Black Oak Sword, Chapter 7 -- Part 1

Private Gehrig walked down the corridor. His boots clicked quietly on the stone tile floor. As he walked, he thought on the fortuitous turn of events that had landed him in the King's Own. He started life in the small village of Smelton off to the north in the Duchy of Rockport. When of age, he had come to the capital to seek his fortune. It seemed, when he first arrived, that nearly every other able bodied man of a similar age had the same thought. Competition for spots in the King's Army were fierce and he failed to find a spot.

But Private Gehrig was a man of indomitable spirit and had continued to practice with his sword. To earn a living, he worked the river docks. It was hard, physical work that had taxed his body to its limits. Not a tall man, after two years of lifting and loading cargo, his body seemed to be a solid mass of muscle. One day, when he was done work, he had walked home a different route. It took him past a small building where many men were streaming in the doors. Finding himself with nothing to do for the evening, he followed the crowd. Inside, a sword fight was taking place. After a couple of wild swings, one of the swordsmen was cut down by a fast, vicious stroke. As he bled to death on the floor, the men in the building cheered and jeered. Money changed hands faster than a street rat grabbing at spilt cargo.

Private Gehrig smiled at the memory. He was naive then. Walking up to the ring master, he asked what this was all about. The ring master looked at his thick body and asked him if he knew anything about fighting. He agreed that he did. The ring master then asked him if he wanted to earn some quick coin. Private Gehrig had allowed that this also was agreeable to him. And so, without further ado, he was introduced as the newest combatant and thrown into the ring to fight the current bare knuckle champion.

The man who emerged to fight Private Gehrig was tall and lanky. He swung his arms and kicked his feet. Private Gehrig waited patiently. The man approached Gehrig from the side. Gehrig turned and waited. The man swung a few times. Each time, Gehrig slid his head out of the strike line.

Suddenly, the man spun and swung his left foot out to take Gehrig in the left side. Gehrig was waiting. He had seen this style of fighting from the boat rats who came from the north. Gehrig stepped into the kick to shorten the blow and lessen the impact. As he stepped forward with his left foot, he punched his right hand straight into his opponent’s lower back. The blow incapacitated his attacker and left him gasping for air on the mat. For that fight alone, Gehrig had earned two gold. More than he would see for a full seven working the docks. He never returned to the docks, instead changing careers to a ring fighter.

After months of bare knuckle fighting, the ring master learned that Gehrig knew sword work. He spent the next three months crossing swords in the ring. He had done so masterfully in the ring, and word got back to Captain Bellis of the King's Own. Several of his soldiers had mentioned there was a particularly adept swordsman working the rings. Bellis watched Gehrig during a fight and was so impressed he hired him on the spot.

© 2017, Stone Golem Publishing

**All pictures used are labeled for reuse. They come from Pixabay

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