Reed and I waved at Gill, one of the village guards as went out the gate. "You boys be careful on your adventures today." gill called out at us, " the wood wolves have bin hunter closer to the village as of late, bin leaving lots of bones in the dark forest from what I have seen so don't go too far or you may end up as wolf bait!" he cackled at us as we ran into the Dawn Woods that stretched for many miles south of our village all the way to the neighboring Dwarven kingdom of Slatemire in the Heart Throng Mountains that were nearly 300 leagues away!
"Hey Bruni, do you think I will be able to join the guard for my apprenticeship?" he asked as I saw him looking back at gill, watching the gate guard check every single person that walks into the village of Caskgel.
"I don't know my friend, aren't you a bit small to join the village guard" I look and smile at Reed slyly as he quickly turns to me and pouts half-heartedly " that's not nice of you to say, plus the only small one here is YOU!" he laughs out loud, much to my embarrassment.
I quickly swing my fist at his side but Reed dodges out of the way with good flexibility as he bends sideways away from my fist." Gota do better than that my little friend, how are you going to become a blacksmiths apprentice when you can't even aim properly" he laughed out loud.
I speed up and chase Reed further into the forest as he keeps taunting me and keeping just out of reach.
we eventually come upon a small little pond. This was the secret hideout that we came to whenever we went into the woods to play. it had a small clearing on the right side of the pool of water that was about 10 meters wide and 20 long. In the clearing was a small firepit we had set and a couple of logs laid out as seats so that we could light a fire when we managed to catch a small fish during our adventures to the many streams that were nearby.
"Finally the day has come! I'm now an adult!" I proclaimed in pride as, who wouldn't want to be an adult right!?
"haha, Barely an adult" he replies as he holds his forefinger and thumb slightly apart with a mocking smile.
Reed Quickly tosses a spare practice sword at me before I could get to upset with him. "hit me with that sword if you are that angry he said," as he grabbed his practice sword off his back and went into a defensive stance waiting for me to set into my typical aggressive stance.
I liked this stance as I was always aggressive to those I deemed a foe. I rushed forward and swung my sword at a downward angle hoping to at least push his sword back so that he couldn't counter strike into my unprotected side, but it was for naught as he held firm and like a feared he swung up into my side with more strength then I swung down with and knocked me back the way I came from before I smashed into the ground more than 2 meters away. "That's what you get for forgetting that it was my turn to say start this time!"
I was still groaning on the ground a few minutes later as Reed waited quietly for me to gain my feet once again. I wasn't mad that he used full power, or that he hit me so hard I was still seeing black stars sparkle in my eyes, not even that I would have a nasty bruise on my side for weeks. it was my fault. we had specific rules that had to be followed or Reed wouldn't teach me the basics of the sword as he was learning it from his dad. I finally got up and spoke quietly at Reed. "I'm sorry I lost my temper on you again reed. I know you tease me so that I can learn to control my anger but it's not working anymore Reed!"
"I'm sorry Bruni" he replied as his face softened," I'm sorry that I went too far once again my friend," he replied. He looked up at me and asked shale we have another fight? but this time I will only go half strength" he smiled at me.
I agreed and so we went back at it we fought for the next 2 hours going back and forth in our little clearing. I hadn't managed to hit him at all today. "Even on MY birthday he still won't go easy on me!" I thought to myself as I said out loud "sword addict." with a sneer on my face as we went down to our log benches to sit.
He just looked at me and sighed heavily, " do you think a robber is going to go easy on you on your birthday when your working?" he asked " no they won't, and so I'm trying to train you for real-world situations, not hero stories!" he huffed at me.
I just snorted and looked away, thinking about what we should do next now that the sword fighting was out of the way, I wondered if we should go get some more wood to stock our camp or what but I wanted to do something fun today. I wanted a real adventure today as I was now an adult! How I would come to regret those thoughts as I looked up and saw lots of black smoke coming from the direction of our village!