Sixth Son: Villager in Another World 10

Ten.

Helen frowned as Agnes tried to lead her through the multiples of eight. Helen scribbled down her answers to Agnes’s questions in what looked to be a sloppy hand. Agnes must have noticed my stare, because she began addressing me.

“Those are Arabic numerals. Once you get used to them, they are far more convenient than the Old Roman system. “Why don’t you try it out?”

She took a second piece of canvas and charcoal and carefully wrote the numbers out. She flipped turned the piece of cloth toward me.

I studied the numbers quickly. They looked familiar, except for the five, which looked more like a long letter ‘y’. I held the angular piece of charcoal similar to how Agnes had held it, between the middle finger and thumb, while supported by the middle finger. It was the first time I had something like that, but the grip felt natural.

When I began writing, the process was awkward. The charcoal spread unevenly, while the canvas moved and pulled oddly. Also, my hand wasn’t used to writing, so it quickly cramped up.

“You write with a neat hand,” Agnes said approvingly.

She showed me how to write the tens places, then went through the products of eight. It all seemed familiar enough, so that I passed her quiz on the first try. Partway through, Agnes left the table to answer a knock at the door with light steps. One of the neighbors had come by for some herbs.

In the meantime, a glare bored into my side. I glanced to see Helen glaring at me.

"I'm surrounded by traitors," she grumbled. "I don't get why this is wrong."

Intrigued by her question, I looked over at her sail cloth. She had gotten up to four by eight well enough, but the problem started with five by eight. Instead of the expected 40, she had written 15.

I scribbled the roman numerals XL on the canvas before me.

"That's right," Helen said. "I'm doing the same thing with these funny numbers. Oh, why couldn't they just use the same numbers?"

I wrote out XL into 50 less 10. She seemed to get it then.

"Show me the others," Helen said.

After Agnes came back, she quizzed her daughter. With a sigh of relief after she had completed her lesson, she waved us outside to play. Helen grabbed me by the arm and dragged me after her.

Sixth Son: Villager in Another World 9

Nine.

Helen gave her fraternal twin a glare, but still patted herself off. I pulled a few strands of grass off of her back.

“I did finish my lesson,” she protested.

“Tell that to Mum. Come on. If she has to come find you, who knows what will happen to supper.”

Helen’s face twisted. I gave them a quizzical look, but they did not elaborate. She followed him grudgingly. I stood bemused. Helen paused for a moment in thought, then gestured with her chin for me to follow. I retrieved my staff and trailed after the gangly duo.

“I’ve brought her,” he said as he ducked into the house.

“Get in here Helen Katherine and don’t forget to wipe your shoes,” Agnes ordered sternly.

“We’ve got company,” Helen said as she wiped her shoes.

The lines on Agnes’s face relaxed once she saw me.

“Who? Oh, it’s you Sextus. Helen can’t play right now, since she left her lessons undone,” Agnes said.

“I did do them,” the girl protested.

“They were all wrong.”

“But I did do them.”

“The purpose is for you to learn.”

Just then, Alden appeared from an inner room with a pole over his shoulder. He grabbed a slice of dark bread from the table and wrapped it in a cloth. He gave Agnes a peck on the cheek.

“Be back before dark,” Agnes said.

“Yes, Mum,” he said.

“Traitor,” Helen hissed.

“Later, sis,” he said as he jauntily left.

“This is so not fair.”

Agnes studied her sulking daughter and me. I began to feel awkward and shifted in place, wondering if I should leave.

“Why don’t you come in, Sextus? You can leave your stick at the doorway.”

I nodded in assent, carefully wiped my wooden shoes, and crossed the doorway. The door closed behind me. Helen slouched over the heavy plank table near the fireplace. A piece of coarse cloth & charcoal were set before her. I sat next to her, while her mother took the seat opposite of her.

And so her lesson resumed, while my first one began.

Sixth Son: Villager in Another World 8

Eight.

By early summer, my exercise with the stones paid off and I was able to draw water and carry a bucket back to the house. My walks extended into the copse of trees behind my house. I still used the staff that Tertius had cut for walking, but had found another purpose for it.

Behind the curtain of trees, I practiced strikes and deflections. The motions and patters came like memories that became stronger as I followed the echo of a stern voice exhorting his students to give a shout with each blow.

One morning, I felt a movement to my right. I turned to see a small stone thrown my way. I deflected it with a swing of my staff. Helen’s waifish figure swiftly followed the stone with a branch in hand. She gave a shout that I defended against.

Her head was clean shaven. A feral grin split her thin face. She was a full head taller than me, so her overhead blows landed heavily. However, her attacks grew monotonous and I poked her stomach.

She paused to recover, then drove forward wildly. I tried to repeat the same move, but she twisted aside and attacked. I parried and retreated from her advance. She pursued until her foot got too close. I swept that foot from her, but she dropped to a three point stance and pounced with nary a pause.

Once I caught her with a move, she didn’t fall for it a second time. Her foot movement became more controlled as did her movements. Several minutes into our bout, she begin mixing in feints with her blows, circled when I defended, then resumed her stalking.

My breath blew hotly from my mouth. My limbs grew heavier with every exchange. Though her face was red, she did not slow. Instead, she pressed harder with a flurry of smaller thrusts that aimed at my face, left torso, leg, then back up. In the middle of my defense, she caught up with my leaden legs and crossed her branch with the middle of my staff.

She grabbed the two ends of her arm’s length branch and pressed down. With her greater height and weight, I fell backward with my arms splayed into a bush. She knocked my staff out of my hand, tossed her stick aside, and wrestled me to the ground. Once there, she administered her punishment as my laughter rang through the woods.

Helen didn’t stop until I was thoroughly out of breath.

“At least you can laugh,” she said.

Thinking about it, I don’t think that I’d made a sound since falling ill. I took her proffered hand and then dusted myself off.

A voice cut if from behind her. “You’ll want to dust yourself off, too, Hellcat. Mum said that you’re to finish your lessons.”

Sixth Son: Villager in Another World 7

Seven.

My family didn’t have a proper surname like the nobles did, but we were known as the Woodby’s, because we lived by the woods. Our neighbors were the Archers. I had been moved over to their place, so that their mother Agnes could watch over me during my illness. After my fever had stayed down for a full day and night, I was brought back home. I was week, but made it back with some help. My parents thanked Agnes profusely.

Our families had always gotten along well. Primus and, last season, Tertius had helped them harvest their fields. Their father Zeno Archer shared venison with us after the hunt. A well that sat between our fields.

I regained my strength by walking to the well and back. I was weak after my bed rest, which lasted two weeks. Tertius cut a pole of bamboo for me that was as tall as I was. Even with the walking stick, I needed to rest often.

After the third day, I tried to drag the bucket up from the well, but could not budge it. I would need to find another way to get stronger. I tried to help Ma garden, but she didn’t like it when left the milkweeds and plantago between her vegetables, so she told me to go play with Quartus and Quintus.

Before I fell ill, Quartus and Quintus used to run with a gang of boys around the village after finishing their chores. It was one of their group who had egged Quintus on to sticking me with his beastly nail. Quartus had stayed away from them since, and Quintus followed. Today, they headed into the woods with their fishing poles over their shoulders. Quartus invited me with a wave of his arm, but I shook my head and waved him off.

Instead, I headed to the edge of my family’s fields, where it met the road. There was an outcropping of stone. I found a pair of fist sized stones that would serve as weights to exercise my arms.