These Old Bones

14-2

Viriili held up her hand to Tiera, speaking to the older girl and they both looked over towards him. Tiera shrugged and walked over to him and the Dragon-Kin.

"She wants to spar with you." Tiera tossed the spear to him. "And I have to admit, I'm not the teacher you are."

"I'm not the teacher she needs." Tossing the spear back to Tiera, he crossed his arms again. "For this, you're as good a teacher as anybody. She'll not learn what she needs to learn from me."

"Oh, I don't know. Why not try?" Irimik looked up at him, widening her eyes in an approximation of raising her eyebrows.

"Look, Grey, it's not just the practice. She wants you because she's scared." Tiera climbed a couple of the stairs, grabbing his hand and tucking the spear shaft into his palm. "She's just been told she has a strange power that's not a Patrons given gift. She needs you to show her that she's still herself. That she's still the same Viriili."

The girl stood, alone, twirling the spear around in her hand, looking over towards the stairs. She looked young, and small, and lost. He didn't want his ham-fisted 'training' to get in the way of things she needed to learn. He felt sure it would only confuse things. But Tiera seemed sure and she and Irimik looked at him, expecting him to go to the girl.

"Alright! But if it ends up making her magic training harder, I'll not take any blame!" He gripped the spear and walked over to the girl, grabbing her spear, lowering it and kicking her legs into a wider stance. "Lower your bloody stance, girl, afore you get knocked over! Now, attack me."

He pointed the spear at her chest, and parried the blow that she tried to hit him with before he'd finished speaking. Good. That aggression would stand her well. She made follow up attacks, stabbing towards his foot, pivoting to the side, thrusting up towards his armpit, spinning and circling, trying to find his rear. He knocked them all aside with casual ease. She wasn't trying.

Changing tactic without telling her, he switched to attack. That caught her off guard, but she blocked the first attack well, if a little slow. Once she realised what he tried to do, she made the blocks, parries and moves faster, even throwing a counter-attack or two in. Adapting. That was good, too. The child learned well.

"Now, hit me with your power." He gave no pause, continuing to attack, but stopped the spear before it hit her face. She had stopped. "What are you stopping for? Defend!"

"With my power? I've only just learnt I've even got a power." The girl hit the ground with the butt of her spear. "How am I supposed to use it?"

"You've used it before." A testing tap with his spear towards the bottom of her own passed by as she raised it enough, then returned the butt to the ground.

"Not knowingly! You're just teasing me about it now. I don't know why I even bother ..." She ducked as he swept the spear towards her temple.

"Defend! Use your power!" He turned the spear in mid arc, bringing the butt of the spear down towards her skull. "You remember how it felt, don't you? Where the power came from? How it felt when you released it? Do it again. Now! But, this time, you're choosing to do it. Defend!"

Stepping to the side, he brought the butt of the spear into her stomach. Not with full strength, but enough for her to know she had got caught. Her hand clutched at her waist and she looked at him as if he had betrayed her. Sometimes, when training recruits, they would hold back. Unsure or unwilling to hurt people. Hard training either brought them out of that or broke them.

He scraped the spear down the shaft of the girl's, catching her knuckles, forcing her to drop the spear. Spinning, he brought his spear in a sweep behind her knees, sending her flying onto her back, landing with a heavy thud. She rolled to her side, pain induced tears pricking at the corner of her eyes as she tried to push herself to her feet.