Of Men and Dragons: The last Knight

~Chapter 4~

The following day went on and the training continued. Those heads that Lord Edwyn's men shot at them were all buried to at least honor their deaths as best as they could. The overall atmosphere around the castle was depressing. Just by looking around the courtyard Henry could see the soldiers mourning the dead, crying and holding hate speeches.

While he shared some of their pain and anger for the most part he was happy that his own family was still alive. Maybe it was not just a coincidence that his family was not killed in the attack. Edwyn must have known that William and Elise were both nobles which was why he let them go. He hated that man for his treachery but he could not deny that he had some kind of honor within him.

Then again, others who were not nobles were also let go. Was it really as an act of kindness? To peruse the order to join Edwyn and his army of traitors? Possibly, but as far as he heard, that was not Edwyn's way. It could be Ulric's orders for all he knew, but something just didn't seem right about the whole situation.

He sat on a bench in the inner courtyard as he sank ever so deep into his thoughts. Besides him sat his wife, leaning against his shoulder. He was already out of his armor since the day was slowly coming to an end. Only some of the knights were still sparring with one another. Together they were both watching Gareth teaching their son the basics of sword fighting. He would do it himself, but he was too tired at the moment.

Henry spotted William doing some horrible footwork and saw him swinging wildly at Gareth. He could not blame a 11 year old boy, but he what caught his eye was William's eagerness. He wanted to fight so bad that he could not get into the very basics, because of impatience and anger. But once again he could not blame his son. Those were both attitudes he too had as he was at William's age, so he guessed that he was to blame for that behavior.

Also the way William converted his grief over the loss of his friend into anger really reminded Henry of himself.

As Gareth tried to show him the right footwork once again, William did not listen and threw the sword away. Henry just shook his head with a slight grin on his face. That picture remembered him of himself and his father, training in the courtyard of Moudeir castle, his old homestead. His father always preferred to train him himself, which reminded Henry that he had a job to do.

"This is stupid!" William shouted at Gareth out of frustration and anger. "As if I don't know how to stand correctly! I'm not doing this anymore!"

"Listen William, if you want to learn-"

"No!" William shouted out before Gareth could finish his sentence. "This is useless!"

Henry slowly rose from the bench only to realize that Elise had fallen as sleep and that he just woke her up. She blinked her eyes, trying to focus her gaze as she looked at him. "Henry... did I..."

"Yes, yes you did." He chuckled. "How about you go back into my room. I'll be there soon."

She silently nodded while rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and slowly got up from the bench, and so did Henry. As Elise walked towards the keep he looked over to Gareth and William again. His son was standing there with his arms folded underneath his chest, muttering something under his breath he could not hear.

He thought that it was time to help out Gareth and take the situation into his own hands. "Gareth?" The obviously annoyed knight looked at him with a look that already begged him to take over. "Could you leave me alone with him for a while?"

Gareth tried to hide his smile. "Of course."

When Gareth walked past him he held him by his shoulder. "Don't be angry with him, Gareth. He witnessed things that no one should at such a young age. You'll have to excuse him."

"No problem Henry." Gareth said with a smile, shoving his hand off his shoulder. "And now good luck."

Without any further words Gareth went off, probably to heading to the armory to get out of armor. Henry looked at his son who was staring at the wooden training sword on the ground. Henry approached him and still he showing no reaction at all. Even when he stood right beside him he didn't move a muscle.

"William." He said as he looked at his son. "Look at me." Instead of forcing him to look up he kneeled down. Then his son looked him right into his eyes. "Now listen to me." He could see tears that have formed in William's eyes, but he was obviously holding them back. "Why do you not listen to Gareth? Do you not trust him?"

"No, he doesn't bother me." William sniffed once wiping the tears away. "I just want to learn how to fight and not... whatever he was teaching me."

"Well, what did you expect? To start of with sparring right away?" Henry smiled at him, putting his hand on William's shoulder. "You are eleven years old. My father only started giving me lessons when I as twelve. I had to start with the basics. And so did Gareth and even the grandmaster himself."

"But I want to fight now. Not in a couple of years!"

"You need patience, my son. You won't become a sword master over night."

William sighed, glaring down at his feet. He seemed even more frustrated and angry than before. Henry thought for a moment how he could better reach his son, until he remembered something his own father did when he was just like that so many years ago.

"What is a house built on, William?"

He slowly rose his head, looking at him in confusion. "What?"

"A house, William, what is a house built on?"

"Err... the ground."

Henry chuckled a bit. "Well, yes, but more precisely."

"A..." He hesitated for a moment. "A foundation?"

"Exactly." Henry said. "And what would happen to the house if that foundation was missing?"

"It would collapse."

He nodded and smiled at him. "You see, William. That house is your training and the very foundation are the basics. the footwork, the easiest and simplest techniques, they are what the rest of your training is based upon. If you want to know how to do that..." He pointed towards two knights in armor sparring. "...then you will have to learn the basics, understood?"

"I... I think so." William seemed a bit baffled, but still he was sure that he understood what he meant.

"Good." He kissed his son on the forehead. "Now promise me that you will learn these basics tomorrow with Gareth." He said with a playful tone in his voice.

William smiled at his father, grasping the silver dragon medallion around his neck. "I promise."

"Very good." He chuckled, patting his son on his shoulders before he got up from the ground. "Now go to your mother. I'll be there soon, alright?"

William nodded with a smile on his face and made his way towards the keep. He watched as his son ran into the main hall through the big gate like door, smiling all the while. When William vanished behind the wooden door something else caught his gaze.

He saw Gareth standing next to the keep, talking to Arylaryl. Cyrvanyx was walking past them, stopping now And then to talk to her, but supposedly could not find the courage to actually do it. Henry shook his head as he watched that.

For Cyrvanyx' sake he would somehow convince that dragon to finally do it.

It could be his last chance to do so.