Chapter 12 #2
This was frustrating, and his heart was racing while he was trying to brace himself for the next assault. And then he finally managed to get a break; Vesper was tiring, and Stone fought him with all his strength, forcing Vesper back.
It gave Stone the impetus to keep fighting, and he forced Vesper into a defensive posture this time. Stone was trying to concentrate on the fight, naturally, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw the weapon master smile. That encouraged Stone to keep Vesper off balance even more.
Vesper, on the other hand, was red-faced, furious that he was making a poor show of it in front of the other competitors there who were watching the fight. He didn't want to lose, and he was desperately trying to switch from a defensive posture to an offensive one.
Stone knew he couldn't keep up at this pace. Even in practice, he didn't go this long. And being pretty new at this, he was getting worn out.
He could smell the anger rolling off Vesper, and in an instant, Vesper had the advantage again, and all Stone could do was parry, block, and back up.
Stone stumbled, and Vesper tried to knock him down, but Stone quickly recovered.
Neither sword exhibited its magical properties, which was good. Stone assumed the room negated any use of their special abilities.
Then, with a decisive strike, Vesper knocked Stone down and went in for the kill—readying his sword as if some outside force took hold of his brain—and he was going to cut Stone in two.
Rune immediately raced over to defend Stone, her sword readied. But the weapon master fae traveled in front of Vesper, his own sword ready for a fight. He struck Vesper's sword so hard that it flew across the room. Stone was so glad the weapon master had stopped Vesper.
Stone quickly scrambled to his feet and grabbed his sword from the floor where he'd dropped it.
The weapon master wasn't done and had the point of his sword at Vesper's throat. "I told you this was for practice only. It helps a beginner sword fighter spar with someone more highly trained. But you are out of control. You are banned from weapon training for the rest of your time here."
So he didn’t send Vesper home.
The weapon master finally lowered his sword, and Vesper turned on his heel and stormed off. He tossed back, "You can't teach me anything I don't already know."
Then Vesper grabbed his sword off the floor and hurried out of the door.
Stone shook his head. He knew no matter how well someone was trained, they could always use further instruction. Vesper was conceited.
"I've seen you fight him before," the weapon master said.
Stone realized he must have seen a video of what went down in the lunchroom.
"You definitely have an innate talent for sword fighting. Keep practicing, and you'll beat him every time in the future. Vesper is too hot-headed to learn from his mistakes," the weapon master said.
Stone nodded, but he was still shaken. He knew if the weapon master hadn't stepped in to block Vesper's sword, he would have cut him badly.
He'd seen Rune run to his rescue, and was thankful the weapon master could fae travel to get there first. He didn't trust that Vesper would hold back if he had fought Rune next.
Once the weapon master had finished speaking, he went to help Lolita with her sword practice, though her mouth was still hanging agape. Rune hugged Stone, her pent-up emotions ready to spill over in tears.
He kissed her mouth and smiled. "Let's go practice driving the cars. Hopefully, we won't have any wrecks in the simulators."
"For sure," Rune said, squeezing his hand.
Then, hand in hand, they left the weapon training room and finally heard Lolita practicing with the weapon master. Before that, Lolita must have been intent on what was going on between Rune and Stone.
That night, Silas retired to the room with Stone, and he sat on his bed before he went to sleep. Stone wondered what he had to say now.
“We helped you kill the boar. All of us but Vesper and Xena, of course. We were unaware that if we didn’t help, we wouldn’t get to eat. We did it because we wanted to help you take the boar down. Vesper and Xena were furious that you found the perfect one to target.”
“I’m glad all of you helped and ended up enjoying the feast. ”
“Yeah. They tore into us afterward, but we told them we have to learn to do these things if we're going to be useful members of our pack. We wanted to ply our weapon skills to hunt for meals. They didn’t say anything in response, so I think they bought our reason for helping you and Rune take down the boar.”
“Well, I’m glad you did. I enjoyed seeing the others using their bows and arrows.
I would love it if they could show me how to use one in the future, when Vesper and Xena aren’t an issue.
” Stone didn’t want them to show they were bonding and throw off the game.
But he still wasn’t sure he and the others were being totally sincere.
Fang was never included in the supposed group who would help Stone and Rune win the challenges, but he did help take down the boar.