Chapter 67

My stomach rumbled with a demand for sustenance as I walked into the kitchen. The sunlight streaming in through the window was still pale, the sun just peeking above the tree line. Gramps wasn’t up yet, but Mum had company in the kitchen as she cooked breakfast. On the other side of the table from me, Griselda sat eating some eggs on warm flat bread, the steam wisping in front of her pale green face in the cool morning air. Her dark eyes flicked up and noted my entry before returning to her food.

“Morning, Mum,” I chirped happily, pulling up a seat. “Hey Griselda! Did you bring us more eggs?”

The half-orc nodded in response, her wiry, black hair not shifting in the slightest from the movement. Today she was wearing tight fitting, dark, woolen pants with a fur jacket. I watched as she shoved the last of her breakfast into her mouth and reached under the table.

A loud clank filled the kitchen as she deposited a hatchet on the bench. The weapon had looked tiny in her hands. Sliding it across to me, I could tell she was watching me, waiting to see my reaction.

I reached out tentatively and pulled the hatchet across the wood with a scraping sound before wrapping my hands around it and holding it out in front of myself. While it had been small for Griselda, who was twice my height, it seemed like it had been sized specifically for me.

The wood of the haft was Horndale pine coated in a dark varnish, the handle wrapped in some sort of similarly dark leather. I was about to touch the blade of the axe and test how sharp it was when I caught my Mum shaking her head as she watched me. The warning was clear, and I decided that I would find another way to put my new toy — I mean weapon — through its paces.

“Is this for me?” I asked reverently, my eyes still glued to the hatchet.

Griselda grunted, leaning back in her chair which creaked under her considerable muscle. “A warrior should have an axe. We will train this morning?”

I had expected her to phrase it more as a demand, but the inflection at the end made it clear she was asking a question, or perhaps it could be considered she was making an offer. Either way, I lit up with a big grin.

“Can we train now?!”

“Breakfast first,” Mum insisted as she deposited a plate in front of me and placed a kiss on the top of my head. “You need to have some food in you if you want to grow up big and strong.”

“As big and strong as Griselda?” I asked with a cheeky smile.

Mum merely laughed at my little quip, but I caught the normally stoic Griselda looking away to hide how her lips turned upwards.

As impatient as ever, I wolfed down my eggs and bread before charging for the backdoor with my new weapon.

“Don’t run with your hatchet!” Mum yelled after me.

I kind of listened to her, slowing down to a fast walk. Exiting the back door I was hit by a wave of cold air, my breath frosting in front of me. We weren’t that far out of winter, and until the sun got a little higher in the sky, the elevation of our mountain home meant that the coolness wouldn’t abate.

Griselda wasn’t far behind me, but I had a moment to glance at my Status before we got started.

My Path of Hatchets was dormant for now, but the problem I was having was I didn’t have a good option to swap it in for. With my plans for the Path of Infiltration tonight, I was going to have to slot Infiltration in somewhere. Then, once I got it to Tier two I could remove it for Path of Hatchets. I revisited my plans for which Path I would be removing this evening, mostly to reassure myself.

Path of Body Strengthening was almost at the next tier which might have been a good option, though that was only if I absolutely smashed my body today and eked out twenty-three steps in a day. A tall order since it might be possible, but would leave me a wreck for the evening when I was trying to sneak around. That sounded like a terrible idea.

Even if I did take that entirely unnecessary risk, what then? Almost everything I did involved strengthening my body — from running, to traversing my obstacle course, lessons in swordplay with George and now lessons in how to fight with hatchets with Griselda. Plus, every Path I actually completed not only gave me more Unallocated Stats to put into Gifted, but gave me progress on my Path of the Completionist — and Body Strengthening was halfway to completion.

By that logic, the choice was obvious, and reaffirmed my previous plans. Coordination was unfortunately going to suffer in dormancy once more. Outside of Swordplay and the Paths I refused to touch — Exceptionalism, Completionist, and Soulstealing — it was the least progressed. Losing almost four hundred steps was going to hurt, but that was only a month or two's effort. Even less once I had raised the stats in Gifted.

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I wouldn’t bother making the change until tonight, but at least now I had a plan. I would replace Coordination with Infiltration, work that Elite Path till it was Tier two, then swap Infiltration out for Hatchets.

With my decision made, I looked up to find Griselda waiting for me.

Moving to stand across from me, the half-orc woman grabbed her own hatchet, pulling it out of the leather loop on her belt. Her entire body seemed almost too casual as she motioned for me to attack. I suppose I was used to George’s style of instruction where he spent more time explaining what to do before having me spar him — I mean, I wasn’t even warmed up yet! Not to mention we weren’t using wooden practice weapons. Mum was going to lose her mind!

Still, actual instruction was a gift I wasn’t about to ignore. So, I attacked with my hatchet. Taking a few quick steps — at least quick for a five year old — I swung my axe in from the side, turning my body in the process. Griselda casually blocked the haft of my axe with her own, the impact of wood rattling against wood felt like electricity traveling up my arm. The half-orc swiveled the head of her hatchet, trying to catch my own, and just like she had taught me, I matched the movement and disengaged.

Using footwork learned under George, I circled around Griselda, taking another swing at her. I restrained myself, not because I thought I might injure her — there was no chance of that — but because even though the hatchet was quite light, I didn’t want to overextend myself. Griselda matched my movement to an extent.

Where I took quick light steps, she planted herself with force. Her every move was economical, staying just out of range while close enough to swing back at me.

She never did though — at least not with her axe. Occasionally, she would take a swing at me with her empty hand, always just after I attacked so I would be forced to dodge rather than attempt a block.

As we continued to dance back and forth, she started to talk as she blocked or avoided my attacks.

“Axes like these are meant for speed, attacking where your enemy is exposed. They are not good at blocking bladed weapons, like swords, so do not try. Instead, use the lightness and speed to be where your enemy is not, then strike, hard and fast, ending the fight in an instant.”

As she spoke, I struck out, swinging my axe down towards her chest. She easily stepped to the side then tried to slap me with her hand. I ducked, knowing she was restraining her speed and strength for my benefit.

“Good,” she commented. Then, for the first time, she attacked me.

Her hatchet was spun around so the blade was facing away from me. She performed a quick — by my standards — set of attacks that had me backing away. I dodged the first three then on the fourth tried to block and hook her axe. Instead, as though she had expected it, her axe twisted in her grip. With a simple tug, she disarmed me, then lowered her weapon, my axe still hanging from the blade of her own.

“And never engage in a contest of strength unless you are certain you are the stronger warrior. The mighty may barrel through their opponents, but the weak must fight smart. Smart and fast. Win the battle in here,” she said, tapping the side of her head. “So you can win the battle here.”

She stomped on the ground.

“You are smart. I hear this often. Bastian is clever. But you are small for now. Small and weak. So, fight like you are weak until you are mighty. Understand?”

I nodded meekly.

Griselda extended her axe toward me, letting me grab my own from where it hung.

“Good, you understand. The weak dodge and trick. This is what we practise. Now dodge.”

She came at me again, and this time, I discarded any foolish thoughts of trying to fight like she did. Instead, I fought like a child, running and dodging — taking swings only when I thought I could get away with it — before dodging some more. Griselda didn’t let up, like a slow moving landslide, she pressured me until I was panting for air. My Paths were having a field day: Running, Balancing, Body Strengthening, Coordination, and even Deception gained steps.

By the time we were done, the sun had drifted higher into the sky, the air warming commensurately. I drifted back towards Mum in the garden with Griselda walking beside me.

“We train again in two days?” she asked, an undertone of worry to her question.

Is she concerned I will say no? I wondered.

“Yes!” I agreed brightly despite being incredibly worn out. “Why two days though?”

“I bring more eggs in two days. The new ones do not have chicken coops yet so they buy them with their silver. Wool too, for Lucille and Kaylee to weave. Goat’s milk and pig meat they ask for as well. I tell traders to bring more of these animals when they come back through.”

I realised she must be talking about the Horndale Mining Co. and the House Firthholm guardsmen or whatever they were called. Would they technically be soldiers? I didn’t know. Either way, it sounded like they didn’t have much in the way of supplies and were buying some meat, eggs, and wool off of Griselda and Martin. If she was getting more animals to buy, she must be expanding her existing set of pens and coops. If she was delivering them every second day, which was what I was hoping, then I was about to get a lot of use out of my Path of Hatchets and perhaps the first few extra Stats from my Child Warrior Boon.

However, as I waved goodbye to Griselda and headed into the outpost for my aethersensing lesson, my mind was already shifting towards my evening plans. The Path of Infiltration beckoned, and I was hoping that by the time the night was done, I would have pushed the Elite Path all the way to the second tier. A large jump for an Elite Path, but then, how many people possessed a Potent Shadow Affinity and the Gifted attribute? I would just have to see if they would be enough.