Revenge

Chapter 13

"You've got your main weapon, but it's always good to have more than one so you can fall back on something else if you need to." Aaron explained.

"Okay..." Beck said slowly.

"Someone's coming to help you in a few minutes, let's see what you can do with that bo staff until then." Aaron drew his sword and Beck picked up her staff.

It only took her a few seconds to find the rhythm. Each time she sparred, she found that it had a rhythm that she could use. It appealed to the dancer in her, the performer who worked in routine.

As Aaron sliced at her shoulder and Beck parried, she realized she was counting in her head.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

The hilt of Aaron's sword connected solidly with her bad wrist and Beck dropped her staff with a yelp, grabbing her wrist with her other hand.

Aaron lightly rested his sword on Beck's shoulder, chuckling when she glared at him.

"Ow." She said irritatedly.

"You can't expect a monster not to take advantage of a weak spot, Beck. You were favoring that side so I went for it."

"Well it's not going to help me any if I can't fight because I'm injured!" Beck snapped back.

Aaron rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to retort, when a new voice jumped in.

"Alright, alright, you've both got good points."

Beck turned to see a boy who looked to be a little more than a year older than her.

"Michael! How've you been?" Aaron asked him.

The boy shrugged, flashing a white smile. "Can't complain." He turned to Beck and offered his hand. "Hi, I'm Michael."

"I'm Beck." She shook his hand, taking the opportunity to examine his features.

Michael had blondish brown hair and bright blue eyes that sparkled in the sun. His hair was shaggy, but not hanging in his eyes. Freckles dotted his face and arms. He was at least half a head taller than her as well.

"So I'm going to be teaching you how to fight with knives." It wasn't a question. He knew exactly why he was here and he was going to get on with it.

"Yeah." Beck shrugged. "I wanted to try a bow, but I've never been very skilled with aiming so Chiron decided it would be better to work with blades."

"I don't doubt it. Last time he taught a student who wasn't skilled at aiming he ended up with arrows in his tail. He was behind the kid."

Beck raised an eyebrow. "That's rather....horrible."

"Yeah. Percy hasn't touched a bow since."

"Percy? As in-"

"Percy Jackson?" Michael chuckled. "Yeah. If you haven't met him yet, you probably will soon. He's everywhere."

"So I've seen." Beck muttered. She had realized quickly that the man who had half drowned Travis and Connor was in fact, the oh-so-famous son of Poseidon. From the short glance she'd gotten at him, he seemed like a normal guy, aside from the freaky strong water control.

"So, Beck, ready to start?" Michael asked.

"Uh, yeah."

He nodded and pulled one of the leather belts off his shoulder. Hanging from the belt was a double sheathe with two knives in it.

"Hopefully this fits you." He handed it to Beck. "Strap it around yourself wherever is comfortable so you can reach them easily."

Beck looped the belt around her waist, a little higher than her hips, and tightened it until it was comfortable.

"Good. Now take out the knives. One in each hand, obviously."

"No," Beck said sarcastically. "I was going to put one in my hair."

Michael let out a short bark of laughter. "If you could effectively fight like that, I'd say more power to you."

Beck rolled her eyes. "Where do we start."

"Let's begin with your stance."

He showed her how to stand, chin tipped down with her knives as the leading edge and acting as a sort of a shield.

"Don't ever hold your knives like this." Michael said, deftly spinning the knife by it's grip so the blade was laying parallel to his arm. "It may look cool in the movies, but you leave way too many soft spots open when you fight that way." He tapped his inner wrists. "And you have to tip your head up more to fight effectively this way so you expose your neck." He tapped his jugular, then spun the dagger back around so he was holding it properly.

"Now that you know how to hold them, switch to these and we'll spar." He handed her a pair of wooden knives.

"Afraid I'm going to hurt you?"

"You can never be too careful." Beck noticed that Michael had switched his own knives too.

"Alright." She said.

"Get into position." He ordered.

Beck dropped down and Michael corrected her on a little bit, then he turned to Aaron.

"Referee for us?"

"Not like I got anything better to do." The boy said jovially, leaning against the wall with a smile.

Micheal turned back to Beck, rolling his eyes jokingly.

"Three, two, one, fight!"