Training Partners

Lord Folian had shown Gullit where he could find his training pads, then he even pulled out a wooden sword for the boy. "Practice will start within ten minutes, use this time to introduce yourself to them." Folian said putting the handle of the sword in Gullit's hands.

"Aren't you coming with me Lord?" "No no!" Folian responded quickly, his body already facing the door. He turned his head to the boy, "I have many duties I need to attend, plus I've already had my practice for today. I'll see you at dinner." And with that the lord discapeared into the vast hallway, his footsteps becoming softer the further away he stepped.

Gullit wore the appropriate clothes, holding the wooden sword backhanded to not scare anybody. He got lost a couple of times in the big many halls of castle Black, but eventually he found his way to the courtyard.

As he approach the three boys sitting under the tree their heads turned to him one after another. When he got close to them Renard came to him holding his hand out, "I'm Renard Sanders, son of Lord Folian and you must be Gullit Redarus, father told us we would expecting someone. Someone we would call a brother."

Renard smiled. Gullit's face bore a smile but inside he was shocked. In no world was he expecting such a casual introduction from nobility but here it was. Renard shook his hand firmly before he waved the other boys to come to him.

Even in the village they weren't as friendly to him as Renard was to him right now. Which Gullit understood, he got the unfortunate reputation as a thief when he was only nine.

The second boy who came and shook Gullit's hand was the Barabian foreigner. His grip was firm yet accepting, "My name is Tim Newman, I hope we can develop a strong friendship." Then Icaran came and also introduced himself. His hands where the softest of all but yet there was a determation in his eyes similar to Gullit.

Both of the boys where the same age but Gullit was slightly taller. Though watching Icarans chest area proved that he was more muscular than himself. In fact, every noble there was more muscular than Gullit.

It proved one thing, that their lives were ideal and that Gullit was a commoner. And having that exposed made Gullit Insecure. He had already made up his mind about being a soldier, but a noble was too much of a leap for him. He didn't even know what that meant.

Then Gullit went under the shade of the tree having a casual conversation with Renard, the other two listening with their ears poked out.

"So tell me Gullit how was it leaving the village? Being made a nobleman? Must be exciting." "Yeah it is pretty exciting, I still don't believe this is all real."

Renard closed in on Gullit, raising his arms in a grand gesture, "Oh but it is, you are now nobility, adopted son of the of the great Baron Folian. Really amazing." Gullit flushed, "I guess it is. But what matters more to me is becoming a great warrior."

The three boys of nobility looked at eachother sheepishly, "We all want to be!" Renard yelled excited, he started scratching his chin, "But it will most certainly be difficult to surpass my father's legacy... Yet it has to be done!"

Icaran raised his finger in the air. "Don't worry brother, if you can't do it I will." Renard ruffled icaran's hair, "Don't you ever assume I can't do it alright." Renard said menacingly. Icaran ripped the tight grip of his head, "You won't be pushing me around when I beat you in a duel today."

"You won't ever beat me in a dual keep dreaming."

Tim shook his head softly, his hands folded as if to say that this happened often. But his lips were kept shut. Then his dark eyes shifted to Gullit in a studying manner. His eyes went over the whole of Gullit then he said, "everyone here wants to become a great man. Let's keep eachother motivated."

"THATS ENOUGH ALL OF YOU STAND IN A LINE." Their conversation was abruptly ended by a familiar voice. Gullit watched as all the boys hastily began forming a formation and he copied them anxiously. He held his sword by his side

It was sir Brimgar that screamed that sentence yet he was still a distance away from the boys. The old man walked to them calmly, his hands tied behind his back as he observed them one by one.

When he came to Gullit he stood and made deep eye contact with the boy. Gullit felt as if his eyes where being pierced by a needle Watching into those deep blue eyes. Then the knight said, "I'm sure you know this one already so let's stop wasting time. Twenty laps around the courtyard."

Before Gullit could process what was happening all the three boys ran past him and he without question did the same.

One lap was took about two minutes to do. It was easy for Gullit, he used to run in the village all the time so to him he could space of in his own mind without problems.

That was until the tenth lap. Suddenly he was aware that he still had to do ten more and his legs were already aching.

By the twelfth the distance between him and the other boys already became larger and larger. They kept their same pace while he just kept slowing down. By lap fifteen he was already half a lap away from the others. His breathing was heavy and his forehead was wet as a blanket.

He never noticed how hot it was in that time of the year, but now his whole body was on fire.

At the end he was the only one running and the other boys were already sitting under that cool shade of the one tree in the middle of the court. When he was close to finishing his last lap he tried slowing his pace down to a walking speed.

"Don't you dare!" Sir Brimgard warned, "If you do that you and the other boys will do another five laps." Immediately all the other heads turned to Gullit all of them bearing a concerned look.

So Gullit pushed forward more than he had to before, it didn't matter to him anymore cause this was his last few meters anyway.

His body didn't want to anymore, his legs didn't feel real also. His body was on the brink of dying but he pushed anyway.

He didn't know when he fell, to him it just happened and when it happened it happened in slow motion. But he fell. On the ground. Real hard.

Face first he dug his nose in the the grass and there he layed like a dead roach for a unknown amount of time. "That's it, five more laps for the all of you." Gullit's ears perked up at that sound, he looked up to see the discapointed faces of the other boys.

They stood up and ran. His body pained and also his heart. 'To be hated on my first day here is a awful thing.' he thought. Then he felt a hand pushing his shoulder, someone was shaking him. When he checked it was Renard sticking his hand out.

When Gullit grabbed it he was pulled up on his feet The other boys were also there. They bore a tired smile and began running again.

It took another fifteen minutes for them to finish their laps. This time the other boys stayed close to Gullit even pushing him in the back when he began slowing down. Gullit couldn't help but feel like a intruder and liability.

When they were done all of them fell on the ground like a sack of potatoes. Sir Brimgard stood over them his hands folded, "Get your swords, were going to do a lot of swinging!"

Gullit was the last to stand up, dragging himself to his practice sword he dropped somewhere in between running. All of the boys ended up side by side exercising multiple sword slashes and defensive positions.

Sir Brimgard was a strict teacher who left no room for imperfections. When he caught a student in a wrong pose he'd manually correct their form. Naturally that student ended up being Gullit nine times out of ten. They ended the day with sparring matches.

Tim and Renard faced up against eachother. Leaving Gullit and Icaran to face of, "I'm glad, everybody here always was bigger than me, except now. Now I can manage." Icaran said all that with a cocky smile.

He ended up not even being touched by Gullit's sword.

It was at the end of their training session when Gullit was left tired, sweaty and sore. He could barely move but he had to if he didn't want to sleep outside.

He was invited to the bathe with the other boys by Renard and so he did. It was not much longer till they were all together in a hot pool of water. Apparently sir Brimgard only trained them three times a week on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. These would be the only days they could bathe.

It was something that surprised Gullit as in the village he would only bathe once every two months or so. Now this would be his live every two days.

He sinked in to the pool of water in a relaxing matter. All of them did and it was quiet for quit a while. That's when Renard broke the silence, "Not quite what you expected huh Gullit?"

Gullit looked at Renard, a bit ashamed at to what he would have to admit, "I thought this life would be easier." "Wouldn't blame you," Renard said he leaned his head back, "Sir Brimgard has a very unconventional way of training us. Look at Tim, he had a very hard time adjusting too."

Gullit curled his eyebrows, "Really, but you kept up with the others." "Yeah now he does." Renard chuckled, "You should have seen him when he first came here, he was even slower than you." Tim flushed slightly, "In Konya we don't train or body as much as you do here. I was surprised." Icaran laughed, "Surprised is a understatement."

Gullit smiled, "I'll try to keep up with you next time, we won't be doing more laps." Renard waved his hand dismissively, "Oh don't worry about it. I remember when father brought sir Brimgard three years ago. I know how much it takes getting used to. Just keep on coming, you'll be alright."