The Shield of Heda

Victory

Dodging to the left, I barely avoid a vicious overhead swing from an axe. Dull or not, that thing could take my head off. Swinging up with the bottom end of my spear, I manage to catch the older boys chin in a heavy uppercut. Taking advantage of his stunned state I use my spear to sweep the boys legs and aim my spear at his neck.

We stared at eachother for a few seconds before we each broke out in a smile. "Ai yield."

Chuckling at his words, I offer my hand to help him up, which he accepts. "Yu've gotten better ai friend." The older boy praised.

"Oh I definitely have." I boasted, smiling at his bloody teeth. It's been a few months since I've landed in Polis and I could honestly say that I've never been happier.

I've made a multitude of friends and with our daily sparing sessions, Lexa and I have gotten pretty close. She is definitely my best friend, and I am hers. I still haven't managed to beat her yet but I will soon, I can feel it. I've managed to beat everyone here atleast once except Luna and Lexa. Lexa simply because she is too good and Luna because she is never around. I've honestly only caught a few glimpses of her.

Hearing clapping I turn to see Lexa herself smiling at me from the sidelines. "Woo-hoo I knew you could do it James!"

Laughing, I walk over to her. "Well of course, I never lose." I stated with a joking smirk. She just rolled her eyes at me.

"Wanna test that?" She said with a smirk of her own, knowing that I would take the bait. It's become tradition to have our final battles for the day be with eachother.

Screaming no on the inside, I agreed. She grinned widely and we ran over to our usual sparring circle. Going to our respectful spots we got into our battle stances and stared eachother down.

A lot of my victories I can't help but give her credit for these last few months. I started off pretty rough in training, I couldn't beat anybody. But after the second day Lexa offered to help me get stronger, and she definitely did. Within a month I was laying waste to every single fighter in the training area, except Lexa. She was the last hurdle in my race. My last obstacle before I was deemed the best.

I see the other Natblidas start to cease their training and gather around our sparing circle. Our sparing sessions have gotten pretty interesting as of late and have become rather popular to watch. I even see the Heda and Titus the flame keeper watching. Titus and I don't really see eye to eye but we do respect eachother. I respect him for his position and fighting abilities and he respects me for the same.

I've proven time and time again that I deserve to be the second of Heda and challenge anyone who thinks otherwise. Eventually everyone came to respect me and I them. Pushing the sickly feeling of the thought of Heda seeing me lose aside, I focus on my opponent. 'This is it, the moment I take Lexa down.' I think to myself, focused soley on victory.

She tenses and I can tell she is about to charge, and she does. Swords drawn out to the sides of her, she rushes me. Using my superior reach, I manage to stop her charge with a straight jab of my spear. The attack forces her to block with her swords in an X shaped defense. After my spear connects with her swords, I slide my left hand down to join my right at the bottom of my spear and spin on feet, causing a devastating side swing of my spear.

Knowing she can't block it, she goes under in an attempt to dodge, which would have worked if it wasn't for my foot kicking out at her. Connecting with her stomach, I send her stumbling back a few feet gasping for breath.

It took me a while to get over the fact that I had to hurt her in these fights, and I still don't like it. But she made it painfully clear that it was a spar and no matter what we did to eachother, that wouldn't mean we didn't care about eachother. We always made sure to take care of eachothers wounds after our spars.