The Pass by Zion Kistler (books to read romance TXT) 📖

This was going better than he thought it would, and he was pleased with himself.
He was watching happily as Jur Thwain and Adrain Ladarfo dueled when Mildo walked up and started talking to Treaf. He actually didn’t overly mind it, in fact today reminded him of the days when they were in Goshop, preparing for three months. Back then I had really been excited to leave, but recently I’ve realized how much more I need to learn. I can hardly beat Malock, and here I’m supposed to be the one to destroy Mourgorth. I need to visit a wise man or something. He then snarled, and sweat ran down his face. I hate wise men.
After a little while Mildo said, “What kind of new sword do you think I should get?” Treaf was actually caught by surprise at this question: actually he had completely forgotten that Mildo had broken the sword that he had received from Eprinoco.
“I donno, Mildo, but mine’s holdin’ up pretty good,” Treaf said, patting his hip, where his sword hung. Treaf hadn’t realized before now, but he now thought that he sword looked pretty big for him, since he was small naturally as a doat.
“I guess you could probably bear with a hand-and-a-half, but that might be a bit big for his puniness.” Treaf laughed at his own joke, but then he stopped as Mildo punched him in the face with,(luckily,) his normal hand. Treaf didn’t even want to think of what it would feel like to be punched with a gauntleted hand. He stared at his own metal armor, and he realized that when he didn’t have it on he felt less protected. I guess it’s the price of being me, Treaf snickered in his thoughts.
Before he knew it, Mildo had taken his cloak off, along with his shirt. In other words, Treaf knew that he wanted to duel. Then he looked out into the training area, and realized that no one was in. His heart sank, and he knew Mildo’s intentions immediately. But he was not nervous, and actually he had been wanting to beat, I’ll show him what some one like me is capable of. Mildo for a long time now. Yeah, I’ll show him what a person like me is capable of. With unspoken desire, Treaf walked into the round fence, and he drew in the hot sun, the people around, and he was determined to do something, but he didn’t particularly know what it was. I’ll find out when I find out, he decided, and drew his sword, standing in the usual position. Mildo was not slow to react in the same way. He drew his dirk, and Treaf realized that he could not remember Mildo’s usual position when he was ready. Mildo took his dirk and stood in a stabbing position, and Treaf that this would probably be a pretty sensible position, since if Treaf were to approach him and was open, Mildo could just stab him. Treaf charged, and he decided that he would not do the same thing that he done to Malock, for Mildo had probably been watching them at the time, and he would be expecting a similar move when he was fighting Treaf. Instead I’ll attack his upper half. Treaf decided that this was probably a good and sensible plan, so he leapt, and soared over Mildo as he ducked. Right after he landed, Treaf was on the other side of Mildo, and he attempted stabbing at his back. Mildo seemed to deflect this easily, even with a dagger. Well I guess I should expect nothing less than this from Mildo, Treaf decided, and he thought that even if he did lose, it would have not been all for nothing. But I should try to win as much as I can, he decided, and after this thought he realized that Mildo had blocked his blade with the pommel of his dirk. That was pretty well-timed and accurate of him, Treaf realized, and with that he ducked as Mildo swung, and he rolled on the ground slightly more away from Mildo, and as he did this Mildo continually stabbed at him, but Treaf miraculously dodged every one, and at that he realized that he was getting worn out to fast, so he leapt up and sprang right into Mildo’s lap, but Treaf was thankful that Mildo was not quick enough to move his sword and stab Treaf. The laws of nature actually prevented that; one could not move his sword fast enough to make a counterattack, for it was too heavy, and swinging it that fast would result in the extension of muscles, and that would make Mildo more tired, so it was actually very wise of Mildo not to even attempt it. Treaf was actually a little mad at Mildo for not even breaking into a sweat, and he decided that nothing would stop him from beating the poor wretch.
Then Mildo did something that was completely not expected by Treaf. He leapt into the air as Treaf had done, but he did not leap backward or forward, just up. This would have made since if Treaf had just made a swing for the legs, but in fact Treaf had not even made an offensive move. What the heck is Mildo doing? Treaf found himself questioning, and he realized guiltily that he was actually quite nervous and anxious for Mildo’s next move to come. Just be patient and wait, Treaf decided, and so he stood there, but not without caution. His sword was at the ready in a complete horizontal line, and if Mildo were to strike Treaf would most likely block it.
When Mildo landed a very large cloud of dust enveloped him, for Treaf had not yet fully realized how dusty and dry things were now, even though winter was coming on. Treaf knew better than to just stand there, so he ran away from the dust cloud, not wanting Mildo to strike and catch Treaf on the unawares. Some of the onlookers laughed at this: they thought that Treaf was a coward, but he actually was doing something that was wise. If Mildo had been in the dust cloud for long, and if Treaf had stayed right next to him, Treaf would have lost by then.
After a few seconds the dust had completely cleared, and Mildo was inside of it, looking angry and disappointed. I got you, Treaf thought, and then charged with all his might at Mildo. He knew that Mildo would probably deflect his next attack but it was worth a try. He started a very powerful series of down strokes, aimed at Mildo’s thighs, and he thought that these would probably tire him out. When Mildo started panting, Treaf thought, if I can just offer an ending stroke, I could win—but what would I do to end this duel? Stab, thrust, kick, slash, or what? It was not long to decide. Treaf realized that if he were to stab at him, which was a complete change of course from what he had been doing, Mildo would probably not expect it and thus not be quick enough to block it. And if I do it in a very fast manner, I’ll have him down, and it would all the more impressive anyway. So he continued with his powerful swaps, but not for long. When he saw Mildo growing even more tired than Treaf was, Treaf made a last attempt to stab. He drew back his arm to ear height, and since Mildo was taller than he was, he made a slight upward turn, but the spectators did not see this because it happened so fast. In less than a second he had enclosed his blade around Mildo’s neck, and the very tip almost made Mildo bleed. Got him, Treaf grinned. He had now beaten two people in one day. Now things are really going better than I thought, Treaf grinned, but the crowd of warriors did not cheer at all. What the heck? Treaf looked around, trying to somehow find the source of his discomfort. Then he looked at Mildo, who was also grinning. Then he looked down, and in an instant he caught a glimpse of some sort of shining blade, smaller than his own. It was right aligned with his stomach, and would have killed him if Mildo and he weren’t just sparring. Damn. He snuck his little blade right at me at the last second. Treaf was both surprised and angry at the same time. Was he capable of predicting what I would do? Treaf questioned. This seemed surprisingly talented, but then Treaf remembered that he was dealing with Mildo, who was probably better than him. He realized that when I would stab, he would have no choice but to do the offensive, just like me. Otherwise he would not have been quick enough to block my sword. Treaf swore, out loud this time. But he thought again as he walked out of the circle, at least I got close to beating him. If he wouldn’t be so darn good I would be one of the best ones here.
Treaf groaned as he splashed water on his head. The water was actually quite warm, but that did not matter. He was sore from the training. Then Treaf looked sideways slightly, and thought as he saw the shape of a body, oh great. Mildo. Treaf pretended not to have seen him coming, but it was no good.
“Were you surprised when you saw my sword?” He said, and Treaf made an ugly face, but Mildo could not see, because Treaf had his back towards him, and would leave it like that for as long as he liked.
“I expect that you were. Anyway, you were too slow, and I saw you draw back your arm, so I expected so.” Treaf nodded, and he finally turned around to look at Mildo. To his surprise, he wasn’t grinning, and Treaf realized that this was not a mocking conversation—perhaps Mildo was coming to give Treaf advice or something.
“Yeah. I was under the impression that you had predicted a thrust—seems likely for you.”
“Yes, I did predict most of it, but I was sure when I saw your arm draw back. It was actually quite a thrilling moment. You were about to win, and I was about to lose, but then I made a comeback.” As Treaf had expected, Mildo was smiling by now, and Treaf was suddenly annoyed by him and wanted nothing more than to go drown himself. Then he would actually cool off, and he wouldn’t need to deal with anybody.
“I guess you’re gonna be even harder to beat when you get a bigger sword,” Treaf commented, but he was really thinking of it in his head and wasn’t really paying attention to the conversation. When he does get a sword I need entirely new tactics. If I do get to fight him when that time comes, I might want to write my plans down so that I can think a bit and not have to rig something up right on the spot.

After Treaf had fought Mildo he decided to stop training for the day, for his stomach had started feeling strange again. He didn’t really know what he wanted