Servant by Matt Stuckey (most read books in the world of all time .txt) 📕

Taking a deep breath, Leonidas resumed his usual neutral expression and ruffled Fulmino’s short hair.

“Sometimes I forget that you know so little about people; it makes me nostalgic for who I used to be. Don’t become like me Fulmino, learn from my mistakes."

Fulmino snorted in response.

“So does this mean I should not trust you as well?” Fulmino said jokingly.

Smiling sadly, Leonidas said as he walked ahead “It’s me that you should trust least of all”.

Muscles and Fulmino slowly circled one another, both “blades” in the guard position. With a grunt, Fulmino swung a feint followed by a quick jab to the stomach. He might as well have tried poking the wind or sunlight for all the good it did. Muscles smoothly stepped to the side while bringing his own sword around for a solid smack into Fulminos’ ribs. Unperturbed, Fulmino fell back into guard and weathered a few blows from Muscles before being knocked to the ground by a blurring swipe to the leg that hooked him off balance and allowed Muscles to bull him backwards. Fulmino sprang to his feet without comment and continued on with the sparring. After finishing hours later, both were covered in sweat but were breathing normally. Wordlessly, Fulmino followed Muscles back to camp to turn in for the night, giving a nod to Leonidus as he and Aldon emerged from their form work. Aldon gave him a strange look as he passed him, though Fulmino guessed what it was about. Less than a week previously, Aldon had brought up an interesting question at dinner.

“Sir, why are you still working with Fulmino? Isn’t it about time that we all started going over forms together as a group?”

Fulmino was curious about this himself, since he had been sparring with Muscles now for four months with little skill improvement he could see. True, he was in much better condition now and could take some blows without falling down every time he was struck. Still though, he would have expected to be able to hold his own better now, not be defeated every three to four moves. With such an obvious skill deficit, Fulmino had always assumed that they would either try another weapon or start working forms at some point. Every day remained the same however, and Muscles gave no indication that things would be changing anytime soon.

Muscles slowly lowered his bowl and calmly replied,

“Grub, I don’t mind answering your question. Just be aware that your masters at the military academy will not take kindly to being questioned about their motives, and would likely punish your temerity severely.”

Aldon swallowed and paled a bit. Apparently tales of military punishment spread far and wide; likely embellished at every turn.

Muscles continued. “For reasons of my own, I have decided that Fulmino is worth my time and effort. Besides, it’s a lot more fun to beat on a meat bag than teach you lot how to go through forms.”

Aldon looked like he was about to interrupt until Leonidus shot him a look of wrath that shut him up. It was always a long marching day after Muscles got interrupted in the middle of speaking.

Muscles noted the exchange with some amusement while continuing to speak, “You are right that I am spending most of my attention on fancy boy here. I can’t have you two idiots show up with only a few forms while most have mastered dozens. Once a week, we will take the evening and practice new forms. While we are doing that, fancy boy here can do strength exercises.”

Muscles flashed a shark smile in Fulminos’ direction. Fulmino had a sinking feeling that these strength exercises were going to make one day a week living hell.

Shaking himself back to the present, Fulmino realized that tomorrow would be his first introduction to the strength exercises. Joy. As if he needed another reason to pass out snoring at night for a few measly hours before starting another day. Just as he settled into his bedroll, he felt a familiar hand shake him. Turning around, Fulmino looked to see what Leonidus wanted. There had been a certain unavoidable awkwardness since their last conversation which Fulmino longed to put behind them. Hopefully, this would be something new entirely.

“What’s up Leonidus?”

“Come with me, we should talk."

Fulmino followed Leonidus to the edge of the clearing, curious as to what this was about. Leonidus stared out at the stars for a few minutes before speaking.

“Be careful with “Muscles” as you so affectionately name him. I don’t know why he has singled you out, but it can’t be for any good reason."

Though part of Fulmino wanted to think that Leonidus was just jealous, he knew that he was speaking the truth. Muscles was the kind of person who only invested time and effort into something that would reap a nice benefit of some sort in the end. The question was, what did he want from Fulmino?

“What do you think he wants Leonidus?”

Leonidus looked at Fulmino squarely “I have no idea, and that’s the problem. I might believe that he was interested in you for your looks, but he is not the type. Men who prey on boys for that sort of thing don’t make jokes about fancy boys. Other than that obvious motive, it is hard to think what else he could gain from you.”

Fulmino felt his mouth go dry at the thought. He had not even considered that, and the thought of it made his blood run cold. Yes, he would definitely be more careful from now on.

Fulmino gave a wan smile “I see what you mean about becoming cynical, it seems that I did lead a sheltered life compared to you. How do you know of all this when you were raised in a small town?”

Leonidus immediately closed up and his face became very dark. “Do not ask how I know these things. Suffice to say, little towns are not free from darkness, and be glad you have not had to learn these lessons the hard way."

Fulmino was immediately sorry for causing his friend pain.

Fulmino bowed his head to Leonidus, as a commoner would to a magic user, and said “Please forgive me for my stupidity kind sir.”

A glint of amusement dispelled the darkness from Leonidus’ face. Painting on a haughty face, Leonidus replied “Yes, yes, you’re honored to meet me and all that. Just kiss my feet and be done with it you festering swine."

Both laughed heartily and pounded each other on the back, all serious talk forgotten. As they returned to their bedrolls and sleep overtook them, Fulmino stayed awake for hours, wondering what darkness existed in a small mountain town.

The next day proceeded exactly as usual. An early breakfast of oats was followed by a long hike through the wilderness. According to Muscles, they were taking a shortcut and avoiding bandits that often waylaid travelers on the main road. Muscles was concerned about the group of refugees that they came across some time ago.

“Wasn’t plague that caused them to get so feral. It was either a raiding army or a huge group of bandits, neither of which you grubs would last a minute against.”

Fulmino suspected that this was also another endurance builder, since the rocky terrain caused much more fatigue than the flat roads. As per usual, Muscles called for a halt a few hours before sunset to train before dinner. Muscles looked to be in a good mood, which was never a positive sign for anyone else. Taking Fulmino to the side, Muscles showed him how to do special pushups first.

“Imagine there is a blade held out a foot above the ground. First you slide under the blade, then slide back out.”

The process was much more difficult than Fulmino would have believed, causing his muscles to burn with fatigue at the unexpected strain. Muscles shook his head and snorted as Fulmino struggled to finish ten, then moved on.

“Next, you will slowly pull yourself up this tree branch and then back down again, alternating your grip so your hands face away and towards you.”

Already tired from the pushups, Fulminos’ arms screamed protest as his arms and back were engaged to complete the maneuver. Locking his jaw, Fulmino completed ten without complaint. Wordlessly, Muscles moved on.

“Finally, you will lean against this tree and sit with your back touching and your ass level with your knees. Hold the position until you cannot any longer.”

Fulmino relaxed as he assumed the position, relieved that his arms got a break. After a minute however, Fulminos’ already tired legs began to rebel, causing his legs to shake with the unexpected strain. As sweat coursed down his face, Fulmino was forced to stop.

Muscles shook his head woefully.

“That was pathetic boy! I have decided that you will join me every morning as I complete my exercises until you can show some muscle. For now though, keep doing the same thing we just did until I am finished teaching the other grubs forms.”

Fulmino closed his eyes in weary protest. Already his body was tired from the days marching, yet he still had just as much work ahead of him it seemed. Fulmino bitterly resented being singled out by Muscles for this hellish training.

“By the way boy, if I come back and find you slacking, everyone marches double tomorrow and the day after. Have fun!”

Muscles chuckled to himself as he walked off to teach the other boys forms.

Fulmino spat towards his retreating form, though not before he was well out of sight. Fulmino gritted his teeth as he began the regiment again, his body groaning protest the whole while.

To keep his mind off of the physical torment, Fulmino mulled over Muscles’ behavior in his head. It didn’t make sense that he was being singled out by Muscles; both the other boys were likely more capable and had been with him longer. Fulmino knew that Aldon was beginning to resent the “special attention” he was receiving while he and Leonidus were left to practice their forms. Fulmino snorted. He would be more than happy to trade places with Aldon, but Muscles would never allow it. They would probably get double marching pace for a week just for suggesting it.

Muscles popped in his ugly mug once to check on Fulmino; luckily he had just started an exercise and was not taking a breather, as he had been forced to do multiple times in order to avoid collapsing. Muscles said nothing and marched back to the other boys with a scowl. Fulmino would have laughed if he wasn’t so tired.After what felt like an eternity Fulmino collapsed and could not rise again. Lying there, Fulmino angrily focused on catching his breath and fighting off the blackness threatening to consume him. Cursing under his breath, Fulmino limped back to the camp to get sleep.

Fulmino lucked out as he saw that the other boys were returning with Muscles as well; worse timing would probably have led to some unthinkable punishment from Muscles. Aldon looked at Fulmino with some surprise at his haggard condition, while Leonidus shot him a sympathetic look. Well, at least somebody cared. Everyone was bone tired except for Muscles, who seemed to never get tired. Or hungry. Now that he thought of it, Fulmino wondered if Muscles was actually human. Fulmino passed out on his bedroll, not looking forward to an earlier start in the morning.

It was still dark when Fulmino was shaken awake. Surprisingly, the huge paw was not cruelly pummeling him into wakefulness but instead merely shaking him awake with, dare he say it, patience. Yawning heavily, Fulmino limped out of his sleeping sack and followed Muscles to the clearing they had practiced the other night.

Muscles began stretching, and Fulmino followed suit. While in the middle of his backbend, Muscles said “This is the only way you will get better boy. While big muscles can be a hindrance in sword fighting, you need some strength to be able to challenge a serious swordsman. This training will make you a much better sword