The dark valley, the one inhibited by the Vikings had a faint echo traveling through the darkness, wooden swords clashed with each other inside the Training grounds
Jason was sparing with another, his body seemed quit well, few bandages were spread here and there, but nothing serious was visible, his health recovered at an astonishing rate, although he did not get much taller, his body filled up the empty holes between the bones
They continued the fight, the one who stood before him was a brown head, he was a bit taller than Jason, so was everyone
Each of them stood by a sparing partner, trading hits one after another
"Come on Doryon, don't you have any strength in those hands," said Jason to the brown-haired boy before him
"Just 2 weeks ago you were talking about how hard I am hitting" replied Doryon
"Do I look the same as the Jason from 2 weeks ago?" said Jason putting more strength into his strikes
Doryon made him fall with a quick parry and said "Maybe a little" as he offered his hand to helping him stand up
A bell held by their tutor Ramo was hit, "Enough for now, go take a rest until I call upon you once more" said Ramo
Walking outside the sandy grounds they spared upon, their destination was to get some food from the leftovers and rest for the moment
"By the way I never asked you this" said Doryon to Jason" Is this necklace a family thing or??"
"Oh this?" said Jason holding it in hand, the wooden piece in the centre held by a little rope
"This is just something my father used to tie his hair with, nothing cool or expensive," said Jason
"I guess this is what luxury looked like in the slavery's camp, no offence was meant by that" said Doryon
"Don't worry about it" said Jason as they took some food from the cook
As they sat to eat their food having some nice time Doryon asked Jason "So? Wish one are you going to choose?"
"What do you mean?" replied Jason
"Are going to be departing towards the defence wall, the expedition team or the shelter guards, with how fast you developing I don't see you having any problems to join either" said Doryon
"I don't know yet to be honest, but if had to say, my heart mostly yearns to leave the shelter behind" replied Jason
"I guess you won't have a problem" said Doryon
"You won't be having one either, you're the most skilled after all—" said Jason before he was cut by another boy
"You will need to work harder for such dreams, Jason" said Seryon eating from his plate of food
Jason a bit annoyed replied "And I guess you won't be having any of those troubles?" replied Jason staring and playing with his food
"My skills won't let me down" replied Seryon
"And neither will your connections" replied Jason, he continued to spin his soup around and before the annoyed face of Seryon could speak he said "I heard that Pharam is your brother"
"And?? "Said Seryon
"A little tantrum is all it takes for you to join—" said Jason before the sound of a plate breaking cut him
Seryon was the one to stand up and break it with his spoon, it bended a bit reaching the wooden table, the soup travelled across it and spread like a sheet of paper
"Relax Seryon he must've said it as a joke—" said Doryon trying to stop it
"He thinks everybody gets as special of a treatment as he does, getting expensive medicine delivered right into the palm of his hand, treated like frail flower, sleeping the chief's daughter's tent, with an excuse of injury" said Seryon cutting Doryon
"Jealous?" said Jason
"You tiny little—" said Seryon before the bell rang once more giving this conversation a stop and calling them to the training grounds
Seryon gave Jason a sharp look before following the order of the sound
Reaching the yellow grounds once more Ramo stood before them holding a piece of paper
"Is this an exam?" asked Jason
"What kind of exam has one copy?" said Seryon with a look of disbelief at the stupid question
"You will be having a sparing exam, each of you will have a partner chosen by me, the fights ends when a side give us or had their weapons broken" said Ramo
"Ferman and Doryon" said Ramo
The fights continued on until two were left, Jason and Seryon
"Fate it is" said Seryon with excitement
They walked into the field, each of them holding his own
"Ready… set… go!" said Ramo
They were already standing face to face so no needless steps were used, the clashing began at an instant
Jason started with a quick slash coming from the right angle and upwards to the left's
Seryon with one hand at the handle and the other backing the sword's sharpness he shielded himself and paid back with a sideways on
Jason stepped back barley avoiding it. From then on slashes continued, buy due to Jason's much smaller size, the fight wasn't in his favour, although he had some strength
"I got to say, your small body Does!" said Seryon fighting Jason" Have some strength in it"
Jason played it safe, keeping a small distance between them forcing Seryon to lower his strength, and without any reckless attacks he managed to stay on his feet
One hit from here and another from there, Jason's leg slipped wish led Seryon to take a downwards slash not letting the chance off the hook
Jason in a desperate attempt used whatever strength he held to hit the sword away, and it worked, breaking it into two halves as if it duplicated itself
Seryon stared at them in disbelief, and so did Jason who stood up wide eyed
He looked back at the other kids as a smile began to appear before Doryon yelled "Look back!"
He instantly went into a defence stance, Seryon made an upper cut tying the two halves of his sword together and braking Jason's sideways, the hit affected cut the rope and threw Jason's necklace away as well
"Mr Ramo! What the heck was that he cheated" said Doryon
"No" replied Ramo "As long as he is holding his sword, the battle did not end"
"As you heard it, I win—" said Seryon, Jason used whatever was left from his sword and wit his right he struck Seryon's outside the field
He followed it with a left punch throwing him to the ground
"What the, Hands aren't allowed—" said Seryon, Jason sat on him punching over and over
Doryon went to stop them but was held back by Ramo
"The fight is over, they are using their hands!" said Doryon
"Their blades haven't shattered yet" replied Ramo as the fight went on, both of them rolled around the dirt punching over and over again
"They literally shattered into pieces across the field" said Doryon
"Yes, the wooden ones did, but the rule that I placed is until one side gives up or loses their weapon. Swords aren't the only weapon" said Ramo
"This is a training exam not a battlefield!" said Doryon
"I don't see any difference, until one gives up, blood shall dye their hands" replied Ramo
Doryon was shocked by that mindset, is this what war does to someone's mind? He asked himself, but wishing not to waste any more time he pushed forward
Ramo continued to push him back saying "Are you going against my orders, do you know what consequences your actions might have?" a shar look came out of his working eye, the only one with light in it
"I don't care" said Doryon as he rushed pulling Jason back
The rest came after him collecting some bravery along the way while Ramo stared at the scene. Stopping the fight and splitting them a part
Jason gasping with blood all over his face he pushed whatever hands held him and stared Ramo
"So?" getting some air inside him he continued "Who won?"
Seryon was as interested as Jason, and so was everyone
Ramo took a moment of time before replying and said "it's a tie, the exam is finished, you are free to go"
"What!" said Seryon a horn blew from the distance
"The expedition team is back" said Jason as he walked out picking his necklace
"I don't accept this" said Seryon
"I don't care" replied Jason walking by him
Everybody did the same, walking towards the wall gates, Seryon wiped his frustration off
It was crowded, no sight of what was happening, people murmured but the complicated voices made it hard to understand, Jason went through forcing his little body between the cracks, until he fell on his face
Raising it up slowly and to his horror, the expedition team with only 3 people, injured and exhausted upon their horses
They walked the empty path, by its end stood the chief, on his right Noor and on his left Pharam, this sight was shocking
"Did they get caught by the Varish?" asked one from the crowd
"I hop the Varish's army is not near our camp," said another
"We might already be surrounded by now" said a third one
Theories and small talk exploded amongst the crowd awaiting the words of the chief