Sitting on the sidelines, he heard two members of staff talking in low voices about the chances that carnalions could infiltrate the castle.
“With Summus and Secundus gone, there’s no one who can protect us! You know how sneaky carnalions are!”
Perian pondered this. It was true that since carnalions appeared like humans, they could sneak in better than wraiths or nightmares, which looked like smoky shadows and like small, smoky horse-like creatures, according to drawings he’d seen. (Perian had thankfully never seen them in person.) But the castle would be an extraordinarily bold target for a carnalion. Sure, they would havelesschance of being burned with Brannal and Cormal gone, but regular humans could still wield fire. And their near-human intelligence surely made them smart enough to realize that the chance of seducing people in the castle would be vastly outweighed by the number of people who could catch them and kill them. Fire wasn’t the only thing that could take them down. So really, what would be the point?
Thankfully, a third person—long, cylindrical beads braided into their light brown hair marking them as nonbinary—leaned in to the other two and helped allay their fears. Perian really hadn’t wanted to get pulled into a discussion that might fuel his own worries.
He managed to focus a little better later in the morning, enough that Onadal let him carry a practice sword again. Perian was never going to be an expert swordsman, probably wouldn’t ever evenowna sword, but going through the motions of trying to strike and block was soothing in its own way. Today notwithstanding, he’d noticed some improvement in his ability to handle a blade and to grapple with an opponent. And yes, despite the heckling from that over-invested group of naysayers, he would have no shame about kneeing someone in the groin if that was the best way to get away from them. But it did feel wonderful to make progress, to actually have more abilities with which to defend himself.
“Tomorrow,” Onadal told him, “we’ll start on knife work.”
“That sounds dangerous,” Perian said, uncertain that this was a goal he should be working towards. Swords at least gave you… the length of the sword away from someone, right?
Onadal smiled faintly at him, dark eyes serious. “Anything can be dangerous. And yes, it’s in close quarters—but sometimes that’s required. You need to be able to defend yourself if someone is up close.”
“Groin?” Perian suggested.
Onadal smirked. “That is a very sensible suggestion and always something you can use if the option is available to you. But any personwithout a dick is probably not going to be as incapacitated as you want, and some people, by accident or design, won’t give you an opening. Plus, even if you land center target, some people can keep on coming. Besides, what if you were attacked by a demon?”
“I’d scream really loud, and Mage Warriors and Warriors would come and rescue me?” Perian suggested.
Rolling his eyes, Onadal said, “In the castle, thatmightwork, but those lesser demons can move fast despite their size. You might not be able to use a knife against a wraith or a nightmare, but it should work against lesser demons and carnalions.”
Proving that he’d been listening in, one of Perian’s hecklers called out, “Though you’d probably be too busy enjoying yourself.”
Onadal shot the offender a sharp glance. “I think you have some laps to run. Five of them, in fact.”
With a groan and a venomous glare at Perian, as though that was in any way his fault, the man nevertheless immediately started his laps. He might have no respect for Perian, but he knew better than to cross Onadal. Perian had seen the captain of the Warriors bring down bigger men than him without breaking a sweat.
He turned back to Perian. “You should always use any advantage you can.”
Which, apparently, in Perian’s case, meant having a knife just in case he ever needed to use it.
“If you think it’s a good idea,” Perian said a bit doubtfully.
Onadal clapped him on the back, looking pleased. “You never know, it might just save your life one day.”
Perian thought it altogether more likely he would succeed in cutting himself one day, but then he remembered just how many knives Brannal had with his uniform. He could control all of the elements, and he still made sure he was armed in multiple non-magical ways.
Surely, Perian could try to manage the smallest fraction of that competence?
Plus, it was a distraction, and he could definitely use that right now.
Then he wondered if Onadal had come up with the idea solely for that reason.
“Come back tomorrow,” the captain of the Warriors told him.
Perian nodded.
He had another enjoyable picnic with Renny and Kee, though Renny greeted him by telling him he looked horrible. Then he made her laugh as he described how absolutelyawful he’d been in training and how Onadal thought that distracting him with knives tomorrow might help.
Her eyes were wide like saucers. “That is either the best or worst idea ever!”
“Right?” he agreed. “I guess you’ll find out tomorrow at lunchtime.”
She nodded, looking hugely entertained.
To Perian’s embarrassment, after she convinced him to lie down to look at the clouds, he actually fell asleep and woke up to find he was wrapped in the blanket from the picnic, everything carefully packed away, but no sign of Renny, who must have gone off to her lessons but decided he really needed the sleep.
