Inch by Inch

“-step forward and thrust. Lift, turn and step. Brace. Twist and step, thrust and thrust.”

Exhaling, Jay finished the set, returning the spear to the resting guard position. For a moment, he held in place. It was a trained habit as much as anything else. The guards were exact with their lessons. Then he turned to his team.

Ana’s face was twisted in bemusement. Her nose twitched as she fought a smile. “What was that?”

“Standard form I,” Kane recited dutifully beside her. His eyebrows furrowed in thought. “Your footwork was... perfect, but your grip wasn’t tight enough. Your spear was drawing.” The tall, dark man looked almost puzzled by the correction.

Jay’s shoulders fell. He had enough trouble explaining the forms to Ana without her thinking he was doing it wrong. Of course, Kane decided to be fully present and willing to contribute for his demonstration. Jay wasn’t against the advice, having wanted Kane to help train Ana in the first place, but what timing. Another minute or two of daydreaming, and Kane could have critiqued Ana instead. A minute or two less and the guardsman’s son could have demonstrated the forms himself.

“That’s what you were all doing with the guards in Kavakar? That’s what all that talk about training was about?”

Jay pulled himself back to attention. “It’s the first form that everyone learns. It teaches you how to control the spear, and, as Kane said, learn footwork. A lot of it is about control over the body instead of what to do in an actual fight. When your spear tip is wobbling — like you’re writing words in the air — it’s called drawing. It’s bad.”

“It’s a dance!” Ana exclaimed, not having listened to a word he said. Her face had finally settled on mirth. “All the swooping and twisting — it’s a dance. I thought you were all beating each other up. You were dancing!”

He frowned. “It’s not a dance.”

“It is," she insisted. “Footwork and body control. It’s a dance. I thought I was going to learn how to fight.”

“It’s not a-” He took a breath. “This is how you learn how to fight. You aren’t ready to spar, you’d learn nothing from fighting Kane or me.”

Kane nodded in agreement. “Spear dances are much more elaborate.”

Ana opened her mouth in victory, then closed it again. She couldn’t decide if that was a joke or not.

Jay sighed and rubbed his face. He was doing that often enough, he wouldn’t have to shave. All the rubbing must be tearing the hairs, sanding his face away.

Like him, Ana was a bit perplexed by the change in Kane. Their teammate had been like this since they met back at the dorms. He might have dozed a little on the way to the training grounds, but his full attention had been with them as they stretched. Jay nearly stumbled when he suggested a new stretch for them to do. It might be their new schedule doing wonders, but Jay was suspicious.

“Here," he said, passing his spear to Ana. “Try hold it for a while. Feel its balance. Test your grip.”

“I’ve held a spear before,” Ana grouched, but her voice lacked bite. Her full attention was on the weapon and her hands.

Jay hummed. “Yes, but that was during the fight on the wagon.” You couldn’t control it without my help. “You didn’t have time to try to figure it out.”

“Hold it like this,” Kane said, stepping forward to correct her grip. He nearly had to pry her first finger into place, but she relented after realizing he wasn’t about to stop. “Your right hand is dominant, yes? That is your rear hand. Keep your fingers like this. This position allows your hands to shift, but keeps control. Hold it tight. The looser your grip, the more shock you’ll feel.”

When Kane stepped back, Jay spoke up. “Practice letting the spear go and reforming the grip. Try dropping it a couple of times, and picking it up again. You need to be able to do this with your eyes closed and in seconds.”

“Alright, Alright! Give me a second,” Ana snapped, stepping away from them and carrying the spear with her. She reformed the grip a few times, glaring at them, but listening to their corrections. “What were you saying about shock?”

“It’s a big stick. If you hit something, you’ll feel it. Spears aren’t designed for hitting, but sometimes you can’t get the tip around in time.”

Kane nodded. “When you hit a solid object, the spear will bounce back from it. The motion is transferred up the shaft to hands. If your grip is tight enough, it’ll travel to your arms and you won’t really feel it. If your grip is loose, your hands will sting.”

“It’s worse in the cold too.”

Ana swallowed. She hunched in a little. “Right. What’s this dance then?”

| i i i ¦ i i i | i i i ¦ i i i |

“Lift, turn and step. Brace. Twist and -”

Ana tried to twist. The butt of the spear dragged across the ground, throwing her off balance. She staggered and stopped. It wasn’t the first time this had happened.

“This isn’t working," she complained. “Holding the spear higher makes it worse.”

Jay chewed on his lip. She was right. Holding it higher in the air only made the balance worse. This was the second time they’d adjusted her hand’s position on the shaft, moving it from it was comfortable for her lower and lower. Every millimeter made the balance worse. Too many centimeters of change were needed.

The problem that none of them had thought about was her height. Jay was over a foot taller than her. His spear was too long. Maybe if she was experienced, she could make it work, but for a beginner?

He sighed. “The balance is off, and it’s not sized for you. We’re going to have to come up with something else.”

Kane hummed in agreement.

Buying a spear was going to strain their budget, even if it was a small spear.

Ana relaxed, bringing the spear around to rest on her shoulder. It was a slouched position that irked Jay, and her grip wasn’t quite right.

“Let’s step through the exercises today. You don’t need a spear to practice footwork.” Jay finally said.

“Or...” Ana’s eyes flicked to Kane’s waist and what hung there. There was a sparkle in them. “I could learn how to use that.”

“No.”

“I wouldn’t mind,” Kane said, gesturing with one hand towards where their stuff was piled off to the side. His other hand inched towards where his scabbard was secured. “I wanted to try your bow.”

“You both remember what happened last time, right?” Jay asked, fighting the urge to rub his forehead. He wanted to use his bow as well. There wasn’t time. “I want us to finish our first weapons practice with all limbs intact. No swordplay.”

Ana looked away, chastised and excitement gone. Kane, on the other hand, smiled fondly. Neither reaction made Jay feel any better.

“Spear and footwork. Having a weapon we all share will come in handy.”

“And later?” Kane asked.

Jay knew he wasn’t talking about tonight. They already had plans. He bit his lip, feeling this was important, but not wanting to answer. “Later... If- When we’re all ready and sparring, we’ll have another talk about it. You can borrow my bow if you want to practice during the day. But. Ana, please don’t borrow the sword unless one of us is there. It’s not a knife.”

Ana scowled, but Kane looked thoughtful. Both nodded an agreement.

They started moving together this time. Kane or he would take the spear and step through the form with Ana while the other hung back, calling the steps or giving feedback. There were several missteps and a few collisions, but it was progress.

It was a good start to the training and inspired Jay with what to do next. Unfortunately, the next exercise was more complicated and required a lot more communication.

“Tell me again, but like you want me to understand.”

Jay rolled his neck. It was bugging him again. “We’re practicing teamwork. We stand in a triangle, six meters apart. One of us has the bag.” He shook the leather bag in his hands. “They throw the bag at someone else and shout a name. Everyone has to run to whoever’s name is shouted.”

“I run even if I’m catching the bag,” Ana stated slowly.

Jay nodded.

“And I... do nothing if my name is shouted, and I’m catching the bag.”

“Yes.”

“Why are we doing this again?”

“Teamwork. We need to get used to moving and acting while listening.”

Ana’s forehead wrinkled. “I think dancing would be easier.”

“Let’s just give it a go okay,” Jay said tiredly. Maybe it wasn’t the best exercise, but all the guard’s exercises were based on formations or working on specific tasks like apprehending people at the gates. None of which was helpful for adventuring. This was the best he could come up with.

They got into position, with Jay needing to call some adjustments to space them just right. He was first, throwing it to Ana and shouting at Kane. Ana fumbled the catch and finished the round with a blush. Her next throw was to Kane, and she shouted her own name. The throw went well, but Kane didn’t run to Ana. He hadn’t been listening to that part. They stumbled through a few rounds of that before finishing early with some stretches.

Jay was back to the drawing board about team exercises.

| i i i ¦ i i i | i i i ¦ i i i |

“Are we late?” Kane asked. He was staring off down a side street, but it was a quiet enough road that it was obvious who he was asking. Jay’s tall teammate’s attention had wandered after training, but when it came time to leave the dorms, there had been no objection from him.

Jay shook his head, peering down the street ahead. “Peter didn’t say a time. Or give directions.” This should be the right area, but the shopkeeper was sparse on the details. ‘You’ll know it when you see it’ was never helpful.

“There better be food,” Ana grumbled, pulling at her damp brown hair. There hadn’t been enough time after training to dry it properly — they were all too hungry to wait. The strands left a damp mark on her teal dress.

His stomach rumbled in agreement. “It’s an adventuring tavern. Of course there’ll be food.” He said it, hoping to convince himself.

“Right here.” Kane gestured down the next turn.

“You sure?" he asked. The shopkeeper had said to turn by the quartzite building, but he hadn’t been able to narrow the woman down as to what kind of rock that was exactly.

“Shit...” Ana whispered.

Jay craned his neck around the corner to see what prompted that kind of reaction.

“Oh.”

Someone had dropped a mountain top into Lauchia. Jagged rock made a mockery of the perfect straight lines of the surrounding city. It was almost pyramid shaped, with the peak some three stories high. Not one piece was smooth, the wind battered stone full of nooks and crannies. Some crevices were lit up by bright light streaming out from windows carved through the rock.

So this was Peak tavern.

Jay did know it when he saw it.