Chapter 2: Chapter 1
Four years later.
Noah Blade woke from his bed. He groaned as he sat up. Today was gonna be rough. It was market week, so traders from other regions would come to the Spearhead region and stay in each town for a week. Being an apprentice to his father, Sean, that meant that he would have to help with guard work. Escorting the traders and catching thieves instead of browsing the market in the morning to try and get what he wanted, that would have to wait for night when all the good stuff was already sold. He had only been an apprentice for four months and it was mainly just cataloging weapons and armor along with strength and weapon training.
His room is four meter by five meters. His bed is in the upper right corner, facing towards the door and a closet containing his clothes in the upper right corner facing towards the bed. A desk sat right next to his bed facing the wall and a bookshelf on the other side of it. A candle sat on the side of the desk facing the bed and an inkwell on the other. A painting of his family sat on the wall in front of his bed and a faded rug laid in the middle of the floor. An armor stand sat next to the closet with chainmail armor on it, fitted just for Noah.
"Come on,Noah! The traders will be here soon!" Noah heard his father yell.
"I'll be there soon!" Noah yelled back and jumped out of his bed. He hastily changed into his apprentice uniform and nearly ran out of his door when he remembered his armor. He ran back, grabbed his armor and head out while putting it on.
Noah was adjusting his helmet when he came down from the stairs. His mother wasn't awake yet as it was early in the morning. However his father, in full armor, was standing in the middle of the living room waiting for him. He was holding his spear and Noah's spear was leaning against the wall next to him.
"Good you're finally here." Sean said as Noah reached the bottom of the stairs. "Lets go."
Noah sighed as his father headed out of the house. Noah quickly followed suit, grabbing his spear and staying behind him. They headed to the west gate to wait for, and eventually greet, the traders. As they reached the gate, guards were already stationed on the wall and behind the gate.
The gate was massive, being six meters tall and the arching down to four meters wide. The wall continued a meter above the gate allowing guards to stand on top of it. A lever that would open the gate sat at the left of the gate.
They headed up on the gate and a guard came up to greet them.
"Glad you came, sir. No sign of the traders yet, sir." He said in salute.
"Alright, thanks for the report. Has the dragon messenger been sent out yet?" Sean asked. The dragon messenger was the person that sent the gold and reported to the dragon. It was the least desirable job in the town but someone had to do it. There were three people in the job to accommodate for sickness and injury.
"Yes, sir." The guard replied.
"Good." Sean then replied.
"THE TRADERS ARE COMING." A nearby guard yelled as the sounds of carts wheeling came in earshot. After that yell, Noah followed his father down to the center of the gate. A guard had moved himself down to the lever.
"Hold. Don't open it yet." Sean said and then yelled to the guards up top. "TELL ME WHEN THEY'RE ABOUT ONE HUNDRED METERS AWAY."
"YES, SIR."The guards replied in unison.
"Stand at my side." Sean said to Noah. Noah then swiftly moved to his father's right side.
"THEY'RE WITHIN ONE HUNDRED METERS, SIR." A guard yelled.
"Open the gate." Sean said to the guard at the lever. The guard nodded in response and pulled the lever back, causing the gate to start opening.
The gates took a small while to open and Noah anxiously stood at his father's side, fidgeting a bit. When the gates finally finished opening, the carts were only twenty meters away.
More guards came down as the carts started to come through the gates. The lead cart came to a stop in front of Noah and his father and a trader came out.
"What is this?" The trader asked.
"Ah, Blake, good to see you again. There has been an increase in raids in the region, so we're going to check the carts as a security measure." Sean said to the trader. Noah hadn't heard any of the traders' names before, so he was surprised that his father is on first name bases with at least one of them.
"That makes sense. Raiders can be quite the problem, especially in this region." Blake said.
"Tell me about it." Sean said.
"I'll tell the rest of the carts." Blake said and headed back. Sean signaled two guards to come over to search the cart.
The carts came in one by one and after each one was cleared a guard would escort it to the town square. Sean greeted each trader by name and Noah learned that Blake was the leader of the traders.
* * *
When the carts finished coming in and setting up, it was mid morning. People were starting to wake up and those who were already awake were heading out into the fields to start farming. A pair of guards were stationed at each entrance to the square and the other eight were lounging around. Noah noticed that there were three apprentices, including him. As time crept by, he began to get nervous as this was his first major job as an apprentice. As more time passed, Noah's nerves only got worse. He tried to calm himself down by taking deep breaths and it helped a little but not as much as he would have liked.
When people started to head in, Noah felt his nervousness go down as he and his father started patrolling the town square. People came and went, Noah kept his ears and eyes sharp, heeding his fathers advice a few days prior.
"Calm down, you look like you'll jump at a rabbit ten meters away." His father said. "Our purpose here is to catch criminals and maintain people's safety, not scare them." He continued. Noah then noticed that people were keeping their distance from them, giving worried looks to each other. Noah also noticed that he was somewhat crouching. He stood back up and took a deep breath, trying to force himself to be calm.
"I know this is your first major job, but you have to try and keep as level headed as possible." Sean told his son. "I'm going to be honest here, every job I do I always have some level of anxiety, one of the important things as a guard is to not let it show or let it affect your mind, got that?" He asked.
"Yes, I got that sir." Noah responded, his voice a bit shaky.
"It's something that will mainly come with time, but you can still practice containing it." His father said and then added, "Anxiety leads to fear, and fear, if left unchecked, leads to acts of cowardice."
Noah nodded his head, taking that in. He didn't want to disappoint his father. Noah went back to watching the crowds and tried to be more calm, but that calmness shattered when the sound of wingbeats engulfed all the other sounds.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone