Cheeky asshole.
I pulled my sword from its sheath and whacked him on the ass, hard.
He spun, indignant.
I whipped the blade to the side and grinned like an idiot. “I was told there would be sparring.”
“Marco! Sword!” He held his hand out, and a moment later, a blond man slapped the hilt into his hand. He pulled it around vertical and saluted me. “If that’s what you wish, Mistress Breaker.”
Holding my sword loosely in one hand to the side, I waited for Aiko to make the first move. I figured he was cocky enough to do it, and I was right. It took him only seconds to come at me when I didn’t move my arm.
He stabbed down, and I wasn’t there. I danced away so his blade was at my back, and I smiled at him. At the same time, I smacked the flat of the blade against his thigh.
“Ouch!”
While he was maneuvering into a better position to strike at me, I spun, switched hands, and easily disarmed him.
The metal clattered on a rock and rang for a moment before falling silent.
Aiko stared at me, his eyes flashing bright red.
I saluted with a vertical blade. “That was to instruct you tonotthink me inexperienced.”
His eyes settled, and he smirked. “Indeed. I have been schooled, Mistress Breaker.” Grabbing the sword off the ground, he dusted the hilt off and repositioned it in his hand. “Shall we try that again?”
In response, I assumed an open parry position. “I would be delighted.”
* * *
An apple appeared in my view.
“Hungry?”
Looking up, I found Aiko standing there. I took the apple with a grateful bob of my head and bit into it.
I cleared my throat a moment later. “Is your arm all right?”
He pulled up his sleeve. “All healed. Once I was able to take a few swallows of blood, it was good.”
“I am sorry.” My voice was sheepish.
“No, you have nothing to be sorry for. You warned me, again and again, that you weren’t kidding with the sword. And you weren’t. And I didn’t believe you. Therefore, I deserved the stab.”
“I didn’t have to break your bone, though.”
“It was a good lesson to remember that, while you cannot run or heal like us, you can damn well learn a host of other skills. Are all the druids so trained?”
“No.” I shook my head after I took another bite of the apple. “We aren’t rare, but not everyone is trained. This sword was a part of my life since I was very small. It’s part of me. A gift from—”
Aiko watched me. “From your father.”
“But I don’t know if he was my father.”
“Did you call him such?”
“Yes.”
“Then he was.” He punctuated the statement with a firm nod. “No buts about that. You might even consider yourself a bit lucky that you had two people you could call mother. Even if you didn’t know it at the time.”
