Risen - Short Stories

We somehow missed a Risen short story, so here are the latest two together:

VI The Don and His Followers

Veils of smoke spread unevenly through the air. Thick, damp mist oozed and was not prepared to give way to the smoke.
Men coughed.
"Cursed soup!" swore one.
"What, Rachel’s?" said a second in surprise.
"No, you joker, the fog," replied the first sullenly.
"Cursed swamp!" elaborated the second.
"Cursed Inquisitor!" A third, who had been silent so far, named the root of all evil.
Since the Inquisitor had arrived on the island with his people, the Don had slipped out of the city into the swamp. There, he was still his own master and did not have to take orders from the new lords. There, he was the boss over his people, over a few acres of stinking swamp and an ancient, rotting temple full of monsters. He just sat it out until the Inquisitor left his city. Until then, the Don lived in the first temple hall.
"Anything come out of the temple today?" asked one.
"A creature? Nah. The front passages are all clean. Fincher just checked them again yesterday."
"Oh."
The conversation dropped off again. The soupy fog was depressing. The mood was bad.
"Anything new out of the city?"
"Nah, nothing."
"Once we’re back in the city..."
They all sighed quietly. And silently went back to their own thoughts. A bottle made the rounds.

VII Master of the Blade

“Hey! Don’t wave the sword around like that. What did I tell you?!“ Edgar leaned on the grindstone and shook his head compassionately. The old sword teacher had withdrawn to the shadows of a wall, in order to observe his pupil. Then he explained once again from the top:
“Hold the sword calmly. Clasp the handle firmly, so that the opponent’s first strike doesn’t knock your weapon from your hand. The point goes towards the opponent.“
Edgar’s pupil tried to implement the instructions to the satisfaction of his teacher.

“And don’t hold yourself so straight and stiff. That looks just awful.“
“And when can I finally fight against someone?“, grumbled the young lad, who was bored of the many instructions. “I want to finish off an Ashbeast!“
Edgar laughed. “Young boy. Put that out of your mind. You first need to learn the fundamentals of striking and parrying. When you have those down, then you can start to work with series of strikes in order to keep the opponent from getting a chance. After that, you’ll need to improve your footwork, so that you learn to dodge. And then you will learn to chip away at your enemy’s blockade.“
Edgar took a meaningful pause. “And then, young boy, then you can maybe start to think about taking on some of these beasts out there. ‘Cause people are predictable. You can study their behaviour and anticipate their attacks. These monsters, on the other hand, react completely imponderably. To succeed against them is something completely different. You are still far away from that.