24
At breakfast the morning after Burchard’s encounter with Jade and Ossa, the dining hall was oddly silent except for the clink of silverware on plates. When Burchard finished his food, Sir Foxbright motioned for him to come over.
Burchard shared an uncertain glance with Ruschmann before heading over to Sir Foxbright.
“You wanted to speak to us, sir?” Burchard asked, tucking his hands behind his back.
“Yes, I need you to lead the pages in their drills this morning while I coordinate preparations with Cook and the other castle staff. In the early preparation stage, I think you lot would just be underfoot. Instead of making the pages—especially the first-years—nervous, I think training will help keep everyone focused,” Sir Foxbright explained.
“Are you sure? I’m just a first-year squire,” Burchard said hesitantly.
Sir Foxbright chuckled. “I am confident in your ability to teach the pages. You have a natural ability to teach and lead, Burchard. It’s time you try it out.” He paused. “Besides it’s not like if you make mistakes your first time that you will hurt them. They like you already.”
Burchard bit his lip. “OK, but Ruschmann is helping too, right?”
Sir Foxbright nodded. “Yes, Ruschmann is welcome to help. Just head out to the training yard once you grab your gear, and I’ll make sure the pages are there and ready.”
Burchard bowed. “Very well, sir.”
A little later, Burchard was in the training yard. He had brought a selection of his weapons. Fang decided to lie down next to his weapons and take a nap. Just as Sir Foxbright had said, the pages were there, ready for training. Burchard gave Ruschmann a nervous glance and tilted his head, indicating they should go to the front of the group.
When they stood before the pages, Burchard licked his lips nervously. The pages gazed back at him, waiting. “Good morning. Have you warmed up yet?”
Armand, who was in the front row, giggled. “We just finished eating. We haven’t warmed up, and neither have you.”
Burchard almost rolled his eyes at his friend but then caught himself. If he was going to lead the pages, it wouldn’t do for him to be rolling his eyes at them. “OK then, since you haven’t warmed up yet, we will jog three laps around the training yard.”
His announcement was met with loud groaning. Ruschmann stepped forward. “If you think three laps around the training yard is a lot, then you should try three laps around the whole castle. That’s what Burchard does every morning. Sometimes it’s five laps.”
Some of the pages’ mouths fell open in surprise. The comment had the desired effect; the pages hastily formed a line and began jogging around the training yard. Burchard and Ruschmann picked up the rear.
When the three laps were completed, Burchard had the pages line up, making sure there was plenty of space between each of them. Then Ruschmann led everyone through a sequence of stretches. Afterward, Burchard found himself front and center again. From his years of training, he had always found that the natural progression from stretching was working on simple hand-to-hand combat techniques. He started calling moves from the front and then began walking the lines, with Ruschmann taking his place at the head of the group, making the calls.
“No, no, you’re doing it all wrong,” Burchard said gently to his brother Theodore.
Theodore gave him a look. “Are you sure you’re not just picking on me because I’m your brother?”
“Yes, I’m sure. Here, let me show you what you were just doing.” Burchard gave his brother’s arm a tug and pulled him out of the line. He demonstrated, showing his brother how his shoulders had been drooped and his feet turned in, making it difficult for him to keep his body straight for the punches. “Now if you stand like this instead…” Burchard squared his shoulders and straightened his feet, and then did a mid, high, low punch sequence. “See how my arms are straighter?”
Theodore nodded. “Yes, I can see that now. So I just have to roll my shoulders back and straighten my feet?”
Burchard smiled. “Yep. Try it.”
Theodore tried, and Burchard could see the relief on his brother’s face at how the posture changes had made a significant difference. “Thanks, brother,” Theodore said with a smile, and then went back into line.
Burchard worked his way through the pages twice before returning to Ruschmann’s side. “Now what?” he asked uncertainly.
“Well, I think they probably want a water break,” Ruschmann pointed out.
Burchard grinned. “Yes, I suppose that would be a good idea.” He turned his attention back to the pages. “Good job. You may take a water break.”
The sigh of relief at the announcement was audible from the pages. I guess when I was a page I tired easily too, Burchard reminded himself.
When he deemed the water break long enough, he called the pages back into line, instructing them to get their wooden practice swords.
Burchard stepped to the front of the group. “Just like with the hand-to-hand practice, we will start with the basics: high, middle, and low strikes and blocks. Once I am sure you are doing those correctly solo, we will pair up.” He unsheathed his sword and raised it. “Ready, begin. Strikes first. High.” He swung his sword in a high strike. “Low.” He demonstrated low and then middle. “Now for the blocks. High.” He brought his sword up in a high block, followed by low and middle. He slid his sword back into its sheath and kept repeating high, low, middle. When the pages fell into the rhythm and did not appear to need him to continue saying the maneuvers, Burchard walked the lines.
He paused here and there, adjusting a stance or grip. Every adjustment he made, he had the page demonstrate for him they could do the strike or block with the change before he made his way to the next page. Satisfied that he had made any necessary adjustments, Burchard went back to the front of the group and watched for a few more minutes.
“OK, I think you are ready to pair up. To begin with, I’ll allow you to select your own partners. Then, I need you in two lines, but make sure that you have plenty of space.”
It took a while for the pages to get themselves organized, but they finally stood in two lines with plenty of space between each pair. “Good. Now we will start with the simple stuff. The page on the left will strike first and the page on the right will block. We will do each set twice and then you’ll swap.”
“Ready, begin. High…low…middle,” Burchard called. He kept repeating the commands as he worked his way down the line. The first pass he was just observing, wanting to see if the pages had changed because they were paired up or if they remembered the corrections he told them. For the most part, it appeared as though they remembered. He was pleasantly surprised but also was beginning to feel the monotony of the basic drills getting to him.
He clapped his hands together. “OK, we are going to take another quick break, and then I want to change things up.” He could hear the pages murmuring at his announcement. Good, let them wonder.
Ruschmann walked over to him. “What exactly are you planning to have them do?”
Burchard chuckled. “I was going to pair them up, but only have four pairs at a time and let them spar. Think about it—the drills are good, but when you are fighting an enemy, they don’t always stick to the basics of the drill. The pages are decent enough in the drills to have a chance to spar. Besides, maybe some of them could benefit from learning more advanced moves. This way we can see who that is.”
Ruschmann shrugged. “If you say so. Just tell me where you want me.”
Burchard nodded, then found himself examining the pages. He didn’t know everyone’s names yet, but he was familiar enough with their techniques.
“We will start with four pairs. When I call your name or point to you, you will come here,” Burchard announced. “We will swap in a bit so everyone gets a chance to try this.”
