Hero Grown. Andy Livingstone
it. ‘You present us with a problem.’
‘I know.’ Brann stared at the ground. ‘You have a fighter who keeps losing.’
‘We have a fighter who loses but should win.’
‘I was well beaten.’
Tyrala leant forward. ‘You were beaten in the first because you could not transfer plans into natural movement. You were beaten in the second because poor technique negated strength. In the third, you should have won but failed to anticipate the desperate move and strength of a beaten man. You have natural movement, you have natural agility, you have natural strength and, most of all, you have natural reactions. But when you disconnect your conscious brain, you win. That was what this,’ she held up the fabric Salus had used as a blindfold, ‘taught us. You had no idea of the type of fighter or the weapon he carried, so all you could do was react, and you were successful almost to the point of victory.’
Cassian beamed. ‘My wife has a perceptive eye for strengths and weaknesses, and not just those of the body. She sees what I am blind to.’
The slender woman angled back in her chair, sinuous as a cat and with as much expression revealed. ‘You notice, you think and you plan – it is what you do, you cannot help yourself. But you are also an instinctive fighter, you win when you react.’
Brann shrugged. ‘I just do what seems right.’
This time she did smile. ‘Exactly. What seems obvious to you in the moment would not be apparent to most were we to stop time for them. That is also what you do, and you cannot help yourself either. But nor can you make yourself do it. You are two people in one: the thinker before the conflict and the intuitive fighter during it. We must find a way to marry the two, for at the moment they battle each other and leave you useless when they do.’ She looked at Cassian. ‘My husband has a knack for working with the strengths and weaknesses. He improves where I can only see.’
Brann wasn’t convinced. ‘But natural this and natural that counts for nothing if I cannot keep a sword in my hand.’
Cassian waved a hand dismissively. ‘That is nothing. Poor technique is easily fixed. Good technique is the basis of everything we teach our fighters. It is pounded into you until you cannot move your weapon, hold your weapon, move your body, hold your body, any other way. For most, that is almost all they have with a vital touch of natural skill or speed or strength, or some of each, and for them, for the level they reach, it is all they need. You, as my lady has seen, are all instinct and not technique.’
She cut in. ‘Which is where the problem lies.’
His smile was broad. ‘Indeed. We pound the technique and we kill the instinct. But we leave the technique and the instinct is vulnerable. A conundrum indeed. I shall think on it today, and we will start with you tomorrow. But you are very lucky.’
‘I am?’
‘Absolutely! You are fortunate indeed they did not send you to the army. There, you would have been ruined. A thousand men drilled to move the same way, react the same way, think the same way is good for the battlefield but bad for you. We will find a way, my wife and I. We shall marry the two Branns. They shall feed each other with strength, not leach it. You have any questions?’
Brann looked down at the fighters, who were now in small groups of two, three and four. His eyes scanned them, and he nodded. ‘Where is Grakk?’
Cassian’s surprise filled his face. ‘You listen to all of this, and all you wonder is where your friend is?’
The boy shrugged. ‘You sound like you know a lot about this, and I have proved I know little, so I’m best doing what I’m told, I can see that. But I cannot see my friend.’
‘Listen, boy, and listen well: do what you are told but never only do it. Always think as well. Take advice, but understand it. Question it within yourself, and if you agree it will serve you even better; if you disagree, you may find you are wrong, but if you are right then others may learn from you. We all learn to improve, and almost as destructive to that aim as being deaf to advice is to follow it thoughtlessly.’ He sighed. ‘As to your friend, he is no longer with us.’
The horror that struck Brann must have been evident. Tyrala leant forward. ‘Panic not, young warrior. My husband does not mean to say that this man has left behind his life. What he is clumsily trying to tell you is that the tribesman has moved to another fighting school, a more prestigious one than ours. We received a request from the palace for an exchange to take place.’
‘He has…? An exchange…?’ Brann’s senses were thrown and he found his thoughts whirling to the detriment of his mouth. ‘Why?
The lady’s eyes were fathomless. ‘We did not query it. Some requests are not requests.’
Cassian nodded. ‘It makes sense in a way. The man’s abilities were far beyond anything we could teach him. He is better there, where he will be a showpiece, a treat for the climax to a show. They like their spectacle.’
Brann felt numb. Every time he felt he couldn’t be more alone, fate proved him wrong. He nodded down at the activity below. ‘Shall I rejoin them, then?’
Cassian’s eyebrows shot towards his stubbled grey hair. ‘Do you not listen, foolish boy? You shall work in your own way, as I devise. Lunch will be soon. Eat, drink, wash, then you can run around the track another six times. Rest, then six more.
‘This is important. Of all you did today, you were most rubbish at that.’
He trailed even further behind Breta on the next morning’s run. The previous day he had started with a day of recuperation behind him. Today he had not replenished the energy drained from him by the bouts and twelve circuits of the compound.
Mongoose winked at him as he tried to avoid Breta on his way from the trough to the Food House. ‘Perseverance.’
He blinked at her. ‘What?’
She grinned. ‘It will seem like it gets worse and worse. Then, one day, you will realise it has just been better than it was before. Then Breta can get her wish and stare at your arse. But only if you persevere.’
Marlo was waiting at the building, chomping happily through an apple. ‘The boss is waiting for you in the garden. You should eat as we walk.’
Brann did so, cramming down a pastry and a handful of his latest discovery: grapes. They found Cassian pruning some bushes, the wide brim of his hat flopping to drop his face into shadow. His expression lit up at their approach.
‘Boys, boys! So good to see you.’ He straightened, pressing his hands into the small of his back with a slight groan. He looked at Brann. ‘Yes, today you start the training that helps you, not the training that helps others who are not you.’
Brann nodded.
‘So, you will go with your young friend here and select two practice swords, one heavier than the other. Marlo will take the heavy one.’ He picked up a clipped twig and held it at various angles as he spoke, some high, some low, twisting into assorted shapes. ‘You will do this. And this. And this. And this. With one hand, yes? And each time Marlo will take his sword in two hands and hit yours with all his might. Good, good. See you at lunchtime. Enjoy yourselves.’
He turned back to his bushes. Brann stared at Marlo, who looked much as he felt. ‘Is that all? What else should I do?
The elderly man was quizzical. ‘You want to stop that exercise early?’ Brann shook his head. ‘Well, silly boy, how could you have time to do anything else?’ He raised a finger. ‘Ah wait, you are right, there was another thing. My good lady was worried about your skin. Not the bruises caused by bad fighting. You children of the North grow a different hide, and it does not like the sun god so much. It seems my lady likes her meals well cooked, but not her young charges.’ Bending to a canvas bag, he pulled out two small pots and offered them one at a time to Brann. ‘This has rice bran, and you apply where the sunlight can reach. This has jasmine, and you apply after your evening wash