If You Can Dodge a Sword...

Lilith opened the door slowly, flinching at every squeak of the old hinges. She stepped slowly and lightly, trying to avoid creaking the wood floor. When she reached Justinius’s bed, she brought the object in her hand up, and threw open the covers, but there was no one there.

“Aww, he’s not here. And I even brought him breakfast.” She put the loaf of bread stuffed with meat and cheese onto the desk and sat down on the empty bed. “Where could he be?”

Justinius fell on the ground, gasping desperately for air.

“This body… is worthless.” He said, panting.

“What are you doing down there?” McBane said in his distinct accent. “That’s only one lap, lad! We’ve got 5 to go!” Justinius pushed himself to his knees.

“When… do we start… swordfighting?” He managed to ask between gulps of air.

“Swordfighting?” He asked incredulously. “Swordfighting? Lad, you’ve no right to even

hold a sword with endurance like that. Run 5 more laps and I’ll let you touch one, but you need to run 10 more before you can fight with it.”

“10 more laps?” Justinius was shocked. “But a lap is around the entire castle! It took 30 minutes!”

“Ay, and you should be able to do it in 10.” Justinius rolled over onto his back, looking up at the pre-dawn sky. He had been dragged out of bed at 4 AM to run laps around the castle without any breakfast, and this body that had only ever sat reading in the library couldn’t keep up. “Give up then, do ye?” McBane asked. He rolled over onto his knees, and looked up at the massive man. How he could move like that was a mystery. Justinius picked himself up and smiled.

“Never.” Even if he had the body of a weakling, he had a strong mind, and he would overcome.

“Ay, now that’s a good attitude, lad. Let’s see how long it lasts. This time, we’re finishing our lap in 20 minutes.” He ran off, and Justinius set off behind him.

“How dare he skip my class!” Glauckonus stomped around in the front of the classroom pouting and yelling. “And after leaving in the middle of it yesterday! I can’t just wait around here all day! Who does he think he is!?” Lilith sat there looking out the large domed skylight at the front of the room. She thought that he would’ve turned up there, so she had come to meet him, but he wasn’t there either. Maybe he was avoiding her. She couldn’t blame him after what she had done, but she thought they were getting along better now. He said that he forgave her. Was he lying? As she thought, she stood up and began to leave.

“Oh, so now you’re leaving too?” He asked, but Lilith was too occupied in her thoughts to hear him, and she left without answering.

“Why is everyone ignoring me!?”

Justinius tried to get to his feet, but he fell onto his hands and knees. McBane had kept his promise. He wasn’t able to run 10 more laps, but he barely managed 5 more, so he was allowed to touch a sword, unfortunately that meant something different than he thought it would.

“Get up, lad! I’ve not got all day!” McBane said in his thick accent.

“You’re just going to hit me again.” Justinius complained from his hands and knees.

“Not if you dodge it I won’t!” He held a large wooden sword in his hands, one that had already smacked Justinius at least a dozen times.

“Why do I even have to do this? Won’t I have a sword in a duel?”

“Yes lad, in a duel, yes, but not everything in this world is a duel. Sometimes you will be attacked, and the situation will not be in your favor, and you must cling to life however you can. And even if you had a sword, if you can’t read a swing early enough to dodge it, good luck blocking it properly. That’s why you about broke your wrists yesterday. Now get up! The day is still young.” Justinius clambered to his feet. This would be hard enough regularly, but after all that running in the morning, his legs were like jelly. Add to that already being thwacked by that big wooden sword about a dozen times and he was practically a cripple.

“Alright lad, instead of just having fun whacking you with this a couple more times, I’ll offer some instruction. You’ve got to watch the hips. I can move my hands here and there and trick you about where it’s coming from, but if I want any power in my swing at all, I’ve got to use my hips, so watch my hips and you’ll be able to tell where I’m going to swing.”

Lilith sat in the garden, sipping tea brought to her by her maid. It was the only thing here that reminded her of her homeland. She brought a huge barrel stuffed with it with her when she got betrothed. She used to drink it every day, but now that the supply was running low, she only drank it when she needed some comfort. She sighed. How had she so quickly grown dependent on Justinius for company? Sure, they were together a lot even before, but his cowardice had always caused her to feel contempt for him. Now that he had changed, she wanted to be by him all the time, but she didn’t deserve to be. After what she did, it was no wonder that he decided to leave her behind. Suddenly Lilith’s maid burst out of the castle and came running up to her.

“Lady Beckinghall! I found him! I found him!” Lilith stood up, knocking her tea over.

“Where!?”

“He’s passed out in the sword yard! Come quick!” Lilith gasped and ran after her maid.

When they reached the sword yard, they found Justinius lying face down in the dirt. Lilith ran to him and grabbed him, her eyes already wet with tears.

“Justinius! Justinius!” His body was limp and black and blue all over. He looked so delicate, so she shook him frantically, trying to wake him from whatever cursed slumber had taken him. Suddenly, his eyes began to open, slowly, until she could just see his pupils. He looked up at her, and smiled a soft smile.

“Justinius! Are you okay? What happened?” She asked, caressing him in her arms.

“I…” He started, weakly.

“You…”

“I… dodged it.” He just managed to say, before passing out again.

“Clearly you didn’t!” Was all that she could manage to say before her maid arrived with the doctor.