Free The Sword of Ages: The Mage Breaker Book 1 by A.L. Issett

in a thin cotton top instead of a breast plate. Tanner also knew the only way to beat Golden was to catch him off guard or try to tire him out. Speed was something he couldn’t win at with Golden but as he attacked Grodd he learned one of two things. Grodd was not as fast as Golden or even as Tanner with the sword. The other thing he found out was that Grodd was by far the most skilled opponent he had ever faced. It was like Grodd knew where Tanner was going to attack before he got there. Add to the fact Tanner had to constantly jump in and out to get inside Grodd’s reach then out before the older man could strike back. For the most part Tanner could see Grood was just defending, not really attacking. Tanner stepped up his pace and could see Grodd starting to sweat, but his defense held even if a little shakily. Tanner took a step back and raised his sword high in the air before pointing it tip down to signal defeat.
                  “You were playing with me old man” Tanner said disgustedly. “You could have spit me good like a fat trout if you wanted”.
                  “I think you did pretty good” Tanner heard the King say from behind him. Tanner and Grodd went to a knee as the King bade them to rise.
                  “The boy is adequate Your Majesty” Grodd said to the king. “Whoever taught him was probably a regular infantryman from Ket, he knew the basics and trained the boy well. The boy for the most part has the basic forms down as well as any of your guards, he is fast and youthful and obviously used to fighting a much larger opponent. However he takes too long to adjust his timing, up until the end he was going the same speed. He also steps too much to the right, I could tell he had never faced a lefty or he would have fixed this flaw. He also knows none of the higher sword forms, if he had I probably would have been in a little trouble. As it were I recognized the forms he were in and just put my sword where I knew his would be”.
                  “Well I heard from the others you got along well when you first met” the King said with a slight laugh. “Your job is to teach him what you know of the sword”.
    Tanner watched the king walk away as Grodd turned back to him with a smile on his face. Tanner remembered all of the times he had gotten struck hard by his uncle when he was learning the blade and did not fancy that treatment; unfortunately that’s exactly what happened. Grodd at first started with the forms Tanner knew, Tanner did okay keeping Grodd at bay. When Grodd started making subtle changes though, striking at odd angles, using his knee and feet to attack is when Tanner would get hit. When Tanner tried to do the same it seemed Grodd was ready for him. The only time Tanner got a hit on him is when he secretly picked up a handful of dirt and threw it in Grodd’s eyes. Tanner then whacked him hard in ribs, right where he knew it would hurt. Grodd for the most part smiled then made sure to whack Tanner extra hard in the ribs on the next go around. Before long it was time to pack up and leave and Tanner had missed his midday meal, luckily he had plenty jerky on him. Getting back into the saddle was awful for Tanner, his ribs were bruised as was the rest of him.
                  The next couple of days went by in much of the same way, except Grodd would show Tanner exactly what he was doing first, then Tanner would try to emulate it. Tanner had a bit more success in keeping Grodd off him, but as he was still learning the new moves it was all he could do not to get put on his backside. At the end of two weeks Tanner had still not seen the princess yet, but that paled in comparison when he set eyes on Ketol.
                  Ketol had a huge wall around it but he could see three towers jutting out proudly, two were the same size and the one in the middle was taller still. Tanner could not tell what they made of but the