Machinist of Mana

There were times for reflection and times for action and this was most certainly one of the latter. The Headmaster had caught me off guard too many times today, taken the initiative too much, and losing it now would do me even worse than it had.

He'd chosen the place, the time, the weapon, and to fight. He was ready when I was not. I also had no doubts that the shortsword I was now holding was something he preferred as opposed to my favorite of a longer more slender blade.

Rather than letting him set the tone to the fight I launched into a series of attacks. This was nothing special, just several standard slashes and stabs, trying to catch him off guard or find any chinks in his defense. Sadly neither was to be, as he slapped away all of my strikes with his dull blade as if they were predictable.

“Good form, but unimaginative,” Headmaster Logan said, voice gravel. “Let me show you.”

In a flash his blade was moving, and I could see what he meant. I managed to block the first, though it numbed my hand to do so. To my credit I was even able to catch some of the other shots he made, but each came from angles just off of standard. Too unlike my series of attacks his came in at an uneven tempo, slow, then fast, then slow again, catching me off guard. The final of his series caught on my cross-guard and lifted, throwing me several feet back.

Each of those strikes would have been an end to the fight had he made them with a real sword or with his full strength. They still hurt, but it was clear that he was pulling back before breaking anything. Perhaps he was irritated that we'd opposed him, but this was a lesson as much as it was a punishment, and one I wouldn't forget.

I had no illusions about winning, that was probably impossible. Maybe I was good with a rapier type blade, perhaps even very good for my age, but that didn't really help much. He was easily a foot and a half taller than me, and built like a brick house. In reach, physical strength, and just plain experience I fell short, and deluding myself wouldn't help.

He didn't attack as I rose and regained the practice sword. So I did, launching at him with a series of attacks not unlike his, though coming from slightly different angles and in a rhythm dissimilar from that he'd used. If I was being honest it was a bit sub-par, but with the state I was in it was what I could manage. The return from the Headmaster was much as the previous, with the same result.

“Better, again.”

Three exchanges in and I was hurting, by the fifth I was sweaty and my right hand was shaking from the repeated hard shocks. That didn't matter, I just switched to my left. I wasn't as good with my left hand, but if I couldn't even hold the sword what was the point? It also gave me a good chance to try punching Headmaster Logan. That of course ended with him grabbing my arm and using it to hurl me halfway across the room.

“Not going to apologize for your behavior or ask for leniency?” he questioned as I once more picked myself up off the ground.

“No sir, don't think I will. You seemed to want misbehavior.”

“Fair enough boy, fair enough. You can't win here though, surely you know that?”

“Perhaps sir, but I can refuse to lose,” I told him.

That got me a guffaw. Of course I took that chance to dash forward and attack, because why would I give up such a moment? Like he had so many times before he moved to bat away my thrust, but as he did I acted. With an additional step and change to my angle I brought the point of my blade a few inches forward, enough so that when he pushed it away the tip grazed his chin just slightly. It didn't harm the Headmaster, though if it had been a real sword it would have cut him slightly.

His response was to add an additional flourish, one which sent my weapon flying from my grasp and well out of reach.

“Enough,” he said, rubbing his chin. “Tell me, who put you up to this?”

“Nobody did sir,” I informed him.

“Do you think you'll earn my respect by being pigheaded and refusing to tell me the truth boy? No, I want to know actually did tell you to cause such trouble.”

“Well, I was sort of hoping that Headmaster,” I admitted. “Sadly the truth is that nobody did though. I wanted to cause trouble, to skirt the line of what we could do without getting punished.”

“You failed,” he said with a disappointed look.

“Clearly sir, though I'm not sure how you knew it was me?”

“Something you should keep wondering. At any rate I think that's enough, go, you have classes in the morning.”

“May I ask a question before I do?” I asked.

“Very well,” he nodded.

“Why?” I asked him.

“I wanted to see who would try to take control, and how they would try to respond.”

“How'd we do?” I inquired.

“Miserably, not a one of you tried to bring to my attention what you wanted. The first part of any conflict should always be diplomacy young Percival. Now off with you.”

I was sore as I walked back to my dorm, but it could have been worse. Perhaps if I'd been an older student, or someone more used to his methods it would have been, perhaps if I'd done more than just be a pain it would have been. It'd be easy to find out tomorrow, but for tonight I wanted to bathe and sleep.

Headmaster Logan didn't seem randomly abusive, just, almost military. Not modern military either, but the old school hard knocks kind. He wanted little soldiers, men who'd follow orders to a T and could be depended on to know what to do. That final lesson wasn't lost on me either; we were supposed to follow the chain of command before acting out.

“You okay?” Ollie asked as I made my way into our rooms.

“Fine, even learned something,” I informed him, the other boys were up and listening.

“What's that?”

“Next time the Headmaster does something irritating we don't like we should tell him. Now, if you don't mind, I need a wash and sleep.”

Hot water was a wonder, and a brief soak took care of most of the soreness. I'd have a few small bruises, but I got those every time I went to a tournament. The whole thing he did was rather like one of those, if I only fought better people than me, back to back for several rounds. Perhaps before I graduated I'd try to get a chance to duel him again, see if I could give as good as I got.