Inherent Heart (on hold)

Chapter 16

I gulped, a bit beyond nervous. My Mother expected me to “train” with her, and I had a bad idea of what that might entail. Whether we were going to do archery practice, sword practice, or heaven forbid, spell practice, it was sure to involve me demonstrating my incompetence and ignorance. Taking a deep breath, I promised myself that I would do my absolute best, and if I failed epically, not be a sore loser.

“What would you like to train in right now?” I asked.

“Hmm... I'm not sure. What do you usually work on?” she returned.

“I am pretty good at archery, I am a decent swords woman, and I need to work on my spells,” I told her, wondering what she would gather from that, and what she would choose for us to do.

“Well, than let's practice some sword fighting. Your middle ground seems like a fair place for us to start,” she decided. I breathed a sigh of relief. Thank god she didn't pick spells.

“Okay. I need to run up to my room to grab my sword, so why don't yous just wait here,” I offered. “Do you need a sword?” I asked.

“No, I have my own. Just go up and get yours, and I'll meet you outside,” she replied. Wondering where she kept her sword, I ran up to my room and got my sword. I paused for a moment in my room, looking at myself in my mirror and comparing myself to my Mother. I looked quite like her in general, but my features must have been from my dad, whoever he was. Then I ran back downstairs and quickly found my Mother in the courtyard. Odd. She still wasn't carrying a sword. She turned when she saw me approaching, and smiled.

“So if you just step over here, there is some space. Are you ready?” I asked, pondering the possibility that her sword was invisible.

“Almost,” she answered. Mother quickly grabbed a clip from her hair, and swished it downwards. I only had a moment to think that she was going to fight me with a hair clip before the hair clip turned into a beautiful sword with gold inlaid into the handle. “Now I am ready,” she said, smiling with the same fierce pleasure as I did when I dueled. Like mother, like daughter.

“Okay then,” I said warily, holding up my sword in the defensive position. My Mother did the same, and we started circling each other carefully, looking for an opening to attack. Suddenly, she whirled her sword though the air, and I was only just able to bring my own up in time to block her. I quickly tried an attack of my own, which she countered with so much ferocity that it jarred my arm. She attacked again and again, and each time I blocked it without a second to spare. Then, Mother made a mistake. She feinted to the left, but because she was beginning to tire, she was too slow to change directions, so I was able to get my sword past her lighting fast defenses. I attacked her without mercy while she was trying to recover, and she was left dodging me left and right. I attacked her again. This time she was able to block in time, and our swords clashed with so much force that hers went flying out to the side, still in her hand, leaving her unprotected and vulnerable. I brought my sword around quickly, and it whizzed past her cheek, missing her by inches. Her sword came back from the side, but this time I was expecting it, and I twisted my sword around hers, causing Mother's arm to bend back. With one last colossal thrust, I flung her sword away. She lost her hold on it, and it flew in an arc behind her. It landed with a thud in the ground, where it stood quivering, it's tip embedded in the earth. I walked over to it, pulled it out of the ground, then turned around and handed it to my Mother.

“Here,” I said, panting, but smiling. Who would've thought that I could beat the Queen - even if she was my Mother.

“Wow,” she commented as soon as she could catch her breath. “I haven't been that well matched in a long time,” she said, clearly praising me.