Luvi was up at the crack of dawn and was expecting to have a quick meal before the caravan got moving again. There was bad news, however. Some thieves had come during the night and had taken some supplies and even some horses. Whoever was in charge of being on watch at night was missing as well. There was, of course, the suspicion that some members of the caravan itself that might have been involved. Needless to say, there was a bit of chaos that meant that it would take a while longer for everyone to get ready to leave.
“Hey,” said a voice as a finger tapped on the woman’s shoulder. Luvi turned to see that it was Charlie, a man in his late teens that she’d sparred with the previous evening.
“Oh it’s you,” she said with a questioning look.
“Want to spar a bit? I think we have some time and it might be the last chance we get for a while.”
“Sure, why not,” she said, taking a katana in her hand and squinting her eyes in the direction she needed to go. She led the way back to the broken down old cabin just outside of the clearing.
Luvi led the way, taking a moment to examine the damage she had caused to the trees last time she’d been there. Her kicks had barely done any damage past the bark, but her punches made noticeable dents. She didn’t want to sound cocky, but she reckoned she could have taken down the whole tree if she really focused on attacking the same spot. Splintered wood littered the ground as a true testament to how strong she had become.
If she could do this much with her current level of strength and hone, there was no telling just how powerful she could get.
She didn’t know why she was being so careful with what appeared to be a very abandoned piece of the forest. Maybe she was just looking for any reason at all to linger and be secluded from others. It was times like this that made her want to leave everything behind and live a life away from everyone. Sadly, her magic would never let her do that. The sparks inside her yearned to interact with others. They were the ones that constantly pulled her back to the city every time she left on these brief periods of escape.
She turned to face Charlie, drawing her katana and holding it with two hands. After yesterday’s session she already felt a little better with using the weapon with two hands. Though it definitely cut down on her flexibility in combat, it allowed for more precision. She imagined that a woman without runes would also find it much easier to block attacks and throw around the weight of a large weapon.
Charlie’s unshaven face made him appear to be slightly older than Luvi, but his determination to carry out this unwinnable spar was unwavering. He didn’t bring a sword, rather he brought a bo-staff from the cloth that had been strapped to his back. The man, holding his preferred weapon horizontally in front of him as the cloth dropped to the ground, said, "Let’s go!"
Uncertain of who made a move first, Luvi was startled to find her feet slamming into the soft forest floor as Charlie darted over from where he had been standing to confront her. Her heart pounded louder in her ears due to excitement, and she was having problems distinguishing between her instincts and her emotions. Her mind raced through a thousand horrifying ways to slice her opponent up but was forced to respect the length of the staff.
She couldn’t recall ever fighting against a staff wielder before – usually she fought blade with blade. A staff might not have been able to cut her, but the thud it made as it slammed into the ground where she’d just been told her all she needed to know – don’t get hit.
Charlie was relentless in his assault, feeling quite confident that even if he went all out he wouldn’t hit his target anyways. Luvi took powerful steps backwards to dodge out of the way most of the time while seldomly using her katana to bat away at thrusts. She worried about using the sharp edge to deflect an attack from such a hard, blunt weapon. She was sure that would dull her blade incredibly quickly and she wouldn’t get a chance to properly have it repaired for most of the season. She had to resort to hitting his polearm with the dull parts of her sword which required awkward adjustments to her fighting style.
Additionally, she found it difficult to find an opening when she only had one blade because she had to respect the other end of the staff as well. She stepped forwards to try tapping the man with the flat side of her blade but had to forfeit her attempt when the staff flipped around and shot towards her stomach.
“You’re a lot better with a staff than a sword,” she complimented as she finally managed to place her foot on the staff when it thudded into the ground. She grabbed it with her hand so that Charlie couldn’t pull it away while pointing her katana at his neck. She realized that she’d only won because she’d resorted to one handing her sword, but she’d needed the break. She’d started to sweat so much that she was afraid he would mishandle her sword and cause an injury.
“Thanks, I like to think so,” Charlie said, finally yanking his staff free of her grip and resetting his stance. He paused for a few moments to let her ready herself then he charged towards his opponent without making any sound. His nostrils flared, hands slick, eyes wide open, and his heart pounding so hard it hurt his chest. Then, as quickly as a light went out, his excitement and anxiety vanished, replaced by pure determination.
Using the staff, he attacked first with a move that Luvi had witnessed him use already. She took one quick breath before effortlessly moving her sword to block the downward-angled staff thrust. Instead of stopping, Charlie spun in a dance-like motion, twirling the staff above his head as he tried to flank her. When she moved to block his strike, Charlie feinted a blow to the head before lowering the blunt end of his staff to hit Luvi lightly in the chest. Luvi stumbled backwards, well aware that if that’d been a spear then she would’ve died just then.
Luvi scowled at Charlie, more than a little embarrassed at her defeat. She was quickly realizing how versatile a weapon a polearm could be. She readied herself once more, and told herself to stop holding back so much. She swung, causing the sword's point to sing as it sliced through the air. She took advantage of her runes to swing faster and harder, so much so that even a staff wouldn’t offer much defense. She wasn’t aiming at Charile, per say, rather she went for his weapon. This was her way of showing restraint as she could have ended him ten times over if she’d wanted to… but this experience was meant to improve skills, not simply win.
Charlie was clearly getting frustrated after being made to defend constantly, so he decided to try something more drastic. He was now conscious of the exhaustion starting to weaken his muscles. Although he was still young, the adrenaline from the first few moments of the fight had worn away most of his stamina because of how tense he had been. He had to get over this right away - he couldn't risk waiting for his second wind.
Charlie dug his staff into the ground and used it as leverage to try kicking Luvi away, but his staff slipped in the mud and he went tumbling to the ground. Luvi had to adjust her swing at the last second to avoid lopping his head off as he fell.
Luvi’s eyes widened as her sword sliced through some of his hair and her heart quickened to the point that she thought she was going to feint. “That was… close,” she said, holding out her hand to help him up.
“You’re telling me. I thought I was a goner,” Charlie said. “It’s my fault, I shouldn’t have gone all out like that.”
“Nah, we can share the blame. We ought to get back, anyways. I wonder if they’re ready to go yet.”
“We haven’t been gone that long, but it couldn’t hurt to check up on them.”
When they got back, they saw that half the caravan had already started moving with the rest lingering behind to make last minute preparations. Charlie’s mother came running over, scolding him for leaving without telling her. Luvi shielded her eyes from the morning sunlight, clearly annoyed at it. She hopped up on her horse and put a hat on then kicked it gently to get it moving. She was hoping for a peaceful ride, but Charlie rode next to her to ask her for pointers.
