“Well done,” Telhari said as he walked back toward the weapons rack.

  “Thanks,” Ellis answered softly.

  It was strange.

  He knew he was tired, or his body was at least, but his mind felt calm.

  “Albert,” Perry called, “You’re up. Give Ellis a break.”

  Albert groaned and rolled from his back into a sitting position. “Make Hugo do it.”

  Perry scowled at him.

  “What’s the point,” Albert continued, “He’s gonna beat us anyway?”

  “Training isn’t about winning,” Hugo chastised, “It’s about learning and practicing.”

  “It’s also about testing your strengths in order to find your weakness,” Perry said as he folded his arms.

  Albert sighed heavily then brushed himself off as he stood up.

  “Fine! Gimme a sword.”

  “Besides,” Ellis mused with a cheeky smile, “You couldn’t beat him even if he had one hand tied behind his back.”

  “What was that!?”

  Perry laughed as Albert marched up to Ellis and pointed a finger in his face.

  “Say that again, brat!”

  Ellis shrugged his shoulders.

  “Its just a joke,” Ellis said while stifling his laughter.

  “Although,” Telhari said suddenly, “Ellis may have a point.”

  Albert deflated at his comment.

  “What I mean to say,” Telhari corrected quickly, “Is that I agree with Sir Perry. Training is about finding our weaknesses. There is little for me to gain by fighting you all one on one.”

  “Good!” Albert said as he grabbed Ellis by the shoulder a little too roughly. “Let me spar with this one!”

  “Hold on—!”

  “I was more so suggesting that the two of you could fight me,” Telhari corrected, “Together.”

  “Two against one?” Ellis asked as he pushed Albert off of him. “Would that really be alright?”

  Telhari brought his hand to his chin in deliberation.

  “You are correct,” he said, finally. “Hugo. Would you mind joining them?”

  Albert’s jaw dropped.

  “Master Telhari,” Perry said as he came up to them, “I think that three against one is a bit unfair. Even for training.”

  “Precisely,” Telhari said. “I have spent too much time these recent months improving only my spell-work. Fighting is not always fair. In fact, it rarely is. If I cannot handle three assailants without the use of magic, then I should consider myself inadequate.”

  Perry held his hands up in defeat.

  “As you wish.”

  “Alright,” Albert said as a new fire invigorated him. He tapped the broad end of his sword against his boots and shook out his arms. “Get up Hugo. Let’s do this.”

  “Are you sure, Telhari?” Ellis asked him one final time. “It’ll be hard to use one sword to fend off three. Even for you.”

  Telhari gave him a quizzical look.

  “Who said I would be using one sword?”

  Telhari reached over to the sword rack and withdrew another training sword. He looked down at them both and swung each one individually to test their weight in his arms.

  “Oh?”

  Perry was intrigued, having never properly witnessed a fighting style using two swords. “Is this a common technique among your people, Master Telhari?”

  “There are many elfkin styles of sword play,” he answered. “Though, most of my kin will settle for a single blade— the same blade they will use for their spell-work. However, there do exist even more advanced martial skills and branches of swordsmanship which utilize two blades.”

  “Ooh!” Ellis shouted as he jumped up and down. “Teach me that!”

  “One thing at a time, Ellis,” Telhari said. “First, you must master one blade.”

  “Alright,” Ellis answered with a determined stare. He then assumed his stance and swung his blade into position. “Let’s do it.”

  Albert smiled begrudgingly.

  “Hurry up, Hugo. If we don’t do something, this kid will develop an ego.”

  Hugo took his sword from its sheath and stood beside Ellis.

  “Let’s try and cooperate,” Hugo said with a sigh. “That way we might actually stand a chance.”

  The three of them stood in a v-shaped formation, with all their attention toward Telhari. Meanwhile, Telhari assumed a new stance that neither of them had seen before— with both swords held in front of him at slight angles to one another. He then studied the three of them. Albert’s stance was of the customary swordplay of the Omnirian people. Ellis’ mimicked his own, of course. While Hugo’s was reminiscent of the southern styles, from beyond Omnirius’ borders.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Three different styles from three separate opponents. A perfect chance to test himself.

  “Are we ready?” Perry asked.

  Telhari gave a small grin as he nodded his head. Ellis, Hugo and Albert nodded in turn.

  “Alright,” Perry announced, “On my count. Three. Two. One!”

  ***

  Mary bit down against the pain and gripped tightly to the handle of her sword. Ingrid stood in front of her with a stone cold expression.

  “Try it one more time,” Ingrid instructed.

  Mary took a deep breath, then assumed her stance, bringing her sword to hip level and placing her hands on either end of the handle.

  “Good,” Ingrid reassured her.

  Ingrid brought her sword up and held it there for a second. Mary marveled at how still and calm she looked, almost like a statue. Then, Ingrid struck. Mary brought her sword up from her hip to parry Ingrid. She was meant first to parry, then return a strike, all while practicing her footwork moving backward. But again the pain from the parry made her pause.

  Ingrid ceased her attack and shook her head.

  “Mary—”

  “I know. I know,” Mary grumbled.

  Mary wasn’t used to having trouble with learning— not like this. She was quick to pick up the other forms and learned the terminology well, but she had been having trouble as the training escalated to include more practical work. As Mary brought her sword back into the starting position, a sudden clamor from an adjacent training field made them turn.

  It was Ellis and Telhari, sparring as usual.

  Mary turned her head toward them and observed for a few seconds. Then, she turned her head back toward Ingrid.

  “Let’s just do it again,” she said with a dispirited look.

  Ingrid knew how she felt: so much so that it pained her to see it. Perhaps she had been going about training wrong, after all.

  “Mary,” she began, “You will never find your strength trying to copy Ellis.”

  Mary’s face grew red and twisted in embarrassment.

  “I know that! I mean— I’m not!”

  Ingrid lowered her sword and approached her.

  “Your power will not come from brute strength. With enough training, you may be able to overpower an untrained man. But the moment you face off against someone of skill, that will no longer be a reliable option for you.”

  “Well then how do you do it?” Mary asked with a frustrated sigh.

  “Though we may not have the exact same strengths as they do, we still have strengths of our own,” Ingrid said with a wry smile. She then drew up her blade, and in a flash unleashed several quick strikes at the open air. “We must rely on speed,” she continued, “Precision. Positioning. We must survey our environment and make no wasted movement.” As she spoke, Ingrid assumed the stance she had been teaching Mary and placed her sword near her hip. “And most importantly, we must draw power from our stance. Using our hip and lower body to create force—” Suddenly, she brought her sword upward in a parrying motion, changed her grip and slashed while stepping backwards. “The most crucial thing you can learn is how to generate force from your stance. Forget overpowering someone with your upper body.”

  Mary looked down at her feet and tried her stance again.

  “Like this?”

  Ingrid nodded.

  “Now, when I come at you, twist from your legs and push. The ground is your foundation, and no attack should be made without its support.”

  Mary traced the movements slowly a few times, then turned to Ingrid.

  “Can we try it again?”

  Ingrid responded with a forward strike. Mary twisted her lower body and parried the strike; only this time, she did so as Ingrid had instructed, drawing power from her stance. Immediately, she could feel the difference from before.

  She felt strong.

  Ingrid smiled and nodded her head.

  “Excellent.”

  Mary smiled excitedly and assumed her stance again. Just as she did, there was a clamoring of steel on steel from the other training yard. It was three against one now— Telhari versus the others. Then, Mary felt Ingrid’s hand on her shoulder.

  “I know well how you feel,” she said with a gentle tone. “But different is not lesser. Not every fight is a contest of pure strength, either. You have other tools at your disposal.”

  “Like what?” Mary asked sarcastically.

  “Many things,” Ingrid said, ignoring her tone. “Intelligence, hopefully. Wisdom, eventually. And of course, you always have your creativity. None of these can be discounted.”

  Ingrid gave Mary’s shoulder a squeeze before stepping away and returning to her position. Mary turned away from the other training ground and faced Ingrid once again.

  “You will understand in time what true strength is,” Ingrid said as she resumed her grip on the sword handle. “And that you possess it.”

  Mary didn’t seem entirely convinced, but she did feel better than before. With a new determination, Mary brought her foot forward and drew the other one back. She flexed her legs and braced her core as she brought her sword up. Then, she locked her gaze. Ingrid paused a few moments to ready herself, then she struck.

  In response, Mary twisted her lower body, thrust her sword upward, and parried the attack.

  ***

  As the world spun upside down, Ellis took a moment to reflect on his decisions.

  He probably should not have rushed in when he did. He probably should have studied Telhari’s movements a bit more before taking such a gamble. And he probably should have retreated when he had the chance. With all this in mind, Ellis braced himself as he landed in the dirt.

  “Get up, kid!” Albert yelled, “W-we aren’t done yet!”

  Albert was panting heavily. His training armor was beaten and he had growing welts on his face and hands. Beside him, Hugo fell down to his knees, supported only by the sword he had stuck into the ground like a walking stick. A trail of blood ran down the side of Hugo’s head.

  Ellis rolled onto his side and managed to crawl to his knees. His knuckles were beaten badly and his cheek was swollen. He, as well as the others, had dozens of bruises across his legs and torso which were throbbing in pain.

  What started as a training exercise had quickly turned to something more.

  Ellis had been working with Telhari for months, and Telhari had taught him everything he knew about swordplay. More so than either Albert or Hugo, Ellis should have had the best handle on Telhari’s movements. But it was as if he was fighting him for the first time. This new, two-weapon style was unlike anything they had ever seen.

  It was utterly violent.

  After only a few seconds, Ellis had realized he was in over his head. Telhari’s movements were impossibly quick, fluid and seemingly unending. Being beaten back again and again with bombarding force had driven Ellis to anger. And it was the same for the others. Before long, they had stopped speaking to one another. It was a matter of pride; none of them could stand to be overpowered so completely. Feuled by ego, they had all continued well past the time limit. But even Sir Perry could not bring himself to stop the match. He too was spellbound by the fierceness of Telhari’s swordplay.

  “I think we can consider the match complete,” Telhari called out as he dropped his swords on the ground.

  “What!?” Albert shouted. “C-come on! Another ro—” He stopped himself as he gripped the side of his ribcage and breathed deep.

  “I think that is enough,” Perry said finally.

  As soon as he said this, Telhari lowered himself to the ground and sat with his legs crossed. He was dripping with sweat like the others.

  For only the second time in his life, Ellis thought Telhari looked tired. Satisfied by the thought, Ellis rolled over onto his back and smiled. It was good to see Telhari acting human— well, sort of.

  “Done already?”

  Telhari looked over his shoulder as Ingrid and Mary approached.

  “We are taking a break,” he said.

  “Good,” Mary chimed in with a smile, “Its just about time to eat!”