[Viskyia Crow]

The little priest studied Rhargn as he moved through his exercises and nodded quite a few times. His glasses slid further down his nose, and he frowned occasionally. It was obvious he was acutely studying Rhargn’s body language and attitude. He waited politely for Rhargn to finish before he stepped forward and cleared his throat.

“Learning mace isn’t about swinging a large deadly blunt object, Rhargn. Learning Mace is about learning you. Most men your size only live within their own heads and fail to acknowledge the rest of their body. I can tell by watching you that you are one of those men. All you are aware of is your head. Why is this? Part of it is your physical shape. Part of it is your attitude. You use your body as a tool. Advancing in mace involves learning to push your awareness out of your head and into your body. Why live in a small space when you can dwell in your whole form? Learning mace is also about connecting and teaching you how to move. Swinging a mace isn’t about all that brute force. Sure it can be helpful. But really it’s an extension of yourself.” Faulto paused to look Rhargn over. It gave Rhargn the distinctly uncomfortable feeling that the priest was looking right through him.

“For the next few brightenings, I will start teaching you how to expand your awareness through your body to make your mace skill improve. I will show you how to direct your entire energy into the force of your blows, doubling your impact and improving the fluidity of your motions. I will also present you with a number of your potential enemy so we can study their motions, their flaws, and discuss their advantages. We will be looking at the various types of armor and how you can use armor on an enemy to your advantage. Then, when you have some measure of skill in these things, we will move on to shields and how to eliminate them as an obstacle between you and your opponent.”

The priest paused so Rhargn could absorb the outline of the course he just presented, then moved forward, obviously ready to start.

“This will be the most difficult part of your teachings from me.” Faulto advised.

The little priest shuffled forward and laid his hand on Rhargn’s chest, just above the navel. He frowned at the extra bulk there. “I want your awareness here, where your center of gravity dwells. When you turn to look at something, look first with your body, then with your eyes. You need to start developing your instinct and intuition and depend less on your eyes and formal senses. There are enemies you will face, in places which you will not have all your traditional facilities. It could be dark. You could be in a confined lightless place where your hearing is also affected because of the closeness of walls.”

Faulto removed his sash and reached upwards, wrapping the cloth around Rhargn’s head, in effect blinding him. “Now, run through your exercises again. This time, do not lead with your mind. Lead with your body. Twist and bend and feel the air around you as you move your mace through your clock face moves. Start with horizontal then move into vertical. Feel the mace. It should have no ending and no beginning, but be rather an extension of yourself. Go slowly and feel your bodies energy coiling and uncoiling into the routine.”

Faulto paused to watch Rhargn’s next move.