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‘Good gods, Kipp. It’s a wonder you haven’t fallen over your enormous feet yet,’ he shouted, loud enough for the whole cohort to hear.
Laughter sounded around them and Thea could make out Seb’s jeers from the crowd. Had they all stopped to watch?
The hair rising on the back of her neck told her they had. But Thea was too focused on Kipp’s movements to worry about the others. His footwork was clumsy, like a newborn foal that wasn’t used to its own legs, and even after only a short time of sparring, she knew his weakness was his left side – he left it open far too often.
Esyllt’s words had stung her ego to be sure, but poor Kipp seemed to be the brunt of every criticism, every joke. Thea’s mind churned as she blocked and feinted. She had two options before her: the first, she could take advantage of Kipp’s open left side and end it, or —
She stepped into the path of Kipp’s flailing blade and hissed in pain as the wooden sword came down on her shoulder.
‘Your point,’ she said.
Kipp gave her a baffled look.
Then, that familiar jeering laughter rang out across the stones. ‘Guess we’ve finally found someone worse than Kipples,’ Seb snorted. ‘They make a fine pair don’t they?’
Several of the bastard’s lackeys sniggered, but for once, Seb’s insults didn’t land.
Let him underestimate me,Thea thought. And if it took some heat off poor Kipp in the meantime, that was fine with her.
Seb looked ready to continue his taunting, but the weapons master silenced them with a raised hand.
‘I’m going to take this riveting recess as a sign that you’re all sufficiently warmed up. Get your shields.’
While Thea wasn’t exactly overjoyed at Esyllt’s teaching methods so far, she had to admire the sheer command inhis voice and the fact that even pricks like Seb followed his instructions without question.
As she went after Kipp towards a shed where the shields hung, the weapons master pulled her back by the elbow.
‘Interesting choice there…’ he murmured.
‘I —’
But he had already pushed her towards Kipp.
So he knew she had feigned her defeat.
‘Here,’ Kipp said, passing her a shield.
Her arm buckled beneath its weight. ‘Gods,’ she muttered.
‘Heavy aren’t they?’ Kipp replied, fitting his own shield to his forearm. ‘The cavalry ones are much lighter, not that it makes a difference to me. I’m more of a strategist myself.’
Esyllt cleared his throat. ‘As you all know, combat is as much about endurance as it is about skill with a blade. You need to not only be able to wield a sword, but a shield as well. There will come a time where you are on horseback having to do both, or a time where you need to run the length of a battlefield to serve one of our own.’
Thea grit her teeth and hoisted her shield up, her muscles already straining.
‘Spar!’ barked Esyllt.
Kipp’s false victory must have instilled a sense of confidence within him because he attacked Thea harder this time, though with no improvement to his form. She lifted her shield against his blows, once, twice, and a third time before she parried to one side and struck with her own blade.
If the weapons master thought her messy before, she was a disaster now. The shield had her off balance and her movements lagging. While Kipp wasn’t much better, he was at least more practiced than she was and could keep the shield upright for the duration of their match.
Gods, she’d been so cocky. How could she have thought that spying on training sessions, doing drills by herself in the dark and spending a few days with a Warsword would amount to anything resembling the type of skill one needed to become a great warrior of Thezmarr?
The shouts and clashing of practice swords from the rest of the shieldbearers faded into the background as Thea focused on raising her shield to meet each blow. Now, it seemed, Kipp was taking it easy on her. The blows of his practice sword landed softly, the impact still setting her teeth on edge as she fought to maintain her grip.
Sweat beaded at her hairline and the back of her shirt grew damp as she attempted to lunge again at Kipp. He evaded her strike easily, which only served to infuriate her. Had she underestimated him? Or was it simply the shield she struggled with?
Thea rolled her neck, trying to stretch out the tension there. Had it truly only been an hour or so ago that she had been riding alongside one of Thezmarr’s Warswords, intent on this very destination, eager to hold these very things in her hands? She made to lunge again —
