Rise of a Prodigy: Chapter two

He was facing down a Hoilettan Duke charging at him across a muddy
field waving an axe above his head. Then he was beating a Simsillian
village chief in an arm wrestling contest. Next he was back on the
harbour at Nikralka looking out over the sea towards Casan.

Then the fire. The screams. Smoke ash blood. That girl….

“Ding ding ding ding”

The bell beside his bed rang and Captain Steffanes Ingriade of the Elleden tower guard awoke to face the new day.

He had to rub his eyes three times, and stretch out all his arm and
leg muscles before he finally felt motivated enough to get up and start
the morning routine. Stepping out of bed, he headed straight to the
bathing room to splash water on his face, and make use the privy. After
changing into his day- to- day uniform of breeches, tunic and ring mail
over shirt, he took a deep swig from his lukewarm cup of ale on the desk
and stepped out of his room to head to the main courtyard.

He could hear the clanging swords and barked instructions from the
drillmaster as he made his way down the long hallway of the barracks.
One of the few perks of being captain was that Steffanes was not obliged
to wake up at the crack of dawn, unlike those under his “command”. Who
was going to punish him? Himself? Besides they hardly needed him to be
around to tell them to get their arses out of bed. He was their captain,
not their mother.

Reaching the courtyard, he found that once again all was proceeding
exactly as usual without his presence being required. In the training
square the recruits were being put through their paces, orderlies
bustled about on various duties, and the smell of breakfast being cooked
came from the kitchen.

Steffanes leaned forward over the stone wall that overlooked the main
square and sighed. Had there really been a point in him getting out of
bed today?

As soon as that thought crossed his mind Steffanes saw the man who
would give him his answers. Lieutenant Jori Tyrell, noble soldier, able
taskmaster, and perpetual brownnoser, was walking out of his office
straight to him. Like a spearman before a cavalry charge, Steffanes
braced himself for this interruption to his nice day.

“Good morning sir!” announced Jori, raising his hand to his head in
salute just as the guidebook said. Jori Tyrell could quote that thing by
heart (and often did)

“To you too, Jori. Now put your hand down and tell me something that’ll make me happy.”

“Well sir, we have some new prodigies arriving today, sometime this
afternoon. The Maestro wants you to take a detachment down to True Wind
gate to supervise.”

Steffanes sighed. “Jori, you should know by now that I’m just going
to have you take my place for something like this. What is even the
point of telling me?

Jori looked down at his boots and awkwardly shuffled his feet. Bad news was impending.

“Well sir…. do you not remember what today is?

“ The day you get to the point?” Replied Steffanes, not willing to be messed around with this morning.

“ Today’s the day I have off. I arranged this with you three weeks ago.”

For a moment Steffanes thought he was still dreaming. Jori had never
taken a day off in all the time he had been at the tower. As far as he
knew, Jori did nothing but work (Steffanes often wondered if he ever
slept, let alone had any social life). It looked like today was going to
be interesting after all.

“Well bless the stars and all!” exclaimed Steffanes with feigned
glee. “Jori, my dear and trusted Jori, can you tell your beloved captain
what the reason is behind this miraculous occasion?”

“It’s for personal reasons, sir. If you don’t mind I’d rather not discuss it further.”

“Ooh go on tell this old soldier what debauchery you have planned” Steffanes teased.

“It’s nothing out of the ordinary sir. Really it isn’t” Replied Jori ,his cheeks reddening with embarrassment.

“Is it a girl? Is she pretty? Does she have friends? Is it a man? A secret gambling society? A sheep molester’s club?”

“Sir!” Jori erupted. Steffanes always loved it when he made Jori
angry, the way his handsome face got all scrunched up and turned
scarlet.

“What?” said Steffanes ? “Was it the sheep thing? Look Jori, as a
young man I’m sure you’ll often feel curious and you’ll want to try new
things. There’s nothing wrong with experimentation every now and again.”

“Really sir, you’re being ridiculous now.” Huffed Jori “I’m having time off and that’s all there is too it.”

“Fine.” Steffanes sighed. “Ruin my fun.“ But then something occurred to him, which made him stop and think for a second.

“ Jori, my memory is bad at the best of times, but I really cannot remember when you requested time off.”

“ It was three weeks ago Sir. I came to your room when you went to bed early, and I brought the request form with me.

“ So basically when you knew that I was tired, and would sign anything to get you out of my face”

“ Yes sir.” replied Jori with the beginnings of a grin on his face “I
can show you if you’d like. I’m sorry to do it this way, but you
wouldn’t have given me permission otherwise.” With that Jori turned to
leave, with just a bit of spring in his step.

“Jori” shouted Steffanes after him. Jori turned back to face him, saluting once again.

“Jori, today I am most proud of you. In one morning you have shown me
that not only are you not a completely work obsessed eunuch, but you
are also a sneaky, underhanded bastard. Two qualities, Jori, which I
value very highly and I thought you, had no trace of whatsoever. If I
were not your captain, I would hold you tight and kiss your cheek like
you were my own son. Now go away before you see me cry.”

With that Steffanes gave Jori a hearty pat on the back, and sent him
on his way. When His lieutenant was out of sight, he leaned back against
the wall quietly chuckling to himself, luckily not attracting the
attention of any of his men.

One of the many lessons Steffanes’s father had taught him was to
never assume you know everything about a person. Once again he had let
the old man down by forgetting what he had been taught. Still, he had
had a good laugh at Jori’s expense because of this. He hardly ever found
anything to get a laugh about these days. Grab what joy you can, when
you can. That’s one thing he had never forgotten.

He soon stopped chuckling when he actually thought about what Jori
had told him. For the first time in years Jori wouldn’t be around, which
meant he would have no one to do the work of being captain for him.

Doing Work was an unfamiliar beast for him these days. Jori loved it.
He loved it so much that Steffanes would be a cruel and heartless man
to not give him as much of his own to do as possible. Slowly over the
course of five years, he had passed of so many of his duties over to
Jori that the title of captain had become little more than an honour.
Now that Jori was going to be off for most of the day, Steffanes wasn’t
sure he remembered how to do everything properly.

“Eh, whatever, I’ll make the best of it” he thought to himself,
deciding to head over to his office. He may as well make a head start on
the paperwork if he was going to actually do his job today. Best thing
for an ‘old soldier’ to do was stay busy right? Even though Steffanes
had only turned thirty last month, there were days he felt much older
than that, and he had seen enough of the world to last a lifetime.

Just as he had started walking over to his office, he heard a familiar voice behind him call out “Captain Ingriade!”.

Turning around he was greeted with sight of Virtuoso Aeros, a sight
one should never have to see this early in the morning. With his jet
black hair, small sharp eyes that seemed to pierce right into you, and a
thin little mouth, Aeros reminded Steffanes of an angry weasel.

“ Master Aeros!” Steffanes replied trying his best to mask the fact
that seeing Aeros’s face made him feel like his skin was crawling with
maggots. “What brings you to the barracks?”

“Nothing more than a casual visit, Captain. I must say I’m more
surprised to see you walking around. The last two times I’ve been here,
lieutenant Jori has told me you where indisposed, and had confined
yourself to your quarters”

“When exactly had Jori been planning on telling me that Aeros had
been here!?” was the thought that flashed through Steffanes mind,
further adding to his list of frustrations. His trusted and dutiful
lieutenant was rapidly undermining his reputation more and more this
morning. Steffanes knew that where Aeros was concerned, there were no
casual visits. As much as he hated the man, Steffanes would at least
like to be kept informed of why he was down here.

Hastily pushing his internal troubles to one side, Steffanes,
attempting joviality, replied “Stars bless that young man! Yes, I’ve
been a little under the weather recently. Nothing but a mild cold,
you’ll be glad to know. But luckily I have Jori to help me when I need
it”

“Yes, Jori is reliable isn’t he?” said Aeros, beckoning to Steffanes
to follow him up a narrow corridor towards the back door of the
barracks. “It’s obvious he looks up to you, Captain Ingriade. Why would
he not after all, considering your heroic deeds in the last Hoilettan
war? I only worry that sometimes a young man, when in the presence of
his heroes, may become too star struck, and blind to their faults?”

Knowing from Aeros’s tone that pleasantries could be dispensed with, Steffanes fixed Aeros with a harsh glare.

“Get to your point, you fucking toad.” Steffanes practically growled, letting his anger show.

“My point.” Snapped back Aeros, unfazed “is that you’re deputizing
far too many duties on your subordinate. You may think you’ve been
clever and done enough to hide it, but don’t think myself and the other
Virtuoso’s haven’t caught on. You hardly ever take charge of detachments
to escort new arrivals anymore, and the reports sent from your desk
grow fewer and father between. What’s more, what reports we do get are
clearly not written in your hand!”

“Oh my most humble apologies my dear virtuoso” Steffanes replied sarcastically, even throwing in a low bow for good measure.

“That’s the lowest form of wit Captain. The lowest” replied Aeros, sighing.

“So what’s your point Aeros? Is this an official warning? Am I to be
disciplined? Tell the Maestro whatever you want, and see what he’ll do!
I’ll give you a hint, nothing!”

Aeros bit his lower lip.” True, convincing the Maestro to take action
would be difficult. He seems to value you, probably out of sympathy
over that ‘incident’”

Steffanes stifled the urge to throw a punch. “Aeros, you know and the
Maestro knows that we have an arrangement. For five years, I’ve
honoured my end of it. There’s nothing you can do. I can pass of all the
duties I want. It’s my right as captain”

“Fine then, Captain.” Replied Aeros, as he calmly walking away with
his back turned to Steffanes. “You are correct. It is your right as
captain to assign duties after all. The guard has performed well under
your care. “

“But know this, Captain” Aeros said while looking back at Steffanes,
fixing him with a stare. “Fail, and you stand to lose far more than just
your position. We could always find another Captain, if the worst where
to happen. You would never be able to regain what we will take from
you.” With that, Aeros left.

As soon as Aeros was out of sight, Steffanes slammed his fist into
the wall. “Damn him damn him damn him! Why does he always get the last
word?” He thought to himself, resisting the urge to yell out load.

He knew that there was nothing he could do about it now, so best to
move on. He would need to gather the detachment soon, and that meant
changing into official armour. Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he
began on his way to the armoury, to get ready for the long day ahead.