Forbidden Blue (On HOLD)

Chapter 2

Applause erupted from the class as they walked over to Sensei and stood apart in silence, waiting for his evaluation, I could see a ripple of stillness flow throughout the rest of the class as the mood caught and the applause stopped. Sensei stood there, saying nothing for a while, rubbing the edge on his jaw bone, “Well, Aryan I am afraid that I am dissatisfied with what just happened here, the most that I can give you is a silver.” He said in a disappointed voice, Roan took a deep breath in worried anticipation, waiting for Sensei’s words. “However Roan, I think that it is only fair that I give you an gold.” He smiled at Roan and the rest of the class bubbled with whispers of congratulations.

“Right, up next is Shigeru and Terse. Please take your positions.”

We walked out to the middle of the combat field together and shook hands briefly. Then we drew our swords. “Cover them as I taught you.” Sensei called from the edge of the field. We rubbed the blades of the swords with a cloth that Sensei had given us and watched them turn a dull grey colour. I carefully felt the edge of the blade; it was as dull as a branch. We took our starting positions and faced each other wordlessly, sword in one hand, shield in the other. “Begin.” The word rang out loudly in the silence.

Terse flew at me quickly and I watched him come, standing statue still until the last moment, a crash sounded as his sword bounced harmlessly against my shield. I dropped quickly and slashed my sword at his ankles, he had to jump out of the way and I hit his shoulder with my shield as I rose up, swinging my sword out to keep my other side blocked from Sensei’s invisible enemies. I swung back around and drove at Terse, swinging my sword at him, he blocked it with his shield, but I saw his arm buckle slightly under the blow as it dented his shield. I smiled to myself as he tried to do a comeback attack, we battled around the field, spinning and paring, then I finally did another upright flying slash, keeping my shield to my side to protect from the ‘other’ enemies, his sword flew out of his hand and landed behind him deeply in the grass. I still ran at him, knocking him to the floor and holding my sword at his throat as he lay on the grass.

No applause met us as we walked back over, only a stunned silence. Sensei was frowning deeply and I could feel the trepidation flowing through me; what had I done wrong this time, I’d tried so hard, I’d worked on my form all morning, holding the different stances so that I would be in top form for the evaluation, I’d even practised that upwards flying slash so much that my legs had grown weak from the effort. I dreaded being torn down again in front of the whole class.

“Well done Terse, I am impressed by your combination of moves, that is easily a gold.” polite applause rang through the rest of the class and stopped quickly as Sensei cleared his throat. “Wait for me at the end of the class please Shigeru.” Was all he had to say to me; I had been that bad.

Several more pairs went up for evaluation during the lesson. I barely watched, just stood there feeling disappointed and ever so slightly numb. The bell rang for the end of the lesson and Sensei let the rest of the class go. Roan nudged me on the arm as he left, “Good luck.”

Sensei waited until everyone had left the combat field and then turned to me “How many hours did you take training out of class this morning?”

“Erm, I’m not completely sure Sensei.” I said monotonously

“You were already training when I passed to Morning Prayer at sunrise,”

“Yes Sensei.”

“And you were still training when I passed again for the morning meal, two hours later,”

“Yes Sensei.”

“And when I passed for my first lesson two hours after that,”

“Yes Sensei.”