Forever Green

~ 16 ~ Risking Impalement

"I hardly think this is fair," Theiden said.

He and the witch were standing in the cottage clearing, in the grass just beyond the bare dirt rows of the vegetable garden and the vacant gaze of the scarecrow. A few days had passed since their visit to the scrying witch, and they were finally going to spar again. Only this time, Lenesa had not given him a weapon.

The last three days had been made up of agility and strengthening exercises—balancing and lifting and pushing. He had been fairly adept at those sorts of things before, and now he could do them with ease. But this...this was a bit different.

Lenesa stared him down from a few feet away, a dull sword gleaming in her hand. Theiden had no idea where she had gotten the weapon from, but he was more concerned with the fact that he did not have a weapon of his own.

"How am I supposed to defend myself?" Theiden objected.

The witch's expression remained impassive. "Fights are rarely ever fair," she said. Her words came out in small clouds against the chilly early spring air. "You'll have to figure something out."

"Fine," Theiden grumped. "Let me go find a stick or someth—"

He turned away, but motion blurred in the corner of his eye and he instinctively leapt back. A second later, Lenesa's blade hovered less than an inch from his nose.

"H-hey!"

Lenesa stepped forward, lowering the sword but pinning him instead with her violet gaze. "The Turned creatures are not going to give you time to find a stick," she snapped.

Theiden crossed his arms. "Then what do I do?"

The witch stepped back and flourished her sword. "Come up with a solution to defeat me."

"Of course. How simple," Theiden grumbled.

He didn't have long to sulk, though, as Lenesa lunged towards him again, and he was forced to twist out of the way or risk being impaled. The evasive maneuver almost threw him off-balance, but he managed to catch himself and duck as the next swing came at his head.

"Good," Lenesa said as Theiden stumbled back. "A bit clumsy, but not bad."

"I still have no way of winning this fight," Theiden said. "I can only defend myself for so long."

"So then change your tactics," Lenesa replied. "Attack me."

"With what?"

"I'm sure you can come up with something."

Her blade sliced through the air, and Theiden was again forced to jump aside, crouching low to the ground as wind whistled over his head. What annoyed him—aside from not having a weapon, of course—was that Lenesa didn't even seem to be trying that hard to attack him. Her swings were wide and exaggerated, as if the fighting was all a game to her.

Still crouched low, Theiden's hand brushed over something hard in the grass, and his fingers immediately wrapped around the object. Perfect.

Before Lenesa could bring the sword back up for her next attack, Theiden's arm snapped up, and he launched the rock he had found right at the witch's head.

Lenesa ducked, and the rock sailed past her. Theiden took the opportunity to lunge for the sword in her hand, but she was ready for him and quickly spun out of reach, leveling the blade in his direction.

"Nice try, but you'll have to work harder than that," she said.

A yell tore from Theiden's throat and he jumped forward again. But the witch merely sidestepped him and extended a foot for Theiden to trip over and land in the mud.