Chapter Eight

 

Sarafina stood stunned, staring at the sword in Skylar's hand as Skylar opened the door to Sarafina's cell and stepped inside, closing the door behind him. Had Captain Larkurr changed his mind? Was Skylar going to kill her for him?

But to Sarafina's surprise, Skylar handed her the sword and drew his own.

“This will probably be my only chance to cross blades with the Pirate Queen,” he said. “I want to see how good you really are.”

Sarafina was horrified. She couldn't fight"she didn't know how!

Skylar laughed at the expression on Sarafina's face. “Don't worry, it's just for fun. No bloodshed or killing. I'll even teach you a little, if you don't know how.”

“I don't know how,” Sarafina said as she struggled to hold up her sword.

Skylar laughed again. “Well, for starters, you don't hold it like that.” He adjusted her hold on the sword. “The hilt won't hurt you, okay? It's the blade you gotta watch out for.”

“What's my goal in this?”

“To stab, run through, cut, decapitate, or otherwise injure or kill your opponent.”

Sarafina gulped. “I thought you said 'no bloodshed or killing!'”

“None of that in this fight. But in most fights, you'll get that in plenty.” Skylar gave her an uncertain look. “You're sure you're the Pirate Queen?” Lemme see that ring of yours.” He stepped forward and swung his sword at Sarafina's neck. Sarafina screamed and instinctively blocked it with her sword as she ducked. Skylar smiled. “Good.” He swung low, at Sarafina's legs, and she blocked that, too.

“You tried to kill me!” Sarafina gasped. “Twice!” But as she said this, Skylar swung again, and Sarafina blocked it.

“Thrice,” said Skylar, swinging again. “And now four times. Okay, you've gotta do better than this. You're good for a beginner, but you're only defending. You have to try to kill me, too.”

“What?!” Sarafina gasped. “I could never kill anyone!”

“Ahem? What's that? I should probably remind you that you're going to be taking over this ship, Your Majesty.”

“Stop talking. I'm concentrating.”

“You have to learn to chat while you fight, miss.”

“Okay, okay...nice weather we're having!” Sarafina said as she swung her sword hard at Skylar. Skylar blocked it and smiled.

“That was very good. A harder blow than I expected from a beginner like you. But will you be able to protect your Pirate King with blows like that?”

“Pirate King?” Sarafina delivered a very hard blow to Skylar's stomach.

Skylar blocked it just as hard, smiled, and said, “Aye, don't you remember? That fellow who's gonna rule the seas with you. But you have to save him first, 'cause something tells me Captain Larkurr is gonna get him aboard the ship.”

Sarafina scowled, swinging fast and hard at Skylar's neck. Skylar ducked so Sarafina's sword got stuck in the wall.

“Watch out for positions like that. I could kill you very easily right now. But I said I wouldn't do that in this fight, so dislodge your sword and we can start again, alright?”

Sarafina took her sword out of the wall. They fought some more, with Skylar giving her more instructions and talking about various things, from hardtack to ships to loot to the Pirate King. The lesson lasted for three full hours before Skylar said to stop.

“Now let's really fight,” he said with a smile.

“Like...killing?”

Skylar laughed. “No, but as if we would kill. I'll fight against you as hard as I can. You fight back as hard as you can. Okay?”

Sarafina didn't even say anything"she swung her sword at Skylar. Skylar smiled as he fought back, and the “real” fight began. Steel on steel. Close-quarters fighting was the hardest kind, and this was about as close of quarters as would allow room for a duel of swords. Back and forth they fought, both surprised at how good the other really was. Skylar was especially surprised to find that after about ten minutes, Sarafina seemed to be winning. Sarafina didn't seem to notice though. She looked as scared as ever.

Swing. Block. Clash. Sarafina used all of the tactics Skylar had taught her at appropriate times. She was a natural, and a fast learner on top of that. Ten more minutes and she had Skylar cornered. He was losing...he never lost. Skylar swung rapidly, lifting his sword high in the air and bringing it down quickly so as to cut Sarafina in half from top to bottom. Sarafina just barely blocked the hard blow, but as she did, Skylar drew a small dagger with his other hand and prepared to plunge it into her chest. Sarafina saw what was coming and kicked Skylar hard in the stomach with her heavy boot. Skylar dropped the dagger, hugging his stomach with his left arm but just barely keeping his hold on his sword. Sarafina stepped back, bringing her sword down so it no longer supported Skylar's. Skylar's sword crashed to the ground, and Skylar, who had been partially depending on that sword to stay standing, fell with it. Sarafina stepped on the sword with her left foot and on Skylar's wrist with her right one. Skylar winced. Sarafina reached down and picked up Skylar's dagger from the floor, then pulled Skylar's pistol from his belt. Skylar was weaponless. Sarafina pointed her sword at Skylar.

“Were you really going to kill me with that dagger?”

“I was going to try. I was fairly sure you'd dodge it, though.”

“Fairly, huh?”

“Aye.” Besides his painful grimace, Skylar looked up at Sarafina with what looked like amazement or awe.

“What?” asked Sarafina.

“Could you get off my arm now? I surrender.”

Sarafina stepped off Skylar's arm and his sword. Skylar sheathed his sword and reluctantly stood up, rubbing his wrist. “You know what you just did?”

“I beat you.” Sarafina couldn't deny her own amazement. She dropped her sword and sat down on the floor. Then she looked up at Skylar suspiciously. “You weren't going easy on me, were you?”

“No. I was going as hard as I could.”

“Yeah, it didn't seem easy. Just checking.”

“But do you really know what you did?”

“What did I do?”

Skylar shook his head in amazement. “You just beat the best swordswoman on the Bloody Mary"with only three hours of training.”

Author's Note

This was really fun to write! :)

Reviews

[Short.Nerd]

INteresting book so far.