SORCERER (The Elemental Magic Series Book 1) (12 page)

The other guy's knife was beautiful, with a fancy hilt and scroll work flowing down the blade. Master Stolle hefted the knife a couple time then shot his arm forward. The knife flew through the air hitting a tree some ten yards away leaving the blade quivering in the trunk as the hilt landed on the ground broken.

"Junk, weapons are meant to be used. Don't bring some pretty piece of crap to my lessons, you’re more likely to be killed with it than your enemy!" he bellowed.

Alec regretted bring his knife after see what had happened to the other guy’s. Master Stolle started hefting his knife getting a feel for the weight. Alec's knife flew toward the tree and hit with a solid thump. Master Stolle walked over and pulled his knife from the tree then handed it to him.

"Bring it when I tell you to and not before. It's a hair heavy at the hilt but that can be corrected. Now put it away," he was told.

Master Stolle showed them how to do some warm-up exercises.  Then they picked out wooden staves and paired off demonstrating with one of the more advanced students how to swing it and to block. Each set of guys went through the combination against each other.
      
Master Stolle made his rounds correcting hands holding the stave or kicking feet further apart to give someone a better center of balance, all the while explaining that a person didn't need to be a big strong guy to effectively wield it and that a person good at the stave could defeat someone equally good with a sword.

Someone down the line scoffed at the idea and Master Stolle pulled him out of line asking if he disagreed. The guy was almost the master’s same height and was fairly well muscled. He further said that he'd had a fair amount of training with the sword and that he could beat almost anyone who had trained with the stave. Master Stolle smiled a wicked smile at the young man.

"I'm not fighting you sir. You’re obviously a master."

"Not me, you’re right. I could take you with half a stick in my left hand." He laughed at the young man, whose face was turning an angry red.

"Here let’s give you a sword, Mr. Sword swinger." Pointing him toward a rack full of various weapons, Master Stolle went over to grab a thinner sword testing the edge with his thumb.

"Let’s see, who shall we have you fight? I think Lena is around here somewhere.
She's going into her second year for accounting. You don't have a problem fighting girls do you?" 
He asked with a sneer.

"Her funeral" the guy said, his face getting redder as someone had apparently gone and gotten Lena, a short and stout young woman who introduced herself to her opponent.

"Hi, I hear we're to do some sparring for the first years. I'm Lena." She held out her hand.

He grabbed her hand and said. "Mick, sorry you’re going to take a beating."

"We'll see," she replied.

Lena was tossed a stave and gave it a few practice swings while Mick swung his sword like he was cutting wood.

Master Stolle drew a large circle in the dirt, said a few words in Lena's ear to which she nodded and stepped back to address the growing crowd. "We have a match between Lena and Mich. Mitch here thinks a sword is almost unbeatable compared to the stave." Mitch’s face reddens again. "Lena, a second year accounting student, shall educate the young man," he stated for the crowd's benefit.

"Three matches, first one forced from the ring or to slap the ground wins."

Lena and Mitch took their places. When they both nodded to Master Stolle, he said, "Begin" sharply.

Mick came at Lena like a charging bull while Lena calmly stepped to the side and delivered a smack to his rear and stepped back letting him sprawl face first into the dirt.

The crowd laughed and Mick’s face came up beet red. He started swinging left and right slashing as she calmly turned away. He came at her again with an over the head chop. She responded by jabbing him in the gut then with a shove that sent him out of the ring on to his rear.

Master Stolle stepped into the ring and told them the first match went to Lena to a round of clapping. The contestants took their places. Mick’s face no longer losing its red color came out yelling and swinging his sword at the call to begin. Lena delivered a three count block, jab, and cross sending Mick to his knees. She stepped back letting him up. He got up, his eyes rolling, and charged her. She side stepped again with a swat to his rear, again, as he thundered past and out of the ring. Noticing he was outside the ring Mick threw down the sword stomping away.

Everyone moved in on Lena offering congrats to her. Alec moved back away from the crowd finding he didn't like the feeling of having so many people he didn't know in such close proximity.

"Alec Carter." Master Stolle called his name and motioned him over to the building.

"Sir?"

"Meet me in the back court yard after class."

"Yes sir."

"Now go join the rest of the students."

The crowd broke up leaving the students there with Master Stolle.

"What, if anything did you learn from watching this little contest?"

"A girl can beat a guy with a stick, sir", someone spoke up getting a laugh from the rest of them.

"No, but true, and I already told you that. My purpose of allowing that bit of enjoyment was that even though Mick was a fairly skilled swordsman he lost for only one reason. That reason being because he lost his head, he allowed himself to get mad, which clouded his judgment. In any fight you must be able to think clearly enough that you don't have to think of your next move. One move or strike leading to the next, if you allow emotions to come in to it, it will take longer for you to begin your next move or it will color your strikes."

"How can your strikes have a color sir?" someone more daring than Alec asked.
      

"What I mean is if you’re sparring with a partner just for the sake of bettering yourself, and you’re upset at your father-in-law, you may end up striking harder than you mean to. That could lead to accidentally killing your partner, thereby coloring your strikes with anger, not at your father-in-law, but at the man you just killed without meaning to,” he explained. “I will be making rounds tonight and tomorrow morning. Anyone who does not have his stave with him is out of my class! Class dismissed!"

He turned and spoke to a man in full wizard robes, so Alec made his way around the building, to what he assumed was the back courtyard. He found several people sparring, wrestling, and shooting bows and crossbows. He stood off to one side out of the way when a guy waiting his turn, being the odd man out, came over to him.

"Hey youngster, this is a closed area for Master Stolle's full time students, you might want to make yourself scarce or he's liable to take it out on your hide," he said trying to warn Alec of his impending doom.

"He told me to meet him at the back courtyard, sir. Is this it?"

"This is it. Tom must mean for you to become a full student then. Why don't you spar with me till he comes back?"

"I really don't know anything, just started today,” Alec explained following him to a ring.

"He's going to love that."

"Love what?"

"He thinks that the less you know the less he has to break you of. By the way I'm Allen."

"Alec." He said holding his hand out.

"Lesson one; from now on don't shake someone's hand when in the circle. It's an invitation to be thrown. If you feel you must show that you honor your partner, bow at the waist never taking your eyes off him. Now show me what you learned."

Alec went through the block and strike moves he did earlier. Allen corrected his hands once then led him through the next series of strikes and blocks and how one would flow to the next.

"Good, I knew Allen would take you under his wing!" Master Stolle said as he came out of the back of the building. He motioned them to come over to a bench and table. He had Alec sit across from them.

"I think you need our help Alec." He said evenly.

"Sir?"

"It’s Tom back here, got it." Alec nodded. "You’re in my class for weapons combat. That's good. You'll need to defend yourself in the future. However, I don't let any student of mine get their butts handed to them without giving as good as they got, even if they're out numbered. So, I'm letting Allen here show you some hand-to-hand techniques as well as a few other things. He'll expect to see you after class for an hour or two. Seventh day is yours; you can come here if you've nothing else to occupy your time. At least till you know enough to go on guard duty."

"Yes sir. Why?"

"Why, what Alec?"

"Why are you willing to help me sir?"

"It's Tom. And if you had big enough balls to stand in my path no matter how scared you were, after having heard half the stories out there about me, just to find out where you need to be," Tom smiled. "I think that warrants a bit of help from us so you can fight your own battles. What do you say Allen?"

"I say we give him the tools to fix his own problems like every man should. Let’s show you a couple things before we send you off for the night," Allen said, leading him back to the circle. They threw their staves down outside the circle.

Allen showed him how to make his fist, tucking his fingers in tight. He told him to rotate his fist when he punched and to keep his target just at the length of his arm so he could follow through with the weight of his body for a couple inches. Alec practiced punching into Allen’s hands.

Alec was sweating freely by the time Allen called it quits for the day. Alec thanked him again as he grabbed his stave and headed for the tower and a shower.

He went up to his room and grabbed a clean robe from the ones sitting on his bed where whoever ran the laundry service had left them. He hurried out of his room almost running into Christi as she came off the steps. He grabbed her around the waist so she wouldn't fall.

"Eww! You’re wet! And you stink!" she said pushing away from him.

"And here I thought you liked me," he teased her.

"Just go shower, I'm hungry." She waved him to the stairs.

They'd gotten pretty close over the week. He really liked the kisses she gave him too.

He showered and went with Christi to supper where he ate enough for two. They went back to the tower where they did their assignments. Alec read from the book he found called etiquette and social obligations for his hour of reading, as Christi did some writing.

A few weeks went on day after day without any problems and they began practicing moving their power from their wells through the various parts of their bodies with Peter. It was really boring trying to forge a pathway from his well to where he wanted his power to exit at his skin.

Alec was moved from his basic self-defense class to the back courtyard permanently and was pretty sore most days while sporting numerous bruises from his extra class but nothing he couldn't deal with. Allen had him punching and kicking a straw wrapped post every day then led him through drills with the stave. He figured out that stave was just an unembellished term for a staff. His only other class was general and it was really easy just getting lectures from Mr. Callen and homework.

Christi tried pressing him to transfer to a different combat instructor which Alec put a stop to it by saying he got on well with Master Stolle and liked the lessons in hand to hand. He was really looking forward to sixth day.

Alec rose before the sun, skipped the shower and hurried to Tom's back courtyard where he was supposed to spar with someone today. Allen had said that he had the basics down well enough that sparring was the only real way to get better. Alec got to the courtyard and greeted Allen. He put on some pads that were supposed to protect his body from any real damage then wrapped his fist tight with a thin cloth so he didn't break the skin on his knuckles.

Alec was introduced to his partner and told there were no punches to the face, only open hand blows and groin shots were considered foul. Alec studied his partner, Erik. H
e was taller and obviously had more muscle on him. He touched fist to fist with Erik to start their match. Erik threw punches that Alec blocked or dodged, missing opportunities that he could have struck out at. 
      
Allen was calling pointers from the side. Alec finally settled in to a rhythm and after a well-placed kick from Erik, shot out his own punch to Erik's gut following up with a straight kick to his left side. Erik followed with a punch to his right shoulder. Damn! He hits like a horse kicks, Alec thought as they circled, both of them looking for an opportunity to strike. Alec blocked a right and left punch then dropped to the ground to avoid a left side kick. He felt the wind from the kick blow across the top of his hair. He stood back up quickly grabbing the leg and lifting it high upsetting Erik's balance. He tried twisting the leg to a pinning hold but Erik was more skilled and stronger. It turned to a wrestling match that Alec quickly lost.

Alec and Erik stripped out of their padding and Alec congratulated him on his win. Allen led him to the table for a critique.

"You have good speed and fair form that let you hold off Erik even though he had you on weight and muscle. Your blocks and strikes were within form until you put yourself in a situation that you couldn't win, which was his plan. If you'd stayed with your cautious approach, landing shots when you could, you might have won by wearing him out. Your blocks were getting sloppy toward the end there, too. We'll have to work on them."

"Yah, my forearms were getting sore. He punches and kicks like a horse," Alec agreed.