Andy awoke early. Yarel and Pliny were both out for the day, and Noel was huddled under a pile of blankets on his bunk. Aside from a few of Pliny’s snoring fits, the night had been peaceful.

  He opened the front door gently and stepped outside into the morning mist. The sun had barely risen. Three deer stood in the middle of the clearing, a doe and two fawns. The doe stood at attention as Andy emerged onto the veranda. The two fawns grazed.

  Andy waited a few minutes, allowing the fawns to eat their fill before the doe ushered them back into the woods. Only then did he descend the steps into the yard, crossing the soft grass to the chopping block.

  Again, the axe was buried deeply. Andy placed his foot on the stump and pulled with all his might, straining until the axe popped free.

  The still morning air resounded with the sound of chopping as Andy halved several logs, and then halved the halves, just as he had the day before, placing them on a curing rack. He then hoisted an armful of cured logs and headed up to the den.

  “You’re up early today,” Morwen said from the pantry as Andy emerged into the den from the spiral staircase. “Well rested?”

  “Yes,” Andy said, placing the logs carefully on the floor by the fireplace, making as little sound as possible. After all, Noel was still sleeping. “And you?”

  “Ah, well, I never seem to sleep well these days,” Morwen said. “Too much trouble.” Her words hung in the air, but she didn’t elaborate further. “Coffee?”

  “Yes, please,” Andy said, placing three logs on the fire and stoking the flames.

  There was a small grate over the fire this morning, and a kettle sat on top of it. Morwen used a towel to grab the kettle handle, pouring its contents into a mug.

  “Thank you,” Andy said, accepting the coffee.

  Morwen nodded gently.

  He drank his coffee in silence as Morwen moved back and forth between her room and the den, apparently gathering a few items she had misplaced. On her final trip down the ladder, she closed the hatch behind her. She was not wearing leather armor today, but rather a more casual outfit: baggy, patched pants and a loose-fitting tunic held together with a utility belt, the same one that had been on the bookshelf the previous day.

  On her tunic, there was a shoulder patch depicting the same four-tusked elephantine skull she had worn on her armor the previous day.

  “And your boots fit okay?” she asked.

  “Yes,” Andy said. “They’re a bit heavy, though.”

  “That they are,” Morwen said, smiling.

  They made their way down to the veranda where Andy strapped on the heavy boots.

  “Your primary goal today,” Morwen said, “is to keep up with me.”

  “Are we running?” Andy asked.

  “God, no,” Morwen said, chuckling. “Not where we’re going.”

  Where are we going? Andy panicked silently for a moment as he stood up and followed her down the steps, making a conscious effort to lift his heavy shoes off the ground.

  They set off on the overgrown path that he and Lilly had travelled the previous day, leading back to the familiar trail that would take them to the Dawnspring.

  For the first three minutes or so, the terrain was relatively flat, but already, Andy could feel the lactic acid building up in his legs.

  “Getting tired already?” Morwen asked. She continued walking at a slow pace.

  He didn’t notice until she said something, but he had begun breathing heavily. “I’m fine,” he insisted.

  “Okay,” she said. “We can’t stop, you know. You have to keep up with me, no matter what. Don’t let me out of your sight.”

  Andy nodded and exhaled through gritted teeth as he continued trudging along. He gradually found the minimum amount he could lift his boots off the ground without tripping or shuffling. Ordinarily he would have considered it a lazy technique, but he didn’t know how long they were going to walk, and he had to conserve his energy. His legs continued to burn in subtle protest, but he found his rhythm eventually.

  Morwen turned to face Andy and continued walking backward. She was going at a leisurely pace. “Now things start to pick up,” she said.

  As soon as the words left her mouth, the trail began its incline. He had descended this section of the trail the day before with Lilly. Going downhill, it had been a breeze aside from the occasional scramble over rocks. Now, though, with weighted boots heading uphill, it became a struggle.

  Morwen turned back around and continued at a modest pace, never exceeding more than one or two miles per hour.

  Nonetheless, Andy began to falter. As the incline grew steeper, he had to push himself up, grasping on rocks and roots to assist his struggling lower body. He continued to ascend, but now his glutes and lower back were beginning to burn. He had to summon all the mental fortitude he could to continue on Morwen’s trail.

  “We haven’t even gotten to the actual training, yet,” she said, smiling.

  “What?” Andy said, panting.

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “We’ve got to take a side-trail up here to get to the training site,” she said.

  Andy’s heart sank. His legs felt as if they would give out at any moment, and they hadn’t even begun training?

  He caught himself, though, slipping into that familiar attitude of resignation, of hopelessness, of defeat.

  No, we’re not going to let that happen. Never again.

  “If this is the warm-up, I can’t wait to see what training looks like,” he said, chuckling and huffing as he grasped an available tree root to hoist himself toward Morwen on the steepening trail. To his surprise, his attempt at humor caused his resignation to dissipate. This had just become a game, a competition, an experiment. He wanted to see just how far he could push himself.

  “That’s the spirit!” Morwen said.

  They cleared a ledge and stood on flat ground for the first time in a mile. Andy threw his arms over his head to catch his breath.

  “How are those boots treating you?” Morwen asked as she slowed down.

  “They… hurt… good,” Andy said, panting.

  Morwen burst into laughter, throwing her head back. “I haven’t heard that before!” she said, “not from a new recruit… they hurt good! I’m using that from now on.” She sighed and gestured toward a bush. “This way,” she said, pushing the shrubbery to the side and revealing a small foottrail, overgrown with brambles.

  “Haven’t been here in a long while,” Morwen said. “The trail could use some upkeep.”

  Not only did Andy have to squat and duck to make it through the thick brambles, but he also had to swat at spider webs every so often. He kept up, to his surprise, with Morwen, who was weaving and ducking under the brush with impeccable form. The deep squatting and ducking made Andy’s thighs and glutes burn hot in protest, nearly shaking at times, but he continued pushing through.

  To his surprise, he even began to find some enjoyment in the difficulty.

  “Here we are!” Morwen said, as they emerged onto a clear hillside.

  There was a magnificent view below. Rolling hills settled onto a coastline, and a city skyline rose above the sparkling ocean waters that extended out onto the distant horizon.

  “Beautiful, isn’t it?” Morwen said. “That’s Cresthaven… my city. My people.” She smiled warmly.

  Andy rested his hands on his head as he took in the view. Several towers rose high above the central city. Winding streets were bustling with people moving to and fro.

  “What’s it like?” Andy asked. “In Cresthaven.”

  Morwen took her place beside him, gazing down at the skyline.

  City walls contained several districts of stone buildings, some ordinary, some monumental, and a few at the center towering above others. Outside of the walls, wooden and thatch-roofed structures sprawled for miles. A river ran just outside the southern wall, crossed by a large, stone bridge.

  “It’s a beautiful place, it’s an ugly place,” Morwen said. “The best and the worst of this world are contained within those walls.”

  “What do you mean?” Andy asked. “I thought you said you loved the city. What’s ugly about it?”

  “I do love the city,” Morwen said. “And I love its people. Its craftsman, its laborers, its farmers. I just wished the nobility loved the city too. They take it for granted, dividing its riches amongst themselves instead of giving back to the people who make their life possible.”

  “Ah,” Andy said. “I see.”

  “But that is why the Order of the Behemoth exists, to protect the vulnerable, and to keep power in check” Morwen said. She pointed to the patch on her shoulder, showing it to Andy. “This is the Behemoth skull,” she said. “The Behemoth is a fearsome creature, but it will only fight in specific circumstances.”

  “Is that a real creature?” Andy asked. “Or is it… mythological?”

  “It is a real creature,” Morwen said, “belonging to the central and southern regions of the continent. It’s known, above all, for its remarkable protective instincts. Behemoths have been known to interrupt predators and protect prey, to no apparent benefit for themselves.”

  “Interesting,” Andy said.

  “The Benevolent Beast, they call it.”

  Morwen stared off onto the horizon. “But enough of my pontificating… we have more immediate business to attend to.”

  She led Andy around a corner where they faced a sheer cliff on the mountainside, about forty feet in height. In the cliff, there were narrow handholds leading up to the top.

  “Watch,” Morwen said. She reached into her utility belt and pulled out a large white bandana with black and yellow flower patterns.

  She placed the bandana between her teeth as she scaled the cliffside effortlessly, using only her arms to lift herself along the notches. The entire time, her legs dangled freely under her. When she reached the top edge, she stuffed the bandana in the uppermost notch, pushing in a rock to hold it there. Then, she went down the way she came, lowering herself notch by notch until she reached the ground.

  “Retrieve the bandana,” she said. “I’ll observe.”

  “Alright,” Andy said, looking at the cliffside. The notches were barely big enough for his fingers, so they certainly weren’t going to be big enough for his massive boots. “And I’m supposing I can’t go barefoot?”

  “You may not,” said Morwen. “That’s part of it.”

  Andy nodded. He extended his right arm up and gripped the handhold. Lifting himself up just enough for his left arm to grasp the next handhold.

  “Good,” Morwen said. “You’re a natural.”

  Andy felt his shoulders, chest, back, and core rapidly losing strength as he attempted to stabilize himself without using his feet. The fact that his boots were adding an extra twenty pounds didn’t help anything.

  He strained with his left arm and shoulder, pulling himself up as he engaged his core. He swung his right arm wildly upward, finding the next notch. He was already about ten feet off the ground. He lifted himself upward again when, suddenly, his fingers slipped.

  “Damn!” he cried as he fell. The ground rushed up to meet him, knocking the wind out of him as he landed on his back with a loud thud. Thankfully, the ground was soft soil and dirt, not hard rock.

  “Not bad for your first attempt,” said Morwen. “Now brush yourself off and go again.”

  Andy rose to his feet. His entire body, now, was protesting in fatigue. If he failed on his first attempt, how was he going to succeed on his second now that his muscles were crying out in pain? “I don’t know if I can.”

  “Well…” Morwen trailed off. “Just yesterday you said you were willing to put in the work. Have you changed your mind?”

  “No, no I haven’t,” Andy said, shaking his arms. “I just, I’m not sure if it’s possible.”

  “I can assure you it is,” Morwen said, “but even if it weren’t you’d still have to do it. I can only speak for myself, but I’ve been asked to perform impossible tasks quite often in my line of work. Somehow I find a way. If you want to be a Fighter, you will too.”

  Morwen stood, stone-faced, with crossed arms.

  Andy took a few deep breaths, stretching his arms and back out. “Okay,” he said. “Here goes another shot.”

  He repeated the same motions as before, making the same progress, but this time, he made sure to maneuver his fingers around small debris and dust in the notches. That way, he wouldn’t lose his grip so easily.

  He climbed, hand over hand, pushing through the fatigue.

  “See, you can do it,” Morwen called from below.

  Andy strained, his lower body dangling freely while his shoulders, chest, and biceps began to shake. He pulled himself up another notch, then another.

  “Halfway there!” Morwen said from below.

  Andy pushed himself, notch after notch, reaching higher than he thought possible, pushing past his body’s limits. His shoulders, core, and arms shook violently as he pressed forward. He had made it past the halfway point, but there was still more distance between him and the bandana.

  If I can pull myself up two notches instead of one, I can get there quicker, before my body gives out…

  Andy summoned all the strength he had, engaging his core, shoulders, and arms, and roared as he lifted himself not one, but two notches.

  But it was too much for him.

  The sudden burst of motion caused his shoulders to cramp and lock up.

  He fell to the ground. This time, not so gently.

  main page. It's difficult to overstate how much a positive rating helps a fiction succeed here on Royal Road, and I'd like to be writing this story for years to come!