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!”  

Project Empress 007

 (chapter 3 continued)

The next day Cara almost managed to sleep in, as she usually did on Saturdays, only to be woken by some very insistent ringing of her door bell. Cara had started cursing the bell, then whoever it was, who was causing the infernal racket. She paused this for a second, as more and more parts of her brain came back to life, reminding her that it probably was her new Master Natalie. Her animal self, who did not enjoy being roused at all, however vetoed the notion, deciding that there was enough time for regret at the other end of her righteous anger. 

Her regret instantly appeared in her mind, an epic monologue at the ready and was about to start berating Cara, when her mind was erased by a wave of white hot pain. A strangled croak made it out of her throat before even that part of her clenched shut. Her survival instinct kicked in asking for a highest priority first damage report. It was instantly overwhelmed by a cacophony of screams from all over her body. Every muscle in her body was pain and fire. Somewhere in the background the bell kept on ringing. 

It took her some agonised moments full of grinding teeth and yelps to climb out of her bed. She regarded her trousers for a second, imagined the fun it would be to wriggle into them and decided that today was a dress day. A wide, cosy, comfy dress, that she could easily slither her body into with as little movement as possible. Followed by a scarf, a coat and a cape to keep the cold out.

First, she had to stop Natalie though. She threw on her dressing gown walked to her door phone, a massive video capable behemoth that took up way too much space in the tiny corridor, but Cara was really proud of. She activated it, Natalie’s giant eye appearing on the black and white cathode tube screen. 

“Good morning Master Natalie. Please stop ringing”, ‘for ever’, Cara added in her mind, “And enter”, she pulled the lever that opened the door downstairs. 

She heard someone bounding up the stairs, resulting in an overactive Natalie appearing in front of her a bit later. Today her style had changed somewhat. Wearing wide wool trousers, a white blouse and west with a thick hoody, her long coat and her union choker. This time though she wore a belt with a sheath in which she carried a sword, showing the entire world that she was sword master. Cara also saw that over night there had appeared two new patches on Natalie’s coat: on her lapel and her right shoulder were now the emblems of a weapon-master. 

“Good morning Cara”, Natalie said, slapping her on the shoulder, making Cara wince and almost crumpling to the ground. “Sorry for waking you up, but today is the big day, we need to talk to the lord bishop.” Natalie had walked right past Cara who was still in the process of welcoming her in. 

“How long will it take you to get presentable?”, Natalie asked.

“20 minutes?” Cara tried. 30 would have given her time to wake up and five to six weeks would have been optimal, for that was the time she felt that she would need to overcome the pain consuming her or find eternal peace in death´s merciful embrace. 

“Hah!”, Natalie said, “Very good, we have an hour and I just came from the city centre, that’s like fifteen minutes from here on foot.” 

“I know…”, Cara said, closing the door to her flat. 

While Natalie was talking about discoveries of all the nice places she had discovered since she had arrived in the city and those she spotted on her way here, all places Cara had known for all her life, Cara went to collect her clothes and retreated to the bathroom, Natalie still talking happily to her through the door. For a moment Cara eyed her bathtub, the idea of submerging her body in warm water was incredibly tempting. But there wasn’t any time for that. So instead she just washed her face, fought her way into one of her favourite comfy dresses, the most elegant that she had, and when she was finished with that, opened the door again, to better be able to listen to what Natalie was saying. Natalie was mostly now thinking out loud, about methods and ways to improve their training, submerging Cara in concepts that she hardly understood but all sounded rather impressive. 

Cara was working on her make-up, her daily ritual of civilisation, one that today was more important than on other days as she was about to meet the lord bishop of her state today, when she noticed that that Natalie had stopped talking.

“…?”, Natalie had said.

“I… er… what?”, Cara asked.

“I asked you if you are religious.”

“I’m a catholic”, Cara said. 

Natalie, poking her head through the open door, asked, “Really? Like with true faith and all that.”

“I wouldn’t call it true faith…”, Cara said working on her eye shadow, deciding on going with a deep blue that would go well with Natalie’s European colours. 

“Oh”, Natalie’s head retreated back again, now that nothing that interesting was happening after all. “So what kind of Catholic are you?”

“… an out of habit one I guess?”, Cara said.

“Makes sense. Pity, I would have loved to have a true believer friend.”

“Aren’t you friends with the lord bishop?”

“Not really. He knew my master back in the day and our schools are allied. He is also a great supporter of the historical martial world.”

“So you do know him?”, Cara asked.

“We met a couple of times”, Natalie said.

“Well he is a true believer.”

Natalie snorted, her head reappearing. “Whoa!”

“What?”

“What happened to your face?”, Natalie asked pointing at Cara’s nose. 

“My face?”

“Yeah when I arrived here, you looked like the living dead, but now you look fierce! Love the eye shadow.”

“Thanks, and it’s called make-up, I am pretty sure this doesn’t belong to the lost arts of the golden age. Wait”, Cara squinted, examining Natalie’s face. “Don’t you wear make-up too?”

“Of course I do. Lipstick, eye-liner and stuff. But I can’t do what ever witchcraft you did there.”

Cara turned around to finish her work, mostly because she didn’t know how to respond to that. She had wanted to ask Natalie, if she wanted her make-up done or maybe learn how to do it herself. But Cara couldn’t ask her master if she’d like to be taught by her own student.

Natalie kept staring at her, following her every move, one of her hands making little movements mimicking Cara’s.

“You will have to teach me”, Natalie said.

Cara blushed. “I… how… I wouldn’t dare….”

“Why?”, Natalie asked.

“You are my master, I could never be so presumptuous as to teach you”, Cara said.

“I’m your master in the ancient arts of fighting not in face magic”, Natalie said. “Also, even if it were in the field of combat, if you know something that I don’t know or do something better than I do, then you are the teacher and I am the pupil. We are now siblings in the martial world. We learn from each other. Right now I am your master, because there are things I can teach you. That’s all.”

“Still, I owe you a minimum of respect.”

Natalie’s face changed, first her expression turned neutral, almost cold but then something predatory and malicious started to take over.

“Cara, I command you to teach me. If you don’t, you will be disobeying your master. Not only that but you would disappoint me to my very core. After all I have done for you.”

“What? No. I would never…”, Cara spluttered. “That makes no… What you are doing with the rules is outrageous.”

“Cara, will you or will you not listen to your master.”

Cara bit her lip, her her head sinking, “I will teach you. But I´ll do it under protest, what you are doing here is very irregular.”

“Don’t worry,” Natalie said, her usual broad grin finding its way back to her face, “this is also a very valuable lesson for you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“And what exactly is this lesson supposed to teach me?”

“I’m not quite sure yet, but in time it will all become clear.”

Cara rolled her eyes and felt only a tiny bit guilty about it.

Not long after, the two of them were on their way to the general administration of the holy principality of Monasteria. They took a few shortcuts, not because they really had to, but deeply motivated by Cara`s wish to move as little as possible. At least moving reduced the flaming agony she felt in each muscle fibre to a dull throbbing agony.

Natalie was mostly deeply invested in the discovery of all these new nooks and crannies in the city that she hadn’t been aware of. Her personal highlight was an old narrow street lined with bars, kiosks and fast food places, where she discovered an incredibly luxurious provider of hi-fi audio equipment, a lot of it ancient treasures from before the crash. Cara was at first surprised by her master´s utter fascination for all things old, then she thought that her enthusiasm was somewhat adorable. Besides, Cara herself loved old machines and electronics. If she had been born into a more moneyed family or had had the patience to jump through the ridiculous hoops you were expected to jump through to get better grades at the academy, she might even have studied high science in the local science-fortress.

Natalie’s very rude comments on the pricing for some kind of relic level audio wire, pulled her back into the present, a present which was now much closer to their audience with the lord bishop than to anything else. With some effort she manged to pull Natalie away from the display window. 

While there should still be enough time left, Cara wasn’t so sure anymore that her easily excitable master might not get distracted by some timber-framed house or whatever else.

However, as they got closer to the general administration Natalie’s whole behaviour changed. She shifted her attention back to Cara, eyeing her outfit.

“I know, I said to dress for the occasion”, she said, “but I think you overdid it a bit with the grandma style.”

“Grandma style?”, Cara asked.

“Yeah, all the wool, layers, the dress and the combat boots. That’s the way my grandma dresses.”

“Then you have a grandma with impeccable style”, Cara said.

“Yes. For a grandma…”, Natalie eyed her boots. “The undone shoelaces are stylish I give you that, however, not ideal in combat situations.”

“Yes master”, was all Cara could say. She certainly would never admit that she had not done her shoelaces because that would have hurt too much. She thought that she was showing the discipline of ancient heroes by moving at all.

“It’s OK, I don’t expect any problems right now. You know the lord bishop?”

“Not personally, no.”

“Hmm…”, Natalie walked a few steps, without saying anything, then continued, “lord bishop Waltharius is someone you can trust…”, she said.

Cara thought there was more to come but Natalie kept walking, her eyes focused on some other reality. 

“So he is a good man?”, Cara said.

“In his way…”, Natalie said. “You can trust that he will do what is the best for his archdiocese. In a way that will secure or advance his position.”

“That doesn’t sound very nice…”, Cara said, wondering what she had thought how the lord bishop would be. 

“Oh he is one of the most reliable allies you could wish for. He is straight forward, he doesn’t hide his motivation and he is both professional and a man of his word.”

“OK, that sounds pretty good.”

“But you always need to consider his point of view when dealing with him. While he is not a bad man, if you and your people stand in the way of what is right for his domain, he will sweep you aside, without batting an eyelid.”

“Sounds like someone stood in his way once.”

Natalie snorted. “Yeah, but not me. I’m not an idiot and also I am a professional, something he appreciates.”

Cara nodded.

“Oh my god…”, Natalie said suddenly stopping, her nose wrinkling while, the corners of her mouth dropped. 

“What is it?”, Cara asked, looking at her master, then following her line of sight to see what had so offended her. But in front of them was just the large sandstone building were the administration of the holy principality was located.

“You know, I’m a fan of the old Union. I believe in its values and that we as Europeans should return to its past glory.”

“I had noticed”, Cara said, eyeing Natalie’s blue and star circle choker. 

“But fuck me, as great as the European Union was, their infantilist style of… of ‘architecture’”, Natalie made air-quotes when she said that word, “is a fucking crime against humanity”, she looked at Cara. “When we bring back the European Union, we will also bring back architects.”

Cara looked at the building. She had passed it hundreds of times in her time in the city but never given it much of a second glance. Natalie was right, it was a late industrial infantilist building, with the signature simple cuboid structure with rectangle windows and doors design. The style had gotten the name in later decades and had led to many heated debates if it was the epitome of a clean no-nonsense style or if it was as its detractors described a ‘shoe-box with punched out openings”.

“If it makes you feel better,” Cara said, “the lord bishop is having a contest were stone masons can present their plans of how carve decorations into the building to turn it into something more worthy of our city.”

“Not really. I… I just have to live with the fact that despite its splendour, united Europe also produced… that”, she pointed at the building in front of them.

“Well the union did break apart like the rest of all the industrial quasi-civilisations.”

“Too soon, Cara, too soon…”

“I’m sorry master…”

“Never mind, let’s get in there. There is an alliance to be forged.”

Cara had expected them to have to pass through security and several checks and maybe get asked some pointed questions because of the sword Natalie was carrying openly. 

However the the guard just stopped them and after being told Natalie’s full name, he said that they were expected and told them to wait in the lobby, where they were greeted by a vicar shortly after who led them further into the building. However, instead of being led into an office he led them to the wide atrium of the administration where they saw lord bishop Waltharius training with a one handed sword and buckler. He moved with speed and grace, shifting quickly from one stance into another, always keeping his guard up while projecting his force towards his hypothetical enemies.

Cara and Natalie stood in the arcades next to the atrium watching as the lord bishop finished his training.

Natalie was smiling faintly. 

“He is trying to impress us with his martial skill…”, she said, keeping her voice low to Cara.

“He looks like he really knows what he is doing”, Cara said.

“Oh he is, but the Walpurgis style? That’s a bit on the nose, don’t you think?”

“Is it, the Tower fechtbuch is the oldest manuscript we know of? Maybe he tries to understand the art basing it on the most ancient traditions.”

Natalie shrugged. “Yeah, could be. But then the Tower manuscript is monks fencing. It’s a bit on the nose…”

Cara thought about this for a while. “But there is also the Lecküchner style with the long knife… Lecküchner was a priest and his is one of the most detailed treatise we have, isn’t it?”

“Huh… never thought about it that way. But it’s not that important anyway. If the lord bishop wants to show off his skills, so be it. Also watch him closely, you can learn quite a bit from him. See how he moves through space? Observe how his buckler always protects his sword hand and also how he keeps his body shifted forward a bit in contrast to how we move. Can you imagine why that is?”

“Maybe because the reach is better?”

“Good point. But also because if he stands that way and he is hit by a sword the points will slip over his ribs, like sliding down a stair instead of getting stuck between them.”

“Oh…”, said Cara, renewing her focus on the movements of the arch-bishop.

 

 

Project Empress 006

(Chapter 3 continued) 

After they had their dinner, they were back up on the roof again. Natalie was in a very good mood. 

”You’ll love this Cara. I have to say Walter has quite the set-up here, which allows me to give you some first class training. I hope you like classical music.”

“You mean like Mozart?”, Cara asked.

“No, the newer stuff.”

“More like Beethoven or Debussy?”

Natalie stopped and turned to to Cara. “No not the old stuff, the new one, early 21st century. Do you know 1200 Micrograms? Tragic musical heroes from the very beginning of our century.” 

“1200 micrograms of what?”, Cara asked.

“Of music? I have no idea. It is the name of the group of composers. Never mind. Now you will not only improve your fencing but also your level of culture. Prepare for: “The Apocalypse”.”

Cara’s eyes grew wide as she heard that. “Is that one of your secret techniques?”

Natalie frowned. “What? No, that’s the song you are going to be training to.”

“To music?”, Cara asked. 

“Yeah. I want you to feel the music, the rhythm, the flow of it.” As she was saying this, she had walked over to a little shed like structure, that stood in one corner of the rooftop garden. “Feel it and move your sword and yourself to it.” She now had produced a metal ring with various key-cards dangling from short chains, rifling through them. 

“OK…”, Cara said, she took her sword, waiting for whatever it was what Natalie was trying to do. Natalie tried another card.

“Access denied.”, the voice said. Natalie looked annoyed. it took her several  tries before the voice finally changed its mind saying: “Access granted.”

Natalie went inside. A few moments later several batteries of lights fixed to the beams above between the windows, the central green was now brightly illuminated. A moment later some form of strange electronic music rang-out from hidden speakers all around Cara. While she was wondering if running a wine bar was incredibly profitable or what could possible motivate someone so wealthy to open one, Natalie had reappeared again.

“What are you waiting for?”, Natalie asked. “Use the slow part to get into the grove, it won’t stay that chill for long. Chop, chop. Start moving.”

Cara wasn’t sure what was expected of her, but she did as she was told and started moving slowly to the strange beat of the weird music, chaining her attacks together as she moved forward. Natalie was watching her, arms crossed. ‘This is kinda fun., Cara thought as she moved. The music did help her get into the flow and right now it forced her to slow down, her moves more controlled and deliberate. When the music increased in speed, the rhythm becoming more pounding, she also sped up, her moves more forceful.

By the time the song was over, Cara had started sweating and was a bit out of breath but happy. 

Natalie was still standing next to the shack, arms crossed looking at her, her head tilted ever so slightly to one side. Cara waited. Natalie nodded to herself, moving slowly towards Cara, scratching her chin with a little black remote control she had taken from inside the shack. 

“You really do move like clockwork”, Natalie said, half to Cara, half to herself.

“Is that bad?”, Cara asked.

“No, it’s not bad, it’s not good either. It is what it is. It’s also a bit strange.”

“Strange?”

“Yeah…”, Natalie said, “I told you to move to the music and freely move your sword. What you did was, chaining one attack after the other, all very nice and neat by the way”. Cara blushed at this, she had never been complimented for her technique like this, much less in passing. “And you moved along some invincible straight line. Also very neat, strangely precise”, Natalie said, adding, “like clockwork”, as if that explained everything.

Cara didn’t know how to react, so she just stood there and waited, hoping that Natalie would add something that helped her understand where Natalie was trying to go with her alleged lesson. 

“I wonder,” Natalie said. ‘Me too.’ Cara thought. “Why the straight line?”

“I don’t understand your question…”, Cara said squirming slightly.

“All your movements and all your attacks. When you execute them, you always move in a perfect line.”

Cara blinked. “Yes, of course, I stay on the fencing line.”

“The what?”

“The fencing line. Imagine us duelling”, Cara said changing her position so that she now stood right in front of Natalie. “The fencing line is the line connecting us.”, she gestured with the tip of her sword from her centre line directly to Natalie. “The shortest path between us, the quickest way for my attack to connect.”

“Okaaay…”, Natalie said, “Wait a second, I’ll get my sword.” She turned around, went to her bag and pulled her sword out. An old battered but elegant steel weapon. Cara instantly recognised it as a traditional training sword by its blackened blade.

Natalie stopped a few steps away from Cara, taking care of standing in the middle of the assumed fencing line. 

“I want you to attack me, slowly, your blade will touch me but only lightly, to see if the the distance between us is the right one and to see how good you are at gauging the distance between us.”

“Hit you? With my sword?”, Cara asked.

“Yeah.”

“But you aren’t wearing any protection”, Cara said taking a tiny step backwards. 

“Hence, why I told you to touch me lightly…”  

“But…”

“Cara”, Natalie said. “Are you capable to move your sword in a controlled manner, so that you can touch me with it without causing me any harm?”

“Yes?”

“Good, for a moment there I was afraid that I had to cover the absolute basics with you”, Natalie said. “Come on then, the sooner you move the sooner we can start your lesson.”

Cara gritted her teeth and forced herself to move her sword in a careful motion arcing from above down onto Natalie’s shoulder.

“Good work”, Natalie said with a smile that to Cara’s surprise didn’t carry any hint of sarcasm. “That wasn’t so hard now, was it?”

Cara just shook her head.

“Come on, try a few more. Both sides, rising attacks and add some stabs too. You can use a bit more force than right now. Don’t worry, you have good control over your sword and if you hit too hard I will tell you”, she nodded.

It was very uncomfortable at first. Manfred, the only other master she had ever known, would have murdered Cara, and anyone else for that matter, who dared to even point a steel weapon towards another pupil. ‘No contact without protection`, was one of the most fundamental rules in her salle. 

However, after a few moves and Natalie just moving along with Cara’s attacks, Cara started to relax. 

“There you go”, Natalie’s smile broadened. “One fundamental concept on the Path is that your blade will never harm anyone, unless you want it.”

“The Path?”, Cara asked.

“Yeah. The eternal path towards true mastery”, Natalie said. “When you take up your sword or any other weapon really, you start walking the Path and all the things you do to become a better martial artist move you further along on it.”

Cara just nodded, concentrating on her moves.

“Now you are ready for your lesson”, Natalie said. “Stop please. Take a breath, clear your mind. Now, you will attack me again, slowly with the intention to hit me, only this time I will parry your attack. I will also move slowly, OK?”

“OK”, Cara said. 

Natalie walked a few steps back, lowering her sword, the point directed to the ground.

Cara stepped forward, her raised sword descending towards Natalie’s head. Natalie, matching Cara’s speed, pulled up her sword, her point directed at Cara’s face. As she raised her blade, she moved slightly towards Cara’s sword, blocking it. 

Cara stopped before she could finish her attack, eyes crossed fixing the point of Natalie’s sword hovering in front of her nose. 

“Boop”, Natalie said moving her sword a tiny bit forward gently touching Cara’s nose. “Again.”, Natalie said.

Cara attacked over and over again, always with the same result, her sword being blocked by Natalie’s and getting hit over and over again. 

“You are really good”, Cara said.

Natalie laughed. “Thank you, but right now, it’s not my skill that is saving me but your ‘fencing line’. Your shortest line of attack, also happens to be my shortest line of defence. You are actually just walking into my counters. You can do the same. Come, let’s do it the other way round. I will attack you and you just wind into your defensive postures.”

Now, Natalie attacked Cara with slow measured attacks, Cara did as she was told and countered with the usual high and low guards. To her great surprise this led to her automatically countering all of Natalie’s attacks.

“See?”, said Natalie. “That’s what these guards are for, they keep you safe and present a very good point to your enemies encouraging to rethink the error of their ways. Now we change it up a bit.” Natalie continued her attacks but suddenly it was much harder for Cara to block them, and even when Cara was safe, her point was now no longer threatening Natalie.

“So what changed?”, Natalie asked. 

“I don’t know…”, Cara said.

“We’ll just keep going and you’ll see”, Natalie said with a smile that didn’t quite manage to project its confidence into Cara. At first Cara, was just confused, because as far as she could tell, nothing had changed, apart from the small part of her counters failing all of a sudden. Yet after a couple more moves she started to notice something… she had no idea why but her counters started to improve again. 

“Very good.”, Natalie said nodding. “You are adapting.”

“I am?”

“Yes. Also have a look around you. Do you notice now?”

Cara looked up taking in her surroundings for the first time in a while. They were still standing on the green of course, but they had drifted towards one side and were now close to the corner nearest to the shack. 

“We left the line”, Cara said, looking over to the spot where they were supposed to be.

“Yes!”, Natalie beamed. The lack of reaction from Cara dimmed her expression slightly.

“When I left the direct line I broke you defence, as I stopped moving right into your point, which by the way is also the space where you project most of your force to. But you actually felt that, so you started to shift your position too, adapting, thus reestablishing your counter.”

“Yeah, but I left the fencing line, one should never leave the fencing line. Moving out of it is slow”, Cara recited the words she had memorised from her training.

“Who the fuck said that?”

“Master Brumotti von Burg”, cara said.

“’Master’ Brumotti is an idiot then…”, Natalie said with a shrug. 

“But…”

“No buts”, Natalie said. “The shortest line is also the shortest line to your own death as you saw yourself right now. Also, in a way you are moving on your fencing line. Look.” Natalie stood in front of Cara. “Where is the fencing line now?”

Cara pointed out the line between them. 

“Right”, Natalie said, shifting two small steps clockwise around Cara. “Where is your fencing line now?” 

Cara, again pointed forwards, only now there was no one in front of her.

“Exactly”, Natalie said. “While my ‘fencing line’ goes straight to your flank”, she stepped forward, giving Cara’s shoulder a light shove, causing Cara to stumble a step to the side, “the Path is always in front of you.”

Cara nodded.

“OK, now we are going to try that with the music again. But now I want you to forget your moves and techniques for a while and just move, OK? I’ll show you so that you get the idea and then you do your own thing.”

Natalie took the small black remote control out of her trouser pocket, started the music again, shifting through the tracks until she found a song that agreed with her.

“Watch.”

The music again was some strange electronic music from the golden age of the European Union, something with strong pounding beat, to which Natalie started to move. First with normal attacks, which quickly shifted to wide circular motions, crouches, jumps and turns. Sometimes wielding her long-sword in only one hand, sometimes in both, at one point she even held it by the blade or in a reverse grip. 

“Hey!”, Natalie said as she rushed past Cara, “I said, you too. Move. Have fun.”

Cara started with one of her favourite combos. It never worked in a duel but it flowed well. 

“That’s still clockwork”, Natalie said, flowing past her from the other side. “Leave your lane.”

It took Cara some effort, but after some time she managed to move outside the line she had been bound to for the past four years. Then, she started to break out of her usual patterns of attacks and techniques.

“Almost there, Cara”, Natalie exclaimed from the other end of the green, where she was now tumbling from one side to another, turning circular swings into stabs.

Now Cara started smiling. She just threw her sword into this direction and that, following her blade where it led her and then it happened, she was having fun.

  

Project Empress 005

 (Chapter 3 continued)

A couple of hours later, Cara had closed up shop and had followed Natalie back to Bacchus’ Barrel, the same place where they´d had their after fight meal the night before. 

The door was closed. The sign on the door proclaimed that the wine bar was closed.

Natalie banged on the door. First just a few raps with her fist, followed shortly by some serious bangs, then two or three kicks. She considered her options for a short moment, then decided on using the steel capped end of her journeyman staff to smash it against the door. 

Cara observed the situation with increasing alarm. She was both trying to catch Natalie’s attention while at the same time miming her non-involvement with the situation as the few passers-by looked at them in terror and as Natalie was obviously busy vandalising an ancient door of historical importance their gazes wandered over to Cara demanding answers.

After an embarrassing eternity the door swung open, Walter, cast iron skillet in hand, exploding out of it and almost directly into Natalie’s staff, his eyes growing wide, he instantly pulled his body back trying to turn away from the staff. His hand shot up placing the pan into the closing gap between the staff and his nose. The iron tip, scratched over the heavy pans surface letting sparks fly. As Natalie’s staff lost its momentum, Walter slowly straightened up again, inhaling, his broad chest expanding, his free hand grabbing hold of the staff moving it out of the way, while the skillet hovered menacingly next to his head.

When he spoke his voice was cold and where his words reached they covered everything with frost. “Are. You. Fucking. Insane.”, he said looking Natalie in her eyes. Cara had to force herself not to step away. If need be she had to defend her new master, no matter how afraid she was. 

Even Natalie, who usually went to great lengths to show the world how she had not a single fuck to give about anything, visibly deflated. Her smile was all teeth and awkwardness. 

“Oopsie?”, she ventured.

“Nat?”, Walter barked, his eyes bulging out of their sockets. “Is there a reason why you are trying to murder my door, my nose and my patience?”

Natalie was about to answer, when Walter added. “And my patience is almost dead already…”

“We need to use your garden?”, Natalie said.

“Good for you, but that doesn’t answer my question…”

“Er…”, Natalie shifted her stance slightly to try to pull her staff back, it didn’t budge. “I knocked on your door, because I wanted to ask you if we could use your garden. And as the normal knocks didn’t work I gradually increased the intensity.” The last few words came out more slowly as Natalie was considering each one of them carefully while trying to gauge Walter’s reaction to each of them.

Walter sighed. He relaxed, let go of Natalie’s staff. Cara noted that although Natalie had been pulling to get her staff back, she barely moved when it was suddenly released. 

“Nat, do you see this?”, he pointed to a button next to the door.

“Yes.”

“That Cara, my idiot child is the button that rings the bell of both my restaurant and the one in my flat above it. Why, pray tell, did you not use it?”

“Oh… yeah… because I thought that maybe there wasn´t electricity at this time of the day?”

Walter just pointed to the sign above the store, Natalie looked to where it was pointing, inside the building Walter flipped a switch. The lighting of the sign went of and on again. 

“Oh…”

“Natalie, this thinking thing has been all the rage with the younger orders within the younger classes of mammalians. You should try it one of these days.”

“Or I could just punch them.”, Natalie said with a smile.

Walters shoulders sank, he rubbed his face with one of his hands while considering his next step. 

“You need the garden?”

“Yep, today starts the training of my new apprentice”, Natalie grinned.

Walter raised an eyebrow. “Compared to yesterday you seem to be rather cheerful.”

“Well I already accepted her. I think she shows promise and now that I’ve slept over it I’m all in. Teaching her is following the Path.”, she smiled. 

Walter considered her words, shrugged and said: “Very well, you have,” he checked his watch, “two hours.”

“Why only two hours?”

“Because then it’s dinner time and both of you will have to eat. You can continue with your training afterwards.”

Natalie beamed. “Cheers Walter, that sounds very sensible and modern mammalian style. Come Cara, let’s get to work.”

“Modern mammalian…”, Walter murmured shaking his head, while Nat and Cara paraded past him. 

Cara for her part had missed everything after the point when Natalie had said that she “showed promise”. She hadn’t received such praise for her martial skill… ever. 

She only came back to her senses when she found herself on Walter’s roof top garden. It was warm and humid up there, smelling of aromatic flowers and herbs. Cara focused on her surroundings, realising that she was in a state of the art rooftop green house. The entire structure had enough space for small trees to grow there. The edges were densely populated by a variety of plants growing in a suspiciously intricate pattern, indicating to Cara, that this were self sustaining populations where one plant gave an advantage to the next. This was not all that surprising, especially for the roof above an establishment that also served food. She should have known, really, as the menu contained only a few dishes but used luxurious ingredients for this late in the year. What was far more surprising though was the large middle part of the garden where only flat growing green herbs had been planted. All edible, but it was clear that they had not been planted there for the harvest but to have a large space in which one could firmly move. A level of luxury that Cara had heard about but had never thought she’d ever see let alone set foot in herself.

“Neat isn’t it?”, Natalie said grinning. 

“It’s breathtaking…”, Cara was still trying to get to grips with what she was seeing.

“Right? I mean, Walter has his own secret salle all of his own.”

“Salle? I meant the open space in his garden. He must be really rich…”

“Rich? No,” Natalie laughed, “if Walter was rich, this would be all lawn and there would be servants and shit. Nah. Walter is a man of the blade and a clever one at that, his stratagems were always the best. The plant he grows there don’t mind if you trample them and they are either tasty or are good medicine.” 

“When you are done being impressed by plants existing,” Nat added, “, you can get your sword and get ready.”

This brought Cara back to the present and she started to unpack her things. “Should I change before we start?”, she asked.

“No. I want to see how you move in your everyday clothes.”, Natalie said. “Oh and lesson number one, you should always wear clothes in which you can freely fight.”

“OK.” Cara said, nodding. “She pulled Jeanne D’Arc, her sword out of her backpack and walked to the middle of the green house where she stood, not sure what to do next.

“Go on then.”, Natalie said.

“But you haven’t told me what to do.”

“Yes I did. Move with your sword.”

“But in what way?”, Cara asked, now thoroughly confused.

“I don’t know. It’s you and your sword. Show me your moves. Show me how you strike, how you and your blade move through space.” 

“OK…”, Cara said, still unsure what she was supposed to do. She was used to a kind of training where the master said very clearly which moves the students were to make and how they should do them. So Cara went to her default, moved a few steps forward, a couple backwards. Natalie just watched with a completely neutral expression. ‘Well,’ Cara thought, ‘no complaints is a form of praise.’ and started to add some slashes to her moves. Still Natalie just watched her without showing a reaction, neither good nor bad, and soon Cara was lost in her flow. Striking from above while moving forward, the same with strikes from below, then attacking high and retreating, covering it with slashes from below. It didn’t take long and Cara had forgotten that Natalie was even there and just followed her moves. As she got more and more lost in her own rhythm and motions she began to imagine music playing in the background, something epic and moving, from one of her favourite ancient old orchestral music from the movies of the late 20th and early 21st century. And Cara smiled.

“Huh…”, Natalie said, tilting her head slightly.

“What is it?”, Cara asked, not stopping. She was still busy bashing an enemy with a left right combo over the head, finishing him of with a thrust to the face.

“You move like clockwork”,  Natalie said. There was something in her voice that would have told Cara that  this wasn’t a compliment if it hadn’t flown right over her head. “But a few moves ago something changed.” This, however subtle it may have been, was a compliment, it flew even higher. 

Cara stopped her demonstration, thinking about what had changed. As far as she was concerned, she hadn’t changed anything. Well in her movements at least…

“Um… I did start to imagine music. I sometimes do that when I’m drilling movement patterns.”

“Movement patterns… “ Natalie repeated softly, she hadn’t intended to say it out loud.

“Yeah,” Cara said, “Like the the strikes from above, followed by the stab to the face.”

“Huh? Oh. Yes. I see.”, Natalie’s eyes seemed to focus past Cara and Natalie started pacing around the edges of the garden lost in thought. Cara shrugged and went on with her own training. She took a moment to go through her mental library of music, choosing a good melody and continued.

“Cara!”

Cara was pulled out of her flow of motion by Natalie’s voice.

“Yes?”, Cara said.

“I have a plan now. But first we need to eat.”

“Or”, Cara reasoned, “you can start teaching me now and we have dinner later.”

When she heard this, Natalie grinned broadly. “I love how you think, but we have about 20 minutes to go downstairs and grab a bite to eat before Walter comes up here, murders us and then makes us eat and apologise to him for being a disgrace to all vertebrates.”

Cara was a bit disappointed but, now that she considered the situation, also very hungry.