Chapter 31
Strolling down the laneway towards the Candidate’s lodgings, Finn grasps the back of his neck, and tries to work out the kinks that had occurred in his shameful loss against his foreign Master. He was beaten as swiftly as he’d taken down the two active-duty Knights… and as grating as that was on his nerves or pride, it filled him with a giddy glee to think that he would have someone so skilled training him. And a MAGE at that! Absurd! Well… maybe. He’d only met a handful of casters so far… huh… Hilda didn’t carry a blade into battle at all. Angeline had brought a beautiful rapier with her, but there was no indication as to how good she was with it…
Hmm… it was somewhat disheartening to think that a spell-slinger could fight better in bladed-combat than someone trained to do that specifically. Why even have the Knights of Aegis if that could be the case? Or did the arcanists prefer to spend more times reading books than they cared to spend training themselves how to be more dexterous? Oh, right… the whole… abuse of power issue…
The long-haired companion lets out a soft sigh as he drops his hand back down to his flank. Well… as far as he could tell, the power that mages possessed was nearly un-fathomable. It would kind of make sense that the Knights would be there to protect those valuable assets, even at the cost of their own lives if it was necessary. Or perhaps it was the Bond that made them do that. Or made them want to do that…
Still… assuming that he learned how to be effective in combat, there was still the problem of choosing who he’d end up with. If he even got a say in the matter… which, from the sounds of things, he wouldn’t. Ruthie had looked at him with a sense of awe after his solo training session barely fourteen hours ago. She seemed to be empathetic to his condition as well… and she enjoyed the fact that he would be willing to go out of his way to protect others… but was she the mage that would be right for him?
Offering a smile and a nod to a pair of passing townsfolk, the wiry apothecary then brings himself to a shuffled stop at the corner of the street, and narrows his eyes as he looks around. Was it to the left? Or right? Bollocks… hmm… no-one watching at the moment. Grinning to himself as he takes a small run-up to build some speed, he then sprints four steps up the stone wall of one of the residences, grabs a hold of the top ledge of a window, and casually climbs up to the thatch roof. Ah. It was to the left, then down a few blocks.
Finn starts to walk carefully across the reed roof, and begins to whistle a formless tune of feigned innocence. Hmm… over the past month of lax training on the rear lawn of his home in Serenity, he’d always kept in mind the magicks that he’d seen his former Master perform. Ice-based combat spells. What if Ruth didn’t use a single one of that type? Would he still be effective with his style if she was using something else? Were there any other types? Oh… Hilda said she used binding spells to hold a Daemon in place… that was actually better during combat, since the beasts couldn’t break free and use the spell as a weapon, like when the Gluttonous Daemon had tried to crush him with a glacier attached to it’s fist…
Well… perhaps he could ask his new Master Quang for some enlightenment on differing types of casts, and how to adapt his style of combat to best suit each. Surely once the sun set, there would be ample things in which they could converse about. And they had three months in which to talk tactics… this would be a good opportunity. A chance to expand his knowledge and to be as prepared for his newest incarnation as he possibly could be…
YOU ARE READING
Aegis and Order: First Light
Fantasy"It’s shoulders were wide and powerful. At four metres in height, it was almost as large across as it was tall. The arms of the hulking beast hung nearly all the way to the ground, and were thick with rope-like muscles that bulged with even the sl...
