Project Empress 008

 (Chapter 3 continued)

“Now he’s just showing off…” Natalie said through the corner of her mouth. Indeed, the lord-bishop was now moving in fast, circling motions, his movements becoming more acrobatic. 

“He isn’t maintaining the fencing-line at all either”, Cara said, following every move, trying to understand what kind of style the lord-bishop was using. At first, it looked like a cautious style, closing lines of attack and striking from cover, but then it became more openly aggressive, pushing forwards and projecting force, mostly through the sword, covered by the shield but not always. But now, as Natalie had said, it had moved into another form of much wider open movements, none of which Cara would have wanted to be at the receiving end from, but leaving the lord-bishop open for long amounts of time. Cara tended to agree with her master, that he was just mostly showing off his moves now, but there also was something interesting to this wide sweeping style, something she could not quite put a finger on. It looked immensely impressive and the acrobatics that lord-bishop Waltharius was showing off right now were far beyond anything even her masters, both Manfred and Natalie, had ever shown.

After an especially impressive back-flip and stab, the lord-bishop was done. He turned to the cross standing at one end of the atrium, knelt down, holding his sword by the blade in front of him placing his brow on the centre of the cross-guard mouthing a silent prayer. As he was kneeling, one of his assistants had moved next to him. As the lord-bishop rose he handed sword and buckler to the assistant and turned around to his guests, putting on his broadest smile. As he moved towards them another assistant approached him, handing him a white towel with a gold stitch decorated seam. He used it to lightly dab away the sweat. He returned the towel to the assistant who took it, discretely vanishing back into the background. 

Cara had seen the lord-bishop many times but never up close. He was taller than she had imagined. Now, outside of a public and religious context, his movements, partially obscured by his cassock, were startlingly fluid. His serene expression expression full of fatherly warmth felt off, because he flowed towards them at a speed completely at odds with his smile. Cara had to force herself not to step back or lower her gaze, wondering how Natalie mainlined a perfect aura of fashionable ennui. 

“Master-prospect Natalie Laukkanen Lapointe”, he said, extending his hand to her, “it is a pleasure to see you again and congratulations, I always thought that you would make a great master. I am most pleased to see that you have decided to take that step.” He shook Natalie’s hand, his smile becoming more radiant, placing his other hand on Natalie’s as he congratulated her. 

“And who do we have here?”, he said as he turned to Cara, who again had to fight to stand her ground against the sheer force of presence that the lord-bishop radiated. “You must be Cara Gibson Müller, the new apprentice.” His deep voice resonated with the arcades, Cara could feel the vibration of his voice in her entire body. His handshake was firm and warm, the perfect handshake, but she could feel the amount of power that was lurking behind it. It was not a warning, but a polite demonstration of what else lay beyond those friendly ramparts. It allowed the wise to warn themselves and took the excuse away from the foolish. Cara tensed up even more, the last calm part of her mind noted that all the tension let her stand more upright and her wish to run away screaming and hide under her bed even suppressed the pain in her sore muscles. 

“Your Excellency”, Cara said, holding on to tradition to get her through this moment. She wanted to turn the lord-bishops hand to kiss his ring as was only proper, but the hand would not budge in any way. As he pulled his hand away, it just slipped from her grasp. “No need for such formalities, Miss Gibson Müller. Right here and now we are all just followers of the Path”, he smiled his radiant smile. He lifted his eyes, as he said that last part, glancing briefly at his assistant, who nodded, and retreated from the atrium with the others, leaving the lord-bishop alone with Cara and Natalie.

“So, you come with a proposal”, he said, turning his attentions back to Natalie, his smile dimming to a slight fluorescence. 

While Cara still wondered how he knew, Cara just nodded, sending a crooked smile into the ring. “I have a deal for you.”, she said.

The lord-bishop laughed, a laugh like ancient bells. “A deal. How very bold of you.” 

‘Arglbrblmblblmlrrg!’, Cara thought. 

Natalie’s reaction was just adding bit more to her smile. “I would like you to become the patron of Cara here.”

“Patron?”, the lord-bishop´s smile was turning into a bright beam again, washing over Natalie and Cara. Cara shifted slightly to stand more in Natalie’s shadow.

“Yes, I have accepted Cara as my apprentice and as you well know, you can’t take half measures when you want to introduce someone to the arts. At least not when you want them to achieve true understanding.”

“The Path is always open, isn’t that something you always say?”, he asked.

“I do. But that takes time. Cara here shows promise and the sooner she becomes a master the better. As she grows, the art will grow with her.”

“Is that so…”, for a moment there was a flicker in the lord-bishop´s radiance. He moved his head slightly to have another look at Cara, to study her again for a moment. Cara wasn’t sure what to think of what she saw beyond the smile.

“I still fail to see how I am the one who should pay for this endeavour. As worthy as it is, it is yours and hers. I don’t see how I am part of this picture.”

Now Natalie’s smile bloomed, starting to show her teeth. “This is where the deal comes in. The Vera Scherma club is organising a tournament in Vienna. It will take place roughly six months from now…”, Natalie let the information hang in the room, waiting. She relaxed even more, leaning against the pillar next to her with a shoulder, arms crossed.

“45-7a XII, the anonymous  manuscript”, all of the artifice vanished from the 

lord-bishop´s behaviour, his cold eyes were flickering with the fire of curiosity and a spark of greed. His expression became a cool rampart. “And this is where that deal of yours comes in?”

Natalie stood up straight again, moving closer to the lord-bishop. Where the 

lord-bishop´s smile had been a conflagration, hers was the point of a welding torch. “Yes. This is not a normal tournament. Vera Scherma hate the usual for points style, no idea what they have planned but it will be different. But I already know now that it will only accept pairs of masters and pupils. In their eyes, you can’t call yourself master if you don’t have proficiency in the art but neither are you if you are unable to pass on your skills to others.”

“I still don’t see me in the picture you are painting…”, the lord-bishop said, to Cara making very much the impression that he was seeing himself in it.

“You can’t go there as much as you’d like to, your position won’t allow it. Even if you did, where would you get a decent apprentice on such a short notice. Vera Scherma will not allow old apprentices. Which makes your position even more impossible. Because you would not only leave Monasteria for a few weeks, you would also have to train your student full time. But you know me and you have more than enough resources to pay for Cara.”

The lord-bishop just gave Natalie a small nod.

“You know me. You know that I am doing this for the art.”

The lord-bishop’s brow followed very slightly.

Natalie’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Of course I also do it for myself. And yes, it will be a boon to be recognised at large by our community as a competent master.  And yes, I will use the boon to smack some especially deserving idiots over the head with it. That is a sweet delicious dash of pettiness I am willing to live with.”

“However”, Natalie continued, her expression now serious, “I am doing this primarily for the art, which is also the reason I am coming to you specifically. Because despite all of this”, she gestured around, “you care about that,” she pointed to his sword and buckler, “as much as I do. The deal is that once we have the book you’ll get it. It will become part of the official church library of Monasteria and you will make copies of it making them widely available to the martial community. Everyone will know you for what you did to advance the art.”

There followed a long silence.

“And what if you lose?”, the lord-bishop asked.

Natalie inhaled in mock horror. “Would god allow that, when Cara and I are on a holy mission that will advance all of humanity towards a path of greater enlightenment?”

The lord-bishop snorted. “God won’t but the devil might.”

“Well, all the better then if we have a man of god such as you at our side.”

The lard-bishops smile now matched that of Natalie’s, Cara was surprised not to see sparks flying where their gazes met. The lord-bishop moved backwards to his sword and buckler. 

As he took them he said, “Draw your sword, Natalie, the Lord doesn’t play dice, neither do I. Have at you!”