Chapter Sixteen - First Day Training

Noah woke up before dawn, he looked around the darkroom. The moon had set and there was no light coming into the room, the only light was from some embers that the seemed to not have put out.

He stood up keeping the blanket tightly covering him as it was so cold he could see his breath. He looked around the room for something to start the fire again but could only make the outlines of all the objects on the shelf.

Feeling them in his hands he looked for a flint and steel that he could use, but the only useful thing he could find was a few knives and an axe, presumably for cutting more wood. Biting his lips he took both a knife out and dropped the blanket on the couch again.

Leaving the flat and over to the lake, he recalled that the lake had stones around it and went to go get one so he could use the sparks to start a fire. He knew he would need some shavings from wood too so grabbed a few branches as well as the large stone and jogged back into the house, feeling the cold start to freeze his fingers.

Getting back into the living room Noah broke the few branches he had in half and used the knife to scrape off some shavings. Gathering them in a pile where there were the most embers he held the knife in his left hand and in his right used the back of the knife to slash it, sparks coming out and onto the pile. It took a few attempts but soon there was a small fire catching and spreading onto other logs in the fire.

Wrapping the blanket around himself Noah, stayed next to the fire staring out the window thinking about his mother and what she was doing at that moment. He knew she was doing her own journey at the time but he couldn't help but wonder how she was.

It only took an hour or so but the sun soon started coming through the forest, laying the shadows of the trees on the ground and stretching them across the small area they could. Noah looked at the fire and pushed the burning logs together with the knife before leaving the building again. Walking past his master's room not checking in as he didn't want to disturb him.

He jogged over to the side of the lake and got on his knees, cupping his hands together and throwing some water onto his face. Not caring that it was cold he made sure to wash out all the sleep that was in his eyes.

Drying his face with the bottom of his shirt he looked up and around the lake, he knew that he was going to have to run this a few hundred times so he tried to guess the distance around the edge of the lake and presumed it was maybe 800 metres to 1000 metres. Instead of calling it a lake they should maybe just call it a pond.

Noah pushed himself up and started running his mind going blank and letting the run take over his head. Not minding the time just counting the laps as he did them.

1 Lap

4 Laps

48 Laps

Noah's breath was haggard from the 30th lap, even with all his sword training his stamina was finding it hard to run this distance and he couldn't understand what was going on. He just kept his mouth shut and kept running.

180 Laps

At this point, Noah's back was drenched in sweat. His shirt had gone a dark grey, there were no clean looking spots other than his shoulders but even then the sweat was slowly even spreading. Noah had to slow down and take in some deep breaths, taking off his shirt and stopping for a small break to splash water on his face and having a few drinks of it.

The sun had risen well into the sky now and it was maybe halfway to noon. Noah couldn't tell completely. Looking at the house he saw that his master was standing at the door watching him with the eyes of an eagle. When Noah saw this he nodded and stood up continuing to run around the lake.

259 Laps later Noah was lying on the ground breathing in heavier than he had in a long time. His stomach was growling and his lungs burned like he had swallowed fire straight. He could barely move his legs or his arms. His whole body felt like it had been broken.

Barely hearing steps coming towards him Noah kept heaving. Dragging himself over to the edge of the lock and cupping the water and shovelling it into his mouth, an unending thirst to cure the fire that was burning his lungs.

Once he had satisfied this urge Noah let himself lie down and turned up to look at the sky but instead of the sky, he saw Sir Quin standing above him, his dark eyes staring into Noah's soul as he laid there.

"Not even one lap and you're this tired. What a useless piece of shit Isan brought me." Sighing and dropping a bag next to Noah, there was a clank and it felt like the bag had indented the earth. "That there is your armour that you need to do the laps in. I expect you to reach 300 laps a day. As you managed to successfully tire yourself out without hunting for your breakfast I have been kind enough to include some dry meat in there."

Turning and leaving back to the house. "After you have finished that wash your shirt and leave it out here to dry. Come see me and we will skip the laps in your armour and straight to sparring today."

Noah nodded... Barely. He wasn't sure how he was going to be able to spar with Sir Quin but didn't say anything, he just nodded and continued. Once Sir Quin was out of sight and back in the house, Noah opened the bag to find various items that he wonders if Sir Isan had meant to give him before leaving.

There was some light armour but it looked like it was going to be too big to fit him, but Noah felt happy he got it. There was a water flask that Noah filled straight away and kept it by his side. After the armour and flask, there were two different sets of clothes, both tunics with some trousers wrapped in a grey cloak. The final thing in the bag was a sword in a simple scabbard.

Noah pulled the sword out and found it was much heavier than the wooden sword he had used previously but the blade was real metal, Noah used his index finger to feel along the blade's edge to see how sharp it was and easily cut himself.

Pulling his finger away and sucking on it, it quickly stopped bleeding. It was a very nice simple sword and Noah admired it in awe. Thanking Isan mentally for such a gift. He had a lot to pay back Sir Isan when he was a knight and earned some real money.

Noah put on the armour presuming that he would have to spar in a full kit like he had to now do his runs in the morning. It was a bit lighter than Noah expected. It was a type of leather that Noah had never seen, probably made in the Capital or in the Dragons Keep.

He took a big gulp of water before packing it in the bag that was dropped by Sir Quin, making his way over to the house slowly. Trying to stretch his muscles before he got there.