The Revealer

The Revealer- Chapter 7: The Battle Commences

Chapter 7: The Battle Commences

Cassidy was furious with Lindsey. Who else would have convinced the Queen to ban her from battle? Banned from training. Banned from giving Arswon a piece of her mind.

She flung herself onto her bed, letting her misery seep into every pore of her body. Cassidy couldn't bear to let Lindsey and Rose fight without her; it would be one of the most cowardly things she'd done in her life, not to mention that that wasn't what a friend did. Friends stuck by each other through thick and thin.

When she really thought about it, the Queen had, by banning her, actually forced her to fight. The only problem that Cassidy could think of was the fact that she couldn't lunge with a sword without either dropping it or falling over. Not exactly what you want to do when fighting your arch-enemy. But she had an idea.

Sneaking out of her chambers was actually easier than Cassidy could have hoped. Both guards fell asleep at their posts and someone had left the door to the sword field open. Hands shaking, Cassidy snuck over to a small shed where she was sure they kept the swords. She was delighted to find that not only was she correct in her assumption, but that the door to the shed was unlocked. She grabbed a sword at random and stepped back out onto the field. She tried to copy the soldiers' actions; thrusting and jabbing at the air, but she succeeded only in dropping the heavy sword on her foot. She covered her mouth to keep in her shriek of pain.

As she reached down to pick up the fallen sword, she heard a soft chuckle behind her. Cassidy whirled around, scanning the field for anyone. She sighed with relief as she saw Mike clutching his sides and shaking from silent laughter over by the shed. Walking over to him she said, "Surely I can't be that funny,"

Mike looked up in surprise, still grinning broadly, "No, you're much funnier," he burst back into his silent laughter.

Cassidy made a face, "Ha ha. I don't suppose you could help me by telling me what I'm doing wrong?"

"Oh well now that's easy. You're swords too big. You can barely lift it. You need a sword that feels more like an extension of your arm, not a heavy chunk of metal that you're trying to hurl at your enemy. You do that and you're more likely to injure yourself than who you're trying to injure. Or they would die of laughter," he chuckled softly.

Cassidy studied him for a moment before replying, "Well maybe Mr. Expert here could help out a bit by picking out a good sword,"

Still chuckling weakly, he opened the shed again. Looking around carefully he produced a much slimmer sword than the bulky one that Cassidy had picked. It was only about a foot and a half long, but as Mike handed her the sword she was surprised at how natural it felt in her hands.

Mike asked her to do a series of defensive maneuvers, almost all of which she was able to complete successfully. She could now understand why the soldiers practiced so much; if it hadn't been for Mike, Cassidy would have surely made a failure out of herself when Arswon came.

They stopped only when the first rays of sunlight started peaking over the horizon. On Mike's suggestion, Cassidy took the sword back to her room and hid it under her bed, along with the matching scabbard. She studied the sword one last time before hiding it and crawling into bed. It was quite beautiful, if you liked swords, she thought. The silver metal of the sword glinted in the early rays of dawn, reflecting onto her bed. The hilt fit perfectly in her hand, a large sapphire pressing into her palm, but not uncomfortably.

She yawned and put her new sword away; very much aware of the trouble she would be in if it was found. Cassidy, her body aching from the use of new muscles, fell asleep almost the instant her head hit her pillow.