Vera's Story(To Love and To Lie)

Chapter Ten

"No, look, you have to move your arms like *this*, or else the blow will be ineffectual and cause no damage."

It was mid morning, and Tom was trying his best to teach Vera how to block blows and counterattack.

"No!" Tom sighed, "Look, apparently your royal training got completely forgotten, so you're back to square one. I can't teach you this stuff if you think you still know something, so you have to erase the idea that you might know something completely from your mind."

"I'm trying! It's just hard to remember, I feel like I had a built up memory of doing this wrong." Vera cried, trying again to do what Tom was trying to teach her.

"Wrong again! Here, let me show you what happens when you try to block and counterattack like that. I will pretend to be less skilled than I am."

Two seconds later, Tom had smacked her fingers with his staff, which was what they were using for a sword, then got close and wrenched her shoulder so hard she was afraid her arm would pop out of its socket.

"Ouch!"

"See? Now your fingers were cut off and your arm was dislocated. I'll just keep attacking you until you get it, I guess."

"Tom? Mistress? I brought some bread and water, will you eat breakfast now?" Mira asked from the doorway that led into the inn. She had shown them this little courtyard in the back of the inn and Tom had decreed that it was perfect for training.

Immediately, Tom leaped over to Mira. "Yes please!" He said eagerly.

"Hey! Don't eat all the bread!" Vera cried as Tom jammed a whole slice into his mouth and grabbed another.

"It's okay, there's two plates, one for you and one for Tom." Mira said, handing Vera her plate when she reached her.

The three of them sat down on the dirt in the courtyard, as there weren't any benches or tables, and ate bread in silence for a minute.

"So," Mira began, setting her empty plate down. "How is the training going?"

"Terribly," Vera said.

"Meh, I guess it's going okay," Tom said at the same time. "What? It could be worse." He continued when Vera frowned at him skeptically.

"Yeah, it could be worse, but it could get much, much better." Said Derek, popping outside with a plate of sausages.

"Hi Derek," Mira greeted, not looking surprised at the clerks arrival.

"Hi, Mira, have a sausage." Derek said, proffering the plate to her. "If you're trying to train Allie, you're doing a terrible job." He told Tom.

"What do you know? I'm doing my best, and I think she'll get it eventually this way. It was how I was taught and I can fight just fine." Tom replied defensively.

When Mira carefully took one of the sausages, Derek put a couple more on her plate for her. "For later, if you can't eat them now," He told her when she tried to put them back. "Well, Tom, I taught Mira self defense, and I managed to not leave her with bruises."

"She has to learn how to fend off attacks from swords, knives, and other weapons, because of what she's learning to prepare for."

"She's a girl, everyone will underestimate her and try to just grab her rather than rushing her with a sword, and there's only a few places where people are even carrying weapons around, so it is far more practical to at least start with normal self defense, which Mira could teach her very easily." Derek countered, plopping down between Tom and Mira and digging into his plate of sausage.

"Like I said, she needs this kind of training for what she's preparing for. What are you doing out here, anyway? Aren't you normally working by this time?"