Love, It's An Interesting Thing

Chapter 4

Jessica's POV

I wake up to someone shaking me.

"Jess! Come on! Wake up! You're going to miss your spar with Caspian!" Lucy pleads while pulling me out of bed by my arm.

"I'm up, I'm up!" I say, groaning. Lucy made me a change of clothes last night so I changed into those. I brush my hair and I grab an apple to eat. I strap my sword to my side and make my way to the deck.

I'm now fully awake and energized, ready to take on the day. I see Ed and Lucy walk up to me.

"Good morning!" Ed says. I smile and return the phrase. "How Eustace?" I ask Lucy. "Did you know that he complains all the time, even when he's unconscious?" She asks with a tone of annoyance. Ed and I chuckle at her and Ed starts telling me the rules of the duel.

I nod at all of the rules as they are mostly similar to fencing. I also laugh because he adds rules that should be common sense. Like "Rule 1. Don't kill your opponent." is pretty self-explanatory.

I see Cas on the other side of the deck talking with some men. He looks over their shoulders and makes eye contact with me. He finishes their conversation and pats the man on his back and heads to me.

"Good morning, Jess! Did you sleep alright?" He asks me. I nod and thank him again for letting me and Lucy sleep there. Before we can continue to talk, Ed announces our duel and everybody gathers to watch. We both leave each other's side and get into our beginning stances, holding our weapons in the air.

"You know, there is still time to back out." He tells me.

"Feel free anytime, Your Majesty." I say with a smirk. I hear some cheers and laughs from the crew members.

I hear Ed shout "Begin!" and Caspian takes no time in advancing. He swings his sword towards me and I block it with no trouble. I swing my sword back around, pushing Caspian's sword back to him. Mostly everyone was surprised at my strength. I smile as I hear compliments from the crowd.

I advance on Caspian this time and swing my sword towards him only for him to block it. He tries to push my sword back but I use his momentum so he comes forward and I trip him. He falls on the deck and I laugh. I fake yawn as a taunt and he gets up. "Okay, you want to dance... let's dance." He states, his face getting more serious. I chuckle at this.

He advances at me and throws multiple swings at me, I dodge all of them and then he aims for my legs. I easily jump over his sword and now it's my turn to attack. I swing my sword at him but he blocks it. I slide our swords together, bringing out faces closer. But a second later, I go under his arm, bringing it with me, twisting his arm. This just turns him around. He looks around quickly and smiles. He jumps on a barrel and swings at me from above, jumping down on me. I quickly block and slide his sword back to him. But he does not take it back, we keep sliding our swords around in circles and I eventually am able to trap it, making it fly from his grasp. It flies up in the air, only to fall back down and land in my hand.

I smile at him and he looks surprised, determined, and a little frustrated. He charges at me but I dodge all of his attacks. He eventually grabs my wrist causing me to drop his sword, him knowing his sword is heavier and harder to hold, especially in my non-dominant hand. He quickly grabs it and swings it toward me.

He quickly runs passed me and grabs a rope. He swings off the ship and back onto it, charging me with his sword. He swings and I block it, but since he had that momentum it was really hard. My sword comes back and hits my arm a little, slicing it. I wasn't bothered by it and he didn't seem to notice as he continued to fight. I quickly push my sword back at him.

We both were sliding our swords together and he quickly went around me and turned back around so he could grab me from behind. But I knew what he was doing. I quickly turned as well and when we met after turning, both of our swords were at each other's throats and our faces were an inch apart. Our breathing was heavy and our eyes lingered on each other's.