“That’s a great idea. Let me round up Mathilda and Evander,” Tane replies and jogs from the grounds back towards the castle.
***
The seven of us are standing as a group on the training grounds. The sun filters through large fluffy clouds, and dirt kicks up in the wind. A huge part of my job has centered around my ability to delegate to those who have the best ability for the task, and knowing next to nothing about battling as a group, I look at Lachlan.
“Captain, this is your area of expertise. Lead the way.”
Lachlan steps forward, clasping his hands behind his back as he walks back and forth in front of us. His broad tan shoulders gleam in the sunlight that shines through a gap in the clouds, and I stifle a sigh. Seeing him as he is now makes me question why I ever thought he was human.
This man is a warrior, a highly trained and skilled one at that.
“The first step is going to be placing ye next to someone ye already work well with. For instance, Evander and I ha’ years of training together under our belts, so we work well side by side. We ken each other’s rhythms, strengths, and weaknesses.Partner up with who ye think ye’d work the best next to,” Lachlan orders.
Tane and Mathilda take a step closer to each other, while Evander and Mina do the same.
“So we need to ken where to place Lena and Elowen,” Lachlan mutters, gazing at me before his eyes shift to Elowen.
Lachlan has her spar with Mina first.
Where Mina is sharp and fast, Elowen is intentional and severe. They both work like opposite sides of the same coin.
“Ye two naturally reflect one another,” Lachlan says as Elowen blocks one of Mina’s blows.
I smile next to Mathilda as I watch them spar.
“They’re so fast,” I whisper to her as their swords clash.
But Mathilda’s eyes are haunted. “They both have faced terrible things, different, but terrible. It makes sense that their fighting styles would reflect that.”
I swallow her words and begin seeing their styles for what they really are.
Mina survived torture and had to think on her toes to get through it. So now her fighting style is built on speed.
Whereas Elowen suffered alone and had time to think out each plan to survive. Each of her maneuvers is now intentional and thought out.
Lachlan calls them to a stop.
“I think ye two would be best together, coupled with Evander’s strength, which leaves Lena,” he says, turning to look at me.
His eyes rake up and down my body, and my blood heats before I can get a grip on myself. “Lena, spar with Mathilda, I want to check something out,” he orders.
Mathilda and I step forward and into the place that Elowen and Mina just vacated. My muscles are still loose from my training with Tane, but I retie my hair back into a pony while Mathilda stretches her arms and bends down to touch her toes.
“Ready?” she asks, after she finishes stretching.
“Ready,” I reply, pulling my axe from the sheath on my back and bracing my feet.
We’ve spent the last few weeks training together, so I know that she favors attacking first and then sinking into a defensive position so that I’ll eventually tire myself out before she comes in at the end, having rationed her strength to finish me off.
It doesn’t matter how many times we work together or if I see her moves before she does them, I always manage to fall into the habit of attacking and running out of steam. We slowly circle each other before the sight of her slashing out at me blasts through my mind, but almost instantaneously, it’s happening, and I barely manage to bat her advance away.
Mathilda smiles fiendishly. “Come on, Lena, you know you want to play,” she teases.
I roll my eyes, sucking in a breath. “Not today.”
“Let’s go, ladies,” Lachlan barks as we continue circling each other.
The stern command in his voice has my body trembling. Mathilda attacks while I’m mid-tremble, the vision happening a split second before. The blade of her sword glances off the blade of my axe, and then I’m swinging it around back at her.
