Nyssa trained day and night, night and day. She had to best whatever they threw at her, she had to.
The crisp night air fills her lungs as she takes another deep breath. She glances at the house, dark because everyone is asleep. She turns back to the makeshift punching bag.
One hit, two, three.
Again and again, she hits it. Her sweat hits the ground like rain and her knuckles are cracked and bleeding. Nevertheless, she continues to punch it. Some spots are stained red with small indents but she keeps going.
She dumps her hands in a bucket of water and wipes sweat from her forehead. She knew she would have to train with a sword despite the fact she only touched a sword once, and that was this morning when she was buying one to train and they are not cheap.
Nyssa sighs and picks up the sword. It has a long silver blade and a handle that wraps around her hand but not touching. She grips the handle and looks at the punching bag. She can't afford lessons so she'll just have to teach herself, besides how will someone make her a master in just two days?
She jabs the punching bag out of frustration. She tries to do it again but this time, a hand closes over hers from behind and stops her. The hand is warm and calloused and she can feel the owner of the hand's breath on her neck.
She jumps out of reach and points the sword at the person. It's dark but she can see him clearly from the moonlight, his dark straight hair just above his eyebrows and parted in the middle, his tan and well-mucsled skin, his green eyes piercing and looking back at her... and his uniform of the palace guard.
"He said I had three days to train! Three days and it's only been one!" she exclaims, glaring at him.
He looks at her with an amused smile "Calm down, I'm not here to fight you. Quite the opposite actually. I'm here to help you train." He looks down at her hand the corner of his mouth quirks farther up, turning his smile into a smirk. "And it looks likes you have no idea what your doing."
A blush spreads across Nyssa's cheeks as she protests but he was right. She has no idea what she's doing.
She slowly points the sword toward the ground. "And why exactly do you want to help me?"
"Because I was there when your father killed the man. And I know it was just an accident and he was just defending himself. But you? When I heard that you claimed to be the one who killed him I thought you to be brave to take claim on something you didn't do just to protect your family."
She stares at him and looks down at her pale hand clutching the sword. This.... guard wants to help her defeat one of his coworkers, his friends? She scoffs, disbelieving and he frowns.
"I do want to help you if you would just let me." He says "Please?"
A guard begging? This had to be a joke. Nyssa takes a step back and he sighs.
"Look." She says "You've had your laugh, now just go back to where you came from."
"How do I prove it to you? That I want to help you?" She thinks for a moment before answering him.
"Information. I want to know who I'm fighting and their weaknesses."
He blinks and without a second thought, he says "Aspen Roach, a lieutenant to Kiran Valfe. He's big and muscular but not very fast. Since you're small, I assume you're fast and you just need to first hit. He goes for brute strength so watch out, if he hits you once you'll have a concussion, to say the least. Happy?"
She nods and slowly places the sword on the ground, showing that she trusts him. "Okay... What's your name?"
"Ethan Anderson."
"Okay, coach. What's the first step in a sword duel?"
"Rest. You need lots of rest if you're going to beat him. That means no more night training."
She nods "Anything else?"
"We start tomorrow."
ns 15.158.61.54da2
