It might have been only late afternoon, but I wanted somewhere we could stop. We all needed the rest.

The forest pushed in close to the road, and where before it had seemed peaceful, now it didn’t.

But it was still full of life, and when we’d left the bodies far enough behind, I could again hear the birds and see the squirrels playing in the trees.

It was another hour until it thinned enough to offer the possibility of a glade, and I began to search the tree line. It was Lira that spotted it.

“There?” she said, pointing off her side of the road.

There was an open patch a short way into the trees with long grass and wildflowers, ringed in gorse bushes and holly. Several weeping willows stood in a line beyond, suggesting the possibility of water, and once I’d noticed them, I could hear the distant tinkle of a stream.

“Perfect.”

We steered the horses off the road and into the glade. It was pleasant; it had a good feel to it, and slowly I began to relax. The forest floor was dappled with golden, early-evening sunlight, and a gentle breeze stirred the surrounding leaves. We tethered the horses, and Lira unpacked their feed while I dismounted, then lifted Senna off my horse.

“We stopping?” she murmured, and her eyes opened.

“Lira!”

I sank down into the grass, cradling Senna to my chest. Lira came to kneel beside me, and we sat together, smiling as we gazed down at Senna.

She looked up at us, her brow furrowing. “What? Did I do something wrong?”

“Almost died is what you did. You took an arrow in the back, and Lira saved you.”

Her eyes widened. “Oh gosh, I remember. Oh, it hurt!” She reached out a hand for Lira, clasping hers. “Thank you. Thank you for saving me.”

Lira smiled back, tears in her eyes. “How are you feeling?”

“Um … I feel fine. A little weak. But fine. Can I stand up?”

I was loath to let her go, but when she pushed herself up, she was unsteady for only a moment. I let out a sigh of relief. “Don’t scare us like that again, you hear?”

“He means it,” Lira says. “He’ll probably spank you.” She nodded sagely. “He talks about spanking quite often.”

Senna’s eyes widened, glancing at me as she blushed.

“Not as much as you do,” I muttered.

“Scare us like that again and if he doesn’t spank you, I will,” Lira added.

I looked at Senna, gesturing to Lira with one hand. “See?”

“Oh!” Senna huffed, “I never know when you two are teasing me.”

“If he’s talking about spanking, he’s probably not teasing.”

“I’ve never spanked you once,” I said through gritted teeth as I pushed myself up. “Keep going though, and I might yet.”

“I think you should,” Senna declared in a clear, strong voice. “I would like to watch.”

We both stared at her in amazement, then she did something she’d only done previously for Lira: she giggled.

“I think she’s teasing us,” Lira said, rising too.

“I think she is.”

“Shouldn’t we spank her if she teases us?”

“I’m going to spank the both of you if you don’t stop soon,” I muttered, walking to my horse to pull out pots, flint and steel, and food.

“I’ve never been spanked,” Senna murmured to Lira. “Is it fun?”

“It is with the right person,” Lira said, fully aware I could hear her.

I gave a mock sigh. “Enough!”

They both giggled.

“Lira, dig out Senna’s spare shift. Let’s get rid of that blood-stained mess.”

Lira started rummaging through the saddlebags on Senna’s pony.

Senna made a face. “I thought something felt yucky and sticky.” She pulled at her clothing.

“Hopefully, there’s enough stream over there for us to wash in,” I said. “I’m going to cook some dinner. I’m hungry.”

*

A while later, we lay around in the glade, stomachs full of stew and bread. The stream was small but quite deep, running clear and cool, and Senna had bathed and changed to her spare shift. For comfort, I’d pulled my breastplate off and laid it on the grass, and that had seemed such a good idea my leather jacket had quickly followed, pillowed under my head.

It was nice to lie out, staring up at the evening sky through the trees, feeling the soft grass beneath my shirt. But I remembered an idea I’d had. Flicking away the piece of grass I’d been chewing on, I roused myself and walked off into the forest.

I didn’t have to go far to find what I was looking for: a couple of sturdy sword-length sticks, and a sapling that, once I’d stripped the branches off, became a decent quarterstaff. The girls were watching me curiously.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“Up, up!” I said, walking back to our glade.

They pushed themselves up, and I threw Lira the staff. She caught it, twirled it with a surprising competence, then banged the end down beside her foot. I raised an eyebrow at her.

Senna got one of the sticks, and I kept the other.

“Right then,” I said to Senna. “You’re first. Attack me.”

Her eyes narrowed, then she threw herself at me. Her strikes were wild and easy to parry, but her enthusiasm was fun to watch. “Keep your head up,” I said, dodging around her as she overextended. “You hit with the sword, not your body. If you don’t keep your balance, you lose.”

Senna swiped the stick backhanded toward me, and I blocked it just in front of my face. She spun faster than I expected, attacking me again with gusto. And she kept her head up. “Good!” I said, on the defensive. She was really fast. She jabbed her stick forward, swiped in from the side, and I parried each strike. Then her eyes narrowed, and she slashed it down toward me, her strength behind the blow. But she’d overextended again. I dodged around her as she stumbled forward and thwacked my stick across her ass.

“Ow!” she cried, reaching back to rub it, glaring.

Lira giggled.

I shrugged. “You got frustrated and overextended.”

She spun again, coming in faster still, her jaw set with determination. “This,” swipe, “isn’t,” swipe, “fair!”

“A fight never is,” I said, parrying each blow. “You take the advantages you can get. Win any way you can.”

She swiped at me again, then she cried out, clutching her shoulder.

“Are you alright?”

“Pulled a muscle or something.” She reached for her shoulder, hissing in pain. Then she glared. “This is your fault!”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “You were doing really well. Let me take a look.”

She turned slightly, pushing the shift off to reveal her bare shoulder, and I stepped up to her.

Then her stick swiped around, thudding into my side. “Hah!” she said, dancing backward, pulling her shift back into place. “You’re dead! I win!”

Lira was grinning.

I stared at Senna. “You cheated!”

“No, I used my advantages.” Her chin came up. “I won any way I could.”

Lira laughed.

I stared at her a moment longer, incredulous, and then I began to laugh too. “And here I was, worried about your ability to defend yourself! Damn, now I’m pitying the next poor bastard that tries to attack you!”

Senna smiled; a full-on, actual smile. They were coming out more and more, and I was both delighted and relieved to see them. I turned to Lira. “Your turn.”

“I’ve been waiting,” she said, shifting her staff into a hold that suggested she had at least a basic idea of what she was doing.

I raised an eyebrow at her, gave the size of her stick a pointed look, glanced dismally at my smaller one, then held out my hand toward Senna. “Your sword, please, ma’am.”

It was all a show, of course, but the girls laughed. Armed with both sticks, I readied myself. “Come at me.”

She did. She wasn’t as fast as Senna, but it was obvious she had at least some points in staff. Now that I knew, it should be on her info sheet. I took a little peek, wondering what I was up against. Weapon (Staff) was at eleven. Not too shabby.

I retreated before a flurry of attacks, parrying with both hands. She used it two handed, quarterstaff style, rotating it through a lovely little combination. Then she began it again. Once I was sure I recognized the pattern, I didn’t bother parrying a blow I knew was coming, and ducked past her, my sword landing across her ass as I spun behind.

“Youch!” she gasped, dashing forward a step. Then it was her turn to rub her butt as she pouted at me. “But I didn’t overextend!”

“You repeated,” I said. “Never repeat a pattern. A keen-eyed opponent will punish you for it.”

“Just like Kaelan just did,” Senna added, her eyes bright and sparkling. Lira glanced at her in surprise, then stuck her tongue out at her. Senna shrugged. “If I get hit, it’s only fair you do.”

“Serves you both right for talking about spanking for an hour.”

“It was two minutes!” Lira said.

It was my turn to shrug.

She looked at Senna. “Get yourself another sword, sister. Let’s see how he manages against both of us at once.”

“Uh oh,” I said, backing up a step and feigning a look of terror. Though secretly, I was delighted. Not just from Lira calling Senna ‘sister’, but if they learned to work together, they’d only be stronger for it. It was a good idea.

Senna jumped to the challenge with enthusiasm, soon coming back with a sturdy branch.

“Oh look,” I said, doing a double take as though I’d only just noticed them. “Two very beautiful girls, out in the woods! But I am an evil villain!” I waggled my eyebrows. “I know, I will have my wicked way with them both!”

“Nay, you fiend, you will not!” Lira said, brandishing her staff.

But Senna lowered her stick. “Actually, I don’t mind if he does,” she said. “Can I just surrender now?”

I grinned, readying my sticks. “Alright. Bring it on, you two.”

They fanned out slightly as they approached, both fully committed. They were so appealing when they looked like this, intense concentration on their faces, focused and serious, their jaws set in determination.

Lira danced in, swinging for my head, Senna an instant behind her with a swipe to my side. I parried both blows, using my ‘swords’ in dual-wielding style. They might only have been sticks, but it felt good. My sword skill clearly applied to branches, too, and I began to think of the advantages of dual wielding. I would never beat Drakos in a combat based on pure strength, but taking my own advice of playing to the advantages I had … it was agility and speed. Or it would be, if I focused that way.

Lira followed up with a flurry of blows, and parrying her with only one weapon became harder. I spun past Senna’s lunge, using her to block Lira’s attack, and swiped one sword across Senna’s ass.

She pulled up, rubbing her bottom. “Ow, dammit! That stings!”

I grinned, waiting for them. But Lira stepped up to Senna, whispering in her ear. “Uh oh,” I said. “Machinations afoot.”

They came in again, much as before, and I wondered what they were planning. This time, Senna took the lead, Lira hanging back. Senna pressed me hard, keeping her head up and her balance all the while. I was, frankly, impressed: she’d learned quickly. I wondered what she could do with a real sword. I’d let her take the offensive, as parrying was a lot harder than attacking, but she was already so fast that it showed what she might be capable of. If she could learn to fight like her promise suggested, I wouldn’t have to worry about her. At least against the bandits the likes of which attacked us today.

My thought process was interrupted as Lira came in, and she’d shifted the staff to a two-handed grip toward one end. It gave her much more reach, and she swung it through the air at my head. There was no parrying that; the sticks just weren’t strong enough. I ducked.

It was what Senna had been waiting for. Lira had aimed her blow perfectly; it passed a whisper over Senna’s head without her needing to worry, and it granted her an instant where she could move unimpeded, while I already had done.

But she didn’t try to attack me. Instead, she threw herself at me.

I tried to catch her, taken by surprise, and for a moment I staggered. Then Lira’s staff curled around low, sweeping toward the back of my legs. With Senna in my arms, there was nothing I could do, and it landed with a thwack. It was my turn to say ‘Ow!’ It also swept my legs, and with Senna pushing, I went over backwards, landing hard.

Lira was there a moment later, dropping her staff and leaping on me. I could’ve pushed them off, but they deserved their victory. They’d fought hard, worked together, and were both bright-eyed and grinning as they pinned me down.

“I surrender!” I cried. “I am vanquished!”

“Should we let him up?” Lira asked Senna, as she held one of my arms to the grass.

“When we’ve captured such a handsome bandit?” Senna said, both small hands restraining my other arm. “I think we should have our wicked way with him.”

I stared up at the sky, watching the sunlight refracted through the leaves overhead. “Alas, I have no choice. I am forced to comply.”

They giggled as they pulled my shirt up, then their mouths were on my body.

The sticks lay abandoned and forgotten.