67

The next day Bayle had them all assembled in the courtyard wearing their full armor and armed with their favored weapons. He even insisted on Marcus bringing his rifle. Bayle himself was wearing an odd mix of the newest type of armor the knights had but missing certain pieces like the shoulder-plates and greaves. He had two short swords and a dagger at his belt and a small, angular buckler. He looked a little odd without a bunch of papers and notebooks around him. It was a warm morning, and a few random onlookers that passed by the training yard paused to have a look at what they were doing. The soldiers seemed a bit fresher recently, as a rotation of soldiers on furlough had come back to the fort.

“What about Crick?” asked Pyotr.

“I already know what he can do,” replied Bayle.

He drew one of his swords and tested his grip, giving it a few solid swings, then he pointed it at Davi.

“You first.”

Davi nodded and pulled the faceplate of his helmet down as he approached.

Bayle didn’t wait for him to ready up, instead launching himself at him with one of his shortswords.

Davi managed to parry the blow and return it, showing no hesitation. What followed was nearly five minutes straight of back-and-forth sparring. Despite the fact that Davi was an aggressive fighter, he was never able to take the initiative. Bayle kept him on the back foot the entire time, never letting up for even a moment, and completely controlling the bout. Bayle was smaller than Davi, but in spite of that, his blows seemed to match his strength, and on top of that, he was faster. Eventually he held up a hand.

“Good. Very good.” He pointed at Pyotr next. He wasn’t even breathing hard while Davi was panting heavily and eagerly removed his helmet.

Pyotr took his spot, and this time, Bayle gave him a moment rather than charging him immediately like he had with Davi. Pyotr took the initiative this time, and Bayle’s fighting style was completely different. He stayed on the defensive this time, and Pyotr danced around him, raining down blows. Bayle blocked them all or let light hits strike against his armor. He wasted no movements and seemed to start reacting even before Pyotr began his strikes, as if he were leading the fight even though he was on the defensive. This fight ended like the last one, with Pyotr out of breath and Bayle still relaxed.

“Good as well. Unique, hard-to-read movements.” He pointed to Michael.

Michael moved forward cautiously, with his shield up and sword ready. Pyotr and Davi had just elected for a longsword and bastard sword, respectively, but Michael still favored a shortsword and shield as he always had.

Bayle waited until he was in place and raised his own buckler and shortsword in a similar stance to the one Michael had taken. They both started to send out probing strikes at one another. The strikes built until they were in a nonstop back-and-forth. Michael was surprised at the strength of Bayle’s narrow frame, but he was even more surprised by his speed. He kept it subtle, but Michael could tell that the man was far faster than he was letting on. Very suddenly Bayle stopped, and Michael was forced to stop a sword strike mid-swing narrowly missing the lieutenant’s head.

Bayle frowned. “Hmm. That’s enough.”

He pointed at Ollie.

While they exchanged blows, Michael took a moment to try and divine Bayle. He’d never had more than a few moments of interaction with him before, so hadn’t had the chance to actually do it.

Titles:

Bayle Bright

Soldier of Stent

Knight of Stent

Lieutenant of Stent

Spymaster

Lord of Falstead

Deeds:

Walker of the Realm

Slayer of the Duke

Breaker of the Siege

Coat Turner

Messenger of Kings

Butcher of Nepf

Michael blinked. As much from surprise as to dismiss the various words floating around Bayle. That was much more impressive than he was expecting. It was no wonder he was absolutely dog-walking them throughout their sparring. He wasn’t able to discern any additional information from the Titles and Deeds, but given how impressive they looked, he couldn’t imagine that they didn’t all grant at least middling bonuses across the board. He supposed the Spymaster Title wasn’t too surprising given how he seemed to sort and collate information, not to mention his constant writing in code, but slaying a duke? Breaking a siege? Shouldn’t he be a general at this point? Unless that was the point. Perhaps being in charge of Penitents and irregulars was a cover. What if an enemy diviner looked at him, though? Couldn’t he discern things just as easily as Michael just did?

Bayle stopped his fight with Ollie and looked at Michael.

“Surprised at what you saw?” he asked, clearly aware of what Michael had been doing.

“Yes.”

“Think of how much more impressive it would be if I let you see the whole thing.”

Michael nodded, grasping his meaning. “You can hide parts of your Titles and Deeds.”

“Yes. It’s a valuable ability in my line of work. In this case I let you see only the most impressive ones. I didn’t think the Deed about saving the family dog from a fire as a child was really important to share.”

“I mean… makes me like you more,” gasped Ollie, out of breath.

Bayle sheathed his sword, stretching his wrist a bit. “Who among you has the most Titles and Deeds?” he asked everyone, though the question was mostly directed at Michael.

“Me,” he replied. It wasn’t exactly a brag—he just seemed more prone to getting them.

He chuckled. “That makes you the biggest fool of anyone here.”

“I think everyone here already knows that,” said Michael, “but how did you draw that conclusion?”

“The Divine award Titles and Deeds for dangerous, foolish, and often unnecessary actions. The type of people that would normally accumulate many of them tend to die very quickly. Only sometimes is there an exception. A person who, in spite of frequent stupidity, manages to continue surviving.”

Michael nodded along as he spoke.

“It’s like he’s known you your whole life,” said Ollie with a smirk.

“The exception is obviously the nobility, who have enough Titles to begin with that earning more of them along with Deeds is much easier.”

“And which are you?” asked Michael.

Bayle smiled, not the small one they were used to, but a wide, genuine one. “Let’s just say I didn’t earn my land and Title until later in life than most.”

That prompted some chuckles from the rest of them.

“So, since you’re a diviner, go ahead and list everyone’s Titles and Deeds here. Give me the details as well if you can.”

Michael started with his own, noting a slight uptick of Bayle’s eyebrow at the Wound Man Title. Then he started to look at the others. It had been some time since he’d tried, and he found he was finally able to draw even the details for Marcus from the Titles and Deeds that floated in gold around them.

Ollie had, in addition to his ability to cast two spells at once, gained a Deed that strengthened his fire spells, as well as one that granted middling reaction when facing enemy mages.

Davi’s The Renewed Title granted him Major Strength, and his Deed for winning the melee at the festival of blades gave him middling strength when facing multiple opponents. He’d also gained one that granted him minor durability when not wielding a shield.

Pyotr’s The Resurrected Title granted him middling reaction, middling awareness, and middling speed as long as he was moving. His Deed for helping Davi in the melee granted minor durability and strength when fighting with an ally, and he’d earned two other minor ones that increased his durability when he’d had alcohol within the last day and one that increased his speed when spinning.

Marcus had the strangest grouping of all of them. He had two Titles aside from his name and Soldier of Stent. Lifethief granted him a very low chance to gain the benefits of a Deed or Title of anyone he killed and so far had very minor benefits for all the stats attached to it and a major one attached to his awareness. He also had a Deed for slaying the King of the Forest, which granted him increased awareness of weak points when facing a stronger opponent.

Michael needed to catch his breath for a few moments after listing all of those Titles and Deeds back-to-back like that. He couldn’t imagine how dull it would be to hear that kind of list read without being broken up in some way, but Bayle managed to be focused and interested all throughout it.

“Well, that is a very odd mix of abilities. You all have far more going for you than the average Taker Penitents by quite a bit. It seems… you’re all idiots and fools.”

“Michael is still the worst, though, right?” asked Ollie with a smirk.

“Obviously,” replied Bayle, matching his tone perfectly. He seemed much more relaxed with them than he had in the past. Michael wondered if it was simply because he’d expected them to die by then, or if it was because he wanted their favor for whatever came next.

“I think I have a good idea of what all of you can do now. Tomorrow morning pack all of your belongings. It may be some time before we get back.”