The Prince and The Prowess

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen:

When I had walked into one of the training rooms below deck, I met a tough looking woman. Her hair was jet black, and cut so short that it barely brushed her shoulders. When I met her eyes I was surprised to find her eyes just as dark as her hair. They stood out against her pale white skin.

She was muscular and tall, clad in brown and black leather. She looked me over and said, “You look like you have potential.”

“I got this far, haven’t I?” I responded. She nodded, flipping a staff in her arms.

“My name’s Kaelin Worth, but call me Kae.” She said. “I’ve been with this ship for three years now.”

“Juniper Sparks.” I responded. It was weird talking to another girl – especially one who could fight like I could. I already felt as though we had so many things in common.

“Everyone knows who you are.” She smiled at me. “You and your fiancé have received quite the attention, these past few days.”

“I honestly wonder why that is.” I said. “It’s a little strange.”

“You’ll get used to it.” She said to me. “This ship doesn’t get many new members. Occasionally we get Regals to throw down their helmets and join us, but women are a rarity. There are six on this ship, and you makes seven.”

“Are you all trained fighters?”

“Eh,” she thought for a moment. “Most of them can just defend themselves – they’re mostly here to keep the men fed, and healthy. I, on the other hand,” she twirled a dagger through her fingers, “have fighting in my blood. My father was an assassin, and my mother brewed poisons for Southern Pirates. I grew up in the South, but came up North to Nellasta on an assassin’s job. Got caught by the damned Regals and Milan rescued me during one of his raids. I figured it was about time to come out of the secretive lifestyle into one more…open. I was sixteen anyways, and wanted to be a different person.”

“Is this,” I looked around us, the rotting wood of the ship and the sound of the sloshing of the waves, “what you had in mind?” It hardly looked like anything an assassin would enjoy being a part of after being, well, an assassin.

She looked at me for a second, and then shrugged. “Not really. I was hoping for an adventure, but hey.” She tossed me a wooden staff. “Being here has given me a lot of time to think.”

“Think…about?”

“Shouldn’t you be thinking about how you’re going to beat that fiancé of yours?”

She had a point. I raised the staff up, across my shoulders in ready position. I met her eyes, and sarcastically taunted, “Not sure there’s much an assassin could teach me.”

She smiled, preparing herself. “Ex- assassin. And you’ll be surprised.” Then she jumped.

“Elbows higher! When moving quickly you need all the balance you can get!” Kae yelled, instructing me. I raised my elbows and finished the twelve swipe move he had taught me right after a three step maneuver. It had been a great change, since I was used to doing a six swipe move.

 Kae was a very strict instructor. She would watch me do one thing multiple times, and strike every time I did something wrong. I did the twelve swipe move again and again. She watched, waiting for a flaw.

“Very good.” She said after five minutes of the same move. I stopped and took multiple breaths, sweat dripping from my brow. Fighting was a lot of work. “You have the basics down, but you could still use work.”