Flame Inside ✿ Damien and Matthew

Chapter 27

Saero waited in the grand hall, watching the door for the girl with fire-red hair. She soon entered the room with a small smile on her face. She walks over to him and hands him the handkerchief he had lent Emma last night. He took it, nodding to her. She crosses her arms waiting for her first instructions. "When I train my lady, I bring her here. That way she is not seen by the army." He explained to the human.

"Why would her being seen by the army be an issue?" She asks.

"It's not a matter of it being an issue. We simply choose to train together alone." At his response, she smirks as if she knows something. He ignores it for the time being and states, "Now, do you have a preferred weapon of choice? Choose wisely; you need to focus and master one weapon if you wish to benefit from this training. I won't allow you to change your mind later."

Thalia bites her lip as she thinks for a moment before stating, "Surprise me."

Saero looks her over for a moment, noting that she seems pretty light on her feet and doesn't appear to have much muscle. She seems fairly graceful and I think she would do well with a pair of daggers. He gave her a small smirk before allowing balack and purple mist to envelop his hand. She watched in anticipation of what weapon he was going to give her. Eventually, the mist materializes into two daggers. She raises a brow at him as he hands the blades to her. "What? Afraid to try something new now?" Saero asks her with amusement lacing my voice.

She shakes her head and takes both blades by the hilt. She weighs the blades and gets a feel for them. She holds the two blades like mini swords. He smiles slightly and adjusts her grip so the tips of the daggers are almost touching her elbows. "Daggers. They may be light and short, but can be incredibly dangerous if used properly." She nods and smirks confidently.

Saero walked away from Thalia before forming his spear and gripping it tightly, ready to begin their session, "Trust your instincts. I'll go slow so you can adjust yourself to the weapon. However, I won't remain slow for long." She nods again.

Saero crouched down, gripping his spear, before lunging for her, ready to skewer her on its blade. She immediately jumps away, avoiding the tip of his blade as she steps to the side. He goes to jab at her again only for her to block the tip of his spear with the flat of one of her daggers before pushing forward, the force causing him to stumble backwards. She lunged in and prepared to pierce him with her own attack. However, Saero moved his spear to cross his body, blocking her attack and pushing her back. She growled, her eyes flashing a bright green for a moment. As she landed, though, he gave her a small smirk for he was proud of her for noticing an opening and attempting to use it. She used the momentum to lunge forward again, continuing our sparring match.

***

They continued to train relentlessly through the day. Each break they had was small for she only had a week to learn how to fight after all. As they finished a sparring session and slowed to take another break, she let out a sigh. Saero let out a small sigh and stretched, wiping some sweat from the side of his brow before looking at Thalia. "Let's take a break for now..." He suggested.

"Yeah, good idea..." She mumbles as she collapses onto the floor and slouches over her crossed legs. She wipes sweat from her forehead with the edge of her skirt.

"I have to admit, I'm impressed." Thalia's head jerks up to look at him, "For the first time holding a weapon, you did pretty well. My lady had to train for months to try and use her weapon properly."

"Well, what does Diana use?"

Saero stares at her for a moment in surprise before smiling softly, "She uses a saber, a curved sword. While regular straight swords are good for piercing your opponent, curved blades are made for slashing and cutting your opponent down. They're a little difficult to maneuver without in depth training."