Chapter 17 - Evening Training

  Teth stabbed his sword down into the ground in the nearby clearing and stretched his arms. He cracked his neck to each side then pulled the sword back out. “Come on boy, let’s do this!” He said, motioning for Cal to join him.

  Cal looked over at Meliana, who had returned to slicing up the salted meats while occasionally stirring the pot, and rolled his eyes. She grinned at him and gave him a gesture that was one part ‘go ahead’ and one part ‘go away, you’re bothering me now’

  Cal climbed to his feet and summoned his own sword from where Meliana had placed it after using it to light the fire, and walked over to join the older man.

  “All right, just exercise. What’re the terms?” Cal asked.

  Teth shrugged. “Light sparring. No intentional blows to hurt the other. After this morning I think we both have a good idea what the other is capable of. I assume the ride here was enough to replenish your energy.”

  Cal nodded and held his sword out to the right and a little back, his other hand held out in front of him. “Ready.” Cal said.

  Teth stood with his feet apart, one hand on his hip and the other holding the handle of his sword, the tip of which was pointed down into the ground. Now that Cal had a really good look at it he realised how odd the weapon was. Unlike most greatswords - whose blades were about fifteen centimetres wide from base until just about five centimeters from the tip where tapered into a point - Teth’s was a giant triangle. It started at thirty or forty centimetres wide and immediately began tapering down. The triangular blade was over a meter long, closer to one and a half. It didn’t have a hand guard, but as Teth shifted his hand hold and lifted it up he realised that at the base of the blade, in the centre, it was about four centimetres thick and rounded so as not to damage his hand, giving the blade it’s own natural guard. The handle was simple. It looked like just a rod of metal with leather wrapped around it. No decorations.

  It looked like a terribly powerful and utilitarian weapon. The thing that confused Cal though was that a weapon like Teth’s couldn’t actually work, it would break too often. The weight would cause the edge to chip with every swing.

  “What is that thing made of?” Cal asked, frowning, pointing his much thinner blade at the monster.

  Teth grinned at the question. “Know your swords, do you?” Cal nodded and Teth returned the gesture. “Your blade is Mithril.” Teth noted. “A strong metal and light, it makes weapons that can be incredibly thin and never break.” He hefted his own weapon forward and held it pointed at Cal, his muscles not straining, but working. “This is made from Entalium.”

  Cal’s brows raised. Entalium was a rare metal, not as rare as Mithril, but similar. It was also useless as far as Cal was aware. When people had tried to forge it, it had always come out brittle or warped. No matter what people did, it wasn’t forge-able. “But isn’t Entalium-”

  “Useless?” Teth asked, lowering the sword and sticking it back in the ground. “To you, yes. You know why it’s called Entalium?” Cal shook his head. “It’s the Elemental Metal, Ental comes from Elemental and Ium comes from... I guess it just means metal?" Teth shrugged and continued. "It takes elemental forges to use it properly. On the elemental worlds from where my people originate this is the metal used for every weapon. Or so I’m told.” Cal took the information in, it was all new to him. “Entalium is a heavy metal, so it’s rather pointless to make thin swords like yours, just like it’s pointless to make a hammer out of Mithril. But just like Mithril, when it’s forged right it’ll keep it’s shape, including it’s edge, forever.”

  “Which is stronger? Entalium forged by an elemental or Mithril?” Cal asked, wondering allowed.

  Teth rocked his head back and forth. “It’s a bit like comparing apples and oranges.” He said. “At a guess I’d say Mithril is stronger. You can’t cut through a mithril blade with an Entalium one, while you could probably cut through a similarly sized blade of Entalium with a blade of Mithril. But Entalium blades are always forged so thick that even Mithril can’t get through.” Teth moved into a side on stance with his sword in both hands and pointed up to his side. He nodded, ready to go.

  Cal took a breath and returned to his combat stance. Then, before anyone could announce that the bout had started, he darted forwards, fast, but not so fast that Teth wouldn’t see it coming. As he got close Teth swung his heavy sword and Cal slipped under it. He swung his own blade in an upward slice, grazing off of the man’s abs and chest - which he had hardened to deal with the blow. He spun around and brought his sword back down in an overhead arc. Teth turned and brought his sword up to block him, which Cal let him do. He slammed his sword into Teth’s and pressed his free hand into the flat of Teth’s blade to hold him there. “So it’s all about styles and preferences really?” Cal asked. He leapt up and kicked off of Teth’s secured leg stance and used the bat-like swing of his sword to propel himself into a back flip, landing in a crouch with his own sword out straight behind him. He looked up grinning. “If you’re someone like me who’s quick and has good reflexes you want a mithril blade to get in quick and do precise high damage attacks.”

  “Yup.” Teth said, leaping forward and bringing his sword around and up into a massively heavy overhead swing. Cal slipped out of the way as it slammed down where he’d been crouching, but he was pelted with debris as Teth’s sword made a crater in the ground. “And if you’re a bit slower and your attacks need to be single hit kills with massive output then you want a weapon made of Entalium.”

  “Makes sense.” Cal admitted, stepping back and placing a foot on Teth’s sword. He held it there for a moment and then tried to run up it to get a solid hit to Teth’s face. As soon as Cal picked up the foot that had been on the floor Teth swung the sword upward, with Cal on it, throwing him off the blade and up into the air.

  Cal was thrown off balance for a moment, but was able to curl himself into a ball and then straighten out to create a controlled spin that he used to fly over the big man and land at his back.

  Cal spun to slice across Teth’s back, but the bigger man, similarly, spun with his heavier weapon smashing it’s way around. Cal abandoned his attack and aimed for Teth’s sword. Cal’s came down on Teth’s and he leapt, twisting with the balls of his feet to get extra power in his jump and allow the momentum of the bigger sword to let him roll over it and land in a crouch on the other side. He didn’t have time to strike or sit still though as Teth’s spin was followed up by an over head attack that slammed down into the ground with all the momentum that he’d built up.

  Barely dodging out of the way with a forward roll, Cal stumbled up onto his feet and out of the bigger man’s range. “I guess the question then becomes which style is superior.” Cal suggested, turning back towards him.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  “Right now,” Teth said, grinning with enjoyment, “It looks like we’re evenly matched, I can’t hit you because you never stop moving, but your strikes do nothing to me, because you’re not strong enough.”

  “Then between us it’s probably about endurance.” Cal noted. “Who can keep it up longer. Can I keep moving longer than you can keep hardening your skin?” Cal was sweating, but he wasn’t slowing down yet. It was a good work out, but not an endurance test just yet.

  Teth equally was glistening, but not looking at all tired. “Let’s find out then!” He barked, lifting his sword again.

  “Another Day.” Meliana called out.

  Both Cal and Teth looked over at her, swords poised to strike. She was standing at the edge of the sparring area, a sword in the hand closest to Cal and ice magic pointed at Teth. “Food is ready.”

  The two fighters looked away from each other to the pot and then stabbed their swords down into the ground. “Tomorrow?” Cal asked.

  Teth nodded his assent and they walked up to each other and extended their hands, shaking each other by the wrists. “You’re a quick little shit.” Teth said.

  “And you’re as strong as an ox.” Cal replied. They inclined their heads to each other and let go, collecting up their weapons and returning them to their horses.

  Cal noticed that Melt had untied herself again and he let out an exasperated sigh. He looked back over at Meliana and then at Melt before leaning in, grabbing the reigns by her mouth and whispering. “All right, just please don’t run off.”

  She let out a pleased Whinny and nodded. “All right, good girl. I’ll bring you all food in a little while. I just need to rest for a minute, okay?”

  Melt nodded and Cal smiled, petting her before walking back to the fire where Meliana was serving the vegetable stew with salted meats. Teth took a bowl and sat down on the ground, near his tent.

  Cal came over and took a bowl before looking around, frowning. Kaila was still out at the edge of the fire circle. He sighed and extended his other hand to Meliana for another bowl. She frowned at him for a second before he motioned his head over to the necromancer. Meliana made a ‘oh, I get it’ motion with her head and handed him a second. “Careful.” She added. She said it like she meant with carrying the bowl, but Cal could see the ‘you’re playing with a necromancer’ look in her eyes.

  He grinned and nodded. “Always am.” He said as she slipped two spoons between his fingers

  Cal walked over to Kaila, just outside the fires light. He made sure to give her space as he walked over and made enough noise that she wouldn't think that he was sneaking up on her.

  He stepped up about a meter and a half to her left and looked out over the plains, where she was watching. With the fire to his back he couldn’t see a lot. Kaila, however, probably had elvish night vision, like Meliana, so with her sight he guessed that she could see the animals and other wild life that came out at night.

  “Hungry?” He asked her, offering one of the bowls.

  “I’ll get something in a-” She looked up at him and saw the bowl he was offering her. She paused a beat, trying to decide what to do, and then reached up and took it. “Thank you.” She said.

  He nodded and let her take it, then took the spare spoon and offered it to her. She took it and held the bowl close, breathing in it’s scent.

  Cal sat down, still at a distance, but close enough to talk. He took a sip of the stew’s broth. “Mmmm” he quietly moaned. Cal didn’t know when she’d learned to cook, but Meliana had added a really nice selection of herbs to make the stew more flavourful.

  He leaned forward over the bowl and began to eat, a piece at a time. There was potato, carrot, some green stalks that he couldn’t identify and a few other things. Looking over at Kaila he found that she was eating, blowing on her spoon and downing the contents. It brought some colour to her cheeks and after swallowing each bite she let out a contented sigh, creating a visible cloudy breath. “Good, huh?”

  She looked over at him, almost surprised he was there, and then back at the food. “Yes.” She said, continuing to eat.

  Cal nodded. “Thanks for getting the firewood. If Meliana had had to help we’d still have a while before food was ready.” He told her, slurping up a little broth.

  She continued to stare out at the darkness. “You’re welcome.” She said simply, taking another mouthful of veg.

  He looked out at the darkness as well. “You ever been to Silverdale before?” He asked.

  She was quiet for a moment and then answered, “no.”

  Cal nodded. “Yeah it’s a bit out of the way. No real reason for most people to ever go there.” He admitted. He laid his bowl down in his lap to rest a little and leaned back, using his arms to keep himself up. He cocked his head to the side, frowning. He turned to her, “Hey, you’re from Zeroden, right? I heard the magic there-”

  “Why are you talking to me?” She asked, cutting him off. “Why are you sitting over here?”

  Cal raised his brows in surprise and sat forward again, pausing to catch his stew before it fell all over him. “What do you mean?” He asked. “You’re part of the team.”

  “You know what I mean.” She responded. “You may not be as vitriolic as the boulder for brains, but you hate necromancers as well. Everyone does. Why are you trying to make small talk with me.”

  Cal frowned and looked out into the darkness. He could feel her staring at him. He got the feeling a lie wouldn’t cut it in this situation so he told most of a truth. “We’re on the same team.” He said, “if we can’t trust each other, things will fall apart really easily.” He considered for a moment longer and added, “I’ve never met a necromancer before. I’ve always been taught not to trust them, that they wanted to kill you for your body. But I’ve also been told that they always use human’s as their necromantic servants.” He looked over and nodded his head in her direction, “You don’t. You also don’t seem that scary or creepy.” He turned back to the darkness. “Little weird, but no interesting person is completely normal.”

  She sat staring at him for a moment longer and then he felt her gaze pass. “I’ll answer your questions if it pertains to us working together.” She said, and Cal got the feeling that that was a big concession. “But don’t make it personal. When all of this is over you’re going to go your way and I’m going to go mine. I’m not looking to make friends and you don’t want to be friends with me.”

  Cal nodded, turning to face her as he finished off his stew. He placed the bowl down. “I can accept those terms.” He said, reaching out to offer her his hand. “Deal.”

  She eyed his hand and then back at him. “Don’t push this.” She told him.

  He closed his hand and pulled it back. “Yeah, all right then.”

  She placed her own bowl down and stood up, turning to face Meliana. “I’m going to set a perimeter.” She said, loud enough for the whole group to hear.

  “Like when you slept?” Cal asked.

  She nodded, brushing herself off. “Around our whole camp. It won’t be as powerful as the one I used for myself but it’ll be a good warning.”

  “What if one of us needs to go… answer the call of nature?” Cal asked.

  “They’ll ignore the four of us, but if anyone comes it’ll make a loud noise.” She explained as she started walking in a circle around the camp.

  “Don’t like the idea of being surrounded by Necro magic.” Teth grumbled.

  “Don’t worry, mate. I’ll protect you.” Cal called back to him.

  Kaila didn’t do much. She walked in a wide circle around the camp, whispering something and waving a thin white wand as she walked. When she finally reached the start of the circle again she let out a long breath.

  “So now... if anyone we don’t know tries to get in now animals will-”

  “Make a ruckus.” Kaila replied. “Yes.”

  Cal nodded and then frowned a little, a question coming to mind. “So, your skeletons, do you need to have them prepared or…” Cal trailed off, but then added, “Because they climbed out of the ground, when you were asleep I assumed you’d prepared them, but when we fought and when you collected the wood and now this… can you summon them from nothing.”

  Kaila nodded but then bobbed her head from side to side waggling a hand. “Not exactly.” She said. “There does have to be a body, or a piece of one. But…” She shook her head. “In this country and probably everywhere else in the world, there’s dead animals everywhere. Their essence and remains suffuse every piece of land across the continent of Ursa.”

  Cal ‘huh’d, nodding back to her. He wondered if it was because of hunting or just a totally natural thing. Millions of years of natural death would have littered the world with animal bodies. Because of that, in some ways Kaila’s version of Necromancy might have be more powerful than that of the real villains.

  For an illegal necromancer to summon a humanoid servant they’d need to find bodies, but it seemed like Kaila could find hers anywhere. He didn’t know whether that impressed him or scared him.

  What would happen if she grew more powerful and decided to turn her back on the living? She wouldn’t even need to build an army to march on a nations capital… she’d just go there and summon one up right in the centre.

  A scary thought… he thought to himself.