Twelve Days to Die

Jezzetcould feel her legs wobbling as she reached the flimsy gate for thesecond time that day. Beatthe sun though, Jez. Just.The brilliant yellow ball was about to start shining directly down onLongwood, but it hadn't made it quite yet. Jezzet celebrated bydropping down onto her knees in the grass and dunking her head intothe trough right next to where the goat was lapping away. She gulpeddown huge mouthfuls of the stale water before pulling her head backup and gasping for air.

Jezzet's gasps quickly turned to laughs and she fell backwards ontothe grass and stared up at the brilliant blue sky. She wiped waterfrom her eyes and pushed her short, black hair back on her head. Shelay there and listened to her heart beat quiet and slow.

These sorts of stolen moments all to herself were rare. Up until ayear or so ago Yuri would sometimes disappear for days on end,leaving Jezzet all to herself. She had loved those days, and thefreedom she found in them. She'd still had duties of course, and Yurialways left her with a strict training regime, but it was Jezzet'schoice whether she followed it or not. Sometimes she would lie in hercot until midday and enjoy being lazy. Sometimes she would steal downinto Truridge during the afternoon and get roaring drunk. Sometimesshe would sit outside and watch the stars twinkle, and simply enjoyhaving the world all to herself.

ButYuri hadn't left the farm in so long privacy was nothing but a fondmemory for Jezzet. Traders still came to call, but he no longersought them out. Neither did he use her body like he used to. Therewas a time when he'd take her three or four times a week, usuallystinking drunk and rough as goat fur, though sometimes he could begentle. It had been months now since Jezzet had been fucked. Strangethat you're almost starting to miss it, Jez.

She felt a tugging on her boot and looked up to see the goatstraining to force its way through the fence and nibble on her toes.It wasn't the first time the little beast had done so either, itseemed to have a strange fascination with Jezzet's feet.

A heavy stick sailed through the air overhead and landed somewherebehind Jez, she ignored it and ignored Yuri walking towards thelittle gate with a similar stick in hand.

"Up," Yuri ordered.

Jezzet waited a few moments,enjoying the mild defiance, but it wouldn't do to ignore her master'sorders for too long. She knew from experience just how much defianceshe could get away with before earning bruises. Likea whipped dog knowing its place.

Rolling to her feet, Jezzet straightened up and glanced down at thestick lying in the grass. It was one of the wooden training swords.Shaped like a plain longsword and made of ironwood, it was nearly asstrong as steel and weighed about the same too. They had a range ofweapons inside their little home that would make most collectors morethan a little jealous, and Yuri had long ago collected wooden copiesof some of his favourite blades.

"Wehaven't used wooden swords in..." Jezzet racked her memory. "Years,I guess."

Yuri pushed open the gate and stepped onto the path. The goat made aplay for freedom but the gate swung closed far too quickly.

"Pickit up," Yuri said as he approached. He was wearing his trainingrobe, thin cloth made baggy by his lean frame. It tended to ripplearound him as he moved and made picking out a target that much moredifficult. Yuri had also tied his long grey hair back and trimmed hisbeard into a point. He looked more like the master Jezzet rememberedfrom her childhood than the one of more recent years.

Jezzet scooped the wooden sword from the grass and gave it a twirl,feeling the weight and balance of the blade and settling into atwo-handed stance, her feet shoulder width apart.

Old bastard won't give youanother warning, Jez. He'll just come at you. At least you ain'tgonna get impaled this time.It was a sobering reminder of how tough her training had been upuntil now, and how harsh a master Yuri was. Jezzet had scars all overher body, arms, legs, torso, even one on her face, a small snip of ascar just below her right eye. It was all part of the Blademastertraining, or so Yuri said. A Blademaster needed to know how it feltto get cut, to get stabbed, to get run through. They needed to knowso it wouldn't shock them during a real fight. Jezzet had all thescars of battle, but she'd never been near a real fight.