knight quest: training

On the outskirts of Quitephase Lake, towards the Frosttouched Pines, was a small town where Saiph and ■■■■■ lived. It was originally set up by travelers between Wingfell and Valorise as a rest stop, and gradually grew into a hamlet large enough to warrant a small dispatch of knights. For the few xynlets that lived in town, the knights were often seen as role models. The Corrupted Lands were northeast of the town, after all.

It was the fourth day of the Starshine Carousal, and radiant starlight illuminated the lands of Lunerest below. ■■■■■ was pacing around in a small clearing behind the treehouse where he lived with Saiph, holding a wooden sword in his mouth. There was a training dummy in the shape of a corruption beast stuck to the ground, and he continued to leap and slash at his makeshift adversary with (perhaps overzealous) deadly intent. His powerful hind legs kicked up dust and gravel whenever he jumped, pouncing on the ‘corruption beast’ with the full force of his lanky body.

The clash of wood on wood hardly bothered Saiph, who idly leafed through a well-worn tome under the shade of a nearby tree. Occasionally he would pause and sniff at the pages, but otherwise he seemed to be entirely absorbed in his reading. Unlike his companion, he was pursuing the path of a Lullay Knight, so they would train under separate Knight mentors. However, he still spent as much time with ■■■■■ as possible outside of official schooling hours, such as when the blue-maned Moxyn insisted on extra combat training practice.

Saiph’s ears priced upright as he heard the too-loud crunch of splintering wood. He looked up from his textbook to see ■■■■■ sprawled over the now-collapsed training dummy, still gripping onto the training sword in his mouth. He let out an exasperated sigh, and  got up from his reading spot to check on his friend.

“Good time for a break, eh?” Saiph began to pick up the broken pieces of the training dummy. “You’ve probably outgrown the use of these targets, anyway. Since they don’t move and all.”

■■■■■ picked himself up from the ground and set down his wooden sword on an undisturbed patch of grass. “I’m only using them ‘cause you won’t spar with me.”

Saiph shrugged. “That’s cause you’re going to beat my ass if we did, no contest.” Lullay Knights are more of healers than warriors, and he didn’t feel comfortable using offensive magic on someone he cared deeply about. “You can spar with the other knights during training hours.” And not during their assigned time off – ■■■■■ really was too hardworking.

“Tch.”

■■■■■ sounded displeased, but Saiph knew this was just his manner of speaking. The two Moxyns lapsed into silence as they salvaged the broken pieces of the training dummy and set it aside in a neat-ish pile. They’ll have to report its destruction to the knight instructor, and maybe build a new replacement… but that was a task to be done tomorrow. For now, they were long overdue for a break.

Saiph nudged ■■■■■ with the tip of his snout. “Wanna go for a swim?” 

“Sure, I guess.” His usual grumpy expression lightened into a small smile.