The rest of the class could feel the tension in the air. For some reason, their instructor had a different look, a different feel towards Dorian. As Dorian took out his two wooden swords and took a simple defensive stance, his mind began to race. What should I do? Should I consider this a rematch from our previous fight, or should I just only use the techniques taught to us?
As if reading his thoughts, Meredith took a defensive stance as well. “This is a test Dorian. Show me how well you know the techniques we taught you.”
Guess that answers that…
“Begin!”
Dorian broke from his defensive stance and used the standard techniques taught during the week. Easily, Meredith was able to parry every blow and launch a few counterattacks of her own. However, as soon as Dorian began to think this fight was dull and wishing it could be over, his muscles tightened as he felt a shift of energy in Meredith.
Reflexes kicked in as Dorian parried a quick blow from Meredith, followed by another. The barrage of attacks from Meredith was unrelenting, barely leaving enough time for Dorian to think of a plan to counter. However, after sticking with the standard blocks long enough, Dorian broke from those and started using his own techniques.
After parrying another blow, Dorian quickly swung his wooden sword at Meredith’s legs, forcing her to step back. Using this small window, Dorian ran up and swung both of his swords at the same time at different areas of the body, one at her head and the other at her torso.
To his surprise, Meredith easily ducked under the first sword and parried the other. However, before the fight could continue, Meredith backed away. “That’s enough! This test is over!”
Dorian sighed, disappointed as he had just begun to take an interest in the fight. “Dorian, you’ve mastered the basics we taught you, and you know how to disrupt an opponent’s rhythm. Good job. You passed.”
Dorian nodded, set down the wooden swords, and walked back to his classmates, who were all shocked. As Meredith called the next person out, Farnell whispered to Dorian. “Are you really able to go head to head versus our instructor like that?”
Dorian shrugged. “Who knows. At the very least she’s an opponent anyone would struggle to defeat in a one on one fight.”
Farnell was silent as he began to watch the next mock fight unfold. Dorian closed his eyes and began to imagine how the fight might have unfolded had it continued. Without a doubt...she would have defeated me. I’m not as strong as she is...that’s for sure.
After the rest of the class participated in the mock fight, Meredith gathered everyone closer to her. “Alright! Now that we’ve finished our mock fight, the next order of business is to announce the two destinations you all will be going for your field assignments.”
Everyone perked up after hearing this. “As I’ve mentioned before, the class will be split in two and sent to two different locations. Group one will be sent to Arstead. Group two will be sent to Aramoor. Group one will consist of Farnell, Dorian, Olive, and Digby. Group two will consist of Evanna, Amira, Ethan, and Aaron. You will depart two days from now by train to each of your respective locations and rendezvous with your military contact who will assign you your mission. Understood?”
Everyone nodded. “Good. Now remember after each day to report what happened. Once you return, during the next class, you will be required to turn in your report. A failure to turn in your report will be an automatic failure for your field assignment. Any questions?”
After no one spoke up, Meredith started handing out a piece of paper to everyone. “What’s expected of you and a description of the city is detailed on this sheet of paper. Now both groups need to get together and discuss their roles. That’ll be it for classes today, and tomorrow, you’ll be off to prepare for the trip.” Meredith grinned. “I’ll be looking forward to digging into those reports when you get back!”
Meredith began to walk away as everyone looked at each other. Soon, people started separating into their two different groups. Farnell looked kind of nervous near Olive and Digby. “So...guess we’ll be working together this weekend huh?”
Digby nodded. “Yeah, we are. Not to worry, I’m sure we’ll be able to easily pass whatever assignments are given to us.”
Olive glanced at Digby. “You seem confident of that.”
Digby chuckled. “Why wouldn’t I be? For starters there’s my military lineage. Though I haven’t had the amount of training my family has, I’m no slouch as I easily was able to pass this mock battle. Seconldy…” Digby glanced at Dorian. “We have a certain someone in our group who I have a feeling has more combat experience that any of us in this class.”
Dorian shook his head. “That was just luck earlier.”
Farnell looked skeptical. “I’m not so sure about that. If it weren’t for giving some extra training sessions, I wouldn’t have done well at all during the mock fight.”
Digby and Olive looked at Dorian. “Wait...you were instructing Farnell this past week?”
“It was just the basic lessons. I have some basic military training, so I knew I’d be able this time to help people who looked like they needed some help.”
Digby looked a bit skeptical but didn’t say anything else. After a few seconds of awkward silence, Olive spoke. “Anyways, does anyone know anything about Arstead?”
Farnell nodded. “I know quite a bit about it actually. Arstead is the trading capital of Drengard. It was founded hundreds of years ago by farmers and was a key town in defeating The Imperium of Breobia during the revolution centuries ago. Since then it’s grown into both an important food producer and important stop in Nograd’s trade network.”
Digby looked surprised. “You seem to know a lot about this place.”
Farnell laughed nervously and scratched the back of his neck. “Yeah...I spent a lot of my time reading history books when I was younger, and Arstead was mentioned a lot. It’s not an overstatement to say that if Arstead ever fell to enemy hands, Nograd would struggle to exist.”
And that’s where “she” was stationed earlier...if what she said is true…
“But why would they send us to Arstead?” Olive asked. “It’s in the middle of the country, with one of the strongest military installations in the country right next to it as protection. What assignments could they possibly have for us?”
Digby looked over the paper Meredith had given them. “There’s nothing here that states what type of assignments we may be given. However, they wouldn’t have picked random locations for us to go to. There has to be a reason.”
Dorian nodded. “Whatever reasons they have, we should prepare for anything.”
Everyone nodded in agreement. After a few minutes of idle chatter, the group dispersed for the day. Dorian took a deep breath as he walked back to his room. I really hope she’s wrong with what she believes. The worst thing that could happen would be for them to somehow be able to stop commerce and shipping in the city. But what plans do they have even if they do strike? Dorian shook his head. Regardless I should prepare for anything...even if it means…
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