Heir of the Sword

15 | Nocebunt

Nocebunt {A physical injury or harm}

"Today we shall be doing something different. Instead of the usual parings, I will be making pairs with one stronger person than the other. The stronger of the two is going to be mentoring the other person and the final marks will be based on the student's performance." Madame Kenna finished.

Arya sighed thankfully.

It seemed that she wouldn't have to duel today. Her body was still sore for the practice that she had with the royal Kalvrian forces. Other than that it had been a dream coming true. Sir Samuel had not gone easy on them as he had promised. Arya and Aaron had been expected to partake in all the exercises as well as the duels.

Arya had gotten the honour to duel with a knight but she had not displayed her best moves since Aaron was in the vicinity and she was hoping to keep them a secret until the tournament. In the end, despite all the pain and suffering, training with the knights had been a once in a life time opportunity and she could now apply her learning experiences.

"Silvia, Arya, Yasmin. You will be the only group of three." Madame Kenna said breaking Arya out of her gaze. She was just having a hard time focusing today.

Silvia and Yasmin came to stand in front of her and Arya took a moment to asses them. Based on Silvia's more defined arms, it was clear that she had either been practising more with swords or drawing a bow to improve her strength.

"Where were you the last couple of days?" Silvia asked.

"I was busy," Arya replied in a clipped tone.

Yasmin arched her eyebrows at Arya's voice yet she didn't say anything.

"Shall we start?" Arya asked curtly.

The pair nodded. Arya told them to stand in position and to her utter surprise, not only had Silvia gotten it right, Yasmin posture had been perfect. Arya nodded for them to begin their duel. The two of them started circling one another before Silvia tried jabbing it on the right calf of Yasmin. Yasmin blocked the shot and the two metal swords clashing producing sparks.

Based on a quick assessment, Arya could tell that Yasmin was a trained fighter. She had the precise movements of a swordsman, not a single step was wasted. Arya could see that she still had a lot to learn but did have some background in dueling. Silvia on the other hand was keeping on the ball of her feet trying not to get attacked by Yasmin.

"Grip the sword with both hands if you are unable to block with one!" Arya instructed Silvia.

She nodded, whipping sweat off her brows before gripping the pommel of the sword with both hands.

"Try predicating one another's movements, right now it's as if you are playing a game of cat and mice. You don't know which one of you will attack first so anything can happen at this point."

Both the girls nodded and continued circling one another. Arya could tell that Silvia was hesitant to attack and it would probably be Yasmin who would strike. Minutes later she was right as Yasmin's grip on her sword changed and she thrust her sword taking Silvia by surprise. The sword fell to the ground moments later.

"Enough." Arya said stepping back.

Both girls separated and Silvia went to pick up her sword.

"Could we take a small break?" Silvia asked.

Arya nodded, "five minutes and we will start again. This time both of you will be dueling against me."

Silvia's brown eyes widened and even Yasmin looked surprised. Arya ignored Silvia and turned to Yasmin to ask a question that had been nagging her for quite some while now.