Chapter 1 (Part 3)

I assumed my favorite form- the one with no openings. My legs were apart and my knees were bent a bit. I held the sword with lowered but straight arms in front of me. He on the other hand raised his sword parallel to his shoulders, with the flat portion of his blade facing me. His other hand was an open palm bracing the other end of his blade. Is that his form? Even though it looked like it had a lot of openings, I felt like there were none. Interesting.

 I started my first attack, a simple over head attack, followed by a sequence of attacks that targeted his limbs. He parried it all and even managed to point his sword to my neck. I smiled at him. Beginner level, passed.

I started my next level of attack, going for the vital organs – the throat, the heart, the abdomen and the head. But when I began to thrust my sword to hit his ribs, he used the broad part of his sword to parry mine away. He stepped forward and folded his elbows until the blade reached for my own vital area – the throat

Well, does this mean it’s time to get serious?

With a haughty smile, I accepted his challenge. I increased my speed, lessened my openings, and my attacks became short and swift. Jumping and attacking in midair is also one of my favorite moves. Likewise, his parries became short and swift but he never left the ground. If you add a little music and we might as well have been dancing a tango…in fast forward. I found it odd though that this guy doesn't attack. After he parried my fiftieth blow, I stopped.

"What's the matter?" he asked though not letting his guard down.

"Why don't you attack?" I asked eyeing at him suspiciously. "You can't be on defense forever. You can't win a battle that way."

He looked a little worried. "But it's dangerous if I attack. You might get hurt even if it's a spar."

Was I being underestimated? "Heh. Try me." I changed my fighting form, slightly tilting my blade to the left and folding my elbows to bring it closer to my person.

His eyes finally showed a spark of interest. Finally taking me seriously eh? I was determined to take out ten percent of my power. What I fought him with was a mere three percent. I'm going to fight him three times of what I've been fighting him with. But then I felt a sudden change in the air, like a chill. He too was going to be like me – dangerous.

He moved and attacked. It was a straight forward, overhead attack but it was heavy and solid. I was able to block it though and even pushed him away. Then he did something unexpected but praiseworthy - a combination attack.

I was able to dodge and parry the blows. His attacks were fast, in fact, barely visible, but I was still able to track his movement, enough to counter attack; attacking, or at least trying to attack, the vital points. Now, at last, we're getting somewhere. We were formally done testing each other and on to the real sparring. During the exchange I felt a huge thrill. I laughed.

I'm going to spar with him every day from this day forth. I felt elated. I have a sparring partner other than my Master and a good one at that. I felt that he too lightened up and got more expressive with his attacks. My moves, on the other hand, just got flashy with twists in midair and a combination of low and high attacks forcing him to take his foot off the ground and attacking from midair himself. I knew we were both enjoying this.

In my excitement I ended up releasing fifteen percent of my power but he handled it quite nicely. We both knew that we were hiding our true strength and it was something we'll only show in a desperate situation, not in a spar. But for a mercenary, his swordsmanship is a definitive pass.

Finally we stopped sparring. I simply lay panting on the ground, tired. Very tired. I unconsciously laughed during the part when we got serious and after the exchange of blows, I still can’t stifle my chuckles. I couldn't help it. I grew up holding a sword everyday and a day without a sword is like a day without food. I've been starving for a fight since last week. I took a look around and it made me laugh harder. The clearing just became larger with a few fallen trees and a few craters on the ground. Even the empty pot was blown a few feet away from where it originally was.

"You..hah..are good," I tried to say. I smiled at him. That was a compliment and thanks.

"So are you," he returned the smile.

"Let's spar every day," I said finally sitting up. "And you're not allowed to say no. Whether you like it or not, I'm going to attack you"

"It would be my pleasure, Chryisle"

v(O-O)v

We decided to walk towards the nearest town which was a day's walk from where we were. When night fell, I did the hunting (two birds) and he did the cooking. While he was cooking, I set up camp.

"What is your occupation?" I asked him trying to start a conversation.

He looked up from the sizzling pot and said "Just an ordinary travelling swordsman."

"When you were attacked a while ago, surely with your skill, you could have beaten those thugs yourself?" I asked finally done setting up camp.

"Oh. But they were poor beggars. You don't beat hungry people," he said shaking his head. "I could only pity them."

I was stunned in a bad way. Finally gaining composure, I briskly walked to him and flicked a finger on his forehead. "You moron! Those were thieves not beggars. And they were not begging, they were mocking."

He rubbed his sore spot. I used a bit of force on that flick so of course it would hurt. It was a lesson. But for him not to know what the difference between thieves and beggars… isn't that too much?

"How long have you been traveling?" I asked.

"A while. But still getting used to it." Okay. That explains a lot: he's an airhead like my Master. He had not thought that travelers are often victims of mugging? Don't even think about travelers. Any human or creature with even the slightest sense of self-preservation could easily tell that those guys meant harm. I never thought there was another creature as naive as my Master.

"So do you have any news to share about the on goings of the continent? Like, oh I don't know… dragon slayers perhaps?" I asked curiously. But then again, I wasn't expecting much since he was new to travelling and all but hey, at least I asked.

"I don't know. The town we're heading to might have some news for you. I came from the south so I don't know much."

"The south?" I exclaimed incredulously.

The south was a territory humans don't really want to venture in or even go near to, for that matter. It was Dark dragon territory so it was surprising to hear about a person that may have lived in the south, especially nowadays when the Dark dragons seemed agitated. No wonder he hasn't heard of any news.

He didn't answer me but just nodded. "Why do you wish to know about dragon slayers anyway?" he asked.

"Oh, just curious." I can't tell him my true profession. Otherwise the next spar might turn into homicide. He might not even wait for a spar and just jump on me right there and then.

Soon the food was done and we ate to our hearts content. After that, I crawled to my bed and tried to catch some sleep. I need to hunt for a job tomorrow soon.

My hands are itching for action...and blood.