After a long while, I finally heard the familiar knock and sprung eagerly off the bed. Firesong raised her uninjured wing to look at me from her nest of blankets on the cot with one glaring yellow eye, then tucked her head back to her chest and settled back to sleep. Opening the door, I gave Grace a pleasant smile and then turned my attention to the man standing next to her.
He was young, looking to be only around twenty years of age with long golden colored hair tied back securely in a ponytail. His sharp blue eyes stared arrogantly at me, the rest of his face set in a mask of stony determination. His posture relayed a feeling of confidence and his clothes were very made. A simple sword hung at his side.
I had to bite back a grin, struggling to keep my face serious, this guy practically screamed genius swordsman. I love smacking down upstart youths that thought because they have a little bit of talent with the sword that they’re better than everyone else, while truthfully, they have little or no experience of real fighting. This kid was probably from a wealthy or noble family and had been drilled in swordsmanship with an instructor and was praised for everything he did.
I was like that myself, a long time ago, until the man who would later on teach me real swordsmanship gave me a smack down and shattered my false reality. I hated him for a long while for that, but I came to appreciate what he had done for me, and I like to take every opportunity I come across to do the same thing to other fellow ‘geniuses’
The arena had changed from the sand basin I had walked across earlier this morning into a sight somewhat similar to the setup used when I fought Lonan. The hovering boards were all there, placed at different angles, but now they were moving, all at different speeds, just watching them made me start to feel a little dizzy. Shaking my head, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, letting my mind settle and sharpen. Opening my eyes, I focused on the moving platforms, allowing my mind to get a good feel for their movements before leaping out onto one of the nearest platforms. I let the platform carry me closer to the middle of the moving platforms then hopped to another platform moving in that direction at a faster speed. The boy genius hesitated for a moment, and then followed after me, making sure to take a different path than what I chose.
“Ladies and gentlemen, girls and boys, this is the beginning of the fourth round of the tournament, the Lovely Miss Delta, whose presence has been a constant surprise will be fighting our very own kingdoms renowned young sword genius, WardenTriton! The fourth rounds purpose is to test the competitors ability to fight in constantly changing surroundings.”
…...Man, this kid’s last name is my grandpa’s first name…...awkward…..Well, at least I was right about the genius part…..
The signal to start the fight was given and I snapped out of my unnecessary thoughts, flipping off the platform just a second before Warden’s sword swept through the space I had been occupying, this kid was fast!
I let myself fall for a couple of meters and then caught on to a vertical board passing by me. Clinging to the board, I grinned up at the boy genius and launched myself in his direction. To his credit, he didn’t flinch, just prepared himself to take my attack, but I wasn’t planning on a front attack. Midway through my leap, I lined up with one of the very fast platforms and caught hold of it. It sped me past Warden in a blink of an eye and I let go of it, already swinging out with my blade. The kid just barely managed to move his blade to block my sword, and then leapt quickly to another platform, his eyes showing the first hint of caution. The platform he was on started to move farther away and I followed, leaping onto a slat that moved upward on over, following, but keeping the advantage of the high ground as I did. Warden suddenly moved, grabbing onto a slanted platform and hanging on it in just the right way so that I couldn’t see him from my current viewpoint. Hmmmm, it seems like he does have some experience after all…..but not enough~
I held my hand out, my palm held so it was facing backwards and waited, my eyes occasionally catching flashes of a shadow moving around the platforms. Suddenly, Warden appeared on my platform, his blade swinging for my neck, I didn’t bother to move. When the sword was a mere inch away from my throat, the edge of one of the fastest moving platform slammed into my palm and I caught for just a moment, letting the force carry me just outside the reach of Warden’s sword. When I let go, I barely fell at all before landing on a passing platform just a little lower than the one Warden was on. Then I used my blade to knock the kid off his feet, his face hitting the board with a loud smack before I jumped back on to his platform, kicked his sword out of his grasp and planted my foot on his head. Warden tried to get up, but the foot I had planted on his head kept him down. Trying to unbalance me, he swiped at my other leg, but I just placed all my weight on his head and lifted up my foot as his arm swept by. He gave a loud groan.
“Heavy…..”
….I pressed harder.
“I CONCEDE!!! Get your cheap boot off my head!!”
I kicked him so he lay on his back and then placed my foot on his throat, pressing down lightly, I smiled sweetly at him. His eyes bugged out as he struggled to breathe
“P…...please?”
I lightened the pressure, but kept my foot on his throat, looking at him expectantly.
“Uhhhhh…...your boot isn’t cheap?”
……
“And you’re as light as a feather?”
I graciously stepped back and helped him to his feet, then made my way easily out of the moving swarm of platforms. Grace was waiting for me at the gates, and excited smile on her face.
“Nice show, Miss Delta, you looked awesome! How do you even do that!?”
I smiled at her enthusiasm and had to bite back the urge to ruffle her hair, which was tied into a very neat bun. Grace led me back to my room, talking excitedly the whole time, her attitude sure had taken a complete turn….where did the quiet, dignified maid I had first met go? She had been a bit friendlier after the sock incident yesterday, but….now any sign of formality is gone!?......Well, even though it's strange, it’s nice that she feels comfortable enough to act like this with me.
Firesong gave a soft trill of greeting as I opened the door to my room. She had finally decided to stop sleeping and had wriggled her way out of her self-made nest of blankets. I smiled and grabbed a roll of bread from the table as I went to the bed. She was probably hungry by now. Tearing the roll into little bits, I offered a piece to Firesong and she took it with her sharp beak, making sure to be careful to not nip my fingers in the process.
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She ended up eating two entire rolls and drinking a long sip of water before she finally stopped accepting any food I offered and used her claws to latch onto my right arm, crabbing her way up to my shoulder. I petted her for a few moments, and then settled into a meditation position. The next fight would be the final fight, and my opponent would be the toughest I’ve faced yet, I need to be in top condition to win this fight. I’m not going to take any chances, becoming a royal guard is the first stepping stone in the path to retrieving my voice. I don’t plan to mess around in this fight like I have the others. Letting my mind drift, I pulled energy into my body to replenish what I had used in the fight against Warden. I let my thoughts drift, picking one at a time to consider and then disperse, ridding my mind of distractions.
My trance-like state was eventually interrupted by the familiar knock on my door and I opened my eyes, feeling extremely refreshed. Carefully pulling Firesong off my shoulder and back onto the bed, I stood up and walked to the door.This time, when I opened the door, I couldn’t spare the focus to greet Grace, all of my attention was fixed on the man standing behind her, my last obstacle to becoming a royal guard, to infiltrating the castle.
He looked to be in his late thirties, his brown, weather skin a testament to a hard working personality. His black hair was cut short, short prickles that crowned his head. A simple sword hung at his side, but it seemed to radiate danger, this man and his blade had seen many battles. My experience would be of no help to me here, this man was also a seasoned warrior and he was just as serious about winning as I was.
This time, when I stepped out from the large double doors, the arena hadn’t made any sort of transformation, it was simply laid out like the first time I had seen it, a sandy basin. Glancing at the man beside me, we walked out side by side to the middle of the sandy arena.
“Well, ladies and gentlemen, this is the moment we have all been waiting for, the final round, the moment that decides who will the new royal guard for the king of Serac. Will it be the famous ex-mercenary captain Fin Lightfeather? Or will this be an unprecedented moment in history, where the Lovely Miss Delta becomes the very first female royal guard of Serac! This final round will be a test of the contestants ability to fight in the dark, but don’t worry everyone, we, the audience will be able to see everything, the competitors will have their vision bound for a moment.”
…..Great, I’m going to be blind in this fight. I closed my eyes and waited for the signal, better to blind myself first than to be caught off guard by the spell. After a short moment, I felt a slight tingle behind my eyes and seconds later, the horn sounded out. Doing my best to ignore the clamor of the crowd, I focused for the crunch or hiss of sand that would signal movement. I barely caught the crunch of a step before it was drowned out by the crowds roar, instantly, I threw my upper body back, landing in a bridge as the wind of a sword passing over me brushed against my face. Pushing off the the sand with my hands, I lifted my legs and flung myself forwards, my booted feet connecting hard with what felt like a torso. A grunt of pain furthered my satisfaction as I used the man’s body to push myself backwards in a flip, landing on loudly on my feet before darting to the side as quietly as I could to dodge the blade I knew would be coming.
I could hear the blade as it traveled through the air and bit back a hiss of pain a small, burning pain burst from my arm, blood beginning to well at the cut. I hadn’t dodged far enough, the tip of the blade had just barely caught my arm in its swing. There was no time to consider my wound though, I dove forward into a roll, knowing that the small contact with Fin’s blade had given away my position. Using my legs to forcefully stop my roll, I swung out low with my sword and was pleased to feel it slam into something, Fin Lightfeather’s legs. Knocked off balance, his body hit the sand with a loud thunk and I was on him quicker than an electric eel. I had almost managed to get him into a immobilized grappling position, but he knocked me off, his fist slamming into the side of my head, making my brain rattle in my skull for a moment.
In the seconds I was disoriented, he rolled on top of me, scrabbling for my arms to immobilize them, to get rid of the threat of my sword. Regaining my awareness in a flash, I tucked my legs up instinctively and shoved them as hard as I could into his chest. I sent him flying, and it took a long moment before I heard him hit the sand. My naturally strong leg muscles had sent him a long distance, I silently cursed, now I only had a vague idea where he was, I had sent him to far away. Rolling to my feet, I spat out a mouthful of blood, sometime during the tussle I must have injured the inside of my mouth. I began moving slowly in the direction I had launched Fin, shuffling through the sand to avoiding making any loud noises. The closer I got, the slower I went, the crowd growing quieter as well, holding their breath as they waited to see what would happen next.
Slowing to a complete stop, I crouch, waiting and listening, the crowd now was completely silent, any move I or Fin made would be clearly audible. Considering my options, I carefully moved my foot, just enough to make a small noise that could be taken as an accident. Then everything happened at once.
The crunch of sand as Fin charged towards me.
The quiet gasp of the crowd.
The clash as our blades connected.
The feel of a rough tunic as I reached out and grabbed hold of Fin.
Letting my blade go as I pulled Fin forward by his tunic.
Slamming my knee upwards into his body.
The breath of a groan puffing out onto my face.
Fin going down.
My following him to the ground.
Slamming my elbow into the side of his head.
His body slumping into unconsciousness.
The crowd Roared.
I rolled to my feet and retrieved my blade, waiting. A horn blasted into the air and I opened my eyes to see the sandy arena around me, Fin Lightfeather unconscious at my feet.
I had won.