The Crow's Song

Chapter 1

"Again."

Ellie rubbed her bottom as she stood up, resuming her opening position. After getting knocked over for making the same mistake six times, she was starting to lose her cool. They had been on the same move for two hours. Her Uncle Cain refused to let her learn anything else until she got this move right.

It was impossible, every time she swung her arm up to parry his blow, she couldn't twist her arm enough to withstand his strength. Her arm kept buckling and then he'd hit her with his stick, sweeping her legs out from under her. Gripping her stick firmly, she closed her eyes, trying to calm her breathing. Anger was clouding her concentration, she needed to move past it.

Opening her eyes, she saw Cain standing at the ready. Giving a small nod, he began.

Lunging forward he swung his stick up to attack. Shifting her feet, Ellie parried his blow, spinning and jumping as he ducked low, performing a sweeping kick.

Just breathe, don't over think it.

She swung upwards, grabbing his arm as he tried to throw a punch. His arm blurred and he stopped her stick, inches from his face. Twisting her arm, Ellie flowed with the movement,  flipping through the air and rolling backwards as her body hit the floor.

Jumping back on her feet, she blew the stray strands of hair from her face. He lunged forward once again and she recognised the movement.

This was it.

Bending her arm, she started twisting it upwards and the sticks clashed together. Her arm twisted and instead of buckling, her arm kept twisting, taking her body with her as she spun, elbowing him in the chest. She heard him grunt and spun fast and low as he stumbled back, her stick reaching up and connecting with his chest, where his heart was.

"Enough." Cain grunted, breathing heavily. He looked at Ellie with pride. "See? You got there in the end."

She nodded, grinning in elation as she sucked in air. "Seventh time's the charm huh? Do you want me to do it again?"

He shook his head, throwing his stick across the yard. "No, that's enough for today."

Grabbing her water bottle she gulped down the water, sighing as she sated her thirst. "Aw come on Cain, don't tell me your age is finally catching up to you?"

He just grinned and threw his sweaty towel at her. "We'll see how well you're moving when you get to thirty nine."

A new voice chimed in, making Ellie smile. "Thirty nine? Come on Cain, you can't keep living in fantasy land forever." Ellie spun around to see her best friend, Aisling standing at the back door, watching them with amusement.

Aisling was the definition of punk; she often wore shirts and singlets with faded band names printed on them. She always wore shorts or skinny jeans, never a skirt or dress.To Ellie, Aisling was the least bit scary, but to others, she was a terrifying punk girl with blood on her hands and soul.

Ellie had asked her one day how she fought wearing skinny jeans and Aisling had simply said: “a punk master never reveals their secrets.”

Today, she wore a black singlet with the words 'The Clash can rock my Casbah any day', printed across her chest. Blue faded denim shorts could just be seen underneath her signature large jacket. It was her favourite jacket, which hung just past her bottom, the sleeves way too long and always needing to be rolled up. She often hid an assortment of weapons up her sleeves, almost always daggers and smoke bombs. She also wore her usual combat boots, laces hanging loosely around her feet.

Today, her hair baby doll pink and was tied up away from her face, a black ribbon tied near the front of her head. Almost every time Ellie saw her, Aisling's hair colour changed. Last time she had seen her it was a deep red.