Markus Verotis had spent his young life in the city of New Pompeii, His family had lived there for generations and it was fitting that he would raise a family there too. He had joined the warrior class at around the age of 14 which was about normal for the beginning of training after making it through the basics school at around 19 he went to all the schools in town looking to see who he was going to have give him the advanced training. Advanced training was an option and often meant a command once you joined the army.
The house of Cassius was the house of a man in the political class. Not normally where you would find the advanced warrior school, but the master of the house had hired a hero from the last campaign to teach at the school and for that was considered to be one of the best schools around. He walked up to the gate that led directly to the plaza in the middle of the villa. It was unusually designed for a school most had all the men practice in the yard in front of the house, as a way for the school to show off it's methods.
He entered the gate and stood amongst the warriors that were gathered inside. The man standing in front that was obviously in charge gave the challenge. "Who among you would claim the title warrior." He marched forward and in this way he entered advanced training. He enjoyed training and was pretty good, one of the best in the school in fact. As he was moved from the back of the formation to the front he began to notice a balcony that extended over part of the courtyard. He had never really paid that much attention to it until today. When he saw a young lady standing on the balcony watching the training going on below. She had dark hair and a stern look on her face. She studied the men on the training ground not like a teenage girl typically would. Not looking for a handsome boy that might make a nice boyfriend but instead she seemed to be paying more attention to their skill and the stroke of their swords, how fast they were with the block and parry. How well they fought and moved.
Every day she was up there most days by herself but some days she would have her female friends up there with her. Her friends always seemed to be chattering amongst themselves and pointing at different young men as they trained and giggling to each other. They would whisper to her and try to include her in their whisperings. She always seemed more focused on their fighting form than their physical form.
On one such day Markus was sparring with one of the other guys that was in training when he noticed the she was on the balcony again. His sparing partner noticed him looking up to the balcony now and again. "Her name is Jullianna you know, her father owns the school."
"Who?" said Markus acting like he didn't know what was going on.
"The girl on the Balcony that you keep staring at."
Markus smiled slightly at this point both men rested from the fight and moved to a more relaxed conversation. They moved over to the water jugs and continued talking.
"We have all noticed her I don't know if there is a man that passes through those gates that doesn't notice her."
"You might be right there.”
"You have no chance with her Markus, you had better just give up on that dream."
"I think you underestimate me, she is very beautiful, but I was looking at her to see what she is always watching us for." he said defiantly
"Of Course not, " the response came with a bit of sarcasm and a wink. "Think about it, If you were a young lady such as her and you had lots of handsome young men getting all hot and sweaty in your yard wouldn't you want to watch?"
Markus smiled to himself at the thought " There is more to it than that. Her friends maybe, they are here to watch and ogle. But the way she watches us I think there is more to it."
"How can you tell?"
"I watch her eyes, to see where they are watching."
"Why are you looking at her eye there are things much more pleasant to look at on her" his sparing partner responded and grinned slyly.
"True enough." Markus responded
"Again, give up on that deam you may have, she will be mine, Markus" he said cockily.
"And what makes you so much more likely to have a chance with her than me?' Markus asked.
" I am better looking for one," quipped his buddy.
"And dumber too" Markus retorted. They both laughed and went back to the formation to continue sparring.
There she was day after day as he trained, the unreachable beauty that all the men talked about and now he knew her name. The training continued normally and Markus was beginning to shine as one of the brightest and strongest in the group. Soon he was moved to the first rank at the very front every action judged by the trainer. He was right in front of the balcony and could see her even better now and was even more convinced now than ever that she was not just man-watching but that she was focusing on something else. Markus was working hard to be the best. He started staying later and later to get in as much practice as possible. Even when everyone else had gone and there was no one to spar with he would stand in the sand and just practice his form. He liked the solitude of the training area at night. He was able to lose himself in his own mind, focus solely on the stroke of the wooden blade the feeling of its weight in his hand.
So there he was just past dark one night standing alone in the training area. He closed his eyes and lost himself in an imaginary fight. He saw in his minds eye an opponent before him. He struck, bringing his sword down in a wide arch across the would be opponents chest, then another pulling from left to right slashing at the midsection. Then a step and a downward stoke.
CRACK
He heard and felt the wooden blade strike something. That sound was so familiar it was another wooden sword that he had struck. Wait a moment he was alone. He was sure of it. Everyone had gone home even the trainer was gone. There was no one there. Yet he had heard and felt the stroke of his sword stopped. He stood there frozen in the instant he felt the two swords meet. He opened his eyes and there standing in front of him was Jullianna. Just like him she stood there frozen in place. She held in her hands a wooden gladius she held it just above her head in a guard. The moonlight cascaded across her and the light night breeze caused her light blue tunic to flutter. It matched perfectly with the color of her eyes she was absolutely gorgeous. She always wore jewelry when she was on the balcony, yet she wasn't wearing any now. But it took nothing away, He stood there trying to determine if it was a dream or not.
"My apologizes, miss, I thought I was alone out here" he said as he dropped to one knee out of respect and apology. He laid the sword on the sand in front of him as was done when a lowly warrior spoke to one of the political class.
"No apology necessary, No harm done." she replied smoothly almost inviting a retort.
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"You were lucky you were able to stop that you would have been hurt if I had hit you." he said
"You wouldn't have been able to hit me if your eyes were open, much less so with you off in some other world." Julliana responded.
"Is that so" Markus challenged
"Yes, it is, even if you were trying to you wouldn't land a single blow" she said with so much certainty in her voice.
"Shall we test that?" he said with a grin.
"You would raise your sword against a woman?"
"If she would raise one against me" Markus rose to his feet and took ahold of the sword. Both took their position. Setting their weight rightly on their feet, swords at the ready both waiting for the other to strike first. Markus knew he would have to let her make the first move or he could really get into trouble. Even if she had challenged him. She obliged, a straight thrust to his chest. He easily deflected it knocking it wide right. She didn't miss a beat and started bringing it back across as a slash across the midsection he jumped back a little and sucked his stomach in as much as he could muster and watched the blade miss him completely if just barely. As soon as it passed he made his move a trust at her midsection. He anticipated her to deflect it and he already planned his next move. She did something he would have never anticipated and stepped in with her leg and stood facing the blade as it passed in front of her. She used the momentum to slam her shoulder into him which threw him off balance. Then pulling her own arm across her body struck him with the pommel of the sword. That put him on his back. He wasn't out of the game yet. He kept his guard up and kept the blade pointed at her even from his back. She smiled down at him and smirked. When she realized he wasn't going to expose himself by attempting to get up she began a series of strikes at his guts. He rolled and ended back on his feet. She would strike and he would block and deflect the strike. On and on they went for several minutes, this was one of the longest sparing sessions Markus had been in and even by the point that 10 or more minutes had passed every time he thought he had the opportunity to strike or take the advantage she would close the opening or left it open and when he took it, it turned out to be a trap so that she would get the edge up on him and give her a chance to strike. She had landed strikes on his arms legs and chest. She was definitely good. Better even than the instructor at the school. No matter what trucks he tried he couldn't land a blow. Now he was just hoping she would tire out. They had been at it for the better part of half an hour at least. This lethal dance or it would have been for Markus had the swords been real. Each of them swinging and blocking and dodging they both moved around and threw each others stances. Their hands and feet a blur of motion and forceful intent. They both smiled with each strike and parry. Neither had encountered someone who was at each others level before. The challenge of the fight was fun for them both. Markus watched in shear amazement as this beautiful woman, spun, twirled, and struck at him and parried his blows. He would have never imagined such a graceful creature existed much less that he would meet her. Each could see the other was tiring. They knew they couldn't keep this up forever. Markus had been working her back towards a wall and he knew this was his chance. He heft the sword one last time and their swords crossed, met in the middle between them each pushing hard against the other in order to get the advantage. She leaned in to try to get more leverage on him and he did the same. It had all come down to this. They were going to see who was better. They both pushed into each other and leaned in a little more and more.
Until they both looked up away from the swords and saw that they were inches from each others faces. They were just looking into each other eyes. Markus thought about where he was and who he was and more so who she was. He backed away from her kneeling on one knee with his sword point in the dirt. "I guess we will call this one a draw." He stood and looked up at her she was standing where he had left her standing against the wall. She was just looking at him. An unusual look in her eyes. almost confusion, and something else mixed in Markus didn't know what it was. He turned and walked out of the courtyard without as much as a word from her.
He slept well that night, exhausted from the fight. He dreamed of the fight, of that dance of death he had done, for quite some time he had danced with her and felt like he had learned more from fighting with her than what the instructor had ever taught him. When he awoke he missed her, she wasn't there anymore. She had been there all night in his dream, fighting him, their swordplay to match the best that he could envision. When he arrived at the villa the next morning he was anxious to see her again. He met Westley just outside the gate.
"You will never guess who I had a duel with last night.:
"Was it the barmaid that works in the place down the street?"
"No" Markus said inviting another guess.
"Yea you are right that was me with the barmaid last night. We dueled all night long."
"That isn't what I meant at all. It was a female but we dueled with sword"
"Please there isn't a woman in all of New Pompeii that could match any of us with a sword."
"There is and not only is she a match she is better than any of us here, even me"
"And where may I ask did you find such a woman at such a late hour?" Westley responded becoming more interested and getting ever more suspicious of the story.
"Here at the school" Markus said being vague.
"So either one of the students is actually a woman or one of their family servants had too much time on their hands and spent too much of it with the trainer when he isn't with us"
"Guess again" Markus teased.
Westly was getting noticeably rattled. "Well let me in on the secret or will I have to beat it out of you?"
"It was Jullianna, the owners daughter, the one that is always watching us."
Ha Ha Ha Westly laughed "Now I know your joking."
"I wouldn't joke about her" Markus responded strongly
"Yea Yea, if you decide you want to tell me who it really was that gave you those bruises," Westly said looking Markus over." Let me know."
"Don't believe me then" Markus said defiantly as they entered the gate, received his sword and looked up at the balcony where she normally was. And there she was watching them as she always had.
Markus knew better than to try to say anything to her, anything he would have tried to say would have been heard by all who were present. Her vision was just scanning the group of men. When her eyes passed over him, he would have sworn her eyes stopped on him if only for a moment and that there was a hint of a smile on her face.
Maybe it was wishful thinking, anyone else would have sworn that it didn't happen.
He stayed late that night as he did the night before hoping she would show up for another round. She never graced him with her presence. When he decided that it was just too late to wait any longer he decided he had to go. For the next several nights he held out hope that she would show up for another fight. He wanted to see her again to experience the exhilaration that only a fight with her had ever stirred. But she never did. She was still there watching the group during the day as always, she would bring her friends up with her to watch.
Apon his graduation from the school he was recognized as being an excellent student and easily was granted a command in the Impire's army.
When he arrived at his command he was informed that they were gearing up for the final campaign against the Holdout Nations. The last nations that were not under the rule of the Impire. Besides these lands all that could be reached by land or ship had pledged their loyalty to the Impire. Everyone knew this was their last chance for glory last chance for real combat. They were all moved by cart from New Pomeii where the army had originated. New Pompeii had been designated as the city that would be the source of the invasion force itself. The surrounding cities has been tasked to create the defensive forces to protect the cities in case of counterattack. The army from New Pomeii had been gathering for years now, and he arrived just within a few months of the planned start of the invasion. He had been given an element of 50 men that were his to command and to train as part of the invasion. They had all completed the basic warrior training that is required to wear that title. They had most of the basic skills that was expected of them and it was simply Markus' job to have them combine their skills and to work as a unit. Every day the carts would stop to set up camp and he would form his men up and drill them to be sure they would react to his orders. He knew they would be of no use if they wouldn't listen to his order under the pressures of combat. He drilled them in moving as one and how they should react to specific situations. So that even without his word they would anticipate and react. He saw other commanders were not so studious when it came to the training of their men, after all they were all warriors of New Pompeii, the best the Impire has to offer what did they have to fear. Markus understood, none of these men had actually seen combat before. When the carts came rolling up to the border he knew his men were operating as a single unit as if they were an extension of his swordarm of his very will.