I Guess We Could Do That

“I think this will do for today.” Sophia yelled and steered the horse, a mare she had purchased in a bargain, off the road onto a patch of grass.

Kieran, who sat behind her in the saddle, turned around and looked down the path where they had come.

“We passed a village not too long ago,” he mentioned, “You sure you want to camp out here, instead of looking for an Inn?”

“The nights are still warm enough and it’s cheaper that way.” Sophia replied and petted the mare’s neck, “Good ol’ Giebel here set our traveling funds quite back… but I think it’s better than walking, isn’t it?”

“It is…”

Sophia brought the horse to a halt near a small grove. Kieran slid off the saddle to the side. He then went to raise a helping hand to Sophia, but she had already jumped off.

“Safe the gentleman gesture for a true lady and not one only in name. I don’t need ‘em, nor do I want ‘em, “ she said as she noticed his half-extended arm, “I just need you to fulfill your orders, understood?”

“Understood,” Kieran replied and grabbed their travel stuff off the saddle.

Sophia led Giebel towards a patch of lush greenery and let her graze.

“But if you’re that desperate to lay your hands on me, I guess we could do that…” she said coming back with a cheeky smile, “Another reason, why it’s better that we didn’t stop at an Inn. This way we’ll be… undisturbed.”

“I don’t think…” Kieran responded confused, “we should…”

“Why?”

Kieran turned and looked at her. She had a challenging look in her green eyes.

“Are you sure you want this?” he asked a bit hesitantly.

“After what I saw yesterday how could I not be? I want to know how it really feels like… with my own body and not just with my eyes. That’s only natural, isn’t it? You want it too, right?” Sophia responded and tilted her head slightly.

Kieran held her gaze for a moment.

“Are you asking me…” he inquired, “or ordering?”

Sophia furrowed her brows slightly, sighed, and then pulled her sword from the sheath on her hip.

“I thought you would be more eager to cross your sword with mine…” she said and pointed her weapon at him, “So what will it be? I’d rather have you do it on your own free will, but we both know that you can’t refuse me.”

Kieran stared at the tip of her sword and blinked a few times confused.

“Aah…” he gasped in sudden realization, “You mean…that… right… okay… we can do… that.”

“Huh?” blurted Sophia out.

Now it was her turn to be confused. Kieran quickly went to his stuff and grabbed his sword. She watched him with an attentive look.

“What did you think I was talking about?” Sophia asked when Kieran returned with his sword in hand.

“Nothing…”

Sophia furrowed her brows. Kieran quickly went into starting position, his sword held vertically in front of his right shoulder.

“Are we doing this or not?” he asked and flashed a cheeky smile, “Don’t worry, I’ll hold back for you.”

“You’ll tell me, when I beat you, deal?” Sophia proposed.

“If…” Kieran corrected with a challenging look, “Deal.”

Sophia’s thrust came lightning-fast and without any warning. She lunged forward, the tip of her sword pointed directly at Kieran’s chest.

Clank

Kieran’s weapon hit hers on the side and pushed it off course. Sophia quickly flourished her sword around and swung from the other side.

Clank

Kieran parried again and quickly stepped backwards, increasing their distance. Sophia knew that his reach was greater than hers, so she pressed with her attacks forward.

Clank Clank

Kieran parried blow for blow, while still moving backwards, trying to increase the distance. Sophia did not let up attacking and kept the distance in her favor. She noticed that Kieran shifted his bodyweight to step back again. In anticipation she lunged forward with a straight thrust. Kieran quickly changed his direction of movement and stepped into the lunge

Zing

His sword slid forwards, keeping in contact with Sophia’s sword and pushing it to the side. Then Kieran vanished from her view. Simultaneously Sophia felt someone grab her by the wrist and push into her chest. She lost contact with the ground and found herself looking at the sky a split second later. A sword tip appeared right in front of her eyes.

“Not bad for a mage, the years of training are really showing, but you lack real experience…” Kieran said in a lecturing tone from above, “That last thrust would have costed you your life in a real fight.”

He pulled his sword back and took a step away from her. Sophia got back on her feet and dusted off the dirt on her clothes. She glared over at Kieran and noticed that he was holding two swords.

“You have a interesting sword…”, he said turning her arming sword in his hand, “Where did you get it?”

“It was my father’s… they found it with his corpse… which makes the story of bandits even more implausible. Why would they leave something so obviously of value?”

Kieran looked at the gems that were inlaid into the cross guard and the pommel fashioned as a badger’s head. He flourished the sword.

“Some bandits don’t care for valuables,” Kieran mumbled as he swung the sword.

“That would make them pretty bad bandits then… isn’t it the whole thing with bandits that they do it for the money? Otherwise, they would just be murderers, like you.” Sophia countered.

Kieran chuckled and stepped towards Sophia.

“True…”, he said and held out the sword for her, “You have a fine sword there, Sophia Schwerdtfeger. It will serve you well.”

“I hope better than its last owner…” Sophia mumbled as she took the sword back.

“I hope so as well.”

Kieran went back a few paces from her, before he turned back around, his own sword at the ready.

“So, want to go another round?” he then asked.

“Yeah, but let’s change it up a bit,” Sophia remarked.

“Fine by me, what do you have in mind?”

Sophia went back a bit as well.

“I have seen and experienced your ability to fight sword against sword and I must admit, that you do have some skill at least. So next, let’s see how you fare up against something like… “ she spoke and made a few quick gestures with her free hand, “this.”

Sophia flicked her arm in Kieran’s direction. The last thing she saw of the man, before he was completely engulfed in the erupting flames, was a tiny smirk.