The Blades

Chapter Three

July 25th

I awoke the following morning to Bayah's cheery voice through the door, "Atla! Wake up sleepy! Your training begins today!" She was so excited. How are people happy this early in the morning?

I rolled over in bed and told her I wanted five more minutes. She wasn't going to take that.

In the space of about ten seconds, she had cracked the lock on the door, opened it, and shoved me off my bed onto the stone floor.

"Bayah!" I groaned, picking myself up off the floor and rubbing my side where I had hit the hardest.

She threw me a small loaf of bread. "Breakfast!" she said cheerily, "You have two and a half minutes to get ready or you won't like what I do next," she then threatened, crossing her arms, and leaning against the door frame to watch me.

"What are you gonna do?" I was testing her.

"Two and a quarter," she growled.

Okay, now I was a little scared of her. As she counted down the seconds, I raced to get dressed. I was ready to go with twelve seconds left.

"Good. We will start today with something a little simple. How are you with swords?" she asked me, turning to walk swiftly down the hall.

I hurried after her, attempting to speak around a mouthful of bread, "Vewy goob," I mumbled.

"We'll see about that," she told me, leading the way through the tunnels and through one corridor that opened into a small training room. Weapons of all types and sizes lined the walls. Bayah grabbed a one-handed sword off the wall and handed it to me and took one for herself, giving it a few test swings.

"Wait, I'm not done with breakfast."

Bayah looked at me kindly, "All right, finish it," she said with a sweet innocence to her voice. Before I could react, she had snatched the bread from my hand and tossed it over her shoulder and into a corner, "Wow! Look at that! You're done!" she said sarcastically, "Now, raise your sword and attack me."

I was stunned into silence, my brow creased and my mouth open slightly, but I went into stance to do as she asked.

Without warning, she attacked me first and slapped the flat of her blade onto my left shoulder.

"What?! Hey!" I protested, jumping back and putting a hand over my shoulder protectively.

"Lesson Number One: Don't assume that the person in front of you is going to make the first move," she instructed gruffly.

This was going to be a fun few days. The blunt sting on my shoulder told me that a welt was already appearing.

And so, we battled. I was doing well until Bayah got the upper hand when I lost my balance attempting to cut open her side. She took that opportunity to stab me in the upper thigh.

Cursing loudly and grasping at the open gash in my leg, I glared up at her, "What the hell?!" I snapped.

"Lesson Two: I am playing this game to maim you. You may get scarred but you will learn not to drop your guard." Bayah casually cleaned my blood off her blade with a joyful smile, "Let's go again. And don't screw up this time."

She was a ruthless teacher, to be honest, and my swordsman skills weren't as honed as they were before my time in prison.

I limped through the battle. We only stopped when I managed to cut open her shoulder but not before she'd stabbed mine and sliced open my calf.

"Has anyone ever been killed during training?" I asked as she helped me limp to the Infirmary.

Bayah thought long and hard, "Just once. Tercet stabbed a trainee in the stomach. It's a real shame though. He was a good prospect but he was afraid to hurt her. His mistake."