Oreius jumped back, swaying to the side of the blade, and Relam followed with another thrust. The action was awkward and unfamiliar, but by stabbing repeatedly at Oreius’ chest and legs Relam was able to drive the warrior back, keeping him at arm’s reach and with no opportunity for retaliation.
Then, the master deflected Relam’s latest thrust, slowing him down as he tried to recover and strike again. And just like that, the tide was turned. Oreius attacked again and again, slashing and hacking, cutting at Relam from all sides. Relam parried, stabbing between blows to buy time, but Oreius was moving forward constantly now, driving Relam back, down towards the river. He had all the advantages at the moment, and there was nothing Relam could do.
Relam swayed back to dodge yet another attack and an idea came to him. Instead of parrying Oreius’ sword, he struck at it after it had passed by, batting it in a circle, building speed and momentum. Just before he was able to strike it from the master’s hand entirely though, Oreius withdrew and lowered his blade.
“Enough!” he called.
The prince stopped abruptly, letting his sword drop slightly. “Is there a problem?”
“Not at all,” Oreius replied. “You did well. You found the weakness, the thrust, and exploited it on offense and defense. But you did not find the strength!”
“Slashing you mean?”
“Yes! What can you do to counter that?”
“Dodge instead of block,” Relam said ruefully.
“Exactly,” Oreius said grimly. “Exactly. So why didn’t you try it until the last moment?”
“I don’t know,” Relam admitted. “It just sort of came to me.”
“It needs to come to you quicker,” Oreius growled. “Much quicker. That is why we are doing this, boy, to get you to think on your feet. Now, let’s try again.” He set the curved sword aside and pulled his normal sword from under the stone bench, tossing aside the scabbard.
“I’m thinking weaknesses none,” Relam said, remembering the many bouts that he had fought with Oreius in the past weeks.
“And that is where strengths come in,” Oreius said, nodding. “And by anticipating, you can turn strength into weakness. Defend yourself!”
Relam lost the next bout in minutes, prompting a second, and then a third attempt. Finally, in the fifth fight, Relam managed to hold his own long enough to satisfy Oreius. The old warrior was far from pleased, but it was progress at least.
They broke for lunch just before noon, a little earlier than usual due to the terrible weather. Relam practically ran to the back door and stumbled inside, eager to find warmth. He was not disappointed. A large fire had been built in the stone fireplace, a pot of soup bubbling over it. Tending the fire and the soup was Narin, looking decidedly worse for the wear. There were bags under his eyes and shallow scratches across his cheeks. Other signs of trouble were evident as well, a dark bruise on his neck and a couple more on his arms.
“What happened to you?” Relam asked without preamble, staring at the former commander.
“Good morning to you too,” Narin grunted, stirring the soup with a wooden spoon.
Oreius stumped in the back door, then closed it firmly, shutting out the wintry weather. “It’s only getting worse out there,” he said to nobody in particular. “Pity, I had hoped everything would warm up some this afternoon.”
“I told you it wouldn’t happen,” Narin said, shrugging as he turned away from the fireplace.
Oreius snorted. “This is starting to remind me of the weather down on the southern peninsula, back in the Orell War. Now those were a cold few days.”
“It’s not that bad yet,” Relam countered. “The fountain just froze over today.”
“Yes, but it’s frozen solid,” Oreius grunted, moving closer to the fireplace. “Earliest in the year that has ever happened. We’re in for a long winter.”
“Aye,” Narin agreed. “And it was a short fall. I hope the harvests were finished in time.”
They lapsed into silence for a moment, all of them standing around the flames, basking in the wonderful, healing warmth of the fire.
“So, what happened to you Narin?” Relam asked again.
The former commander’s expression darkened. “I was betrayed,” he replied sullenly.
“Betrayed?”
“You remember me telling you that I had two meetings with informers last week, on the fourth and fifth evenings?”
“Yes.”
“Well, I made it to the meeting on the fourth night. The informer was there too, but I had barely sat down before the place was swarming with guards wanting to arrest me. Fortunately, the place was extremely crowded and I was able to start a few fights to add to the chaos, and then slip away.”
“A couple of the guards followed me for a while, but I know the city better than them. I escaped capture and came back here, without being followed.”
“Then the next night, all hell broke loose,” Oreius put in.
Narin nodded. “Yes. I met with another informer, who gave me decent information on a group that procures poisons here in the city. But as I was coming back, by sheer chance I ran into some of the guards from the previous night.”
Relam winced. “What did you do?”
“I fought of course,” Narin replied. “But there were four of them and they beat me badly. Even though the fourth didn’t do much, just watched their backs and kept anyone else from intervening. He didn’t seem too keen to jump into the fight and he was pretty young.”
“They eventually handcuffed me and were dragging me to the Citadel. Then, the young guard slips up behind me and tells me to be ready to run, that he never
