Richard Parker - The Black Horseman

“Tar Amon has agreed to let you “practice” with the other students,” Kostek explained and immediately Gwaynn’s heart soared, and his face broke into a wide smile. Kostek held up a hand in an attempt to curb the boy’s enthusiasm.

“However, it is my responsibility to train these students,” he began and Gwaynn’s smile began to falter. “Training to be a Master of Arms is demanding enough without any distractions, and I will not have their training impeded by anyone…even you Gwaynn.”

The boy sagged before Kostek’s eyes, and his head was down so that he could not see the smile on the Tar’s face. “If I allow someone of limited ability to work with my students do you think that person would enhance their training or impede it?”

Gwaynn made no reply.

“Therefore you will practice with me, until I deem you proficient enough to work with some of the others.” Kostek watched as the statement sunk in. The boy’s head suddenly came up, his eyes bright. Kostek smiled. “Your first lesson will be tomorrow, seven in the evening. Meet me at my quarters.”

For Gwaynn, the next day seemed to drag on for an eternity, even though Leek kept him busy most of the morning collecting honey from the beehives located maybe a quarter of a mile from the hall. There were twenty hives in all, which constituted all of the bees on the island. Leek was very proud of them and was happy to share the honey with the other quarters, and was all the more popular for it.

While gathering the honey, Leek himself wore no protection at all, but he allowed Gwaynn to don a protective mask and pair of thick gloves. He showed Gwaynn how to calm the bees with a smoker and then gently remove the slats on which the bees formed their combs. The older man stressed slow, even movements, so as not to alarm the bees. Gwaynn watched as Leek extracted the first batch of honey with practiced ease.

“Most importantly, don’t panic,” Leek said as he watched Gwaynn remove a slat. “They’ll not sting you if you don’t panic…well mostly they won’t, every now and then you may get a rascal that will sting ya for no good reason, but mostly they’re as gentle as a lamb.”

Gwaynn was a bit nervous, especially the first time a number of bees landed on his unprotected arms, but they soon flew off without hurting him and his confidence grew. By the time they finished collecting Gwaynn was sure they would have enough honey to last them the entire month. That evening at supper, however, they all had honey on fresh made biscuits. Gwaynn ate more than his fair share, but no one seemed to mind and Leek even winked at him, proud of his honey. Finally, though, supper was over and Gwaynn excused himself, then without another word headed outside and over to Tar Kostek’s residence.

Gwaynn knocked softly but Kostek opened the door almost immediately and then motioned for Gwaynn to enter. Gwaynn moved past him, but Kostek paused at the door for a moment, checking to see if they were being observed. He spotted no obvious onlookers, and so he quickly closed the door.

Gwaynn moved inside a few feet, surprised at the large open space that dominated the interior. In fact, the entire dwelling was visible from the door and only consisted of three distinct areas. The largest area was obviously open for sparring, the floor was well padded and the walls around the room bristled with many different kinds of weapons. There were no windows, but a large fireplace did run along the north wall. There was another, smaller fireplace on the south wall, in what was obviously the kitchen. There were two chairs and an undersized table near the smaller fireplace, and a number of pots and pans hung from the low ceiling and walls. Directly above the kitchen was a loft, where Gwaynn could just make out a bed, with one lantern perched on a bedside table. Except for the many weapons, the place was very sparse.

Without a word Kostek moved from the door and from the wall took down two practice katas and tossed them to his new student. Gwaynn snatched them out of the air and checked them for weight and balance. Tar Kostek moved farther into the room and collected his own katas where they hung next to the fireplace.

“Master Sath taught you to use these I presume?” Kostek asked, and took up the “on guard” position.

“Yes, though I was not the most driven student at the time,” Gwaynn admitted and took up his place across from his new teacher.

“Well, let us see…” Kostek began, but stopped as Gwaynn attacked. It was a basic attack move that the Tar countered easily, but Gwaynn was nonplussed and smoothly moved into another attack, this one only a bit more sophisticated. Kostek turned it away also. Gwaynn kept coming however, and Kostek decided to let him. Effortlessly he blocked every move, never attacking himself, wanting instead to see just how far the boy could go. To his credit, Gwaynn never seemed to become impatient or frustrated, he just continued to attack relentlessly, even copying a move he had witnessed while watching Vio spar. This move did surprise Kostek, though he still blocked it with relative ease. Kostek waited until Gwaynn began repeating attacks before going on the offensive. Kostek quickly scored a number of hits but Gwaynn still showed no sign of becoming frustrated. The boy took the hits silently, but on the following attack Gwaynn copied the Tar’s moves with surprising skill. Kostek blocked the attack and used another even more intricate counter move that left Gwaynn sprawled on the ground. Without a word, Gwaynn jumped to his feet and once again took up the attack, and used a fair likeness of Kostek’s most recent counter attack. Only a slightly raised eyebrow showed the Tar’s surprise. The boy learned amazingly fast, and as far as Kostek could tell favored neither hand, which was impressive; most amateurs tended to favor one hand over another, however slightly.

Kostek repeated the counter attack, and was gratified that the boy managed to block it this time using nearly the same counter moves he had employed when Gwaynn had tried the move back on him.

“Excellent!” Kostek said, holding up his hands to pause the action. “For not being a driven student, Master Sath appears to have taught you at least the…” Gwaynn dove in to attack once more, this time using the counter he just learn with at least two variations, one of them quite subtle, and Kostek was sure that it would have worked on a student, but Kostek was a Tar, and blocked it and countered with another move both hard and fast. Gwaynn caught the right kata, but the left caught him in the back of the head and he pitched forward, but at the last minute he tucked into a roll, and was on his feet in an instant.

‘Youth’ , Kostek thought with admiration, then had to move quickly to blunt another attack, this time an almost perfect imitation of the one he had just performed. Kostek was astounded! Then, on a whim decided to really see what the boy could learn. First he drove Gwaynn back with a flurry of moves, and then Kostek retreated to the far side of the practice area. But before Gwaynn could mount another attack, he launched one of his own, a master attack, using not only katas, he also incorporated several kicks which clearly surprised the boy, who took a hard heel to the chin. The kick launched Gwaynn into the air and he slid on his back half way to the kitchen. He got to his feet a little slower this time and Kostek smiled to himself, though outwardly he was careful to remain stoic. Through many years of teaching on the Temple Islands he’d observed early on that it was very hard to teach anything to an angry pupil, and smiles in combat, even mock combat, rarely induced anything but anger.

Gwaynn stood for a moment shaking his head, clearly stunned, then he took a deep breath and to Kostek’s utter amazement came at him with a flurry, kicks included almost exactly as they were used a moment before. The kicks were crude however, and did not connect with the master, but while Kostek was ducking from a kick, a well-aimed kata struck him in the shins. Kostek danced back, not injured, but well aware that the boy had scored a hit on him, and a planned hit at that.