The boy leaned over his steed’s neck. He tightened his leg muscles as he tangled his fingers in her mane. With his free hand, he drew the sword from his left hip. It swept in a glittering arc, neatly severing the straw target in half.
He gave a sharp whistle and the mare whirled in a tight circle, charging back toward a pair of straw targets to the boy’s right. With a fluid move, he swung a leg over his mount’s neck and wrapped it around the stirrup. A blade now in each hand, he leaned out nearly parallel to the ground and burried a sword in each figure’s chest.
A second whistle had the mare whipping about once more. The boy balanced on his steed’s back as she loped between the two targets in the opposite direction. He pulled his blades free, slammed them into their sheathes, and guided his mount to stop in front of the big man who stood watching with his arms crossed firmly over his chest.
The boy tilted his head up slightly, acknowledging the observer. When no response was forthecoming, he slid from the saddle and guided his mare to the corral. There, he removed the saddle, brushed her down, gave her a bucket of oats, and turned her loose.
His blades came free of their sheathes as he turned to block the big man’s attack. He turned the single sword aside with his right-hand blade and came across from low to high with his left. He watched the fabric part and a fine line of crimson bloom as he brought the blade back to the defense.
A feral growl escaped the big man and he stumbled back several steps. He gripped the wound and put up his own weapon. A string of curses slipped from his lips and he backhanded the boy sending him tumbling head over heels into the corral fence. At that, he spun and stalked toward his tent.
The boy watched him go. After a moment, he returned his swords to their sheathes. He rubbed his jaw, now tender from the blow, and pushed himself to stand. With a series of muttered curses of his own, the boy stalked toward a group on the far side of the sprawling herd of sheep.
“Beat your pa again, Naphir?” the biggest of the group asked.
The boy growled and nodded.
“You can stay with me,” he offered. “I’m on watch until midnight.”
A look swept around the group and the other boys wandered off to see to their other responsibilities. The two were left alone with only the sound of the sheep bleating between them.
The World of Terra 