Dirt and mud, Chapter 16

In the dark of the night the sound of wooden swords clashing with each other is heard faintly in the shelter between the mountains, in the small light of the torches, little boys are training with fake swords amongst each other, whilst old man Ramo is walking amongst them, Jason too is there, parrying and striking back with the boy in front of him, Jason’s body have healed almost all injuries, his body seems to have ground both in weight and hight, although he is still lacking compared to boys and girls his age, he is not the same Jason frail limbs he was in the slavery camp.
“So, big boy Jason, I guess your injuries don’t hurt much anymore” said a boy with dark bland hair, as he was trading shots with Jason
“Nice of you to notice Seryon” replied Jason
“Then there won’t be any excuses if I break your sword this time huh” said Seryon giving more strength into his strikes then before
Jason not wanting to be the one crawling back he started keeping up with the rhythm “As long as you don’t cry about not being allowed to use you very good techniques in the fight” said Jason trying to push Seryon back
“Oh, you are so lucky it is not allowed, to be used in sparing nor training, for my brother’s technique has already broken many guards’ helmets down”
after some hits between the little boys the old man calls for a stop, for he saw it going too far
“Enough for now” he said with a calm voice,
“I will be calling on some names, for you test of sparing, of course it will all be with wooden weapons, you are dismissed for now until I call upon you, you may rest” he continued
As they left, they went to grab some left over from tonight’s dinner, setting on the table they started discussion
“I am getting tired of this, basics now basics afterwords, if it is going to be like this at least give us a real sword,” said Seryon
“Yeh, I agree with Seryon, but the old man never gives us a chance, we should talk to him again when he calls us later, don’t you agree Jason?” said another boy with black hair
“If you ask me I do not actually” said Jason as Seryon looked at him in confusion then replied to him
“You really are asking Jason, its yet to be a month for him in here, I bet he can’t pick it up at all”
As Jason wanted to defend himself with his mouth full of food, another boy talked
“You know Jason is from a slavery camp, I bet he picked more weight than you ever did”
Seryon wanted to talk before another boy stepped saying “by the way Jason, are you sure you were never thought swordsmanship back there, you seem to have grasped the basics far ago”
Jason swallowing his food he said “all I ever did was watch the guards fight amongst each other while separating the trash from the minerals back then”
“So, you are telling all you did was pick up rooks? Even the farmers here do it with little to no effort, you just have a lucky body I guess” said Seryon
“That is what you tell yourself at night?” said Jason with a smug on his face,” If it helps you feel better so be it”
Angrily but not wanting to show it Seryon replied, “not really, just spitting the facts here”
“Well, you need to check were you get them, if they are as poor as your sword technique, then you might need to rewrite your knowledge”
A bell rang then as they stood up putting the plates back where they belong and headed towards the training grounds
In front of them the old man Ramo with his blind eye stood as a mountain
“Now whatever names I say will walk to the middle without any argument” said PharamRamo
“Doryon and Ferman” the boy that was on Jason’s side being Doryon with the other being a ginger, one after another the fights went on, then came the time for Jason
“Jason and Seryon, step forward” said Ramo “And Jason, don’t over work yourself, you just removed your bandages, your body is yet to heal”
As they both had their feet on the sand bellow in a ready stunt, their hands gripped on their blades, even if they are to be fake, this is still a fight, the old man stepped back giving them some space, the winds whispered around as the crowd went silent, everyone waiting for the old man to ring the bell, “When will it start” with a low voice Doryon asked the one beside him before old man Ramo struck the bell
The fight begin between the tow, swords started to clash without much force, for neither part wanted that weak wood painting the ground and rendering them defeated, a left strike from Seryon that Jason parried upwards and tried to hit from the right, Seryon saw that and before Jason could move his sword away from he put force into his so both of their weapons hit the ground, at that moment Seryon kicked Jason who moved sideways to get the impact into his shoulder
Both of them had their weapons free, “Come on Jason, you are not afraid to go back to using sticks to walk, are you?” said Seryon with a smile on his face trying to provoke Jason
Jason not falling for it tightened both his hands on the sword, Seryon then decided to attack forward, parries and attacks went from both sides as wood started to break from both their weapons
a low strike came from Jason as Seryon defended his left leg striking both swords upwards, Seryon tried to use that opening by stabbing but Jason moved to the side and tried kicking him with his knee, Seryon quickly defended with both his hands, though it hurt, it got Seryon to move back and give Jason a moment to catch his breath, Seryon did not like the fact of giving his enemy a breathing moment so he pushed forward, a strike after another he got reckless and parried by one of Jason’s
Seryon wanted to get back his footing and went for a strike with only one hand, his sword Got split in half with Jason’s strike, leaving it slim as it shattered upwards and not sideways
“Jason won” said The old man as Jason looked back at the other kids with a smile, just for Seryon to rise slowly from behind, his eyes white filled with anger, as he raises his sword ready to strike downwards, Jason notices the shocked faces of the kids from behind as he turns back fast in a defence stunt, one hand pressing the sword’s head towards the impact, while the other has its elbow down to the handle, and the rest of it supports the sword not to collapse
Seryon did not care for the old man who was yelling at him to stop as he struck down with his sword, the impact was too much for Jason who tried to direct Seryon’s sword to the ground, although he succeeds, his sword broke as his hand was almost skinned, Seryon picked his sword still filled with envy and anger wanted to strike again Jason who is standing barley on his knees, as he lifted his wooden blade he couldn’t strike down, he felt something pulling it
“Let go you jerk” he said pulling it before turning back, a punch came to his face, it was the old man, calm but his eyes are flaming,
“What do you think you are doing” said the chief with the broken sword in his hand
“Winning as you ordered us to do” replied Seryon
“And I said you lost, so why did you continue” replied the old man
“It wasn’t fair, my sword was defective” said Seryon before Ramo cut him and continued “Is that what you are going to say if you leave beyond the mountains, that they had better gear, because they always do, they outnumber us, outclass us and outs kill most of us”
Seryon wanted to talk but Ramo continued angrily “With that strike from behind you would have killed him, is that what you wish”
“So be it, let him die, all of you giving him special treatment because he came back as a wet broken cat” as Ramo looked at him with disgusted confusion wanting to talk Seryon continued
“Well, I too lost most of my family, I too saw them get eaten by wild dogs while those monsters laughed at the sight, and yet I see no one coming to console me whenever I break a sweat” said Seryon with flaming sadness, that vaporized his tears
“You are the same as your brother, both of you thinking the sword is the key, we have the strength and yet we hide like rats from those dogs” said Ramo as he went down to Seryon’s level
“If we kill each other like animals in a jungle, all that will be left to fight are pathetic losers like you who just want to stand out, and guess what, the ones that stand out here aren’t the ones to live the longest”
From the entrance of the mountain a horn sent a sound whispering just enough to tell the camp that the expedition is back
Ramo looked at Seryon, his eyes not angry, but disappointed he threw him his toy sword as he walked away towards the sound of the crowd, one by one the kids left, leaving him in the mud, some looked back at him, others hurried not caring, while he did not give any eye contact, he sat there, his hands covered in dirt, his sword broken In front of him and so is his spirit