded.

Trintor looked at Shannon. “You’re one of the Warmfarm family, aren’t you?”

Shannon looked up at him. “I’m sorry. Do we know each other? I feel like I would have remembered if we had met.”

“My grandfather has the claim to the Boarhead mine. He was negotiating a contract with your father maybe three years ago now. I remember seeing you sitting in on those discussions. I was there as well, even further in the background than you, though.”

Shannon looked at him for a moment, then her eyes widened. “Wait you’re related to that miner? The one when we ended up...?”

Trintor nodded. Niall narrowed his eyes. Was Trintor blushing?

“Anyway,” Trintor said. “My grandfather died a year or so ago. My father’s running the mine now and I’ll be taking over eventually. I want to revisit the deal we were discussing. Despite how it ended, it was actually a good outcome for everyone.”

Shannon smiled at him, “So you’re offering to help train us if I put in a good word with my father?”

Trintor shook his head. “Of course not, that would be a terrible bargain. No, I propose that you and I strike a full agreement, now. I asked around back then and you were already negotiating deals on behalf of your family. I imagine that the amount of responsibility you’ve been given has only increased over time. If we can reach terms then I’ll help you all out with extra training.”

There was something wolf-like in Shannon’s smile as she replied, “In which case, let’s negotiate.”