The sound of wood splintering echoed through the training yard.
Marcus Aldridge stood by the fence.
He held two water bottles and watched his brother.
Theodore Aldridge was a blur of motion.
His practice sword struck the training dummy.
Thwack.
Crack.
The dummy lost an arm. Then it lost its head.
Theo spun and delivered a final, crushing blow to the dummy's torso.
The wooden post snapped in half.
Dust settled in the afternoon sun.
Marcus winced. That was the fifth dummy this week.
"Good form," Marcus called out.
He walked over to the wreckage and offered a water bottle.
Theo took it. He was barely sweating.
"Thanks, Brother," Theo said.
He drank half the bottle in one gulp.
Marcus checked his mental checklist.
Today was Tuesday.
According to the Plan, Theo needed to bump into Seraphina in the library later.
Marcus had already arranged for a "misplaced" cart of books to block the aisle.
It would force them into close proximity.
