The sun was starting to peak through the clouds but couldn’t do anything about the cool, damp air. The ground of the weapons practice yard was a trampled muck and everyone was covered in it even before the sparring started. Alex was glad he didn’t have to do laundry here and wondered who did. Was there a laundromat in the tunnels beneath the village?

  Around him Class A & B stomped back and forth through the mud swinging their weapons through the beginner techniques. Today they were learning to use the staff, and more than a few people sported bruised shins and foreheads from self-inflicted wounds already.

  Alex stood off to the side of the group, flipping through the training guide in his HUD. The main section of the guide listed all the standard and advanced techniques, essentially katas, that explained how to flow through a series of optimized moves, but that wasn’t what he was interested in right now.

  He was looking for the perfect counters for the specific moves listed in the beginner technique.

  At first he had just flipped through and picked out a few promising moves, but quickly realized that each move listed its strengths and weaknesses – in what circumstances to use each move and when not to, essentially. That was exactly what he needed for today's sparring round.

  It was inevitable that Connor would come to Alex first in what was quickly becoming his favourite ‘sparring appetizer’. So far, that meant Alex in the dirt with a new bruise. But today Connor was going to get a little surprise.

  Alex couldn’t yet match Connor's speed or athleticism. But fighting wasn’t just about how fast you could go. Reading the situations is also critical. What move you use and when. Everyone here, even Connor, was learning the same set of moves. If Alex tried to compete with Connor like that, he would lose. Again. But the fact that Alex knew what moves Connor was going to employ made him predictable.

  So he flipped through the various blocks and counter attacks until he found a few that would counter the Beginner Kata that everyone was learning. To get really good at this he was going to have to invest the time to memorize the list of moves and then practice them all until they were second nature. This would allow him to anticipate what the opponent was going to do and have the perfect counters ready to go.

  That would take time of course. But for today he already knew what his opponents were going to do during the sparring period. He smiled as he practiced the new moves off to one side of the group. No one noticed. They were too busy trying to perfect the starter moves.

  Everyone except Sir William. He may come across as an over-the-top LARPer, hard to take seriously, but he was good at his job as instructor and kept a close eye on all of the students.

  After just a few minutes he noticed what Alex was doing and called loudly across the field, “Very good initiative, Mercer! But remember – a staff is not a flute. It is not played one note at a time.” Alex blushed. He had been trying to get the timing switching from a block and an overhead attack and couldn’t quite get it right.

  Connor, laughing the loudest of all, paused to see what Alex was up to.

  Alex just stopped and shrugged and wiped his brow, trying to play innocent. He wanted the element of surprise to help him in todays sparring session and didn’t want anyone, especially Connor, paying too much attention to what he was doing.

  They drilled another twenty minutes. Despite the cool weather everyone was covered in sweat.

  Eventually Sir William clapped again, sharp. “Enough forms! I think you have the basic steps down. By tomorrow your ANIPs will burn that motion into memory! Now it is time for sparring. Pair off!”

  Which, in this group, meant Connor immediately started walking toward Alex. He tried not to smile.

  “Morning, magic boy,” Connor said, grinning. “Nice stick.”

  “Don’t be jealous Connor,” Alex said. He held up his mage staff and made the gem at the top flare with bright blue light. He smiled. Controlling his weapon through the ANIP really did feel like magic.

  “So pretty,” Connor said, but he was scowling. He dropped into the beginner technique starting position and tapped the ground with his own staff. “Let’s go.”

  Alex sighed theatrically and rolled his eyes.

  “Come on then. It’s Monday morning, Mercer. This is your last chance to try and beat me until next weekend. You don’t want to go home without at least one win under your belt do you?” Connor smirked as he talked.

  Alex couldn’t hold back the smile this time. “You’re right Connor. I would really like at least one win.”

  They faced off from each other. Each in the starting position. Jay and Emily faced off nearby. Rae and Madi were already taking swings at each other. Brandon was paired with Danny. Mel and Sarah got assigned to Sir William himself for “assisted practice,” which meant they were about to get a ten-minute lecture on guard positions in the Hundred Years’ War.

  Connor spun his staff once – showy – then settled back into the starter technique forward stance. His weight was over his front right leg, staff angled to strike high or low. Perfect form, as expected. The guide called this position the “Peasant’s Keep.”

  Alex mirrored him but lower, and widened his stance so he could more easily sidestep.

  “Ready?” Connor said.

  “Not even a little.”

  “Good.”

  Connor moved first.

  High feint. Low sweep.

  Perfect technique as described by the starter set of moves.

  Alex didn’t think about it. He already knew what Connor was going to do. And he knew Connor was going to do it perfectly. Better and faster than Alex could. The staff was coming in low from Alex’s right to smash into his calf or shin.

  He knew exactly what was coming and all he had to do was step left, circle Connor and launch his own attack. But Connor was just too fast. Instead Alex had just enough time for the other block he had practiced. He slammed his staff down into the dirt beside his foot to take the hit instead of his leg.

  CRACK – Everyone turned at the initial sound.

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Connor was strong and had put everything he had into the first strike. Despite Alex’s own staff being planted in the muck, the contact knocked it sideways into his leg. But it took the brunt of the force and the final contact on his leg was nothing.

  To his credit, as surprised as he was by the block, Connor reacted quickly. He started moving his feet and pulled his staff back, starting to move back into the next step of the starter technique, which was a front guard.

  But as fast as he was, it wasn’t enough this time. Alex had anticipated these moves and learned how to counter each one.

  Right now Connor was extended forward, leaning down. He had put a lot of strength into the blow and both arms were forward. To move to guard position he had to pull the staff back and stand again, before he could shift his feet properly beneath him.

  Unfortunately for him, as he came back up, moving towards his guard position, the top of Alex’s staff was already coming down. Connor saw what was happening and almost managed to move out of the way, if only by throwing himself backwards into the muck, but Alex’s staff cracked his head at the hairline.

  Connor cursed and looked up at Alex from the dirt, one hand on the top of his head.

  From the sidelines, Rae called, “Man down!”

  Brandon barked a laugh which earned him a nasty glare from Connor.

  Sir William called over, “Recover! A true knight rises after every fall!”

  Lying on his back, Connor stared up at the pale sky for a second.

  Alex offered a hand but Connor just slapped it away and got back up to his feet, trying to scrape the worst of the mud off.

  “What was that crap?” Connor asked and spit into the dirt.

  Alex just shrugged and tried to look as innocent as possible. “Lucky block?”

  “Again,” said Connor, scowling.

  They reset. Alex knew the pattern, but apparently he needed to go faster. Connor almost swept him in the first round. He had managed to get in a lucky hit, but if he was going to do it again he needed to move as soon as Connor did. He couldn’t rely on the same move twice in a row.

  Connor stepped forward. No flourish this time, no warning. He just launched straight into his routine.

  Step, strike, recover. The first strike was the low sweep. The second was an overhand chop. That’s what Connor was going to do. Again. Because that was the series he had been practicing for the past hour.

  This time, Alex moved as soon as Connor started leaning into his sweep.

  Instead of blocking, Alex stepped towards the attacking side, lifting his forward foot to step over the incoming sweep. Despite all the practice he still didn’t know much about swinging a staff yet. But he had played little league baseball for years and knew how to swing a bat. He gripped the staff with two hands and, leaning forward, swung for the bleachers.

  The end of Alex’s staff crushed into Connors side just below the arm pit. According to his ANIP this move was called the half-moon, returning wind strike. Connor went down on one knee with a loud cry.

  Alex stepped back and waited for him to rise again. Connor looked like he was about to throw his staff away and just charge Alex with his fists.

  “Are we done?” Alex asked innocently.

  Connor stood up clutching a hand to his side. “No Mercer, we’re not done. Just luck huh?”

  Alex just shrugged and stood casually, waiting for Connor, who took a minute to walk in a little semi-circle, rubbing his ribs. Alex knew that feeling from the previous day's sparring.

  When he was ready, Connor set up again. Standing tall, Connor raised an eyebrow at him, waiting for Alex to raise his staff into a forward guard position. Alex didn’t move other than to return the eyebrow raise.

  Connor shrugged and moved his feet. He rotated his staff to the right side and shifted a hand lower on the haft. He wasn’t stupid. He could see that Alex was up to something and Connor thought he was going to surprise Alex by skipping the leg sweep and starting with the second attack in the starter sequence.

  Alex just stood there, in position, feet planted, but holding the staff lazily by his side.

  Connor moved. Exactly as Alex had expected.

  The staff came forward and down as Connor took two quick steps towards Alex. His forward hand shifted lower on the staff to get more force into the blow. It was a two-hand overhead strike and Connor was putting all his force behind it again. It was a stunning blow if you could land it.

  But Alex had the counter ready. For this strike, if he had been standing in the starting guard position, his only real option would have been to raise his own staff above him with two hands and block. Connor was the stronger of the two though, so he may not have even been able to stop the blow completely.

  And then he would have been open to a reverse strike from the bottom of Connor’s staff, which he could only really avoid by dropping his staff low to block again, or backpedal quickly – at which point Connor would press the attack and more than likely Alex would lose.

  But Alex had found another move in the guide that looked like it would work better than a standard block AND played into Connor's preconceptions. Connor saw Alex’s stance and assumed he was just being lazy now that he had won twice.

  The truth was, that Alex WAS standing in the correct position, just for a more advanced move. He kept his staff low beside him, the end resting on the ground and only loosely holding on about two-thirds of the way up.

  It didn’t look like he was ready to fight and when Alex didn’t correct his guard Connor saw the opportunity and had changed his own stance for an overhand strike. Alex couldn’t help but to smile as Connor launched forward.

  Alex burst into motion. He tossed his staff forward, towards Connor like an underhand spear throw, letting it slide through his right hand until it was almost gone and then grasped firmly the end. At the same time, he reached out and grabbed the middle of the staff with his left hand as he bent forward and lunged.

  The resulting move put him inside and under Connor's overhand strike. It hit his shoulder as he moved in, but he was too close for Connor to get any real force behind it yet.

  Alex’s thrust, though, jabbed Connor right in the sternum. His eyes bulged and he huffed loudly as all the air fled his lungs. Alex continued his momentum and spun in a half circle around Connor as his opponent fell to the mud on his knees, both arms curled around his belly as he wheezed and gasped and struggled to catch his breath again.

  From the sideline, Jay let out a long whistle. “Nice!”

  Sir William shouted, “Very good, Mercer! Excellent in fact.” He came towards them in a flourish to check on Connor who just waved him away. “Connor, take a break and catch your breath. Alex, very good indeed. Let’s switch it up. Why don’t you try Jay this time.”

  Alex nodded and grinned. He wasn’t sure he was going to be able to pull off that last move fast enough, but he supposed ‘practice makes perfect’.

  Jay rolled his shoulders, smiling sharply. “Alright then. Come try some of those fancy moves on me.”

  ***

  Much has been made, by cowards and skeptics alike, of the so-called ANIP, that whispering presence which observes a trainee’s stance, tracks their missteps, and offers correction faster than any drillmaster with a switch ever could.

  I, for one, welcome it.

  Think of it not as a device, but as an incorruptible squire of tireless patience. It never yawns. It never forgets a mistake. It does not soften its judgment because it likes you, nor does it grow cruel because it does not. It watches, remembers, and reminds, again and again until the body learns what the mind resists.

  I have seen students grasp in days what once took months. Footwork settles sooner. Guards rise without thought. Blades return to the center guided by instinct rather than instruction. This is not cheating. This is simply a compression.

  Some may complain that such learning lacks soul. That technique earned too quickly must be shallow.

  To them I say: nonsense.

  The soul is not forged by slowness. It is forged by intention. If a trainee learns faster, then splendid! They may spend the saved time on judgment, courage, restraint, and other virtues no device can teach.

  The ANIP merely ensures that when lessons arrive, the body is ready to listen.

  The Living Codex of Steel, Honor, and Proper Stance,

  Volume IV: On Training Spirits, Invisible Squires, and the Acceleration of Mastery

  Sir William the Bold; Bill Blachley