Warrior (book one of Kefale Academy series)

Chapter Three: Swords

I woke with a loud yawn. Someone was knocking on the door. “Miss? Miss Alvundara are you in there?” I heard a voice call.
I sat up and stretched. “Yes? Who is it?”
“It's Quin. I was sent here by the captain,” responded the voice.
“Then, please do come in.”
Quin opened the door, holding a tray of food. “You missed dinner, so I was told to bring it to you,” she stated, handing me the food. “Oh! There are some clothes right… here!” She reached around the door frame and grabbed a basket of clothes, dragging them into the room. “They're some of my older ones, so they should fit you. And Captain said we're going to take you out to get you a dress. He said he'd pay for it.”
“Thanks, a lot. I mean it,” I said as I shoved some bread into my mouth. She nodded. I swallowed and asked, “I heard that we could practice with swords?”
Quin smiled and nodded. “Of course. After you finish eating, of course. Oh, I was also told to ask how old you are.”
“I'm eighteen, why?”
“There is no way you're eighteen. You don't look that young. You have to be at least fifty-four.”
“Fifty-four?! That is at least triple my age!”
“Well, eighteen is still a little kid. Perhaps this tall?” She said, holding her hand up at waist height.
“So, you mean a six year old,” I inquired.
“Honestly, I think you're messed up in your years. Maybe it's just that Earth's years are different here than in Allysia. Maybe we can ask the captain,” Quin said, giving up on arguing with me.
“That's pretty reasonable…” I muttered. “Oh well. On to sword training?” I stood up and grabbed some clothes that looked like they would suit me for a workout. I stepped behind a curtain and changed.
“You look ready to go.” Quin stated,  looking ready to go. I'm glad she stayed here with me so that I wasn't wandering around alone. Lord knows what would happen.
We left my room together and went to the place where I saw that guy playing with fire. Normally that would be something you don't want to do, but I guess that is okay here. We stepped inside. There was no one else inside.
“Come here, we'll see what kind of sword you'll use. We have everything from bastard swords to katanas,” Quin said, walking over to a wall covered in weapons. Well, Medieval weapons.
“I thought katanas were a Japanese and Chinese thing…” I mumbled softly.
Quin must have heard me, for she said, “Everyone knows that you Earthian people get your weapons from us. Now, catch!”
I barely had enough time to reach my hand out and catch a sword by its hilt, before it hit me. “Ah!” I shouted, flinching. Hey, at least I caught the sword. Almost instantly, the sword weighed my arm down, and the tip dropped, bending my wrist awkwardly. “It's heavy.”
“That's something you can get used to. But, my question is, how does it feel in your hands? Besides heavy.”
“It feels extremely uneven. I don't think I'd be able to pick this up very well, let alone fight with it,” I said, handing it back to her.
She handed me a lighter sword this time, and a bit shorter too. “This is a short sword,” she said to my questioning glance. “How does that one feel?”
I took a step back and lifted it. It was definitely easier to lift, but the two handed thing wasn't working well. “I don't think I like having to hold it with two hands. You mentioned something about katanas? Can I try one?”
“Sure,” she said, pulling one off the wall and handing it to me, taking back the short sword. “Don't be surprised if you can't get the movements right with it, however. The older style katanas only have one sharp edge. We don't often get the modified ones, so you'd have to go with an older style.”
I liked how much lighter the katana was. I slid my arm out to the side, trying a quick slice through the air. It was almost an extension of my arm. “I like this. Do you ever get them in pairs?”
She smiled and pulled the other one off the wall that looked almost exactly like the one I was holding. “I was wondering when you were gunna ask that.” She handed me the second one. It was a little harder to handle them both, but hell. I decided I'm going to try.
At that moment, the door opened, and a tall guy walked in. The first thing I noticed was his hair. It wasn't blonde, nor black, nor brown, but purple. I kid you not, his hair was purple. And it was long. He walked over to the wall, grabbed a lance, and walked away without saying a thing.
I leaned towards Quin and asked, “He dyed his hair, right?”
“No. Bilith was born with purple hair. Just like mine is dark blue.” I honestly hadn't noticed it was dark blue. I thought her hair was black. But, I guess I was wrong.
“Your hair is what?!” I asked loudly. Even Bilith stopped and looked over.
Quin laughed, “Yes, my hair is dark blue. I never questioned your very light blonde hair. At one point I thought it was white. But when you walked into the light, I saw the gold. Sheesh. But I never questioned it.”
“I'm guessing she was questioning my purple hair as well,” I heard a deep voice say. It was Bilith.
“Well yeah! Those hair colours aren't natural on Earth!” I exclaimed.
“Oh, so you're the little Earthian.”
“Don't change the subject on me!” I said turning and picking up one hand to shake a finger at him. Oops. Forgot I was holding the katanas.
“Wow, hun. Watch where you swing them things,” Bilith said and backed up a step.
“Oh.” I lowered my arm. “Sorry.”
“Wow, you acted like that katana was a part of your arm. The weight didn't even defer you in the slightest!” Quin said, clapping her hands excitedly.
“Does she need someone to train her how to use them? I know you can't, Quin. You use the Broadsword,” Bilith said and put his lance back up. “I'll go get Brylin. She uses a katana, not two though, so you will have to get someone else to teach you those methods. She can teach you how to use each one independent of the other.”
“Thanks,” Quin and I both said. Bilith nodded and left the room.

I was stretching when girl with firey red hair walked in. I stood up and smiled, asking, “You must be Brylin?”
She nodded and gestured to the katanas I had set to the side. I walked over to them and picked them up. She shook her head and held up one finger. I set one back down.
“Do you not talk?” I asked.
Quin looked over from where she was sitting on meditation, and said, “She unfortunately had her throat almost ripped out by a feral wolf. Her vocal chords are gone, but luckily she survived.”
“Wow,” I gaped at her, and she just shrugged. “Anyways, let us get started?” Brylin nodded again. I held up my sword and got into what I thought would be a good defensive position. Brylin shook her head, walked over to me, and adjusted my stance, and how I held the sword up.
I held that position while she grabbed the other katana and showed me, on a practice dummy, how to get into offensive from the defensive position, then how to attack. Her movements were quick and fluid. She used the katana as if it were a part of her body.
When she stepped back, and motioned for me to walk over and try, I walked up to the dummy and took a deep breath. I got back into the defensive stance, then tried to copy her moves and attack the dummy. I was quite a bit more clumsy with my movements, and didn't end up striking where she had.
She motioned for me to do it again, while Quin was snorting with laughter. I tried it again, slowing down my movements, yet going for accuracy and precision. I did much better, and Brylin smiled.
Brylin motioned for me to do it again. For lord’s sake, this katana is starting to get heavy. Even so, I did the movement again, still going slow, and trying to make my movements as if the katana was an extension of my arm. I was getting more and more precise and accurate.
When I went to do it again, Quin said, “Do it faster, speed yourself up, even if it's just a little bit.”
I nodded, starting to get a bit breathless. I sped myself and went through the movements again. Lunge forwards, jab, duck to the left, jab, upwards slice to the right, duck to right, jab. After that, I stopped, breathless.
Quin laughed, “Newbies.” Brylin nodded in agreement. “Anywho, think fast!”
A pouch of water came flying at me, and I swapped hands with the katana, catching the sack in my right hand. I opened it, muttered a quick thanks, and started drinking it. The water was pure, and sweet.
Quin piped up again, “Brylin says that that is enough for now. She wants you to meet her here in a few hours though, and practice if you can.”
Brylin smiled, and I nodded. “Alright, thanks.” Brylin waved silently and walked out.