The Robber Knight's Secret

43. Beaten and Whipped

Reuben stood with his back to her—fully clothed, incidentally—and there was no woman on top of him, or beside him, or anywhere in sight for that matter. There was, however the figure of a little girl with a stick her hand standing opposite him, a stick which she used to batter him from all sides with all the force she could muster. Whirling around him as she did, she looked like a crazed dervish.

"Yes," Reuben groaned his encouragement, as one of the blows hit him right in the stomach. Ayla could see that he was having trouble trying not to grin. Obviously, he was enjoying himself tremendously. Well, as soon as he noticed her, that would change instantly! "Yes, Fye, like that! Harder! I'm your enemy, remember? You want to kill me! Faster! Harder!"

"This is a stick," the little girl complained, waving her weapon discontentedly. "You can't kill anyone with a stick! I need a sword."

And she jumped forward to emphasize her words with a blow to Reuben's knee. He didn't even flinch. But he pretended to, enthusiastically.

"If you used a sword, you'd cut me in half and I wouldn't be here to teach you tomorrow," he pointed out.

"Hm. That's true, I suppose. Well, I guess I can continue using a stick for now."

And she wacked him again, eliciting an impressive, if obviously fake moan of pain. "Die, you rancorous, vile worm! Die, you black villain! Die, you... you..."

"Lumpish, guts-griping lout?"

"Thank you. Die, you lumpish, guts-griping lout!"

"Oh no," Reuben proclaimed with an evil grin. "It is you who shall die, you unnatural little beast! You milk-livered, withered witch!"

Raising a stick of his own, which was the oak to Fye's sapling, he parried several of her blows. But she was so fast on her little feat that she got more than one past his gard.

"Die! Die, you dankish hag!" he proclaimed, and gave her a gentle nudge with his club that sent her flying backwards into the mud. She splashed into a puddle of rainwater, but before Reuben could even take a step forward, she was on her feet again, shooting forward like a mouse intent on stabbing an elephant to death.

"Never, you clapper-clawed whore-master!"

"That's a good one," Reuben complimented her, parrying her attack. "Even I've never heard that one before."

"I got it from my brother. I shall tear out your heart and feed it to the crows, you poisonous sperpent-egg!"

"I must have a chat with that brother of yours. Sounds like a promising young lad. By the way, do serpent-eggs have hearts you can feed to the crows?"

"They do if I say they do! Die!"

"Never!"

Ayla judged that this farce had gone on long enough. It was time to make a few things clear to Reuben. She stepped around the corner of the wall and cleared her throat.

The pair continued fighting as if nothing had happened. Well, it really wasn't surprising that they hadn't heard her over the banshee-like screaches the girl was uttering.

"You're good on the attack already," Reuben said, swiping another blow of Fye's aside. "But you need to work on your defense."

"Not if I kill you now!"

"Kill me? Hardly."

Moving to the side, Reuben touched Fye with his stick. She tried to block his stick with hers, but even Ayla could see that it was never going to work. Three times he touched her like this, slowly moving around the little girl, always attacking one vulnerable side.