The Four Swords

Chapter 74: Planning Tomorrow

After Carrion's smug display of superiority of predicting one of us getting hurt in sword fighting, we catered to his whim of teaching Alina with sticks. At least Alina found it amusing as well as educational. Maybe Carrion's attempt to discredit me was starting to work in Alina's eyes.

I did not know how to feel about that idea. Somehow it was freeing to think that Alina was letting go of the idea of marrying me. On the other hand, I hoped I was not seen in such a light as to hurt our friendship.

Cali mastered the art of stick sparring in a matter of minutes. I was not the star pupil that she was. The weight of steel and metal felt at home in my palm. The sticks gave little resistance and felt out of place to be a weapon.

Although I was not racking up cuts and slices like I might have been with Cali's fury with a blade, I was sure I would have bruises in memory of Cali's anger toward her brother. After watching me get thoroughly beat up, my uncle stopped the match.

"Cali, give Jack a chance to breathe!" My uncle called out. Cali relented and stopped her onslaught of strikes.

I audibly let out a sigh of relief. I could bandage my cuts, but I had no idea what to do with all of the bruises I knew would soon color me black and blue. I thought maybe we were done with our nontraditional sword fighting.

"Care to give me a try?" My uncle offered.

My heart skipped a beat. A smile grew across my face. This was a match up I wanted to see. Cali momentarily looked like she completely abandoned her grudge toward Carrion.

"It would be a pleasure!" Cali responded. I think it was the first time I heard those words from Cali's mouth without them dripping in sarcasm.

She wanted to fight someone with skill. I could not blame her for being giddy at challenging the next Swordsman from my clan. I handed my lackluster weapon off to my uncle.

My uncle took the branch from me. He stood with the branch in his hand and outstretched his arm, challenging Cali to make the first move. Cali copied the motion, distancing herself from John, before tapping her branch against his.

The match was short lived. John used the time that Cali spent beating me to learn her motions. I did not realize in the heat of sparring, but now that I had a moment I realized her style.

Her winning style took short sweeping swings in close proximity to me and gave her every advantage. I had less room to maneuver and no time to block strikes properly.

Uncle John sneakily made her technique ineffective with his motion of challenging her at an arm's length. With a few swift motions, John caught the edge of Cali's makeshift sword just right. The branch flew from Cali's hand and landed in a nearby bush.

Cali's jaw dropped. Her overconfidence in her skills from absolutely destroying me in this latest sport was her undoing.

"How did you do that?" Alina almost shouted. She was obviously shocked at Cali being disarmed so quickly. Even if Cali was giving me a thorough thrashing, I never lost my branch.

"Your Highness, you were observing to mimic technique. It's an excellent place to start. I was watching to create a defense and in doing so, my offense created itself," my uncle offered.

Uncle John had more experience with a sword in his hand than anyone else at the manor. It made sense that he would have the most to teach us.

The rest of the afternoon was spent with stick sparring matches that rotated between partners. Alina even tried her hand against Cali with Uncle John guiding her movements by yelling out what to do.

Carrion sat and watched with extreme displeasure. I suppose he thought that Alina learning how to defend herself diminished the need for Swordsmen. Instead of seeing this measure as something that might make his future job easier, he saw it as a threat to job security.

By the time the evening chill started to rush over our bunch, we were all tired and ready for some food. We headed inside for another round of hearty bread and dried meat.

Carrion apparently spent his time stewing in anger but also thinking about how to change our activities to not include training Alina to sword fight.

"John, is there any way we can go into the forest and hunt tomorrow for fresh meat? I know that would mean that those left behind might have to stay inside the house to best keep Alina safe," Carrion shared his scheming thoughts.

"Hunting sounds like a good idea. However I would hate to put too much stress on our protection resources for the Princess. Was not that your concern while teaching her how to sword fight?" My uncle said with a mischievous grin.

"It was, but hunting is also dangerous," Carrion's words flowed from behind clenched teeth. He knew he was about to not like where this conversation was going.

"Then let's all go! That is, if the ladies would like to go," my uncle offered.

Cali and Alina shared a joyous glance. I knew their answer before either of them spoke.

"We would love to get out and explore," Alina said.

"Please Princess, consider your safety," Carrion pleaded.

"I have. Thank you Carrion. We're going!" Alina smiled. Carrion's frown only deepened as he stewed on the newest development.

Just like that, tomorrow was planned