Eigil had been distant, cold for about four to five weeks after she burned him; time seemed to blend together as every day was the same. Training did not change much, severe and unrelenting, the same as before.

No smart retorts or comments as they trained be it with or without weapons; he practically did not speak to her until one day he just came back to normal. He had explained to her, more shouted than explained, that the use of an exotic weapon combined with her ability would come after years of training and understanding her limits. She wanted to bite his head off but maintained her cool to avoid any unnecessary electrocution.

She had selected the longsword as her primary weapon and with lots of training she was getting pretty good. She had yet defeated Eigil on their daily sparing but that was to be expected as he had years on her in terms of experience.

He had given her advantages, each to teach her something. First, he had fought unarmed; this helped her understand what could happen when she went to the field. Most people used swords or hand-to-hand combat to protect themselves, so fighting against him in those conditions was the closest to field work she was going to get.

Next Came pistols; he used a mock gun that looked remarkably like a real one, she almost wet herself as he fired the first time, he had not bothered to tell her what kind of pistol he had aimed at her heart. For the first week she got shot in every try; but as she got better, she was able to predict, evade or deflect the projectiles using her sword.

“A high-quality blade will not brake with two or three hits” Eigil had told her during the first training session as she tried to evade every shot. “Even if it does, a broken blade can kill; a dead assassin can’t”

She also trained with the other weapons; improving considerably with every one specially the bow and other projectile weapons as her upper body got stronger. Her sword play however was still her strongest skill.

The main exercise as they trained during this period was to ‘spar’ with Eigil; he stood at the opposite end of the room and started the fight with a shot at her. She had to not get shot as she approached him, no more rules applied; she could take cover or throw anything she got her hands on as long as she did no damage to the installation. When she got close, he changed from just shooting to a really agile fighting style that Eigil said has been used by elite guards of the empire in close quarters. She was never able to even touch him so Astrid started to measure her small victories; making him sweat was her biggest one yet.

After she completed four or so months, other people started to appear; at first Eigil brought some guards so she did not get accustomed to only one fighting style. They fought at equal terms with her; the guards used security batons instead of swords and their normal uniforms while Astrid used a practice sword and her usual uniform, without the cloak. “From today onward we will have real combat twice a week with the help of the local guards. Their training is rigorous, not half as rigours as yours as they have actual jobs but they are no amateurs so don’t underestimate them” Was all the instructions Eigil gave her before he threw her to fight Steve.

He was no older than she was and seemed a little timid, about one seventy-five meters tall he was a thin man, not the hulking thug one expects from a guard on a criminal organization. His nose was long and thin contrasting with his wide strong jaw; his ears seemed to go parallel to his skull so as he stood in front of her it seemed as he had no ears at all.

His pale white skin and light brown hair contrasted greatly with his pitch-black uniform consisting of a long sleeve shirt with a scarlet kite shield patch on his upper arm in both sides, a line on the same colour on each shoulder and the white crest over the heart. The pants and socks had no decorations that she could see aside of the scarlet belt buckle. She liked the colours, that combination was always her favourite although she would have used the red a little more dramatically.

Each of them stood on either side of the sparing ring, a five meter in diameter wooden platform just two small steps above the rest of the room. She stood ready, her sword up firmly gripped with both hands her mind racing through every bit of training she had so she could win this fight, to show herself more than anyone that she could do it, she could become something more than what she was some months ago.

“Go” Eigil instructed with no previous warning.

Steve moved faster than she expected and in a way she would have not predicted. For all her training she expected him to come from above, taking advantage of his height and strength to take her down in one quick strike. He instead came low from the right; his baton aiming for her right leg. Astrid managed to evade it by pivoting on her left and slashing for his head from the left but he parried the strike throwing it harmlessly to her right before Astrid took some distance with a jump.

“What was that?” Shouted Eigil from the side.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Astrid lowered her weapon and turned to face him. He just pointed at her back. When she turned, she saw Steve coming at her so she moved to her right to avoid a hit to the head.

“Stop with the fancy tricks, you need quick efficient moves; that spin took time, a basic slice would have been faster and may have ended the fight” He continued as he walked around the ring analysing and judging her movements.

While he talked Astrid tried to hold her ground parrying strikes and avowing those she was too slow to do so.

“Could you wait until the end of the fight for the…” She ducked to avoid another horizontal strike. This time lunching herself towards her opponent, blade aiming at his abdomen gazing his shirt. “Feedback you bastard” she ended rising her sword to a defensive stance once more.

“That was much better, next time don’t miss on purpose, and no I won’t wait. In the field you will have many distractions and to face different opponents with your attention on a fleeing target so you might as well pay attention to my feedback while you win this fight” He finished as she lunched for a vertical slash; Steve managed to block it having to use both hands for the first time.

Astrid did not respond; she had attacked to her right so the thrust was easily avoided. The last thing she wanted was to kill a young maybe innocent guard for a training match. The fight was barely five minutes in and she was panting; maybe her training was harder and more complete but he had clearly trained for a lot longer, she needed to end it fast. If the fight became too long, he would win by stamina alone.

She stopped trying to win, went on the defensive and started to analyse her opponent. Steve was fast but not strong, at least not much stronger than her, so blocking and dodging was not a difficult task as she looked for an opening.

“Are you getting tired?” Eigil’s voice came from behind her. “Maybe I should add some more cardio to your training if you are in such a bad shape” She wanted to open his mouth and gently place some explosives in to shut him up.

For the first forty seconds she saw nothing and was starting to stress out. Then suddenly she saw an opening and acted on instinct more than anything else; she could have taken him down but it would probably cripple him so she opted to stop and managed to control herself rolling instead of attacking. Steve was faster coming low, maybe an injury maybe other factors had caused his swing to be slower and weaker when swinging from above and his recovery took longer.

With this information she took action. She acted out of breath, more than she actually was; most men underestimated woman and thought of them as weak so acting on her prejudice was going to be usual for her in this line of work.

He fell for it, continuing the attack even increasing its intensity; so, she lured him in, acting up as if she was giving up on the effort. Finally, she “made” a mistake leaving her open to an attack from above; and he took the bait.

As he began his attack, she smiled at him; kicking her blade to increase its speed she side stepped the blow and threw herself into the swing. His eyes widened as his head turned to see her, her blade racing for his neck. His body tightened as he tried to avoid the hit but it was too late the blade found its target.

She gave her all to gain the speed she needed and once again to stop the strike before it made too much damage. She knew if she stopped too soon, he would evade the slash so he hit him and he went down. His body fell to the ground with a thud

She screamed twice in the seconds that followed. The first a happy shout of a well-earned victory then a second one that killed the first one short; a cry for help.

Eigil came running to examine the guard; he made a quick inspection and took out what looked like a black box. He stood without a word and turned to her. Astrid knew nothing aside from first aid, so she had no way to assess the condition of Steve, she just saw the body on the ground, unmoving. “Di- did I… Did I kill him?” She asked almost sobbing.

“I think he is going to be fine, I already called for aid they will arrive in a few seconds” He signalled the box and then to the emergency stairs used for medical transportation.

Astrid did not breath until almost ten seconds later the door opened and three nurses came rushing with a hospital gurney. Two of them went to Steve while Helena came to them.

“What happened?” She asked with a little edge on her tone.

Eigil turned to Astrid

“You go wash yourself and to bed” He said as he signalled the exit. “We were having a friendly match, it’s nothing my deer Helena” He responded to the chief nurse in a playful tone.

“Don’t give me that. I have told you time and time again; tell us if you are having a fight here so we can leave at least one nurse to apply first aid while the rest of us arrive” She was speaking to Eigil in a way that told Astrid that this was a recurring problem between them, in a way no one else dared to talked to him. She noted that for future reference.

Astrid was dismissed but instead of going to her room she went for the infirmary to ask Helena about the condition of the young guard and received a lecture from the woman instead.

“You two idiots will make me die of overwork. Between him almost killing you and you beating up the guards; I mean, really?” She placed her left hand on her hip and her right on her face as she inclined her head backwards and took a deep breath. “I know you are new to all this; I am well aware of all this competition stuff and what you want to become; but do me a favour, no more trying to decapitate your opponents, Ok?” Astrid just nodded, her throat to tight to speak. “Disarm your opponent or if you find yourself injuring him then break a finger or a leg. Those are easier to treat and less dangerous than a neck injury.”

That night she did not sleep well. Her head ran rampart with thoughts of indecision and regret.

She had killed, twice now, but one was to save her life and the other by accident. Those deaths had not affected her much, she had two- or three-days of a mild depressive funk and that was it. She had not lost a night sleep up until now and she had not killed the young man.

She hoped to lose these feelings or this job would be a living nightmare. She hoped it became easy to kill with time; but as she finally fell to exhaustion, she prayed that it never does.