Hidden Heirs and Fallen Crowns (Complete)

Chapter 15

Dedic. goes to @Strawberriiesx for voting all the way through. Thanks a bunch!! :D

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Chapter 15

Her sword sliced through the air, aiming for my neck. I blocked it with enjoyable ease, while she sent more and more blows with more and more speed.  

"Can you go a bit quicker?" I asked her.  

She smiled, and nearly doubled her speed. After a while, I still found it relatively easy to block.  

"Try to attack, too," she told me. I did, and instantly focused more, finding it much harder. She expertly danced around with the sword, twirling and blocking, side-stepping and attacking.  

I got used to sending attacks. In the half-second that she used up to block, I would slice my sword toward another part of her body, but she'd always get it. 

Now, to my satisfaction, I saw her teeth clench and she stopped dancing. The tension between us rose as I got more and more at ease with my sword, sending attacks more and more frequently. We went on like this for more than twenty minutes: flawless, as if we were dancing.  

I loved it. The feeling of having a sword in my hand - it felt like it belonged there. And the noise of sword hammering against sword, echoing away for the world to hear. And the swoosh that both swords made before they came in contact with each other. And the way that, if I lost focus on my surroundings, I would see the two swords only as blurs around me.  

"Focus!" Jasmine snapped, knocking the sword flying out of my hands. It clattered on the ground. I bent down to pick it up again, but she pushed it away with the tip of her foot.  

I blinked. "What are you doing?" I asked. "Aren't we going to start again?"  

She smiled wearily. "No, not today. You've exhausted me - I'm going to rest."  

I frowned. "Oh." 

She put her sword back in the scabbard and turned around, walking back inside. I stared at the door for a few moments. Then I sighed, and swung the sword around me a few times. There was nothing to do, really. I could practice my sword-fighting, but who with? Blocking imaginary blows wasn't a very effective way of practising, and if Jasmine came back and saw one of her trees on the floor with sword cuts in the trunk, I didn't think she'd be very happy.  

After placing my sword back in its scabbard, I decided to climb a tree and rest there for a while.  

I looked for a low branch, but couldn't find one on any of the trees. Maybe the reflexes will help me climb the tree, like it did before, I thought. I tensed, waiting for it to come, but nothing happened. I tensed again, but still I didn't find myself on top of a tree like I had an hour ago. I sighed, sitting down with my back against the trunk. I made a mental checklist of all the parts of my body that had fallen asleep and now showed talents. The arms, yes. The legs, yes. The main body? The hands? Nothing so far. And the feet, nothing so far.  

What powers could feet bring, anyway? Not many, as long as I was concerned. Running? No, that needed the legs much more than the feet. Stomping? Maybe, but that seemed like a bit of a useless talent. I looked at the tree opposite me for inspiration. What else could you do with feet?  

An idea suddenly occurred to me. Climbing! I stood up and took my flat shoes off. After that, I stood in front of the tree, a bit unsure of how to start. How was I supposed to do this? I placed my finger-tips on the trunk.  

I checked that there was no one was watching - that would be really embarrassing. When I was sure that I was on my own, I took a few steps back, making a gap of at least half a dozen metres in between the tree and myself. I took a deep breath and sprinted across the grass towards the tree. As I got nearer and nearer to the bark, all my determination deserted me. I closed my eyes and, when the tree was a metre away from me, I felt the sudden urge to jump.