Tad Meets Bandar
An Excerpt from The Chronicles of Quat: The Gryphon
By Bryen O’Riley
It felt wonderful.
Not only had Tad’s morning
concoction actually seemed to lessen the taste of metal in his mouth and
invigorated his sluggish body but he was actually able to leave his room and do
something useful.
The Queen had
found a very skilled warrior to train him, or beat him bloody, more like! Tad
hadn't felt so good for nearly two months!
Bandar was a few
years older than Tad and absolutely massive. He was of the warrior class and so
had been trained from his youth. He was very good.
“You are the new
prince?” he asked, clearly doubting that possibility.
“I am.”
“You don't look
like it.”
“What do you mean?”
“You have dark hair,
like me, and green eyes.”
“So?”
“The royal family
is blond and blue-eyed,” he looked Tad
over, “and strong.”
“I am strong.”
Bandar chuckled,
flexing his muscles. “You are not
strong.”
“Well, it's
relative. You trade speed and stamina for more muscles,” Tad shrugged, “I am strong enough
but I am also fast and can fight longer. Strength isn't everything.”
Bandar laughed
loudly but in good humor. He tossed Tad a staff and hefted his own.
“Don't be too fast
to speak. We shall see who is stronger, who is faster, and who can fight
longer!”
Bandar rushed at
Tad who barely had time to move his staff in front of his body in defense
before Bandar's staff was there crashing down on his. The man was like lightning.
Tad walked
backward in a circle as Bandar's advances rained down upon him. He managed to
block the majority of blows but did have a couple of bruises settling onto his
forearms and shoulders as they continued to fight.
Bandar didn't even
try to strike his head or any other essential parts of his body. Clearly, he
was under strict orders to train, but not really hurt, the new prince.
The quarterstaff
practice was fine but Tad really enjoyed practicing with a sword again. He was
much better with a sword than a quarterstaff thanks to the hours Valeathum had
dedicated to teaching him.
But most
encouraging was archery. Tad was easily at the same level as Bandar when it
came to the bow. Perhaps it was because Bandar hadn't focused as much on the
bow in his own training—his strength was
his greatest attribute and he had focused much more on honing hand-to-hand
fighting. But Tad knew that, in part at least, his archery ability was greatly
enhanced because, today, he used Woodsense while he shot his bow.
He wasn't sure if
other Fae did that but since Woodsense allowed him to see even individual
leaves from farther away and to feel the softest breeze he thought it could
help his archery too. He was right.
It was very
satisfying to hear Bandar's surprised grunt when his first arrow struck the
center of the distant target. The man knew the importance of archers in battle
and, by the first shot alone, gained a little bit more respect for Tad.
The morning passed
quickly as Tad remembered how much he enjoyed fighting practice. Even with the
Contest of Warriors, Tad had to admit he would rather be raised to be a warrior
here than to be stuck as a cooper's apprentice.
“You are quite the
archer, prince. Perhaps if you increase your other skills you will survive to
become king of our land.” Bandar clapped
him on the shoulder and Tad nearly fell over from exhaustion. “Come. Let's head to a tavern. You're looking famished.”
As soon as Bandar
mentioned it, Tad felt the gnawing hunger that had been masked by his nearly
overwhelming tiredness. He had bragged that he could fight longer than Bandar
but that was absolutely false, especially after being sick for so long. He just
didn't have the stores of energy he was used to having. Tad needed to sleep but
wouldn't be able to until he filled the hole in his stomach that seemed to have
doubled in size in the last few moments.
“Is it close?” was all Tad could think to ask.
Bandar laughed and
the large clap in Tad's shoulder this time spurred him into a forward motion
and they headed to, hopefully, the closest tavern.
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