The Eye of Elicion: The Kinowenn Chronicles Vol 1 by Rachel Ronning Page B

and ruthlessly beat you up with weapons even if it was for your own good? At the same time, could you respect someone you beat all the time? She did not want to look like a fool in front of him, or any of her new friends for that matter.
    Lucy barely touched her food even though Justin assured her she would need her strength for what ever they were doing. All too soon, breakfast was over and it was time to head towards embarrassment.
    Lucy found her way to the practice grounds and was relieved to recognize Chloe, Darren, Philip and a few others from her classes. She hoped they would all be in the same boat. She did not look like the only nervous person there. It turned out weapons was one of the few classes that was co-taught. They were introduced to Orin, the weapons master who was a gruff dwarf mostly hidden behind a beard. Lucy hoped she did not have to spar with him. Orin introduced them to Tannin.
    Tannin was a centaur. His long black hair was tied back and flowed down to the horse part of him, which was all black as well. He had piercing blue eyes so light they were almost white, a tanned and muscular torso and surprisingly delicate facial features. Tannin was there to supplement their training and, once they became proficient enough riding horses, he would teach them how to fight on horseback and spar with them. Lucy turned paler at the thought of fighting on horseback. She was quite sure she would never reach that level of competence.
    “Many days we will divide the morning between two different activities,” said Orin, pacing back and forth in front of them. “To master most styles of fighting, it is important to be in shape. Thus, we will start the day with some forms of exercise and then move on to a weapon. I suggest you start stretching,” he mentioned, almost as an afterthought and the class immediately began to bend over, touch their toes, stretch their calves, and generally limber up as he continued to talk. “As soon as you arrive each morning, it is important that you start stretching. I like my warriors in shape, and I like them healthy. Immediately tell one of us if anything hurts. Do not dismiss what you think are minor injuries. That is how major injuries develop or how infection sets in.”
    Orin was reminding her of what she imagined a kind drill sergeant to be like. He hadn’t called them all maggots yet, but he definitely expected them to perform and get in shape.
    “Follow me,” said Orin and he walked to the edge of some woods bordering the practice grounds.
    He moved quickly for someone with such short legs. The class saw a trail winding through the woods and it looked like it might be an obstacle course.
    “We shall start today with my obstacle course. I expect you to finish it quickly, and I expect you to finish sooner each time we do this. Sometimes the goal will be to get through as fast as you can as a group, helping each other along the way. Other times we want you to try for individual bests. Sometimes, there will be other rules or goals. Today, get through however you can as fast as you can. Start now,” said Orin.
    The class stood there for a moment, surprised at the suddenness of starting something so soon. Then they took off running. Orin stayed where he was, but Tannin trotted along beside them. He hadn’t said anything yet, but he set a challenging pace and expected them to keep up.
    Sure enough, it was an obstacle course. They had barely made it around the first curve when there were tree branches blocking the road at different heights.
    “Get through however you can today, later we will be more specific on which branches you are to go over or under,” said Tannin, moving off to the side, walking beside the obstacle.
    Lucy was on the shorter side and used that to her advantage. She ran under anything that was higher than her waist, which was more than half the logs and leapt or climbed over anything shorter than that. She was beginning to breathe harder, but was pleased