Moving Out

Hey sorry I haven't posted in a while. During fall and winter, as well as part of spring, I take two jobs so I can earn money for collage. That's what comes of failing most of high school I suppose. I can't say I'm proud of those days, but I bet I'm not the only one. Anyway, here's another entry:

Stellas 20, 296 e.m.

Day 7,

We started out again today. My shoulder is almost completely healed, although Kyrainna claims a scar will mark the wound forever.

We traveled all day with no interuptions. We made camp in the evening, moving a ways off the road into the forest. As my companions went about making preparations for the night, I went to check on the supplies. But Daeroth stepped in front of me, blocking my way to the wagon.

"What is it, Goldsun?" I asked with some annoyance.

In answer, he held out a longsword. "I am going to teach you to fight."

I stared at him incredulously. "Fight? Me? I am a merchant, not a warrior."

"You have to learn to defend yourself. Really, you were lucky to escape that bandit attack a few days ago with your life. Next time it could be worse than an arrow to the shoulder." His eyes glittered like ice, cold and hard.

"Isn't that what I hired you for? Besides, a sword couldn't have protected me from that arrow," I responded.

"There may be times when we cannot help you. You must learn to protect yourself! And though a sword wouldn't have protected you, the reflexes and skills you will learn while fighting very well might have."

"You're insane! All of you!"

A small smile appeared on his lips. "Of course we're insane. That's why we took the job."

No amount of arguing could convince him that I really didn't need to learn swordfighting. And so, we had the first of our lessons today. It was not very long I suppose, and thank goodness for that! Apparently, it was too late to bother training with practice weapons, and so we used real swords. The first time our weapons struck, vibrations shot up my arm with such force that I let go of my sword and watched as it went flying, narrowly missing Zillan. That brought laughs from my audiance which included all my guards except for Daeroth, since he was teaching me, and Kayissa, who had taken one look at me holding a sword and said she had decided to retire early this evening. I spent the rest of the lesson fumbling through a simple parry, and finished with many disgusted looks from my mentor.

I'm going to sleep now.

Aigon Silverwind,

Merchant-warrior in Training