Chapter One:

  I was out of breath but stood my ground bravely against the tall figure. His eyes were black as night, his skin tough as leather, and his frame wide like the trunk of an oak tree. He taunted me with his presence. I raised my sword high above my head with the intent to destroy him with a single blow. Before I could slam down my arm with all my might, he leaned into me quick so I didn’t have time to respond. I covered my face with my arms as hastily as I could and fell back onto the floor but right as he was about a foot away from making contact with my skull, he suddenly froze in position. ‘That’s one way to get yourself killed.’ a man could be heard saying from a distance. ‘I’m certain if practice dummies could speak, though, he’d be shouting something along the lines of, ‘Do whatever you wish, but leave my family out of it.’ I looked up to see a well put together man standing at the top of the Training Hill. He looked to be in his mid-thirties with a proper trim to his beard, white and gray-mixed tunic and leggings with elaborate quillwork, and a long wood staff over his shoulder. ‘I don’t think I did well.’ He frowned. ‘No, I guess not.’ He bounced casually down the hill. ‘However, that doesn’t mean there’s no chance for redemption.’ He rose up the dummy from its fallen position back into its slot with the end of his staff. ‘You have to start by taking the proper stance. The way you did it, you’d have thought you were tenderizing meat. Like this, okay?’ He took a wide stance, the tree branch firmly held at either end between his fingers. He let out a ‘hyah!’ as he stepped forward, pushing straight through the dummy’s head until it swung back onto the floor. ‘How’s that?’ he smirked. I looked up at him with awe for a split-second before looking away again. ‘I guess good, right?’ He looked at me with a puzzled expression. ‘What’s your name, thrall?’ I sighed. ‘Umm, Lundry?’ ‘What?’ he chuckled. ‘That’s a silly name, don’t you think? Your parents couldn’t have thought of anything better?’ He gently grabbed the sword from my hand, swinging it around with ease. ‘I’m Yorris – Head War Chief of the Republic of Varus, and I think you have a lot of talent. Maybe not now, but with the right training…’ He handed the sword back to me. ‘You could be a prodigy.’ I stared at him for a moment, not knowing what to say. I must have looked really stupid. ‘What?’ he asked, giving me that same confused expression he gave me earlier. ‘I-I’m sorry. I just don’t know what to say.’ He reassuringly placed his hand on my shoulder. ‘I think you do; you just don’t know if it’s the right thing to say. We’ll work on that, though.’ He gave me a warm tap before walking off, his training staff swaying back and forth behind him. ‘You coming?’ he shouted. I blinked a few times before I could respond. ‘Umm, yeah?’ I called back before hurrying up to him. I didn’t know what was about to happen but for the first time in a while; I felt small creases form at the corners of my mouth.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it