Monday morning had come. Andy split some logs and stoked the fire under the stew in the den. He had a bit of coffee before heading out to the yard.

  He sat on the veranda, facing the mountain, which released mist from its trees into the sky. The morning was particularly quiet. Andy couldn’t remember the last time his head felt so clear.

  He sat, just existing, soaking in the stillness for several minutes.

  Suddenly, Morwen emerged from the double doors, carrying two shortswords. “Time for sword drills!” she said, breaking the silence, tossing a sheathed weapon to Andy.

  Instinctively, Andy caught it. The handle was about 6 inches long, with a plain hilt and modest crossguard. The Scabbard was plain leather. He drew the shortsword, examining the blade. About a foot and a half of double-edged steel.

  The blade wasn’t particularly beautiful, but it was hefty, weighing a few pounds.

  Solid.

  “The shortsword,” Morwen said, “is a common weapon. More versatile than many give it credit for.” She unsheathed her blade. It was almost identical to Andy’s. “These are common shortswords, blades that a commoner could buy for a day’s wage at almost any forge or outfitter in the region. They’re a mainstay for travelers and low-level security. Even the Supreme Ministry’s Domestic Guard often carry shortswords as a side-weapon.”

  Andy rose to his feet and gave his sword a test swing, spinning it around in his hand.

  “Now, like the staff, we’re going to cover some forms, and then some drills. Ready to get started?”

  “Absolutely,” Andy said.

  Although he tried not to let it show on his face, he was excited. The staff training had been fun, but he was finally dealing with a proper blade now. Sure, it wasn’t the greatsword he had envisioned for himself, but it was a sword.

  “Now, notice that there are two sides to the blade,” Morwen said. “That means the sword can slash from both sides of the weapon. Take care when you use the sword, because, if you are overpowered, your opponent could find a way to push the blade back on you and cause some damage… I’ve seen it happen before.”

  Morwen raised her blade in one hand, bringing it down forcefully in a diagonal motion, once from her right shoulder to left hip, and then again from left shoulder to right hip. “You can hack and slash, like so. This is going to be effective at closer range if your enemy doesn’t have sophisticated means of blocking your attacks.”

  Andy tried it. He hacked downward across his torso, once from right to left, and again from left to right.

  “Great,” Morwen said. “You can also slash upwards. You follow the same motions in reverse, but you need to adjust your wrist like so.” She lowered her sword to her left hip, turning her wrist to face upward, and slashed up to her right shoulder.

  Andy copied her. It was coming intuitively.

  “Perfect,” said Morwen. “One thing to watch out for, since you’re right handed, if you slash upward from right to left, be sure to maintain control. You can easily overshoot and bring the blade back on your left shoulder or neck if you aren’t careful.”

  Andy practiced the swing again and immediately realized what she meant. Brandishing the blade in his right hand, he noticed that slashing upward from his right hip was the only attack that utilized the backside of the blade so far.

  “And you can also pierce your opponent with the tip of the blade,” Morwen said. She lunged forward, thrusting her shortsword straight ahead.

  Andy did the same. They reviewed the moves so far, repeating them all a few times until Morwen and Andy were both satisfied with his progress.

  “Now we move to blocking,” said Morwen. She raised her blade horizontally over her head. “This position can counter an overhead swing if you can’t dodge out of the way.”

  Andy raised his sword over his head, holding it parallel with the ground.

  “Now, if your opponent is using a particularly forceful attack, you may need to fortify your blade with your other hand. This can be dangerous if you’re not careful, as you can slice all the fingers off your left hand. But with proper technique, it can provide an effective boost to your defensive capabilities.”

  Morwen held her blade over her head again, but this time, she ensured that the flat of the blade faced her before pressing her palm against the end of the blade.

  Andy mimicked her. As long as the flat of the blade was facing him, the palm and fingers of his left hand wouldn’t be harmed.

  “And be sure to keep your fingers on your side of the weapon,” Morwen said. “If you don’t, you could easily lose them to your opponent’s weapon.”

  Andy pushed his blade over his head again, bringing his palm to rest on the flat of the blade, this time ensuring that his fingers remained behind the weapon.

  “Now, when you’re fighting an opponent who is also wielding a shortsword, more often than not, you’ll be blocking from the upper left, upper right, lower left, and lower right vectors.” Morwen brought her blade horizontally downward to the left, upward to the left, upward to the right, and downward to the right.

  Andy did the same.

  “And finally, to counter a piercing thrust, you push your opponent’s blade outward with your own,” she said, demonstrating a parry.

  Andy copied her.

  “Fantastic,” she said. “Your form looks solid, now follow this sequence,” she said. She demonstrated a sequence of attacks moving forward, followed by a sequence of blocks moving backward, and finished with a roll on the ground.

  Those damned rolls, Andy thought.

  Andy copied her. It took him a few tries, but after a while, he got the form right. He even nailed the ground roll.

  “Finally, we’ll need to practice some drills,” Morwen said. “I will offer a series of three attacks, and you will block them in the way that we practiced, then we’ll reset and you will offer a series of three attacks on me.”

  “Alright,” Andy said.

  “But since we’re drilling with bladed weapons, it’s important that you be very careful, and that you attack with about half your full effort. No sense in getting hurt for a low-level drill.”

  Andy held his shortsword in a defensive posture.

  Morwen shot forward and slashed from the top left.

  Andy blocked it with his shortsword, the sound of metal ringing out across the otherwise silent grove.

  She then brought her sword across to his right side, using a backhand slash.

  Andy blocked it with relative ease, the clashing steel reverberating across the landscape once again.

  Finally, Morwen brought her blade straight down from overhead.

  Andy brought his blade up, using his palm as fortification. It stopped her attack.

  “Very nice!” Morwen said. “Now it’s your turn.”

  Andy pushed ahead, slashing downward, upward, and thrusting forward.

  Morwen met his attacks with blocks of her own, each blow resounding with the sound of steel.

  They drilled for another few rounds before Morwen finally stopped, satisfied. “I admit, you’re much quicker at [martial weapons] and [combat] than you were at [athletics]. I’m impressed.”

  “Thank you,” Andy said.

  “We’ll test you tomorrow, and, as long as you perform well, you’ll earn your first [martial weapons] rank… you’re well on your way, Andy.”

  Morwen excused herself and Andy found himself alone in the quiet yard. Already, he had learned the basics of two weapons. He was by no means an expert, but he felt more confident in his own abilities than he ever had in his life.

  ***

  “I can’t believe it,” Pliny said, fuming with rage. “I can’t believe they’ve done you like that.”

  A light drizzle had set in, so Andy, Morwen, Pliny, and Noel ate stew at the dinner table in the den. Noel’s cut of the treasure from his adventuring job still hadn’t arrived.

  Clearly, Pliny had either forgotten or had chosen to ignore Morwen’s advice from the night before. He was simply too angry.

  “It’s not right,” Pliny said.

  “Maybe they’ve been delayed by the rain…” Noel said, holding his head in his hand as he stirred his soup haphazardly.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “Who was this group?” Pliny said. “I have no patience for swindlers. I’ll make sure they never contract another fighter I know ever again!” He slammed his fist on the table, causing Noel to flinch, sitting upright. “Sorry,” Pliny added softly.

  “It’s nobody,” Noel said. “I’ll pay them a visit on Wednesday. I’ve got to go into town anyways…”

  “If you don’t have your treasure by then, I’ll deal with them more harshly,” Pliny said. “Seven trolls. Singlehanded… what a slap in the face.”

  Andy felt bad for Noel. He was such a gentle man, and he wasn’t at all invested in his own wealth. He had mentioned using his cut of the treasure to take care of his mother, who could use a new living situation. And, by his reports, he had accomplished an entirely improbable and heroic feat, defeating seven trolls. Andy hadn’t yet seen a troll, so he didn’t know exactly what level of difficulty they posed, but judging by Pliny and Morwen’s reactions to the story, it was a great accomplishment.

  “It may still turn up,” Andy said. “And if it doesn’t, we’ll get this resolved.”

  Noel smiled. “Thank you, Andy.” He took a bite of soup.

  “Andy has his first [martial weapons] test tomorrow,” said Morwen.

  “Oh, how splendid,” Noel said.

  “What weapons did you choose?” Pliny asked.

  “Staff and shortsword,” said Andy. “That’s what Morwen recommended.”

  “It’s a good starting point,” Pliny said. “I tell you… staff fighting is sorely underrated. Especially among the up and coming generation. They want to work with flashy weapons immediately.”

  Morwen nodded in agreement.

  “That’s what I hear,” Andy said, smiling. He could tell this had been an ongoing conversation between them by the way everyone at the table nodded in agreement.

  They ate the rest of dinner with intermittent small talk, the fireplace crackling sporadically. Noel and Pliny said they’d join Morwen in the morning to watch Andy’s first [martial weapons] test. Noel retired first.

  “Join me on the veranda for a pipe?” Pliny said to Morwen and Andy.

  “Actually, I wanted to speak with Andy tonight,” Morwen said. “If you don’t mind.”

  “Oh, not at all,” Pliny said. “I’ll have myself a solitary smoke and count the ratfolk in the woods.” He chuckled. “Another night, then?”

  “Absolutely,” Andy said.

  Morwen invited Andy to come up to the third floor. They climbed the ladder through the hatch and sat in the high-backed chairs where a dim oil lamp burned on the side table, illuminating the spines of the many small books on her bookshelf.

  Andy glanced at their titles: The Obsidian Knight, A Sorcerer’s Tale, Seven Valiant Tales. They appeared to be popular works of fiction, not reference books.

  “You’re a reader?” Andy asked as he sat down.

  “Ah, yes,” Morwen said. “It helps my mind relax before I go to sleep. And I’ve always enjoyed adventure tales, ever since I was a little girl.”

  Andy smiled. “Which one is your favorite?”

  She looked at her shelf, glancing across the spines. “Hmmm, that’s a tough choice. Like choosing a favorite among a circle of close friends…”

  Finally, she selected a book, removing it from its place on the shelf. “This one, I think,” Morwen said. “It’s old-fashioned, but I don’t think I would have become a fighter if I hadn’t read it as a teenager.” She handed it to Andy.

  The title was simple: The Virtues.

  “That one is not really fiction, actually,” she said. “It’s a work of philosophy. But it’s not a dry tome… it’s quite accessible for commonfolk. You can borrow it if you’d like.”

  “Oh,” Andy said with surprise. “Thank you.”

  Andy held it on his lap as he leaned back into his chair. He glanced over at the dresser across the room. A rose light pulsated gently, emanating from underneath.

  “What would you like to know about the Order?” Morwen asked.

  “Oh, I… uh…” Andy hadn’t been expecting such a direct and open question. “I guess I… well… it seems like you’d want me to join at some point, unless I’m reading things wrong. And, well, every time I began asking about specifics, it had to wait until a later time, which I totally understand. But now that you ask me directly… well…”

  “Let’s start there,” Morwen said. “After you’ve received the appropriate training, if you want to join the Order of the Behemoth, we can move forward with that process. Your admittance isn’t guaranteed of course, but I suspect you’d have a very good chance.”

  “I suppose my first question, then, is what the Order actually does, like day to day. Pliny filled me in on some of the history, but I’m still unclear on what membership would entail.”

  “A good question,” Morwen said. “The basic mission of the Order is to guard against tyranny, as I’m sure you’re aware of by now. In the past, that meant that the Order would frequently take up arms against tyranny of all forms, including organized crime, invaders, and, perhaps most frequently, against the nobility itself. Our order began during a very dark time…”

  “The Continental War?” Andy asked.

  “Yes, precisely,” Morwen said. “About two centuries ago, the Supreme Minister Re Morum felt the need to expand Cresthaven’s territory to the entire continent of Palima. Some suspect he was drunk with power, others suspect madness from warlockery… whatever the case, no one could stop him. The Supreme Minister has veto power over the House of Law, has command of the army and the Elite Guard, and, if he wishes, can assume control of the Domestic Guard as well. And that’s just his constitutionally afforded power. The Supreme Minister also enjoys the informal support of countless powerful groups. As you might imagine, many spellcasting guilds like the Warlocks, Wizards, and Enchanters fall over themselves to work with the Supreme Ministry.”

  “That’s… a lot of power,” Andy said.

  “It is,” said Morwen. “Too much for any one person to wield alone… but nonetheless, Cresthaven’s constitution allows it. So, Supreme Tyrant Morum levied crippling taxes on the populace, cut funding for all public works, and directed all resources into his mad dream of conquering the continent. Most families couldn’t put food on the table, which worked to the tyrant’s advantage… It was a great recruitment tool. Most young men were more than happy to join the army. It was the only way they could earn money aside from a few professions like forging and enchanting.

  It was a dire situation, and that was when a group of fighters known as the Order of the Behemoth emerged. Originally, they were a revolutionary group, bent on overthrowing Cresthaven’s entire system of government, but before they could craft a new state, they had to grow in power. A very famous founding member of the Order, Devir Penwraith, one of the greatest Fighters who ever lived and one of the greatest strategic minds of Palima’s history… he devised a plan. Since Cresthaven was expanding across the continent, he travelled ahead of the front lines, warning powerful rulers and sages of the coming threat. Those powerful individuals across Palima who organized resistance to Cresthaven’s expansion were known as the Thirteen Dissidents. Largely thanks to Penwraith, the Dissidents formed an organized and effective campaign of resistance, crumbling Cresthaven’s frontline abroad.”

  “There were only thirteen of them?” Andy asked.

  “Well, there were thirteen leaders. Some were powerful spellcasters, others were rulers of large cities and kingdoms. Penwraith established the Council of Dissidents, and after some negotiation, they were able to set aside their differences and unite against the looming threat. Armies, covens, circles of druids, bands of thieves… they all came together to sabotage Morum’s expansion. Although they’ve had no need to act in the last couple of centuries, the Council of Dissidents still meets on an annual basis, facilitated by the Order of the Behemoth.”

  “What do you discuss?” Andy asked.

  “Well, lately, nothing. In fact, many of the members no longer see the point. They have other, more pressing problems… memory is short. But the Order of the Behemoth must continually remind people that the threat of tyranny is real… but I digress.

  After the Dissidents dissolved the expansionist front, the Order was able to recruit many commonfolk, defectors, and even some sympathetic Fighters from across the continent to stage a revolution that lasted ten days. After the revolution, they ousted the Supreme Tyrant. But… this is where things started to go wrong… they didn’t amend the constitution to restrict the powers of the Supreme Ministry. Instead, they relied on the Order’s popularity and their power, both local and continental, as a constant, looming threat against the abuse of power by the nobility. For all his work abroad, it’s largely agreed upon, at least among revolutionary theorists, that Penwraith’s Ten Day Revolution didn’t go far enough. It didn’t change the system of government that allowed a tyrant to take power in the first place. Nonetheless, the Supreme Ministers ever since the Ten Day Revolution have largely capitulated to the Order… they’ve distributed resources and comforts to the commonfolk paid for by taxes levied on the nobility, they’ve guaranteed proper trial for those accused of crimes, and they’ve refrained from any expansionist tendencies.”

  “That’s what Pliny was saying,” said Andy. “But he also said the Order is dwindling in numbers and influence now. How can this political arrangement last if the Order is disappearing.”

  “Well, that’s the thing,” said Morwen. “It can’t, and it won’t. The people have enjoyed the fruits of the Ten Day Revolution for two centuries. The threat of tyranny is like a distant memory, studied in history classes but not taken seriously in day-to-day life. It’s no surprise, then, that the Order’s numbers have dropped. People don’t see the point.”

  “Mmmm,” Andy nodded. “Sounds like a bad situation. Pliny said the next in line for Supreme Minister was… not a good guy.”

  “That’s correct,” said Morwen. “But we don’t have the numbers to wage a significant resistance to the Domestic Guard, much less the army. So our tactics have changed, which brings me to our day-to-day operations. We have two basic pieces of our strategy: first is education and recruitment. Folks like Gerran, for example, do their best to influence the hearts and minds of the noble-born. Oftentimes, such a task seems futile, but it is absolutely necessary. In the event of a struggle against the Supreme Ministry, we’d need as many sympathetic nobles as we could get. Very few noble-born actually join the Order, but many are sympathetic to its cause. The second part of our strategy, perhaps counterintuitively, is exploration.”

  “Exploration?” Andy asked. “What does that have to do with resistance to tyranny?”

  “Yes, many Order members have the same reaction. Allow me to explain. We have reliable intelligence that some high-ranking individuals in the Ministry, as well as some of those in the Warlock’s Guild, the Enchanter’s College, and the Wizard’s College, are on the hunt for a legendary metalsmithing apparatus known as Cagin’s Forge, hidden in a dungeon somewhere to the west. I can’t give any more details than that to someone outside of the Order, I hope you understand.”

  Andy nodded, “Sure, I understand.”

  “But let’s just say, if the Ministry finds and utilizes the forge, there will be nothing at all that the Order could do to mitigate, much less prevent, the tyranny that could follow. So, we have our own teams working in the west to locate the legendary forge, and, as much as possible, to sabotage ministry expeditions. That’s really all I can say. If you choose to enter the Order, and if you are admitted, I could discuss more details with you.”

  “That’s intense,” said Andy.

  “It is,” said Morwen. “And we don’t have the numbers or the public sympathy we need to keep up with everything. And yet we continue.”

  “Hmmmm,” Andy leaned back, rubbing his temple. He had a lot to think about.

  “But you don’t need to worry too much about everything right now,” Morwen said. “The main thing you need to do is concentrate on your training. Oh, which brings me to a question I wanted to ask you.”

  “What’s that?” Andy asked.

  “You don’t need to answer tonight, but I want you to think it over and give me an answer tomorrow. Once you’ve achieved your first [martial weapons] rank, I’d like to send you to Gerran for your second ranks in [athletics], [combat], and [martial weapons]. He’s in the outer city. You’ll gain exposure to Cresthaven, you’ll gain a new perspective from a different teacher, and you’ll learn more about things. You’re a bit isolated out here, and I’m sure you’re getting bored of tending the stew,” Morwen chuckled.

  “That’s interesting,” Andy said. In fact, the suggestion was rather abrupt. He hadn’t considered such a dramatic change in setting so quickly.

  “You don’t need to answer now… think it over.”

  They wrapped up their conversation. Andy bid Morwen goodnight as he descended the ladder and headed to bed. Although he hadn’t been here long, Morwen’s Grove felt like home for him. Part of him was bothered by the idea of changing location again so abruptly. But the other, more adventurous side of him wanted to explore more around Cresthaven.