I had no idea what awaited me the next day. I thought I would be holding a sword immediately and be taught slashes and footwork. Before I went to sleep I was daydreaming all about it.
"Why are you running—" I heard Lucas say as I ran past him. The boy was heading uphill towards the castle with a cart of filled buckets, the wood creaking and water sloshing with each step. He looked confused.
I hoped I knew why I was running up and down the hill too—why I was enduring the burning in my legs and chest, out in the early morning, braving the gusting wind along the winding, uneven path littered with stones and thorny grass.
I had thought Leofric to be a kind man, especially after the help he gave me yesterday. But that morning, his colors changed like a chameleon. He dropped all pretense of politeness and assumed the strictness of a typical tutor. He chastised me for questioning anything he asked and threatened not to continue teaching if I didn't comply.
