Dungeons and Dragons: Forged In Flame (COMPLETED)

Chapter 2: Here To Stay

It's funny what happens and doesn't happen in a month.
Leaper figured in all of the training sessions so far, he would fall out at least once with Earbender, given his large ego, but he never had to since he was too enveloped in his training.
Speaking of the training, any fears of Leaper being inadequate and being not as good as the others had since been eliminated. And Leaper was sure that his fears had been placed into the others.
One day last week, they had done a session where one person did practice on anything while the others watched.
It appeared that Zealous and Shieldbiter were good with swords, especially short, quick ones. Climber was good with all swords, not just short ones, and he was good with archery too. His promise to stay antisocial had been proved true. Earbender was also good with archery, but not as good as Climber was. He would throw furious glances at the oblivious Climber, but he never said anything.
But, as they watched Leaper, they were shocked. His skill with axes was "professional-lumberjack level," according to Zealous, and his controlled motions with larger, lumbering swords was nothing to be ashamed of. His archery, however, was something to be ashamed of. The arrow never went more than a metre away from him; most of the time it went nowhere at all, landing at his feet.
Either way, though, now that they were staying there full time, any gaps would surely be filled up.
Outside of the dojo, Leaper's parents both hugged him tightly and made him promise that he'd visit them and write to them.
"You know I will. Besides, you're going to be notified when I do well and when I need improvement, so you'll have the knowledge of what's happened," Leaper comforted them. As well as it being comforting, it was true.
"I love you so, so much," his mother, Delmirev Raiann, told him for the third time, and hugged him for possibly the forth.
"There you are! The others are here, but I didn't want to start without everyone here. That includes you," Heskan greeted.
"Bye, I guess," Leaper waved.
"See you soon, honey," his mother waved back, as did his father.
Leaper went inside, and he could hear his mother weeping, but he didn't look back. His dad would do a better job than he would at keeping her happy.
"Hey! Leaper! Over here!" Zealous shouted at him.
He and Climber were at the far side of the room. They couldn't have been in conversation, at least they didn't look like they were in conversation, and Climber's pact had suggested otherwise. Maybe they just enjoyed each other's company.
Shieldbiter and Earbender were there too, but they didn't notice Leaper's entrance. They were busy chatting among themselves about some secret thing.
"Hey," Leaper waved.
"Hi!" Zealous smiled.
"Right, let's not waste time. Your bags came in this morning and have been placed in your rooms. Find your bag to find your room. And your roommates, for that matter," Heskan clapped his hands together.
The five young Dragonborn went to go to their rooms straight away, until they realised that they didn't know where the rooms actually were.
They all turned to Heskan expectantly.
"Oh, in the corridor behind that door over there. Sorry," Heskan apologized.
They all turned around from where they were going and went to the mentioned corridor. Zealous opened the door, which lead to the corridor along with four more doors.
Heskan appeared behind the boys and maneuvered himself so that he could see into the hallway like the boys could.
"Those two on the left are your rooms," he said, "And the other two lead to a lounge area and a field where you can practice outside. There should be bows and arrows and stuff out there already if you want to go out there yourselves."
Leaper went to check in the room Zealous went to; the one on the far right. There were three beds in there. They didn't look very comfortable, but they didn't look uncomfortable either.
Leaper found his bag on the far right, next to the window. A ray of light shone onto his bed, almost as if Leaper were being picked as the chosen one, except they didn't put the light in the right place.
"Hey! We're roommates!" Zealous cheered.
His stuff had been placed on the far bed, but he just moved his stuff to the middle bed, and chucked the bag on the middle bed onto the far bed.
Climber came into the room and found his stuff now on the far bed, but, not knowing what had happened, continued as normal.
The next few minutes were taken up by placing their clothes in their wardrobes and drawers and placing any keepsakes on their bedside tables, while Zealous kept on trying to make conversation with Leaper and Climber about stuff neither of them cared about.
Leaper also decided to check out the room's shower, and he found three showerheads hung on one wall along with a toilet and a sink against the other. Climber appeared beside Leaper, and he looked rather disappointed.
"Let's agree to never take a shower together," Leaper told Climber.
"Honestly, I think it's a given that we won't," Climber replied grimly.
"That's true."
Climber didn't reply to that, but Leaper couldn't really say that he was surprised.
They turned around, shutting the door behind them, and saw Zealous talking to Heskan outside the door.
"Have you guys unpacked? We're going to go outside and practice on the archery range for a few hours," Heskan explained.
"We're done, yeah," Leaper shrugged, and Climber nodded with him.
"Come on then!"
Heskan beckoned Leaper, Climber and Zealous over to the door to the field, and Earbender and Shieldbiter tagged along next to them.
"Hi," Zealous greeted Earbender.
"Shush. I'm listening," Earbender replied without even looking at Zealous, who looked hurt, but then normal again.
"So, if you ever want to practice, you go here," Heskan pointed over to the archery range.
There were six bows set up with quivers and targets opposite. Their armor was laid out in a pile next to each set of bows and arrows.
They quickly pulled on their armor (Leaper helping Zealous with some tougher parts) as they had done for the previous month, and it was safe to say that Heskan was pleased that they had remembered.
"Very good! Now, pick up your bows and I'll show you the proper stance," Heskan nodded.
He went over to the empty sixth bow and picked it up, and now Leaper could see that this bow was different to the others. It was plated with a shiny silvery metal that was engraved with phrases in Draconic, and parts of the bow were painted a mild gold that sparkled slightly in the midday sun.
If Leaper liked archery, he would even call it beautiful.
Heskan also picked up a matching quiver with normal arrows and put an arrow into his bow and drew back.
Leaper made sure to see the way Heskan stood side on and the way he held his bow arm out straight, with the other arm's elbow not drooping downwards. Not that it would help, he'd still end up being rubbish anyway.
"So, you should all be stood like I am. Why don't you guys give it a go?" Heskan said, his voice strained from holding the stance.
All five boys managed to match the stance, Leaper and Zealous struggling a bit, but managing.
"Now, before you fire, if there are two rules that I want you to follow, it's these. One, don't fire until I tell you to, and two, do not collect your arrows until everyone has fired all of their arrows. Do you understand?"
Heskan looked at each of the boys seriously, and each of them nodded in reply, too scared to even speak. Punishment was not in their plan, especially not on the first day of staying at the dojo for good.
"Perfect! Now, I'll count you in. Three... two... one..."
Leaper clutched his bow as hard as he could as to not jog himself and loaded an arrow into the bow. He drew the string back ever so slightly, ever so carefully...
"Fire!"
He let go of the string, and the arrow in the bow. It landed halfway between Leaper and the target. Leaper figured that it was good that at least it went somewhere, if not very far.
"Again! Three... two... one... fire!"
Leaper barely had time to load his arrow, so when he let it go, it did a somersault in the air and landed in the grass in front of him. He didn't wait to load his next arrow so he could prepare.
"One last time! Three... two... one... fire!"
Leaper let go of his last arrow and closed his eyes, not wanting to see the results. When he opened his eyes, he saw that the arrow had in fact hit the target!
Well, he didn't hit the target, he hit the paper that the target had been printed onto, but it stuck.
Leaper did a silent celebration, throwing his arms up into the air.
"You know you wouldn't get any points for that, right?" Earbender groaned. He had hit two of his arrows; one on the white ring, one on the blue ring.
"Shut up, Earbender. Let him have his victory," Climber scolded Earbender. Climber had hit all of his arrows; two were on blue, and one was a bullseye.
Leaper also checked Zealous and Shieldbiter's scores. Zealous got a white and a black, and Shieldbiter got a white and a blue, just like Earbender. Meanwhile, Heskan had three bullseyes, and Leaper had no idea how he managed that.
"Well done, guys. Would you like to go again? Collect your arrows when you are ready and prepare your first shot," Heskan explained.
This time was slightly better. Leaper hit white, while the other two hit the target's frame and missed entirely. But, hey, at least they went somewhere. Hadn't he said that already?
The others had all improved too, even if just a little. At least none of them had gotten worse.
"I've seen enough. Well done, guys, head back to your rooms when you're ready," Heskan nodded.
Leaper felt relieved as he picked up his arrows and put them with his bow. He felt for sure that Heskan would call his name and tell him he wasn't good enough or something-
"Leaper? Could you come here for a minute?" Heskan called to him as he took off the last of his armor.
Leaper's heart sank.
This was it. He wasn't good enough. He never was, really. It was all for nothing. He would be ridiculed by everyone for not living up to his father... but he couldn't just run from Heskan. It would be worse if he did.
"I just wanted to talk about the archery with you a minute," Heskan tried to comfort him.
"I'm sorry," was what Leaper said in reply.
Heskan looked quite concerned.
"What do you mean? Never say sorry for things you aren't so good at. I saw you out there. You were pleased as hell when you hit that target! That motivation is what you need to get better. Motivation from small victories is what Delmirev Arjhan says is the best way to improve."
Delmirev Arjhan was the current clan leader of the Delmirevs. He was quite old; thus why the clan had chosen him. And yes, he had in fact said that.
Leaper stayed silent.
"Hey, if it's improvement you want (and I can tell it is) then you know you can practice in your free time? Soldiers don't become soldiers overnight. It takes practice. And, lucky for you, you have the equipment to do it," Heskan finished.
Leaper nodded. He feared that if he opened his mouth, he would say something he didn't want to and get removed from the dojo for sure.
"So, Leaper. Practice. Be a soldier. I know you can do it," Heskan concluded before patting Leaper on the shoulder and leaving.
As Leaper headed back to his room himself to tell Zealous about what Heskan said, one thing rang clear in his mind.
Leaper, as things stood, was not a soldier. And a soldier was what he needed to be.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Word Count: 2078 Words