Volume 2 Chapter 19

  Four days after he had lunch with the other teenagers, Yin was once more woken in the middle of the night. He was pulled out of bed as usual. His roommates didn’t even wake up, something which earned them a look of slight scorn from Uto, but they weren’t his problem.

  Yin was.

  “You still haven’t learned my first lesson,” Uto scolded him.

  “What?” Yin asked blearily.

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  “Every night before I wake you I stamp my feet on the way to your room,” Uto said. “Yet I still catch you sleeping. You have started wearing your training clothes to bed, and that is fine, but I shouldn’t be able to yank you out of your covers like I do. You should be listening for me in your sleep and ready for my lessons by the time I arrive.”

  Yin gasped in horror at the elder. “ Is that why you’re so hard on me?”

  “Hard on you? Boy, I’ve been taking things easy. If you were actually paying for any of this training we’d be going at double the pace until you begged me to leave you alone!”

  “Would you leave me alone if I asked you to?” Yin asked nervously. “I’m not!”

  “Harumph. Get to the training yard. I will meet you there in ten minutes.”

  Yin blinked in surprise. He wasn’t going to chase him there like he usually did? “Yes, Elder Uto!” he agreed, and he ran off. He began doing stretches while he waited, anticipating another stiff workout under Uto’s grueling directions.

  He was surprised when Elder Uto dragged another boy, an teenager who was fifteen or sixteen years old, out into the training yard. The boy was in his underwear and clearly very startled by the experience.

  “This little fool has paid for a weapons evaluation,” Elder Uto said. “I didn’t have a disciple when I evaluated you, Yin, so I was forced to play the part of the dummy. Since I have you now, you will play that part instead.”

  Yin gaped at the man. “Wait, I’m your disciple?”

  “Harumph,” the man said. “Don’t let it go to your head.”

  “But, Elder-master? You haven’t tought me how to fight yet. You say I’m not worthy of holding a weapon, so how will I—”

  “Don’t you remember your own training, fool boy?” Uto said. “You’re not going to fight back. Just block or dodge or take the blows as this other fool tries to hit you with the weapons I give him. Stay in your stances as much as possible. Block, then take a stance. Dodge, then take a stance. Parry, then take a stance. And try not to fall, but if you fall, get back up and take a stance.”

  “Yes, Master Uto,” Yin agreed, growing excited despite himself. Finally something aside from the endless training.

  The other boy, whose name Yin knew was Felix from an earlier meeting, was tossed a quarterstaff. The boy promptly held it like a quarterstaff, but Uto barked “Treat the red end like it’s a spearhead and try to stab my fool apprentice with it. Yin, if you have any of the red ink that’s on that tip on your body at the end of the night, then you’re dead. And for each time you die tonight, you’ll wish you were dead in the coming week.”

  “Yes, Master Uto!” Yin shouted.

  Felix attacked him, shouting as he charged. Yin easily dodged the attack, moving from one stance directly into another as easily as breathing. Felix was caught off balance, and just because he saw the blatant opening, Yin tripped him, sending the boy into the sand.

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  “Harumph,” Uto grumbled. “Fool boy, get your butt off the ground and try again.”

  This continued for twenty minutes before the boy threw the weapon down in frustration. “I’m not suited to a spear. Give me something else.”

  “Very well.” He tossed the boy another staff. “That is a bow staff. Beat my apprentice silly. Yin, you can take as many blows from this as you want, but I’d advise against it.”

  “Yes, Master,” Yin agreed, and the dueling began again.

  Felix did better this time, as he’d actually practiced with a staff previously and was accustomed to some of the movements which made that weapon formidable. Yin was forced to block more than he was able to dodge, which meant that his forearms and shins were going to be very sore in the morning.

  Finally Felix stepped back after a few minutes. He stretched his neck and said “I’m already confident in my ability with the staff. I want to see what other weapons I can use.”

  “Very well,” Uto agreed. He tossed the boy a bamboo sword. “See what you can do with that.”

  The beating continued for hours, but surprisingly Yin took very few blows to the head or his body, blocking most of them on his arms and legs. He was surprised how easy it was for him, moving from one stance to the next to avoid the older boy’s attacks and keep himself balanced.

  After the bamboo sword, Elder Yotu called an end to the exercise. “Your best weapon is obviously the staff. You show some slight talent with the sword, but that weapon is overly romanticized. A skilled bo or quarterstaff user will defeat an unskilled swordsman every time. Continue to train your bo staff skills and it will serve you well,” the elder said. “Now, that’s it. Go be someone else’s problem. Disciple, you didn’t disgrace yourself, but don’t let it go to your head. Come with me to my house and we’ll take care of your injuries.”

  “Yes, Master!” Yin said eagerly. With actual eagerness, since his arms and legs were killing him. The weapons had been padded or reduced in weight to keep them from actually being dangerous, but he would be seriously bruised tomorrow.

  When they arrived at Uto’s house, the man instructed him to disrobe down to his underwear and inspected his wounds for ten minutes before announcing “You’ll live.”

  He gave the boy a pill to swallow, washed the cuts and scrapes with a stinging solution, and he bound the boy’s injuries in wraps of white cloth. After he was done, he suggested that Yin might want to sleep on the floor where Uto tossed a blanket and some pillows, and the exhausted Yin promptly took him up on the offer.

  The boy awoke late in the morning with his master standing over him. He cried out in surprise, and the man said “Rising Vortex!”

  Yin screamed in surprise, but still snapped to his feet from a resting position and took the stance instructed.

  Yotu grunted and said “Not terrible.”

  Then he thrust a bowl of porridge into Yin’s hands and walked off.

  There was no spoon, but Yin was so hungry that he ate with his bruised and sore fingers.

  When he finished, he nervously found the elder in the other room and asked “Must I run to the mountain again in this state?”

  “You may rest for three days,” Uto said. “I suggest you spend the time cultivating. That which doesn’t go to your lessons and whatnot at least. But what would I know, I’m just some old man.”

  “Thank you, Master Uto,” Yin said, and he bowed politely and retreated to his dormitory, where he slept for another four hours.

  In three days, the situation repeated itself with another teenager. A girl this time. Fortunately, this time Yin was allowed to wear more protective gear on his arms and shins, so he was not so bruised in the morning.

  Unfortunately, this meant that he was required to run up the mountain and back, and neither was he spared the ambushes of Elder Uto throughout the day.

  Still, he couldn’t help but smile as he reflected upon the battles with the teens. They were all likely hoping to impress Elder Uto with their display, but in the end he evaluated them fairly and honestly before sending them away and telling telling them not to bother him again unless they were ready to pay for it.

  Yin wondered why he was different.

  But the fact that he was actually learning to fight at the hands of a master kept him from wondering too much. There was a saying he’d heard from his father; don’t look the gift horse in the mouth. Not until the person who’d given it to you was well out of sight, at least. When he finished his discipleship with Elder Uto, he would ask why he was chosen.

  But not a moment before the man had pronounced that he was through with him.

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