Chapter 45: Duels
Ezra finished the tour of Bren in the late afternoon, Reitz and Aerwyna did not want to compromise Ezra's safety. While they were fairly sure of the security of Bren since the kidnapping incident they did not want to risk roaming around Bren at night.
Ezra then requested to go to the training grounds which Reitz was delighted to oblige however, Aerwyna was against it but still conceded at Ezra's incessant pleading. She remembered that her son was patient enough to endure being caged in the castle for so long this bothered her and added to her guilt. Sometimes it would pass by Aerwyna's mind that Ezra never exactly went through a baby phase where she got to dote on her son, she never had a chance to baby-talk Ezra and she felt slightly lonely that this did not happen, but when she remembered how capable Ezra was she smiled again.
They arrived at the training grounds south of the castle with the sun still up, It was a midsummer equinox so the sun would set much later, there were spears swords, pikes, polearms, maces and war hammers on the racks. Ezra was impressed with the steel output of Bren, these were items that were hard to manufacture with their technology. Ezra once thought that this world was fairly like the middle ages on earth but he kept on discovering things that were contrary to his expectations.
There was a batch of squires doing their training regimen, they were working on their footing and the proper way of executing slashes. It was quite repetitive seeing the sight but what Ezra really wanted to see was the duels. He was curious on how the squires actually used magic in combat. After Ezra and party arrived the training session ended soon as the squires lined up and greeted the lord they would serve in the future.
Maester Grimfire then set up the duels for the entertainment of the visiting lord and his family. The first duel seemed to be from two squires who would soon advance to a knight, this was purposely done so that the first duel caught everyone's attention.
The two youths went to their corners, the space for the duel was a five hundred square meter yard, and it had various terrain and a lake at the middle with rocks and sand on some parts and shrubs and trees on another.
Both were equipped with a sword, a bow and a quiver arrows, and a weapon of their choice. They wore plate armour and a visor. The squire who entered on the right was Waine, the other one was called Hedley.
Upon commencement of the duel, the two shot a few arrows at each other, then madly dashed toward each other without using spells yet. Waine sent a [Rock Bullet] at Hedley which was a near miss. Waine answered the attack with an arrow aiming for his thigh, which hit the armour of Hedley but did not injure him.
Hedley immediately became wary of Waine but then Waine jumped to his location, drawing his sword, Hedley parried the sword and sparks flew. They traded a few blows but no one was injured. Waine gained an advantage and kicked Henley away as Henley landed in an awkward position. Henley chose to retreat but Waine kept on launching arrows not letting him cast a single spell. But to Reitz and Aerwyna's surprise, Henley was shift casting.
"Maester this squire is truly talented shift casting at his age?" Reitz said as he faced Aed Grimfire.
"Yes Milord, those two boys are the best among this batch of squires," Aed replied.
"Oh, two? What about the other one? "asked Reitz.
"Patience my lord, the duel will answer your question," Aed responded with a smile.
The arrows kept on flying but on the seventh arrow he dropped his bow and directly aimed a fist at Hedley, a liquid-like flame blazed forth toward his opponent, he cast [Flame Blaze]. The fire was much less powerful than Reitz's spell but it was a fairly complicated chant, Reitz was even more impressed. But the other youth that was backed into a corner suddenly released a spell that made Waine lose his footing as the ground quaked where he stood.
"Oh? The other one knows how to make a delayed cast? Truly these squires are exceptional Maester," Reitz exclaimed as he smiled these two prospects.
The aim of Waine was off and did not hit Hedley while Hedley tried to flank him but he was exhausted by the spell that he cast. Waine fell to the ground on one knee suffering from magic depletion.
The duel ended in a draw as both of them ended up with exhausting their magic.
Reitz, Aerwyna, Ezra and their escort applauded at the fight. The two managed to stand up and bowed at them as they exited the grounds.
The other three duels lined up for them were not really eventful most of them did not use any spell rather used only swords, the tactics of the other squires were below the level of the first duelists. Ezra shook his head at the squires, they were truly below Evan's level of control over his body and the level of tactics Evan displayed. He also noticed a few mistakes of the duelists when he used AMP, they would strike at the wrong angles and thus their force used was much less and the damage of the blow also diminished.
Ezra looked at Hearth.
'This kid looks like all proud and such I don't like him. He looks at me with a sort of contempt. What the hell did I do to this kid to deserve such stares anyway? Hmph, I'm going to teach this kid a lesson.' Ezra thought
. As they walked around Bren Ezra noticed that Hearth seemed really annoyed with him, he looked proud and domineering as well, also when he asked him to fetch him something he ignored him and pretended he didn't hear anything.
Now Ezra did not really mind, he still was not accustomed to having servants to his beck and called, he asked politely but he was snubbed, this ten-year-old kid was acting out and Ezra wanted to put him in his place, he could have easily acted out and slapped the hell out of hearth and just blame it on a random tantrum but he knew that this would just effectively vent his frustration, he wanted to get directly to the core of the problem. So he made a mischievous plan, he told Reitz he wanted to go to the training grounds to see how the soldiers trained, but he secretly planned to act against Hearth.
"Mama, Papa, I want to duel too," Ezra told them.
Reitz and Aerwyna were shocked at Ezra's request, they knew that Ezra was serious. The other people in the escort aside the knights who had participated in the battle with Catalyna laughed. They thought this kid was playing around.
"What!? Why Ezra? Of course, we won't let you," Aerwyna said as she was the first one to react.
Reitz was thoughtful, then he asked a question, "Who do you want to duel then?"
"Him," spoke as he pointed his finger at Hearth.
Ezra knew that his parents were unlikely to agree to this request or flog a person just because their son said so he planned this instead.
Reitz then had a complicated expression.
"What? Why Ezra?"
Hearth was still proud and haughty he did not show the slightest sign of fear. Of course, he wouldn't fear a two-year-old, but he understood that Ezra did not like him and that he could possibly undergo a flogging because of this.
"Nothing I just want to test my skills, Papa.'
As Ezra said this, the escort roared with laughter they thought that this was the petty requests of a child who wanted to mimic what he had just seen.
"NO," Aerwyna answered him definitely.
"That is somewhat of an unreasonable request, Ezra," Reitz said with a pained look. He did not want the child of his friend and his own to have a quarrel especially early on. Even though he knew instinctively that Ezra could hold his ground against Hearth, he was not sure about Ezra's safety, in a duel, anything could happen.
Ezra knew that his parents were not going to agree to this.
"Okay, how 'bout someone duel in my stead? I think he could do," Ezra pointed at Caspian. He was quite fond of this boy, he talked to him along the way and he told him his story as an orphan in his past life he had a natural affinity for him.
Caspian was surprised at Ezra's statement, he didn't want a fight with the overbearing Hearth.
"But I'll have to come along in the duelling area because I want to guide Caspian."
Evan was silent at this but he made a sad expression, he knew that Hearth was haughty and should be taught his place, he would have reprimanded him later today but he was surprised that Ezra acted first.
"Hmp, a lowborn commoner dare take me on?" said Hearth as he looked at Caspian from head to toe, he did not dare make a comment about Ezra thus he tried to vent on the unwitting Caspian.
Reitz sighed, Hearth seemed to have gotten on Ezra's nerves, He could only concede at Ezra's request, Aerwyna hesitated but acceded as well.
For the duel, they both Caspian were equipped with wooden swords.
Ezra estimated that spells would not be active here as these two boys were barely squires anyway.
But as both of them neared Hearth cast [Stone Bullet] it was roughly 3 centimetres in circumference, not comparable to the ones knights would cast but it caught Caspian off guard and hit his left hand crushing his fingers as he tried to block it. Caspian howled in pain.
Reitz was surprised at the turn of Events he did not know that Aaron had such a capable son to be able to execute a spell in battle at such an early age. Squires of his age could barely cast a decent spell while training how much more during actual combat.
Ezra watched quietly by the sides.
Hearth attacked Caspian as he smirked. Each parry that Caspian did made him wince, his grip on the sword was slowly waning.
Before the battle Ezra briefed Caspian that he should follow his commands to the letter and made him swear on his knightly vow so that Ezra could control the outcome of the battle, they also did a little practice before the actual combat.
"Now Caspian one step right, thrust," Ezra commanded.
Caspian did as he was told, Hearth was caught off guard and sidestepped the thrust.
During the past year, Ezra discovered that he could use AMP to analyze patterns as well and not just give him metrics and probabilities, he wanted to test it in a real fight.
"Sweep toward his left knee"
The side step was awkward and it exposed his left leg, which was caught with the wooden sword. Hearth then winced forward,
"Quickly swing upward,"
Caspian was fast, Hearth heard the command and tried to dodge but Caspian was so swift he hit his forehead with his sword. As Ezra talked to Caspian during the trip he had already tested the boy's reflexes and speed, of course for being a bodyguard he wanted to know personally how good they were, he was impressed and deduced that he could command Caspian in such kinds of battles with minimal deviance from his commands.
Hearth was now enraged. He retreated but then madly dashed and charged at Caspian with enraged eyes, He kept on swinging his sword without any technique.
"Keep on dodging… Now! Kick,"
The timing was perfect and the kick landed to Hearth's gut, this made Hearth coil in pain.
"Enough!" Reitz said as he stopped the duel.
Caspian was panting now his hand still ached but he endured.
"Remember this, boy, even commoners can beat princes, so don't wear that smug look next time," Ezra said as he walked back. The whole building was utterly stunned.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
earldennison
earldennison Hi readers,
I know I told you that you would get a chapter if we reached fifth place, but sadly that was a long shot which I knew from the beginning. I was hoping of reaching 75 comments though, so no extra chapter, So as a concession I made this chapter extra long(worth 1.5 chapters), 2000 word long. This is the longest chapter I have made. Partly also because we have reached 50k words! A milestone in this novel.
Thank you for all the commenters
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