sufficiently so that he did not dwell on his recent past, and he absolutely loved the isolation of exploring the island in his free time. He traipsed all over the western half of the island going from the southern port town of Hymnia to Euter, the northern port town and back in a single day, twenty miles round trip. Both towns were small; just over a hundred inhabitants lived in each, and were kept small by the Island’s council who had to approve any and all new citizens. Most applicants were encouraged to find livelihood elsewhere, but the towns were necessary to the life of the school so were tolerated, but strictly segregated. Any violation of this separation by the students or the townspeople was dealt with harshly. Students could be expelled from the school and townspeople could be banished. Such rulings had occurred in the past, but they were extremely rare. Gwaynn, however, was not a student, but part of a serving family and thus could safely go from town to school without any repercussions. In fact, the only area of the island off limits to him was Erato, the extreme eastern side of the island, where the old Masters lived in meditative isolation on the surrounding slopes of the dormant volcano.
Of course his travels eventually led him deep into the forests of central Noble, but he never had the time to go any farther. But this was just as well, since to go any farther was forbidden. It was said that Tar Nev lived and practiced on the slopes of Mount Erato. Tar Nev was a legend both on and off Noble Island. He once was the Weapons Master to the High King himself; a Tar of exceptional ability, and it was claimed, the best swordsman the island had ever created. One day, without explanation Tar Nev left the service of the High King and returned to Noble Island. Such a thing had never happened before and it was thought that the King may unleash the Knights on the masters of Noble
Island in order to find and kill the disloyal Tar, but nothing of the kind happened, fueling Tar Nev’s legend even more.
Gwaynn had no desire to see the old Tar, or meet him; he just enjoyed the freedom and isolation of his long hikes. For many weeks he was satisfied with the arrangement he’d made with Tar Amon, but one windy afternoon, after his chores were completed, he happened across Vio, Krys, Tam and B’dall practicing with their katas on the beach. A kata was a baton about three feet in length and made of wood; each student wielded a pair, one in each hand, and used them with mind numbing skill.
The four students were down close to the water, where the sand was mostly level and wet. Gwaynn, coming from inland was above them, high on a grassy dune. He stopped immediately and watched them practice moves so intricate that it would take years to master just one. He dropped to his knees, fascinated. Vio worked with Tam, another girl, even younger, while Krys was paired off with B’dall. Each pair moved with grace, skill and speed, but for some reason Gwaynn’s attention kept returning to Vio. She moved like no one he knew, not even Master Sath could have matched her grace. She moved with such ease, such elegance, that it looked to Gwaynn as if she were made of liquid, flowing this way and then that to counter an attack or initiate one. For a while, Tam held her own, but then Vio moved past and through her defenses. Once Tam was touched, they would stop and Vio would talk to the younger student, Gwaynn guessed it was to give some instruction, and then they would return to their original positions and start over with their forms.
They practiced for several hours until the sun was low on the horizon, while Gwaynn remained riveted in place, watching every move the students made very closely. Back home, in Massi, Master Sath was in charge of his training, and until now Gwaynn thought he could match his own skill against anyone his age. Of course, he knew about the Temple Island Weapons Masters, but had never seen any his age at work. Master Sath was the only graduate Gwaynn had ever met from the islands. It was growing dark when the student finished their practice, but Gwaynn remained as the four students stripped and waded out into the sea to cool off.
Gwaynn frowned, not sure he ever wanted to swim in the sea again. But they didn’t swim long, and were soon out and dressed. They headed off in the direction of the hall, but Gwaynn stayed on the dune until late into the night, thinking.
By the next morning he had made up his mind to ask Tar Kostek if he could at least practice with the other students even if he could not formally train with them. He worked with Lane all morning in the bean fields south of the hall, but they finished up early in the afternoon, ate and when Gwaynn was done for the day he took a seat in the shade of the hall to wait for the students to return from their training.
Leek found him there soon after. “Come Lad, Prolly will need your help as well,” the old man said in his slow, relaxed style.
Gwaynn was annoyed for a moment but it past quickly. Reluctantly he climbed to his feet and followed Leek off toward the barns.
“Prolly?”
“Yep, her water broke not fifteen minutes ago. Karin is with her now, but may need some help with the birthin.”
Karin was Lane and Shari’s eldest daughter. Gwaynn still had no idea who Prolly might be, but he followed Leek into the barn and soon found out that it was one of the draft horses. Prolly was down, lying mostly on her side but her head was up and her tail swishing back and forth in an almost drowsy manner. Karin was kneeling at Prolly’s south end, her left hand hidden up inside the horse.
Gwaynn groaned when he saw her.
Karin grimaced at him. “You here to take over?”
He grinned at her sheepishly, and then gave a startled look over at Leek.
“Er…I hope not,” he answered, looking to the older man for rescue.
“You just watch, and fetch anything we need,” Leek told him, amused by the lad’s obvious relief.
“How’s the foal?” Leek asked his granddaughter. The girl moved her hand about inside the horse and then nodded.
“Coming head first and nearly here already,” she said, and glanced over at Gwaynn.
“Could you bring another lantern?” she asked. Gwaynn hurried to obey, surprised to find that he was fascinated by the impending birth…disgusted, but fascinated. He rushed back, but despite Karin’s prediction, the foal did not come for nearly three hours. And when it did it took the three of them to pull it, covered in slime and blood, out of Prolly. The sight of the blood gushing from the womb tempered Gwaynn’s mood, so that he did not smile with the others as the long legged colt took its first shaky steps to its mother.
“Would you like to name him?” Karin said, oblivious to the change in Gwaynn’s mood.
Gwaynn shook his head. “Him?” he asked, thinking for some reason the colt should have been female.
“Well, yes it’s a him,” Karin answered as if it was obvious. “Would you like to name him?” She asked again.
Leek cleared his throat but said nothing. He had noticed the stricken look on Gwaynn’s face as he tried to wipe the blood from his hands. The boy had been through something, that was plain, but he decided against saying anything. It was against the old man’s nature to push, knowing that everything would come around in time.
Gwaynn shook his head again, and started to walk out, wanting to head to the water pump and clean the blood from his hands.
“Ah, come on, name it,” Karin insisted. Gwaynn stopped at the stall door. At the moment he could only think of one name, Navarra, but if they named the colt that he might have to kill it.
“I can’t think of a name,” Gwaynn said and made to leave.
“Nothing, not one, comes to mind,” she asked, still playing, unable to understand the boy’s reticence. Gwaynn shook his head but still hesitated at the door of the stall and then a name came to him.
“I can think of one,” he finally said and smiled very briefly. Karin smiled back at him.
“I like it when you smile,” she said lightly. “You should do it more.”
The smile fell from his face, which was not what Karin had intended, and her face reddened.
“I’m sorry,” she blurted, not understanding all the emotions going through Gwaynn.
“Let the lad be,” Leek finally said, trying in his own way to come to her aid.
But Gwaynn waved him off. “I’m fine,” he said. “I think we should name him Karl,” he added and despite himself smiled again. He wondered what the big man would say if he knew a horse was named after him. Well, it was a draft horse, so Karl probably would have thought the name a good one.
With all the excitement over the coming of the new colt, it wasn’t until late the next day that Gwaynn cornered Tar Kostek as he was leaving the hall for his own quarters.
