Shock paints my face and all I can do is stare at him with my mouth wide open. I've probably caught over ten flies in my mouth at this point, but can we just talk about the nerve it takes to preach about not playing around and then pulling that stunt.
It feels like hours that we've been staring at each other and instead of apologizing, like he should be, he's standing there, leaning on his sword like a cane. He has this 'what are you gonna do about it?' expression and it's causing my temperature to rise.
A hand on the small of my back causes me to jump and turn to look at at a kind faced Madoc, holding my sword out to me. "Here you go Ni. You were doing a good job, just needed a little bit firmer of a grip." He places the hilt back in my right hand, a smile of encouragement arranging his face. My knuckles start to turn white as I hold on tightly to the hilt. "That's good. But, you don't want to hold it too hard, just securely. The goal is to have control and just because you tighten your arm doesn't mean you have that."
"Doesn't holding it securely mean I would be gripping it tightly?" This is all so confusing. I honestly thought I had a good hold on it before, but Cai acted like I had the grip strength of a fucking gold fish.
Madoc places his hand over mine and smiles. "Here, I'll show-"
"Lessons over. It's getting dark. Put your sword up and let's go." He hasn't moved from his spot, but his stance seems to have tightened some. Control freak much?
Madoc obviously knows what he's doing and is perfectly capable of giving me some pointers. I think that I'm going to reinstate my request for a transfer in teacher. He removes his hand from on top of mine and steps back a few inches. "Good lesson today, Ni! I can't wait to see your improvements in our next lesson."
"Thanks for your help, Doc." Hopefully Cai can hear this and takes some pointers on his teaching style. "Your support meant a lot to me and I can't wait to learn more from you!"
"Anytime, Agni. Let me know if you need more help, even if that's just conversation about the history of sword fighting." And with that, he walks away.
Of course, that leaves an opening for a pissed off Cai to come storming over.
Bracing myself for the impact of his attitude, I take an offensive stance. "What the hell is your issue Pouty Patty? If anyone should be upset, it's me."
He reaches down and unsheathes my sword from my waist, pulling it out and handing it to me.
"You said lessons are over for today?!"
"I know what I said. Grip it."
"But, I want Madoc! I like him more than you and if we're continuing lessons, I want him to do it!" There's no sign of acknowledgement from him. "Why did you say we were ending lessons if we're not?!"
"He's too easy on you." He wraps his hand around mine as it grabs the sword, much in the same way Madoc did, but it certainly doesn't feel the same. "You need someone who isn't going to baby you and who will tell you that what you're doing sucks."
"Oh, and that person is you?"
"Yup." He nods as he situates my fingers on the sword. Any argument falls off my tongue when I see how concentrated he is on positioning my fingers, I don't think he'd hear me if I tried. I find myself completely transfixed on how gentle his touch is as he moves my fingers around, bringing the sword to rest between my thumb and my first two fingers.
Releasing my hand, he steps back. I tighten the rest of my hand around it at the bottom, ready for whatever he's going to throw at me.
"No."
"What do you mean, no?! You're the one who put my fingers like this!"
He shakes his head. "No, you tightened the last two fingers on your hand and those need to be looser on the handle."
That really doesn't make any sense. "Okay, so you want me to grip it tighter, but you want me to loosen my hand. Do you need a nappy nap Cai-bear? You're getting cranky, and frankly, kind of dumb."
"Agni, I didn't want you to grip it tighter. I wanted you to grip it correctly. Something Madoc was failing to explain to you."
Whatever beef he has with Madoc is ridiculous. "He's just trying to help, unlike you, who's just berating me."
"His help would be nice if he wasn't wrong and I don't want to have to re-teach things to you because he doesn't know what he's doing." The bite behind his words catches me off guard. It's obvious that Madoc knows what he's doing, he's not clueless; he makes swords for god's sake. You can't make a piece of art like my sword and not have any knowledge on how to use it.
"Aw, Cai-Cai, am I seeing some control issues coming out?" That has to be it. Thinking back on it, any situation that he doesn't have control over freaks him out.
When I wanted to go follow Mr. Shadow, he freaked out.
When Madoc teaches me combat, he throws a hissy fit.
When I attempt to ditch him to ride with Doc, he protests.
There's a pattern here and I think someone needs some therapy. Hint hint, the person that does is about 6'4, has green eyes, and is extremely frustrating.
"You joke, but I know what I'm doing. Hold the sword like I told you and you'll see." He gestures forward for me to do as he says. Honestly, I'm curious about how this is going to work. "Now, think of the sword as an extension of yourself. When the sword moves, you move."
Before he even tells me to, I swing the sword toward the ground in a slashing movement. "Agni. Feet shoulder width apart and you aren't swatting a fly, you're cutting butter."
I quickly position myself so that my body is lined up like he said and he nods in approval. "Good. Now, you shouldn't feel the weight of the sword in your wrist or your forearm. If you're lining up your wrist and balancing it properly, you'll feel most of it in your shoulder." It's awkward to figure out, but I keep adjusting myself until I can feel the relief on my wrist. "You need to do this because waving a sword around, even one as light as yours, is tiring. Your shoulder can withstand that amount of work much more easily than your wrist can. Focus on the larger muscles." I look at him for confirmation that my hold is correct and he seems satisfied with it.
"Now, swing the sword down-" I slash down, proud of the amount of force I put behind it. "-gently. I was going to say gently."
"If I'm trying to fuck a bitch up, why would I be gentle about it? Do you want me to sit them down and have a talk with them about it first? For how much you complain about Doc taking it easy on me, you want me to be gentle with the people I'm trying to gut?" I'm waving my arms around as I'm talking, hoping to express my frustration, and I just don't think he gets it.
"First, stop swinging that thing around. You're going to hurt someone, and I guarantee that someone will be yourself." Rolling my eyes, I bring my sword to my side. "Second, stop thinking of the movements as fighting and more like dancing."
"Dancing?"
"Yes, dancing."
"Well, I've got a surprise for you buddy boy. I'm a terrible dancer." It's a fact. I tried to do musicals as a kid and wow oh wow. The only plays I ever made were the ones where the teachers included everyone. I was awful in every way, shape, and form. Dancing, forget it. One time I punched this girl in the nose and she said I did it on purpose, when I seriously didn't. It got me kicked out of that production. Honestly, I think the teacher knew it was an accident and just wanted to get my atrocious ass off the stage.
"Maybe you just haven't had the right partner." He walks up behind me and rests his hands on my waist before he leans forward to speak softly in my ear. As he does his warm breath tickles the back of my earlobe and goose bumps work their way up my entire body. "Just follow my lead." The hand on my right hip slides its way down my arm where he gently rests his hand under my wrist, moving it with his. He starts drawing patterns in the air with the sword, fluid movements, that are far too graceful to call slashes.
"Good Agni. Keep doing that." He slowly starts giving control back to me and moves his hand back to my waist. Next thing I know, I'm moving the sword all on my own. Given, it's not perfect like it was when he was doing it, but it's way better than I thought I could do. I'd probably do better if Cai's hands weren't sending heat pulsing through my body.
Maybe I have a fever. I wonder if the berries haven't completely worn off yet.
Gradually, he removes his hands and I feel like I've got this whole thing down.
After a while, I'm not really paying attention to what is going on around me, mesmerized by the way my blade glides through the air. Suddenly, I see Cai's sword swing towards mine, not giving me enough time to react before his blade hits and bounces off.
"And that, is how you grip a sword."
I still haven't quite processed what just happened. "What?"
"You did it. Lesson done. Let's go back to camp."
"That's it? There's nothing else to learn?" My head is still swimming from, what I assume to be, adrenaline from using such an amazing tool. It's been a long time since I felt a high like this.
Well, I guess I was just tripping balls a couple days ago. But, this is different.
"It's getting dark and you have job to do. But, that doesn't mean I'm not going to come along and give you an oral lesson." The serious face that hasn't gone away since we started has faded and a smirk tickles his lips.
I reach out and punch him on the shoulder. "You're disgusting! I wouldn't let you touch me with a ten foot pole. So if you thought that was something in your future, you can hop right back on that ship and row it back to harbor. The only thing getting wet is going to be you, after I drown you in your own tears."
The air fills with his laughter. "Love-bug. Pick up your mind out of the gutter and clean it off. An oral lesson on fighting techniques." The wink he gives me after clarifies that there was double meaning. Of course he could never be so innocent.
"God, I can't wait to be as far away from you as possible. You're a pig."
"Well, Ni, I'm all yours tonight. So, I hope you like pork."
What an absolute idiot.
The sky is almost completely dark and I go to collect my things from the saddle bag, ready to map the stars and, apparently, spend time with Cai.
Doc walks up behind me and puts his hand on my back.
"What's up Doc?"
"Oh, I was just wondering if you wanted me to stand guard with you tonight! I'd love for you to teach me more about the stars. I find them quite fascinating. And well, you're the only person who has knowledge on them."
Past his smiling face, Cai is folding up a blanket and putting it under his arm, ready to go. I hesitate slightly and turn back to Doc.
Then, I say something I know I'll probably regret in a few minutes.
"Maybe another time Doc. I think Cai's got it tonight."
Lovely lovely lovely people!
Here you go! I hope none of you are too mad at me after last chapter!
Let me know what you think of chapter 21 and some #NiCai time.
Shout outs to every single amazing person that reads this book. Every vote, comment, and read makes my day that much better. I can't tell you how much joy it has given me seeing all the people interacting in the comments and following each other because they have so much fun talking about KOTF! It's SO cool.
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Chapter Questions:
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Do you think this chapter will mean anything in the scheme of Cai/Agni?
Do you have any ideas about what Cai's prophecy is? I'm just curious!
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See ya guys in the comments or snapchat (or for those more shy readers, next chapter),
Ashten
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