Alora and the Knightlys, #1 by A.J. Medina

Author:A.J. Medina
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: sword, magic, dragon, medieval, young adult, strong female character, coming of age, knights, wizard
Publisher: A.J. Medina
Published: 2014-04-13T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

“FALL INTO RANKS,” THE wizard commanded.

He walked between Lucah and Aednat and pushed Aednat back into the next row of boys. He then took that boy and pushed him even further out of line. “Line up to the person to the left. This will be known as wide ranks. We are going to work through some movements with different weapons. This will get you accustomed to the weight of your armor and the weight of your weapons. When you have any sort of free time it would also be useful to practice these movements, they will strengthen your body and make you more resilient.”

First, the wizard had us draw our swords and practice lunging and overhead slashes. Side slashes, blocking, kneeling, and ducking before he had the squires hand out shields. The shields felt heavy. They were round and covered most of my torso. With my arm through the shield straps, I was ready to practice the same moves, except this time we were shown how to block with the shield.

The main move the wizard wanted us to practice was protecting our backs when we struck with our swords. This allowed us to block any surprise blows from behind when fighting someone in front of us.

When we came to a stop the wizard said something that surprised us all. “Clear your minds and disperse your shields.”

One by one all of our shields vanished.

“Summon your shields,” he now ordered.

My shield reappeared.

“Excellent. Next weapon,” he commanded the squires.

When the squire stood in front of me, he handed me a double edged battle axe. This thing was heavy. It felt heavier than the shield and sword combined. “The axe will take longer to master. It is heavy and this allows it to deal a lethal blow. For practice, the edges are blunted like your swords.”

After going through all the movements, we dispersed our axes and moved on to the flail. Finally, something light. It had a handle and a chain attached to a smooth ball. Normally the ball had spikes, but they didn’t want us killing ourselves just yet.

Daggers were up next and the wizard had us practice holding our swords in our right hand and the dagger in our left.

After that, came a second sword. The wizard made it look so easy as he went through the movements. No doubt the wizard would be a strong opponent. The final weapon of the day was the bow. We lined up, single file and the squires set up the targets. I shot and missed the target, hitting the stone wall instead. The arrow broke and the wizard wasn’t happy.

“Focus on the target not the wall,” he said.

The boys were cheering on the other end and I stepped back to see what the fuss was about. The arrow struck the bull’s-eye and another round of cheering echoed through the courtyard.

“I bet I can hit the bull’s-eye,” Thomas challenged. He missed.

Silas laughed and pulled the arrow back in one swift pull. He exhaled slowly and then released it.

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