Chapter 2: Chapter 1: Out of the Frying Pan

 

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Audra

  Audra sat on top of a hill overlooking the village of Kiaveen, her olive skin soaking in the summer sun. She wore a short sleeved brown linen vest and beige loose leggings. She reached to her right arm and peeled away a fleck of dead skin over beautiful deep blue dragon scales.

  It was amazing how much the village had changed over the last 10 years. A wooden wall surrounded it, along with three watch towers. The largest one was on the eastern side of town, facing the forest, one on the north western side, facing more forest, and another on the south western end, facing the hill that Audra had been relaxing on.

  The day that man came, from seemingly nowhere, he had ran the goblins out single-handedly. The scene kept replaying in Audra's mind, she could still see the lightning crackling around him as he stood in the middle of the road watching them leave. It was a special event in Kiaveen, yet everyone she spoke to seemed to know nothing of his existence. The church bell ringing took her out of her reverie, that was the 14th hour, combat practice would start soon.

  Audra ran through the southern entrance into Kiaveen and quickly made her way down the dirt roads to the barracks near the center of town. Kiaveen, being a small village, usually only had wooden buildings with only one floor. Only the wealthy, or governmental officials, lived in a home with a second floor.

  "What are you in such a rush for?" Audra came to a stop when she heard the man's voice. It screamed authority. "A little lady like you wouldn't be in a rush for sword training, are you?" She bit her tongue from the phrase 'little lady.' Audra was 5'6, above average height compared to the women in the village and she was proud of that.

  Audra turned around to face the knight, his face was stern and chiseled. His beard was blonde and his eyes were dark green, a long scar danced across his face.
  "And what if I am? It's every citizens duty to do as they please as long as it doesn't break any laws. Do you have a problem with me being in there?" Audra asked, trying her hardest not to sound rude.
  "No need to sound that way. I didn't mean anything by it." Audra guessed she had a bit more bite in her voice than she thought she did. "It just turns out that Lieutenant Ravi has arrived from the capital today, he wants to see if there's anyone capable of being admitted into the Royal Knights. You know about them, don't you?" The knight asked though it seemed like he knew the answer to his question.
"The Royal Knights? No I don't know all that much." Audra answered, the knight smiled in response.
"Good, the less you know the better. Just don't be disrespectful in front of people like him." The knight suggested, before clapping her on the shoulder and walking away from her. "That was...weird."

  Audra breathed deeply, calming herself, before she made her way into the barracks and was relieved to find that they hadn't started yet. There were three rooms, one for basic swords another for heavy weapons and another for quicker weapons. The basic weapons included longswords, sabers and the like. Heavy weapons included the heavy Zweihander, Claymores and other two handed weapons. Audra went to the quicker weapon practice room. The weapons were held on the wall for display by curved metal prongs. There were daggers, bo staffs, and the one that called to her, like some kind of destined encounter, the rapier.

  Today there was a new face, clad in crimson armor walking slowly around the room examining the people that stood in the same room before him. Some were already guards of the town, awaiting to be appointed as knights by the higher ups. Others just wanted to learn how to use a weapon, as was the case for Audra. After seeing what the goblins had done to her village for years just to see them scared off by one man proved to her how dangerous people could be, as well as monsters.

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  The man in crimson armor had an almost terrifying air of authority around him.   "That's definitely Lieutenant Ravi, how does he feel so powerful?" He had to be in his mid-20's at the latest. He was tall but not extremely tall, maybe 5'10 or 5'11. His red hair was cut very short, his jaw was hardened and sharp, a single long scar shot up from the right side of his jaw but he wore it like a medal rather than a traumatizing memory.

  Audra began putting on the padded leather armor before training started, as a knight specialized in each weapon prepared to teach people using that weapon. The man that stood in front of the rapier group was old but he still moved as if he were a young adult. Audra's grip on the rapier tightened, she breathed out slowly, before relaxing her hand and making sure the position of her fingers were correct.

  "I want to see some basics from everyone for the first few minutes, then I will teach you how to cut into something with your rapier." The old teacher claimed. Of course all of these weapons were rounded down so they wouldn't be able to harm anyone no matter how hard they tried. Audra lunged forward and struck the padded target, not perfectly accurate but she still hit the outer edges of the painted circle on the pad.

  After a minute or two of basic thrusts Audra took a few steps back and began to strike the target from a farther distance. She wasn't anywhere near as accurate but she was still able to hit the target, so she just needed to adjust her precision, but her speed was great. She felt a hand clap her shoulder, she jumped and found herself staring at the old knight.
  "The rapier group has an odd number so you'll have to practice with me a for a bit, then we'll see how deep you can actually cut into something."
  "Wait we're going to be given real weapons?" Audra asked.
"After you get an idea of what to do, yes. You'll be testing on wolf hide, thick but not uncommon." The man said before walking to the head of the group, then gesturing over for Audra to join him. She looked around the room and noticed that Ravi must have left sometime during their warm-ups.

  "In an actual fight, with a rapier, you can not only rely on thrusts all the time, which is why it has a sharp blade. Keep in mind that the closer to the tip you are the less you would cut into something, so you want to start your cut about a third down your weapon." He gave a quick demonstration by showing a fake cut against Audra's arm.
"You also should keep in mind that the body of your opponent is always more guarded than their limbs. So when cutting, you should keep in mind to either go for the neck, head, legs, or arms, but cutting the body is never out of the question in actual battle." He stood straight and held the rapier upright in front of him towards Audra then got in a wide stance. Audra did the same and he gestured for her to thrust her weapon towards him. Her weapon darted forward only for the tip to get stuck on the handguard of his weapon, he raised her weapon upwards and fluidly walked around her right side and sliced into the hide of her armor. If he had a real weapon it would have cut into the leather.
"Everyone practice among yourselves. Take turns striking each other, parrying the weapon upwards, walking off the line then striking your opponents arm or leg."

  The act was difficult at first, with Audra easily getting poked in the chest when the old knight felt she was doing it too slowly. Eventually Audra was able to parry and slice at a decent enough speed but she was having trouble getting close enough to slice with enough mass behind the edge that would normally create a cut. The last attempt was thankfully the best looking and the most fluid she had done it, then he raised his hand to halt the training. Two men at the entrance of the barracks began to bring in hide strapped to the top and bottom of a stand. A third man began to carry in rapiers, even from a distance Audra could tell these were the real deal.
  "Audra you're first up on this. Ravi has taken a great interest in you." Audra instantly became more nervous than usual. What him taking interest in her meant, she wasn't exactly sure.
  "Is he thinking I could be in the Royal Knights?" Audra wondered. She didn't know what that entailed, she just wanted to know how to fight not be in the military. Surely they wouldn't force her to do it. Right?

  Audra reached in and grabbed a hold of one of the razor sharp rapiers, making sure to not let the blade graze her. She stood in front of the hide and waited as the knight explained what he wanted to see them do.
  "Lunge, come forward, thrust, retract the weapon, cut. The way I've taught you will teach you how to kill."
  "But, Sir, isn't this just fencing?" A man in the group asked. The sound of electricity filled the air, then the knight laughed after scaring the man.
"Heavens no. It's very similar tactics, but fencing isn't about killing. They will teach you how to hit your opponent and get around their moves. Which is good, but the way they teach you won't teach you how to kill, only to hit. Audra, show that wolf who's boss." He ordered.

  Audra pulled the weapon back and lunged the rapier forward, impaling the hide all the way through. She recovered her stance while moving forward and retracting the rapier, then gave a quick thrust forward which failed to go through the hide. She stepped to the side while pulling the weapon back and gave a quick, and deep, cut into the hide. After she walked back the rest of the group went up to the hide to practice after her, there were a couple that were better than hers but she was still happy to have been able to protect herself against a hypothetical threat.

  After everyone took their turns the training was dismissed, Audra returned her armor and put the real rapier back in the hands of the weapon handlers and then began to leave the barrakcs. That was when she heard the bell ringing, and then the smoke in the distance, the scent of ash was heavy in the air.

  "The eastern tower is being burnt to the ground!" Audra watched as guards and families evacuated to the western end of the city, then came the roar. It was high-pitched, almost like a scream, the raw power from the roar was enough to knock people to the ground, including Audra. She felt a hand grab her shoulder.
  "Evacuate everyone to the west!" Audra looked up to see Ravi shouting orders. He hauled her off the ground as if she weighed little more than a feather. Ravi looked at one of the knights that were exiting the barracks.
"We have a Cro'ak Borum, get everyone out of the barracks and get another knight out here to help me take care of this. If we don't hurry there won't be a village left to defend. Audra, was it? You need to find your family and leave immediately. Go as far west as Nevenal, stay there until the smoke stops." Ravi ordered pushing her with the crowd.

  Audra took one look back and saw balls of fire flying through the sky, landing on buildings, and enveloping someone that was feeling the fire. Audra tugged at the strings of magic, like an apprentice harpist, summoning water from the air to obey Audra's will, she poured it onto the man extinguishing the flames. He looked at her in confusion, silently thanked her then began running with the crowd. Another high-pitched roar shook the ground beneath her, she looked back and saw the Cro'ak Borum for the first time, on the roof of someones home.

  The Cro'ak Borum was a giant black lizard, an ashy substance seemed to mist around the beast. It's diamond-shaped head was adorned with spines that seemed to be emerging from it's body as did the scales that extruded from it's tail. It hissed loudly and shot a stream of fire out of it's maw. Audra had seen enough, turning back around, she began to run off into the distance, silently hoping her mother was okay.

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