Shorter Than Me

1 Levi

She's pretty good at staying balanced but her skill with the blade is pitiful. I'm not trying to cut any part of her, though I definitely could. I turn the blade so the flat of it hits her instead. She'll have bruises, but she'll live.

After about fifteen minutes of her unsuccessful attempts at blocking me, I tell her to switch hands. I see that she notices the fact that I didn't switch hands, but she doesn't say anything. I call her shortie, slug, snail, idiot, stupid, and other names but, although she looks extremely annoyed at my taunting her, she doesn't do anything except bite her lip.

After another fifteen minutes, I tell her to switch hands again.

Two hours pass before I stop the exercise.

"Can you handle two, weakling?" I say.

"Yes, sir," she responds through gritted teeth.

"Here." I take care to make sure she has the blade in her grasp before letting go. "Now try to kill me." I watch the shock and confusion register on her face.

Petra looked the same way.

***

"Oh, my pleasure." She smiled and swung toward me.

I danced away, twisting in the air and doing a few tricks I had developed.

"Wow, fancy." She smirked and lunged at me again. "I can't wait until you fall."

***

"Sir?" she asks.

"Try. To. Kill. Me." I say it nice and slowly.

"Sir?" She repeats it slower.

I glare at her.

"Sir?" she says even slower. Then she moves.

I am ashamed to say it took me by surprise. She was only four feet away from me and a few feet below me but she moved so quickly I have to think fast. The good thing is that I'm good at that.

I let my right cable loose and turn as I swing left. The right catches a tree and I let the left one release its branch. I ride upward and glance around for the girl.

She's a few yards away, chasing me, and I move to go over her. She climbs upward with impressive speed for one with her skill. Of course, I am more skilled.

"Alright, stop," I hang in place and wait for her to come closer.

"Yes, sir." She says it with a voice dripping with ice.

"Do you know the way to climb fastest in a restricted section of trees or buildings?"

"Use the maneuver gear?" she guesses stupidly.

"Did you learn the Parallel Maneuver?"

"No, just the basics."

"Sir," I command.

"Sir."

"The Parallel Maneuver is for climbing quickly in a restricted section of trees or buildings. You find four points that rise generally straight up in a rough square or rectangle. You attach yourself to two of the points. Left release and attach to the point in front of it. Right release and the same. Left release and the same, but backwards. Right release and the same. Repeat. Got it?"

"Yes, sir."

"Go." She glances around for a second and then drops closer to the forest floor. I move to see her better. She mimics my words well and rises quickly.

"There's also the Corkscrew. Same start. Left release but attach to the point in front of the right. Right release and attach to the point behind the left. Repeat. Go."