A Bored Lich

In the Pit, nearly a hundred people sparred. Limbs and sweat flew around within the confines of each circle on the floor. If one were to wade through this mess, a path might open through the bodies and close with two people grappling against each other. While violent, it was a controlled chaos. Sparring had minimal casualties with the exception of an accidental break every week or so. The average outcome of a sparring match was a small scratch and a bruise.

Doevm held his chest, coughing. He fell to a knee then got back up. "Hold back a little, will you?" he pleaded with his sparring partner.

"I thought I did," Frey shrugged. "Even the weakest person in the guard, well second weakest now, can take that punch. Any slower and the captain yells at me. Is there something wrong with your blocking?"

"Don't know," Doevm coughed a few more times. "I feel out of breath from a punch, and I haven't even exercised. Try again." He jabbed, and Frey countered with a light punch to the chest as per the drill. Doevm blocked with his arms, but they didn't help much. He fell to the ground and had another coughing fit.

"Frey." Jameson yelled over the chaotic mess of people sparring. "Hold back."

"I am," Frey mumbled and helped Doevm to his feet. "Let's let someone who's lighter try for once. I want to know if it's me or you that's the problem." Frey reached into the crowd of wrestling bodies and pulled someone a lot shorter out. "Can you do me a favor and counter Doevm lightly?" The man nodded and got into a stance. Fist were thrown, Doevm blocked, and ended falling to the ground coughing. "Thank you, I'll take it from here." Frey shooed the man away and helped Doevm to his feet. "I know the problem, you're breathing wrong."

"How is it possible to breath wrong?" Doevm shot back. "I'm pretty sure if I was breathing wrong, I would be dead by now."

Frey laughed, "No, in combat you need to breath differently. You're breathing like you're scared I'm going to hit you."

He got closer and Doevm flinched: "But you are going to hit me."

"Just shut up and let me talk, will you? Breath in through the nose and out through the mouth. When you are about to hit someone or get hit, you breath out. When you transition between hit or getting hit, you breath in. If you breath in when getting hit, you end up like that. Just try it." Doevm sighed and got into a stance. He jabbed, Frey countered, he blocked while exhaling through the mouth, and stayed standing.

"It works, this is awesome. Hit me again." Doevm got ready and they went through another set of the drill. He stayed standing again. "How does breathing help?"

"Well you see," Frey held up a know it all grin. "I have no idea. I just spar. How have you not learned this yet? Have you never sparred before?"

"No," Doevm was pretty sure he was beaten nearly to death several times by Arthur. "I've sparred a lot before; it's just been a while."

Frey scoffed: "Well the only way that's possible is if you didn't have lungs and sparred, so I think you just never got hit before."

'Oh, I've never had lungs before. Just like with muscle fatigue, I keep getting problems I never experienced before.'

"Yeah, that's it, I've never gotten hit before," Doevm lied. "I just watched you guys training and never really noticed the breathing part since I was too far away."

"Sure," Frey kept pressing, "But how did you learn how to fight with your hands? We didn't practice that out in the open."

'He's asking too many questions. I don't know him, but I'm sure these aren't his own.' Doevm looked over to Jameson, who was pretending not to look. 'I had time to think of this, but I'm not good at deception like humans. I had never needed to lie as a Lich, or if I did, no one questioned me. While this is, to be honest, completely terrible, it's the best I can think of. I'll need to practice deception in the future.'

"At night a year or two ago, I saw someone training. I followed them a couple of times and watched. I never got to see their face, but I remember their moves. It was like they were fighting an invisible opponent. He vanished after a couple of weeks and I never saw him again. I practiced their moves and sparred with an imaginary opponent."

"So you haven't sparred with anyone?" All Frey was missing was a sign that read: Investigating.

"Not really. Let's keep training." Doevm learned everything about the guards' routine in the next couple hours. They started the morning with a run and stretching, then moved onto spear training for a couple hours in front of the mansion. After, they moved inside the guards' barracks, called "The Pit" for short. Inside they started with counters and offense and moved onto defensive moves. The front of the room had the newer guards, who practiced the beginner moves. The further to the back was the more advanced moves with older guards. They got to practice with different weapons and train their bodies more.

The guards were separated into ten different squads of ten men each not counting Doevm and Jameson. Frey belonged to squad three, which Doevm would be assigned to. Inside the Pit, people split off onto pairs. Now that there was an odd amount of people, Frey's partner was put in a pair of three that alternated fighting and Doevm was Frey's new partner. The only way to move back was to advance as a pair and kick another pair out further back.

Jameson usually taught the back of the room but monitored them today. The usual monitor was Jameson's second in command, Scruff. He was an old man, but the training was down to his bones. His face was always hairy, but a beard never formed, leaving him with just scruff and hence the name. He looked frail but could beat everyone in the front of the room and most people in the back. He was patient and had served the previous head of the Virility family. After finishing the drilling, the guards' routine was finished, they marched towards the river that ran through Petal town (away from the houses) and washed off.

Doevm stuck close to Frey the entire time, hoping he could learn as much as he could. He noticed something. "Frey, why are we so far away from everyone?" Doevm asked as he took off his clothes.

"I get embarrassed." Frey took off his clothes to reveal a god damn tree trunk poking out of his front. Doevm stared at it, then his own. Average looked small. "Sorry, they mention it every time and I just want to bath in peace. Can you go somewhere else?" Doevm nodded, still looking at the miracle of nature, and backed away. He walked towards the mass of guards, but didn't join in. They all talked in whispers and gave him strange looks.

'Humans are so complicated,' Doevm thought and looked at everyone's parts and his own. 'And I think I'm starting to understand why. Even something like a body part can make someone an outsider because of jealousy.' New people aren't met with the acceptance Doevm showed towards Undead he met. Newcomers to humans were strange and something to stay away from.

'But I need their help,' Doevm thought. 'I need to be human and make relationships. I can fight in a war, but I need people to cover my back. Even as a Lich, I needed backup. The hero needed friends. I can assume Frey is one, but I need more. I have two years left until the year-long war. I can take my time and get people to warm up to me.'

...

"Anything?" Jameson whispered in the dark room.

"He said he trained by watching someone outside the mansion," Frey responded. "That was one or two years ago, but he managed to mimic his movements. He wasn't used to sparring. I had to tell him how to breath, but when it came to the moves, he could fight like someone in the back. I got pushed back with each move. I think he even had to hold back for me."

"That's enough, you can go. The lord and I will interview him from here." Jameson handed Frey a bottle with green liquid.

"This feels a little wrong," Frey said. "Did Doevm do anything bad? He seems like a nice enough person."

"He didn't do anything wrong, go get some sleep," Jameson waved him off. When Frey left, he frowned. 'I thought Rena might have taught you to read, but then who taught you how to fight? Don't think that I believe your story for a second. Something's wrong here and I'm going to find out what.' He pulled out a sheet of paper and wrote something down on it:

Doevm is now twelve years old. His parents are known to be Rena and Hank. Hank disappeared and the search is inconclusive. The mother passed away. Skills: hand-to-hand combat, spears, reading, acting, maturity, and vocabulary. He has talked to the war monk Ashtehar and has shown no capability with magic, yet he goes out every night. Most suspicious is that the reported lights that warned of the hero happened the same day he was born, but Ashtehar said he was not the hero. Could the war monk be lying and teaching him in secret? I paired Frey with him since they are near the same age, but he's too soft-hearted to do this kind of thing. As for how much of this I will report to Reginald, would he even believe me?

The newest line he put down was, "Should I tell Doevm about Rena?" He sighed, folded the note up, and looked at the sky. "I'm sorry, I should have been there and taken you both away. I won't leave anyone again, not while I have my spear and my position as captain."