The weeks went by, and soon, Nolan was able to keep up with Tempest, and come close to landing a blow or two against the experienced knight.

"Keep your sword tip up and pointed at me! If you don't your enemy will make you pay for it!" Tempest admonished Nolan. To be fair, Nolan had been learning, and doing so quickly. Tempest rarely had to get on his case very often now, and Nolan, while he had to practice and train, he was becoming a natural for sword play. They stopped to take a break to get some water and catch their breath. The near constant training from Warrior Training and now his new training under Tempest had caused Nolan to burn off much of his childhood fat. In its place, he had gained a fair bit of muscle mass and stayed lean and fit.

"We're being watched." Tempest said very quietly. Nolan did a very casual look around, making it look like he was stretching his neck and back.

'There she is.' Nolan thought to himself. Off to the side, Nolan could see Valkiriya watching them carefully. Her fur was more of a reddish color and her eyes were a gentle green. She was a Fox, like Nolan was a Wolf and Feris a Coyote. One could draw a similar connection between Wolves, Foxes and Coyotes much like one could between Pegasi, Unicorns and Earth Ponies. Wolves were considered the physically strongest like Earth Ponies, and were generally considered to be the best warriors like Pegasi. Though all three varieties were capable of being great warriors. Foxes were often best with magic, religion and administration much like their Unicorn counterparts. Coyotes are best at stealth, and are fond of practical jokes. They also manage a great deal of the farming duties of the Wolven tribes. That being said, any one of the three could do what any of the others could do just as well. These are just the generalities and species norms.

Valkiriya was the best of the tribe. She was best at magic, knew all of their tribes rituals, rights and holy ceremonies better than almost anyone else. She was the Shamans daughter and been groomed to lead from the spiritual and religious front. She was well versed in spears, shields, knives, bows, and axes as anyone else in the tribe. No one had more magical power either. She was exceptionally gifted. In times long past, there were far more of such individuals. But now, only a few were born every few generations. Once she completed her training, she would then go to the other tribes beyond the plains to learn from them. Once she had completed that task, she would hold the title of High Priestess and would help to guide her people into the future.

"May I try that?" she asked walking over to them, indicating the sword training. Tempest raised an eyebrow and looked at Nolan. Nolan for his part, shrugged his shoulders and nodded. Tempest grunted.

"Here. Put this and this on. It's a set of training armor and helmet. These blades are blunted and incredibly dull, but they can still break bones and brain ponies. I doubt you'll be much challenge, but you'll probably be better than Nolan was before he started learning." The Pegasus said as he lead her back to the make shift training circle after she had gotten the training armor on. Once she was ready, Tempest got into a fighting position. Tempest swung his sword, but before it could come anywhere near Valkiriya, Nolan interrupted them.

"STOP! Tempest, if you don't attack her like you mean to hurt her, you'll never get a good feel of if she's a challenge or not." Nolan stated as a matter of known fact. Tempest stopped in mid swing, looked at Nolan with a look of minor annoyance, then shrugged his shoulders.

"Her funeral." The Pegasus said with about as much emotion as one might have about taking out the trash. Tempest reset, and upon seeing that she was ready, nodded at her. He swung, and if it were his normal sword, it might have done something savagely efficient for stopping an opponent. That of course, was assuming that Valkiriya was where she was expected to be.

The fact that she wasn't gave the old Pegasus warrior a reason to step back and consider what was going on. Valkiriya had dropped then spun into a roll that took her out to Tempest's left. Tempest took a large and powerful step towards the younger Fox and attempted to bean her with his shield.

Valkiriya then did something that Nolan thought might be possible with the training armor, but likely not with full armor like what he owned. She timed a back flip, so that the shield strike passed through the space she had been in. However, the weight of the training armor threw her balance off, and her landing was less than graceful. She landed flat on her back.

Tempest, who had been caught off guard by the back flip was out of position to attack her while she was on her back. Valkiriya scrambled away and back to her feet, while trying to recover from having the wind knocked out of her after the poor landing. The fight went on for a bit longer, before Tempest had managed to disarm her and she conceded.

"You did well for your first time with armor and a sword. That back flip was inspired, and if you were in the armor your people normally wear, you probably would have been able to press an attack and possibly made me think twice." Tempest said to the young Fox in praise and encouragement.

"You could learn a few things about unorthodox thinking from her, Pup." Tempest said to Nolan, gently ribbing him. In truth, Tempest was impressed with how far and how quickly Nolan had not only picked up the old knights training, but the actual talent for it he displayed.

"Really? Nolan is one of the best for hunting and he is the youngest to ever earn the right to be trained as a warrior. And while I'd like to admit that circumstance and luck were involved, it takes a certain amount of unorthodox thinking to kill a Manticore." Valkiriya said in defense of Nolan's pride.

"Which, if I was being uncouth and unkind, I would say that those facts bring up some very unsettling and serious deficiencies in Wolven military practices, standards and doctrines." Tempest responded with a hard glare, then it softened very slightly.

"However, he has improved by leaps and bounds since he started, and he has learned quickly. He'll be a masterof how we Ponies conduct warfare once he's had a few years of experience. As far as anyone who's bound to the ground and unable to learn or use magic is concerned." Tempest continued.

Both Nolan and Valkiriya exchanged a glance with each other. They both knew that Pegasi were the best warriors of the pony tribes, and that Unicorns with their powerful magics and noble heritages, filled unique positions in pony military doctrine and organization, but it almost seemed as if Wolven practices were either being ignored, or hadn't disseminated down yet.

"Nolan will never fly. No Wolven will. And while he will never be a Shaman or a Skald, he is one of the more versed and strongest of our Ioralaz, a Runemaster, that our tribe has. And like your Earth Ponies, we Wolven are tied to the land, and as such have Earth based magics." The young Fox tried to explain.

"Hmm. I'd wager you both a weeks pay that Star Swirl has looked over your magics and has dismissed them out of hand as being weak and pathetic when compared to his magics, or more likely, has dismissed them due to his perception of them being primitive and unrefined when compared to Pony magic. He doesn't mean anything by it, or at least I really hope he doesn't. He's just old and one of the most powerful Unicorn wizards in our history. If he mentions it, or comes off unkindly about it, don't hold it against him. He's flawed, like we all are, and age, power and position have all brought with them a certain amount of arrogance. The Princesses, while easily more powerful in magic than he or any spell master you have, are at least wise enough to know that no power or talent should be discounted out of hand." The knight said as they went through a few more bouts. Both Wolven nodded and tried to learn what they could.

🌅

Summer was now in full swing, and Nolan had finished his Warriors Training, and had the endorsement of the tribe's War Leader, Frost Paw to call himself and be hailed as Warrior. It wasn't much, but the new title was an improvement and promotion from that of Hunter. His father had been teaching him the finer points of leadership and of being a Chief. Both Frost and Valkiriya believed that it was in preparation to him being made War Leader, or perhaps after some time, War Master.

With Nolan completing his Warrior Training, he had much more time to train with Tempest, much to the pleasure of the Old Knight. Nolan was a master of spear combat, and Tempest had given him a pony made spear, which after he got accustomed to the weight, was easily able to beat Tempest more often than not. With a sword, Nolan was by far the best student Tempest had ever had. They were evenly matched when Nolan was wearing his heavy plate and chain armor, but if he was in leather armor or even the training armor, his speed allowed him to beat the knight around half the time they spared.

"Nolan, as far as I'm concerned, you've completed Squire Training. Once I return home and speak with Princess Luna, I'll tell her that we should consider making you a knight. Of course, that assumes that our people continue to walk the path of Friendship. If it happens, serving the Princesses as a knight will prove beneficial to you. You'll get more training and equipment. You'll gain a fair bit of experience that if you should ever become Chief, will benefit your people greatly, to say nothing of the political ties you'll create. It would come with the cost of military service for a number of years as a Knight, being at the beck and call of the Princesses. Ultimately, the choice will be yours and yours alone." Tempest said as they stopped for lunch. It was at that point one of the pony soldiers came running up.

"S-sir- Tempest..." The soldier gasped, short of breath having obviously ran at full speed to get to their training area that was well outside the village.

"Take your time, Corporal. Catch your breath. Take some water." Tempest told the younger Unicorn stallion. Nolan offered the pony his water skin, and with a silent look of thanks and appreciation, took it and drank from it deeply, but making sure not to make himself sick. After he had drank his fill and caught his breath, he handed the skin back to Nolan and came to attention and saluted Tempest. Tempest returned the salute as the soldier made his report.

"Sir Tempest, Star Swirl the Bearded requires you to report the the Wolven Council Lodge immediately with your full kit. Warrior Nolan, I bring similar instructions for you from your father, Chief Longstrider, chief of the Wolven Tribe of the Plains."

Tempest and Nolan exchanged a look between each other, as they both thought this was odd and out of place.

"What has gotten up the old wizards rear? Did he anger our hosts?" Tempest asked.

"No, sir. He received a message from Princess Luna and after reading it, he called for you and advised Chief Longstrider to do the same. for Warrior Nolan. I don't know what was in the message, but it must be important, otherwise he would have sent you a missive through magic." the young Corporal reported.

"Head back and inform them that we'll be there directly." Tempest ordered the soldier. They exchanged salutes, and the soldier ran off with his message. Once he was out of earshot, Tempest turned to Nolan with a grunt.

"Do you need anything from your home?" Tempest asked. Nolan thought for a moment.

"I should probably get my headdress, but if this is as urgent as he made it sound, I can skip it. I have my armor, shield, sword, spear, knife and if I need it, I can send for my bow. Help me get my breast plate on and we can set off." Nolan said as he took off his shield and picked up the chest armor. Once he was re-armored, the two made haste and made very good time to the Lodge. They entered with no fan fair, and Nolan noticed the pony soldiers were fully equipped and ready for a fight. The few Wolven, Warriors and several Hunters were also there and were likewise ready. Star Swirl Looked up at Tempest's approach.

"The Griffins have attacked our east coastal settlement. We may be at war soon." Star Swirl stated bluntly.

Author's Note

Here we go. Now we're about to start entering the real action of the story, from which the rest of the story after this one will be influenced. If there's any questions so far, please feel free to ask. I hope to either have the next chapter up either tomorrow or Wednesday. Thanks for reading!