Lady of the Wood

VI. Henry

The sun blazed hot against the nape of my neck, and the clang of metal on metal rang loud in my ears as Genevieve and I sparred in the field outside the palace walls. I had slept in most of yesterday after the dance, and my muscles were all the slower for it. She had gotten better since we'd been training together after our ride in the woods, and it wouldn't be long before her physical strength matched that of a man twice her size.

I spun away from a swing aimed towards my shoulder, deflecting the blow with the cross-guard of my sword. Genevieve's fighting style, once she had learned the basics of hand-to-hand combat, seemed to consist of slightly underhanded, quick, sneakier attacks rather than the slower, more obvious, sometimes careless displays of brute strength I so often saw in my men when they sparred with one another. She had the eyes of a hawk, and the cat-like instincts of one much more experienced at swordplay than she. She fought with a grace that marked her as something uniquely terrifying, for not only did she fight with elegance, she fought with a tenacity the likes of which I'd never seen in all my years of combat.

We exchanged blows for several more seconds before I finally managed to disarm her and force her to her knees, the edge of my blade pressed firmly against her collarbone. I sheathed my sword and bent to offer her a hand up.

"That was the best session we've had yet, I think," she commented, wiping her brow with the hem of her sleeve."You'd better watch out, or next time you'll be the one on your knees, Henry!" She gave me a wink and a smirk before swirling around and heading to where we had set up a small pavilion for our weapons during these training sessions.

I gave a short laugh. "Ha! I'd like to see you try and best me!" I reached to take the waterskin from her hands. I took a long swig before continuing, "Let's not forget who holds nearly every advantage over the other, Genevieve dearest! Not only do I tower you like a father and his child, I also have years of experience under my belt, not to mention the tutelage of the finest warriors in Evalor all my life."

"Oh, but my dear Henry, don't forget who the daughter of one of those warriors is! Father might have denied me a formal training, but that doesn't mean I didn't still learn a few things from him!" She walked towards me with every word. "Who has their opponent tied around their finger, hmm?" She slipped her arm up under my hand, twisted my wrist around hers, and pinned it above my head against one of the pillars in the pavilion. "Who really has the advantage, pretty boy?" Her voice was low, challenging me to deny it, and it pushed me to the limit of my patience for her little game. If it was a game she wanted, it was a game she would get.

"Pretty boy, eh?" I spun her around so that she was the one pinned against the pillar. "I think it's fair to say we both hold our own advantages over the other, don't you agree?" I whispered in her ear, being sure to brush her cheek with my own as I did. Her breath quickened and caught, and I smiled in satisfaction. Two people could play this game, and it was a game I quite enjoyed playing, particularly with her.

"Fine, if it will soothe your wounded ego, then I will agree," She pushed me off of her with a playful shove. "But I can't promise those advantages won't change in the near future."

"Challenge accepted," I tossed her her bow before reaching for my own and strapping my quiver to my waist. "Let's go shoot some things, shall we?"

She caught it without missing a beat. "That sounds like a fine way to spend the afternoon," She slung her quiver over her shoulder. She had forgone wearing a dress, and instead wore a pair of men's leggings and shirt with a leather corselet over the shirt with her circlet adorning her brow. The corselet had only one shoulder pad, to allow for freer movement of her dominant arm. We both wore a leather archer's glove and arm guard, and I had given her a pair of my boots that I no longer wore and that, surprisingly, fit her almost perfectly. "Are you coming, then?" She waved at me from the edge of the pavilion, and I realized I had been staring.