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.

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 Natalie, 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.