This is the first part of my short story. I might change the name later (what do you think of the one I have now?). Also I may change Gent's name to something else, I'm not sure yet. I don't have a lot yet but I wanted to post what I have so far. The plot hasn't had a chance to show itself but that should change next post; I needed to get some building blocks for it. Thanks in advance for any reviews and enjoy!
The kingdom of Antier is ruled by the beloved King Simon. Antier has the the Yermine Sea to the West and most of the North. Into the Yermine stuck the Horn of Galaland, named after a renowned king of Antier. The Northern part of Antier that wasn't sea bordered the kingdom of Bligtnorn, however huge mountains made travel impossible for all but the smallest of groups and the best guides. To the East lay the recursive kingdom of Grendon. The people of Grendon didn't like to travel, and they didn't enjoy visitors. And to the South is the Empire Yentiti. Yentiti enjoyed a healthy amount of trade with Antier and were good neighbors. Currently Lord Benedict, King Simon's right hand, was returning from Yentiti, where he had attended a party thrown by the Yentiti's emperor.
The sound of wood against wood drew the gaze of Lord Benedict. Two children were fighting with well-worn sticks. Benedict pulled on the rains of his horse slowing the whole procession of guards and attendants. He leaned toward his chief guard and whispered. “Do my eyes deceive me or have I truly laid them upon two great sword fighters? Even at such a young age they would best most of our troops, were it not for the difference in strength between the arms of a full grown man and the arms of a child.”
The guard glanced at the stick fight critically. Benedict had a way of romanticizing things, but his speech had the odd accent it got when he was excited. The children wielded their fake swords with a speed that was hard to follow, but there was a trick in that. The guard couldn't see exactly what it was though.
One of the children yelled triumphantly and with a graceful twist, disarmed the older of the two. “They know a few moves.” The guard admonished, turning away. He turned back when Benedict grabbed his arm. The disarmed child was dodging blows that were still coming from his fighting partner, twisting and leaping like he was possessed by some devil. “Has that child no honor?” The guard asked, laying his hand on his sword as if contemplating teaching the armed child a lesson.
But then the disarmed child slipped through the attacks of the other and threw him to the ground with a simple movement. The younger one was forced to let go of his stick when he rolled away from the older one. Then he was back on his feet with a dagger sized stick that he had pulled out of his sleeve. The older one scooped up the younger one's stick. The two of them faced each other defiantly. Then they simultaneously turned toward Benedict and his company, and bowed.
Benedict's eyes followed the two boys as they ran off laughing. “Write down the time and place,” he said to an attendant. “Then a description of those two children, the direction they ran off in, and everything else you saw here. I want to come back here in two or three cycles. The older looked to be about thirteen or fourteen. I want to recruit them to be defenders of our kingdom!”
One cycle of the seasons later...
Leon and Gent faced each other over locked wooden swords. They pushed each other away. Around them two sides of sword fighters clashed, one under Leon's lead and the other under led by Gent. Both of them had split their concentration between the mock battle and each other.
“I'm getting bored of this,” Gent said. “Always fighting you. I know you so well that none of your attacks can get through my defenses. The same with you knowing me.”
Leon's eyes wandered to the other kids around them. “Are you thinking what I think you're thinking?” Leon asked.
Gent grinned. “We'll see, won't we?” Leon returned the smile and let loose a roar. He attacked Gent with a powerful over head strike that was blocked easily. Then he had to hold his sword vertically in front of him to block Gent's counter attack. Gent was roaring too. The two of them, normally composed sword fighters, had startled the other kids into watching them.
Leon pushed Gent's sword down with his own. Gent went with the move, turning so that he was standing shoulder to shoulder with Leon. Both of them kept spinning so that they were back to back. “Who is ready to have some fun?” Leon asked, laughing.
The other kids looked at each other in confusion. But then, Brendan, one of the better sword fighters asked, “You aren't thinking of taking us all on, are you? I know that either one of you could beat any two of us, but there are eight of us and only two of you! You would have to be crazy!”
“You're right.” Gent said, “We would have to be crazy to fight with odds stacked so heavily against us. And no one has ever accused me of being crazy.”
Leon couldn't see Gent's face, but his words were perfectly level. “Are you sure about that?” He asked. “Because I thought that I called you crazy yesterday. And the day before that. And several times last week,-”
“Leon.”
“-And I'm certain that Brendan called you crazy the time that you jumped out over the-”
“Leon!”
“-water fall. What?”
“I was being sarcastic.”
“Oh, well, in that case.” Leon addressed Brendan and the others. “Are you ready? I know we are.”
It was about two hours later that Gent and Leon managed to get home. Leon was limping and his left eye had a halo of purple. Gent was no better off, with a gash on his forearm. And they both had bruises up and down their arms and chests.
They had finish dressing their wounds when they heard their father returning. They went out to meet him and saw that he was dragging a deer. Their father took one look at their bruises, shook his head and said, “Help me clean this doe, and then we'll talk about why you two got beaten so badly.”
After they had put the deer in the smoke house and explained that they had challenged every other sword wielding kid in the village, their father started to teach them. “Now when fighting many opponents there are many strategies. But mostly they are based off of two concepts: force them to fight without all their numbers or use them against themselves...”
The lesson lasted long into the night.
