The Making of…
Chapter 5
Scary Stuntmen
After some mild confusion caused by Peter’s hastily scribbled directions and an out-of-date map, Viggo and I finally found ourselves pulling up outside a large collection of buildings and a large sign that said ‘Army Barracks'.
“Well, here we are.” He smiled, stepping out of the car and fetching his sword from the back seat. I hopped out after him and opened the back door, collecting my sheathed sword and tucking my boots under my arm. We walked up to one of the single-storey buildings that looked a lot like a gym and found a small group of men standing outside, some of them smoking, others chatting.
“You guys here for the weapons training?” One of the tall, muscular men asked, breaking off from his conversation.
“Uh yeah…” I replied a little nervously, suddenly feeling very small.
“Just head inside, Bob is waiting for you with the others.” He grunted, jamming his thumb over his shoulder towards the door. I cast an anxious glance towards Viggo before pushing it open and walking into the cool, air-conditioned gym.
There were blue mats littering the ground, and at one side of the room, a group of about eleven stuntmen and women were standing, all holding crude, Orc-like blades.
“Hi guys!”
I turned to see a man with thinning white hair that looked to be in his late fifties approach us.
“Hey, I’m Bob Anderson. I’m going to be choreographing your fights and training you.” He smiled, shaking my hand with a firm, calloused grip.
“Hi, I’m Kira.” I replied, he then shook Viggo’s hand.
“I’m Viggo.” He smiled as Bob stood back and looked us up and down.
“Right, change into your boots, and we’ll get started.” He said, clapping his hands together and walking towards the stunt people. I shrugged at Viggo as we walked over to a bench and changed into our boots. I pulled off the hoodie I’d been wearing so I was just in my sweatpants and t-shirt, and my boots, I then belted the sheath of my sword to my waist after seeing Viggo do the same, and followed him to the side of the hall opposite the stunt guys.
“Draw your swords.” Bob called out and I grasped the hilt, sweeping it out of the sheath in one easy movement. It surprised me how real the sword felt, now that I was holding it. Out of the corner of my eye I could see that Viggo had done the same, and then I glanced at the group of people standing opposite us. They were literally trembling with anticipation, grasping their weapons. Most of them were huge, muscular guys. I’d done a little self defence before, but I didn’t really stand a chance with them unless I had some training. Suddenly, Bob said ‘Go.’ And they came running towards us, yelling and growling!
‘What am I supposed to do?’ I thought to myself in a panic as they got closer and I tightened my grip on my sword. I sensed Viggo tense up beside me, were we supposed to fight back? I had a strong urge to leg it in the opposite direction, but I stood firm, if a little terrified, as they were now a few feet away from us.
Suddenly, Bob clapped his hands once, and they stopped, just inches away from us.
“Right, let’s get down to business then.” He smiled as the stunt guys backed off in fits of laughter.
“What was that?” I whispered to Viggo through clenched teeth.
“I think he was trying to show us what the next few hours are going to be like.” He replied with a nervous smile. “I was seriously considering legging it though!”
