"Yield?" Cailean asked.
Darren grunted. "This time," he said. "I'll get ye next time."
Cailean laughed and withdrew his sword, helping Darren to his feet just as Darren had so recently helped Maeve. "Thank ye," he said, patting Darren on the shoulder. Then he turned to the crowd and said, "Now, who can tell me where Darren went wrong?"
This resulted in a wave of amusement across the group of warriors, and predictably, an onslaught of lighthearted ribbing started around the field.
"He should probably learn tae fight, first of all!"
"Maybe it's because he was dancin' rather than sparrin'."
"The mistake started shortly after he was born…"
Cailean allowed this for a moment or two, then held up a hand. "All right, all right, enough." He turned to Darren and said, "What about ye? Where do ye think ye went wrong?"
Darren rubbed the back of his head. "Probably when I became yer friend years ago," he said, then laughed, taking the whole thing in his stride. Cailean snorted, then made a gesture that he wanted a serious answer, so Darren added, "But seriously, I'm nae sure how ye got the upper hand. I was doin' me best."
Cailean nodded. "Ye would have beaten most people, I admit it. But… well, let's see if someone can work out how I had the advantage. Mary?"
Maeve looked up, surprised to hear him address her. "Me?"
"Aye, ye. Why do ye think I was able tae beat Darren when we're of at least equal skill level?" Cailean did not say it like someone who was bragging; he sounded genuinely interested in how Maeve would answer.
Maeve really wanted to make a good impression, so she ran over what she had just witnessed in her head. The first impression was that it had been two impossibly good fighters clashing, and that Darren had been overcome as if out of nowhere. But as she rewatched the fight in her mind, she noticed something.
"Ye won because ye ken how he fights," Maeve said slowly. "That's it, isnae it? Ye ken the way he tends to favor attacks from the left, and ye were able tae adjust tae make sure that ye could counter it."
Cailean rewarded her answer with a warm, genuine smile that made Maeve's body tingle just to see it. It felt like she was standing in the sun in a way that had nothing to do with the morning light that was shining upon them. "Very good," he said. "That's exactly it. We all have wee quirks that we rely on, and as warriors, it's our job tae identify not only our opponents', but also our own."
There was some general muttering that followed this announcement, and Cailean let it pass before he spoke again.
"So we're gonnae learn tae cover our own weaknesses today," he said. "We need tae learn how tae be versatile in combat, and that starts with learnin' to make our disadvantages intae advantages. I want ye all tae hold yer swords."
A general noise sounded as everyone instantly obeyed, Maeve included. Even though her hands hurt, she didn't hesitate before she held the sword tight.
"Good. Now, switch them tae yer other hand."
There was a moment of confusion, then slowly, everyone started to obey. There were some general noises of confusion and comments about how strange it felt to hold the sword in the non-dominant hand, and Maeve could soon see it was going to cause an issue for several of the fighters who were here to try to operate in this way.
But strangely… this wasn't going to be an issue for Maeve. She was not skilled, not by any means, but what little training shehadexperienced had prepared her for this moment. Senan had learned early on that Maeve was equally dominant in both hands, something she'd known since she was a child, and so he had made her practice with both since the start. She knew that there would be no sudden reveal that she wasbetterat fighting with her left hand rather than her right but, unlike the others, she would have nodisadvantageeither.
The thought made her heart leap. Could she have more of a chance?
Darren returned to the group, and Cailean called for everyone to switch partners. A large warrior named Seumidh stood before Maeve, his sword brandished in his left hand.
"Ready?" he asked her.
Maeve held her sword in her own left hand, nerves but also a strange excitement pounding in her chest. "I suppose so. Let's go."
* * *
By the time the session ended, Maeve was still as beat up and exhausted as ever, but as she sat down on the grass to catch her breath, she felt a strange kind of satisfaction. As well as Seumidh, she'd fought several others, and while she hadn't won a single sparring match, she'd come closer to it than ever before, and even managed to land a few hits. The switch-up had not disadvantaged her, but it had definitely thrown the others off, and that filled her with a kind of confidence that she'd never felt before.
Could this be the secret? If she could find her opponents' weaknesses and force them somehow to fight without their usual strengths, could she really find a way to win?
Cailean approached her after a while. "Are ye all right?" he asked.
Surprised that he'd approached her again, Maeve nodded, getting to her feet. "I'm fine. Why do ye ask?"
