Persuasion in the Pantry [Maid for More #1]

Chapter 22: Taking Care of your Weapon

Mina stood at the edge of the training hall a lot more battered and bruised than she would have liked.

"Again." Dra'gaan barked across the large wood panelled flooring. The sound reverberated in the enclosed hall and Mina felt her shins bark their own protest at another round of pain. Thankfully Dra'gaan had ordered some thick mats to be laid down or she would likely have to add some broken bones to her running total of injuries. After only three combat lessons it still felt like beating out a rug... and she was the rug.

The Agent had sent her a message just before noon demanding her presence at Hornsey Wood House. It was apparently a place of pugilistic pursuits that stood on the summit of some rising ground on the eastern side of the local parish. Mina had heard that it was originally a small roadside public-house where now three wide-spreading oaks stood before it concealing a plain, brown-brick, respectable, modern, London-looking building. Dra'gaan had awaited her in the well-lit room within as she shuffled around the back entrance and picked a few locks, seeing as he didn't feel it necessary to give her a key. Finally she was greeted with a number of strategically placed pulleys, levers and obstacles waiting for her with her mentor.

Mina sighed internally and braced herself before launching forward and volleying over the first hurdle then weaving between a spiked vambrace and an archaic bronze shield. She couldn't decide if Dra'gaan had gone to a dump to get her training equipment or a museum. A heavy lance dropped from the ceiling and she barely rolled out of the way in time to escape its blow before being knocked against the wall by her mentor. Trust him to change it up when she was just getting the hang of it.

"What the hell was that?!" Mina complained.

Dra'gaan merely stared down at her and answered, "A lance."

Mina shuffled uncomfortably to her feet, "Yes, I can see that now! What was it doing up there?" She gestured angrily to the offending ceiling.

"Clearly it was to teach you that attacks may not always be coming from the front or the back but from above as well. You would do well to learn to train your senses a touch more acutely."

Dra'gaan casually strolled to a clear area of the arena and picked up a discarded long sword with a broad hilt and a blunted edge. He touched its steel to that of another sword and its perfect ring sounded out as a herald to its maker. "Again."

Mina gave the lance one last scowl before shuffling in the direction of a sword. She was becoming less and less enamoured of her mentor and right about ready for a chance to strike him with a sword of his own... that is of course if she could land one.

"Argghhhh!" She charged him with her nearest blade and a war cry.

Dra'gaan laughed.

Before Mina could react he had stepped deftly to one side and used the flat of his sword to smack her behind. Affronted, she turned sharply, twisting her ankle and hit the floor once again.

"You couldn't let me win just once," she huffed while massaging her foot awkwardly.

Dra'gaan crouched before her, "Now what would be the benefit in that since I am here to teach you?"

Mina knew an opening when she was presented with one, clear as an open pocket in broad daylight. She swiped out her leg with all the speed of youth and knocked the Agent off kilter enough to push him to the ground and place her blade at his throat.

"Aha, perhaps the student has surpassed the teacher," she snickered

"Perhaps not," he countered unamused, as Mina heard the soft click of his pistol and turned slightly to find it pointed at her head.