Oathbound: A Progression Fantasy (Surgecaller Book 1) by Todd Herzman

Author:Todd Herzman [Herzman, Todd]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-04-14T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 23

Huon woke before dawn again. He rushed through getting ready, heading down to breakfast wearing his martial arts robes. He didn’t want to make Knight Kyla wait again, and he was eager to start learning to cultivate elemental essence.

Though still wary of cultivating fire, he hoped his fear wouldn’t stop him from learning. Nothing is impossible, he thought to himself again. Those three words had been running through his mind ever since he’d first thought them.

His goal to defeat the Immortal Seven had always just been something to… keep him going. If he’d been completely honest with himself, he couldn’t imagine ever escaping being oathbound. But that didn’t matter, as long as he felt like he was moving toward his goal.

But now… well. What if it were possible? The only way it would happen was if he believed it could.

Huon swept into the dining hall, grabbing a plate and filling it high. It was similar to the dining hall back at Crowley’s compound, but where that food had tasted good because Huon had been living off what he’d foraged and hunted for years beforehand, this would have tasted good to anyone.

He piled fresh bread and cheese onto his plate, along with bacon and eggs, then found a seat at one of the long tables. There were plenty of other surgecallers here. Pages and Squires, mostly, from what he could tell. Then again, he never would have thought Kyla was a Knight—not at her age. He was beginning to realise his idea of what age someone could advance may have been wrong.

A guy sat across from him. He had a broad smile, and wore the same black martial arts robes as Huon. He placed his own plate onto the table then extended a hand. ‘Jamison.’

Huon grabbed his forearm in a surgecaller greeting. ‘Huon.’

Jamison’s smile broadened. ‘You’re the new Squire.’

‘You’ve heard of me?’

‘News travels fast in a place like this.’ Jamison forked one of his eggs, then ate it whole. He finished chewing before continuing. ‘Besides, the Pages like to talk when they run messages.’

Huon nodded. He supposed that made sense. Lina had been the one to show him his room. He’d yet to have a tour of the place, as Inara had said he would, but he supposed his training took precedent. ‘Are you a Squire too?’

Jamison chuckled. ‘I’m seventeen. Of course I’m a Squire.’

‘Apologies. My instructor—’

‘Let me guess, Kyla? She’s a prodigy.’ Jamison glanced around, then leant forward. ‘You’re the first Squire she’s taken, you know.’

‘I am?’

Jamison nodded as he took another bite of his food. ‘That’s another piece of news that has travelled about you. It’s not every day a Knight takes a Squire.’

‘I thought Inara made her.’

‘Inara may be our oathmaster, but she wouldn’t command a Knight to take on a Squire they didn’t wish to apprentice. Kyla must have seen something in you, too.’

I’m no one, weak, Huon wanted to say, but kept those words to himself. ‘Who’s your Knight?’

Jamison pointed his fork to the head of the table, where a man of about forty sat.

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