Roger Taylor - The Return of the Sword

Yrain tested the edge and her expression changed. ‘Almost everything about this thing leaves a lot to be desired, but this edge is good,’ she said, openly surprised. ‘Did your blacksmith do it for you?’

‘No, I did that. I could always put a good edge on things.’ Yrain’s surprise became frank admiration. The sword did the rounds of the four soldiers who all reacted similarly.

‘I don’t suppose you know how to use this either?’ Olvric said, returning it to Farnor.

‘What’s to know?’ Farnor replied, making a mock fighting gesture with the sword to the considerable consternation of the others.

‘A lot,’ Olvric said tersely as his grip closed powerfully around Farnor’s wrist and he gently prised the sword from his hand. He signalled to Yrain.

‘Come on, you two, over there,’ she said to Farnor and Marna.

After some ritual opposition from both of them, they spent the next hour receiving instruction in swordsmanship.

‘Keep it very basic,’ Olvric emphasized to her after watching them for a little while. ‘Just enough to make sure we don’t get cut down by our own fireside and they don’t cut their own heads off.’

When finally Yrain finished with them, it was almost dark. Farnor and Marna, red-faced and breathless, collapsed gracelessly by the fire. Farnor was wriggling his shoulders and massaging his right arm. Yengar made to speak but Farnor gave him a baleful look. ‘Don’t tell me to relax, that’s all I’ve heard for the last hour.’

‘You won’t want to do any close-quarter, unarmed fighting, then?’ Yengar grinned at him. Farnor’s look became grimmer.

‘I’ll take that as a refusal,’ Yengar said, this time laughing.

Olvric gave Yrain an inquiring look.

‘Not bad,’ she said. ‘I’ve dealt with worse. Just impatient with themselves like most young people.’ She became serious. ‘But they’re both clearer in their minds than most.’

‘That’s only to be expected,’ Yengar said sadly.

Farnor levered himself into a sitting position. ‘How long does it take to learn all this?’ he asked.

‘All what?’ Yengar asked in turn.

‘All this… stuff you know about fighting, riding, camping, hunting, surviving on your own in places like this… everything.’

‘Stuff!’ Jenna said with mock despair.

‘See what I mean about impatience?’ Yrain interjected.

‘You asked the wrong question, Farnor,’ Olvric said.

‘What?’

‘The wrong question,’ Olvric repeated. ‘You should have asked, how do I learn about “all this”?’

‘Very well, how do I learn about “all this”?’

‘By taking one step at a time.’

‘Thank you, that’s a great help,’ Farnor said caustically. ‘And how long’s that going to take?’

Olvric nudged the fire gently with his foot, sending up a small flurry of sparks. ‘A lifetime,’ he said. ‘It’s as well you started tonight. Keep at it, you’ll go far.’

Jenna took pity on Farnor. ‘What Olvric’s telling you is that if you really want to be like us, then you never stop learning. There’s never a time when you’ve learned “all this… stuff”. Learn that and you’ve learned a lot. Learn that and most of your impatience will drop away from you.’

‘Sounds like hard work.’

‘It’s as hard as you make it. Certainly no harder than getting up at dawn every day to tend the farm. It just becomes a habit after a while, once you start thinking properly.’

Farnor grimaced as any semblance of a reply to this refused to come to him. ‘Well, my next learning will be to find out how cold that stream is, because I’m going to have a wash after all that.’

‘I’ll come with you,’ Marna said.

As the two strolled off into the gloaming, the four Goraidin looked at one another.

‘Teach them everything we can,’ Olvric said in answer to an unspoken question. ‘They’re intelligent, braver than they know, and full of good heart, for all they’ve been through.’

‘I don’t know,’ Jenna said doubtfully. ‘We became what we are because we’d wars to fight. An enemy to face. They don’t have that.’

‘There are always enemies to face,’ Olvric said.

‘You know what I mean,’ Jenna said heatedly.

‘And you know what I mean,’ Olvric replied. ‘Would you be other than you are? Marna’s still burdened by the man she killed and, if nothing else, Farnor’s burdened by the beating that thug Nilsson gave him. We can help him with that. It’s the least we can do. And then there’s this… gift… of his. From what I can gather, it seems as if it might have something to do with the Power. I think he’s going to need great trust in himself sooner or later.’

Jenna looked uncomfortable. ‘Don’t forget we’ve seen no manifestation of this so-called gift for ourselves,’ she said.

‘I haven’t forgotten,’ Olvric said flatly. ‘But there’s more than enough First Face evidence to confirm there’s something special about him. Not least is the fact that, one way or another, single-handedly, he dealt with Rannick and that creature. You might recall that we, with our vaunted fighting abilities, only survived when we faced Rannick on his own because something made him abandon us! And none of us here doubt that Rannick used the Power, do we?’

‘Or that he stank of Sumeral,’ Yrain added viciously. No one demurred.

Olvric pressed on. ‘Then there’s the Valderen. They need no convincing. Farnor’s very special to them. They might be strange, but I’d judge them to be practical, clear-sighted. Whether or not he’s seeing through into “worlds beyond this one”, whatever they might be, is probably irrelevant. He believes that’s what’s happening and everything we’ve learned about him, from Gryss, Marna, the villagers and our own observations, confirms that he’s a decent lad – troubled, as well he might be, given what happened to him – but level-headed and down-to-earth. He’s neither a madman nor a liar. We can do no more than accept his own judgement of his condition and watch him so that we can give a proper Accounting when asked.’

He looked round at his friends and received their silent assent.

‘And in the meantime, help him to become more self-reliant. My instincts tell me the lad has dangers to face yet. I can’t begin to guess what’s really driven him to leave his home and come to us, but he’s come in trust, and for guidance of some kind. While we have him – which shouldn’t be for more than a few days anyway – we should teach him what we can. It’s little enough. I think Hawklan would expect that of us.

‘Gulda would, for sure,’ Yengar agreed. ‘I’m still concerned that she left him in the Forest when he patently needed help.’

‘Gulda’s Gulda,’ Yrain said. ‘She sees further than any of us. If she didn’t help him, she couldn’t. Or perhaps she’d done all she could by the time they parted. There’s always that dreadful time when you have to stand by and watch someone learn the hard way.’

‘Well, if she’s at Anderras Darion when we get there, you can ask her,’ Yengar said.

‘I think I will.’

This determined pronouncement brought united derision down on Yrain, during which Marna and Farnor returned.

‘That was quick.’

‘Yes, we’re quick learners. We learned very quickly that it was very cold,’ Marna replied for them both. ‘Have you been talking about us behind our backs?’

‘Of course,’ Yengar confessed. ‘It’s much more fun than when you’re here.’ He changed the subject before Marna could reply. ‘Did you enjoy the sword training?’

‘Yes.’ Marna’s reply was immediate and enthusiastic. Farnor was a little more reticent. ‘It wasn’t quite what I was expecting.’