Chapter 5 – Battle With The Goblins
On the morning of the next day, just as he had done the day before, Beam awoke excited, pleased to be away from his dreams – they'd been particularly troubling that night – and he eyed the lifting stones hoping to set another record for himself and grow even stronger than yesterday.
Dominus watched the boy eagerly zipping around like a dog that needed walking and he gave a wry smile, shifting the embers of last night's fire, revealing the red. With a few dry sticks and his kettle on top, the fire was soon roaring once more, and he filled his wooden cup with steaming tea.
"Calm down a little, boy, you're draining all my energy," Dominus told him, grunting. His body felt the worst first thing in the morning, as the Pandora Goblin poison pounded through his veins and his blackened muscles ached. He gripped his right shoulder where the blackness began and attempted to massage it, getting the worst of the pain out.
"I shouldn't drink anything yet, should I?" Beam asked, almost anxiously. Dominus could see the hunger in his pupil's eyes, a hunger for more progress, more rewards and greater achievements.
Last night, he'd finally got the rules of Battle down well enough that he'd been able to attempt to fight Dominus on equal terms. And, for the first time, they played a match that was closer to what the name of the game hoped to inspire – they'd had a battle.
Of course, Dominus had still crushed him easily, but it was a step in the right direction, and the boy was progressing.
"Should we play Battle before I go into town too?" Beam asked excitedly, seeming to want to beat Dominus as soon as he could and pass one of the month's tests that he'd given him.
"I'm beginning to reconsider taking you on as an apprentice," Dominus said, putting on his most serious expression as he sipped at his tea. "If my morning's quiet is going to be getting disturbed so thoroughly, it seems I'm losing far more than I'm gaining."
"Ah." Beam looked at him with the expression of a wounded puppy and finally stopped fidgeting, choosing to sit down by the fire instead, putting on his very best display of calm.
"Heh," Dominus could hardly hold back a laugh looking at him. "I understand you're eager to progress, but try to contain yourself, lad. Your fantasies will run away with you, and you'll end up living more in your head, in the imagined future, and that will be the source of many a mistake."
"I understand…" Beam said meekly.
Dominus shook his head. The boy definitely did not understand. Not yet. But in time, he would.
"Besides, don't be getting so excited at the prospect of beating me in Battle. I know I set it as one of your tests, but it's still not going to be much of an achievement. Strategy is not an area that I was well educated in. Most commanding officers would not struggle to beat me on the board," Dominus told him.
"Really?" Beam asked in surprise, before his expression suddenly shifted to one that was rather downtrodden. "Does… Does that mean I'm really bad at strategy then?"
This time, Dominus did laugh, seeing such a despondent expression on his face. "Haha. Well, maybe. Still, it's a fairly rare skill to have. Only military families would teach it. So I suppose in beating me, you'd still be the best in the village, even if you won't be very highly ranked in the world."
He brightened slightly at that again, grinning and leaping to his feet. "That's all I need then, isn't it? At least to start off with. As you keep saying, it'll definitely be a good start. Should I get onto the stones then, and set another record?"
Dominus groaned as he sat with a back against the tree enjoying his tea. "Two minutes – that's your limit, is it? Fine. I suppose. If you're not going to sit still, may as well let you burn your energy off. Go on then."
"I wonder if I'll set a new record again today?" Beam asked excitedly.
"Ah. About that. I wouldn't expect so. If you do manage it, after so many days of progress, then that'll be a pretty big abnormality. Well, all I'm saying is don't get too disappointed if you aren't where you were at yesterday," Dominus warned him.
"Heh heh," Beam chuckled, full of the confidence of youth, sated on minor achievements. "Then I'll just put more effort in than yesterday. Yesterday was eassyyy after all. If I focus a bit more and lift with everything I've got then I'm sure I'll get something special."
Dominus merely shrugged and made himself another cup of steaming pine needle tea as he watched Beam do his warm-ups. The boy was getting familiar with the movement now. His technique was more efficient, and he was using a higher percentage of his muscles than he was before. Dominus stroked his chin in thought as he watched him work.
'Mm… I wonder if it's time to change the exercise for him?' He wondered. 'Stone lifts are a good exercise for building overall strength, but it might be wise to expose him to something new…?"