บท 28: To Ravensong
"...that's why I'm saying if I had a bottle in my hand right now, we wouldn't be having this fight.."
"You are always blabbering about something, old man. Booze does not help with that at all.."
"Fine, how about this. I buy one bottle next town we visit and I won't say anything for a week after that..."
"You will forget that we ever had this conversation with just one sip, you stupid face.."
"Hey.. hey... Now you are getting personal you brat !! You have no respect for your elders..."
Tuning out the blabbering mess, Damian focused on his basic spells book and read about all the useful and cool spells that he could try while travelling in this boring ride. They were going like this for hours now and the father son duo were still arguing with their nonsense argument.
Suddenly shouting noises came from the top of the wagon behind them, and everyone stopped. Since Damian was nearest to the back entrance, he jumped off and got on top of the wagon to see what was going on. A large herd of goblins were heading towards them from the sides, but it wasn't a big deal. The four mercenaries were standing at the front waiting for them to arrive, one of them was even yawning. Another man in light armor was chanting some spell while aiming his one hand at the coming goblins.
Damian immediately took out his newly purchased empty notebook which was worth more than a month worth of food and started drawing the replica of the green runic magic circle that was slowly forming inches away from the mage's stretched out hand. It wasn't too complex but it was indeed a bit advanced than what the basic spells book had. And after a minute Damian saw what it really did.
A mid sized tornado released out of the runic magic circle and crashed amidst the herd of tightly packed goblins, making then disoriented and falling to the sides and even taking some with it; flying them in circles and throwing them a bit further back with cries of pain and rage.
It was indeed a cool one. Damian named it 'Air tornado', though he doubted it already had a name but Damian did not care, He liked his own names better.
The mercenaries cut down the disoriented goblins one by one in lazy manner and finished the job. The workers who shouted in warning came down from the top of the wagons and one by one used daggers to cut all the goblins in various places. After being confused for a minute Damian finally realized what they were doing. They were looking for the mana stone.
"Hell ! We killed so many, Why the hell no one remembered to check for stones ?"
Damian regretted his past actions but he also somewhat understood, they were too busy running that no one cared about prizes, specially not a rich lady or a maid constantly scheming to kill them.
Finishing their work the journey continued once again. It was well in the evening and the heat was gone, instead a very nice breeze was moving all the trees around. Making a really nice environment to be in, so Damian decided to stay on top of the wagon till they camped and enjoyed the clear blue sky and breezy wind while practicing his spells.
Finally they camped in an open space when the sun started setting, people got busy making camps and doing cooking or just setting a perimeter around them and trying to discover if there were any hidden threats. Damian stayed on top of the wagon, reading the spell book, not wasting the last remnants of light till the dinner was ready and someone shouted everyone to get their fill.
Grabbing his bowl of soup Damian sat next next to the campfire on a log. The mercenaries who had already finished their security rounds were lazing around the fire, a worker got them their portions as well.
Eating silently Damian observed the man with spear, he was pretty good earlier against the goblins. His technique was no way perfect but he had solid basics. For now it would be great improvement to Damian if he just knew the proper way to wield a spear.
'cough'
"Excuse me, sir."
Perfect instead of just one guy now he had the attention of everyone near the fire, including the big bellied merchant and the annoying father-son duo.
"Are you talking to me..?"
Fortunately the spearman understood who he was referring to.
"Yes.."
"I'm no sir, kid."
"Okay... Can I know your name then..?"
"It's Bomas."
"Bomas, Can I ask something of you ?"
"Sure, What is it? And please don't ask when we will arrive, it's barely been a day."
"Ah, No that's not it. I was just wondering, can you teach me spearman-ship..?"
"Huh ! It's not something for kids, boy."
"I will pay you..."
That got his attention and he finally straightened up from his lazy position and looked at me .
"How much do you have..?"
"How much are your lessons worth..?"
"It's an invaluable fighting style, you know ? I would take at least one gold coin, I don't think you can afford it, kid."
"You are right. I only have 5 extra silver ones, I guess I will just have to ask someone else after reaching the city."
Seeing Damian taking out five sparkling silver coins, the spearman's eyes had money written in it. He immediately stopped Damian who was turning back by the shoulder and nodded sagely.
"Early morning before all this loafers wake up, my shift is last before morning so you will be accompanying me for the rest of the journey."
"Okay. Early morning, got it."
The crowd listening our conversation, and murmured but Damian ignored them and returned to his seat, the annoying father-son duo was still staring at him from the side until finally the son who was 8-9 years old; same as Damian spoke up.
"Dude ! Do you even know what 5 silver cons are worth? Give it to me, I will teach you 'whistling' it's a very cool skill to have I promise."
"Ah.. Thanks, but I'm fine I think."
"Kid, You can buy premium booze with 5 silver coins, do you know that ?"
"And what would I do with the alcohol..?"
"You drink it of course, man what a dumb kid you are.."
Damian wanted to scream at him 'he was a freaking kid', but controlled himself and continued eating his soup ignoring the duo.
Sleeping in the wagon with two other guys for some hours since he did not have a tent, Damian felt someone pulling on his leg in the middle of a nice dream in which he was sleeping on a huge ball of cotton fluff. Grabbing his sword Damian almost charged at the person who intruded in his sleep, but it was the spearman guy just trying to wake him up since it was time for his shift in the early morning.
Reprimanding himself for almost cutting the guy, Damian washed his face and took out the spear from his spatial storage and stood ready for the lesson.
The spearman was the worst teacher possible, he barely knew the proper term for the moves and hardly cared much about the form and balance, but still he was a good enough spearman for beginner level which was exactly what Damian needed. It came to the point that Damian told him to just shut up and fight with him and show his moves and reasons behind it, which was much more effective way to learn than just his constant muttering and weird hand movements.
After some 3 hours everyone woke up and they ended their session for that day, Damian had already understood many moves and how exactly one fought with the spear but he still needed practice and constant repetition to ingrain the training in his muscle memory.
Damian was surrounded by his travel companions once again as the wagon started moving and a new day started.
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