Summoner of all Trades

Chapter 12: Sword and Shield

I looked across the training ground at the soldiers sparring with each other. Most soldiers had the same build consisting of sword, shield and plate armor.

"Ready to get your butt handed to you?" Anastasia nudged my leg with her head. I heavily sighed and Anastasia's tail began wagging.

"Summoner Tyler!" I heard Isabelle call my name, turning to see her running toward us.

She was dressed much more differently than her gladiator armor. Now she had full plate armor and wielded a heavy looking shield and flanged mace. "Are you ready for combat training?" She asked, barely out of breath.

"Ecstatic." I groaned. "I'm not going to have to wear that, am I?" I said, looking up and down at her armor.

"You'd probably collapse. I doubt you even know how to hold a sword correctly, so keep to what you know." Isabelle crossed her arms.

I thought about it for a second before conceding. "You're right. I don't."

Isabelle smirked, uncrossing her arms. "Then it may be best we practiced with wooden weapons. I imagine there are some around here."

"What do I even need to practice sword for? I can just summon help, like Anastasia. Plus, I already have a crossbow." I groaned.

"So you can defend yourself," Isabelle started, quickly closing the distance between the two of us and had her mace at my throat, "from this."

Anastasia started growling from behind her. "Found my defense." I slyly smiled.

Isabelle lowered her weapon and sighed. "You won't always have her nearby. You need to be able to protect yourself."

"Ugh. I'll some some sticks." I grunted, using the summoning mirror to find the nicest training swords. I hold out my hand toward the ground and two identical swords appear in a flash of blue light.

"I said wooden swords." Isabelle frowned.

"These will do just fine. They're foam with a stick in them." I said, picking one up and throwing it to her.

"Incredible... they're blunted and incredibly light." She said, swinging it around. "Just heavy enough to keep it from feeling awkward to swing."

"They're just some toys from my universe. They should be good enough though." I shrugged, swinging it loosely to the right side of me.

"Stand beside me. I want to see your grip." Isabelle commanded. I followed suit and held the sword in my right hand. "Not too bad. You're going to want your index finger and thumb just below the hilt. Everything else looks good." She slapped me on the back, walking to stand in front of me.

"So how are we going to do this?" I frowned with the left side of my face.

"You're going to try and hit me. My shield and sword don't count." She said, unlocking the shield off her back. "Give it your all!" She yelled.

I ran at her and pointed my weapon toward. I tried thrusting at her and she easily stepped around it, and swung backwards, connecting with my back. Pain rippled from where she hit me.

"Shit! Ah!" I hissed.

"A real weapon would have mortally injured you. Again." She bashed the plastic weapon against her shield, making a dull sound. I charged again and attempted to swing at her left. She easily lifted her shield to catch the blade and slapped my side with the toy. I stumbled backward and I could feel the anger rising in me. It was embarrassing and I could see a few soldiers watching.

I closed the distance again. The left, the right, her legs, her head... she was able to defend against anything I could throw at her. With new bruises and further embarrassment I backed away. I needed a new plan.

The summoning mirror filled my right eye and I could tell Isabelle wasn't impressed. "I'm not going to let you summon anything!" She growled, charging at me.

I threw my sword at her to try and create some distance and she was able to easily deflect the weapon, launching it over her. I didn't need to fight her, I just needed to avoid her. She swung at me and tried to knock me off my feet as I tried to focus on a new plan.

She bashed me with her shield and I fell on my back. She thrust the toy sword at me and I rolled out of the way, just barely missing my chest. I finally found what I was looking for. A blue light blinded the two of us and I rolled on my side and fired.

MWOP!

Isabelle stopped in her tracks and dropped her sword, bringing her hand to her forehead. With a pop, the suction cup dart was freed from her head and I laughed to myself, falling spread eagle on my back. The guards were laughing at the entire situation and Isabelle scoffed.

"What was that?"

"This," I said, lifting the toy, "is a toy crossbow, and trust me, that's the killing blow." I laughed.

"I... ugh. Out of the last fifty or so times I've won, I'll concede. Maybe you need something a little different than what I can offer." She tossed me the dart.

"No, no, no. I think I need this. I just need to figure out what would suit me better and so far, crossbows appear to be my thing." I sat up and groaned, the adrenaline wearing off. She had hit me in so many different places I felt like a punching bag. "The crossbow was just to keep you from giving me another bruise."

"So you still want to learn how to wield a sword then?" She asked, swinging around the toy weapon.

"Yeah, but maybe when I'm not a walking bruise." I pushed myself off of the ground. I stumbled for a bit and Anastasia used her back to keep me from falling. "Thanks." I sighed.

"I guess I'll see you back at the castle?" Isabelle awkwardly waved.

"Yep. See you around." I grunted, waving back to her. Anastasia circled around me and then sat in front of me.

"That was entertaining." Her voice echoed in my head. "It was cute seeing you try to go toe to toe with her. All that ferocity on display." She purred.

I frowned and a puff of smoke came out of her mouth. I stumbled to the entrance to the training ground and rolled my shoulders, trying to get some of the pain out. I'm definitely going to have to see Justin. I'm probably going to get an earful from him too.