Project Empress 012

 Chapter 4

The Horizon Threshold

“You broke his nose with the pommel of your sword?”, Natalie shouted, banging her hand on the table laughing out loud. This resulted in many shocked looks from the other patrons in Bacchus’ Barrel. Robert, who had joined them again tonight, was chuckling, trying to not look too amused. While Walter glowered at them from behind the bar, losing his patience hollering, “Nat. Keep it down, this is a civilised and peaceful environment!”

Cara mostly was sinking deeper and deeper into her chair, trying to vanish completely, if not from the face of the earth at the very least out of sight.

“It was self-defence…”, Cara mumbled, hiding her face behind the glass of red wine which she pretended to drink. 

“I’m proud of you”, Natalie beamed. “You did everything right. You maintained your defence and in the end mostly reflected the force of your attacker against himself.”

“It was a bit excessive though”, Cara said, bubbling through the wine.

Natalie’s expression lost its joviality. “Cara, that little shit crawler attacked you with a sharp. You were within your rights to kill him right back. Not that you should have… The point is, he got what he deserved and he got away lightly.”

“He might even learn a lesson”, Robert added. He was still slouched over his chair, sipping his wine. 

“No, he won’t”, Natalie said, grabbing her own glass of wine with her knuckles turning white as she did so. Robert sighed at her mishandling of her glass. 

“I know the type”, Natalie continued, “he is all ego with little to no substance. Yeah, he could learn a lesson and it would help him to grow into a human being. But it’s easier to ignore that he’s a shit-weasel and keep pretending that he is a”, Natalie lowered her voice by an octave, pounding her chest while she continued, ”Big. Strong. Maaaan.”

Robert snorted. “You are probably right”, he said toasting to them, “to those of feeble mind and shrivelled soul.”

Cara raised her glass. It took Natalie a moment to join them.

“Hope dies last I guess…”, she said.

As the night continued, Cara first started to relax and then to enjoy herself. She kept feeling guilty for breaking the bullie´s nose. She at least should have called him an ambulance or something. But then she would have had to stay there. That would have probably led to the involvement of the church militia. Not really a problem. Her attacker had used a prohibited weapon in cold blood. But how would that have reflected on her new master? Who she would have kept waiting. Her original plan was to go to the bar in a hurry, tell the others and then come back. But both Natalie and Robert had told her not to bother. 

That didn’t really work, for the thought kept bothering her for the rest of the night.

“Cara?”, Natalie’s voice, “Hellooo? Is there any intelligent life between those ears?”

“What?”, Cara said, focusing back on the present. Natalie was waving her hand in front of her face.

“It lives!”, Natalie said. “Cara, so nice of you to join us as we are planning your future. I thought that you’d like a word, but maybe I was mistaken.” She turned to Robert. “In that case we need to find her someone else, someone who can change her nappies and keep her fed.”

Robert looked at Cara with knitted brow and nodded slowly. “You might be right there.”

“What?”, Cara said. “No, I was just thinking about… things. But I’m listening now!”

Natalie was about to say something, when Robert stopped her by placing his hand over hers. “Nat, she is listening now, don’t make her regret paying attention.”

Natalie sighed. “You’re no fun.” Then, her gaze slowly moving on the hand on hers, she added, “also, soon you will be missing your favourite hand.”

Robert’s smile wavered a bit but held its position with iron determination. He pulled his hand back, slowly, avoiding any sudden movements. 

“That’s much better”, Natalie said, now looking at Robert directly, now again smiling, but it was a smile that was only in the corners of her mouth but nowhere else. 

“But back to you, Cara,” she said, her gaze shifting over to Cara, while Natalie breathed in slowly, marshalling what every bits and pieces of warmth she found inside of her, press ganging them and marching them onto her face.

“So… I,” she said slowly her voice slightly exaggerated, one of her hands pointing towards herself, “am going to be busy for a day or three, trying to find us a ship that will take us to the the Confederated Cities of Rhineland North. With a bit of luck we might even continue on directly towards the Cologne-Bonn Confederation. While I am busy, I can’t train you. So a good friend and a great master has kindly volunteered to take care of you.”

Cara looked at Robert.

“Not him”, she looked at Robert and just shook her head. “Wrong style, he will just teach you things that would just confuse you more. Also, while Robert is a rather decent master, he is horrible with novices.”

“Guilty as charged”, he said shrugging. “There are so many basics, that I take for granted. Whenever I work with newbies we both end up confused.”

“Who…”, Cara said.

“Me”, said Walter, who was somehow now standing next to their table. He smiled.

“Lesson one, a good entrance is very important.”

“I can’t thank you enough, Walter.”, Natalie said.

“Nah, I haven’t done this in a long time. And if there is one thing that I miss from the martial arts world, then it’s the training.”, Walter smiled. None of her new friends were great at projecting warmth; that Walter was the one who was best at it, came as surprise to Cara.

“Cara”, Natalie said, her voice grave. “If I had the time I’d join you. Grand Master Walter Balogh Rayne is one of the best fighters I have ever known and”, her voice went from serious to an almost whisper, “he was born and lived during the final ages of the great Union.”

Walter’s smile did not lose any of its warmth but he looked at Natalie with a measure of sadness. “I keep telling you, Nat, that the Union fell because it was everything but great. And I’m not a master, much less a grand one”, he shook his head, his smiling expression relaxing. 

“But I have trained many, many people in the art of force and motion”, again he glanced at Natalie, before focusing all his attention on Cara. “I only teach people who want to be taught.”

“I want. I totally want”, Cara said while nodding vigorously.

Walter laughed. “Who can say no to so much enthusiasm. Tonight you will rest, and I would suggest you go to sleep early. As in contrast to these creatures”, he gestured towards Natalie and Robert, “I actually get up early.”

“I will set my alarm clock accordingly. Will 6:00 o’clock be early enough?”

Everyone looked at Cara in utter shock, even Walter’s smile was gone. 

“I said early, not in the middle of the night. We will get up at nine, eat a light breakfast and start training at 10.”

Cara just nodded. 

“And now…”, Walter said, waiting until he had everyone’s attention again. “Hurry up, I want to close the shop. I have an early morning tomorrow.” He wriggled his eyebrows at Cara.

Half an hour later they were out of the bar and went their ways. Cara walked towards her home until the other two were out of sight. She then changed her course, walking back the way she walked to her training hall. She went to the spot where she had left the bully on the sidewalk. The spot were she had left him was empty apart from a pool of blood. A trail of blood leading away into the night.

‘At least he could walk back home’, Cara thought. There was a hospital not far from here but it was in the opposite direction to the one where the trail of blood went. 

While her mind felt better her heart still held fast to her guilt. 

She shivered, pulled her coat closer to her body as she turned around and walked back home.   

Project Empress 011

 Entremés

Master Manfred Brumotti von Burg stood in one corner of his salle. The one closest to the entrance. Today was the master’s class where his top students were sparring under his and his assistant coaches´ watchful eyes. Only that he wasn’t paying any attention to them but instead was reading, re-reading, the official looking velum letter in his hand. 

Next to him stood his right hand man and most senior student Eskil Feltis Gavenda, who was still trying to cautiously read over his master’s shoulder while also keeping the corner of his eye on the young man he had just introduced to his master. 

Said young man was the third in their little group. A blond guy, broad shouldered and obviously well trained; he would have made a good addition to their club. While Manfred Brumotti von Burg welcomed everyone into the fold of the high art of fencing, he welcomed the athletic and strong the most. For what mattered the most at the end of the day, was the success in tournaments, duels and free sparring. 

However, the blond man was not here because he was interested in training but rather because he had come to complain about one of the fencers. As it seemed that one of them had attacked him two nights ago in a most cowardly manner and broke his nose with a pommel strike.

Master Brumotti von Burg wasn’t really interested in talking to him at first, every once in a while such a person would appear complaining. He didn’t care, young people were bound to get rowdy, especially at night and every able bodied citizen was given a defence baton and was trained in its use. The only thing this ‘complaint’ meant, was that his students were, as expected, expert fighters and these people had not yet learned to pick their fights. 

What made things different this time though was that on the night of the alleged incident, master Brumotti von Burg had invited his best students to a late night dinner and discussion. Also the moment the master saw the strapping young lad with the bandage over his face, he became more intrigued, because on one hand one of his lesser students was showing some promise and he would have to pay specific attention to them to see if, through hard work and personal lessons, they could be elevated to master student level. Also the young man himself, being such a healthy specimen, could be added to the ranks of the club. Master Brumotti von Burg knew a diamond in the rough when he saw one. 

Then, the situation got more confusing as the lad had said that he had been injured by a girl… This was highly irregular. First of all, female fighters were mostly just playing at sword-fighting. They were more like dancers who, at the best of times, could show some aesthetically pleasing exhibition of the art. But when it came to actual combat they were of course far inferior to trained men. That was just natural. Master Brumotti von Burg also didn’t really believe the young man that he had been ambushed. The way his nose had been smashed in and his eyes were all black and blue it looked like he was hit by a pommel strike. Something hard to do when jumping out of what… a dark alley? So it must have been a matter of technique… 

But he had only a few female students. all of them too weak and just not good enough to be able to overpower such a big and strong man.

It was at this moment that he had Eskil fetch him the letter he had received earlier. While his master pupil was gone, he asked the blond man to describe his assailant. When he did, it finally began to dawn on master Brumotti von Burg. When Eskil returned, he reread the velum, a hand-written and sealed letter from the lord-bishop himself. It had informed him that there was some tournament or other in Vienna later next year, where the price apparently was some old manuscript. Master Brumotti von Burg had dismissed it. It was far too early to consider it, also it was a tournament outside of the martial rankings. If it was that important to the lord-bishop he may reconsider sending a few of his better students there, maybe he could curry some favour from the lord-bishop that way, and that would certainly be worth it. 

As he was re-reading the velum, there were certain details that had appeared trivial to him beforehand. It was very strange, as the tournament required the entry of a master and a novice student who was not allowed to have more than one year of training at the time of the tournament proper.

Like the legendary Sherlock Holmes had once said to his devoted friend and servant Dr. Watson: “If you discard the impossible, what remains at the end, no matter how implausible it may seem, will be the truth.”

Master Brumotti von Burg´s  trembling hand turned into a fist, crumbling up the velum in the process which he then threw to the floor.

“Cara, you duplicitous snake”, he hissed.

“I beg your pardon, master?”, Eskil said. 

“Eskil, how long have you served me?”

“Er… a bit more than 10 years, master.”

Master Brumotti von Burg nodded to himself and then looked Eskil in the eyes, his gaze had such an intensity that Eskil took a step back.

“Good, good…”, master Brumotti von Burg said. “I think you have advanced far enough to earn the right of calling yourself master.” He then turned to the blond man.

“And you, how would you like some revenge?”

Project Empress 010

 (chapter 3 continued and finished)

After passing the lord-bishop´s test, Natalie told Cara that she would be busy for the next few days, getting their funds, planning her training and their next steps. She told Cara to take care of whichever things she might still have to attend to, as they would be leaving the city soon. Like, for example, going to her club and telling her teacher that she now had a new master and would be travelling for a while and she might also mention the tournament. 

The following Sunday Cara did exactly none of these things, instead deciding to sleep for 12 hours. Spend some more hours in her bed. Get a very late brunch delivered to her flat, after which she finally got to take the bath she had been dreaming about for so long. The hot water was like a warm embrace and the lightest massage It helped her forgetting how sore her whole body still was, while her body found it soothing enough that it started entertaining the concept of forgiveness.

Then she let the evening turn into night. She ate some leftovers and listened to music while going through both her training as well as the duel she had witnessed the day before in her mind. There was a lot she still had to learn. However, seeing all the skills that were still out there for her to experience was exhilarating. She tried picturing herself pulling of manoeuvres like Natalie and the lord-bishop, but even in her imagination some of these movements were outside her range. As she was trying to reconstruct the moves in her mind, her daydreams turned into proper ones as she fell asleep on her couch.

When she woke up again, she lay splayed over her couch in a way that even a cat would have found uncomfortable. Her body, the moment her consciousness returned, assaulted her with a new and exiting list of complaints. One part of her mind panicked for a moment as it was already light outside, which meant that she had overslept and was coming to late to work. The panic turned into smug amusement when she remembered that her new work was now training to become a sword-master. A good feeling, so, humming a tuneless melody, she let in another bath and made a coffee.

‘I could get used to this., she thought as she was soaking again in warm water, drinking her coffee. Natalie had told her that they would either meet in Bacchus’ Barrel late at night or she would come and pick Cara up directly. Under normal circumstances such vague instructions would have made her nervous; right now she could live with it. She enjoyed having a free morning and afternoon. In the evening she would go to her club for a last regular training and tell Master Brumotti von Burg that she would be training with Natalie for a while and go to take part in a competition in half a years time. She hoped that Master Brumotti von Burg wouldn’t be too disappointed or angry with her. As she considered what she was planning to do, she started to feel slightly ashamed. She had accepted a new master before even consulting her last one. She slowly sank below the water’s surface until only her eyes were above the water line and she was producing a slow but steady stream of bubbles.

Well, it was all very sudden. And Natalie had not only saved her but also shown enormous skill. In the end her club would also benefit from her training, as everything she learned she would bring back and share with her fellows from the club. 

She reemerged from the water, the shame washed away, leaving only her determination. Her resolve fired her motivation and she got out of her bath, dried herself off, put on some clothes and started with her make-up for the day. Usually she would have gone for something subtle, especially on a Monday, but today she decided she would go for something fierce. 

After she had eaten she spend a couple of hours reading the manuscripts describing her art, finding new meaning in the words now that she had fought with Natalie and watched her use the old Liechtenauer style in a open duel. 

The new pictures that she painted in her mind made her increasingly twitchy, so that after a while she could not sit still any longer. Instead she moved the couch and the little table in her small living room out of the way to start putting her thoughts in motion.

Before she knew it, it was dark again. When she had a look at her watch she discovered that it was almost time to leave for the club. She hastily packed her things together. Of course now her backpack was suddenly full before she even had packed everything inside it. After a short deliberation, she pulled her sword out again, pressed the last pieces of her protective gear into it and carried her sword wrapped in one of her favourite cosy blankets in her hand. It felt really good to actually hold her sword while walking the streets.

Her training in the club consisted of footwork again. This time she moved with her sword in her hand. Master Brumotti von Burg asked her what that was supposed to mean, and Cara answered that the sword did have some weight and she needed to learn to move with the added bulk of the sword. Manfred wasn’t that convinced, telling her that she should get her basic movements ready first, then use the swords and then try to work her way to the basic movements. But then just waved her away and told her that she might as well walk her lanes with the sword.

Cara, for the first time, was bored during her training. The footwork felt mechanical and forced to her. But she decided to do her best. Which resulted in many corrections; she was dragging her feet even more than usual, the length of her steps was to variable, sometimes too long, sometimes too short, pretty much never right, she brought her feet too close together. Her positioning of her feet was wrong. The usual.

This time, Cara wondered why it was all wrong. She was told that all these things ruined her stability, but she had seen Natalie fight in a way that was far wilder than hers and the only time she had fallen hadn´t been because of her footwork.

In the second half of  training she was allowed to work on her basic attacks, which was a lot more fun, as all the advanced students and the teachers were now either sparing or coaching the students in free combat, while she and the other second tier students were left to their own devices. Cara chose the line closest to where the advanced class was training. 

As she moved along her fencing line, working on the perfect attack from above and below and the different stabs, she watched the advanced students. Noticing that once they entered free combat, their footwork changed dramatically and they did most of the same ‘errors’ that she was doing. Strange. But then, as Master Manfred always preached, you need to get it right first before you get to change the system to a style that suits the situation more. ‘That must be it…’, Cara thought, but there was something she didn’t understand. Everyone in her salle was fencing in a way the was completely different to what she had seen with Natalie and the lord-bishop.

When training was over she went to Master Manfred, who was still talking to two of his senior students. She waited respectfully until he was done, hoping that he would notice her at some point. 

When he had finished talking to the other students his gaze had passed right through Cara and he turned around, walking to the exit of the salle. 

“Master Brumotti von Burg”, Cara said.

Manfred just kept walking. Cara walked after him.

“Master Brumotti von Burg!”, she said, a bit louder this time. 

Manfred turned around, finally aware of her existence.

“What is it Cara?”

“I… er… I…”, Cara said.

“Hurry up Cara, I don’t have the whole night.”

“Well… er…”

Manfred started to turn away again.

“There is a master who wants to teach me, master Brumotti von Burg.”

“Is there…”, Manfred said, looking at her with his face mostly tired. “And who is that new ‘master’ of yours?”

“Master Natalie Laukkanen Lapointe.”, Cara said.

“Never heard of her”, said Manfred. “And what exactly does this plan entail?”

“She is going to take me in as her student full-time and train me in the old Liechtenauer tradition. So it would be in the same style as us.”

“Really…”, Manfred now smiled, “I like that. You are taking imitative and you need all the training you can get. But you will coming to your regular training too?”

“Er… probably not. At least not for the next few weeks. Na… Master Laukkanen Lapointe wants us to travel across Europe so I can train with different people…”

“Hmm… I think that is a good idea.”

“So I am allowed to train under her?”, Cara asked.

“Of course. I think intensive training under one tutor might be what you need to advance beyond a novice”, Manfred nodded, turned around and was about to leave.

“Er… I also want to take part in a tournament in six months time…?”

“That’s nice. It’s good that you have such a goal. As you know, it is only in tournaments where we find our true worth”, Manfred said, while walking out of the salle, never turning back to Cara, just waving a last time before leaving. 

Cara was beaming. She could not contain her enthusiasm, took her sword, raising it high over her head swinging it in big arcs and curves around her as she danced out of the salle.

She had a spring in her step when she walked back home through the dark. While she had packed her things properly this time, she still carried her sword in her hand, as there was not enough space in her backpack for both the sword and her blanket. However. it was dark, there was no one out in the streets and the sword was wrapped up tightly. Also it was a blunt black sword, she wasn’t doing anything illegal. 

It also just felt good and right to carry her sword in her hands. 

“Well, well, well”, said a voice behind her, “if that isn’t the lady who likes to play with swords.” 

Cara turned around, a few paces behind her was the young man who had attacked her with his friends a few days back. At least today he was alone. Today he was also carrying a sword. One glinting in the light of the street lanterns. A sharp one.

He was smiling a crooked smile while he moved close holding his sword in front of himself. 

“And there isn’t even your journeygirl friend with you. How sad. I would have liked to teach her a lesson too. But you will suffice. And don’t worry, you are so ugly, the scars I will give you will actually improve that thing you call a face…”

Cara moved slowly back, she undid the clasps of her backpack, letting it slide to the floor. She used it to block the man’s way. As he moved over it, his grin growing broader with every step, she moved away onto the street; mostly to have more space to move. She wanted to unwrap her sword, but the man was too close for that. She could not take her eyes from him for even one second.

She had not even finished that thought when he jumped her, sword held high above his head crashing down on her. She blocked that strike, still trying to find a way to comfortably hold her sword. 

What followed was a powerful strike from the right, then from the left. She blocked both, buckling under the force of the impact. While she should have been fearing for her life, in that moment she was mostly appalled by the damage the attacks were doing to her favourite blanket. ‘I’m sorry Miss Snuggles…”, she thought, her fear slowly turning into indignation. That man was a total and utter arsehole.

The total and utter arsehole was gaining ground though. While he had yet to mange to push past Cara’s defence, his attacks kept raining onto Cara from the left and right, with unbroken speed and force. 

Cara was glad that she had chosen the middle of the street for this confrontation, as it gave her ample space to retreat. She had hoped that someone might be looking out of a window, or maybe a car or a bike might come their way. The witness then would hopefully call the church militia. But she had no such luck. Miss Snuggles had now many deep cuts and the arseholes sword was starting to make contact with her black sword. Now her indignation was finally turning to fear, as she realised that if this kept up it would not only be her favourite blanket that would end up cut into ribbons.

Right as she was about to panic, she remembered one thing Natalie had told her during their long training the other day. 

“When you are fencing, let go of your base emotions. They are your natural instincts, they are there to protect you, but when you hold a sword, you are no longer working with what nature has given you; you are now using the art. Trust the art, it will protect you. Don’t mind your opponent. Visualise the Path in front of you and move forward along the Path towards the Liechtenauer. I have simple mantra, when I am getting to worked up during a fight…”

“There is no fear, no anger, no greed”, Cara remembered, “there is only the Path.” She kept mouthing the words, they were easier said than done. But they worked. 

As arsehole kept raining attacks on her, she began to notice that he just kept repeating the same pattern over and over again. Too hard and too fast for her to counter, especially as he was using a sharp. But this helped her calm down, remembering another bit Natalie had taught her. “When you get attacked, try to see where the force of the attack comes from. Then either don’t be where their force is going or stand position yourself against it in a  way that all the force from your opponent´s blow flows through you into the ground. Then it’s not you anymore he is trying to overcome. but the planet below you.”

With every following attack, Cara repositioned herself a bit more, catching the blows further down the strength of her sword, the force of the strikes passing through her arms and body down her legs into the ground. Suddenly the strikes didn’t seem that strong anymore.

Even arsehole noticed this. He changed his pattern a bit and began hammering Cara from the left. One strike after another. This was much harder to stop and her form began to crumble again. After an especially ferocious blow, Cara´s stance sank slightly. Now she had to actively push against the strike again and began to waver. 

Arsehole laughed. “Yeah, that happens when girls pretend that they can win against men in a men’s sport. In the end you are just too weak.”

‘…don’t be were their force is going…´, Natalie’s voice echoed through Cara’s mind again. She remembered, how during the duel Natalie had deflected the lord-bishop’s attack by turning her sword away from him, redirecting his attack.

Cara now did the same. Arsehole was trying to push past her blade into her face. Cara stepped a bit to the right, turning her sword over, covering her side. Arsehole’s weapon slid down Cara’s blade. As he was falling forward she straightened her stance, moving forwards, ramming the pommel of her sword into arseholes face.

His eyes wide in shock, his nose erupted in a fountain of blood as he slowly keeled over backwards. 

Cara blinked, looked at the pommel of her sword, then at the crumpled heap in front of her. Still a bit shocked by this sudden turn of events, she pulled the sleeping arse onto the side walk, shoved him into the recovery position, got her backpack and continued on her way to Bacchus’ Barell.

“I won…”

Project Empress 009

(Chapter 3 continued) 

The lord-bishop didn’t strike at once; he first saluted Natalie, then Cara and finally the cross, then waited for Natalie to finish her salute. 

After a small nod from Natalie he burst towards her, sword and buckler forward. With a leap and two long steps he had reached them. Natalie had pushed Cara aside, the lord-bishop had not attacked her but was positioning himself in a way where Cara would be blocking Natalie’s strong side, forcing her to counter from her weaker side. 

“Back”, Natalie snapped.

The lord-bishop´s sword clashed against Natalie’s, who dove under the attack, using the strong of her blade, the part next to the cross guard, to her advantage, absorbing the attack. The lord-bishop´s blade passed over Natalie’s head. Out of her crouch she shot upwards, throwing her opponent off balance. 

As the lord-bishop stumbled backwards, he shifted his buckler around his arm to gain control over Natalie’s sword, freeing his own. The moment his blade wasn’t bound anymore he turned it around to slash towards Natalie’s face. 

A short jump and slide backwards moved Natalie out of of danger while still keeping her foe in range of her long-sword. Instead of rushing back in, she kept the point of her sword zipping around, close to the lord-bishop´s body. Avoiding binding both to the sword and the shield. As Natalie’s feet moved further away, she leaned slightly forward to maximise the reach of her weapon. 

The movements of both fencers were so fast that it was hard for Cara to keep up with them. Right now it seemed that Natalie was keeping the lord-bishop´s hands apart, constantly shifting which new opening of his, the point of her sword was threatening. 

While the weapons of the two fighters were darting back and forth, Cara noticed that neither Natalie nor the lord-bishop appeared to be stressed. Natalie’s expression was focused, her breath synchronised with her movements, breathing in as her sword retreated, breathing out as it burst forward. The lord-bishop, on the other hand, had a wary but curious expression, his eyes mostly focused on Natalie herself, only darting towards the approaching point of Natalie’s sword when it suddenly appeared from a slightly unexpected direction. When that happened, the corners of his mouth twitched very slightly. Cara could not quite tell if those were nerves or if the lord-bishop was almost smiling.

When Natalie pulled her sword back again to reposition the point, the lord-bishop leapt back further into the atrium. As he did so, he pulled the buckler next to the sword again, shifting his stance forward. At first Cara had wondered why he did that, but now. as he shifted a bit to the side and Natalie stalked after him, keeping the threat up but never quite committing to an attack, Cara realised that this tiny metal shield cast a vast protective shadow behind it that grew in size the further one stood behind it. In this stance the lord-bishop stood in the bucklers protective zone, his sword an invitation to anyone foolish enough to come forward and kill themselves with it.

Natalie moved forward with a great stride. Her sword was high over her head, in what she called “The Day in Zenith” position. A posture that Natalie had warned Cara about. because while it looked scary it didn’t have that much of a reach and gave you no protection whatsoever. You should only ever use it against lesser fencers who did not know the Path and then you should wait for them to enter your reach and not walk into them like an idiot.

And here she was, master-prospect Natalie Laukkanen Lapointe, rushing in, against weapon master lord-bishop Waltharius with her blade in the Day in Zenith position. Cara was as appalled as the lord-bishop was suspicious of the manoeuvre. Natalie had kicked her front-leg forward, half stepping half jumping, dragging her leg behind her, sliding over the grass in the atrium. She brought her sword down hard, using her momentum to increase her reach, letting her sword crash down towards the lord-bishops head. 

The lord-bishop was not impressed. With rising eyebrows, he stepped forward into and under Natalie’s attack, blocking her descending sword with ease high-above and in front of his face. When Natalie pushed even more against the block, the lord-bishop smirked, disappointment etched into his face, as he reinforced his stance to redirect all of Natalie’s force through his body into the ground. 

The smirk had not quite settled when Natalie, still moving forward, switched her sword around, gaining new momentum by the force the lord-bishop was still pushing into it to repulse the attack. In a fast accelerating circular motion the attack that had been coming from above now turned into one entering from below diving under the lord-bishop’s defence. 

The smirk was swiped away by the turn of events. Eyes growing wide, the lord-bishop twisted his sword around to intercept the incoming attack, while pulling the buckler close to his body to stop Natalie’s blade, if that wasn’t enough.

Cara saw how Natalie, still carried by her momentum, fell to knees, sliding over the grass, pulling her sword down with her, holding it horizontally, as she slid past the lord-bishop cutting him over both his legs as she did so. Once past him she shifted her sword back into a basic defence position while jumping back up.

Now she allowed her self a small predatory smile.  

“The first point appears to be mine.”, Natalie said.

“So it seems”, the lord-bishop said, he himself was now smiling too. He winked at Cara before turning around. “Best out of three?”

“Deal.”

Both fighters, moved away from each other a few steps, gave a quick salute and their second bout started. 

This time, no one rushed in. Instead both inched closer, circling each other, but the lord-bishop avoided stepping inside the zone that Natalie’s attacks could reach, while she avoided getting drawn into his by walking into it with an easily broken attack. 

The situation reminded Cara of two cats circling each other.

Whenever Natalie poked at the lord-bishop her attack was either evaded, deflected or blocked. 

On the other hand, all careful entries by the lord-bishop simply led to Natalie retreating in a circling motion, staying out of the lord-bishop´s range while also avoiding being pressed against a wall. 

Cara had the suspicion that the lord-bishop was betting on Natalie’s temper getting the better of her, or maybe pushing her towards another stunt like the one she had pulled before. However, Natalie was having none of it. Her expression was back to her focused combat self. Every once in a while she moved her head, shifting her perspective slightly as if considering some kind of new attack vector, but always thought better of it. 

To Cara’s surprise it was the lord-bishop who in the end lost his nerve. The corner of his moth twitching in disapproval, he rushed in towards Natalie. Cara’s master, now for a change followed the advice she had given her student. Closing the line between her and her attacker by extending the point of her sword into the face of her attacker. The lord-bishop just pulled his buckler up, pushing against Natalie’s sword, diving under it, pressing further forward, his own sword now slashing upwards with a backhanded strike. 

Natalie jumped back, letting the strong of her blade fall to block the lord-bishop’s attack. The moment she had the lord-bishop´s blade under control she snapped the point of her sword around, attempting to cut the chest of her opponent. The lord-bishop slapped the sword away with his buckler.

Soon they were back to circling each other. 

And so it went on for a while. 

It seemed like they were evenly matched, none of the fighters quite able to get past the other’s defences. 

The lord-bishop tried to push past Natalie’s point, where she would not have the range advantage anymore. 

Natalie tried to manoeuvre past, the lord-bishop’s defence with her long reach, but she constantly had to either block a counter attack by her opponent´s sword or got blocked by the shield. 

Also, to Cara’s amazement, especially considering her utterly sore body, none of the combatants showed any signs of exhaustion. They were covered in a thin film of sweat and their breathing was heavy, however they were not slowing down and both their eyes were still clear and sharp. 

Another fast attack series. This time by Natalie, jumping left throwing a horizontal overhead slash, smashing against the lord-bishops blade, sparks flying! Then a jump to the right with a low horizontal cut, easily blocked by the shield. Back left she went with another low attack, which was blocked by a hair´s breadth. As she kept up her alternating attacks, she opened up the defence of the lord-bishop, spreading it further to the left and to the right, thus leaving him open in the middle. 

As Cara realised this, Natalie’s sword did not swing back to the other side but went over her head directly towards the lord-bishop´s face. 

This was also the moment, when Cara realised that her master was walking into a trap, that the lord-bishop had set.

“Master…”, she yelled, “his shield!”

But it was already to late: the lord-bishop had blocked Natalie’s overhead attack with his blade and now used his buckler in an uppercut punch that hit Natalie square in the stomach and sent her flying eyes bulging.

Natalie gasped for air, struggling to stay on her feet. Cara ran to her, helping her stand. “He tricked you by making you expect attacks only from his sword”, Cara said.

  

“Yeah”, Natalie gasped, “I noticed.”

She took a rattling breath. 

“Hold my sword for a moment.” 

Cara did as she was told. It took Natalie a few attempts, but she got her breathing back under control. Once she had done that, she took off her coat and draped it over her shoulders, fixing it with a chain that held it closed high on her chest.

“Sword”, she said and took it from Cara.

The lord-bishop had watched this, not moving, his face not betraying any emotion.

“This last round decides your fate. Are you ready master-prospect Natalie Laukkanen Lapointe?”

Natalie’s answer was just a broad grin, with little humour but with a large helping of bloodlust.  

This time, Natalie rushed forward with shocking speed. Before the lord-bishop was in her reach, she had circled several steps around him, her long coat billowing behind her. She grabbed hold of it, drawing it between herself and her opponent, who for a moment just could see the dark blue wall of fabric. He pulled it away with the tip of his sword ready to push against the advancing Natalie who wasn’t there. The time it took him to find her, she had used following her coat and staying behind its cover as long as possible. She had already crouched low, slashing her sword against the exposed ankles of the lord-bishop. He just managed to pull his legs away in the last second with Natalie’s sword barely scraping against his right lower leg.

From there Pandemonium broke loose and it was beyond Cara to follow what was happening. Natalie was using her coat both as a distraction and as a shield and was using her enormous speed and agility to get every advantage she could get. Cara recognised many of Natalie’s movements as those she had seen her perform when she was moving to the music during their late night training yesterday night. 

The lord-bishop had a hard time keeping up with the constantly shifting Natalie, but by now they had given up all pretence of a friendly match and were going all out. Now he also had a focused expression. It was clear that he had been playing with Natalie before, testing her skills. 

For a moment it seemed that Natalie at her best was evenly matched with the lord-bishop, but as the fight went on it became clear to Cara that lord-bishop Waltharius was the greater martial master of the two. While he was unable to get past Natalie’s fury, neither was she able to get past his indomitable defence. However, the longer the fight went on, the more the lord-bishop adapted to Natalie’s sword and storm style of attacks, redirecting her force, slowly opening her up to to counter attacks and distracting her attention by carefully played manoeuvres.

Natalie was also adapting but not as fast and where the lord-bishop was planning his manoeuvres several steps in advance, Natalie was forced more and more to react to whatever was coming at her at any given moment. 

She went for a last push, hiding behind her coat again, going forward, deviating left, deviating right; the moment the lord-bishop pushed past her coat, she did not follow the coat, she loosened the chain, letting it fly away while pushing forward, using her blade as a shield, turning around as the buckler came flying towards her, narrowly evading it. She shifted her weight slightly downwards, letting the lord-bishops blade move her sword away from him, using the momentum to bring her pommel up to strike him with it square in the face. The lord-bishops eyes grew wide, he dropped his sword and the buckler, grabbed hold of the cross-guard of Natalie’s sword with one hand and the grip of it with the other, followed her momentum and sent her flying head over heels into the grass, where she slid and tumbled until she was stopped by one of the arcade’s pillars.

“I win.”, the lord-bishop said, now panting.

Natalie, using her sword to prop her up, struggled back up to her feet with fire still flickering in her eyes, teeth bared. 

“Oh, don’t look at me like that”, the lord-bishop said to the demon that was now stalking towards him, “Master”, no prospect this time, “Natalie Laukkanen Lapointe.”

The demon, stopped, flickered and turned back to Natalie again. 

The lord-bishop waited a bit longer, until he saw that Natalie was listening to him. “I had to test you and your abilities. The opponents you will be facing in Vienna will be among the best martial artists living in Europe.”

“Well, I obviously didn’t beat you”, Natalie said, still glowering. 

“Give me some credit, Master Laukkanen Lapointe, I have dedicated my life to the martial arts and to our Lord and Saviour”, he said, turning to the cross while crossing himself. Cara thought that Jesus was casting the lord-bishop a sightly judgemental look for naming him second. “I have been honing my skills for more decades than you have been alive. This gives me a certain advantage in skill.”

“Hmph”, was all Natalie had to say to that.

“You need to widen your horizons. Your Liechtenauer style is strong, as is your interpretation. But you need more training against other schools and, more importantly, against other weapons. But you have convinced me.”

“What about my student?”, Natalie said motioning with her head towards Cara.

“She will do.”

Natalie raised an eyebrow. “Just like that? No test? No little demonstration of her techniques?”

“No. You said, that she has promise but is a novice. There is nothing that a novice could do to sway my opinion one way or the other, as she naturally has no skills yet.” While what the lord-bishop said was true, Cara still blushed. “I think you are a good teacher Master Laukkanen Lapointe. Where there is a great teacher, he said, there are no bad students. Also during our second bout, when I was preparing you to my counter blow, she noticed what I was planning to do before I had executed my plan.” He turned to Cara directly now, smiling a genuine broad smile, which was a luminous as his professional one, “That was very impressive, Mistress Gibson Müller, I commend you”, he said, ever so slightly inclining his head. Cara felt the heat rising even more, which gave her the sliver of hope that she may spontaneously combust and thus be released from this situation. 

Lord-bishop Waltharius turned back to Natalie. “I think with this means we have a deal?”, he offered her his hand. 

“We have a deal”, Natalie said, shaking his hand. “One last question you Excellency.”  

“Yes?”

“What if we lose?”, Natalie asked.

“I don’t understand?”

“What if we don’t win the contest? Then you would have lost your investment.”

Another radiant smile. “Oh, I have already won. You are a great master and this journey will make you greater and you will elevate your novice to great heights with you. The manuscript will just add to that. Also, once the manuscript is out in the open again, who knows, it might still find its way back to our Lord´s library”, he said bathing them in the afterglow of his smile.