“Nothing in particular, but it is my job to worry. Master Landon pays me well to make sure his caravan makes it to market. There are always brigands and bandits roaming the countryside for easy prey.”
“How long have you worked for Landon?” Jonas asked.
“About five years now. I was a soldier in the Annurien army before I was discharged for hitting a superior officer. I went looking for work and roamed the lands for three years before I found myself in Tarsis, where I met Landon.”
“Why did you hit your officer?” asked Jonas, curiosity getting the best of his manners.
“I was the captain of a unit that was fighting in a skirmish against the Oshanti tribe, near the edge of the Sithgarin Desert. We were outnumbered two to one and being flanked on both sides. I ordered my men to retreat but my commanding officer, a first rank captain, ordered us to stay while he retreated with a second force. My men and I held the Oshanti back while my commanding officer retreated to safety. Finally, knowing that if we continued fighting we would all be killed, I ordered a full out retreat. I led a hundred men into battle and only fifteen came out of that disaster alive. If we had been allowed to retreat earlier, I would have saved more than half my men. My anger turned to rage as I led my wounded and exhausted men back to camp. I walked into the captain’s tent. ‘You should have told me you’d planned a suicide mission for my troops,’ I said, and then I struck him in the face as hard as I could. I broke his jaw and knocked out some of his teeth. Nothing has felt so good in all my life,” Cyn smiled, lighting up his normally stern and battle scarred face.
“They kicked you out for that? Sounds like he had it coming,” Jonas said.
“Assaulting a higher ranking officer is punishable by death. There must be strict discipline in an army if you want the soldiers to follow orders. I was saved from execution because this dung-eating aristocrat had made similar mistakes before. The king, King Olegaurd, pardoned me, but I was discharged from the army.”
“Doesn’t seem fair.”
“Not much in life is fair, young huntsman, but I believe you are learning that the hard way.”
Jonas and Cyn rode for a while in silence, scanning the countryside for brigands and deer. Hopefully, thought Jonas, they would only find the latter.
“So how good is Allindrian, really? I mean in comparison to other master swordsmen?” asked Jonas.
Cyn smiled broadly at Jonas, exposing his chipped front teeth. “I have never seen her equal. Elves are notoriously great swordsmen, but I believe that Allindrian may even be better than most full-blooded elves, although I have met few elves in my life so I may be wrong. She is a Blade Singer, Jonas. Do you know what that is?”
“No, what is it?”
“A Blade Singer is an elf who has practiced the craft of sword fighting beyond what humans can comprehend. Very few are given the honor of going through the training, although I have no idea what that entails as it is kept a secret. They are given the name because when they fight it is like a dance, and their sword makes a singing noise as it spins through the air. They are trained in their craft for hundreds of years. When they have completed the training, they are given the rank of Blade Singer. It is a great honor, and their skills are never taught to an outsider. The sword she carries is evidence of her rank, for only a Blade Singer carries that particular sword. Some fight with two, but I have only heard tales and have never seen it with my own eyes. The weapons are crafted specifically for each warrior when they graduate through the training.”
“Hundreds of years? How is that?” asked Jonas.
“Elves live very long lives. I am not sure why though. I believe that a full blooded elf can live several thousand years,” responded Cyn. “Allindrian is half-elf and I’ve heard they don’t live as long, maybe several hundred years, but I’m not really sure.”
“But she is teaching us to fight, isn’t that against the rules?”
“No,” laughed Cyn. “She is not teaching you elven secrets but merely stances and moves that are taught to all beginning swordsmen.”
“If they guard those secrets carefully, then why did they teach them