I Will Be the Greatest Knight

After a barrage of responses from the apprentices, Commander Henry quickly decided that he needed to find a new way to choose who he was to spar with. While he wouldn't have time to spar with all, considering he was waiting for the mage leaders in Idona to respond to his request to see them, he wanted to test the hands-on skills of at least a few.

"I will determine who I spar with based on how sharp your practices are today," he explained. "Best listen to Lady Irene. I will be watching."

The red-haired knight turned to her Commander and nodded. Her arms had been crossed as she concealed the fact that one of her gloved hands was nervously playing with the ends of her wavy hair. He was bringing out of her the strangest of responses.

What a pain it was to have to get used to someone she found herself attracted to. It was almost as if he knew, and he was trying to shove himself into her space as often as possible.

However, she knew how misplaced those thoughts were. The longer she was forced to interact with her Commander, the more she knew that he was an honorable man and unlike many other nobles.

Her current thoughts were a problem she was going to have to take care of all on her own.

When Irene stepped forward, the Commander decided to fall back, fixing his expression so nothing could be revealed as his gaze swept over the apprentices who would one day be valuable knights. His arms were crossed over his well-defined chest, and he didn't say anything more.

"Ready your practice swords," Irene called. "I expect proper posture and no wasted movements. You know the drills. Call them yourselves as one. Begin. Downward…!"

"... Upward, thrust, slash!" the apprentices called as their arms followed the movements.

Irene nodded in approval as she slowly walked along the front of the perfectly spaced rows the apprentices had created. They were getting sharper since she hadn't been allowing them breaks after traveling for so long.

Since there wasn't anything else to do except for constantly practicing, they were sharp.

When her trek brought her back to the Commander, she stopped short, deciding to stay in the center rather than her original spot, which was much closer. However, it soon wouldn't matter where she stood because the Commander had legs as well.

Henry recalled their full number of apprentices and knew there were a few missing. It seemed that Irene had chosen the apprentices based on their age, based on the pattern he was seeing. The logic was sound, considering they had less experience, and the youngest apprentices currently in the order were from villages and townships close by, so they had even less experience traveling long distances.

He stepped closer to the dame and leaned slightly so he could speak to her quietly while the apprentices continued calling their own warmups.

"If my observation is correct, you left the youngest behind?" he asked.

His voice close to her caused a tickle at the back of her neck that she had to ignore or she was going to shiver.

"Yes, Commander," she responded quietly, resisting the urge to step away.

"And what was the reasoning for leaving Sir Gunnar behind?" He had to ask, his curiosity getting the better of him.

At that, Irene turned her head to glance at the Commander. Was he disappointed by her choice to leave the old knight behind? When she met his gaze, there was nothing disappointed behind it, and she went forward.

"It wasn't my call, Commander," she admitted. "He volunteered to stay, stating he is too old to keep traveling as he used to. Told me he liked to stay with the apprentices and promised that he would ensure the building projects are finished if we're not back by the end of the building season."

The Commander nodded slowly, and he scratched his chin thoughtfully as he took in the information.

"He does have a long tenure for the Knights of Tenetium," the young Duke muttered mostly to himself.

However, he noticed Irene seemed to somewhat flinch at his insistence to call the knights that. He thought he should address it before offending someone within his order, particularly someone only two ranks below him, whom he heavily relied on.

"Forgive me," he quickly corrected.

By then, he had broken Irene's focus, and she was no longer counting the apprentices' warmups. She would just have to stop them when they seemed tired enough.

"It isn't your fault that you're used to referring to Tenetium as… that," she admitted. "You are the Duke of Tenetium after all."

"Why the insistence to call the region Chemois and refer to the knights as Chemoian?" he wondered.

It felt obvious to Irene, but she didn't want to tell someone associated with His Majesty the truth. She was hesitant at his question, and she glanced at him with her lips parted for a moment as she chose her words carefully.

"Because Tenetium felt forgotten by His Majesty," she admitted a bit of the truth. "So we returned to our roots."

The Commander seemed to take this in and allow it to affect him.

Admittedly, it reminded him of his own struggle as a former peasant who was amongst the most forgotten by the monarch. They were close enough to help, but still forgotten.

Before he could respond, Irene needed to change the conversation entirely. She didn't want to further delve into her hatred for the one who presided over the kingdom. Perhaps the Commander was in contact with the King more than he let on.

"That's enough!" Irene called. "Good job, apprentices. Was there someone who stood out to you, Commander?"

The man wanted to say that she was the one who stood out to him after giving him an iota of trust for the first time, but he held himself back. They still had a way to go. Perhaps one day, they would have a conversation where she wasn't clearly holding herself back.

"Bren," the Commander called. "You have the skills of a knight in the body of an apprentice. I would like to spar with you first."

Bren stepped forward, and the others, disappointed not to be chosen, stepped to the side.

However, the match soon started in a way that soured for Bren quickly.

Bren was striking his heart out, wanting to find an opening in the Commander's movements, but all the Commander had been doing was blocking his strikes and not hitting him back.

Since the apprentice was exhausted already and growing frustrated, he stated, "I can't get better if you don't try to hit me."

The Commander seemed to accept the challenge as he raised his sword, amused at the apprentice's frustration.

However, before he could bring it downward and show the apprentice why he had been chosen to be the Commander, a desperate yell was heard in the woods southwest of Idona.

"Find as many knights as you can," Henry ordered the apprentices.