by Spoor, Garry
“Here, take your weapon.” West said as he picked up the fallen blade and tossed it to her. Kile fought back the pain as she grabbed the sword.
“May we continue… sir?” She asked.
“By all means.” He replied, “But I think we should switch partners to make the evaluation… fair.”
So much for coasting through the first day. Master West motioned for four cadets to join him. With the way Kile’s luck was running she was not surprised that Eric was among the four.
“Pair off.” West ordered before stepping back to watch the action, or the mayhem.
Carter moved to challenge Eric, but he had other plans as he pushed past the boy to stand in front of Kile.
“What’s wrong Eric, don’t want a real challenge?” Carter goaded, Eric said nothing as he tightened the grip on his sword.
“I think this will do nicely” West replied. “Now you may continue.”
“You should have left when you had the chance.” Eric said as he launched his attack.
Kile was forced to defend herself with every trick that Carter had shown her. Fortunately for her, Eric was nowhere near as good as he thought he was. Carter would have been more than a match for him, even when he pulled his punches, but it really didn’t matter. She was in no condition to fight and found herself being forced back by every blow. Eric had no style, no finesse, but he had strength and that was all he really needed to put Kile down. She hit the ground, flat on her back which really didn’t do much for the condition she was in. Eric wasn’t going to wait for her to get to her feet, he came at her with an over head cut, but Kile rolled to one side, kicking out at Eric’s knee with her foot then rolled into a crouching stance. She could no longer hold onto the sword, the pain was just too much, so she shifted it to her left hand. Why she hadn’t thought of that before she’ll never know.
Eric cursed as he got back to his feet and came at her again. This time she was able to set aside his blows easier now that she had a better grip on her weapon. She hadn’t noticed how clumsy of a combatant he was, how easy it was to counter his attacks, even for her. She had been concentrating so much on the pain in her right hand that she really hadn’t been studying his technique, or in his case, the lack thereof. He had been keeping her at the very edge of his circle, and using the full length and weight of his sword, and that was his flaw. She jumped back out of his perimeter and waited for the attack that she knew was coming, and Eric didn’t disappoint her. He leapt forward with a two hand, over the head full power cut, intending to break through her defenses and end the duel, much as Master Boraro had done earlier, but the outcome was very different. She wasn’t there. He lost track of her as he brought down his sword and she managed to sidestep the attack slipping into his blind spot. As his blade struck the ground, where she should have been, She quickly stomped on the tip. The wooden sword was snapped out of Eric’s hands. The counter attack did not only disarm him, it surprised him as she placed the point of her own wooden blade to the side of his neck before he even realized what had happened.
Eric batted the weapon away.
“That’s not fair, she cheated.” He cried.
“Of course you would say that, you’re dead.” Alex called out from somewhere in the crowd that had formed. The laughter that followed did not improve Eric’s disposition.
Carter strategically stepped between Eric and Kile. “How do you figure that?” He asked.
“She used her left hand, it confused me. How am I supposed to fight against that?”
“You're right, how do you fight against something like that?” West asked as he looked over at Kile.
She was surprised, not by his words, but by the look on his face. The condescending smirk wasn’t there anymore; the air of superiority wasn’t there anymore. Could that actually be a look of approval as West walked away.
“This isn’t over.” Eric said as he pointed at Kile over Carter’s shoulder.
“You should get some new material. We’ve heard it all before.” Alex shouted back.
Kile collapsed on her cot, she had a headache, a pain in her side, a bruise on her legs as well as half a dozen other places and her right hand was splinted and bandaged. Not bad for her first day at combat training, it could have been a lot worse, at least she was still breathing. Fortunately the bandages would only have to be kept on for a day or two thanks to Daniel. It was more for the peace of mind of the other healers at the hall than anything else. Although Master Bealer did voice his concern about the delay of treatment, and even with Daniel’s abilities it would still need time to heal.
- Kile okay? -
She looked up to see Vesper sitting on the small ebony box on the dresser, and she could have sworn she saw a look of concern on the yarrow’s face. It wasn’t that she didn’t think he wasn’t concerned; it was just that she didn’t think she could see an expression on a yarrow’s face.
“Kile’s fine.” She said as she dropped her head back to her pillow.
Vesper leapt from the dresser onto her bed then climbed up onto her chest.
- Kile not fine -
“Well… as good as can be expected then.” She replied.
- Why do it? -
“Good question. I guess… because I have to.”
- Why have to? -
“Maybe ‘have to’ wasn’t the right word, it’s because I want to.”
- Why want to? -
“Because I want to be a Hunter.”
- Why? -
“Because I have to be a Hunter.”
There was a therapeutic quality to talking with Vesper. He always seemed to get straight to the point, although she never did figure out if she was there because she wanted to be, or there because she had to be, the knocking on the door postponed that debate. Vesper scurried back to his bottom drawer as Kile got up to open the door.
“Kile girl, you in there?” She heard as she reached for the handle. She didn’t have to open the door, she could just pretend she was asleep, or maybe she just wasn’t in. The idea was tempting but she opened the door anyway.
“What now Alex?”
“Come on, we’re going to get some practice in before the supper shift.”
“I don’t know.” She replied. The idea of getting whacked around with a wooden stick a bit more today wasn’t very appealing.
“Come on, we need a fourth and Carter says you need all the practice you can get.” Alex replied.
He didn’t wait for an answer; he was half way down the hall expecting her to follow. It would serve him right if she just went back to bed.
“Thanks for the vote of confidence.” She said as she grabbed her hat and proceeded after him.
Alex headed up to the stables where the other two were already engaged in a mock battle. Carter was calling out attacks as he preformed them for Daniel to block as Kile stopped to watch. Carter was good, a lot better than she was, but than anyone was better than she was, even Daniel was better than she was and he didn’t like to fight. The real question was how good Carter was compared to Master Boraro. It was a safe assumption that Master Boraro had to be one of the best, otherwise why would the guild appoint him as their weapons master.
“About time you guys got here.” Daniel said as he waved off Carter’s next move. “I’m getting tired of getting hit by him.”
“What? You want us to hit you instead?” Alex asked.
“You’re training with Carter for a while.” Daniel said as he threw the practice sword to Alex. He then turned to Kile. “How about you?”
“I’ll watch.” She said.
“I meant how are you, the hand okay?”
“It doesn’t hurt as bad as it did this morning, if that’s what you mean.”
“He didn’t have to do that you know.”
“Yes he did.” She replied as she sat down against the wall of the stable. “He was sending a message, one that I received loud and clear.”
“And what message was that?” Daniel asked as he took a seat beside h
er.
“That I’m not welcome here.” She said, but there was more to it, a lot more to it. It was one thing to have a grievance with a student that shouldn’t be admitted, it was another thing to try to remove that student’s head with a wooden stick. There was something more going on with Master Boraro and she would have to find out what it was if she wanted to survive.
Watching Alex spar with Carter wasn’t exactly helping her get a better understanding of swordsmanship as she had hoped. Alex was anything but a swordsman, but she had to admit he had a rather unique defense, he never stopped moving. Boraro did say that the best defense was never to get hit, and Alex took it quite literally. He was running around so much that Carter couldn’t hit him even though he tried, but for all the moving, Alex wasn’t landing too many shots of his own.
“He’ll tire himself out eventually.” Kile called out.
“That’s what I’m waiting for.” Carter replied, but he wasn’t really. Carter was biding his time, he saw the movements, calculated how fast Alex was going and struck out just in front of the boy who ran face first into the outstretched wooden blade. Alex fell flat on his back.
“Hey, you cheated, that’s not a proper attack.” He shouted from the ground.
“That’s not a proper defense.” Carter shot back.
Alex jumped to his feet, not once, not twice but three times. Three Alexes faced off against one Carter.
“Now who’s cheating?” Carter said as he fell into a defensive stance.
Kile had to admit that the two illusions that Alex created were difficult to tell from the real Alex. It was an impressive trick and Kile wondered how Boraro would have handled something like that. The appearance of one Alex was enough to make grown men cry.
As she watched Alex’s new technique unfold, which wasn’t much different from the old once except now there were three of him, she realized that he had made one slight error. It might not have been so much an error as it might have been a consequence of the illusion. The problem was that the shadows didn’t match. They were pretty good in respect to detail, but one of them was darker than the other, which could only mean illusions can’t cast shadows and that the shadows themselves were also illusions. Of course she had no true facts to base this assumption on, and she was about to mention this to Carter, but thought better of it. She would keep that little secret to herself in the event that she had to spar with Alex some time in the future; besides, it was fun watching the otherwise unflappable Cater becoming a bit flustered.
The illusions and Alex moved individually around him, surrounding him. She could tell Carter was monitoring his defensive circle, as Boraro had instructed, by keeping all the Alexes outside the perimeter, but he was minding it too much. If he had been paying more attention to his opponent, or in this case his opponents, he may have noticed the inconsistencies in the shadows as well.
Alex one made his move, coming in from behind with a mid level thrust and Carter spun to parry, but his blade passed through his attacker, this gave Alex two, which turned out to be the real Alex, a free shot at Carter’s now exposed back. Carter was still the faster and this time the two wooden blades clashed as he easily knocked it aside, but before he could counter Alex retreated outside the circle and began to run around Carter with his two counterparts.
“This is like a shell game.” Kile remarked in disbelieve. She never thought she would see a duel quite like this, or a duel like this was even possible.
“He’s good at this, he’ll wear Carter down.” Daniel explained.
This time two Alexes jumped in at one time and Carter could only defend himself against one, Kile could have told him which one was the real Alex as she watched the shadows, but Carter choose the wrong Alex and was rewarded by a shot to his backside, a favorite target of the small boy. The Alexes retreated back outside the circle and started to shuffle again.
“How long can he keep that up?” She asked Daniel.
“Quite some time.” He replied. “He’s not nervous he’s having too much fun. It’s only when he gets nervous that he tends to lose his concentration.”
The Alexes stopped and this time all three broke the circle. Carter chose the wrong Alex again, and got hit for his mistake. Kile could clearly see the frustration on the larger boy's face.
“So, that's how you want to play.” Carter ginned, and then vanished.
It was something that none of them had expected, least of all Alex. Carter was there one moment, and then he was gone. Alex stopped and his two illusions vanished as well.
“What just…”
Before Alex could finish his words he was knocked to the ground and Carter reappeared, his blade pointing at the smaller boy’s throat.
“I think I won.”
“That was so cool.” Alex said with a grin as Carter helped him to his feet. “When did you learn that?”
“I said I learned something better than illusions.”
“Oh you have to teach me how you did that.” Alex demanded.
“Maybe, if you behave.”
“You can become invisible?” Daniel remarked, getting to his feet.
“It's something Morgan’s been teaching me, it’s like creating an illusion around yourself, to tell you the truth that was the first time it really worked, but I can’t keep it up for long, not yet anyway.” Carter said as he wiped the sweat from his brow. “So Ki, you want to give it a try.”
“Turning invisible, can’t do it.” She replied shaking her head.
“I meant sparring.”
“You still up to it?”
“Of course I am, I need someone to give me a challenge.”
“You're not gong to vanish on me are you?” She asked as she took the sword from Alex with her left hand.
“Not unless you give me a reason to.” He grinned. “We’ll work on your defense; it would appear you need it.”
The sword was lighter and shorter than the ones they used during class. It still felt awkward but at least she could swing it better.
Carter called out his attacks as he had done with Daniel earlier, it gave her a chance to study his motion, his footwork, the position of his hands on his sword, and knowing what the attack looked like before he landed it. She was able to set them aside with ease. When he was sure she had the basics down, he changed tactics and went on defense. Telling her which attacks to use so that he could make sure that she executing them correctly. This went on, back and forth for a few minutes until Kile felt she was getting the hang of it, to such a point that she hadn’t realized Carter had stopped calling out his attacks. She watched his footwork, his body position and the line of his sight and she could determine where and how he was going to attack. It was the same thing she had done with Eric, once she no longer had to worry about the pain in her hand, she could concentrate on her opponent. The concept of the defendable circle was completely lost on her and she never really saw the point of it if you could read your opponents moves.
“This is booooooring.” Alex called out from his seat against the wall. “I came to see a real fight.”
“I think Eric and his cronies are practicing over by the dinning hall if you want to join them.” Daniel replied.
“I said I came to see a fight, not be in one.”
“I’m not ready for a real duel.” Kile admitted as she broke off her attack to catch her breath. She took off her hat and wiped her brow.
“I don’t know, you did pretty good against Eric.” Daniel replied.
“That was sheer luck.”
“I wouldn’t go that far.” Carter added. “You somehow predicted his moves and countered, of course fighting left handed didn’t hurt. I think that really threw him off.”
“Well, maybe, but he had no real… skill. He was just all power and no finesse.”
“That’s all combat really is, just overpowering your opponent.” Carter replied.
“There has to be more to it than that.”
“No, Not really, you want to give it a try?”
>
“What, my finesse against your power?”
Carter didn’t answer; he just took a defensive stance and saluted his opponent. Kile put her hat back on returned the salute as she took her own stance.
“I don’t think this is a good idea guys.” Daniel injected.
“I think it’s a great idea.” Alex said as he leaned forward.
“Carter, just watch out for her hand, I don’t want to have to mend it again.”
They faced one another, slowly circling, keeping each other outside their defendable circles. This would be the battle that never ends she thought as neither one wanted to go on the attack, but she had no plans of continuing this all through the night. She initiated her first attack, not the overhead power play that everyone seemed to like, but a fast low thrust. She was surprised on how close she had gotten before he knocked her weapon aside, he countered with his own attack, something faster and harder, she blocked it with ease and managed to surprise herself as much as she surprised him, however she never followed through and he was able to attack again, and again. As Carter had said, it was all about power and he was throwing his entire weight into each attack. She managed to deflect most of them although one did get through, catching her on the side of the leg. She took the hit and spun into his circle, because she came in on his left side, something a right handed opponent wouldn’t have done, he wasn’t able to get his blade up in time and had to throw himself backwards, out of the way or take the hit upside the head. She came in again, keeping on his left side, forcing him to block across himself.
She knew he was pulling his punches to some degree since she had left herself exposed on more than one occasion, and she had overshot on a few. There was no way she could match him blow for blow, but she concentrated more on him than on the elusive defendable circles that she was supposed to maintain. His movements were easy to read, he had shown them to her enough times and she could counter them now with ease, she just never managed to follow through and that was what cost her the most as Carter kept realigning himself and she would be forced to constantly move to his left side. It was clear by the way he was standing that he had trouble defending from the left.
