Shadows & Lace (Spellbound Prequel)

Chapter 15: Now You See Me

 "This is an interesting way to spar." Aurelian warily eyed the stream underneath the log they were standing on.

Braithe grinned and handed him a quarterstaff. "It's great for your balance," she said while testing the weight of her own staff.

Looking down at his bare feet, Aurelian flexed his toes on the rough bark. "I'm also not used to sparring without boots on."

"Quit being a baby, this will be fun."

He gave her a dubious look, dark eyebrows raised. "This is your idea of fun?"

They had walked up along the stream that wound its way through the valley until they reached the far side of the boulders circling the area. Few of Nowhere's denizens walked this far north unless they were planning to spar on the log, so Braithe felt safe to remove her face-cloth and coif, pulling her braid out of her tunic and letting it fall down her back.

Aurelian looked at her hooded coif as she tossed it on the grass next to the stream, then back at her. "Well, if we're removing items of clothing, I'm doing it too," he said, and while balancing the quarterstaff on the log he pulled his tunic off and threw it next to her things.

When he caught sight of Braithe's arrested look, he grinned. She gritted her teeth. He knew too well that she found his bare chest distracting. It wasn't fair. She'd take her own tunic off in revenge, but doubted her tightly bound chest would prove much of a distraction.

"Right," she said while rolling her shoulders, releasing the tension, and trying to keep her eyes on Aurelian's face rather than all that bare skin. "We fight until one person falls off."

"Into the water," Aurelian confirmed with a grimace. "I don't see what's wrong with sparring on solid ground."

"Balance. I told you."

"My balance is fine," he muttered, but grabbed the quarterstaff with both hands and nodded.

Braithe made the first move, swinging her staff forward in a wide arc. He easily parried with his own weapon, but having less experience of balancing on a log he still wobbled precariously from the sudden move. Regaining his balance, he cocked his head left and right before giving her a calculating look, eyes narrowed.

When he moved forward to jab at her, Braithe quickly danced out of his reach. Her balance had always been good and practising on logs and benches with her brother while growing up had improved it even further. She was nearly as sure-footed as she was on flat ground. Avoiding him wasn't a strategy she could keep up forever though, since stepping off the log into the grass would equally mean defeat.

Catching his next swing with her staff, she swirled around and redirected it downward, trapping his staff with her own against the side of the log. The move brought them next to each other, hip to hip, knees slightly bent. The disadvantage was that the turn also trapped both of Braithe's hands on the opposite side of her body to Aurelian. It gave her a certain amount of strength to push against his weapon, but there wasn't much else she could do.

Aurelian tried knocking her over by pushing his shoulder against hers. By the second push he got enough force, and Braithe had to back away a few steps to regain her balance.

"You're right," he said with a grin, breathing heavier from the exercise. "This is fun."

She tried to ignore the look of his smooth chest as he stretched his arms. "Don't cheat," she muttered.

"Cheating?" He gave her a wide-eyed, innocent look. "How would I ever?"

Instead of responding, she went on the offensive, their staffs clashing as they pushed to test the other's strength. Braithe stepped as close to Aurelian as she could, trying to give him less momentum for a good shove by keeping his arms close to his body. They were pressing their staffs against each other, their faces only inches apart above where the staffs met, breaths mingling. There was no way Braithe could win this. Aurelian was considerably stronger, and she suspected that he was holding back, because he should have been able to push her off by now.