Camp Driftwood

Prologue - Mentor

Prologue - Mentor

"You've got this Kaylee," Henry said calmly, holding one arm in front of himself and balancing on the balls of his feet. "An attacker lunges high with a knife, what do you do?"

Kaylee's mind worked at a mile a minute, assessing the situation just as she had been taught and choosing an appropriate counter. "Grab his wrist, divert the blow using his own momentum. Follow through, pushing the arm backwards and dislocating his elbow."

"Show me."

Henry moved forward, slightly slower than if it had been an ordinary attack, and brought the hand that held the imaginary knife down. Kaylee reacted accordingly, using the tall man's own strength against him. She would have been completely overpowered if she tried to stop the blow head-on, so diversion was the most logical tactic.

His arm passed in a blur, falling on empty air as Kaylee sidestepped onto his far side. She grabbed hold of his wrist when it passed her by, controlling the trajectory and moving her other forearm against his elbow joint. This would give her something solid to pull back against, in order to cleanly dislocate the joint. She stopped just before the movement that would have crippled Henry, holding the position for him to assess.

"You're getting faster," he nodded, "Remember, a lot of the people you're likely to come up against will be a lot stronger than you are. Use their strength against them."

"Yes Henry," Kaylee nodded, smiling. Getting praise from the older man always made her feel great.

"Your diversion was a little sloppy," he added, using his other hand to reposition her forearm in the space between his forearm and bicep, more directly on the elbow. "You only get one shot at a move like that, and making a mistake will land you in a world of hurt."

The smile she had dropped, replaced again by a small scowl as she realised her mistake. "Crap."

"Language," Henry frowned, pulling his arm free and standing at his full height. "Don't be too hard on yourself kid, you're going great. Just keep practicing, and you'll have this down in no time."

Henry's pendant slipped over his collar, glistened in the afternoon light and distracting her attention. Two metal snakes circled each other, bodies entwined in an elaborate pattern, but never touching. The tails arced around, completing the near-perfect circle and joining with their counterpart's mouth.

"Where'd you get that?" she asked, stepping back and taking a breather.

"I'm holding onto it for somebody," he replied, a strange look crossing his face as he walked towards the porch. "Long story."

Before she could ask him to elaborate, Kaylee's mother walked across the porch with two glasses of orange juice. She gave henry a small nod, holding out both of the drinks before leaning against the banister.

"How's Kaylee progressing?" she asked conversationally, looking a little distastefully at the small layer of sweat both of them had built up.

"She's getting better, Miss Adams," Henry said fairly, taking one of the glasses, "We're sticking to beginner stuff, like you asked. She's almost got basic blocking down, and we should be ready to move on soon."

Kaylee supressed a snort, taking the other glass of orange juice. They'd moved past blocking weeks ago, but her mother wouldn't exactly be thrilled to have her daughter learning how to dislocate limbs. Henry had agreed to keep that between the two of them.

"It's going great," Kaylee nodded after she swallowed the first mouthful of juice, "Maybe soon I can learn how to throw a punch as well, instead of just blocking them."

"No," her mother said flatly. "Self-defence, I can see the sense in, but I won't have my daughter hurting other people."

"Of course not," Henry agreed, shooting a sly wink to Kaylee on the other side of his glass so that her mother couldn't see.

Last week she had learned how to shatter the bones around ankles, driving her heel at the correct angle into the attacker's joint and taking away their ability to walk.

"Good," her mother nodded, oblivious to their train of thought.

Henry however, followed on to her thinking.

"Remember Kaylee, patience before power."

Kaylee nodded eagerly, repeating the mantra. "Patience before power."

"We're done for today," Henry smiled, downing the last of the orange juice. "If you'd like, Kaylee can come to the group classes I run in town. It's a lot cheaper than having these private tutoring sessions."

"Thank you Mr Buscador, but that won't be necessary. Money isn't an issue."

Kaylee rolled her eyes, but Henry only nodded politely. Her mother liked to be in control. She could understand this, even respect it to a certain degree, but it didn't mean she had to like it. A group class would be amazing, and might even give her a chance to make some friends. Unfortunately, her strict home-schooling hadn't afforded her many of those.

"Of course. The offer stands, if you ever happen to change your mind."

Kaylee hesitated before speaking again, trying to figure out which words to use. She had been mentally preparing herself for this question all afternoon. Eventually she just gave up on trying to figure out the words, letting the question fall out a bit faster than she had intended. "Hey mom, could Henry come to my birthday?"

Her mother was caught off-guard, and even Henry was a bit flustered. Very unusual for man who was normally so cool, calm and collected.

"Oh, gee, it's more of a family affair," her mom said lamely, "I'm sure Mr Buscador is far too busy..."

"I wouldn't want to impose," Henry added apologetically, "How old is it this year?"

"Fifteen," Kaylee said glumly, rolling her shoulders to shake off the ache of Henry's training.

"Come on Kaylee," her mother gestured for her to follow into the house, "We've got Mass in an hour, and you need to get cleaned up first."

"Yes mom," she nodded, jogging up the stairs as Henry waved goodbye.

"Remember Kaylee, practice makes perfect," he called as he walked off towards his pickup, which was parked out on the street. "Keep working at what I've shown you, and you'll never be defenceless."

"Yes Henry," she beamed in return.

"Good. Same time next week."

Henry Buscador returned his attention to the pendent hanging around his neck. He ran his thumb absently over the dull metal surface before tucking it back under his collar as he walked back out to the front yard. Kaylee watched him go, needing another prompting from her mom to go inside and freshen up.

"Patience before power," she repeated to herself as she walked up the stairs, making her way to the shower.