Lady Gladys led the way to the pen with the chickens. They were kept separate from the ducks because otherwise the ducks would break the chicken eggs, which had thinner shells. She waved a hand at the wooden trough where some old corn cobs had been deposited last night.
Burchard carefully emptied the rolls out of his shirt. The chickens began squawking as soon as the first one noticed the food. Burchard had to step away, the noise got so loud.
Lady Gladys giggled. “Too loud for you?”
Burchard nodded. “Yes! How do you stand it?”
Lady Gladys shrugged. “The same way you don’t mind the smell of horses. Over time, you just get used to it.”
In the distance, a bell rang. Burchard groaned. “I really need to go. Sir Peter is waiting. I’ll see you ’round!”
Without waiting for her response, he took off at a jog back toward the training yard.
Sir Peter was waiting for him. “Let’s see how your arm feels. I want to at least make sure that you can use your sword before we leave.”
Burchard gave his knight master a sharp glance. “Leave?”
Sir Peter let out a heavy sigh, face expressionless. “I got orders that we are riding out, along with Sir Daniel, when the General departs.”
“Then we’re all going, right?” Burchard asked.
Sir Peter nodded. “Yes, you and Ruschmann get to come too. Now let’s see how your sword arm feels after having a few days off. Ruschmann will be joining us to test out his ankle as well.”
Burchard smiled. We’re finally going to get to do something useful while the General is present, so he will actually believe it happened. “I will meet you there. I want to run a quick lap to finish my warm up.”
Sir Peter nodded in approval, and Burchard took off at a run out the main gate. The first third of his lap was at fifty percent of his speed, the second at seventy five percent, and the final third at full speed. He found if he was using the running as a warm-up that ramping up how fast he was going instead of hitting full speed immediately seemed to have a better effect.
When Burchard made it back to the training yard, Ruschmann and Sir Peter were waiting. Sir Daniel was in a discussion with some other knights at the edge of the ring.
Burchard took a sip of water from his canteen and then set it down and stepped into the middle of the marked circle. Together the squires went through the basic drills, warming up with high, low, and middle blocks and strikes.
“Ready?” Ruschmann asked as he reset his feet and shook out his arms.
“Yep,” replied Burchard. “One, two, three!”
Ruschmann started with a quick high and low strike combination, forcing Burchard on the defensive. Burchard let his friend lead for a few moments before giving his wrist a twist and sliding his sword up Ruschmann’s. The metal screeched. He then rocked back on his right heel before shifting his weight onto his left foot and striking low, then doing a backhand sweep toward Ruschmann’s middle. His friend hastily brought his sword up to block.
Burchard stepped to the right and executed another high-low combination, forcing Ruschmann to give up his space, before he recovered. Strike and parry, back and forth the squires went, neither gaining the advantage again. Burchard could feel sweat trickling down his back as they moved around the ring. He knew today was not intended for either one to push their limits. They just wanted to get a good practice in.
“And time!” announced Sir Daniel, walking toward the two squires.
Burchard and Ruschmann stepped backward in unison, swords lowered. Sir Daniel inspected each squire. “How did that feel?”
“Good,” both replied.
“Excellent! You can have a few minutes’ break, and then I want to see you over by the archery targets,” Sir Daniel commanded.
Burchard sheathed his sword and snagged his canteen from the ground. He greedily guzzled about half of its contents before stopping. “Archery, eh?” he murmured.
Ruschmann shrugged. They headed over to the archery targets. Neither squire had brought their bows, and Burchard belatedly wondered if they should have gone back to the barracks to retrieve them. He started to change directions when he heard Sir Daniel’s voice.
“You don’t need your bows. We’re doing something else.”
Interest piqued, Burchard turned back toward Sir Daniel. As he approached the knight, his gaze went to the table next to Sir Daniel. It was covered in small, identical knives with hilts wrapped in strips of leather.
“You’re going to teach us how to throw?” Ruschmann said incredulously.
“Absolutely. There is no rule that says squires aren’t permitted to learn how to use throwing knives,” Sir Daniel explained patiently.
Burchard picked up one of the small knives and ran his finger over the blade, testing it. It was not as sharp as he had expected. Sir Daniel must have noticed what he was doing because he chuckled.
“You didn’t think I was going to let you try throwing them for the first time with sharp battle-ready blades, did you?”
Burchard looked away in embarrassment.
Sir Daniel said, “I am going to show you in steps. How you hold the knife and the motion of throwing it.”
The knight selected a knife from the table and used a hammer grip on the handle with the blade pointing away from him. Burchard made note of the position of Sir Daniel’s thumb—over the top, with the other four fingers wrapped around the handle. The knight set the knife down and picked it up several times, making sure the squires saw how he was gripping it. He set it down one more time and stepped away from them so he would have space.
“Now for the throw, we will try close range first,” Sir Daniel explained. He then bent his wrist slowly back toward his forearm. He repeated that motion several times before adjusting his stance, putting his weight on his right leg since it was his dominant one, and raising his right arm perpendicular to the ground and bent at the elbow. The knight then shifted his weight from his right to left legs, creating the forward momentum needed so that when combined with swinging the forearm forward, the knife could be released in a straight line.
“Let me show you with a couple of knives, and then you can try first without a knife a couple of times and then with a knife,” Sir Daniel said. He threw three knives. Burchard assumed that the knight could throw them way faster than he was for the demonstration, but he appreciated the slow speed because it allowed him to study the motions of the throw.
“OK, let’s give this a try,” said Burchard eagerly.
Sir Daniel nodded in encouragement as both squires went through the motion of the throw several times, then demonstrated they understood how to hold the knife properly.
“I think you are ready to try it,” Sir Daniel said.
