Demon(#Wattys2017 Entry)

Chapter 7:Clouded Vengeance

Gem swung first, taking advantage of her blade's length. The Demon ducked down under the attack, smiling."Going for the head first. Good strategy, but easy to dodge." She retaliated with a quick cut at the air to keep her back. Gem glared, dashing around and cutting at different areas. A slash at her shoulder, a quick jab at her back, a swing towards her legs.

The Demon parried each one, despite her speed. Gem was just sixteen, and so had youth and speed on her side. Guiltare, through not ancient, was considerably older, and so had more experience. In the eight years Gem had been under her tutelage, she had worked on steadily closing the gap. It was still clear in her mind, the day Gem had chosen to be a warrior...
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Guiltare, who had been only twenty at the time, nodded to Giles. "I see...so, you wish to be a warrior in addition to your healer duties?" He smile."Yes ma'am. Ah figure it's better ta have someone who c'n heal on da battlefield, 'stead o' just goin' ta those who're still alive after da battle, eh?"

Guiltare nodded."I see...and you plan on using...a scythe?" She asked, looking at the weapon skeptically.

He nodded."I, uh....picked it up in da last battle. Pretty cool, eh?"

She sighed and nodded."If you're sure." was her only reply.

Giles smiled and excused himself."Thank ye....uh, looks like ye got another visitor." He walked out, and the young girl walked in, red eyes filled with determination.

Guiltare frowned."Gem? Should you not be in your lessons?"

In answer, Gem reached to her side and pulled out her sword, the magnificent black steel cutlass that, at the moment, would have towered over her if it were to be stabbed into the ground. It shook in her hands, and it was clear she had trouble wielding it. She rested it against her shoulder to hold it easier with one hand, then signed."I am strong enough to wield a blade. I want you to teach me."

Guiltare, of course, shook her head."You're not yet old enough for training."She said."When you are older, perhaps-"

Gem shook her head forcefully."My family, my friends, and my people were slaughtered. Being older won't change that, it will just mean less time I could have spent working for revenge."

The Demon sighed at that, feeling the force and determination behind those signals."....I suppose younger ones being able to defend themselves could be useful...But!" She warned, raising her hand before she became too hopeful." You will train among other younglings, and only the basics until you have utterly mastered them. And only one hour a day, until that blade no longer shakes in your hands."

Gem nodded, signing in response."Fair."

She learned later that the blacksmith had forged the sword based on Gem's scattered memories of Nrevac soldiers, modeling it after the great blades that they wielded, meant to reach higher in their caverns and deal with any of the bats who would occasionally swoop down and attack. She also learned that he had made her a smaller sword first, and she had scolded him for the insult, spreading out her arms to specify the length of the blade she wanted.

She had expected years to go by until she met the standards she set out, but a mere three months later, Gem far surpassed the other students, and had exceeded her expectations. She had mastered basic sword moves, and even developed a few of her own, swinging her blade as effortlessly as a woodsman swings his axe. She had passed on the others to an aged soldier in retirement, and made Gem her lone student, amazed at her progress and skill.
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But, determination and practice would only take someone so far. Guiltare parried another flurry of blows before she struck, swinging the flat of her blade against Gem's hand. She yelped,sword falling from her hand. She swung again, knocking the blade away so that it impaled itself between Giles' feet.

He leapt back, startled, then smiled."Winner!"

Gem retrieved her blade,grinning and saluting. "Darn, I almost had you that time...Well, you know the deal." She dashed over, slashing out to cut off a leg of boar meat, then hurried over to her, holding it up proudly.

She took it, and Gem smiled."This was a tough one! I was stalking a deer, but he charged me from behind! Nearly gored my side open!"

Guiltare smiled."He tastes absolutely ferocious. Thank you."

Gem grinned."Enjoy it while it lasts! I'll definitely beat you next week!"

Guiltare ate with the soldiers for a while, then returned to the Keep. Morz, whose home was along the same street, nodded. "A good fight, as usual."he admitted."Though I believe I saw a few blunders on your part. Perhaps you are getting too old for this?"

Guiltare chuckled."Morz,you were the oldest member of the company when it was founded, thirty- five. And that was three decades ago. If anyone's going to be retiring, it should be you."

He snorted from beneath his mask."Please! As if you would last three days without me."He replied. They walked silently for a while, until Morz spoke." Will you ever tell her?"

Guiltare continued walking to her door."Why, tell her what?"She replied.

Morz grumbled from beneath his mask."You know what."

She sighed, opening the door and walking inside. "Fine. That I am the one responsible for the annihilation of her entire family and most of her race? That the very person she's trained half of her life to kill is the same person she calls master? No Morz, I haven't exactly come up with a way to slip that into polite conversation."She replied, slamming the door.

Morz sighed and shook his head."Foolish, foolish girl."He grumbled, walking along the road to his home.