circle of balance

The clouds floated in the blue sky and disappeared in the trees. To the north a buck glanced in several directions before taking off into the brush, its brown fur becoming one with the forest. Butterflies danced above the spring grass bringing forward the end of the season as the flowers bloomed. Summer would come soon and with it, the heat. Cool nights would follow the day and the night sounds of the crickets and other living creatures would take their rightful place in nature. The grass would grow dark and would almost look blue reflecting from the night sky.

To the east in the village of Osgarn a boy called Falis by some, peasant by others danced upon the ground like a court performer as he switched from one sword form to another. The man striking at him drove aggressively forward, trying to off balance the lad in hopes of catching an opening.

Falis’s parents had died during a famine seven cycles ago. The only food his parents had left they gave to him and starved. It was horrible to watch them waste away while he ate. Still there hadn’t been much, even for Falis. After they’d died and the food ran out, the boy took to the road. He tried stealing from vendors on the streets but he was not good at it. He often got caught and flogged. Several times the vendors had threatened to kill him. After going to at least two dozen houses a lone man with a thick beard and brown trousers had welcomed him in to his home and fed him and let him live there. In exchange, Falis was to chop wood for the fire and train with Ryne in the way of the sword. Ryne Told Falis that when he was old enough he would take him to the King and have him join the army. It excited Falis to have a purpose.

Lord Ryne had trained him well. He could avoid his mast...

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... mastered forms one through six. Sword form ten was known as the instantaneous counter form. There were twelve moves in the form and Ryne claimed that most enemies would die with a single stroke of the blade. “You’d better be ready to kill the man if you use form ten, his father had once pointed out, “because they hit the body’s arteries and veins.”

“We should start going through forms one through six again,” Ryne said.

“But one and two are so boring and none of the first three are effective at all,” Falis said, unhappily.

“They are more effective than you think and I will never teach you the instantaneous counter form until you’ve learned those first six. Have you been practicing on the hay target with the yew long bow I bought you in town?”

“Yes father, I’m getting better at shots from twenty feet or less but I still have problems shooting the moving target.”