Chapter 16

"Remember. Hold it steady; that sword isn't for flailing back in forth like a beating stick, it's for blocking your opponent's moves."

"Right," you said, and adjusted your stance, feet shoulder length apart and flat.

"And keep one leg back. Be on your toes."

You shifted one leg farther back and took a deep breath. Your sword quivered; it was the lightest the Captain had, but still felt awkward in your grip.

The Captain adjusted his stance too, and then slashed the tip of his cutlass by you, who barely blocked it. He came back with another flick, still going very carefully as to not harm you, just to give you some practice, and you backed up.

He still went slowly, and every time you blocked it, you took a step back.

You must've taken four steps back on the deck, with the Captain stepping forward to meet you in turn, until you tripped over something behind you, and with a short scream, nearly tumbled over the railing and into the sea.

"Woah there!" The Captain exclaimed, and caught you, leaning far against the railing, and grabbing you, cradling you halfway over the railing, and as you met each others' eyes, you both grew a little smile. You almost considering trying to lean in on him again, and secretly as did he, but both of your felt your hearts like repelling magnets, pulling so close together...but...yet never touching...in a promise of a betrothal, or a promise to their crew...

He pulled you back to the deck and picked up your dropped sword, handing it to you. "So...the key to winning your fight is situational awareness. You could've tripped over that railing, or you could've used it to your advantage as an anchor or support."

You nodded bleakly and took your position back, this time with the Captain between you and the railing so you wouldn't fall over

You nodded bleakly and took your position back, this time with the Captain between you and the railing so you wouldn't fall over. "But what am I supposed to do as an attack while I'm defending myself?"

"There's no point in attacking if you can't defend yourself first," he said, "but, really honestly, you don't seem to be very comfortable with that rapier. It tapers to the point, and it's the only one I have that does that, I thought something light would do well to start, so maybe we'll try more of a sabre or falchion, or even a scimitar."

"Huh?"

"Different types of swords. They all only have only one sharp edge, and they slash more than lunge. Except for the rapier."

"What?"

"Never mind. Let's go find a different sword for you."

"Oh. Well, okay. Fine by me."

You followed him into the Mapping room, and he opened a long wooden chest that was full of various sheathed swords.

He smiled. He reached in and pulled out a...how to describe it. A serious cutlass. Very...pirate-y looking. Curved, wide, fancy-gold-handled.

"A scimitar," he said proudly, holding it out to you, his brown eyes sparkling. "It was my father's."

You'd reached out to take it, but at the mention of his father flinched, and stepped back a little. "You mean...?"

"No, not Scarpa, if that's what you're thinking." He said reassuringly. "He's too greedy to give up a sword. And Scarpa might've raised me once I became a pirate, but he's not really my father. I stole it from my father in later years to have something of his."

"Wait, but if he's not, then who-"

"Try it, I think it'll work." He held out the sword a little higher.

You nodded slowly and took it, unsheathing it.

"Woah," you breathed.

It was beautiful. That killer pirate sword was really...beautiful, for a killer pirate sword. Real shiny and sparkly, and had a heart-shaped ruby in the golden crossbar.

"It's the same kind of sword I use," he said. "That's my backup for this one, actually. Try it."

So you got back in your prepared stance.

"And stay balanced. Sliding with your feet rather than stepping helps. Keep a strong defense, and relax. Learn when your opponent does his counterattack. And then when it would be best to strike, and with that sword, don't lunge, but slash. Control the battle flow, and drop the dramatics. Use every possibility to your advantage. Got it?"

You blinked, trying to remember all that at once. "Well, I think so..."

"Great, let's get started." He immediately, but slowly, brandished his sword and put you on point. "Put your opponent on point," he reminded you. "It's when you hold your sword out, pointed to your opponent's throat or face."

Well that doesn't sound threatening at all... You thought sarcastically. But, it is a sword fight.

The Captain took the first attack.

You blocked him.

He threw two more slashes, and you blocked both, only backing up a little.

After you blocked him once more, you took a slash of your own, unsuccessfully, and barely recovered in time.

"Slide your feet," you thought back. "Control the battle flow."

You blocked another strike or two.

"Learn when your opponent does his counterattacks. Drop the dramatics."

None of hits attacks were very close to touching you, and you could tell the Captain was afraid of harming you. He wouldn't dare let you get hurt.

"Use every possibility to your advantage."

You blocked his next slash from a new angle. He wasn't slashing his sword very close to you, and the new angle made his blade, knocked off of yours, slice his own shoulder.

He was rather surprised, and so were you. You dropped the sword and gasped. "Captain, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"Anika, don't apologize, that was brilliant." He interrupted, sheathing his sword and grabbing his shoulder, wincing, hunched over, but spoke as if it were no big deal.

"Well I didn't mean to hurt you..."

"Every hit that reached to me is one more that'll reach someone trying to hurt you," he said.

"But...I just cut you."

"Well, at least this is a scar that's going to encourage me to my final breath."

You blushed.

"You just need one good thought to keep fighting." He smiled at you.

"Well...is it deep?" you asked cautiously.

He very carefully took off his coat and looked over at his shoulder. "Well, hard to tell. Too much blood to see it well, but from here it looks...no wait, nice job. It is pretty deep."

You gave a little whimper. "And your nice trenchcoat!" It had a hole in it.

"Trenchcoat?!" He scoffed. "This is a Captain's Cloak. Why would you call it something as silly as a trenchcoat?"

"Oh, sorry..." you said. "But still!"

"Oh, it can be stitched back up." The Captain walked into the Mapping room, and you followed. He set down his sword.

"You'll still see it," you noted.

"Well you're the one who gave it to me. Might just leave it."

"Please, really, Captain... And your shoulder?!"

"Oh, yeah, my shoulder." He started to unbutton his shirt with one hand, but it wasn't working so well.

"Here." You had to help him with it, and when you were done and set his shirt on the table, you steered him into a chair.

You leaned over him, forcing yourself to get a good look at it.

"Now do you have a cloth or something I can use to cover it up?" you asked.

"Not really."

"Bandages?"

"Maybe."

"Where?"

"In the Captain's Quar-" He sighed. "Oh."

"Anywhere else?"

"Not that I know of."

You sighed too. "Oh, what am I going to do with you?" you muttered. You glanced around the Mapping room for anything useful, and spotted a curtain across the room. You dashed over to it, grabbing the sword you'd been training with, and it one out. Then you sliced a long strip off one edge of it, and ran back to the Captain.

"Here you go," you said. Luckily, the cut was more towards his bicep than his shoulder, and started to wrap the cloth around his upper arm, being careful as possible.

"You know that might need stitches, right?" he said.

"So...what do you want me to do?"

"Go get a needle and thread and tie it up." He said flippantly.

"You want me to sew you back together?!" You exclaimed incredulously.

"Yeah, why not?"

"Because...because I sew clothes, not you!"

"Oh come on. If you don't, I'll do it myself."

"What?!"

"Then go get the needle and thread."

"You're serious about this?!"

"Yeah, go get the needle."

"No way! It cannot be that deep!"

"You know it's best to go do it quick, now you sliced my arm, you fix my arm."

"You've got to be kidding! I can't sew you up! Please tell me this is a joke!"

"You're so cute when you're scared."

"This is not a laughing situation! I cannot stitch you up! You are a living, a breathing, person that I actually cared about, I can't stab you with anything!"

"Yes you can, and yes you will. Go get the needle." He laughed.

"But this isn't going to kill you or anything!! You stitch up fatal wounds!! And stop laughing, this isn't funny!"

"Yes it is."

"You mean it is going to kill you?! No, no, you're lying!"

"Sheesh, this is not going to kill me, I meant that this is funny."

"So you're joking?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

"No."

"Stop it, don't do this to me!"

"Fine! Fine, I'm only messing with you."

"Really, like, you mean it this time?"

"Yes, I mean it, go get the needle."

"Stop it!"

"Alright! Alright. This isn't deep, you didn't hack me to the bone, I don't need stitches, I should hope you realize that. If you worry about this kind of scratch, I'm kind of worried about you in a battle."

"Then why'd you...!" You stopped. "Wait, what about battle?"

"Well, if you want to get in a battle, you need to learn to handle these kinds of things."

"I don't want to be in a battle!!"

"Well then, keep panicking," he said. "But you do not have to stitch me up, I just wanted to see your reaction. Go get some bandages and we'll be fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. Just bandage it up and we'll be fine."

"But there's blood, there's so much blood...how can this be fine?!"

"Give me a break, Anika, and go get more bandages or I'll have someone else do it for you, because it needs to get done."

"No, no, that's alright," you said, trying to calm down. It's not as if you'd ever seen so much blood before. What kind of Princess had? Not this one. "I'll...go get more bandages."

"And some water should help. Not saltwater, for goodness' sake, but just some water."

"Okay, anything else?"

"No, that's it."

You sighed with relief. "Good. So...I'll just go do that."

"Yeah, and let's not mention this to the crew, alright?"

"Of course, I wouldn't really want to anyways."

"And then we'll get back to training."

"What?!"

"Just do it."

You groaned. "Oh...what am I going to do with you?" You sighed and went to cut more bandages and get a pail of drinking water. You heard him chuckle as you left.

Gosh, what am I going to do with him?