Chapter 2: The Squire

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I dawdled up the stone spiral staircase to the top of the Grand Tower and my undesired destination: The Director’s Office. I shivered despite the heat from being inside my armor. My hand clutched the handrail with so much strength I felt my knuckles turn white. After what seemed like an eternity, I finally reached the top. I dragged my feet along the long hallway, passed the pantry and reached a large wooden door with a gold plate engraved with ‘Jonathan Watari: ADMI Director’. I knocked at the door. Magic sensed the office owner was expecting me and the door swung open with a squeal of protest and invited me in.

I walked through the doorway and felt abnormally uncomfortable. The air smelt of air freshener that was trying to cover the scent of dead rats.  The room was a perfect box surrounded by white wallpaper, with the only decorations on the wall being the director’s weapon hanging on a large rusted antique hook and a stuffed bear's head whose eyes seemed to be looking at you wherever you stood.  A wisp of red smoke burned in the eyes of the stuffed bear head and dissipated as quickly as it appeared. I shook my head to clear my thoughts, there was no way that there was Dark Magic in the director’s office, the director would have noticed it and alerted the mages immediately. It must have been my imagination. The director was sitting at his desk. Light from the morning sun was glaring in through the stained glass window behind his head. He had his stubby arms folded and was glaring at me menacingly. It appeared that he may have been in that position for a quite a while waiting for me. A chill crawled down my spine.

“Took you long enough, James!” scolded the director.

The director’s accent was clipped, as smooth as a river, demanding respect despite his unimposing appearance. His pudgy face was twisted into a permanent scowl, along with some churro crumbs scattered on the edges. His butt barely fit on the stool and his bulging overweight stomach made it seem impossible for him to stand up on his stick-thin legs. It was not a surprise that he often used magic to transmit his voice to meeting rooms rather than having face-to-face meetings. But do not be fooled by his overweight and clueless looking exterior, his temper was the thing of legends. It was said that he single-handily took out a myrmekes nest just because they ate some of his potato chips. Myrmekes were giant ants the size of huge mastiffs. They had the ability to cut through nearly anything with their giant mandibles and their exoskeletons were nearly impossible to dissect. To make things worse still, they worked in large numbers, swarming their enemies with an army of nearly unkillable insects. Destroying an entire myrmeke nest was no easy feat. I tried not to look at the director’s trademark crimson stained bronze mace which hung on the wall to my left.

“So…so…sorry, Sir, I was just...” I started.

“It doesn't matter. I am not interested in your excuses,” interrupted the director. "You are probably wondering why I summoned you here, eh?”

I nodded. 

“Well…James…this is your lucky day. You have been here long enough and, despite your lack of time management skills, you have shown us your worth. So…I have made the decision to assign you a squire!” The director exclaimed.

“Wait-what!” I stuttered in surprise. I cringed. Squires were the scourge of the ADMI Academy. Loud and bothersome, squires were young trainees who had to be assigned to mentor knights to teach them the ways of the ADMI.

“We are actually assigning squires to knights who took part in the Frague City Rogue Dragon Affair so they can have a bit of help when it comes to decisions like leaving Fwagigia undefended”  The director rambled on, ignoring me and eyeing me as he spoke. “Your squire is called Stump. Please train him well and I am sure he will become your best companion in no time.”

I winced. A few months ago, a rogue dragon attacked Frague City. A squadron of ADMI knights, including myself, fended it off. Unfortunately, the rogue dragon changed its course and attacked the unprepared Fwagigia, a large human city. Fwagigia claimed ADMI for all the damages of the attack.

The director and I debated the squire program. I counter-argued the benefit of training a squire but lost the debate squarely. With no alternative, I bid the director goodbye, walked out of the uncomfortable office, down the spiral staircase and out of the Grand Tower into the courtyard. I took a deep breath, inhaled the cool and dry autumn air and sighed. I was not looking forward to meeting my new squire. Maybe I could convince the director to assign Stump to some other knight? I am sure Duke Dubois would not mind training his 30th squire. I turned around hoping to return to the director’s office to argue my case again when a glowing circle materialised before me with white smoke steaming out. That’s when I saw Stump for the first time. 

Stump was short, scrawny, and edgy.  His bangs covered his eyes as if he was trying to block the world out. His fingers could not stop endlessly tapping at his leg when he was not walking if you could call it walking. He dragged his feet behind him, stumbling along as slow as a snail. You could tell by his posture that he lacked confidence. He looked as though he desperately needed me. I groaned. This kid was going to need a lot of work. Strangely, something inside persuaded me to take a chance with him. Nevertheless, the odds of winning the argument with the director were slim. 

“Hey kid, I am James Dolan. Call me Master Dolan or I will have you whipped.” I said sharply. I could not tolerate a mischievous companion with a false vision that I was a forgiving mentor who could easily be toyed with.

Stump did not answer. Instead, he looked away uncomfortably and began fidgeting with his pockets.

“Fine, be quiet if you want to,” I snapped, “it makes no difference to how you will be treated. Let us return to our dorm and I will give you detailed instructions on how you will have to behave from now on. We still have an hour before our scheduled training session at the gym.”

Stump followed me back to my room, dragging his turtle-like feet along the way. As we walked back, I could not shake the vague sensation that I was being watched… since the moment I left the Mess Hall.

Back in my room, another bed was already placed beside mine by wisps of blue magic for Stump. I sat on my bed while Stump stood next to his bed and I set out some ground rules for my trainee. After taking forever to drill simple logics into my new squire’s tiny insignificant brain, he was finally ready to repeat verbatim each perfectly.

“Now, now,” I said, “let’s review the three golden rules, Stump.”

“Er… DON'T touch Master Dolan's mustache, DON’T draw attention to myself, and DON'T do anything unless Master Dolan tells me to.” recited Stump flatly.

“Well done, Stump,” I said.

That’s when my roommates returned.  Imbeseel, after attempting to walk into our room with the door still closed but saved by Urf’s quick reflex to open the door in time to prevent him from colliding with the door, stumbled over to Stump and said, “Hey Grubby, you don’t look well. You look a bit short. I think you should see a medical magician."

Urf and Grubby were surprised to see that I got assigned a squire and rolled their eyes as I introduced them to Stump. They congratulated me on my squire and survival in the director’s office while I told them about my strange gut feeling all morning. That’s when we heard the series of rapid knocking on the bedroom door…

Click here to continue to Chapter 3: The Super Squad