The Hathway Kingdom. (Book 1)

Chapter Twenty-Seven.

~Twenty-Seven. ~

Sweat ran down the side of Larissa's face as she swung her sword, the edge of it stopping mere millimetres from the dummy's supposed neck. She had been spending most of her free time she had now in the training grounds, practicing with any, if not all, the weapons that she could get her hands on, as well as her so-called magical abilities. At least, that was what everyone called them. So far, she had perfected her archery, close combat, mace work, spear, and dagger. She had also perfected her swordplay, but she knew there was always something to work on with that.

She sighed and pulled her sword away from the dummy, holding it blade up and sideways in front of her face. She let out a breath before she lowered her sword and sheathed it before she walked over to where she had placed a canteen with water in it. She unbelted her sword from her waist before she placed it down beside the other weapons, mainly her sparring sword and reached for the canteen. She drank deeply from it and poured some over her head to cool herself down before she froze as she heard someone clapping from behind her. She turned to face who it was, hand going to rest on the hilt of her sword before she flicked her wrist and a dagger lowered from her sleeve instead before her eyes widened in surprise when she saw Romulus and Theodoras walking towards her.

"You really are good, Larissa. You've earnt the title of best warrior for the Hathways," he said as he got closer and her eyes darted over to Theodoras, who bowed his head in greeting before giving her a smile in agreement.

"Thank you, Your Imperial Majesty...How long were you watching?" she asked as she looked back at Romulus now.

"You can drop the titles in front of Theo, Larissa," Romulus said to her and she frowned before nodding her head.

"Very well...You didn't answer my question, Romulus. How long were you standing there?" she asked him again and he shrugged his shoulders in response.

"I'm not entirely sure. Ten minutes?" he replied as he looked at her and she rolled her eyes, screwing the cap back on her canteen.

"What can I do for you, Romulus?" she asked him as she sighed and turned, placing the canteen down before she grabbed a towel and began wiping both the water and sweat from her face and neck.

"I was wondering if you wanted a sparring partner?" Romulus asked and she froze before looking at him again, the towel pausing as she wiped under her ear.

"And if I said yes...Would I be sparring with you? Or the General here?" she asked as she continued to dry the water that went down her neck and she took note of how Romulus' eyes followed the action before they returned to her own.

"Me, of course," he said, and Larissa raised a brow at him.

"And what makes you think that I won't beat you just as I did in your tournament?" she asked him with a sly smirk and she looked at Theodoras as he snorted, which he managed to cover up with a cough as Romulus shot him a glare.

"I've been practising. Just the same as you have," he replied, and Larissa raised a brow as she thought for a moment.

"Alright. Once you get a sparring sword made to look like your sword, then we can spar," she said as she went to turn away from him.

"I thought you might say that, so I had this made the other day. Theo?" Romulus said, and Larissa froze before she turned to see Theodoras hand Romulus a sword that looked very much like his sword and Larissa cursed when she realised that it was a sparring sword.

"Very well then. Let us spar then, Romulus," Larissa said before she spun on the spot quickly and kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying backwards across the training grounds. Theodoras quickly got out of the way as quickly as he could as Larissa drew her own sparring sword from its sheath nearby and walked forward, towards Romulus.