Catch the Wind by Jon Midget

Author:Jon Midget [Midget, a novel by Jon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9798987233924
Publisher: Jonathan Midget

“Keep your focus, soldier!” the sergeant shouted.

Jaren snapped back to attention just in time to watch his sword get smacked out of his hand. Wincing at the sting, he watched the sword fly through the air. It spun like a discus until it landed in the ground with its point embedded in the dirt, hilt swaying back and forth. The sergeant howled in laughter.

“What were you looking at, rookie?” he asked, waiting for Jaren to pull his sword out of the ground.

Around them, several dozen veteran soldiers sat on benches surrounding the sparring circle.

“It was a milkmaid walking on the bridges,” a soldier mocked. “She made a puke face after smelling him, and the boy thought she was flirting.”

“Milkmaid, my foot!” another shouted. “That was a warthog that caught this boy’s eye.”

The sergeant ignored them, and Jaren did his best to as well. He felt out of place with the soldiers… so raw, so untested, so young.

“Now,” the sergeant said, holding his sword to attention, “let’s try this again. No distractions, boy.”

I’ve got this, Jaren desperately told himself.

The sergeant attacked as quickly as a viper. But Jaren surprised himself and reacted just as fast. He parried the blows and pushed them aside, his feet dancing in the dirt.

On they sparred. The sergeant lunged and struck, and each time, Jaren fended off the blows. Finding gaps in the sergeant’s attack, Jaren would strike forward here and there, but he mostly kept his swordplay defensive. Moving back, angling this way and that, Jaren slowly led the sergeant exactly where he wanted him. He stepped back one more time and smiled. He felt the boundary of the sparring circle.

In a flash, Jaren deflected another blow, spun around, using the sergeant’s momentum to push the old swordsman into the border. The sergeant stumbled, braced himself against a bench, and spun around as fast as a hawk—but it was too late. Jaren had his sword to the sergeant’s neck.

The sergeant smiled, his two missing teeth making the perfect grin to complement his shaggy grey-and-white hair.

Jaren smiled back, beaming with pride.

I did it! his mind shouted. I actually beat the old man!

The crowd of soldiers on the benches lost their minds. They jumped to their feet, shouting and cheering. They even threw fruit into the arena—anything to show how much they approved of the show and loved seeing the green boy beat the old sergeant. They clapped each other’s shoulders, all of them remembering the pride they had once felt when they had first vanquished the old man. It was a well-loved rite of passage for the soldiers of Duskhaven. It was the moment a new recruit became one of them.

Later that night, Jaren was still reliving his first victory. Even hours later, he couldn’t shake the pride he had felt when he beat the sergeant. It was hardly something to brag about—every recruit was supposed to beat the sergeant at some point. It was expected. But regardless, as Jaren sat down on a wooden bench shortly after sunset, he still felt that something about him had changed.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.